Malifaux Musing - The Beta Files
Written By: Jay Edwards
Recently, the Malifaux 4E Beta files dropped and I have some thoughts. First and foremost, I want to get this out of the way: I’m beyond psyched for 4E. The changes that we’ve seen previewed make the game a lot faster and simpler along with condensing things down for onboarding new players. Simplification and condensing also does not mean that the game is getting easier - chess is simple and straightforward but has a ton of depth, so I don’t view that as a negative thing. These changes have opened up a lot of design space so I’m pumped for not just the release but also the future of 4E!
Now, onto some of my opinions on specifics. Let’s rip the bandage off first - losing models in a keyword sucks. As an Urami player, I lost Jaakuna, Drowned, The Ferryman, and Kari and that stings. With Lucius’ shift to pure Guild, I now don’t have a real use for my Syzygy Sisters that I just painted up. I’m taking it with a grain of salt though because now I have a reason to pick up a Jack Daw set and to start a dedicated Neverborn crew. That’s not going to be a solution for everyone I know, but it’s a small piece of solace that I’m taking in the shift. My local group is also starting to discuss possible model trades due to these changes so I would recommend looking into that too if you’ve been hit by this.
Keywords are also causing me to raise an eyebrow in the “what are you doing Wyrd” sense with the release of keyword packs. Dual keyworded models are only being released in one pack, meaning players are having to look in multiple places for all their model cards, which wouldn’t be a problem if all cards were released at once. Cavern Nephilim are definitely keeping their Brood (formerly Nephilim) keyword, but players can’t use it until Returned is released. I get it from a point of trying to not overwhelm the players and the editors all at once, but it’s not a ton of models so it should be easy enough to include those additional models right at the beginning. In my opinion, Wyrd should have held back the Versatile models to make sure all the released keywords had all their models, that way players could get a feel for their crews all at once instead of having to wait for piecemeal drops.
Some of the abilities seem a little off as well. The big one that stands out to me is the changes to Flight and Incorporeal. Flight allows you to ignore terrain and models when moving, which makes sense since birds are able to fly up and over things in their way but with the shift to having more verticality a new piece of terrain is introduced - a floor. If there’s a Mechanical Dove on the 1st floor of a building, it shouldn’t be able to phase through the 2nd floor to get to the 3rd, especially since Incorporeal doesn’t bestow any kind of movement bonus. I would think it much more reasonable that a ghost would be able to float up through a floor moreso that Flying Piglet. Hopefully this gets reviewed during the beta and spirits feel a little more spirited for the full release.
Looping back to terrain, I am in love with how much terrain is recommended now! Going from around 35% of the table being covered with to the new 45-65% recommendation is going to allow for a lot more interesting play patterns. Being able to zoom up Climbable terrain in an instant feels a bit weird admittedly, but given that the game is going down to 4 turns from 5, losing a Walk action to move up would be way too detrimental to make it worthwhile. I’m personally printing out an early 20th Century city block right now and a friend is getting a Western town made up for his board. This expansion of terrain is going to mean tables have a lot more personality and feel very different at events (which is a good thing). I am also looking forward to seeing what Wyrd puts out for their terrain, both in physical kits and in STLs.
As a side note, I just want to celebrate Wyrd appearing to embrace the 3D printing community lately, even though it’s somewhat hesitantly. 3D printing isn’t going anywhere anytime soon so providing STLs for the community to purchase official models and terrain is just going to make Malifaux that much more appealing. Players with printers (like myself) don’t have to find legally-questionable sculpts online if we’re looking to save a little bit of money and Wyrd doesn’t have to make as many kits in order to get those sculpts out in the wild. It’s a win-win for everyone involved and shows that the community is at the forefront of Wyrd’s business decisions.
Overall, it looks like 4E may be the Golden Age of Malifaux after having lost a lot of people during the fumbled 2E to 3E update. Online and in person I’m hearing and seeing a renewed interest in the game, with both old and new players wanting to come back to it. Wyrd has listened to the community and made some much needed quality of life improvements to the mechanics while also making sure it’s still a game with a ton of depth for players so inclined to explore. As someone who is going to be running tournaments and helping with learning events, I am very excited for the future of Malifaux!
