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I plan on taking up malifaux in the coming months and i was looking for some advice on a couple of things

What are schemes and strategies , i've seen them mentioned and i was wondering what kind of mechanic it is , how it affects game play.

I am either planning on buying c.hoffman or collodi , what are these guys like play style wise alternatively who best to start off with so i can finally break my wargames sucking at streak.


Thanks dakka !

Strategies are like the missions you roll for in warhammer, sometimes you share the strategy or sometimes you have different ones.

Schemes are secondary objectives you get to pick yourself, after seeing what strategy and what the crews are. There are even faction and master specific schemes.

The strategy is about the same value in victory points as the two schemes you get to pick, so they are equally important.

Dont know about collodi and hoffman, havent seen them on the table yet.

@Kamie got it on the first shot! Strategies come in a variety of forms and there are 13 different ones. This list is sometimes shortened to 5 core strategies, and other times kept at the full 13. These can be picked (seperate or shared) or randomly chosen (flipped for), again individual or shared. One of the big differences to Malifaux from other games (specifically PP and GW games) is that opponents do not necessarily have the same objective in the game. In addition to that, only 5 of the 13 specifically require killing your opponent to win. Take that a step further, and you can lose your Master and still win a game (unlike PP games), and you could be tabled (wiped off the board) and still win a game (unlike GW games).

Schemes are secondary objectives, and players will typically pick 2. These are split between general schemes, Faction specific schemes, and Master specific schemes. They add a real dynamic to the game, as they are chosen after you know Terrain setup, Strategy, AND your opponents crew.

As for Hoff and Collodi, both are fun crews. Hoffman's box-set really needs an additional Peacekeeper model to make it work well. His box-set is only 16SS, so leaves a few stones out there for a typical starting game of 25ss. He is a master of machines and typically plays in a very defensive "ball" of armor that can move down the board.

Collodi is the puppet master, with some very cool movement tricks up his sleeve. His box is also a bit light on purchase, really looking or 1-2 Stitched Together to flesh out the 25ss crew.

For more information on how different crews play, check out this quick write-up. Malifaux Overview

Hope that helps!

Cool , thanks for the advice , with hoffman in a ball of amour do you mean a keeping close together and going in a group?

Yes, quite a few crews play in a close group style of around 6" - 12" radius to overlap the various abilities they have. Given you play on a 3 x 3 board its a sizeable chunk of it.

I'd pick Hoffman over Collodi, the puppets are pretty weak.

Right.I'm going to pick up the rulebook this week from my flgs but i'm probably going to go with hoffman,I might end up buying the figures for collodi and lucius though as they are really nice.