Malifaux isn’t a game for everyone. Skirmish games are a tough sell in general. You have to buy minis – lots of them – and they are expensive. A decent Warhammer 40K army could cost you over a thousand bucks. Then they must be painted, the rules for each of them learned, then find people with whom to play, hope beyond hope that they’re cool, and, finally, after all that, try to have a good time.
Malifaux is no different. There’s dozens of crew leaders, called masters, and each of them has (at least) two different versions.
I’m Rasputina! You can play me as “Winter’s Teeth”, a young woman who has just formed an alliance with the tyrant of winter known as “December”, or I can be “Abominable”, a woman who has bent December to her will and is out for revenge!
Malifaux is a little cheaper to get into than other skirmish games; usually a decent crew can be had for less than a hundred dollars, and if you’re willing to go bargain hunting, more options become available. I played for the first several months with just one crew (Foundry, master Mei Feng), regarded as one of the weakest, but still had fun and won my share of games. Later, I took on a new keyword – December, with Rasputina.
This all fell apart when Wyrd Games announced that they would be releasing a new fourth edition of the game, with every keyword undergoing massive changes. Part of that was to begin releasing crews in fewer boxes, making it easier (and cheaper) for new players to get started. They are even releasing a two player starter set, one box that contains pre-assembled models for two new crews, Ampersand and the Banished.
“Ampersand” are constructs exiled from the machine city of Ampersand because they just weren’t making the cut. If you think your bedroom furniture might be actively trying to kill you, you might want to check out this keyword. “The Banished” are freed prisoners from the underwater realm of the tyrant Meridion; monsters too mean to even be part of the Gibbering Hordes.
The new crews were available for play at Gencon 2025, and got good reviews. Once that starter box is generally available in a couple of months, you and a friend can buy this one box and have everything you need to start playing Malifaux.
All you need is a table.
In Malifaux, a “table” isn’t just something with four legs that you put food on. It’s the battlefield upon which you play Malifaux. It usually includes a square mat that has lines demarcating the various deployment zones, terrain that provides cover or challenges to cross (or both), and buildings and other similar things that models can climb for tactical advantage. Terrain is key to Malifaux games, and making a pretty nice table will get you awards at Malifaux tournaments. They can get pretty wild.
For several months now, Kasul has been working on a table of his own, the lair of his favorite master, Von Schtook of the Transmortis keyword, a scholarly sort who wants to encourage the academic pursuit of necromancy and revivification and has started a school to teach the same. He’s always running out of test subjects and is constantly on the watch for new additions to the academy, either as students or raw material that might potentially be cut apart and repurposed into new students.
To that end, Kasul has been building a university library in which to play.
Kasul has 3D printed bookshelves, a telescope, an orrery and other random terrain. It’s going to be nasty to paint all of it, and I’m glad I’m not the one having to do it. There’s irony here; Von Schtook in 4th edition isn’t nearly as cool as he was in 3rd edition, and Kasul is looking to change keywords. One potential: Tormented, with the undead spirit of Jack Daw as its master.
When visitors leave the Malifaux train station, the first thing they see is the tall Hanging Tree, with Jack Daw’s corpse hanging from the very top. It’s said that Jack Daw sometimes cannot be found on the tree, though he always returns by morning. It is when he is not in the Hanging Tree that he is the most terrifying, as it is then that he stalks the city of Malifaux looking to find more sinners to share his fate.
Kasul had a table and a new keyword to try out; I had a new crew as well – Performer, led by the glamorous Colette du Bois.
Hi! I’m Colette du Bois! I can be played as someone at the height of my star power as the Star of the Show, or a little later in my career as Smuggler. My keyword, Performer, razzles and dazzles! Are you seeing me, or a decoy? Did you just fall in love with me? When my show comes to your town, you better keep your eyes on my beautiful showgirls and your hand on your wallet. But your heart will be mine, and mine alone!
Neither of us have finished painting our models. Mine were just put together and (mostly) put on bases a few days ago. Nonetheless, they were ready to play, but…
The Gencon hype has died down, summer is rapidly dwindling, and the local community is taking a bit of a break. We haven’t been able to find locals ready to game for a couple of weeks. Well, that doesn’t matter. We had two new crews to try out and a table on which to do it. The best Malifaux is the Malifaux you get to play, no matter where.
Tipa, you better not be thinking about playing a different keyword. Don’t listen to Colette’s lies! DECEMBER IS COMING!
(I might be having too much fun with chibi Malifaux masters, maybe…)
Last night’s game was Jack Daw 2 vs Colette 1, Star of the Show.
My team:
Colette du Bois, Star of the Show
3 Mechanical Doves, her totem. They can heal and be used as proxies for Colette if she is in range
Coryphee Duet, twin puppets that attack in unison and can separate into two models
Dorian Crowe, a stage illusionist
Shadowlark, a shapeshifter who can summon huge wings and fly
Blackbirds, two of her stage assistants
Carlos Vasquez, an acrobat who has mastered the power of fire
We chose corner deployment because of the realities of playing on our kitchen table. Strategy was “Informants”, which scores on who controls the most of five points on the battlefield.
We both chose “Scout the Rooftops” as our first scheme; we have to leave two scheme markers on terrain height two or greater, at least six inches from our deployment zones. Kasul was attacker, I defended.
I sent Shadowlark and Carlos out to score the Scout the Rooftops point, then sent Carlos out to attack the center strategy point. This made him a real target for the entirety of the Jack Daw crew and probably wasn’t a great idea. I sent the doves to back him up, but without having enemy scheme markers nearby to provide a place to summon more doves, that was just more fodder for the Tormented. By the beginning of Turn 2, all four were dead and I was forced to focus solely on scoring points while using the Coryphee Duet and Dorian Crow to threaten the center.
Oh my, it talks! Raspy, honey, time to go back to your mountain and play with your little snowmen. Can’t you see that all anyone really wants is ME?
My turn two scheme was detonate explosives, which involves having scheme markers within 2" of an enemy model. I originally planned to do this with two of Jack Daw’s summoned zombies, but Kasul helpfully informed me that those summoned undead were peons and couldn’t be used to score schemes or strategies, so I shifted over to the center, where Jack Daw himself and another of his crew were holding court.
It was getting late, so we ended after the second turn and talked through what the other two turns would have looked like and decided upon a final score of 9-6, with Jack Daw winning.
Trying too hard to score the strategy on my first turn was probably a mistake, at least the way I did it with Carlos being sent alone. He was my “beater”, who, along with the Coryphee Duet, was supposed to do the majority of the damage. I didn’t advance properly and that ended with me four crew down in the second turn, and Shadowlark pushed far away from the battle and Dorian and Colette using decoy markers to advance as quickly as they could to the center to support Coryphee. I was only able to usefully attack two of the control points, leaving three out of my reach, and so past the first turn when I extended to get that first point, I was never going to score that strategy again.
Kasul was surprised I didn’t put the Showgirls into play, choosing the less popular Blackbirds instead. My reasoning is that they are associated with Shadowlark, and with her in the game, I felt they should be, too. It’s the first time I’ve played Performer, and since it was a friendly match, I went with it to see how it would work.
Next time, I’ll likely bring the showgirls and leave Dorian Crowe at home, replacing him with the mistress of blades, Cassandra Felton. Should be a very different game. Maybe one I’ll win :-)
