MALIFAUX MUSINGS - How To Flail Effectively
Written By: Jay Edwards
I know, it’s been a while since I wrote an article, but I had this big international tournament to prepare and run so my mind was occupied for a while. There were points that I didn’t think I had the resources to handle the situation but I was able to flail enough to make it through to the other side with a positive result. Speaking of that - that kind of situation happens a lot in Malifaux doesn’t it? The matchup seems hopeless and you just can’t think of a way to win. Your opponent’s crew feels overwhelming and you can’t really hurt them, so everything’s done right? Well, not actually. Just like a Pokemon with no moves left, struggling is a viable last resort if you know how to do it correctly.
Before you flail around, you need to know the proper style of struggle-fu you want to employ. Figuring out why you got into this situation is as important mid-game as it is in a post-game review. If you don’t know what’s causing you your problems you likely won’t be able to choose the right tool for this job. Take a second to step back and think about the previous turns from the game - why aren’t you winning right now? Remove the random elements from the equation as you are just as likely to have flipped the Red Joker on that attack as you were to have flipped the Black Joker, so going purely on that basis isn’t the best idea. You should drill down to key reasons and go from there. I’m going to talk about a few major reasons and, more often than not, your situation is going to be in there.
The biggest bugbear in my games is often that I can’t hurt my opponent in a meaningful way. Colette is a great example of this as her crew doesn’t do a ton of damage overall, so when I’m up against a beater crew, I can be put in a bad spot. Thus brings up method number 1 - The Tarpit. The Tarpit is a basic method of struggling, but it’s a fully valid one and can be very effective. Take your tougher models and run them into the beatsticks of the opposing crews and protect them as much as you can. If they run away, chase them down. You aren’t aiming to kill them - you’re aiming to stop them from doing anything besides dealing with your big dumb thing. If they are dealing with that, they aren’t dealing with the rest of your crew, and that means they can do other things. In an example from my own games, I threw a Corphyee Duet into Yan Lo and Izamu for 3 turns. Those 2 models never crossed the halfway point and I was able to draw it out to a 6-6 tie partially because of that.
I often play summoners, so I know this next tactic works out extremely well. Most summoning Masters either require something to be next to you (Kirai and her Seishin) or get a benefit from having a lot of things in a group (Hamelin with Rat Kings) so the best way to fight them is - The Net. The Net involves running your models out to the farthest corners of the map to do their thing. This can very easily take the winds out of a summoner’s sails because they don’t have the resources they need to drop bigger/better models onto the table. Then, you can more easily focus on either picking off the individual models or luring models out into the open for your own schemes. My last opponent realized this and ran a Cyclops and a Geryon to outflank my Hamelin crew and it put me in a tough spot for a bit, resulting in a close 7-4 loss for me (if I had succeeded in a key duel in turn 4, it would have be 6-5 for me).
Schemes are another big thing to think about and there are a lot of times that the available pool is entirely useless to you. Whether it’s because you’re poorly positioned, there are no easy targets, or your opponent is blocking you in. In that case, you need to - The Skip. Look at what Schemes you could take next turn and focus on staging for that. If your opponent’s uniques are huge, tough, and far away, take Assassinate but plan for Runic Binding. If you’re able to play it correctly, you’ll be able to score max on the next turn and completely steal a win in a bad matchup. If possible, try to set up for 2 different schemes for the next turn to keep your opponent guessing. Drop 5 Scheme markers on roofs - are you going for Scout the Rooftops or Runic Binding? Or maybe you’re counting on your opponent coming to deal with one of those objective markers, meaning you’ll know where they’ll be for Detonate Charges. Only you know the answer.
Along with The Skip, you can actively try to trick your opponent - The Feint. Let’s say you took Detonate Charges on turn 2 and you have chosen Take the Highground as your Scheme. For the first couple model activations, drop objective markers around your opponent’s crew. They may decide that you’re on Runic Binding and chase down those objectives. Lead them around, dropping objectives whenever you can. When the dust settles, you’ve got a couple guys that ran up the sides of buildings and, would you look at that, you control 2+ pieces of Ht 2 terrain! Good thing your opponent was chasing those objective markers around eh?
With these techniques, you’ll find that some matches are difficult, but nothing is unwinnable from the get-go. Malifaux is a huge game with a ton of models, however it is fairly well balanced and there is no auto-lose matchup for players. There are uphill battles for sure, but that just makes cresting that hill all the better for it. In the wise words of a retired Japanese tennis player standing waist-deep in freezing ocean water - “Never give up!”.
