Post by masterdisaster on Nov 24, 2014 10:23:51 GMT
Wessex Wyverns Malifaux Slow Grow League
Aim of the League
Simply put the aim is to get more people interested in Malifaux and have some fun while we do it! The league is open to beginners, veterans and people in-between. I aim to do this by having the participants start with a basic Starter Box and expand their Crew / Model Pool from there at a steady and manageable rate whilst also competing against each other in a friendly League environment. The club doesn't really encourage power gaming and neither will I. Malifaux in its nature discourages cookie cutter lists due to the rules for crew creation and is meant to be a fun and somewhat competitive game. I want to encourage that within the League and ensure everybody has fun whilst we take part. Remember, killing your opponent’s entire crew will not win you the game every single time. Victory Points (VP) are what count! Malifaux is a game where achieving set Objectives, denying your opponent VP and Resource Management are fundamental principles.
What you will need
• Models: Pick up your chosen Master and their associated Starter Box. Note, you will be using this Master for the entirety of the League. You cannot change Faction or Master during the league so pick wisely! Useful info on Masters and Factions can be found at pullmyfinger.wikispaces.com .Please try to pick a different Master from everybody else where possible. Whilst there is nothing wrong with Mirror Matches and the odd one every now and then is fine. My primary concern is that if everybody is playing the same crew then the League is going to get very boring very quickly. At the end of the day this is meant to be fun so pick somebody you like the look of and go with it!
• Stat Cards + Upgrades: These are included in the new Plastic Starter Sets but do not offer Generic Faction wide upgrades so the Faction Deck/s are very useful if you wish to go down that road. If you have an older Starter Set you will need the Arsenal Deck/s in order to get the appropriate Stat Cards and Upgrades. I have duplicates of many crews so if you plan on using an older crew and I have spare cards you can have my spares.
• Dry Wipe Marker: The Stat Cards can be written on with a dry wipe marker and will usually be fine. This is useful for marking wounds and conditions on your models. Card Sleeves are advisable though to prevent your cards from getting stained or marked permanently. Dice work particularly well at marking wounds if you don’t wish to use a pen or buy sleeves.
• Rulebook / Manual: The Rulebook is fairly pricy at around £20-£30 but I am prepared to pick up a few copies of the cheaper, smaller rules manuals for people if they need them to keep and read up on. (The Rules Manual usually works out at around £8-£9.)
• Fate Deck: Malifaux does not use dice, it uses a deck of cards referred to as a Fate Deck. These are fairly cheap and easily obtainable in their basic form. There are special variations and editions which are also fine. They mimic a standard playing deck of cards and these are also fine so long as you can determine which normal suits represent the Malifaux suits. Ensure your deck has 4 Suits, 13 cards per suit and both a Red and Black Joker. For purposes of keeping it simple an official Wyrd Fate Deck is recommended.
• Tape Measure: … Duh!
• Markers / Counters: Malifaux is a game where Markers are incredibly commonplace. 30mm Empty bases will suffice however anything can be used really. Dice, Coins, etc.
• Soul Stones: Similar to markers it’s often worthwhile having some way to keep track of how many Soul Stones your crew has left during the game, even if this is just a pen and paper you will need to keep track of this in some way. Dice, coins, counters, poker chips etc. will be fine.
Rules of the League
The first Monday of the Month will be our dedicated League night and games played on this night will count towards the League Table, we will refer to these as Ranked Games so things don’t get too confusing. Ranked Games may be played on other nights of the month if you can’t make the first Monday however only one Ranked Game per month will be available to each League Member so make them count! Other games are of course encouraged but they won’t give you extra points, chances are you might need to help somebody else get their ranked game in for that month. Don’t be a spoil sport, if you’re free please lend a hand so others can get their points. Diversity is also recommended, try to play as many different people within the League as possible. Playing the same person over and over is a great way to let them bag a tonne of League Points!
Ranked Games will be setup as per the rules. Deployment, Strategy and Schemes will be determined as per the Official Rules in the Rulebook/Manual. Crew creation will also be done in the same way as described in the Rules to prevent power lists from being used. This method of creating a Crew after Objectives have been decided makes for a more balanced and fair gaming environment and has proven to discourage power lists from being created. Obviously to begin with this won’t matter quite so much but as the game sizes expand this will become incredibly important.
The League will start on the First Monday of February 2015 with each member participating with just the contents of the current Starter Boxes, no additional models can be added or summoned into games. If you have an older Starter Box from First Edition which has since been replaced with a plastic kit then you will need to match the models in the current set for the sake of balanced play. Proxies are more than welcome as many of the old metals are now out of production. Alternatively if your 1st Ed box hasn’t got a plastic equivalent then we will have to arrange an acceptable starting point for that Master and Crew. More experienced Malifaux players will be encouraged to use a brand new Master or Faction so there is a learning curve for everybody involved.
Wyrd Miniatures are still in the process of re-releasing many of their models in plastic and due to this their metal versions have gone out of production. If this is the case Proxy Models will be allowed so long as they resemble what they represent however let’s not go crazy with Proxies, I will not accept Space Marines representing Guild Guard for example. If you are using older metal crews please also be aware since the edition change some models have changed in regards to their base size, so be sure to thoroughly check the new cards or Errata document beforehand. Ikiryo from the Kirai crew is a good example of this (was a 30mm base and is now 50mm). Please check the FAQ / Errata Document wyrd-games.net/community/files/category/2-game-files to check for any major changes to crews or models. Updated/errata’d cards are usually available for download in the same section of the Wyrd Forums or in the Wave 2 Decks if an Errata was applied to a Wave 1 Master / Model.
As previously stated for the first two months only models from the Starter Sets will be allowed. Each escalation within the League gives you an opportunity to expand on your Model Pool. This is done by adding one Box or Blister of models to your Model Pool to give you greater versatility when hiring or summoning. You can only hire models from your Model Pool and summoning Masters can only summon models from their Model Pool, this is to prevent summoners from becoming over powered and dominating the League. As the games increase in size summoners will still be restricted to summoning models from their model pool and not anything they wish, you may not have hired them to begin with but so long as the model in question is a part of the crew’s Model Pool as per the League’s rules you can go nuts with summoning.
One Final Note on Summoning or Extra Models... Certain models can only be acquired via upgrades or are intrinsically linked to how a crew works. Electrical Creations, Mindless Zombies, Seishin, The Stolen etc. are examples of this. Often they cannot be hired and must be summoned. These models are usually linked directly to how a crew functions and there will be no restriction on these models as they rarely offer a dramatic impact to the game, instead they help their Master’s mechanics work as they are supposed to. They are automatically assumed to be a part of their Master’s crew with the usual duplicate restrictions as per the model's Stat Card.
The Soul Stone limit of games will start at 30ss, this limit will run from February to March. From April to May the limit will become 35ss and people can add a single Blister, Box or Model to their collection in order to expand their Model Pool. This rule will then repeat every 2 months by increasing the size of each game by 5ss and one blister / box of additional models (NOTE – An additional Box does not mean an additional Starter Box, if there is a model that can only be acquired from a Starter Box then feel free to buy it but only that model or models if there are multiples will be allowed for that escalation period). The months and limits will look like so:
February – March: 30ss Limit, Starter Boxes Only
April – May: 35ss Limit, Starter Boxes and 1 Additional Blister, Box or Model.
June – July: 40ss Limit, Starter Boxes and 2 Additional Blisters, Boxes or Models.
August – September: 45ss Limit, Starter Boxes and 3 Additional Blisters, Boxes or Models.
October – November: 50ss Limit, Starter Boxes and 4 Additional Blisters, Boxes or Models.
December: 50ss Limit, Story Encounter Missions / Hardcore League (Not as bad as it sounds!!) / League Final to decide a winner if there is a tie at first place. No Model Restrictions, anything goes!
For the duration of the escalation the models you have available will be restricted by your Model Pool however crew upgrades are not. You may take any Crew Upgrades or Faction Upgrades available to your crew so long as they are given to appropriate models and do not make the crew’s total cost exceed the games limit in Soul Stones for that period of the league.
League Table and Points
The League will of course be a friendly competition and so we will need to keep track of how well we are all doing. League Points will be awarded depending on how you perform in your Ranked Game each month. League Points are scored like so:
Win – 2 LP
Draw – 1 LP
Loss – 0 LP
Painting Bonus – 1 LP
I've designed this points system with the Malifaux Scheme VP system in mind. Each player can potentially score a maximum of 3 LP per Ranked Game. In order to achieve the Bonus LP you will need to have a fully painted and based crew. I will not enforce the painting of models however this little incentive means even if you lose a game or two you are still bagging at least 1 LP for your efforts per game!
After the escalations are finished each member should have somewhere between 0 and 30 LP and of course a nice Malifaux crew to play with (be it painted or not, your choice). If there is a clear winner then December can be dedicated to fun games involving Story Encounter Missions or a Hardcore Night. If there is a tie for poll position then the tied players will need to have a final game to determine the winner of the league. I will arrange for a prize to be awarded to the victor at the end of the League.
What now?
Finally if you have any queries regarding the rules please feel free to ask, if I have missed anything we can look to sort out a fair and balanced solution to any problems that might arise.
So there we have it! If you wish to join the league then please feel free to post below with your Name, Chosen Faction and Chosen Master and I will add you to a roster. You do not need to decide right now on your Master. Feel free to sign up with just your name and put TBC for your Master / Faction until you can decide.
Good luck guys and remember.... Cheat Fate or Lose your Soul!