Does anyone here play Malifaux? I know we're all mostly 6mm nuts here, but gamers are well known dabblers!

Anyway, I've not seen anything about it here, so I thought I'd write a super-quick review and post some model pix.

I think it is a pretty tactical skirmish game that would appeal to anyone who likes small games with tight rules. Games typically feature around 5-8 models and take about 90-120mins to play (faster if you just get on with the game though and worry less about the 'social' aspect).

Rules-wise, it is bit like a leaner but more detailed version of Warmachine. It mainly differs in that most models are unique named characters, and that it is a true skirmish with exhaustive scenarios and terrain rules. The rules mechanics also have many cool triggers (sorta like criticals, but not) which allow additional effects to occur.

The other main gimmick of the game is that the whole game is played with a card deck. Each player has a Poker deck (with different suits, but a conversion table is in the book in case you don't want to buy the proprietary decks), and has a hand of six cards. During each turn, cards are flipped off the top of the deck instead of rolling dice. Under certain circumstances, some card flips can be 'overwritten' by playing one from your hand, and some cases also mean that more than one card may be flipped and the player is either required to take or allowed to choose one. Quite often a required score is quite achievable, but the ability may sometimes also have a suit requirement as well, which is where the skill in knowing which cards to play comes in.

At the end of each turn, the decks are reshuffled, and players can discard and refresh their hands.

Models have action points (typically 2 each, plus a single specific 'free' action), and can carry out a number of activities that use one or more APs. Activation alternates between players (one model each usually), starting with the player that won the initiative flip for the turn.

Unspent points when building your force are added to a 'stash' of magic stones ('Soulstones') carried by the crew's leader, and this forms a pool of resources that can be spent ingame to boost card flips. These Soulstones can also be used for a few other things too, like re-flipping the turn initiative card or healing your leader.

There are five main factions (one for each suit, and an 'oddball'/Merc faction). I've so far got one fully painted crew for the Guild. Perdita is the crew's Master, and she leads her team of bounty-hunting Mexican gunfighter-themed family members. Pix of the crew for your enjoyment (click image for bigger image!):



A second crew (for another faction) is currently in the works, and is based around an Ice Witch and her mountain-cannibal cult associates. I'll post pix when they're done if folks are interested?

Anyway, hope this gives you a little taste of this cool skirmish game.

Oh, and of course, if you have any questions about the game, please feel free to ask me here!

I've got the Viktoria's and some additional bits and pieces. I like the game (played about 10 games in total) but do worry that Wyrd are releasing a hell of a lot of stuff in a relatively short period of time.

When you have to look at both a FAQ sheet and FAQ forum post for the latest rules, in addition to a newly released supplement I do being to have doubts!

Yeah, I think it is a product of three things:

1) All three books (two released so far) were planned from the beginning.

2) The game has proven to be far more popular than its creators realised, and I believe this has influenced both the quantity of extra stuff in the new book and the insistence of a section of players to run it as a tournament game (which in turn has led to a lot of additional revisions and fixes).

3) Due to the game's popularity, the creators may looking to push the other book(s) out sooner so that they can concentrate on expanding into other games besides Malifaux.

The stuff volume released doesn't bother me much, but the rules interaction issues are more serious. That said, they do have living Errata and FAQ documents which is more than many games companies do... But I do agree that some rules interaction issues are very obvious and should never have been released as they are (like Zoraida's 'Hex' ability).

I've got the rules, and Guild miniatures on the way. It looks impressive, and I really like the Cheating Fate mechanic. And while not necessarily original, I like the terrain interactions, and the way 'melee' isn't base contact. Most melee attacks are up to 1" distant, some are 2", and a rare few are 3".

The only problem I have with the Errata/FAQ thing at the moment is I have a late printing (May2010?) that includes most of the Errata, but some of the Errata is written in such a way as to not know which things still need adding, and which has already been corrected.

I'm hoping to get some in-play learnings in, in the next week or two.

Morgan Vening

It is a really great game with a very neat and simple mechanic that is so much fun. I like the game, but I'm not falling over myself to play.

Personally I wouldn't want to play in a tournament setting. A weekend campaign with linked scenarios would be cool, but not a traditional tournament format.

I would also like to add that for me the low model-count, character and story-driven elements and the affordability are the biggest draws to the game. But while I do very much enjoy the game, but I have to say I agree with this:

However, even though I always like tight and explicit rule systems, I do tend to feel this way about all tournaments... Which is why I get very tired of the forums/sites where all discussion assumes all your games are played at tournaments or under tournament conditions (BoLS and PP's forums being good examples of this).

As for the Errata and FAQs, this has not been too well organised really. I (and I assume others) had hoped that there would be a proper tidy-up in the back of the next book (like PP does with their games). However, this was not so, and in the meantime we're left with an incomplete E&FAQ.
These delays are because Wyrd don't want to keep re-issuing the E&FAQs whenever something is added in order to cut down on the potential confusion that might arise if such documents come out too frequently. But for me, the slowness in fixing some of the rules or in answering the questions does spoil some Masters/models, and the slowness in getting a complete E&FAQ is also a problem as it leads to people asking the same questions over and over.

Still, many of these issues only affect fairly specific situations and models, and it doesn't stop most players getting in a perfectly good and enjoyable game in the meantime. I know we've brushed these issues here and that they are important, but they are still a long way off from rendering the game unfun, unplayable or open to massive rules abuse because of vague wording on common situations.
For example, if Zoriada's 'Hex' ability has a broken interaction with one of Jack Daw's abilities, just rule in your games for now that those specific abilities cannot be 'Hexed'. It's fair, keeps the game flowing and avoids the rules issue - plus it is a specific interaction with between two unique abilities on two unique models, so it is hardly going to change the balance of the game or anything, nor is is going to come up all that often even in games where both are on the table.

On a final note, despite there sometimes being a delay on an 'official ruling' or clarification of an ambiguity, it usually turns out that most folks do understand and play the rules right the first time around - because common sense tends to prevail. And with or without clarifications, it isn't a hard game to learn either, even if some models are hard to master.

I picked this up with a vengeance when it was first released. I was drawn to the strange combinations of genres that just seemed to "work" for me, as well as the neat card mechanics, resource management of your control hand, careful use of soulstones, and the neat art and characters themselves.

I put the game away for the better part of last year because the lack of solid errata/FAQ made it hard to play with some of the more complicated interactions. However, seeing the new book brought back wonderful memories and so I unpacked everything and am back to fully enjoying the game again.

The Errata for the first book is solid now, and it has a really cleaned up feel. I play weekly and would have played a game already today if my partner hadnt canceled. We have a good group playing regularly at the FLGS as well.

I really recommend this game.