Setting up a Malifaux Encounter

In my first article i talked about the background and overview of Malifaux. In my second i talked about the mechanism of using playing cards to determine sucsess or failure in the game of Malifaux. In this, i'll talk about how to set up a game of Malifaux.

Before playing a game of Malifaux, there is a series of steps that not only add to the atmosphere of the game but make for strategic decisions as well.

-First you have to decide with your opponent how large an encounter to have. Average games are 35 soulstones in size, which is considered a "Scrap". A scrap is a game 1-55 soulstones in size where you can have 1 leader, control hand of cards of 6 and maximum starting soulstone pool of 8. I'll focus on that as it is a good place to start playing. Most starter boxes are 20-25 soulstones in value. My existing Lilith forces are 33 soulstones in size and my Perdita gang is 34.

-Then a faction is chosen. For experienced players with multiple forces in multiple factions, this can be an advantage as they may have tweeked gangs for different sized games.

-Thirdly, a location is chosen or decided randomly with the card mechanic. Here's where it gets really fun, and why i'm making, slowly, different terrain features for the Malifaux game. A black joker that is flipped means the flipping player chooses the location amongst 26 different types of locations. Red joker is the non-flipping player's choice. 1-8 means one of 13 outdoor locations and 7-13 one of 13 indoor ones. If you don't have extensive terrain then just choose one based on what you have. Examples are for outdoor: Bogs, Downtown, Mine and Badlands. Indoor examples are: Theater, Guild Library, Warehouse and Large Tavern. A 3 foot by 3 foot table surface is needed and at least one terrain piece per 1 foot by one foot area is not only recommended but encouraged in order to have an engaging and entertaining encounter. Each encounter location also has terrain features that can be chosen or randomly determined, like I itemized here and made my first one here.

-Fourthly, a deployment type is chosen or determined randomly. Diagonal, standers and corners are the types here.

-Fifthly, strategies are determined. This, along with schemes (seen later), is where your crew will earn victory points in your game and how a winner is chosen. The strategies can be Core or Expanded and include individual player's strategies or shared ones. There are far to many to go over but some include: Treasure Hunt, Slaughter, Deliver a Message and Supply wagon.

-Sixthly is where you hire the crews you will be using. That's right...you don't determine what models you bring to the table till this step. If you're just starting to play and against someone with a suitcase full of models, you may be at a disadvantage. Hopefully the gamers in your area are gentlemen/women like many are here in Victoria, BC. Some models are called Masters and can lead crews easily but even henchmen can lead crews, leading to interesting scraps.

-Seventh is where you choose your schemes. This is a nice feature where you can openly or secretly choose an objective for your forces. Open objectives are always worth more points than secret ones and many are faction and/ore model specific. The number of schemes each player can choose depends on the size of the game played. In a scrap, 0-2 schemes may be chosen.

-Lastly, crews are deployed. Announced schemes are revealed once crews are deployed.

Play alternates between players models (you go with a model-i go with a model - you go with a model...etc) once initiative is determined by each player flipping a card. Once all models go, then initiative is redetermined and play proceeds again. Once six turns are done, the game may end or not as determined by a card flip.

This will be my last article on Malifaux, unless people want more. Please go to the Malifaux rules website to get a free electronic copy of the rules here and check out your local gamestore for more on this great little game.