My Malifaux Love

     I want to start this post off with a little story. Back in 2014 I moved to Portland, Oregon and soon after my friend got me hooked on X-Wing (I mean who doesn’t want to push iconic Star Wars ships around). Soon after though I found myself wanting to play more games like that. 

     One night after finishing up my Wednesday night game of X-Wing I found myself wandering around the local game store and saw this sitting on the shelf.

     I was immediately smitten by the artwork on the box and needed to know more about this game. I went home that night and looked up Malifaux on the internet and what I found blew my mind. A miniature game with no dice!? How does that work? A more narrative based game with very little models to assemble and paint! As a new miniatures player I had no clue what I was getting myself into with this game. What did I need to buy? How expensive is it?

      After seeing that box and a few others at the game store I became very interested in Malifaux. So, I spent the better part of a few weeks looking up videos on YouTube about the game. I devoured any Malifaux content that was out at that time (mind you this was 2014-2015 so there wasn’t a lot or I just didn’t know where to go).

     I ended up saving up some money to buy the M2E starter box, The Bushwhacker crew box and The Torch and the Blade. I knew deep down what crew I really wanted to play and it was the latter. Why was that? 

     Well, it is pretty simple to be honest. The idea of this mysterious figure wearing an iron mask and being a witch hunter/relic hunter. She sounded badass and her lore followed my suspicions about the character. The crew as well was very interesting! Her minions were the shells of the mages that she deemed as “too dangerous” and the technique of how it is done only she knows. But, one question still alluded me. Why the mask?

     I needed to know more! Remember, I didn’t have much in the way of Malifaux lore. It was just the bits here and there that I learned from other players so what was I to do about finding my answer? Well, simply I walked up to the game store owner and had him special order me all the M2E books that were out at the time (before Ripples of Fate) because the answer had to be in there and to my surprise it was! She was possessed by a tyrant! How cool is that!? 

    She wore the mask as a way of protecting herself from Cherufe from taking over completely. She always had to wear that mask because he could take over her entirely. Also, Sonnia’s department “The Witch Hunters” are feared amongst the populace of Malifaux including The Guild itself. They are seen as the boogeyman of The Guild because they would take unsanctioned spellcasters of any level away into “The Yellow Crypt”.

     I instantly loved the character because of her story. I thought it was truly something unique that Malifaux brought to the game. Plus, Malifaux incorporated her story into her abilities in the game. Take the M2E card for example 

     Wyrd brought the fire elements of her lore into her abilities with abilities like Pyrokinesis. Visions of Flame, and attacks like Flameburst. Sonnia was a turret of flaming destruction and was rather feared because of it.

      So with my models built, painted and based I was off to my local LGS to show off Sonnia (the only person interested in her as well). I got my butt kicked so much that I just thought Sonnia wasn’t right for me so I bought Lady Justice. As I was playing Lady J and later Jakob Lynch I kept thinking of my Witch Hunter keyword “what if?”, “could this work?” so it was back to the Witch Hunters for a little bit.

     Once I started getting a hang of how the crew operated I started enjoying more and more slowly putting away the other crews and only playing Witch Hunter.   

     Unfortunately, all that ended when GW released Warhammer 8th edition. The crew I played weekly games of Malifaux with went back to Warhammer and soon pulled me into it. After my little foray into Warhammer and other miniature games I put the hobby down for a few years.

     Fast forward to 2022 when a good friend of mine started to show interest in Malifaux (by this time I have sold everything off). For a while, I didn’t want any part of it because I just didn’t have the time and motivation for the hobby. My friend finally won out after a few months of talking about M3e and how it was a better improvement of the game. I finally caved and started to look into getting my first crew for M3e. I was in awe at how many more crews existed since I played Malifaux and some of the big shake ups that Wyrd did to the lore (bye bye Nicodem, Ramus, Lilith, and Collodi). They even introduced a brand new faction!

      I was drawn to Explorer’s Society because they seemed like a really cool concept and I already had a few crews in mind. I had my finger on the purchase button when my friend told me “Hey I bought Ivan and Maxine! What are you going to get?”, my response “Those two keywords…. Well shit! What do I do know?” so back to the drawing board and this time I had Titania and the fae keyword in my Amazon basket. That is when she surfaced in the “what other people have bought section”. Sonnia with new box art but same style so I knew immediately how I would be starting M3e. I clicked “purchase” on both the Fae keyword and Witch Hunter keyword along with The Other Side Starter box.

     When the boxes arrived I immediately went to work getting my old hobby supplies out. My paint brushes, old paints and clippers still in the tackle box that collected dust for so many years. After a few weeks of building, painting and basing I had two full keywords ready for the tabletop. Now, I was back in business trying to navigate my way through this new edition. I started with Titania and quickly moved back into Sonnia because it seemed like she didn’t change a lot. 

     GG3 was in full swing when I came back into the game and Sonnia was deemed “a terrible choice” by most of the content creators. “XYZ was 100% better!”, “why even play Witch Hunter!?”

      It seemed as though Sonnia one of the iconic masters of Malifaux was left behind for other pretty and fancier masters. One of the original crews in Malifaux, the first iconic model, a vintage model, and an avatar as well! She had a lot of amazing sculpts to really push a painters imagination (yes before you ask I own every Sonnia sculpt) yet her she was sidelined yet again.

     I have spent many games playing Sonnia with me either squeaking in a win, almost tying a game, or getting tabled pretty early one. Every game left me thinking “this crew needs something, but what is it?”.

     So off to the various discords to ask about their thoughts on Witch Hunter. I got the responses I knew I was going to get “why play them?”, “you will have more fun with this.” For a while I believed them and bounced around the various crews of Malifaux like a hyper active child in a bumper car.

     I would never settle on a single master or faction in Malifaux but I always had my girl Sonnia to fall back and that I did. I found myself putting Sonnia back on the table wanting to figure out how to make the keyword work. Yet again and again the same question kept surfacing “something is missing but what.”

     I would go on scratching my head for months and going on a year and a half until I came across Beardminis on YouTube. I watched a few of his battle reports and enjoyed his content eventually we ran into either in the Rage Quit Wire discord. One day we decided to get a game in over Vassal (still one of my favorite games I have played) and afterwards and since then we have chatted about this keyword.

     That is when I noticed a problem and a glaring problem at that.

     What is the problem? Well, take a look at a few of her cards.

     Do you notice the trend? 

     The Witch Hunter keyword was just a mess there isn’t a lot there and a good amount of the models are punching WAY below their SS cost. The model choices were pretty subpar at best and to make good use at of her you went with the dreaded “Super Friends” list. 

     She needed some major help from outside of her own keyword for sure. Sure, Cadmus’s keyword gave her Spelleaters. She did see some new models with The Other Side starter (Guild Mage and Gatling Gunner) but they didn’t really seem to fit the Witch Hunter keyword. They didn’t really have any synergies while the other keyword Urami got some pretty cool new toys! Then came “Madness of Malifaux” and when I saw the Hexbows I thought “that is it! That is the missing part.” Well, I was wrong because even though they do a good job in Witch Hunter they are much better in Cavalier.

     Unfortunately, this is where I have to admit that my Malifaux love is in a rough spot. The keyword that got me into the game eight years ago and got me back into the game a few years ago is not doing so well. Sure they have arcane shield, counter and the ability to put out burning but that is where the similarities end.

     The keyword as a whole is slow, many models don’t have staying power, barely any cohesion in keyword abilities, difficulty to spread out the burning, and many models do not have good quick actions or pushes and pulls that are effective. The crew has some card draw although various surge triggers are scattered around it isn’t good to rely on that alone. 

     Sonnia herself is the main damage dealer along with the Witchling Thrall but those two cannot carry the keyword all by themselves. She is slow at 4 mv, has a stat 5 sword,  and stat 6 flame burst (but with a 14 inch range). As for her defensives it is just arcane shielded and soulstones. Her front of card ability to reduce the range of opponents actions based off how much burning they have is great! Her ability to hit nearly anything that is on fire is awesome (if she can hit though). Most Sonnia players tend to stack burning on her and transmute it into focus but that makes you waste a models AP and takes some set up.

     Purifying Flame the most amazing totem in the game! One of the best scheme runners but lacking a lot in the other utility department. It can barely get the burning engine started.

     Sanctioned Spellcasters are… well just kind of useless at 4 HP and horrible stats

     Witching Stalkers are “meh”

     Witchling Thralls only really have Hard to Wound as a defense and that is it.

     Witchling Handler is a great utility piece for the two Witchlings it can affect in the keyword.

      Spelleaters are better in pairs and need Lead Lined Coats to really take advantage of their abilities.

      Thalarian Quellers are utility pieces at best and at worse a 6 SS sink.

    Hexbows are FANTASTIC for 7ss but with no melee weapon can get pinned in rather fast in combat.

    Samael Hopkins is the Witch Hunters sole henchman (not anymore) doesn’t cut it as a 9ss henchman and is an expensive scheme runner if used that way.

    Ashbringer and Director Rodriguez look like great additions to the crew! (Haven’t tried them out)

      Well, with that being said and my story out in the world people can now understand my love for the keyword. It is just not the abilities but the connection I have to it, the intriguing lore, and design of the models

     At this point in the story Wyrd if you are reading this or someone tells you about this blog please give Sonnia some love. As a loyal Sonnia player it would make me very happy to see that. The keyword holds a special spot in my heart and out of all the crews I have built, painted and sold it’s the only one I have kept. The keyword is one that I have always found myself coming back to over and over again. It’s one that I just don’t give up trying to understand and figure out what could help them. They just need some good ol’ Wyrd love. I would love to see the rest Witch Hunter keyword that is more cohesive and brought up to speed with the rest of the keywords that are in Malifaux. I feel like there is some great ideas in the keywords but none are fleshed out enough to really make an impact.

Thank you for reading! I will catch you on the next post

Also, all the photos in this post belong to Wyrd and is their property. I am using this photos just to have visual elements to my blogpost to help readers understand who or what I am talking about.

P.S

This is making me want to strip my Witch Hunter crew and give them the paint job they deserve