Rising Powers
Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 12:54 pm
Well, the new Malifaux expansion arrived today. Some initial thougts...
1) First impression: this is a good expansion. Its bigger than the actual rulebook. Blimey.
2) There are going to be a shedload of new minis for this game. Most of them have the potential to be ACE on a stick. Lord Chompy Bits and the showgirls are already very good, and the guild (booooo) have a lot of love coming their way, too. plenty more roboty stuff for them (hey! keep the tech in the M&SU, gorramit!)
3) You really need to wash that 40k mentality out of your head to play this game. Its all about small scale, story type games. The amount of special rules per model seems (to me) to be humungous, but as you only have half a dozen guys in your crew, it stays manageable. The potential for comboing is very large. I think Mali has more in common with WarmaHordes than 40k, actually, although WM/H is far, far simpler than Mali.
4) I really need to play this game more, as looking at the extra rules has made me realise I still only have a very shaky grasp of the basic ones. However, I very much approve of having 6 core missions, designed to be balanced for competitive play, and about 50 extra "fluff" missions, played for scenario type fun. This is a very good approach, and should keep all the different sorts of players happy.
5) Arcanists are no longer as poo as i thought they were. Hurrah! Ramos' new lady friend sidekick looks like she could be the key to all Ramos' problems. (Ramos: slow, weak attack, but tough. NLF: kick ass, a bit fragile, can fly.)
6) Whereas 40k has a lot of fluff along the lines of "The Bastion Stars are a system of planets on the Eastern Fringe of Imperial space. Their military forces consist of...." etc, Mali expands its story with, well, stories. e.g. "Perdita crossed the alleyway, flitting from shadow to shadow. Her quarry was close to panic, and she knew she had finally reached the end game. Suddenly a huge shadow fell across her..." i.e. you see the world from the characters' point of view. This very much helps build the skirmish, small scale feel of the game.
So, all in all, a big thumbs up from me on Rising Powers. I shall have to get my M&SU chaps painted up so I can justify buying Collete du Bois and her 'we're-not-from-silent-hill-honest' mannequin friends.
-d
1) First impression: this is a good expansion. Its bigger than the actual rulebook. Blimey.
2) There are going to be a shedload of new minis for this game. Most of them have the potential to be ACE on a stick. Lord Chompy Bits and the showgirls are already very good, and the guild (booooo) have a lot of love coming their way, too. plenty more roboty stuff for them (hey! keep the tech in the M&SU, gorramit!)
3) You really need to wash that 40k mentality out of your head to play this game. Its all about small scale, story type games. The amount of special rules per model seems (to me) to be humungous, but as you only have half a dozen guys in your crew, it stays manageable. The potential for comboing is very large. I think Mali has more in common with WarmaHordes than 40k, actually, although WM/H is far, far simpler than Mali.
4) I really need to play this game more, as looking at the extra rules has made me realise I still only have a very shaky grasp of the basic ones. However, I very much approve of having 6 core missions, designed to be balanced for competitive play, and about 50 extra "fluff" missions, played for scenario type fun. This is a very good approach, and should keep all the different sorts of players happy.
5) Arcanists are no longer as poo as i thought they were. Hurrah! Ramos' new lady friend sidekick looks like she could be the key to all Ramos' problems. (Ramos: slow, weak attack, but tough. NLF: kick ass, a bit fragile, can fly.)
6) Whereas 40k has a lot of fluff along the lines of "The Bastion Stars are a system of planets on the Eastern Fringe of Imperial space. Their military forces consist of...." etc, Mali expands its story with, well, stories. e.g. "Perdita crossed the alleyway, flitting from shadow to shadow. Her quarry was close to panic, and she knew she had finally reached the end game. Suddenly a huge shadow fell across her..." i.e. you see the world from the characters' point of view. This very much helps build the skirmish, small scale feel of the game.
So, all in all, a big thumbs up from me on Rising Powers. I shall have to get my M&SU chaps painted up so I can justify buying Collete du Bois and her 'we're-not-from-silent-hill-honest' mannequin friends.
-d