Hi there! Another of the Refauxgees here, Simon (although often referred to as Tarquin, Wellyman, or, if I've been particularly busy with the memes, a variety of names unrepeatable in polite company). I live way out in the wild wild east of the UK; not particularly close to any major gaming centres, which certainly limits my opportunities to get in-person gaming in, but at least Tabletop Simulator has made keeping a small portion of my sanity intact possible.
I got into wargaming way back in the mid 90s with 2nd edition 40K in my teens (Ultramarines, but don't hold that against me), then took a hefty break from it as friends and fellow gamers went their various ways in our 20s. I eventually got back into the hobby through a World Of Warcraft friend who nearly snared me with Warmachine, but finally got me to jump back in with Malifaux 2nd Edition, mostly by telling me I could play as a methomancer who could Gambit his way to some crazy spike damage. I bought in with Jakob Lynch back when he still had the Space Tadpole at his beck and call, and ended up with masters in every faction in the game but most at home out in the Bayou, most successfully with Ophelia but most enjoyably with Ulix.
I met the other Refauxgees at various events, attended my first 2-day event, improved my painting ability over and over again, and had several great years of gaming. We grew a little tired of the bloat and cheesecake that seemed to be creeping into the game towards the end of M2E, and eventually made our way on to Guild Ball, Bushido, and, currently, Marvel Crisis Protocol over the next few years (You might have noticed a definite trend away from the big army games of GW and much more in the way of indie skirmish games, which was mostly due to just how god-awful dull it is to paint a hundred walking refrigerators in a uniform scheme). But I always kept half an eye on what was happening out beyond The Breach, and when I saw that Nekima had finally decided that she was a bit chilly and that it was time to put some more clothes on, the pull of soulstone was felt once again.
I am yet to play a game of Malifaux Third Edition, although I have eagerly re-downloaded Vassal and pored over the (thankfully) simplified conditions system and other changes in anticipation of getting the reintroduction game in soon. When I last played, nobody had even considered the possibility of The Explorer's Society existing, with most people seeming to think that any new faction would likely be some form of the returning Tyrants lumped together. I, and others among my gaming group, were certainly surprised that popular characters like Lilith and Nicodem had essentially been declared null and void; always a risky move when people had spent substantial money and time to get, build and paint their squads to often beautiful degrees, only to be told that they were not going to be allowed to use them anymore. But the game seemed to be going from strength to strength despite this, so I can only assume people transferred their minions to the next best options and got on with it.
From what I can tell so far, the Gaining Grounds system still swings the game between the more killy and more controlly teams, which I never had a problem with; everybody gets their day in the sun, and each faction has options to swing to on that front. There still seems to be a little bit of the cheesecake factor going on, but it seems to mostly be kept to where it thematically fits, such as Colette and Youko, which feels more restrained than where the game seemed to be heading near the end of 2nd Edition's time. All in all, the game felt ripe for a cautious return, spurred on by fellow Refauxgees' returning enthusiasm.
Which led to the question: who to play as? I didn't want (and really can't afford) to play the sprawling mass of Masters that I had in M2E, having learned the hard way (through every game system that I've played before and since) that sticking with just one or two teams and learning them inside-out tended to lead to the fewest embarrassing mistakes in play, if not outright success. I knew fairly early that I was going to stick to the Bayou; I always felt like they had the most characterful models and entertaining chaos in their ranks. I had, during M2E's days, repeatedly campaigned for Ulix to have some form of grow mechanic, as it seemed a perfect fit for the various ranks of Pig available even back then, so it would be churlish to not pick him back up now that he has been rebuilt for that very ability.
The addition of Squealers adds some decent but not overpowered range to his game, which can certainly help with the Deathball style of play I'm used to for Ulix. The spreading out of the Summoning duties to the Slop Haulers, Hog Whisperers and The Sow (at least in my early plans) adds some flexibility to Ulix's activations, although I do imagine that he will very often be growing something into a War Pig, healing it up and throwing it into someone's poor, poor face. I imagine that it'll be quite the learning curve to remember to keep Penelope and Old Major in the right positions for optimal pig-missiling, but I'm very much looking forward to getting those games in as often as possible. There may be a return to the Kin in my future as well, as it may have been the Ophelia Overloaded model that really got me looking at M3E again, but for now, it's all about makin' that bacon.
No comments:
Post a Comment