So what have I learnt so far....

[Oathborne]

I agree with a lot of the people here. You should play what "speaks to you" as far as a crew goes. My first crew was Colette and when I picked her everyone in my LGS tried to sway me from doing it. (except the henchmen) They said she was too difficult to learn as a first crew and I would get frustrated and quit.

But I picked her because I like the models.

And I've had fun playing her ever since and have become adept at it.

[cerealkiller195]

After many years of gaming I have noticed that even if some players take a top tier army that doesn't necessarily mean they know how to make it work when it gets on the table top. In addition when people play something oddball a few tournament players are thrown a curve ball because they only face "top tier" lists and end up losing due to not knowing how the other army plays out.

For me i picked Guild solely because it was the last faction to be picked among my group when i first introduced the game. Nobody wanted to play 'just humans' i on the other hand had no problem because i liked the story behind the guild. I was caught by surprise being a close combat junky in all the other games I play turning to Guild which has a strong shooting aspect lol.

Just play what appeals to you and you will find a way to make it work one way or another.

[Requirement]

After many years of gaming I have noticed that even if some players take a top tier army that doesn't necessarily mean they know how to make it work when it gets on the table top. In addition when people play something oddball a few tournament players are thrown a curve ball because they only face "top tier" lists and end up losing due to not knowing how the other army plays out.

Or that they even want to play the "top tier" list in a broken way! One girl in our group bought the Dreamer and declared she would never slingshot him because she had some whole other plan in mind.
That's the thing... You have to be ready for anything, not just filth lists and "top tier" masters.

For me i picked Guild solely because it was the last faction to be picked among my group when i first introduced the game. Nobody wanted to play 'just humans' i on the other hand had no problem because i liked the story behind the guild. I was caught by surprise being a close combat junky in all the other games I play turning to Guild which has a strong shooting aspect lol.

This is roughly how I got the Guild. I saw the Lucius box and knew I would be playing the long arm of the law. Which everyone else was fine with since I was picking the "just humans." I think someone probably told me to have fun with my guns and swords, or something equally as snarky. I now own almost all the guild models and love shooting a Rezzer in the head. Nothing quite as satisfying... or as frustrating to an opponent.

Just play what appeals to you and you will find a way to make it work one way or another.

My local Marcus player, my local Seamus player, and myself, the guy who started playing with a 5-month Lucius losing streak, all endorse this statement.

[cerealkiller195]

Oh yes the first few months/years were me getting my butt kicked just about every time I played. I put down the game for a while only because I play SO many other skirmish games. But when our group got back into malifaux and I attended a few more tournaments something just clicked. Now at least I run pretty even between wins and losses pending who is my match up but I still have a lot of fun with "just humans".

I think its the mark of a good player that can adapt to the situation sure there are times when you get disheartened by something. But you have to able to quickly assess the situation or at the very least learn from your mistakes.

[LordZombie]

I have to back up many of the ideas here also. I only play Resurrectionists and I love them. I don't even play the master that got me into Resurectionist, and I still love them. The real point is to play with what you like and don't let the fourms tell you what to play. If that was even true, no one would be playing Resurrectionists and the Wyrd warehouse would be full of Molly box sets in over stock (which I play as a master many times). Yeah, you might not win every game or walk away from an encounter without losing a single model, but when you do pull off that win, it is all the sweeter. So come to the forums for questions, ideas on models, or even find some new tricks others are using, but don't let the forums decide what you play.

[Gruesome]

Ditto on play what you like...

I was at adepticon last weekend and came away with three primary thoughts:

1. Holy crap, can Rasputina hit hard and those ice walls irritate the crap out of a slow crew. (but she is not top tier?)
2. I hate Austringers. (they are guild, so must suck, right?)
3. My two favorite games from the weekend were not wins, they were losses.

I play Nicodem, commonly thought of as one of the weakest masters in terms of general VP-based objectives because of his slowness.
I do not care if he is considered weak, because he fits what I like in this gaming and so even when losing I enjoy myself.

[Guy in Suit]

I won the Adepticon main event... with Vikkies... What faction was a card flip or two from knocking me out of the event? Ressers...

McMourning can fling himself 23" across the board, kill a 6 wound model AND heal himself! Also,in the qualifier I ran into Terrifying 17 aSeamus, crazytown!

How people think that is sub par is beyond me... anyways, don't believe everything you read on the internet.

[DeusInnomen]

Again play what you want there is no spoon, and remember the forum is a almagimation of opinions and player strengths all mixed into a single place.

Now now, that's not true. I've met spoon. He's a nice guy! ;)

3. My two favorite games from the weekend were not wins, they were losses.

This man speaks the truth. My best game was the first one in the story tournament where E.T.A. Hoffman kicked the complete and all-encompassing crap out of my Viks with his Dreamer crew, and it was glorious and awesome. Can't think of the last time I had that much fun in a game of Malifaux, regardless of who won.

While for some people winning matters above all other factors, for many of us having a good time matters the most. Be a good sport, encourage it in others and remember that this is just a game in the end. It's what makes the Malifaux community stand above almost any other game's community for me.

[NiceGuy]

I am new to the game, and was wondering who are the current top tier characters. Or is there a tier list?

I like difficult to master, but powerful when mastered characters and want to know a good place to start.

[Dustcrusher]

Honestly, the only master I can think of that is not powerful when mastered is Molly, and that's mainly because she needs a couple more Horrors to give her crew a bit more variety.

As far as Masters with a higher learning curve go, Colette, Kirai, Dreamer, and Leveticus stand out in my mind.