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I have yet to play a single game of Malifaux, but I'm starting to finally learn the rules (had the minis and books sat on shelf for a while now) and hoping to play it real soon...While reading through the rules, I was a little dissapointed to learn each game only lasts 5 turns... with a possibility of it maybe going longer... but only if you flip the right cards. Seems like you would spend the first couple of turns moving into combat then theres only a few turns left where the actual action/fun stuff takes place? Doesnt that feel a bit like... it all abruptly comes tom an end when its just about to get good in some games? How does that even make sense from a story standpoint... they just call a truce mid battle? I was kinda hoping it would be a battle to the death with these awesome looking minis...

Turn 1 has way more action than most games' turn 1, and a huge part of the game is resource management, which includes action count.

One of the big things most wargamers need to learn when shifting to Malifaux is that kills don't necessarily equate to wins. Also, more often than not, by turn 5, it's fairly clear who's in the lead, so there's not a real need to push past it.

My recommendation is that it's got great tactical depth and replay value, and is completely worth it if you're looking for strategy and willing to deal with a steep initial learning curve.

Yeah, 5 turns is usually plenty. I have had a few games where a 6th turn would have changed the winner, but they chose 5 for a reason.

Nothing to stop you playing some kind of annihilation game, of course, but I think you'll find that such games will get boring fairly quickly, while using the regular strategies and schemes has a huge amount of replay value and balance.

Malifaux is a game where you can win despite being tabled.

Five turns is enough to decide the game due to the focus not being on killing, but rather on objectives.

I felt the same when I moved to Infinity and Malifaux from 40k. But something to remember about skirmish games is because of the detail level in the rules, a lot happens in those 5 turns. More than a longer game of 40k where most units wil stand in place and blast away with long range guns.

There's movement, counter movement, marker placement, opposed duels and more going on in any given activation, then repeating that by how many models the larger side is.

I find that by the end of a good skirmish game, I'm more mentally exhausted than a large game of 40k which went for more turns, simply because I'm thinking more about what I'm doing.

Yep. I play 40k to wind down, while infinity and malifaux are my ones when I want to sit down in a serious fight. I often have Malifaux games last longer than 40k ones.

Yup, it's racing against the clock. 'Faux is all about building a list with enough AP to get stuff done, while still being able to hold the line.

Some tournaments play max 5 turns due to time constraints and even then some games don't go all the way to turn 5. Saying that by the end of turn 4 i was down to 3 models and my opponent was down to 1 yesterday one of the most brutal games we've played ending up with a low scoring 2-1 win to me.

All of the above. To which I'd add that due to a smaller board and potentially faster movement there's less pre-combat shuffling than larger games. Guns will be drawn from the get-go and fast CC models can get into combat as soon as the second turn.

I suggest looking up some video batreps to get a real idea of how fast paced and action-packed Malifaux is. You also need to bear in mind this isn't a game of armies clashing; it's short, sharp and brutal showdowns between gangs of gunslingers, mages, outlaws and demons; every move matters, and even in a 'short' game a lot can happen.

Yeah, I primarily play a fast master, which means that the bottom of turn 1 us usually when the first major damage starts coming in, which isn't that uncommon.

It's pretty weird playing other systems now where the first turn is creeping up behind something.

A good thing to keep in mind is something else mentioned earlier about being a smaller table of 3x3.

In malifaux the average speed I believe is 5, although a lot of models hit 6. If you have a crew of 5 speed and use 2AP for walks only, that's almost a third of the board covered. With 6 spd that's over a third. With masters it's redonkulous. Not to mention if they have fast, or get pushed, teleport, etc. Also not mentioning deployment zones, with a possibility of being deployed extremely close.

With a 4 ft long board for a game like 40k you have the same average speed of 6 inches, but you're covering an extra foot of distance. Although you can run it's not consistent and rarely will cover the same ground Malifaux does. Thus early game action is relegated to long range weaponry.

In a game with Shenlong as a master using pushes from his Henchman Yu and a Kamaitachi, he's moving 18" with his AP, pushed 5" from Yu and gives him fast for another 6" move, and pushed again with Kamaitachi another 6". In one turn he can go from his deployment to the edge of the board then walk back a bit.

Actually, Ninja, it works out differently in reality. Regardless of where you are on the board, if you move twice with a walk of 6, you cover a third of the board. The distance of the board you cover is what changes. It's a difficult one to clarify.

Another thing to clarify is terrain. A Malifaux board generally has 1/3 to 1/2 of the board covered in terrain.

Plus, you can have someone like McMourning, who can move 31 inches in a turn (poison damage push from catalyst, 7 inch move [5+nurse boost] x3, 5 inch end of turn push), or levi, who teleports through his waifs (essentially). Bury shenigans also add to the fun.... Or Tara with scramble, too...

I must have miscommunicated, I meant with a 4 ft table there's an extra foot to cover. So if on a 4 ft board you walk twice with spd 6 that's only a quarter of the table.

My first game of 35 soulstone malifaux (with neither of us knowing the rules) took 4 hours to complete 5 turns

5 turns is definitely a good spot once the rules speed up