Mr Suitcase

I wanted to get away from talking about M1.5 vs M2e and the recent debates about the future of Malifaux. These topics are important but I've done a lot of that lately. This is going to be a bit awkward as I can't really delve into the more strategic M2e topics until we have a final rules set.

So I want to talk about a topic we got into on a recent episode of Tartan Skirmish Radio. During our conversation Dave, the host, asked us;

Do you pick models to fit your case, or your case to fit your models?

I'm in the latter camp, for the record. Although this has spurred me to finally put down some thoughts on virtual paper.  One of the selling point I give when I'm henching Malifaux out to new players is how cheap the game is to get into. You can start playing full size games with about £50 worth of minis, which contrasts heavily with the costs of some games on the market.

What isn't as clear is how many minis you need to really start competing at Malifaux. As you select your crew after you know your opponent's faction and the objectives of the game you need more models than the standard game size to be competitive. But how many more?

At this point my inner nerd is screaming, EVERYTHING!

That however isn't true. I've been competing with two masters and around 80ss of Guild in the early 1.5 season in the UK, and currently hold best guild general for the UK. So clearly model count isn't everything.

So how much do you need? The more models gives you more options, but models in Malifaux require a certain amount of finesse to use well so having everything is probably more hindrance than help.

I've found most crews have a 'core' of their build for a given master. In my beta Ramos M2e crews that's; Ramos, Joss, Electrical Creation, and two Molemen. This totals to 22ss naked, around half a crew. Clearly you're going to need options in the remainder of the crew, so I'd say double the remaining stones to give you an option in every slot as it were. So this gives you 1.5 times the basic crew size of your games, which at the moment looks to be 50ss, making your requirement 75ss/crew.

My case of choice from KR Multicase

This leads to another complication, how many crews? Which really means how many masters. Well not every master is suited to every strategy and scheme combo. So let's say two masters/crews to cover the bases. That means, IMO, we're talking about 150ss to cover most situations.

Around 150ss should easily come in at under 40 models, so even if some of them are on 50mm bases you should easily be able to Malifaux inside any army transport system. I'm interested to hear what other people think about this.

How many models do you carry to a game? How many of those do you use?

Media Whore

I'm on episode 28 of the Tartan Skirmish Radio podcast, talking about the first UK M2e podcast. 

Listen to the show; here.

I had a great time recording with the TSR guys, I haven't listened to it back so I've no idea how it'll come across but hopefully it'll be of use to people.

You can read my writeup of the event here.

The C Word

Very quick post from me.

I'm not a fan of the name; Malifaux Classic. A re-branding exercise a seemingly to make Malfiaux 1.5 sound less inferior next to Malifaux 2nd Edition.  What's becoming clear over on malifauxclassic.com is that attempts to use Wyrd's IP to further develop 1.5 may well be legally blocked.

Which IMO is absolutely the right approach.

I absolutely respect the right of people to want to continue to play M1.5, and to prefer it to M2e. They however have to accept that M1.5 is what it is now and they cannot use Wyrd's IP to further develop the game in other directions.

Whatever they do they're never going to be a global community on the same scale as the the mainstream M2e community will be once the game is released.

My local club has a small group of gamers who play Flames of War in 10mm (as opposed to the 15mm it is designed for). They have a great time with this, but accept that they're not going to convert others to play it, or expand it's influence. They accept that the only place they can really play 10mm FoW is at the club amongst themselves. Which they are absolutely fine with, and more power to them.

Where M1.5 continues it will be in small pockets in this way. It's never going to be a global community of 1.5 players developing the rules going forward, as without ownership no one can make decisions. When decisions are made this will likely lead to schism, attrition and the demise of a cohesive group.

I wish anyone who wants to keep playing 1.5 all the best, but be honest with yourselves about what you can reasonably hope to achieve.

NahooToo

So I'm back from a 500 mile round trip to Scotland for Dave Kerr Smith's 'Welcome to Malifaux' event.  This event represented two firsts for me.  My first incursion into the Scottish Malifaux scene, and the first M2e event in the UK*.

Round one, full gallery here.

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I arrived at Worlds at War for the event, what I found was a pleasant little store located in small dilapidated shopping mall the heart of a housing estate in Livingston. I think I've heard regulars refer to this as having hints of 'the Alamo' about it.

That being said the locals were very pleasant and as with all the Malifaux communities I've met this one was very friendly and welcoming. Although there was some confusion as to why anyone would drive four hours north for three games of Malifaux. I guess I'm just crazy.

My cards and match ups went with me on the day and I was thrilled to take first at the event and an amazing trophy for my troubles. Winning all three games; 5/2, 6/5, 9/5 for a cool 9/+8/20 result. Giving me a clear TP win over team mate and fellow southerner Ant Hoult. Full results posted by Dave here.

Road to nowhere

The run to a tournament is always an interesting time. As I write this I'm in a Moto on the road north eating pre tournament fat of choice; Burger King.

An incident has occurred. 

Me: I'll have a Bacon Cheeseburger meal with a tea please. 

BK Monkey: We don't surve hot drinks.

Now it is for this sort of offence that I would normally leap into action, plan A being to project scalding tea into the face of my assailant. Unfortunately due to the nature of the incident I was at that time tea-less. So I resorted to plan B;

Me: I'll have a water then. 

BK Monkey: We don't have any water. 

There is water on Mars. This planet is mostly covered in water. This is the first week of the year in England that it hasn't been falling from the sky but they dot have any water. How do they wash! Actually I'm happier not knowing.

Then matters got worse;

BK Monkey: You can have milk?

Wonderful, I can have milk. Unless that milk is in tea or on Pixie Lott's top lip I'm not interested.

The BK Monkey is now my mortal enemy. 

Having written this I'm now heading to costa to buy a tea and hoping to restrain myself from buying a second tea with which to punish my enemy. 

Posted from the Falkirik Traveloge, which is less shit than it sounds. They have tea.

Standing in the dropzone

Is an odd title for a first (ish) Malifaux blog post. Isn't it?

I've an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach. I'm thinking back to an experience I first had around Halloween 2010 when I attended one of the first, if not the first, Malifaux tournaments in the UK. I took Ramos to the then still mostly book one event (Rising powers was just hitting shelves in the UK at the time).

I loved it. I loved competitive Malifaux and all that came with it and embraced it as part of me. As I had with MtG and Poker before MX. What has followed has been a great few years of gaming.

So why am I reminiscing about what is now nearly three years ago?

Well it's simple, this weekend I'm traveling north to Welcome to Malifaux, the first M2e event to be held in the UK. Once again I'm bringing along old man Ramos. Poorly painted, dusty from some time on the shelf and slightly chipped, he's back in action once more!

Despite being involved in both the open and closed testing for M2e I haven't had a lot of time to just sit back and enjoy playing the game. To sit down and play MX for the sheer fun of it.

So just like a few years ago I'm waiting apprehensively to see what finally playing this new version of the game for fun will bring. Will I really enjoy it?

I suppose in a way this is actually a microcosm of where we are with M2e in general. We're waiting with baited breath;

• How will M2e look when it's released next month?
• Did we miss any major balance issues in the play test?
• Will M2e kill or expand our community?

This is perhaps the most nerve shredding time for anyone who's been involved in the testing. Until now we've all had a hand in the process. Now we're waiting, in the dark, hoping Wyrd will get the game across the line in good order.

I have a lot of faith in Wyrd, but that doesn't mean I'm not nervous.

So here I am, like a lot of people who love Malifaux, toes over the edge staring into the abyss, waiting just a little longer for the real ride to begin. I'm in the drop zone.

New blog

A new version of Malifaux is coming and I think it's time to start a new blog!

Plus there's some weird stuff going on with the old one so it's probably best to clear the blast radius on that one sooner rather than later.

So welcome to my new blog, let's hope it turns out for the best.