“Based in an alternate Earth, Malifaux uses gothic, steampunk, and
victorian horror with a dose of the wild west to inject fun and depth into the
magical lawlessness of a world rife with monsters, necropunks, man-machine
hybrids, gunslingers, and powerhungry politicos.”
Malifaux, a Hobby Journey
Did I ever tell you that Malifaux saved my hobby?
I’d just finished working at a job I loved, and was going
back into the world of corporate video. But on the side, I had this offer of
another job that I didn’t seriously think would come to fruition – a giant
tabletop gaming shop full of tables for people to play games on, selling
everything you could imagine to do with tabletop gaming. It sounded too crazy
to be real, so I had it in the back of my head and concentrated on trying to
get other work. At this point, I think I’d thought to myself – after working at
Games Workshop for so long, I wasn’t in a huge painting and gaming space. I
felt a bit worn out over it all – like it wasn’t something that was interesting
to me. But I knew I had to try some other games out for this big gaming store
initiative.
Remembering seeing some models I’d quite liked from the
range, I picked up a box of Malifaux models. Many, many things drew me to this
game. My first encounter with it was actually through a post on the Australian
LOTR community page, where someone was using a Sorrow (pictured above) as a
proxy for another model. I loved the style of the particular model, and then
when I found the rest of the box it came with I was keen to give painting them
ago. A few things about these models really shocked me compared to other
miniatures that I had worked with from other companies:
- They were very high quality, plastic models – using a familiar plastic material. As someone who up until that point had worked almost exclusively with Games Workshop models, this was very comfortable for me.
- The models had a similar level of detail to GW models, too. It was clear that they had slightly more parts than I was used to – I later found out this was a strategy to use the lower quality plastic moulding techniques they had access to but still maintain high detail standards.
- Despite being a more ‘realistic’ scale, the models were also larger, so once again felt right to paint. They were also not overly busy models, as someone who doesn’t like painting a hundred little pouches and swords and junk all over a model, this was a serious boon for me.
- The models came with the rules in the box. The rules were on little cards for each model, and explained even fairly generic rules on the cards so I didn’t have to reference them elsewhere.
I spent a little while painting these bad boys (well, boys
and girls) up, and found myself revelling in painting models for a game I’d
never even heard of until a week prior. It was freeing. But it wasn’t weird and
uncomfortable – that pillow of familiarity kept me going. But I needed to find
a way to learn – I’d read through the rules and attempted a couple of games
with another friend who was learning with me – but I had a feeling I wasn’t
quite getting it all right. I was DEAD keen though, listening to podcasts on it
with gusto, trying to absorb everything I could about it. That’s how I found
out about the henchman program they run.
Henchmen are people who volunteer for the company that make
Malifaux, Wyrd Games. They take valuable time out of their lives to put
Malifaux on the table for us normal people. I went to see the one I could get
to, Pip – a lovely chap who works in the western suburbs of Melbourne . He’d just been teaching someone
else how to play, but still took a good few hours out of his day to sit down
and help me learn my way through the game. It was quite an experience, going
from the person who taught people to play games all day to being the newb. But
it was a rush. It bought back my enthusiasm, my love of tabletop gaming.
Malifaux is unusual in the world of tabletop gaming, as it
uses a playing card system instead of dice. Sound confusing? Sound terrifying?
I was scared too. But it’s really elegant and fun. You have a deck of 52 cards,
just like a poker deck, except they have different suits. If you find yourself
in a bind when you really needed a good “flip” (roll) – you have a control hand
of cards that you can “cheat” in to mitigate a bad situation. It has two
distinct and fun advantages to traditional dice based games.
- There are a finite amount of good and bad cards in a deck. If you have a bad draw for your hand, you know that the deck is full of good cards that will make your life a lot easier later in game.
- You have a degree of control. Malifaux is all about getting victory points for objectives – to do that, you might need to kill someone or cast some crazy magic spell to get the edge over your opponent. Often you’ll need the right card for the right moment – and in Malifaux, due to the way the control hand works, you can PLAN for it!
The world of Malifaux is full of crazy denizens – and some
of the most powerful characters are known as masters. These are your leader
characters in the game – and you build a ragtag crew to go along with them.
Each model has unique and funky abilities to help push you along to victory.
Before each game a set of objectives are ‘flipped’ up on a big chart – and you
take the models that will best help you complete these objectives. This is
another unique part of the game – you build a ‘crew’ to suit your opponent,
your objective, your table. This means you paint a whole host of interesting
models to suit different situations. It’s been an immensely powerful thing for
me – because I was always pretty bad at finishing armies. In the time I worked
for GW I probably finished 4 over 7 years, and they were pretty small armies to
boot. I’ve been playing Malifaux for a bit over a year and I’ve easily finished
100 models to a high standard – it’s just so easy to get stuff done!
So you’re probably wondering at this point – how can you get involved with this new craze? I’m glad you asked. The beauty of Malifaux is the starting point is literally a box. Almost any “master” box in Malifaux allows you to start playing after you assemble it, with a small working crew inside and all the rules you need. If you’d like a better idea of what characters lie in Malifaux, take a look at Wyrd’s page on the game to see what each faction holds. (a link will be provided at the bottom of this article) But here's a few to get you started.
Seamus, the Mad Hatter of Redchapel - a psychotic serial killer
with a penchant for ladies of the night and a serious knack for
the necromantic arts. (Resurrectionists)
Som'er Teeth Jones, the Bayou Boss - a fearsome Gremlin
Bayou Dweller, some say the most fearsome of all of the Gremlins -
will weigh you down through numbers or his fearsome
giant mosquito pets! (Gremlins)
Lady Justice, The Guild's Judgement - justice is blind, and
with her Death Marshall's Lady Justice will wipe all of the
Resurrectionists from Malifaux. The dead will rest permanently on her watch.
(Guild)
Ramos, Head of the Miner's and Steamfitter's Union, is a mastermind
at negotiation, control and magically fusing steam driven mechanical
apparatuses to flesh. If something is happening in Malifaux,
Ramos no doubt knows what it is. (Arcanists)
Lilith, the Mother of Monsters - ever since human's entered
Malifaux, the few leftover natives of Malifaux have been crazed
and angry about their trespass. Lilith is the Master of Malifaux, and
intends to take it back for good! (Neverborn)
The Viktorias - Hired Swords of Malifaux. Viktoria of Ashes and
Viktoria of Blood have no particular agenda in Malifaux, but their
paired Masamune Nihonto will get any job done - fast, efficiently
but only at the right price. (Outcasts)
Misaki, the Thunder. When the Ten Thunders organization
first infiltrated Malifaux and all of it's factions, Misaki was one
of the first wave of people to enter the Breach. It was no
coincidence that her father was the leader of the organization -
but make no mistake. She earned the respect, and may act
in his name without question. She is an assassin without
compare - quick, silent and deadly.
To be fair and honest, I could babble about Malifaux indefinitely. Most of all, it's the models that drew me to the game. The range is just so eclectic, I NEVER get bored of painting them. Each model is a new project in it's own, and each master box usually provides a great variety of models to sink my paintbrush into, and to play my dastardly schemes against my opponent.
Most of the models shown above (aside from the ones at the very top of the page) have been ripped straight from Facebook group A Wyrd Place. They're a very friendly bunch and full of great ideas and creativity, as well as gorgeously painted models - a highly recommended stop-off. If you'd like to learn more about Malifaux - watch this space. I'll be doing a whole bunch of nonsensical ranting videos and articles talking about it. If you can't wait, come down to The House of War at 52 Maroondah Highway, Ringwood (Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays)- and I'll run you a demo you won't soon forget! (I'm the official henchman for the Eastern Suburbs!) Also check out the Wyrd Malifaux page - https://www.wyrd-games.net/malifaux - for more information on each faction and more about the game's background and gameplay. You won't regret it! - AL
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