Throughout January there has been a certain topic stewing in the back of my mind. Its been lurking for a while I think but a few events set it in motion. It started with the facebook group Paint All the Minis. Where someone had posted about how their new years resolution was to keep rules and models separate. As in not buying them all from the same place. Initially I just pondered it a bit and just let it get buried somewhere in my mind. Then on the 18th this month Malifaux launched the open beta for its 3rd edition. I used to play Malifaux back around when the 2nd edition was released, it was actually my first wargame. And honestly I have spent a lot of money and time on that game, in a period even playing twice a week. As time progressed I sort of slipped out, new releases kept coming, there were new models to learn the ins and outs of, not just for your faction or master, but also the ones your opponents would play. And often there'd be this nifty thing you'd wanna add to your line-up or try out.
And now with 3rd edition looming on the horizon I feel obliged to look back at the subject anew. But it feels sort of bitter sweet, things aren't exactly the same of course, and with new models and changes all around building an efficient crew might require me filling more holes in my ranks, and it might just be the the size of my online shopping cart or me somehow getting wiser with age. But I questioned the purchase, why do I want to buy this these - well to play malifaux. But as you can see I have quite a few models already, surely I can play with them, yes but now they're changed or wrong or not "as good".
What I am trying to get at is that the game has created these circumstances where you feel obliged to buy all their specific new products. This isn't to bash Malifaux at all. I LOVE MALIFAUX, both setting and mechanics. But I cant imagine stocking up more to play 'properly'. Whether its through their financial design, or rather a community mindset I am not sure, but at this point it feels like a sticky honey trap, or a scene from a certain John Carpenter movie. Did Malifaux have a peer pressured "subscription"?
Seeing a community vote on cool skirmish games on another page brought up this nagging again, as there is this skirmish game called Bushido which I have been slightly eyeing for a while. I haven never played it, but I have heard people praise it, and of course there was a certain model that drew me in.
Look at that beautiful fisherman. He is so thematic and evocative. Of course after that post I found myself at the almost same position as I had with Malifaux 3E, I had browsed some rules and was now staring at the business end of a shopping cart. And it turns out this guy comes with a lot of strings attatched. I need the rulebook, and of course models to fill up the remaining roster.
I could just pick up the Jung Pirates starter set, but where is the cool shark dude or crab-centaur-man?
And I think it was this partial dilemma that send my thoughts clattering anew. Why should I have to pick out filler models or look for ones that were tactically sound by visually uninteresting to me?
Looking back, these issues are all things tied with getting your models and rules the same place. A manufacturer can make updates to model rules, add new must-haves or simply enforce unit sizes that forces you to deal with filler models, anyone ever tried painting an entire Skaven army? Yikes.
I mean I commend you for having the tenacity to pull through it, and there is a certain charm to seeing a huge horde in matching uniforms, but I have never had the patience to do that. And the whole notion of simply finding a model-less system where you can insert your own madness just seems all the more appealing by contrast.
 |
| From the Wasteman facebook group, from the brush of the talented Mike Atkinson |
I feel like these are ways to let me play on my own terms, I love browsing various manufacturers for things I find cool looking or picking up old toys at thrift sales. Like these recently ordered Croachlings, they really speak to me and it feels liberating being able to just order them and then stat them up within the games I play. Likewise I have plenty of plastic dinosaurs and a giant lobster lying around awaiting new life as assorted monsters.
So I think it is quite a worthwhile pursuit, to simply find a cool rule set that suits your preferences, and simply use that as the engine for whatever silly things you wanna play with, and there are quite a few things to sample out there, games like Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten, Frostgrave, Gaslands, 7TV, Skulldred and Pulp Alley. With Mighty Monsters, Mini Gangs, Mutants and Death Ray Guns, and Wasteman being my preferred games.
And while many of them do offer their own miniature line if you are unsure where to start, they all let you build and stat up whatever heck silliness you feel like building. And this is something I feel deeply on a hobby plan.
So I will try to keep this up during my coming year, playing games that lets me be as creative and silly as I feel like, making whichever narratives and worlds I feel like building and exploring.
Comments
Post a Comment