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Ive only ever known warhammer, so when i see these new Malifaux models and how steampunk/gothic they are i just fall in love with the minatures lol

Now im going to pick some up but i could use some advice first. Such what i need to start playing (i might get a friend to play it too)

And is there a difference with factions and if so what kind of difference? because im not sure which to pick.

Weclome fellow Warhammer player - I too have defected to Malifaux due to the minis and rules.

Ok you can pretty much demo the game for free as the rulebook (minus the pics) can be downloaded from the wyrd-games.net site. You can also pick up the v2 of the cards on the site as a download, this will give you stat cards for models from each faction which you can use with proxy models to have a game. You will need a deck of cards (wyrd do a suit conversion in the book to help, they have there own 'fate decks' with awesome artwork!)

If you plan on investing, 2 starter boxes will give you all the minis you need for a basic game. They cost in the region of £20-£28 depending on the crew you choose.

The rulebook cost £10, and books with the fluff and rules for models are around £20-25 each (there are 3 books, the original Malifaux book, Rising powers & the new one - Twisting Fates out 24/09) The fluff books are not essential as all models come with a stat card with their rules.

Fate deck - £5

Factions

The Guild - Current rulers of Malifaux, and want to control all the soulstone production for maximum profits! They also control the policing, with 3 seperate dvisions. Hunting Undead/Ressurectionists (Lady Justice), Hunting Magic Users/Acrantists (Sonnia Criid) & hunting Neverborn (Perdita Ortegas crew)

Neverborn - Original inhabitants/survivours from the orignal Malifaux populace prior to the breach opening with Earth. They want to remove human presence from Malifaux as well as destroying some of the elder deities that still reside on Malifaux.

Acrantist - The mafia/rebels against the Guild. These include characters who lead the Union against the guild (Ramos), a beastmaster and Rasputina, a thrall to one of the elder deities (cult of december). There is also a showgirl who uses her theatre as an underground black market.

Ressurectionist - People who have found out that the soulstones can animate the dead. One of the characters is a former Guild coroner who likes to make frankensteins! A Zombie Master and the Mad Hatter with a fetish for dead "Ladies of the night"

Outcasts - Gremlins from the Bayou, as well as a Steampunk necromancer, and the Pied Piper Hamelin all go in this pot, along with a mercenary army!

Not having played Malifaux, I can't help directly, but while reading up about the game, I came across this Malifaux wiki, which may help others interested in starting the game.
http://pullmyfinger.wikispaces.com/home

THe following links discusses getting started and which Masters are easier for a new player to learn and those which should be left for an experienced Malifaux player.
http://pullmyfinger.wikispaces.com/Gathering+Supplies

I think KoganStyle got it pretty good. As the games get larger in size you can recruit from other warbands within your factions, and some from the outcasts ... I would recommend buying rising powers and i think the next book is ... mystic powers.

In terms of starting to play I would recommend the warband of your choice and the mini rulebook (as the original larger rulebook is now out of print I believe). and a fate deck of cards ... cause they look cooler than regular playing cards ... in terms of cost thats like ... 56ish dollars US? Not sure of conversion rates.

I've considered playing, do you have to paint the minis?

remilia_scarlet wrote:I've considered playing, do you have to paint the minis?

Yes, its a standard mini game. Miniatures come unassembled and unpainted.

Might buy my first box set of Malifaux tommorow.

AtomicEngineer wrote:Might buy my first box set of Malifaux tommorow.

Let us know what you get.

My order arrived this past Friday. Bought the Ramos and Rasputina starters, a blister each of December Acolyte, Silent One, and Electrical Creation (Essence of Power was OOS), and the Rising Powers rulebook. Will use regular card decks for now. Pretty heavily Arcanist, but I like the look of both the clockwork contraptions and the ice cult, so I bought both.

http://tabletopgeeks.com/malifaux-downloads/ has a bunch of play aids, like game reference and counters. Just what I have will require a fair number of Scrap counters and Ice Pillars.

I think Malifaux has some of the coolest looking minis out there right now. I have yet to play, but I picked up the Dreamer, starter set and a Teddy blister for myself, and the Collette starter set for a friend I wanted to lure into the game with me. I really want to pick up the Snow Storm figure. Even if I never use it in a game, it'll have a place on the display shelf.

Bought lilith box, coolfaced the rest of that day.

Lilith is fantastic, and fairly easy to use. Her minions, not so much. Dreamer is fun, but has a big learning curve.

Generally, the Guild is the most straightforward one, having one Master that specializes in one form of attack melee, ranged, magic, as well as countering any of the other factions. The Guild is by FAR the easiest to play. Plus, samurai cowboys.

Ressurectionists are obviously mostly horde builders, either with corpses, body parts, whatever. They tend to start weak and then get stronger as the game goes on.

Neverborn are all about weird depolyment rules. You got the dreamer who starts basically alone, but can summon possibly the most terrifying close combat monster anywher close to him. Plus, he can be pretty fast, so he is perfect for assassinations. Lilith is also fast, agile, extremely good in close combat, and her minions can grow to become much more powerful throughout the game, IF you keep them alive.

I've not played against Arcanists much, but they seem to focus more on disruption, mind control and magical firepower.

That being said, yeah, Malifaux is particularly good in that it's starter boxes are actually fairly thorough. Just pick the one you like the look of.

Oh, and START SMALL. Malefaux is by far the most complicated minature game I've played. it can be overwealming if you go for a 25 SS game instantly, especially if you play someone who knows what he's doing.

OK, here's my basic overview of every single master in the game,

Guild

The Guild are the "rulers" of Malifaux. Controlling the use of Soulstone they are oppressive and discriminatory, however under constant attack by any of the other factions. Guild are the simplest of the factions to use, very easy to learn however in no way underpowered or basic. There is a master which roughly fits each of the main types of master within the game, allowing you practise with the mechanics of the game and the models. Guild are a nice beginning faction.

Perdita: Shooty master, with a high defence and paired pistols with a nice high CB, Perdita leads a crew mostly based around character minions which are her family, she has the ability to do an amazing alpha strike through the use of her Companion abilities, Perdita has only a little bit of use of soulstones and is pretty efficient. She's very well known for her ability to ignore Pandora's Expose Fears ability. Perdita and co. are pretty easy to use, stand back and shoot them until they come to you, then whatever's left should be quickly killed off

Lady Justice: Melee Beatstick, with an insane damage output when all her abilities are going, which is actually extremely easy to achieve. Lady Justice can pretty much kill anything she wants without too much trouble. With her Riposte trigger, cheating a high masks then soulstoning is an extremely good way to discourage your opponent from going after her. Extremely simple master to use, her crew also has many methods for dealing with Resurrectionists such as her Last Rites ability, which gets rid of all Corpse Counters around her, preventing Resurrectionists from replenishing their forces.

Sonnia Criid: Firey Blasts, you want Sonnia standing closer to the back, she can get an extremely good Ca, then simply place blasts so as to do maximum damage to surrounding models. She's quite safe from being hit by enemy mages due to her Perfect Counterspell ability, however should she get into close combat, whilst she can do some damage, she will not survive very well. Sonnia and her crew revolve around disrupting enemy magic and their abilities. She also has a pistol, which while it may not be her preferred weapon, she can dismantle constructs with her trigger.

C. Hoffman: supporting Constructs, Hoffman is mainly a support caster, taking away his Construct's bad abilities and buffing and healing them. I haven't really played with or against Hoffman so I don't know too much so sorry if this is a bit blank, can be bulked out by whomever wishes to do so

Resurrectionists

Resurrectionists fight a war of attrition. All of their masters have the ability to bring fresh models to the table, and some of their minions do too. Their models have a good combination of insane damage output (Samurai Punk Zombies) some Hardiness combined with tricks (Rotten Belles) or just amazing with a combination of resilience and damage output (Flesh Construct/Rogue Necromancy) Whilst not the simplest of factions to learn they have a relatively easy playstyle to get your head around, and are very fun to use.

Seamus: Hookers and Cannons, Seamus leads an army of undead zombie hookers and shoots with a hand cannon, What's not to like? Seamus mainly uses his Belle's Lure ability, to pull in individual targets, which are then whaled on by almost the entire crew, Seamus can replenish his crew just like all the other Ressers. Seamus both buffs and debuffs his opponents incredibly capably.

McMourning: Surgeon Necromancy, McMourning is the most combat oriented of the Resser masters. He has the ability to summon dogs (which you should never do) Flesh Constructs (absolutely amazing and destructive as hell) and the Rogue Necromancy (no model released yet but so dangerous). McMourning can debuff his opponents extremely effectively, taking away abilities that reduce damage, then skilfull dissecting them with his scalpel, which he then heals wounds off of.

Nicodem: Quintessential Undead Horde, Nicodem just summons and buffs, he summons hundreds of minions and drowns his opponents under their weight. Nicodem has a steep learning curve however with him you can dictate the course of the game with Rigor Mortis, being able to just paralyze a model is just nasty. Nico mainly buffs his minions taking away their weaknesses, whilst healing and damaging his opponents, and when you finally kill one of his minions, it comes back as something bigger.

Kirai: Spirits, Kirai I unfortunately have only played against on one occassion, however I will do my best. Kirai summons quite hardy spirits to do her bidding, which all fill niche roles within the crew. Kirai can also replenish her crew and can heal them as they die. Kirai gains souls as her opponents perish, using them to bring even more spirits into the fields, as per all Resurrectionist masters.

Arcanists

Arcanists are the underground resistance/revolution force fighting against the oppressive Guild. These masters are mainly more magic based and have some very nice ranged combat potential with the exception of Marcus who is mainly combat oriented. A few tricks however a relatively simple faction to use with the exception of Collette. There's a wide variety of minions that you can take which are mainly based around the elements, currently there is Electricity and Ice, however with the release of Book 3 Kaeris will come out, bringing with her Fire Gamin and two new Gunsmith models.

Ramos: Steampunk Sorcerer, a combination of support, summoning and damage, Ramos mainly runs a crew of constructs to do his bidding. Ramos buffs these by increasing their defence and healing them as they do damage, as well as summoning new spiders as they die. Ramos mostly plays a defensive game, sitting back and then hitting his targets with Electrical Fire should the situation demand it. His crew can also do some insane ranged damage, especially when combined with Alyce, Kaeris and a few Gunsmiths, this combination all but shuts down a 12" zone around the models. Entering this area is all but a death sentence.

Collette Du Bois: Soulstone Showgirl, a very fast death by a thousand cuts crew. With almost her entire crew having the ability to use soulstones, she can outclass her opponents fairly easily, however her crew do not do quite the same high levels of damage as others. Home of the infamous Coryphee duet, these models can move extremely quickly into position, then punishing the opponents. Mainly very trick oriented she is rather difficult to use, and if her crew is attacked before its activation, their buffs are often down and they are quite squishy. She also paints a giant target on her forehead during brawls as everyone knows her reputation and goes for her first.

Rasputina: Arcing Ice Blasts, Rasputina while quite slow, has great board control and can do excellent damage with her spells. Her ability to close off charge lanes and freeze people in buildings allows you to shut down areas whilst you deal with the models you want to fight. While she is also rather slow she can arc her spells through her minions, increasing her range. Her minions are also mainly ice based, with the ability "Shatter" meaning that should your opponent kill your minions they will be punished with damage for doing so. Her trigger on December's Curse allows her to repeatedly cast the spell, doing large amounts of damage to a target.

Marcus: Beasts, Never played with him, never played against him, never even so much as seen someone play him. I'm sorry but I can't help you here.

Neverborn

The original inhabitants and rulers of Malifaux, have some of the hardest masters in the game to master, (Only Leveticus keeps the title from them) with a very tricky playstyle and quite high points cost, you're likely going to be outnumbered, however they will be outmatched. Most Neverborn are glass cannons, able to do some insane damage output however they struggle when receiving it, on the flip side some models (such as Teddy and Lelu/Lilitu) have very nice healing mechanisms keeping them alive.

Pandora: Burning Couch, an extremely powerful willpower based master. Able to literally make your entire opponent's crews flee off the table. If I had a full cache and a good hand, I could win a 35ss game with just her. She's that broken. Pandora revolves around debuffing your opponent's willpower ability, then hitting them with multiple willpower checks and making them take wounds for failing them. While she may be a measly walk 3, she's also one of the fastest masters in the game, every time she wins a WP duel she pushes 4", allowing her to cross more than half the table in a single turn. A very annoying master to face, combined with her abilities "Incite" and "Pacify" she can dictate the order in which your models activate.

Lilith: Speedy Melee Beatstick, a very fast master carrying a greatsword. She lacks the subtlety of other masters in the Neverborn faction, however makes up for it with sheer destructive potential. Her crew of Nephilim can grow from Terror Tots into the massive Mature Nephilim by drinking the blood of their slain enemies, capable of doing some insane damage. However don't think that Lilith has no tricks, her ability to swap the positions of models allows you to outmaneuvre your opponents extremely easily, allowing you to fight where you want to fight. Furthermore with her spell Transposition, she can swap the places of two models, so switch your opponents Shooty model of doom next to his master, for your Mature Nephilim next to the majority of your crew. Very fun, and rather simple.

Zoraida: The Hag manipulator, very spell oriented, allowing you to control and move both your own models and your opponents as you wish to. By no means a basic master to learn to use, however very powerful. Capable of making herself walk 10 for a very quick move, great for last turn completing the scheme "stake a claim" often seen with the very fast Silurids, capable of moving over 23 inches in a single activation and then putting themself in cover. Can also strip the opponents of their abilities and see part of her deck. Very fun.

The Dreamer: Nightmare Deepstrike, by no means a straightforward caster. Uses spells to bring Nightmares up where they are needed most, performing a quick strike against unprotected and exposed enemy models, then burying the attacking models and being able to heal them. Capable of switching himself with a Giant monster called Nytmare. Whilst Nytmare does have extreme destructive potential, he quite simply does not have the staying power to be used purely as a melee beatstick. Pop him up near a big target, take it out then drop him down again.

The Outcasts

The type of people you'd see sitting at the back of a seedy bar waiting for a job. All Outcasts have no cache, however they have powerful abilities to offset this. This is especially seen with the Viktorias where you get two Masters instead of one. The Outcasts all work for themselves, owing no allegiance and fighting for whomever they so wish. The fighters in this faction don't fit into the broad playstyles of any of the other factions, whilst Leveticus closely fits the Resurrectionist faction, he also displays traits from the Arcanists, and is also one of, if not the hardest masters to learn in the game.

Leveticus: The Steampunk Necromancer, Leveticus is a master on a whole different level to any other I have ever played with or against. With his unique mechanic, even once Leveticus is killed, he can come back quite easily. Making him a very difficult master to kill quickly. Leveticus has the highest damage potential of any caster when used on a SINGLE target, he can kill any model in a single activation, no matter how many wounds it is on. However all of his spells come at a cost of his own wounds. Leveticus also has the broadest hiring ability of any master, being able to summon any undead (most of the Resurrectionists) any Construct (a fair portion of the Arcanists and Guild) and any Soulless model. This combination makes him just nasty.

The Viktoria's: Twins of Fate, for the cost of your cache you get not one, but TWO masters. These two have some very nice abilities and normally field a crew consisting entirely of Mercenaries. Capable of some very nice movement and melee tricks, with a few key minions you can field a pretty damaging crew. The Viktorias can also be fielded with any Caster as mercenaries. Even though there is an additional 5SS of cost, provided you hire 5+ mercenaries that will be paid off due to their ability that removes hiring costs. These two are postergirls of Wyrd and for good reason. Very fun, but once again like all outcasts, not easy to learn.

Som'er Teeth Jones: Hillbilly Gremlins, All I know about him is what I've read which is entirely theory based, he's a support caster. More than that I can't help you with sorry.

Hamelin The Plagued: Rats of Plague, same as Som'er Teeth

Wow thanks this is a big help

There's also a good bit of information over at
http://pullmyfinger.wikispaces.com/
Just started so not all pages are populated, but the masters are and it's a pretty damn good resource.

Malifaux is quite fun, I've only played 3 or 4 games so far but I love it. I agree that the models are some of the best around. I've got Collette and her showgirls. I haven't seen a set of malifaux models that wasn't beautiful yet.

* Marcus blushes *

Seriously, Marcus' models are god awful (with the exception of the Razorspine Rattler)

I like a lot of the individual figures of Malifaux - but I feel like they have defiinite "theme" issues.

Generally speaking outside of the starter sets - I have a hard time identifying who is supposed to be part of what "gang" within a faction. It really just turns me off - I guess I'm big on cohesion.

I have the same problem with Infinity - A lot of the individual models are cool - but within a faction there's so much diversity that they don't seem to gel together.

PP and GW don't do rules online. Is Malifaux the same or is there someplace I can find all the cards for the figs to real the rules for the different crews before I buy one?

Aduro wrote:PP and GW don't do rules online. Is Malifaux the same or is there someplace I can find all the cards for the figs to real the rules for the different crews before I buy one?

Yes. Visit this section of the Wyrd miniatures website. Download the zipped Rules Manual and the v2 Statcards. The free rule book is censored, so the example diagrams are missing, as are some of the Strategies and Schemes, but you can learn to play the game from this truncated version as the actual sections on game mechanics are intact.

Edit#1: You may also want to visit the Malifaux wiki that I linked to in an earlier post in this thread. It has tips on getting started and tacticas. incidentally, I am playing Malifaux now, and have both the Ramos and Rasputina starters, as well as a few extra figures for each so I can play 35 soulstone games.

Borrowed the mini rulebook and read that cover to cover as well as played a test game. More interested in just the cards, so I'll check out those v2 cards for sure, thanks.

I am definitely be getting the rule books in the near future...but i was wondering where the girl, the Mistress of Ceremonies fits within her faction? Is she really only useful with collette? I really/ really dig her model, and was curious where she fit....


I also feel that i should express my vie on how cool Sue, in the Outcasts looks....i may end up running with him as well.

Ensis Ferrae wrote:I am definitely be getting the rule books in the near future...but i was wondering where the girl, the Mistress of Ceremonies fits within her faction? Is she really only useful with collette? I really/ really dig her model, and was curious where she fit....

I also feel that i should express my vie on how cool Sue, in the Outcasts looks....i may end up running with him as well.

Angelica, the Mistress of Ceremonies is only useful in a Colette crew. There is only one spell, "Do You Want to See More?" that is generally applicable; the rest effect Showgirls only. I too was trying to find a use for her in a non-Colette crew, but no go.

Ancestral Hamster wrote:

Ensis Ferrae wrote:I am definitely be getting the rule books in the near future...but i was wondering where the girl, the Mistress of Ceremonies fits within her faction? Is she really only useful with collette? I really/ really dig her model, and was curious where she fit....

I also feel that i should express my vie on how cool Sue, in the Outcasts looks....i may end up running with him as well.

Angelica, the Mistress of Ceremonies is only useful in a Colette crew. There is only one spell, "Do You Want to See More?" that is generally applicable; the rest effect Showgirls only. I too was trying to find a use for her in a non-Colette crew, but no go.

well, I haven't started playing the game yet, but I think Angelica is definitely my absolute fav model right now... guess I'll have to figure out the Collette force (not that they don't look bad.. just that 'Angie' is my fave)

Malifaux tends to run mini-factions. For instance, arcanists break down roughly as:
Ramos & Kaeris (union, heavy constructs)
Rasputina (ice constructs)
Colette (showgirls)
Marcus (beasts, including out of faction beasts).

This structure is fairly universally true:
1 master & Henchman theme
the 3 starter masters (book 1) of: direct, well-rounded, and strong magic
1 master with radically different, often out-of-faction options.

Resurrectionists and Guild probably have the most flexibility of using minions between masters, and Outcasts have the most restrictions (consisting essentially of a few mutually exclusive mini-factions: Mercenaries, Gremlins, then Hamelin and Leveticus doing their own specialized things.

In most cases, you're looking at taking 1/2-all of your pieces within your Master's theme. Wyrd did a spectacular job of making most masters' optimal crews consist primarily of pieces that fit their character, though this does limit some options, if you don't like those themes.


edit: yes, Colette is the main way of running Angelica. A word of warning, Colette is considered one of the best Masters, but has a steep learning curve. Unless you're a seasoned gamer and/or have your heart set on a small collection, it might be advisable to start with someone else, then move on to Colette.

All this talk of Colette makes me want to make my "All Male Revue" using models like the Executioner.

And yes, be warned Colette has no melee attacks, this came in a fixed masters narrative league we did a few months ago, the guy ended up forfeiting his game because he couldn't damage his opponent's wagon w/o a melee attack.

He should have just stopped the wagon moving, then the opponent wouldn't have gotten any VPs for it. He can't say that he can't move quick enough to intercept it after all....

KoganStyle wrote:He should have just stopped the wagon moving, then the opponent wouldn't have gotten any VPs for it. He can't say that he can't move quick enough to intercept it after all....

Yeah, I thankfully was just watching over the rules, and the wagons can only be destroyed via melee attacks, and he was like... I can shoot the axle off of a wagon... let me get a gun and I'll show you. I was like, we'll have to simulate real combat too, so that's going to make it harder. but w/e I digress..

Colette is one of the coolest masters in my mind because she just has so many tricks up her sleeve.

AtomicEngineer wrote:Ive only ever known warhammer, so when i see these new Malifaux models and how steampunk/gothic they are i just fall in love with the minatures lol

Don't we all........
I really liked the miniatures for a long time, whats appealing to me is that its got everything, from undead hookers to cowboys to mechanical spiders to Pigs.....
No 1 miniature is the same, what really helps with the painting thing......

There are some things a lot of players forget, usually because they're general rules that don't come up very often.

ALL models have the Bash melee weapon (Rg 1, Cb 3, Dg 0/1/2), even those like the Lawyer without a melee weapon listed. Which wouldn't have helped against the wagon without a Red Joker + severe damage flip, but it's still a possibility.

Also, don't overlook Focussed strikes and Channelled casts, they can really make the difference against a target in cover.

Finally, not going anywhere and don't have anything better to do? Maybe you're a melee only model guarding a Claim Jump? Defensive stance!