Malifaux Died Out...

[Hardlec]

I play: Anything but warhammer. I usually call it "warvacuum" because to me it sucks.
When I can I go to the friendly local game store wherever I am. I am scouting ANY store within 50 miles of Gainesville Fl. for a place to play. (Yes, I am a follower of the opponant finder.)

Lately I have heard store owners say: "Malifaux died out here(implied: why don't you play warvacuum)

Well: I won't dwell on negatives save one. GW/Citidel have terrible business practices. They compete by defamation, and by pressuring vendors and venues to drop competing products.

Apart from having a great need to play, I put out a warning of a sort. Malifaux sells to the bare wall anywhere I can find it. I don't think it's going away.

[Koali]

well even if Malifaux died in your local area.. try to ranimate...

Its all about keep people having fun with the game...

[Lucidicide]

Are you just being informative? Are you looking for advice?

I'm not sure the point of your post. I don't say that to be negative, but rather that I know the community on the forum has a lot of great ideas and is willing to help if you need it. It's just not clear if you're looking for suggestions or something or not.

Let us know.

[Dustcrusher]

Under the assumption you're looking for advice (if you're just venting, feel free to ignore me):

Ask the store owners why "it died out." If they try to sell you on Warhamster politely tell them the truth- you've played it before and want to move on to something new.

Ask them if anyone plays anything else- even historicals. If they do, see if you can play some of those games with them. If things go well, then broach the subject of trying Malifaux and offer to demo it. If you are a fun player and are willing to try the regulars' favorite games, you're more likely to succeed (plus you might find a good second game, too).

If it's literally all GW all the time, ask if you can schedule a demo day. Have your models painted and ready to go along with two Fate decks. Play a strat-only game with counters like shared Treasure Hunt or shared Claim Jump. The worst reaction I've gotten so far is "Yeah, it's interesting. I'm just not sure the theme/card thing is my style."

If all of the store owners give you the "GW or nothing" treatment (what store owner in their right mind wouldn't at least explore a route of potential additional income?), look for "games wanted" boards and post there. See if you can go the club route and host a game night somewhere. The upshot of the club route is that if you can get established, you have no reason to avoid savings through online retailers

You could also try other message boards like Board Game Geek, Meetup.com, or Florida gaming boards. Surely one of them has Malifaux players or potential players.

I know this is likely painfully obvious- sometimes when I am really frustrated I just need to hear what I know from from someone else before things sink in...

[notmikehill]

The same can be said about any game that no one in the area plays, yet people have invested in. My LGS around here is very Warhammer oriented. They have Dakka Con and other crazy events around Philly.

The best peice of advice I can give you is just play the game. Pick a night and go up there with two crews (even ask a friend to use the other) and play to generate interest. Once people see the game and figures it sells and people are eager to play.

[Sybaris]

Alot of stores will want to funnel gamers into the Warhammer franchise. It's easy to understand: they have a ton of those models on the shelves (GW force them to keep a high inventory) and want to get profit out of it...so they flaunt and parade for GW.

I've even had a "Bloodbowl? mm we're not really encouraging it" See even if it was another GW game...they want you to play the 2 flagships, because that's where the $ is.

[T3tsuya]

True story, Malifaux completely died out in my area for almost a year because of bad henchmanning. New henchman stepped forth. About 8 months now and Malifaux is one of the most popular games in our area, we pull higher numbers for Mali tournaments than almost any other tournament, and new people are coming in all the time.

We just had a gaming convention in AZ that had tournaments for Warhammer, Warmachine, Fantasy, and Mali. Mali pulled the most people.

Just make a showing of it, get more people interested again, try new things. Malifaux spreads like a wonderful disease. I cant tell you how many people I've gotten interested in the game just by showing them Teddy.

Make an effort and you'll see results eventually.

[the imp]

I'm not a henchman, but I am trying to grow the game in my area. I had a false start about a year ago, but now I've got a couple eager players ready to help me. I have to admit, my local store owner hasn't been a lot of help. He invested heavily in Anima Tactics and WarmaHordes, so I can understand that he'd prefer to not dilute the player base any farther.

[Cornelious1424]

The game has dwindled some at my shop as well. Last year at this time we had our second league start at like 14 players, but by the end I believe half of that either dropped out or never got their games in. We shot for a tourney in October, but no one came down accept the Henchmen (who was running it) and my self (who was acting as co-henchmen). It has died down, but I'm looking to bring it back into the fold before Infinity takes over. It's just really tough to get all these people the let go of their dice!!

[Q'iq'el]

I'm of the opinion the game grows too fast for casual players. 1 Book a year and a tight monthly release schedule is quite a pace to keep for a second game... If you switch to Malifaux as your primary game things get better, but you still need to maintain 2~3 crews from the same faction to play competitively... that can be a lot even for a dedicated player.