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Hey folks,

I've just been looking at Malifaux for the first time today (have just downloaded the rule book, looking through it for the first time now). I like a few of the miniatures (Criid, Lucius, Guardians, Death Marshall and a few others) and was just wondering if someone can give me some pointers on list building? What works, what doesn't etc?

Using nothing more than models I like, I've come up with the following for a brawl, is it any good?

- Sonia Criid
- Student of Conflict
- Lucius
- Governers Proxy
- Death Marshall
- Guardian
- 2x Guild Guard
- Judge
- Watcher

Anyone there? Helloooo?

First off, Brawl is waay too big to start off at. Most games I have seen played are in the 25-30ss range with one Master or Henchman.

2nd, depending on the stategy you flip, you may not want Soniia.

Games of Malifaux are done in the following order.
1. Choose encounter size (how many Soulstones (ss))
2. choose faction (not master)
3. Flip for deployment
4. Flip for strategy (scenario)
5. Select crew
6. choose schemes
7. Deploy

Maybe buy the models you like, but start slow.
You want some models that can move fast to go get objectives in some strategies.
In others, you want durable models, others you may want some throwaway chaff.

Death Marshalls only come in a 3pack, so keep that in mind as well.
Student of Conflict is an Outcast, so costs 1ss more for Guild to take.

I suggest getting a 25ss list of models you like, play a bunch and see where it is lacking.
Then swap a few models and play a bunch more.
There are so many strategy and scheme choices, that a set list will not likely see you through.

Fair enough, what are your thoughts on Sonia? Is she quite a linear character?

What's a good starting force then? I'm looking at Sonia (i just love the alternative sculpt, would rather start collecting for enjoyment an then move in. to.collecting to compete) with drill.sergeant, guardian, 2 guild.guard and a judge.

What would the strengths and weaknesses of that force be? Turns out I didn't get chance to read the rule book and I'm doing this on the fly from my phone!

http://pullmyfinger.wikispaces.com/ has great tips on the various masters and their guilds.

One thing I've found with the Malifaux setup is that, as skrulnik said, the game is really designed for you to play a Faction rather than a Master and specific crew, yet many people seem to play based on just one master (presumably to limit the number of models they need). That does mean that you shouldn'ty really find yourself too disadvantaged if you start with Sonia and a crew that suits her unless the specific mission drawn would really better suit another master than Sonia and your opponent has access to a much wider range of masters/henchmen for his faction than you do. You can get round that by just choosing your crews before doing anything else, which some competitions seem to do rather than playing 'as intended'.

Rock n roll, the replies are much appreciated guys!

What play style suits Sonia then? Close combat and.magic? So shooters would compliment her weaknesses? Presumably some armour too?

Sonnia wants witchlings (she can summon them), and Malifaux is fairly unusual in that you build your crew after you decide the scenario, so, things that you'd benefit from:

range (nothing from your list does range that well. An austringer is a staple, though)

speed for objectives (watchers are great, here)

the student, lucius, and judge are all pieces that are definitely worth it.

guild guards and death marshals do fine as fodder troops (with death marshals better with judge and guards better with lucius (who you can take in smaller games as a non-master if you choose))

the govornor's proxy isn't worth much at first, fine later on.

don't know much about the guardian.

The Guardian is a strong defensive model. While it is obviously better in a construct force under Hoffman or Ramos, it still has a role in any force that can take it. The simplest use is bodyguarding your master. Take Bodyguard [Your Master's name] as a Scheme, then on turn 1, the Guardian casts Protect on your master. Protect allows the Guardian to "soak" the wounds delivered to the model it is protecting, and the Guardian has a (0) Self-Repair action which gives it a healing flip. However, you are playing Sonnia, and she's a ranged master, so if you are playing her correctly, there should be friendly models between her and the enemy. Keeping the Guardian with her in such a situation would be a waste of points. A more aggressive use is to have the Guardian Protect a melee model and accompany it into close combat. I do this with my Steampunk Arachnid Swarms as they are powerful in melee, but easily damaged.

As spiralingcadaver has noted your planned crew (other than Sonnia) is weak with ranged. An austringer or two are a good choice, but you may also want to consider Nino Ortega, who is the ultimate sniper in the game. (As I know to my cost having played against him.) You might not like the sculpt though (I don't), but based on effectiveness he's worth it.

I actually got a Nino in trade where the guy put him on the sewer base with a wide, flat top (though any similar, stable looking object would work): instead of that strange jumping pose, it looked like he was stabilizing his aim by standing with his knee locking his elbow.

(I always forget about him, because I haven't used him or seen him across the table, yet.)

spiralingcadaver wrote:I actually got a Nino in trade where the guy put him on the sewer base with a wide, flat top (though any similar, stable looking object would work): instead of that strange jumping pose, it looked like he was stabilizing his aim by standing with his knee locking his elbow.

(I always forget about him, because I haven't used him or seen him across the table, yet.)

That makes more sense, although I wonder if that jumping pose was to respresent his "Trigger Happy" trigger where he gets a free second attack on a [Ram?] if the first ranged attack hits. That's one of his strengths since Nino can possibly get four shots off with two actions if a Guild player has the right cards in hand. In such a case the recoil might knock a sniper out of his nest!

Well, the mini came out well before the rules, but I'm pretty sure you're right about that representing trigger happy (or, rather, trigger happy representing that).

I was just pointing out that making him stand on something is a simple way of effecting his pose dramatically.