How I learnt to play Malifaux

As a follow up on last weeks post "Why Malifaux?" and reading another fantastic Malifaux blog post Loxley's New Fairbank News on "Malifaux: How did you learn to play?" It got me to thinking, I should really follow up on my post as to how I learnt to play this great game (and also how I learnt to play all miniature games I have played).


As I had said before I picked up Hamelin, Seamus and Som'er crews first and all the things I thought I needed (a rules manual and that was it). After a quick perusal through the rules I discovered no dice were required and I needed a Fate Deck (I didn't have one of these to hand so I picked up my poker cards).


As with all games I have played against myself to initially learn the basic game mechanics before trying to tempt my wife into a quick game prior to venturing out of the house with the models and conquest in mind.


So I set up the kitchen table with some terrain and placed  Som'er and Seamus on the table with two gremlins and two belles respectively. This way I play with a pretty common minion for each crew and have a chance to figure how the masters work in this game. The first thing I noticed was that masters are more in your face in this game than other skirmish games where the masters are used to buff and bombard with spells...of course there are masters in this game that play that way.


After my my first activation with each crew I found that the way the game works there are so many rules to take into account before even considering moving your model.


Onto how I teach myself to play;


I know it is a strange way to learn a game, against yourself, but I find it easier than spending hours with a player that wants to get on with a game in some instances and me apologising for my countless readings and searching through the rules manual for the basics. I know some people will say that this is to be expected but I like to provide enjoyment for my opponents from the very start of my ventures into games.


So that is how I learn to play games, feel free to add your own ways and methods onto the comments of this and we shall see the varied ways people learnt to play this fantastic game.


After a few games against myself, I went for the jump and decided to go to Glasgow Gaming Group (G3) for my first game against a real opponent, this game as expected I got well and truly beat. It turned out to be Shared Treasure Hunt against Von Schill vs my new crew Ramos.


As always remember Cheat Fate or Lose Your Soul


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