Joel-Faux

Just a quick link, but if you haven't read Rock - Paper - Scissors and Malifaux yet you probably need to. It's by Joel Henry, one of the UKs top Malifaux players and all round a great human being (even if he does play Neverborn).

The article focuses on evaluating models for their uses in Malifaux and if you want to start to get into the mind of a top player this is a good place to start.

The only thing I'd add to his thoughts is that I might be tempted move buffs and de-buffs to their own category (Spok) rather than lump them in with the area control that is paper, but you can't have everything.

Meanwhile I'm setting off to the UKGT shortly, in other words whenever ukrocky turns up to give me a lift, so I'm looking forward to giving first edition Malifaux a good sendoff and catching up with people I haven't seen in a while.

Oh and this tickled me in my morning metro on the way to work the other day;

Twenty Arcanists

The M2e competitive season starts properly for me at Halifaux, an M2e event in Halifax on the 20th of October. A while back I started a thread on the Wyrd Boards to come up with a list of twenty models I wanted to have newly painted for M2e for use at the event. I've had a fair bit of time to think about this now and wanted to talk about it in more detail.

So firstly why twenty models?

Mostly because this represents a reasonable painting target by October, and I think I can pack everything I needed to compete into this space.

What surprised me was how interesting a mental exercise this has been in and of itself, and I'd encourage everyone to try it. It forces you to compare choices and prioritize in interesting ways. Do you want that extra hitter, or a utility piece? Do you overlap between crews more or separate them?

Based on playtime in beta and since I've had my hands on the M2e book I'm about ready with my list of twenty.  So after over three weeks thought here's my list of twenty (mostly) Arcanist models;

Ramos

Mei Feng

Joss
Kang
Miss Step

Brass Arachnid
Emberling
Electric Creation

6x Steam Arachnid
Steam Arachnid Swarm
2x Rail Worker
2x Moleman
Metal Gamin

So that's my twenty models, two masters with 96ss of backup to take on the world with. There are still some choices in there that I'm not sure of, but that's to be expected at this stage.

I was always going to choose Ramos, he was my first real master when I started playing Malifaux, and it's great to see the old man looking competitive now. What I've realized playing a bit more M2e is that while the game looks to be a lot more balanced master to master there are still weak spots. Ramos is great at making spider chaff, but that chaff is a bit of a nightmare in Reckoning, where it give your opponents easy VP. While you can still win that strategy with old man Ramos he could do with some help there.

This is where Mei Feng comes in. She's a lot of fun and has good construct synergy, which makes the twenty model limit easier on me. More importantly though she has three things Ramos doesn't; exceptional board speed, and the ability to kill on her own, and Kang. Seriously Kang is amazing. This makes her great for Reckoning and covering Ramos' key weaknesses.

Going forward my default blog post, when I've nothing better to talk about, will be to go through these modes; what they're for, why I've chosen them over other options, and my thoughts on how to play them. I'm hoping at least some of these thoughts will be useful to non-Arcanist players as well.

Meanwhile I'd encourage you all to make your own list of twenty. Just to see what you really need to play Malifaux with. What would your first 20 M2e models in your chosen faction be? DM me your lists on the Wyrd Boards, or email them me; james <at> mythicfox <dot> com

I want to seem them!

Bertrand Russell

Tee from RedMolotov.com

You can find a lot of interesting things on tee-shirts; advertising, cool art, suspect stains, and every now and again wisdom, like the gem to the right there.
 
I've spent a bit of time with the M2e rulebook now, thanks to a secret GenCon ninja sending me one very quickly. I must say I'm enjoying it a lot. It's great to see the new edition out there in it's physical form and I'm looking forward to getting some serious playtime in with it over the coming months.

I'm sure plenty of people less biased than myself will be reviewing the book soon so I'm going to avoid doing that.

What I want to do is quickly issue a note of optimistic caution. Right now a lot of people are trying to advance their own pet theories about where the meta is going to go, and what may or may not prove to be OP. While we know a lot about Malifaux from first edition it's still going to take us some time to truly evaluate and understand what is and isn't going to be powerful this edition. No one at this stage knows anything for certain, no matter how much they're yelling about it.

What does this mean? It means don't let anyone tell you that something is or isn't so. M2e is a new game and I'd encourage everyone to go out an play it. Enjoy the game and learn things for yourself. Make this edition your own.

Personally I'm starting to form my own opinions about what players should be doing differently to win games but I'm going to sit on them a little while they crystallize. Meanwhile I'm looking forward to my last few games of first edition at the UKGT next weekend and then onwards to the three or four M2e events I'll be attending between now and the end of the year.

Happy M2e people!

The first wave of my M2e GenCon haul.

Hobby Time

While I'm waiting on M2e, and therefore something meaningful to say on the gaming front I've been getting some hobby time in.

So here are a couple of quick shots of last weekends Arcanist efforts;

 

The mask I wear is one

The other night I got a game in on VASSAL, which is great for getting to throw down random stuff vs new opponents and see what happens.

M1.5 Mei Feng Flowchart

My opponent that night was Irish Malifaux player Mark Byrne, who's a great guy and I'm looking forward to facing him again.  I wanted to give Mei Feng a whirl. I've been meaning to try her out since I ordered her crew box at GenCon last year, and true to form she's not made it out of the 'to paint' crate in my study yet. I think mostly because the first edition flowchart put me off a bit.

Mark chose to play Brewmaster, who I'd only faced once before during a closed phase of the M2e beta so the game would be a new experience all round. The game was a lot of fun, including an epic 'wire fu' moment between Mei and a Moon Shinobi. Mark also discovered taking a defensive stance action on a Moon Shinobi is unwise.

Mark was a great opponent but I don't want to talk about the game itself. I want to talk about the spark I felt playing Mei. The little kick I get when part of a game clicks for me, and inspires me to delve into it. Most of the time I'm fairly calculating, focused on the game in front of me and vanquishing another opponent, now and again though it's great to get that new master feeling. 

It was really great as well was feeling that spark again with M2e, knowing it's still there be had.  So I think at least in the short term I'll be messing about with the rail crew. I'll share my thoughts as I go.

Typing this has also got me thinking about what inspires me to play, beyond the social aspect which is important.  I don't think I really enjoy winning in the sense of besting people,  there are plenty of places I could get that thrill, not least my mildly lucrative time playing poker. There's only so long you can rationalize away taking the food from people's mouths though.  I like to think I play for the analysis, the problem solving. I've always loved problem solving and I think I view the game as a problem to be solved.

I always thought it was unfair the way competitive players get demonized for caring about the results of a game. So long as you behave with dignity and respect who cares about your motivation? 

So what makes you want to play wargames? What drives you to play?

That got a bit rambling there, more focus next time I think.

For those wondering about the title; here.