What is Veeky Forums's take on Malifaux? Is it worth buying in two right now if there is a scene near me...

What do you man?
As I understand it, you:
1. Pick a model to activate.
2. Generate AP for it.
3. Do stuff with it.

So you would still generate the Nimble AP, even if it is from a condition that you lose during the activation.
I guess the difference is in the specificity of it - if the condition ends "at the start of this model's activation" you would not generate the AP.

How are you losing nimble?

He probably means Fast

If I ran McCabe and started off let's say the Brutal Emissary with the badge of speed, it would have nimble to start. Then it could use a 0 action to give the badge of speed to another model.

It would keep the ap.

Guys, I want to pick Titania's box when it's out in general release. What plays well with her? How to expand her to 50 points?

Get a big beater like Nekima, faster scheme runners like the tots, primordial magic if you want to actually have a totem, and dopplegangers are never bad. I personally find myself taking McTavish, giving him hexed among us, and plopping some waldgeists down next to the stash markers and the like. You have a lot of choices.

What is everyone expecting from the new book later this year? So far they have only previewed pic related.

thats actually just an alt joss

I think he is actually an alt. model. Not a new stand alone.

I was hoping that he would be a new one like some of the other TTB expies.

I'm hoping for new forms of existing masters and new master upgrades

I love Doug!

In one turn Yin, an Illuminated, and an Ashigaru all died from activated within 6" of Sebastian while having poison. Also Yan Lo and Toshiro got turned into flesh constructs.

In another game, I got to use plastic surgery to turn daydreams into canine remains and a flesh construct.

What said, also Lazarus, Tuco, Sorrows, Insidious Madness are all good.

>alt joss
Shit, now I gotta get him.

I'm a bit up in the air - he's a far better match for Colette than regular Joss, but it's a slightly lame pose and I don't particularly like the swords.

I don't like the swords either, but come on. Alt Arcanists don't get released every day.

WMH sucks. Best games are Infinity and Armada.

If this is Malifaux general now...

I've also just gotten interested in getting into Malifaux. I saw an Ashes & Dust for 13.50 in clearance at my local game store, and looking into it, Leveticus seems like a pretty cool crew.

But on that topic, how much of a pain is it to use 1st edition models now? I'd need to acquire 2e stat cards on the secondary market, apparently? Or do they exist in some book that I can just make a copy of? I'm unclear.

All the stat cards are in the various books, the faction decks (only for Crossroads, currently) or war game vault for print on demand.

My main issue is the pose. It is pretty lame and looks like it could have been made with the TTB character kit. Compare that to regular plastic Joss who actually looks like he is ready for a fight.

It's completely different than 40k and WM/H.

The only similarities is that they all use miniatures.

Malifaux is easy to pick up, but very hard to play at a high level. Every model has quite a bit of options available to it as to what it can do in an activation and all the synergies/combos and abilities will leave a ton of "gotcha" moments.

It's fun as hell though, don't let that discourage you.

I would like to see a run of limited upgrades for every master. For masters who already have a set, I'd like to see them offer a new type of playstyle. Similar to how the brutal emissary allows perdittia to be more obey focused.
For masters who don't have limited upgrades I'd like to see them get two (because otherwise there's no point to it being limited), and have them either create a playstyle (admittedly a lot harder to do), or to simple accentuate a current aspect of their kit. For an example maybe a limited for Tara that focuses on the handing out of fast and slow and some more manipulation on it, and another that augments burying. Such as giving her the ability to unbury things next to scheme markers like the brutal emissary instead of their usual places.

Other than that I don't think we need another set of masters at the moment, nor do we need some emissary like piece. I do like the models that theyve been making to work for two different masters, like the ice dancers, and the witching thralls.

That already happened in the form of the Emissaries.

I like both Nellie and Hoffman's fluff, which is better for a new player?

>Love the Malifaux minis and lore and the system seems really cool
>Can't justify pulling the trigger and buying into it cos I'm in the process of pulling away from the hobby altogether
>No-one to play with, can't sustain my motivation by just modeling
>This hobby is really cool but I think not for me

Malifaux seems really damn cool tho. Prolly gonna keep following the news and stuff. Would love to see a regular Malifaux General in Veeky Forums

Oh, I'm only whinging because I can, I'm pretty happy we get such a nice Alt - he does look like one suave cunt.
He's just very static, as says.

You can get the cards from the PDFs that will appear on the next thread, or in the archives, and you can buy the cards from Wargame Vault (if you are US) or in the faction Arsenal Decks, but as noted, they are books 1 and 2 only.
Using the 1st Ed models is absolutely fine.

Here's a Levi crew for inspiration/motivation.

Both are less direct damage. Hoffman is pure support, buffing his crew and making them do stuff, while Nellie is more control by debuffing enemies and positioning models but she can also help her dudes out with fast, healing, and free attacks. Nellie is crazy flexible and won't get hard countered like Hoff so she's probably better to start.

As said, they already did that.

Besides the Emissary, I don't think further accentuation of the playstyles is really necessary - or 'safe' for game balance.
At high levels of play people can already go ham with a good set of Tara Unbury-s or Raspy Ice Mirrors or Sonja carpet bombing.
Most Masters just don't need, and the game wouldn't benefit from, making the calculatedly over-powered skills more powerful.

At least, I don't think it could be done well, leaving balance intact, given the wide range of models and skills available to every facion now.

Perhaps making them Conflux-like upgrades you can take for fully-themed lists?

Colette with only Showgirls gives the whole Crew the "Hands Off My Girls" upgrade, granting all Minion Showgirls Pounce or summoning a Guild Guard if a Performer dies near a Master/Henchman - a bit more hitty to compensate for a combat-fragile theme.

I think Nellie will probably give you more headroom as far as getting better as you learn as well, simply because she's apparently so utterly disgustingly outrageously brokenly versatile.

Maybe a little tricky to learn to play, but arguably not that much worse than any other non-smashy Master.

Also, as already stated, Hoffman might get HARD coutnered in a game, and that will just be a miserable slog, which is always annoying when learning a game.

There kind of is a general but it keeps dying.

Yup, there is a regular MfxG, but our playerbase isn't quite large or talkative enough to sustain a general chatter thread 24/7.

I'm hoping some time is going to free up so I can go back to posting the occasional map and scheme pool and do some of the historically very low participation crew-picking practice.

If all a y'all want to join in, or post the lists that you .can. field and get advice on how to score with an imperfect crew into an awkward scheme pool, you definitely should.

I myself only have two Masters and (I guess technically four) and a relatively limited/theme-y collection of models, so that's how I'm approaching crew selection at the moment - what can I do with what I have, rather than what can I pick to do the schemes flipped.

I just bought into a lilith crew. I absolutely love the models. the guy who does Malifaux around here said he's gonna do everything to try and make sure I enjoy it. It's a small group around here but between the models looking so cool and the guy being decent i think i'm okay with that.

There's no constant general because there isn't anything new to talk about after ripples of fate, except for the other side, which we still don' have much to talk about

To an extent. For masters who are already viewed as competitive they got an alternative playstyle, like Levi, and perdittia. However some of the less powerful masters generally got more blanket buffs.
The big problem I have with the emissaries is that in order to get those upgrades you have to take a 10ss model that may or may not fit well into your crew. I like the hodgepodge emissary but I like to use my 10ss slot for a heavy hitter. For someone like the Vik's I think it's fine, but for vonschills he's competing with Hannah, Strongarm, and Lazarus.

I would just rather see a set of upgrades since they are simpler than making a Swiss army knife model that's supposed to work and not break 7 other models (emissaries), doesn't require as much playtesting as an entirely new model with new mechanics (new wave of masters), or even having to make a new model (sculpts not rules). I would be fine with them putting a restriction on them like what suggested. Mostly because I prefer thematic crews.

I think it would arguably be better, easier, and cheaper than the alternatives.

>Infinity and Armada.
>Armada

Armada is lots of fun - good luck finding enough people to have a variety in play style.

The henchmen are usually really nice guys in my experience. I have heard of some that are really anal with proxies, but after seeing someone use Simalcrum 29 as the Shadow Emissary at the last tournament I don't think that I have that issue.

Lorewise, do we know how the Guild managed to conquer the world? Was it just the monopoly on soulstones that allowed them to grab the nations of the world by the balls?

Seconding this, the henchmen in my area are fantastic and my local community is amazing.
I've been playing since October and can count my wins on one hand but I've been having fun the whole time.

Largely as soulstones can power giant airships and other crazy contraptions. Though it isn't absolute as each nation has a degree of autonomy. The Other Side will supposedly demystify the earthside fluff when that hits fully.

Veeky Forums isn't the best place for Malifaux chatter, the best place is the Facebook group "A Wyrd Place" it's literally where all the chat is, 24/7.

We don't really know what happened during the black powder wars, but somehow they came out on top. After the reopening of the breach they took over malifaux and since then have had an iron grip on the soulstone market.

>The big problem I have with the emissaries is that in order to get those upgrades you have to take a 10ss model that may or may not fit well into your crew.
But they are crafted to fit into your faction, and then given a specific upgrade to accentuate the preferred playstyle of your Master.

>I would just rather see a set of upgrades since they are simpler... doesn't require as much playtesting...
I think anything that makes a significant change to how the Master, the lynchpin of every crew, works is going to take a shit of a lot of playtesting - at least if it's a 10ss model you have to control for fewer other models in the crew.

I've heard that as more "A Groupthink Place" than the epicentre of quality Malifaux discussion.
A few too many people riding the S&S and tournament scene's dicks.

Not that Veeky Forums is where you should be coming for for reasoned debate and a wide audience of talented players, to be fair.
At least AWP has a massive readership to advise you.

My opinion: The Other side will flop.

Making it completely separate from Malifaux will bone them in the long run. If one was able to use Malifaux models as heroes/solos or similar it would help the entry barrier.

People are more hesitant to start an entirely new system if nothing they own "transfers" over.

Systems like Bolt Action / Konflict '47 and Warmachine / Hordes do it better.

It's nothing to do with integration, the issue is that there's no real appeal to the game.

Basically no one can answer why I should play this over any other miniature game.

But on top of the system being uninspiring (what little we know of it) there won't be any "fuck it, why not, I have some minis already" players at the start.

>AWP

guys r8 my list

levi + 9 belles

Has anyone tried through the breach yet? How is it? Are there rules for the factions?

My friends backed it and got the playtest rules and have been playing it proxy etc. Honestly i just have no interest to join them and i think they are quickly realizing just how unbalanced it is and more slowly realizing how little it offers over Malifaux. One of the big barriers to me is how uninspiring the base miniatures are. Kings Empire is the same as every other steampunk england, Cult of the Burning Man is basically warhammer chaos instead of something fresh like hillbillies with pitchforks or something more like JDs tormented and fishmen are fishmen.
Abyssinia is the only interesting one but their minis don't match their description AT ALL, they are described as the faction with the most soulstones fielding heavy armor and big stompy machines to make up for lower manpower but their minis are just all standard lightly armored infantry.

I have. The core rulebook is the least balanced book and the one with the most errors/fuckups, but fortunately they are doing a "2e" (more of a 1.5 really) which redoes the core book, whilst basically being the same system so all the splatbooks (which are way higher quality) will still be compatible. At the moment I'd say the game is fun but not the best, but the new core rulebook could actually fix that.

It doesn't have strict faction rules, though you can recreate 80ish% of the malifaux models either as your character or acquiring them as a summon/pet so creating a faction themed party is easy and is one of the core/easiest ways to play. The "factions" of malifaux are very loose in the setting anyway, a party that blurs the lines or is unrelated to all of them fits in just fine.

I have to agree with you there. The designs are just phoned in and have very little going on. The Malifaux PVC figures at least have a lot of character. It just isn't inspiring for the price they are asking.

Honestly if Burning Man had been basically the poor and downtrodden of london grouping up as angry mobs supported by extradimensional horrors or Abyssinia had actually delivered on its fluff instead of being Kangz Empire i probably would get into it.

>how unbalanced it is
How unbalanced is it?
In what way?
Is it something you see being balanced with the full range of units, or flaws int eh structure of the game?

Ive never sat and watched my friends play a full game, so i cant give anything more than secondhand information. So far it doesn't seem to be about the system more just there are a lot of initial problems they are apparently responding to in the playtest, like abyssinia having absurd card draw, certain units being better than others and kings empire being dogshit.
Considering supposedly changes are coming out fairly quickly (seems every 2-3 weeks there's some change) at this stage of the playtest it is possible that this kind of stuff will be fixed.

Now this next bit is completely my opinion and not based on anything but the "flip a card to see if you die and if so how hard" mechanic seems fucking retarded and locking off half a unit's abilities until they get scared enough to use them doesn't sound fun, it sounds more like a mechanic for a transformers wargame to be honest.

>locking off half a unit's abilities until they get scared enough to use them
But that's only for one faction.
I think the Glory mechanic is one of the few bits that's potentially pretty cool, and I like that each faction seems to have a significantly different trigger for it.

I didn't mean literally "scared enough" i suppose "desperate enough" would be more accurate. My problem with it is it is in practice going to be more "this model has some of its power locked away" than "this model can get new powers!".

I'm going to have to be the naysayer and say I actually really like the designs for the Other Side. The execution needs a lot of work, the actual models they've shown off for the price they are asking is disappointing. If the details had been crisper, I'd have been okay.

The Glory mechanic was one of those things that I warmed up to the more they showed. The first stuff shown, it wasn't that interesting, but as time went on and they started showing how units used it or affected it, it started to pique my interest. Especially the ways certain abilities can force you to lose your Glory.

That would be the smart thing.
Malifuax is a great game, but even a great game can suck to play if all you have are smelly autists to play against.

Most of the time you can take objectives that involve killing. And killing is generally a good way to stop your opponent from scoring objectives.

You can play it pretty killy if you want.

>Emissaries
They are, however they don't always work as well with every master in that faction. Like I said before with the hodgepodge emissary I'm using a fifth of my list for what amounts to a scheme runner with a decent gun that has a few neat trinkets. Now if I want to fit a heavy hitter that's probably either the strongarm, Hannah, bishop, A&D, etc that's probably another 10+ points. So I've spent at least 20+ points in order to improve my master, and get a heavy hitter I'm going to need. I now have to fit the other upgrades on the master, the other core models I need, and whatever else I should add for the match up. As opposed to a 1-3 point upgrade I can slide in.

>Playtesting
I disagree. If we use the emissaries as an example since they are the closest comparable things. Then that's 2-4 abilities + 2-4 actions + 1-2 abilities/actions/triggers on the specific upgrade that has to be balanced against every model the faction can take + every master and all their upgrades, including their limited upgrades + any out of faction models the masters have available that they need to be balanced against. The specific upgrades don't have to be balanced against other masters but thats still a lot to be balanced.

This is compared to an upgrade with 1-2 abilities/actions/triggers being balanced against every model in the faction + the masters abilites - their limited which tend to be their stronger abilities, + any out of factions that they have available to, but since it's made specifically with those options in mind they can tailor it for those.

Masters, as you have said, are the lynchpins of a crew. They have the biggest impact on a crew. If we give them new limited upgrades they don't have to be balanced specifically against the seven other masters in the faction for worry of breaking the game, unlike a new model.

Plus you can do stuff to reflect the fluff. A new upgrade for Sonnia post-cherufe, robo Schill, teenage dreamer, etc.

I wanted to get The Other Side, but even with getting everything for $600 burgers, I couldn't justify it.

I did $160 since I'll have 3 other friends to play with.

As a backer, I agree. For the most part anyway. Its a much simpler Malifaux, and to be honest I quite enjoy playing it when I'm not in the mood for the mental exertion that is required to play Malifaux and a decent level. A 50ss game of Malifaux or two is tiring. Fun, but tiring. ToS offers a decent rule-set (people will disagree with me, but whatever. Its FINE.) with very VERY reduced mental strain. Its incredibly easy to play in comparison.

I disagree that with the sentiment that some people have that there isn't a market for it, but its building that market with the very intimidating first purchase that I think will be the real killer. If it can last a few years, lets say TWO for arguments sake, I think it can find its place. But whether or not the game can do that is yet to be seen. Probably not from the interest the overall miniatures game community has shown it.

With Warmachine dying (No surprise there) I am tempted to just try it to see how things pan out. As pointed out it is really simple so perhaps people who are more in things for the rules will get into it.

I agree that they need to have some sort of cheaper entry point though. They are pricing themselves out of the market when even GW has made their starter sets more reasonable.

What is everyone's favorite new scheme?

I personally can't resist taking tail em

I play Lilith so Tail 'Em is even more of a prime choice. That said, I am wondering if the scheme is a little too easy.

I personally lean towards Dig Their Graves because being able to set up an area with scheme markers beforehand is always an exciting endeavor.

>Lilith so Tail 'Em... is a little too easy.
I think it's maybe just a matter of getting used to how to build hte crew to deny it.
I like that thte schemes this time around require you to build to them in completely different ways than the last set - the balances of Henchmen, and Enforcers for damage dealing is completely upset.

Some of the faction specific groups actually have some p good discussion, or at least the resser one.

I mainly play titania so Dig their graves is basically my dream scheme.

I'm beginning to hate frame for murder though, my local scene has a couple of arcanist players and they always take Howard with Imbued energies and launch him at my crew, he's too dangerous to leave alive so I always end up giving away at least two points and it's really frustrating

Dig Their Graves is nice. Killing with a twist is good for cutting down on "table then score" mentality.

Can't you bury or paralyze him? I know bury is probably hard for NB but paralyze should be possible. Have you tried finishing him off with a condition or obeying him to walk into hazardous terrain?

>finishing him off with a condition
Seconding this, whenever frame is in the pool, its not a bad idea to include a poison or burning dealer in the crew.

Poison can be a little more difficult unless the target is HTK or you are ressur/hiring a performer.

So I'm getting back into malifaux and need some purchasing advice. I have the Seamus box, Yin, the Hanged, Dead doxies and Bete Noire and I'm looking into my next purchase.

Should I get the Mcmourning box for the nurses and start expanding his crew out like I've done for Seamus's or should I pick up the Carrion Emissary first?

Both are pretty good choices, especially since Yin and Bete can do decently with McM.

I would consider Molly though, since she loves Seamus' box.

I'll probably pick her up a bit later, I want to get Mcmourning and his nurses (and the emissary) before I get weird with it.

Well i started the game with McMourning and he is a blast. Personally i think if you have nurses and doxies the carrion emissary will be unnecessary, i know i certainly don't have one. The Carrion Emissary is not a big beater and i would say that is what you are lacking in what you own, in my opinion before the emissary you should pick up either the rogue necromancy with its smell fear, terror and ability to dish out poison it works great for both or Izamu the Armor who is my main beater for McM crews and considering you've got Yin you can then go into Yan Lo!

>I mainly play titania so Dig their graves is basically my dream scheme.
I just listened to the latest Arcane Reservoir, all about Titania.
They seem to thinks she's rubbish - generates only just enough scheme markers to power her own crews abilities, so either you aren't scoring schemes (no scheme markers at the end of the turn) or you aren't using your abilities (no markers already available at the start of the turn), and she doesn't do the raw damage she needs to without using aforementioned markers.

I have no idea, yet to see any of the latest round of markers on the table at my club.

As for Howard - Titania's crew gives out loads of Slow, and one of the Knights has that "no moves/pushes" ability (trigger?).
Arcane Reservior did mention that there are a couple of good Challenge-like auras in Titania's crew that can be crazy good at AP-denial or hand-draining if you engage the threat with a different model.

>They seem to thinks she's rubbish - generates only just enough scheme markers to power her own crews abilities,
I very much disagree with this, with the right crew setup (Two knights of your choice, Aeslin and Queens Champion) I've never had any issues getting enough markers down.

Using Iggy helps for this and he's cheap enough to slide in most list. He can also help with show of force.

Personally I'm liking FfM on a suit because I play Daw.

I've only played against her but before even getting into scheme runners her crew always created enough scheme markers for her various abilities, plus she never seemed like a damage based master to begin with. Do they understand she can also use the enemy scheme markers?

I think they were looking at it from the perspective of what they can control, as far as scheme markers are concerned. Your enemy may never put down a marker or you may be fighting parker, or Collette.

I think they were either a bit to critical or just jaded from the stable of great NB masters

I was chatting to one of the guys from AR at the weekend, he was saying that they've not really played against her a lot and aren't really 100% sure about her.

One of the guys on the show had played about ten or so games with her, but ya the main host doesn't really play neverborn though. I don't remember what the third guy said but he's probably the one who didn't put much practice in with her.

All I know is I want the outcast episode.

I don't play her myself but after playing against her and watching some games I think she's pretty good. The main difference between her and other masters is she doesn't do a lot of damage. She and her knights are tankier and more controlling, but they lack the hanmerblow to really pressure things. I think that's where the bad perception comes from. Running her themed is not good. Throw in some heavier hitters and you can balance out your crew.

I'd go for the McMourning box, with McMourning's pushes and speed, plus beles pulling things around, you'll have an incredibly mobile set up.

>I think they were looking at it from the perspective of what they can control
This is probably it - as a Bong, one of the notable differences between Britbong and Yank podcasts is the focuse we seem to have one control.
Many of the ArcRes guests place very little value on anything that requires circumstances outside their control, because by the sounds of it a lot of the top players in the UK play extremely denial-focused games.

It's actually an aspect of my game I've been trying to improve, as I always seem to get blindsided by some mega-move that I realise in hindsight was set up over the last one or two turns and I failed to disrupt.
I guess a lot of spotting that that is familiarity with the opponent's crew, but it's still something I want to get better at.