Malifaux is a game I have been hearing about more and more, from passing comments on gaming forums to now detailed reviews on podcasts such as The D6 Generation. Everything I have heard about it has made me want to play it, so my gaming group and I have taken the plunge and ordered ourselves some faction boxsets.
I have ordered the Ortega Gunslingers boxset, while my gaming buddies have gone for Lady Justice and The Death Marshalls and the Miners and Steamfitters Union boxset. Sah-weet!
I will put up a review of the minis when they arrive and the game once I have played it, but it’s worth mentioning a few of the reasons the game appeals to me in the first place:-
- The miniatures are brilliant. Their history goes some way to explaining their appeal – it turns out that Wyrd Miniatures spent a few years making whatever miniatures their modellers fancied and only later decided to build a game around them. The result is miniatures that may lack overall cohesion across the range but that display more character individually and in the faction groups than any other range I have seen. So much so that I have no idea how the Ortega Gunslingers will play – I just want the models. Here is a review of the Death Marshalls boxset to give you an idea of what the standard is like, and here is my Master-to-be, Perdita Ortega:-
- It’s a small-scale skirmish game. That means that the boxset will let me play a full game without getting anything else. It also means I can use the terrain I already have.
- The backstory is pretty damned cool. Go here for more details.
- The game mechanic uses packs of playing cards instead of dice. This is great news for anyone who always rolls a one! In addition, all the reviews I have read are enthusiastic about the clarity of the ruleset and just how much fun the game is and how much depth it offers.
I will be adding some Malifaux coverage on this blog, and if anyone else plays it or is considering getting started, let me know in the comments – I would love to hear your thoughts.
EDIT: Here is another review of the game.
I went and ordered the book and a faction when I heard the D6 Generation review of the game awhile back. I’ve not had a chance to try playing it yet, partly because I’ve been busy but mostly because I refuse to play with unpainted models (personal foible) and I’ve had a lot on my painting desk lately, but it will be very cool to see more coverage. I’ve gone Decemberists, mostly because I’m actually a fan of winter so the faction name just spoke to me. Looking forward to your coverage!
Agreed – I won’t play until I get my gunslingers painted. Send me in some pics of your painted models and I will post them up. I hope to put up some links for terrain as well, and I might try my hand at some wild west-style buildings for a small mining town.
Well I’m sold!
I’m definitely interested in both the Ortega Gunslingers and the Death Marshals sets. I like the western-victorian-steampunk combination of the background and the story sounds great (thanks for the links). Can’t wait to see how you paint up the models. Using cards instead of dice sounds like an interesting idea and thumbs up for them letting you use a regular card set instead of expensive branded cards.
I love that last terrain set as well. My dream in the future is to have a really nicely done gaming table that will let me play really cool games.
The card mechanic is particularly interesting because each player starts with a hand of six cards that he can swap (Cheat Fate) for any card he draws during the game – it is like having a set of secret rerolls in your pocket. Some times you will have a great hand and want to press your advantage, other times your hand will be poor and you will want to stay out of trouble until you can draw some more cards. The poker aspect (for me) really plays into the ‘wild west’ theme. Going to dust off my Ennio Morricone collection for this one