Does Malifaux need to take a pause for the cause?

One of my favourites - Seamus

Malifaux is a good solid fun little game. I quite enjoy playing it with my friends when I can, and you can squeeze quite happily a few games into an evenings gaming session. It's a cheap game to get into in terms of what you need for a faction i.e. miniature count is low, way low. The miniatures themselves aren't too bad either with some interesting subjects, although a lot of them are posed in very 2D stances and are quite static, but I like the quirky nature of many of them. The world of Malifaux is certainly characterful, and no matter what you're into there is bound to be something that is to your taste. Some people hate that Malifaux doesn't really have a unified feel to it, in fluff terms. Then there are others, like me who just accept it and take it on board as just another layer of strangeness to the package.

However, lately I've started to wander whether Wyrd need to step back and take a pause for the cause. You see they've released a lot of 'core' rule books now, we're up to three complete and hefty tomes. If Rising Powers didn't add enough new things into the already tricky mix, they've recently added Twisting Fates, which changes things massively yet again. We also have the pocket rulebook, and although it's claimed it wasn't a re-write of the rules, I think there were significant tweaks from errata and FAQs to call it version 1.5. But that's OK, it was cheap, and to be honest made the game easier to sell to people. No the biggest issue is that they continue to add more and more options to each faction... it is hard to keep up with it all unless you're willing to devote significant hobby time to it and I think Malifaux might be at risk of losing its unique selling proposition (USP), market position and advantage.

Please don't take this as an anti-Malifaux blog, because it is most certainly not. I enjoy the game as a lighthearted romp every now and then and I think it does what it does well enough. However, with the release of both Rising Powers and Twisting Fates books I'm going to say it's a bit too much for me now to absorb, along with all the other games I play. I struggled with working out whether or not the game had a balance when it was just the rulebook, but with the addition of Rising Powers and Wyrd's philosophy of 'dump more crap into the game', it has started to blur my views on balance even more. More importantly for Wyrd, I've noticed it has actually started to put new gamers off of buying into the game. That is probably not what Wyrd want to hear... but, what Wyrd have essentially said to new gamers here in the UK is that they need to drop £75 on rulebooks before they even start playing the game, and getting the miniatures.

Now I've had 'discussions' with Malifaux diehards as to whether that is the case, and I accept that it's possibly not true. But, if you ask somebody thinking about starting Malifaux they'll tell you that the cost of the 3 core books seems steep, and in their view they need those books to play the game. No two ways about it asking new comers to get into Malifaux has become harder for me of late. I say 'you only need a few miniatures and the rulebook'... and nobody believes me. They all ask about Rising Powers and whether it's needed and I'm sure, soon, they'll start asking about Twisting Fates too. That USP that I spoke of earlier that Malifaux had, was that it was rapidly becoming peoples 'other game'. You'd regularly here people say 'I play Warmahordes and Malifaux' or "Warhammer and Malifaux' so on and so forth. Perhaps Wyrd as a company can't live off of that sort of trade alone.

This is Seamus' Avatar... REALLY?

If that is the case, and Wyrd start pushing Malifaux not as an 'also game' but as a fully fledged 'alternative game' I wander how it'll fair against more established games such as 40k and Warmachine. Plus also quite frankly how such a move would affect its sales when compared to some of the other smaller skirmish games that exist and are happy to remain small, like Anima or Hell Dorado. Like I say though, it's not just a cost implication these expansions have that I feel is detrimental to the game. They've also greatly expanded the level of knowledge and rules required to actually play the game to its fullest extent. Now, I've been told that Avatars were always going to be part of the game, but that they were considered a jump too far for the initial rulebook because it made the game too complex. Now if that is true, what's changed? If it was too complex then, surely it's still too complex a concept now?

I've had people counter this argument by saying that now we're all used to the rules, so it's OK to dump more layers on top of the core set. However, that's a flawed assumption, because not everyone will be playing Malifaux enough to have gotten to that stage, where they are comfortable with the rules. This is because Malifaux seems to exist as many people's 'other game' not their 'main game'. Plus what of new customers? I think with Twisting Fates, Wyrd are seriously running the risk of fracturing and splitting their community into two tiers. While also putting newcomers off. The core rules are in many respects already complex enough for many people. I'm still not sure whether everything is balanced and fair within the core rules and factions even now. There are that many layers too it, and Wyrd's solution to that conundrum of throwing more crap into the mixer isn't, it seems to me a very wise one.

I was OK with Rising Powers, and although I felt they were dumping more things into the game, I was personally ready for more options and a few different things. So I welcomed Rising Powers. It just seemed like the right time to expand the core rules. Twisting Fates though has landed at a time when quite frankly most people still seem to be wrapping their heads around the new options available in Rising Powers. Hell, they haven't even released all of the miniatures for Rising Powers yet. It feels like Wyrd are trying to force the pace of evolution of their game system, as opposed to letting it grow organically. I think it's time they took a pause for the cause. Step back from forcing the game system ever forward at this relentless pace. They need to stop and let us gamers catch our breath, and they need to listen to our feedback about what works and what doesn't.

They need to enter into a period of information gathering. They've released the final component, as they saw it, for their Malifaux system, Avatars. It might have been a little bit early for some of us, but they're here now and we might as well try and make the best of it. Wyrd need to take the feedback on the rules and options they've given us gamers, take notes and then start prep work for a full on second edition. Because that's where I think they need to head next, to sort the mess of rules they've ended up with out. Their rules system has become a little bit unwieldy and bloated of late, along with all that it has also become difficult to play. I mean have you tried flicking through all three books to get the various rules and things you need? It's a pain in the ass. It slows what was once a really quick game down to a snails pace. I didn't want that, did you? They need to let the game trundle along now for a year or two while they work on fixing things and deciding where they want to take the game. What they don't need to do is keep adding fecking expansion rules to the current set of rules. Just take a pause for the cause guys, I still find Malifaux fun but it is getting a bit much. Peace out!