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Made in us
Swamp Troll






So after some serious look and watching I have become interested with the game Malifaux, This interest was brought on by TheJoeyBerry and her new series on the game that is coming soon!

So I get the basic idea of skirmish games and all that fun stuff.

My real question is out of the 3 starter boxes I have narrowed down to what are the ups & downs of each along with their faction.

The starter boxes are
-The Dreamer (Neverborn)

-C. Hoffman (The Guild)

-Leviticus (The outcasts)


So any advice on which I should choose or why I should go with a specific faction would be great.
The reason i chose these were for image reasons alone as I know nothing about the actual skills they have.

So help me choose my army and get this game on the road!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/05/21 00:10:14


Successful Trades 84 (Dakka Swap Shop)


 
   
Made in gb
Leaping Dog Warrior





All three boxes need additional purchases right off the bat to be utilised properly.

The Dreamer needs his Day Dreams totems to be able to work AT ALL. He buries his models, gets them across the board and unloads them in the enemies face, BUT he needs the day dreams to help transport the crew across.

Ups & Downs: UPs - Crew is non living, meaning that people who need corpse counters wont get them from your crew, also means you are immune to morale duels taking away some of the tools that terror crews use. DOWNs - Only has one tick (bury and unload) so you'll end up doing the same thing over and over again.

Hoffman - You'd want a Peacekeeper as a bodyguard as its the best construct the Guild can field.

Ups & Downs: UPs - Hoffman can re-activate the Peacekeeper, meaning your hardest model can hit even harder. The Peacekeeper also has great manuverability so hoffman can get where he is needed very quickly.
DOWNs: Your crew is pretty much in base to base with hoffman the enitre game, so scenarioes where you need to control more than one area of the board are particularly difficult for him.

Levi - You'll need the Desolation Engine to see any usefullness out of the steampunk abominations.

UPs - Can keep creating Desolation Engines and wreaking havoc with Levi himself (has a spell which deals damage equal to half opponents wounds + 1)
DOWNs: VERY difficult master to play, as his 'trick' is to get himself killed every turn to generate more control cards for the rest of his crew.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ah just seen you'd like ups and downs of each faction too!

Neverborn: Every model within the faction combos well with any model, neverborn can be considered to be the strongest faction overall, not because there models are the strongest individually, but 99% of the models available can link with every master. This gives Neveborn masters a very wide troop choice for completing any scenario while other Factions masters can be very restricted in terms of troop choices.

However the Neverborn are somewhat flimsy - they have lots of abilities to avoid being hit, but once they are hit, they can be taken down quickly.

Guild - Not ones for trickery are the Guild, but they have access to some of the best 5ss models in the game, the Austringer (Howziter Bird bomber) They have a model to counter most other factions masters (Anti-Magic, Anti-Unded, somewhat Anti-Construct options)

Problem is, most of the Guild stuff is living, meaning Terror and morale duels work against them, they also leave corpse counters which can just feed other factions' troops (either literally or by allowing Ressurs to summon more troops)

Outcats - Confession time: I neither play, nor like the Outcasts (with the exception of Despy Mercs and Johann), but having played lots of games against them, I will say that each master has his or her own playstyle (even more so than masters in different factions) and each are severely limited in what they can take in their crews. I don't think they are beginner friendly either (with exception of Ophelia and poss. the Vikis) as they all have control hand issues or quirks.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/05/21 11:24:17


Tacticool always trumps tactics

Malifaux: All the Resurrectionists
 
   
Made in us
Swamp Troll






Thank you So much,

I am thinking of starting with Hoffman after your suggestions.

I am really excited to play this and I would rather have a challenge during the scenario then get bored doing the same thing a million times

Any other suggestions?

My GF is interested in
Rasputina
Collete
Karai
-Any suggestions or comments on them with ups and downs since ya have been so helpful?

Successful Trades 84 (Dakka Swap Shop)


 
   
Made in us
Myrmidon Officer





NC

For a beginner, Rasputina is the easiest of those three.

I <3 Arcanists myself and play both Collette and Rasputina. As for Kirai, this is my accounts from playing against it.

As an aside, I'd advise against playing Leviticus as your first master. His playstyle is essentially a completely different game and rather delicate to play. Normally in Malifaux, your hand of cards is a great resource and you don't think much of it; you draw a new hand every turn. With Leviticus, you don't draw new cards and it all becomes quite situational. His playstyle is literally suicidal and unorthodox.

Consider Hoffmann as your first Master. He's straightforward as a support master that can even use Arcanist toys.

Dreamer isn't too bad to begin with, but its entire playstyle is based on summoning new Nightmares and your goal is to obliterate the enemy in an all-out Alpha Strike. If you fumble this first attack, a competent opponent will make it such that you can never recover. Also, The Dreamer has gotten a lot of errata recently.

==Rasputina==
Ups:
- Rather straightforward: Deal damage in large quantities
- Great board control with ice pillars and terrain denial
- Very synergistic with the rest of the crew - Frozen Heart reflections
Downs:
- Has difficulty in melee
- Starter box doesn't have the 'best' units, arguably. Silent Ones and Snow Storm are amazing.
- Terrible avatar form
- Quite low mobility

==Collette==
Ups:
- Absurdly good mobility. Tons of teleporting and swapping abilities.
- Very strong when used correctly
- Very synergistic with Showgirl models
- Difficult to kill
Downs:
- Requires juggling of soulstones, and can be difficult to play
- Difficult to synergize with non-Showgirl models
- Difficult to put out damage without Cassandra or the Coryphee

==Kirai==
Ups:
- Spirits are resilient to damage
- Great at summoning tons of minions
- Great mobility based on warping next to minions
- Synergizes great with really cheap Spirits
- Kirai's minion Ikiryo is really strong and summonable
Downs:
- Kirai herself doesn't really do much beyond summon Spirits. Almost purely a support master.
- Quite easy to recklessly let Kirai kill herself via sacrificing life
- Very weak defense coupled with her constantly damaging herself means that she's vulnerable much of the time

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/05/22 06:29:37


 
   
Made in gb
Leaping Dog Warrior





Absolutionis has it down. I'm a big fan of Colette as her playstyle is very different - Think All girl tag team, your opponent will almost never fight the same model twice in a turn. You will want to purchase the Coryphee Duet blister as this unit is main damage dealer for the Showgirls. I magnetised mine as they combine from 2 40mm bases to one 50mm base, but your gf may just want to buy 2 blisters for ease.

Rasputina can be very slow, but Snow Storm helps out a lot, pulling and pushing her models where they need to be.

Kirai is an expensive master to purchase - as she summons models, you need to buy the options to field them (Although I expect you'll allow your gf to proxy - no one wants to be in a womans bad books over minis haha!) She is also VERY card dependant, almost all of her spells require a crow (suit) to cast, so you have to have back up plans incase you dont get a crow in your control hand. Her totem is also a must, it gives Kirai a second life if you get her killed.

Tacticool always trumps tactics

Malifaux: All the Resurrectionists
 
   
Made in gb
Freaky Flayed One






Hi there guys! Really awesome that I have sparked some interest in Malifaux. Between you and me I'm going for Arcanists and Rasputina

Here's the video of the introduction and basic fluff if anyone's interested.






   
Made in us
Swamp Troll






Thanks for your help guys, Looks like she is going to go with Kirai because she will indeed proxy for a bit and she honestly wants to paint her the most.

You information was extremely helpful.

Also Joey, I am glad to see you made it to my board and put the video here because i will bet there are other people who need to see this video and get into it

Successful Trades 84 (Dakka Swap Shop)


 
   
Made in gb
Freaky Flayed One






I was wandering around the forum this morning doing so Malifaux studying and found you!
What ever faction you choose you can send through pictures if you like and I can use them on the show when I go into further detail about each one
I'm also very glad to be here!

   
Made in us
Swamp Troll






Will do!

Successful Trades 84 (Dakka Swap Shop)


 
   
Made in us
Swamp Troll






So quick question, What models start on the board, for instance, me and my lady got Kirai and Hoffman, Would all the models we got in the starter box, start on the table?

Successful Trades 84 (Dakka Swap Shop)


 
   
Made in us
Myrmidon Officer





NC

Like most wargames, it's all based on a point system. Here the points are called "Soulstones".

Your Master is free. You just choose one.
Each minion and such you choose after that has a Soulstone cost attached to it. Many games are 25-30ss.
Any unused Soulstones get added to your Master's Cache into a Soulstone Pool (max 8) that has special benefits in-game for Masters.

Hoffman is straightforward. You just make your list and you're good. I don't think he has any summoning abilities.
Kirai, however, makes the list as usual. However, her big draw is her ability to summon other models using her abilities. It may get convoluted if you don't have the proper model for this, so feel free to proxy for now.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/05/27 17:32:57


 
   
Made in us
Swamp Troll






So say we were doing 25 SS Game, she would start with all that comes in the box on the board first and then later can summon even more? Correct?

Successful Trades 84 (Dakka Swap Shop)


 
   
Made in us
Myrmidon Officer





NC

Correct somewhat. The Ikiyro can't be fielded, only summoned.

Doing calculations:
Kirai's boxed set comes with a total of 2+5+5+7=19ss worth of models. The Ikiyro cannot be fielded initially because it's cost is labelled as "summoned". If you're playing a 25ss game and you use all those models, you're under by 6ss. Therefore, you add in Kirai's SS Cache of 3 (I think?) You'll start with 8 Soulstones. (Would be 9, but you cannot go over 8).
Kirai may then summon more models once the game starts. You do NOT have to pay for these summoned models.

Hoffman's box set comes with 16ss total of models. This is 9 under.

It may be more advisable to run a 20ss game. Initially.
Then, Kirai will have her full box of 19ss with 4ss in her pool.
Hoffman will have his full box of 16ss with 8ss in his pool.

Also note that there is a list maker available here:
http://www.malifaux.com/Crew.php

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/05/27 22:09:05


 
   
Made in us
Swamp Troll






Ok so under Seishen it says "Rare 5" what does this mean?

Successful Trades 84 (Dakka Swap Shop)


 
   
Made in gb
Leaping Dog Warrior





It means that, in a scrap (which is what most games are) you can only have a max. of 5 Seishin on the board at any 1 time. Scraps are games where you each take 1 master. A Brawl allows you to take 2 masters, larger control hand and more soulstones in your cache, but you won't need to worry about them yet!

Tacticool always trumps tactics

Malifaux: All the Resurrectionists
 
   
Made in us
Pyromaniac Hellhound Pilot





killeen TX

The thing that I have seen and done myself is that you seem to pick a certain starter box, then, you expand on that faction. I started with the Ortegas starter box, then, Lucius. Now, I have been picking up individual pieces to build a larger guild force to chose from.

That being said, just remember that you "hire" your crew after all other factors of the game have been determined.

Start with what you want, but most likely, you will continue to build in that faction.

javascript:emoticon(''); 3,000 pointsjavascript:emoticon('');

2,000 points

265 point detachment

Imperial Knight detachment: 375

Iron Hands: 1,850

where ever you go, there you are 
   
Made in us
Swamp Troll






We will be sticking to Scraps for a while so @Kogan that is very helpful...The next thing i intend to grab is a peacekeeper.

@Martin, I can see us staying in our factions for the most part.

Successful Trades 84 (Dakka Swap Shop)


 
   
Made in us
Pyromaniac Hellhound Pilot





killeen TX

Staying in a faction is what I have seen from the dozen or so players at the local store. This is a good game, once you get the hang of all the rules (and there is alot of them).

javascript:emoticon(''); 3,000 pointsjavascript:emoticon('');

2,000 points

265 point detachment

Imperial Knight detachment: 375

Iron Hands: 1,850

where ever you go, there you are 
   
Made in us
Swamp Troll






Any wargame has a ton of rules, its look worth learning.

Successful Trades 84 (Dakka Swap Shop)


 
   
Made in us
Myrmidon Officer





NC

Staying in a faction is recommended if only for the options, but each Master works really well with only their models that it becomes problematic to branch out too much.

Collette can barely do any tricks without Showgirls.
Perdita's main benefit is stifled without Ortegas.
Rasputina's main strength is mitigated without models with Frozen Heart.
Hamelin simply cannot hire anything not-insignificant, but he can hire out-of-faction.
Kirai works terribly without Spirits.
Dreamer works terribly without Nightmares.
...etc
   
Made in us
Swamp Troll






but that makes sense IMO

Successful Trades 84 (Dakka Swap Shop)


 
   
Made in us
Myrmidon Officer





NC

It does, but the synergy is so strong that you're arguably hurting yourself if you stray from the synergy. It encourages fidelity to MASTERS rather than factions.

Even so, I oftentimes shove a Gunsmith or Freikorps Trapper into my Arcanist lists. It's just that the model must be really good/useful to break synergy.
   
Made in us
Pyromaniac Hellhound Pilot





killeen TX

Synergy is the key to make your crew work. Perdita is great, but, only with ortega members. She does not do well with guardsman/hounds/constructs. However, Lucius with a drill sgt, guardsmen, hounds, and other such things work great together. In this game it is getting your crew to work together or benefit each other in some way that realy helps you win.

It doesn't make sense at first, coming from other systems such as any GW game, or PP for that matter. After all other game factors have been established, that is when you select your crew.

Play a few games and you do get the hang of it. As for the rules, WOW, there are alot of them. Just get to know your crew before you try and figure out all the others.

Today, at the local store, we have a power gamer. You know, the kind who goes "what is the most powerfull unit/army". Well, we started Malifaux a month or so back (I know, behind the curve), so, our knowledge was limited. Some how he went with Neverborn, mainly Lilith. He came in today, over confident, and, was then waxed by Hamlin (most likely misspelled that). Oh, it was good to see. Point here, he took the most powerful units at 25 points he could use. Problem, they didn't work together at all.

javascript:emoticon(''); 3,000 pointsjavascript:emoticon('');

2,000 points

265 point detachment

Imperial Knight detachment: 375

Iron Hands: 1,850

where ever you go, there you are 
   
Made in us
Swamp Troll






Oh I get synergy, just reading my ladys Kirai cards shows me just how well they can work off each other!

Successful Trades 84 (Dakka Swap Shop)


 
   
Made in gb
Leaping Dog Warrior





Perdita works great with Hounds, makes for a very fast flanking/objective grabbing force, especially as the hounds companion with each other and Perdita. Very useful Alpha strike.

Tacticool always trumps tactics

Malifaux: All the Resurrectionists
 
   
Made in us
Watches History Channel




Chicagoland

KoganStyle wrote:It means that, in a scrap (which is what most games are) you can only have a max. of 5 Seishin on the board at any 1 time. Scraps are games where you each take 1 master. A Brawl allows you to take 2 masters, larger control hand and more soulstones in your cache, but you won't need to worry about them yet!


Actually Rare# means you can only have that many models in your Crew period. You cant buy 6 and keep one off the Board until one dies than pop another one on.

Synergy is one of the many things that makes a crew work or not work. The example I always use is the Vickys. While her bos set does not suck, it does not really come into its own until you ditch every model in it and get the ronins, convict gunslinger(or two) and maybe Misaki. and that is just a bunch of Book 1 models. THere are even better synergies with some out of the other books. Pandora is another one ( my personal favorite). With her boxset its ok, Add some Book 2 models she becomes even better. Add Book 3 Avatar, highly abusive. Book $ looks even more so.

Most games I play at around here are in the 30 to 35ss level. It allows sme flexability to the list and add some fun toys, while not overpowering the board. Although a 50ss Brawl is good for and afternoon of fun.

In Heaven everyone will have a Batmoble. -
Kevin Smith

The 9 scariest words in the English language are "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help" - Ronald Reagan 
   
Made in gb
Leaping Dog Warrior





My point was Kirai specific - although she could get more seishin through death of other models, she can only have 5 on the board at any one time.

Tacticool always trumps tactics

Malifaux: All the Resurrectionists
 
   
Made in us
Swamp Troll






Yeah she picked up two more to have in her possesion if she needs them

Successful Trades 84 (Dakka Swap Shop)


 
   
Made in gb
Leaping Dog Warrior





Given how our Kirai player plays, she surely will

Tacticool always trumps tactics

Malifaux: All the Resurrectionists
 
   
Made in us
Swamp Troll






I am pretty sure she will

I am pretty excited about the game and am working on trying to get some Terraclips to have so when they are done being painted we can play.

Successful Trades 84 (Dakka Swap Shop)


 
   
 
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