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Basically, I want to get into Malifaux and have seen two box sets which I think look really cool and would like to paint up. Unfortunatley I have no understanding of the rules of the game, so I need help in choosing which of these two box sets is best for a newbie, or give some suggestions of other box sets. The ones I like are THE DESOLATE AND THE SOULLESS - Leveticus Box Set and MINERS AND STEAMFITTERS UNION - Ramos Box Set . What do you think?

If you're just looking at those two boxes, I would suggest Ramos. Ramos is a decently easy box to learn, though I would suggest picking up some of the steamborg arachnids, since you'll be wanting to take the little guys and turning them into the swarms, and vice versa.

A good general "tactic" for picking a starting box is to pick one of the book 1 Masters from one of the four main factions, as they're generally of decent power level, and their abilities are too confusing, since the game was a bit simpler then.

Of those two options I would have to say Ramos.

More improtantly though, you should pick the one that you like the most. There are only a few masters that aren't really competitive.

Leveticus's box set is not very beginner-friendly. His playstyle is rather unorthodox.

In Malifaux, you generally draw up to your hand size at the beginning of the turn; Leveticus does not do that. He instead relies on his abilities to replenish his hand.
Also, Leveticus's survival strategy is unconventional in that he doesn't hide behind cover, have high health, or high armor. He survives by dying and reincarnating into other models. Very unconventional.

Ramos, on the other hand, is fun and much more user-friendly.
Note that Ramos and Leveticus may be of different 'factions', but they have a common pool of models that can both take. Notably, Leveticus's assistant, Rusty Alyce, grants benefits when taken specifically by Leveticus or Ramos.

Cool, thanks for the great feedback guys! I might start of with Ramos then Although what really drew me to Leveticus's box set was the steampunk abominations.

For what it's worth, your Ramos crew could hire Rusty Alyce who has the ability to summon Steampunk Abominations in-game.

As before, Alyce has great synergy with Ramos as a master specifically referencing him in her abilities.

 Absolutionis wrote:
For what it's worth, your Ramos crew could hire Rusty Alyce who has the ability to summon Steampunk Abominations in-game.

For what it's worth, Leveticus can hire every piece in the Ramos starter set (including Ramos, in larger games)

 spiralingcadaver wrote:

 Absolutionis wrote:
For what it's worth, your Ramos crew could hire Rusty Alyce who has the ability to summon Steampunk Abominations in-game.

For what it's worth, Leveticus can hire every piece in the Ramos starter set (including Ramos, in larger games)

These are great ideas

So what is the size of an average game? Would I be able to fit Ramos and his crew, Rusty Alyce and the summoned Steampunk Abominations into an average sized game?

Also how well would it work? As I have yet to start learning some of the basic mechanics of the game.

Games come in 2 sizes, scraps and brawls.

Scraps are your regular game. They're 1 master vs 1 master, they can be of any point size, but generally top out at 35 soulstones. The max starting soulstones in your cache is 8

Brawls are "larger" games. They're 2 masters vs 2 masters. The lowest size Brawl you can have is 35 soulstones. Your max starting soulstones in your cache is 10.

Note: In scraps you can have a Master and a Henchman, but you pay for the Henchman in soulstones. If you have a Henchman leading your crew you add their soulstone cost to your starting soulstones, but your max cache is 6.

So in a scrap you couldn't have Ramos and Levi together, but a brawl you could

 MetalOxide wrote:
Would I be able to fit Ramos and his crew, Rusty Alyce and the summoned Steampunk Abominations into an average sized game?

You'd only be adding one model to the ramos crew's cost, so unless Ramos' crew is unusually expensive (I don't think it is), I believe that you'd be fine, with a worst-case-scenario of wanting to drop a spider or two. I believe Alyce's summoning mechanic probably won't see more than a couple extra SPA's in play at a time unless you're playing actively towards trying to get more of them (rather than more opportunistically).