Malifaux (3rd ed.) - An Introduction

[Primarch]

Also, it’s kinda funny looking through yhe markers available on that site. Wall markers, bomb markers, loot markers. All the usual stuff. Then there’s…piano markers. Ah Malifaux, you amuse me sometimes…

The piano markers are for Captain Zipp, the Gremlin. He has an airship and a steadily decreasing stash of pianos onboard...


The group order for cards sounds like a good idea. I need a fair few (Raspy and Colette, a couple of errata-ed cards for my Guild/Outcast crews) and I think Koji needs some for his Mei Feng and Viktoria crews.

[Balloonacorn]

So I've watched some videos, downloaded the App, tried to understand the cards (basics are OK but some of those special abilities must be read twice), read some articles and drooled over the minis.

I am 90% certain I am going with the Dreamer, completely based on the models, especially (but not limited to) Teddy, Hinamatsu, and Stitched Together.

How many points / soul crystals should I be building towards? 50?

And how many Teddys am I allowed? He looks like a good time.

[Primarch]

So I've watched some videos, downloaded the App, tried to understand the cards (basics are OK but some of those special abilities must be read twice), read some articles and drooled over the minis.

I am 90% certain I am going with the Dreamer, completely based on the models, especially (but not limited to) Teddy, Hinamatsu, and Stitched Together.

How many points / soul crystals should I be building towards? 50?

And how many Teddys am I allowed? He looks like a good time.

50 Soulstones is the standard size for the game, but that doesn't mean that you need to jump to that many points straight away. It will probably be a good idea to try a smaller game or two first to get the hang of what the basic crew does. Adding in different models lets you lean in to different play styles. More Nightmares means you can get more card/hand sorting with Lucid Dreams. Teddy and Hinamatsu push you more towards a melee based list. As for the stuff on the cards, anything on the front is always on, the stuff on the back takes actions to use. Each model usually has 2 actions (Dreamer will have 3 as a Master), in addition each model gets a 'free action' once per turn which is represented by a small lightning bolt icon on the action. Once I get the chance to run a demo game, we can go over the basic stuff and that should give you a better idea of how to use the info on the cards.

When building a list, your Master (the Dreamer) and their Totem (Lord Chompy Bits) cost zero. Additional Masters cost the points listed on the card. Models that you summon with the Dreamer's Manifest Nightmares ability are also free, which is something you'll take into account when you have more models than Soulstones. The app takes care of everything for you there though.

If you look at the cards in the app, each of them has the card name at the top left corner. Underneath that there will be the model's "Station". The Stations are:
Master - Usually lead the crew. Often the most powerful model in the crew.
Henchmen - Can lead crews in smaller games. Offer synergies with the Master and have a range of abilities.
Minions - Weak, cheap and the standard guys/girls/flesh easting monsters of the crew. A lot of abilities are specifically limited to Minions. (e.g. summoning).
Enforcers - Better than minions, tend to focus more on one aspect of the crew's abilities.

If you can take multiples of a model, there will be a number next to the Station. For example, Alps have Minion (3) meaning you can have up to 3 of them in the crew. You can NEVER have more than that, even when summoning. (Though you can replace dead models up to that limit). Teddy, while cool, has no number and so defaults to 1, sorry.

[me_in_japan]

About Malifaux Core Rulebook, it is currently out of stock, so it will be
backordered, but it may take up to 2 months to arrive as it is out of stock
at the wholesaler too. I'm sorry..

Nooooooo!


And it was all going so well

*edit* the more I look, the harder this book seems to be to find. It aint anywhere, and not just in Japan. What are Wyrd doing? I'm assuming it's maybe something to do with worldwide shipping shenanigans, or maybe the printers is bollixed due to covid? But I dunno. Not having your core rulebook available is surely gotta be a problem that demands a solution, sharpish. In the interim, I've asked Yuuta-san at Ringtail to send me my book as and when it arrives, although gawd knows when that'll be. S'not his fault, though, and he did send a commendably prompt email to let me know the problem, so props for that.

[Primarch]

You can grab the pdf for free from the Wyrd website in the interim, but that is vexatious news.

[me_in_japan]

Yeah, I’ve done that over several of my devices already. Eh, it’s an annoyance, but to be fair, at least all the rules are available online, so an inconvenience is all it is. I’ll live. Heh, given the pace I paint at, it’ll be a good couple months till my crew sees play anyway

[me_in_japan]

well, my ringtail stuff arrived today. I've assembled Gwyneth (who is very petite) and the alt-hungering darkness (who is not petite at all). I also got the Ten Thunders faction cards. Things have moved on a bit since 2nd ed...


then...



and now...


Also, if anyone needs any ten thunders cards that arent Honeypot related, let me know. It's not like I'll be using em, most likely.

[Balloonacorn]

So The Dreamer and crew summon minions. Realistically, how many minions can a single character summon in a game? The game lasts 5 rounds(?).. so 5?

And are minions good (enough) / useful in a fight, that I would want 5?

Just trying to figure out how many to buy.

[Primarch]

When the Dreamer summons a model into play, he attaches a summoning upgrade card to it. He can have a max of 5 summoning upgrade cards in his crew, so there is a hard limit of having 5 summoned minions at any one time. That doesn't mean that you can't have a larger pool to draw from though, plus when one dies you can summon it back or summon something else.

To summon, you declare what you are trying to summon (you can choose any number of minions to summon in one go), flip a card and add the Dreamer's stat of 6 to the total. The target number to succeed is 10 + the cost of the minions. You will also need a specific suit on the card, but there are ways round that.

The Dreamer has 4 minion options to choose from.
Daydreams (cost 3), weak and feeble, but they let you move other models around outside of their own activation, which can be useful.
Alps (cost 5), better than Daydreams, but not particularly powerful.
Stitched Together (cost 6) Not bad overall, but so cost effective that Dreamer was errataed so that he could no longer summon them, you have to hire them at the start of the game.
Insidious Madness (cost 7) Reasonably tough with a good attack. They also help get your other summoned models into play faster.

So you can summon Daydreams on a 7+, Alps on a 9+ and Insidious Madness on an 11+. Or, 2 Daydreams on a 10+, an Alp and a Daydream on a 12+ etc. Depending on the cards you have in hand, you can decide on a turn by turn basis what you can summon.

So what good are Minions?
Well as a game-wide effect, more bodies help you to hit your strategies and schemes. They also stop enemy models from targeting your more valuable pieces. The Dreamer really benefits from having something next to him to use as an (in)human shield.
The Nightmare keyword gives an ability called Lucid Dream which lets you remove low value cards from your deck. More minions gives you more chances to filter out the chaff. Imagine if you could remove all the 1's from your dice!

As to purchases.
The Dreamer comes with 3 Alps, so they will always be available to you.
The Daydreams come boxed with the Stitched Together, giving you a lot of minions for your crew.
Finally the Insidious Madness come packed with Serena Bowman (an Enforcer, so no summoning), a useful support model with decent attacks and healing abilities.

How much you want to focus on the summoning thing is up to you. There are other ways to run the Dreamer, but summoning will always be an option even if it isn't something you are building around.

[Balloonacorn]

Thank you for that very detailed reply.