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I'd like to get back into playing a game, haven't played anything in years but have a fair bit of 40k stuff. I don't have the 7th edition rules and deffo no complete army I'd like to try one of the other games and start fresh. I've narrowed it down to warmachine or malifaux (I think) the minis from malifaux appeal to me for some reason but warmachine or hordes keeps getting my attention on the web.
Malifaux doesn't seem to have starter sets as such which is nice since you can pick a crew and rule book and just go from there whereas warmachine has a few different starter packs that offer more value for money.
I'm on the fence with what to pick and I'm going to look about and see if there are any clubs local to me for a lookie but I think I need to order something soon before I go mad saying no to my impulses over a new box to open and stuff
Anyone got pdf copies of the malifaux and warmachine rules that I could have a flick through, I have a mk1 warmachine rule book but I'd like a peek at the mk2/hordes ones and can't find malifaux at all. Note tho I'm not after rules for free as I like collecting the books just want to be able to spend a night or 2 reading and getting a feel for things before I blow 150 quid on a setup that I end up not liking.

Thanks for any and all advice guys I want to make my mind up and buy something new to paint and play with.

I find my decision forced by what other people are playing. If you have no opponents, then getting into whatever is just an exercise in painting and learn a gaming system.

Settlers of Catan

Primarily I have been more into modelling and painting anyway but I'd likes to set a bit aside each week and play something too. My other half isn't into wargames but II think I might be able to get her to have a bash at malifaux I think, I can't see her sticking to it but you never know and it would be great if she could share in what's been a deep love of mine since I was a kid.
Warmachine just keeps jumping out at me tho. I suppose buying boths an option and that would give me double the boxes and new shinies to fiddle with.
Anyone aware of stockists of WM and malifaux around n ireland????

Asking for sharing of copyrighted pdf's here is verboten regardless of your intentions.

That said, I think the best idea is to tame your impulses a little longer and go out and see a game of WM and Malifaux in person at your FLGS. Do they have Privateer "Press Gangers" in the UK? Those guys are always willing to run a demo game to potential newbies.

As Carnage43 says, going with what's popular locally or at least what has some local players is usually your best bet. I buy a lot of indie games rules, but even still, it's the ones that my club mates are willing to play that I buy and paint figures for.

jeff200sx wrote:
I'd like to get back into playing a game, haven't played anything in years but have a fair bit of 40k stuff. I don't have the 7th edition rules and deffo no complete army I'd like to try one of the other games and start fresh. I've narrowed it down to warmachine or malifaux (I think) the minis from malifaux appeal to me for some reason but warmachine or hordes keeps getting my attention on the web.
Malifaux doesn't seem to have starter sets as such which is nice since you can pick a crew and rule book and just go from there whereas warmachine has a few different starter packs that offer more value for money.
I'm on the fence with what to pick and I'm going to look about and see if there are any clubs local to me for a lookie but I think I need to order something soon before I go mad saying no to my impulses over a new box to open and stuff
Anyone got pdf copies of the malifaux and warmachine rules that I could have a flick through, I have a mk1 warmachine rule book but I'd like a peek at the mk2/hordes ones and can't find malifaux at all. Note tho I'm not after rules for free as I like collecting the books just want to be able to spend a night or 2 reading and getting a feel for things before I blow 150 quid on a setup that I end up not liking.

Thanks for any and all advice guys I want to make my mind up and buy something new to paint and play with.

I'd suggest looking up the Quick Start rules for Warmachine - they're only for the core battle-group stuff (they're not full rules), but it'll give you an idea of the basics of the game. (Bottom of this page: http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/the-game). There's also the rules for the starter models in there, if you want to try them out, it's just 30mm base for the casters, 40mm for the light jacks and 50mm for the heavy jacks.

As for which to take, both have their particular flavor, so it depends what sort of thing you like. Warmachine is a great game if you want a very balanced and skill based game, where every movement and decision can have a profound effect on the game. Personally, that suits me perfectly, but it's not what everyone is looking for in a game. It's also generally uses a fair few more models in a standard (35-50 point) game than Malifaux, though not nearly as many as 40k, so if you're looking for a bit more of a skirmish game than a squad level game, this might be good for you.

Malifaux I don't have that much experience with (when it first came out, the original rule book was terribly laid out and nearly indecipherable and put me off, but apparently 2nd Ed is much better), but it feels closer to an RPG with a squad, very thematic, and also perhaps a bit more casual. It might be a better idea if your wife isn't really into games much, though this is only going off my basic impressions of the game, not much actual experience.

That said, I'd definitely suggest looking through which games are stocked and played near you, as that'll probably have a big impact on your decision. Warmachine also tends to have more big events and tournaments in my experience, if that factors into your decision, but that might once again be area dependent.

I've recently got into Malifaux, and can whole-heartedly recommend it. The minis are of a stunning quality, the rules are fast to learn and very tactical, but simple on the surface. The background and setting is great too.

Around £55 gets you 2 crews and the small rulebook, so you can get going relatively cheap. If you're looking for more info on starting the game, there's a load of great advice here:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/595906.page

Are you interested in fluff? If so, read through more of the fluff and choose it based off that?

Either way, I don't think you can go wrong with either of those. They're both fantastic games.
I went down the WM and Infinity route myself.

Both are good - and I can also recommend Deadzone, and the Quickstart rules can be downloaded for free.

The starter has two playable forces and terrain, or you can buy a starting force.

Play is fast, and because victory conditions are kept secret you cannot be certain what your opponent is up to.

If you can get the cards for the Enforcers then you can cheat by using any space marines that you might happen to have.

Likewise Orks can be used for Marauders, if you have the decks.

The Auld Grump

 Carnage43 wrote:
I find my decision forced by what other people are playing. If you have no opponents, then getting into whatever is just an exercise in painting and learn a gaming system.

This is the only real suggestion. I mean, I could recommend Infinity, because I absolutely adore it at the moment. Others could recommend Malifaux, Warmachine, Dropzone Commander, Deadzone, or half a dozen other games that are becoming more mainstream.

But then your friends and or group play Flames of War, and we've just recommended a game you'll rarely get to play.

A few quick Google searches hasnt turned up any clubs around my area so speaking to gamers and having a quick blast at different games isn't really an option for me at the minute. I did how ever just have a nice chat with firestorm games who has reminded me of dropzone commander, this has piqued my interest from I first saw it as one of my favorite games of all time was space marine or epic 40k or whatever it got reincarnated to later.

So I guess it's now narrowed down to either warmachine or DZ commander. Im wondering mostly about the playtime of an average DZ game?? Im kinda looking to keep it down so that we can have a light hearted evening game without having to keep cracking on or run out of time. Whats the opinions guys?? any help would be appreciated.

I'm more partial to Warmachine. Games can go from a half hour to two hours depending on time and there's a lot of high tension drama in the game as well because even small decisions may have a huge impact.

 -Loki- wrote:

 Carnage43 wrote:
I find my decision forced by what other people are playing. If you have no opponents, then getting into whatever is just an exercise in painting and learn a gaming system.

This is the only real suggestion. I mean, I could recommend Infinity, because I absolutely adore it at the moment. Others could recommend Malifaux, Warmachine, Dropzone Commander, Deadzone, or half a dozen other games that are becoming more mainstream.

But then your friends and or group play Flames of War, and we've just recommended a game you'll rarely get to play.

As someone who tried for 2 full years to get Warmachine to catch on in his area, I second this wholeheartedly. Even the most perfect game with the best fluff is just a paperweight if you can't ever play it.

The key to getting a game going is to build two forces and just keep inviting people to play. Eventually you'll get someone else to join in on it. Then the two of you go play the game at public events like clubs, game knights at the local stores or conventions or whatever. At this point you just want people to see it played and do networking like exchanging contact info or offering a demo game or whatever.

What you don't do is go to dedicated gaming nights for other games and try to poach participants. And bad mouthing other games just gets people's backs up. I find even if someone bashes a game and I agree that it's terrible, the most I'll say is "I guess some people like it, though I much prefer this." and get back to the game.

Blood Bowl is great, and free if you already have any non-SM army. Everyone should play Blood Bowl.

X-Wing is very fun and $100-ish will get you a very nice fleet. (Starter box w Rules ~$45 plus a few other ships from $15 to $35)

Malifaux is fun but the learning curve is very steep. Lots and lots of Special Rules to remember and they all stack and interact. Gorgeous models.

jeff200sx wrote:
A few quick Google searches hasnt turned up any clubs around my area so speaking to gamers and having a quick blast at different games isn't really an option for me at the minute. I did how ever just have a nice chat with firestorm games who has reminded me of dropzone commander, this has piqued my interest from I first saw it as one of my favorite games of all time was space marine or epic 40k or whatever it got reincarnated to later.

So I guess it's now narrowed down to either warmachine or DZ commander. Im wondering mostly about the playtime of an average DZ game?? Im kinda looking to keep it down so that we can have a light hearted evening game without having to keep cracking on or run out of time. Whats the opinions guys?? any help would be appreciated.

Where are you? Maybe someone can point you towards a local club.

Moira, Northern Ireland. The only wargame shop I even know of around these parts is GW Belfast, any searches I have done only turns up links to clubs that havent been updated since 2008 etc, its ok tho I had a good chat with Jake at firstorm games yesterday and he went through a load of options and I finally settled for Dropzone commander. 2 friends in similar situations to me ( all work no play ) have agreed we need a bit of man time away from work, kids and other halves so we are gonna do 1 evening a week with a couple of beers and some games.

Ordered the following:-

2 player starter set
Acrylic Template set
Ruinscape Board
50 2mm x 1mm magnets
Ucm Command cards
Scourge Command cards

Just got an email saying its all on the way except the cards so I'm chuffed.
I know there are plenty of reviews etc here for sellers but I'll add another thumbs up to the mix for firestorm games here, Jakes been fantastic to chat with, full of advice, the prices are competitive and free first class postage too, I didn't need to ask if he would split the order due to the 2 command cards not being in today's delivery and everything else is on the way and command cards will follow when they arrive in stock. All in all a very pleasant experience to buy from, Id prefer to buy local but over here there's no one i know of that caters to this hobby so mail order is the only choice for now.

Its looking like a second starter set might be getting ordered to get another UCM force as its cheaper than the UCM starter force available so would anyone on here wish to have the scourge side of it?? Depending on what Andrew wants to do he might sell on the entire box minus the UCM figures so someone could pick up a starter set for scourge with all the rules and tokens etc perhaps?? pm me if that would interest you or a friend.

Thanks
Jeff

oh and Feeder your absolutely right Blood Bowl is a cracking game, ill need to go to mums and bring it down here, have a fair few of the teams so that will be another one for us to play.

Good call on both DZC and Firestorm.

That Dropzone Commander box is too dadgum tempting for me. Plus, the gameplay is very intuitive.

Wow, 1 evening a week! I'm jealous! I'm lucky to get one evening a week quarterly!

Owning your own business can really suck sometimes.

Warzone Resurrection. You can buy several armies for what one 40k army would cost, and the you go I go system is way more fun that one side moving their whole army then the next guy moving their whole army. Ad the models are awesome too.

I agree with the thing about who plays in your area. I wanted to start warmachine recently but I couldn't find anyone in my area and the volunteer Press Ganger system which I mailed didn't reply so I really couldn't find anyone.

Still, I'll probably buy a few models to paint up because it was the models which started me wanted to play warmachine.

Looking forward to the boxes arriving and getting my hands on these guys, not keen on the scourge but I think it just the colors I've seen so far. I think from the fluff I have read they are organic thingies so I might head away from the metallics I've been seeing and go for something 'nid like with a bony chitin feel in bright colors?....... Maybe

If it's been a while since you painted, youtube has become an amazing resource for miniature painting. As well check out the painting tutorials subforum here on Dakka Dakka.

I think an organic look on the scourge would turn out pretty cool.

Would it fit into the cannon tho? Everyone is going down the metallic route with them and even adding the stripes with washes too, I think mainly because that's how dave painted the originals up perhaps but after a mate seeing the starter se the immediately noticed them and said they were not his cuppa at all. There's not too much in he way of alternate paint jobs floating about on the net tho and nothing that I have found yet that jumps out at me.
Has anyone seen different styles on scourge models and could posts links please?

Good choice with Dropzone - it's very fast to play and easy to pick up, but with a nice potential for tactical input by the player. Helps also that the minis are so gorgeous!

If you get the rulebook there is a section in there with some alternate paint-schemes, some of which look great. The Hawk Wargames forum also has a pretty good section on painting and modelling - certainly, I wouldn't feel that you have to paint them purple!

It's not really the purple That's not working for me I think it's more about the quality of the minis themselves deserve something that shows then off more. There's so much detail packed into them I'd like to take my time and try to figure out something that really pops. Grrrrrrrr I wish the postman would arrive.I hate that I'm really hoping it's going to arrive today even tho it only shipped yesterday but first class postage sometimes surprises you but I'm giving into my inner child and getting my hopes up. Postie usually arrives about 2 pm.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
HOLY S**T it came!!!!
I know for a fact that less than 24 hours ago all this was sitting in Wales still.... thumbs up to royal mail!! mmm smaller package than i had expected, but quite heavy.


I feel like a kid again.. hehehe love it

time to go and open stuff


Verdict is good, the minis are great and well reviewed all over so not much Ill add to that aside from my mail order luck strikes again and I got a set with a damaged sprue one of the UCM sprues has a blob of black plastic slipped in and not melted correctly and that same sprue has a dropship body all melted near the rear section and its little radar dish.
Im not going to hold this against Hawk in any way cos the box is packaged inside brilliantly and i have seen Dave in numerous videos, its obvious he loves his product and puts his heart and soul into it, this will be an isolated incidence no doubt and everything else is perfect.

The blast templates are pretty sexy too, much thicker than I had expected and the same goes for the ruinscape, very very heavy card used for it.

Chuffed. I think now ill call it a day with work, the models can wait till tomorrow and ill do some modelling for me now !

It IS really inspiring watching that dude talk about his game, and his lisp is adorable.

Shoot Hawk an email and they will gladly replace the damaged parts. I don't have any DZC miniatures, but I've heard nothing but good about their customer service.

jeff200sx wrote:
Moira, Northern Ireland.

If I'm not too late to reply: Dragonslayers meets in the Queens University student union every Tuesday night from 6pm. Non-console gamers are largely herded to one side of the hall, and most of those play RPGs or MtG, but there is a small gaggle who meet to play Malifaux, Infinity, some Bushido and the occasional game of 40K.

I used to go down regularly, but not so much since the only game I played there was Malifaux, and that mostly out of politeness to Bob: a guy I've known for a while, who became a Wyrd henchman and switched almost completely to Malifaux. I don't much enjoy the game myself, 1st ed being more full of broken special rules, beardy combos and massive power creep (Power creep? Power sprint) than 40K, and me trying to struggle on with the most nerfed master and crew (Hoffman, and guild constructs) rather than give in to the Pay To Win thing. 2nd ed's an improvement but I dunno if it's enough for my tastes - too little too late for me. Nevertheless, YMMV, and if you fancy the look of Malifaux go down there of a Tuesday and ask for Bob.

Infinity's a slightly different prospect. I had my first demo of it last time I was there, and was pleasantly surprised by the deceptively simple tactical depth. (just the kind of game I like) I might get into that meself. And I've been interested in DZC as a possible alternative to Epic.

The other thing is, if you've got a bunch of 40K minis lying around, what about using 'em with a different set of rules? Warpath 2.0 is free to download and an improvement on 1.0, IIRC. Me, I've had a look at Victory Decision: Future Combat and like it well enough. If you can get to Dragonslayers and you're amenable, some time in the future, it'll give me an excuse to dust off and properly finish some tyranids. (Your situation's a bit like mine: haven't looked at 40K in years and deffo no complete army!)
Been thinking of going back down there once in a while to try to drum up some interest in fantasy battle gaming and dust off some skaven, too. I also have trouble finding anything that isn't Warhammer in the GW Belfast shop. There's a historical gaming club nearer to me, in Omagh, which is quite good for decent games like Pike & Shotte or Battlegroup Kursk, but 'goblin and wizard' games tend to be met with anything from apathy to sneers. But I digress.

Other clubs... There used to be one in Bangor that I visited once or twice, but like you I don't know if it's still going; ditto the one in the Stranmillis boat club. AFAIK the Ulster Wargames Society in Belfast is still around (they had a visit from the Too Fat Lardies last year), but I think it's almost exclusively devoted to historical games too, and I dunno how interested you are in that. (Still, if you're casting an eye about for other games, why not? Sometimes real life settings and events are as exciting and interesting as fictional ones)