Misaki Henchmen Status

[SpiralngCadavr]

Just personally, I love the game how it is. I would hate for it to become a mass-scale warfare game. It's not in the nature of the story. I think have 100 SS brawls is enough for people who want to play bigger.

It's nice not having to spend all day on one game, and the problem with re-balancing all the time is that the game becomes more and more broken. I think people have to realise that every model is worth its points value, just simply what you use it for and if you know how.

If we keep complaining about very aesthetic issues and very minor grumbles, we will ruin Malifaux like they ruined 40K. We should be happy with how well everything is going as it is.

QFT.

I can't imagine Malifaux falling to that, but I'd have said the same about Warmachine as recently as 5 years ago, so I've certainly been proven wrong before. While I'd like Malifaux to get a second edition with a few less or more standardized rules, I'd be happier with a flawed but interesting game over a perfect (rules) game without a soul.

Personally, I think that a few outcasts and Kirai's theme is plenty of flavor without radically altering the world, and the idea of a massive influx of asian-themed pieces doesn't appeal to me.

[Omenbringer]

I can't imagine Malifaux falling to that, but I'd have said the same about Warmachine as recently as 5 years ago, so I've certainly been proven wrong before.

You and me both.

[SpiralngCadavr]

You and me both.

Kinda' stings, don't it? :/

[Todd]

I think people have to realise that every model is worth its points value, just simply what you use it for and if you know how.

Every time I see this sentiment expressed on the forum I can't help but imagine the Malifaux Child sitting all by himself crying.

Less balance/game size/Warmachine used to be better (it was) discussion, and more Misaki/Kung-Fu/Ninja awesomeness discussion please.

[FlammenKrieger]

Personally, I think that a few outcasts and Kirai's theme is plenty of flavor without radically altering the world, and the idea of a massive influx of asian-themed pieces doesn't appeal to me.

I agree with this. I think Misake has her place as an Outcast as the most recent narrative about her states that she is really trying to break away from the Ten Thunders, so still an Outcast none the less. On a different note, still my favourite faction.

I think soulful, and a less-than-perfect game are what we need Malifaux to stay as. That way there are still tricks but then again, isn't the reason we play is to beat those 'combos' and make out own.
I like to use a 40K reference, "Why do we play if not to kill Space Marines?"

[SteamHammer]

I think there are several inevitabilities in skirmish games

1. A skirmish game will evolve into a full fledged Army game (by continually adding models to existing factions)
2. A skirmish game continually introduces new factions increasing possibilities while limiting game swell (keeping it a skirmish game)
3. A skirmish game just stops adding things to prevent swell and power creep (in which it usually fades away)

I'd hate to see any of these happen so I suggest:

4. Start over in a different place.

I'm sure the fluff has mentioned another large breach in the Three Kingdoms so once the current location/events have run the course Wyrd start over with another breach that goes to the other side of the Malifaux world too. Same rules as the current set up so people can always play Masters from different settings against each other.

Rather than primarily Western with some Eastern models you now get the reverse. Instead of the Guild you get the Kingdoms' authorities.

[CN the Logos]

I very much doubt that Malifaux will become a full wargame, on account of its rules being too focused on the individual model to accommodate that level of play. I generally play 40SS games; those take me around two hours and generally consist of ten models or less with the masters I run. While an "Apocalypse" variant for Malifaux might be an interesting experiment for someone with an entire weekend free, I can't see it becoming the dominant format for Malifaux without a major shift in the rules; to the point where the resulting game wouldn't actually be Malifaux anymore.

On topic: Can I go on record as saying that creating entirely new factions with the themes of "stereotypes from [insert culture]" is a terrible, awful idea, and would totally cause me to stop buying Malifaux? Because it's a terrible, awful idea, and would totally cause me to stop buying Malifaux. I can just about tolerate the story writers' inexplicable decision to abandon "low-key power struggles for control of a valuable power source in a grim, gritty steampunk fantasy world" in favor of "generic Lovecraft knockoff #51782." Mostly because it doesn't affect the way the models look or play and the actual characters and setting are compelling despite that. Creating entire factions of "these guys are Japanese/Russian/African!" however, would carry over into the look of the models and the gameplay in addition to being pretty offensive.

I could, in theory, get behind a Ten Thunder Brothers Outcast subfaction, although I'm not sure what it would consist of aside from "Mercenaries, but vaguely Japanese!" As long as it can be done in an interesting way and we can avoid magical ninja who wear bright orange prison jumpsuits, I'll be happy.

[Dustcrusher]

I'd hate to see any of these happen so I suggest:

4. Start over in a different place.

I'm sure the fluff has mentioned another large breach in the Three Kingdoms so once the current location/events have run the course Wyrd start over with another breach that goes to the other side of the Malifaux world too. Same rules as the current set up so people can always play Masters from different settings against each other.

Rather than primarily Western with some Eastern models you now get the reverse. Instead of the Guild you get the Kingdoms' authorities.

I've even come up with a name for it- Malifaux: Earthside.

While an "Apocalypse" variant for Malifaux might be an interesting experiment for someone with an entire weekend free, I can't see it becoming the dominant format for Malifaux without a major shift in the rules; to the point where the resulting game wouldn't actually be Malifaux anymore.

I think this would be fine- a variant for folks with tons of models that want to be able to field the entire lot in one game. It should stay that way- an option.

On topic: Can I go on record as saying that creating entirely new factions with the themes of "stereotypes from [insert culture]" is a terrible, awful idea, and would totally cause me to stop buying Malifaux? Because it's a terrible, awful idea, and would totally cause me to stop buying Malifaux.

I agree for the most part. Character tropes on the other hand wouldn't be so bad- a Liu Bei/Guan Yu/Zhang Fei master/henchman crew could be a lot of fun if written right.

[knoerzer]

So reading through this and all the ideas of a new Henchmen that I saw, but the only thing I could think of (and sorry I haven't read the third book yet so if I missed something in the story please forgive me, waiting on dad to finish it, then I can read it) was making a Henchmen for the Outcasts and make it Misaki's Father? Make him like Misaki and give them synergy. Also in his box they could include 3 or 4 models that are like ninjas? What do you guys think of that?

[Jewomie]

if written right.

Yep... there is where i would be afraid of seeing these kinds of crews show up.

It's not that i don't trust Wyrd to release a crew that is fun, stylistic, and well formed... they have proven to me time and time again that they will take an odd idea, and make a cool crew out of it... the show girls and Hoffman both good examples of this... the showgirls seemed at first to be a weak and unreliable crew that wouldn't offer much... now they are considered one of the better crews (if you buy in to the rating system... i don't... but there's no denying they are well written and unique) Hoffman as well had me worried...i thought the guild was going to get it's own copy of Ramos... i was wrong there to. and happy to admit it i might add.

My problem is not with the idea of Misaki being a henchamn or even a master, with a ninja/asian/tenthunders/steriotype twist on it. my fear is that we'll just end up with a copy of Von Schill with hiring restrictions, and that has little appeal to me. I feel the same way about "Asian Themed" factions... they will all have the same feel to them, only a different race.

Someone on here mentioned that malifaux is already the english (or whatever) and we need to explore the asian world as they have their own portal... i can get behind this idea... but not for 5 new factions. or even one for that matter. we have enough. if more masters (and ideally more henchman) are added to the game, we'll see certain aspects of these so called "balance issues" start to go away... if we add new factions, the current ones will still have the issues people see, and the new ones will serve to generate more compatability issues... then they'll split and we'll have warmahordes v2... and i wouldn't like to see that at all... not at all...

Plus... the world of Malifaux is already pretty diverse... it's not like we have a solid model count of only white men *cough-space marines-cough* If they focus on a single ethnic group, we're just going to get a bunch of steriotypes and we wont get the well thought out awesome characters they've given us so far.

if i had to pick an idea someone else has posted, i could really get behind having Ten Thunders special forces available to each faction... with corisponding abilities, and a henchman capable of hireing them all together in a single crew... kind of like Collodi will be hiring effigies out of all the factions, but each faction will have access to their unique one when they want it. I don't remember who posted this, but it seemed the best way (in my opinon) of breaking up the ten thunders special forces and keeping them from being just another Von Schill crew.