A fresh start

I was going to title this post ‘(Word)Press-ing on with blogging’, but thankfully I realised that a terrible pun wasn’t the best way to start my time on WordPress…

I’ve finally made the move from blogger to WordPress – if you want to see any of my older posts, they’re all here: http://forgotmytea.blogspot.com This will be pretty similar to before – a mix of models, painting, battle reports and promises of regular updates that don’t always turn out that regular. This ‘real life’ keeps getting in the way of my gaming!

I’ll start off with a review for a change, as to be honest (and I always try to be honest when blogging) it’s too late and dark to photograph anything. I’ll be reviewing the book Malifaux 1.5, the latest book for my favourite tabletop wargame, Malifaux.

1.5 gathers together the best of the original rulebook with the mini rulebook, including everything from rules to artwork to background. However, there are really no rules changes compared to the mini rulebook – rather, the FAQ and updates have been included for ease of use while the actual rules framework remains the same. I have to admit that I still use my mini rulebook for reference while gaming, but it is nice to have the complete rules in one place.

The book opens with a detailed history of Malifaux, from the first opening of the breach to the colonization and current political state of the world. The background is broken up with in-universe style writings of certain pages from Philip Tombers’ journal, lending a first-person narrative that develops throughout the book. It’s great to have the background printed out in full again, and a brilliant change from having to dig around online, especially given how rich the background of Malifaux is.

The book moves on into the rules, which I’ve touched on already. All of the rules are 100% up to date with the FAQ’s, erratas and the like. While these are thankfully few, it’s still nice to have them on-hand rather than having to refer to crumpled print-outs or tiny pdf’s on my smart phone. The rules are laid out in the same way as the mini rulebook, only with some gorgeous artwork to break them up a bit.

1.5 includes a lot of stats for models in Malifaux, something I personally was very glad to see – a fair number of the demo games I’ve run have at some point had the question raised, ‘Where can I see the rules for the model before I buy it?’, so it’s nice to be able to open the book rather than pointing them towards a PDF online. The rules are really well laid-out, separated by faction and including every special rule in detail as well as a picture of the character. I should mention that not all of the models are included – Masters such as Kirai aren’t included, as are Henchmen or Avatars (who appear in the third book, Twisting Fates), but with the vast majority included it’s not something that bothers me really. Just before I move on, each model’s entry also includes a decent chunk of text detailing who or what it is, with backstory, motivations and goals included to really give you a good bit of insight into your favourite characters.

The book then goes into various short stories focusing on different characters, all of them eventually coming together into one dramatic conclusion that is amazing. Including characters such as Sonnia, Rasputina, Leviticus and Seamus, the stories give us an insight into each of them as well as the relationships between them as the stories converge. It’s particularly worth reading for the Guild-focused stories when we have their opinions on Dr McMourning and his morgue!

Finally, a handy index completes the end so it’s easy enough to find a rule at short notice. The book is really well printed, with good quality paper and some truly outstanding artwork throughout. The only thing that some people might miss is a painting section – there aren’t really even any photos of the models except when next to their stats entry – but this is more than made up for in my mind by the artwork and writing.

So, overall it’s certainly a favourite of mine – I basically couldn’t put it down until I’d finished it – but putting my Malifaux love bias aside, I would recommend it. It’s a good resource for new players both in terms of rules and background, giving you a good idea of the sort of world Malifaux is set in and a chance to look over the rules to see who appeals to you. I would still recommend picking up the mini rulebook – it’s far cheaper than 1.5, infinitely more portable and still contains everything you need to play the game – but if you’ve reached the end of the month with some money to spare, you could do far worse than buying this book.

So what can you expect in the near future on this blog? As mentioned, real life does tend to get in the way of my updating this regularly, but myself and a friend have organised a zombie apocalypse this game for the local gaming club – essentially squads of survivors in the middle of a board with endless waves of zombies hurling themselves at the barricades, so I will put up some pictures of that! I’m also working on painting my Repressor for my Necromunda Enforcers, and have Dr McMourning himself lined up to paint as soon as I decide on a colour scheme.

Thanks for reading, please feel free to leave any comments and hope to see you next time!

Ben