Where fate meets darkness

Although Malifaux Fourth Edition has been out for some time now, I only managed to play a couple of games. Life has an annoying habit of getting in the way of hobbies and without regular games, even familiar rules begin to drift back through the Breach. When James and I finally picked a date for a game a few weeks ago, I immediately started looking forward to it.

It also gave me the motivation I needed to finish another piece of terrain for my western table. A lonely market stall had been sitting unpainted for far too long, patiently waiting for inspiration to strike. Thanks to the school summer holidays, I found myself with an enthusiastic painting assistant. My daughter joined me for the project, and I was genuinely impressed by how steady her brushwork was. Together we finished the market stall in just two days, perfectly in time for Monday's game. Every gaming table tells a story, and now this one had a little bit of ours built into it.

James and I already knew we wouldn't have time for a full game before the club closed, so we agreed to treat it as a practice skirmish. That suited me perfectly. My rules knowledge needed dusting off almost as much as my measuring tape. For my crew I chose Kastore and the Returned keyword. Ancient vampires? A flying sword? What's not to love? James answered by bringing Seamus and the Redchapel crew, a master I'd barely encountered before. I had no idea what to expect, which in Malifaux usually means you're about to learn something the painful way.

By the time James arrived, the table was ready. Wooden houses lined the dusty streets, the saloon waited for its next inevitable bar fight, the gallows stood as an encouraging reminder to behave, abandoned carts littered the roads, and my freshly painted market stall proudly took its place among the scenery. Seeing painted terrain actually being used always feels strangely satisfying (the density is still not sufficient though, progress needs time).

The first duel went James' way, making him the attacker while I defended. Our strategy was Informants, with Runic Binding, Harness the Ley Lines, and Detonate Charges available as schemes. The Flank deployment immediately promised a very different game from the straight-line brawls I was used to.

Having only played Kastore once before, I knew mistakes were inevitable. And mistakes there were.

The first was forgetting to resolve Hunger tokens at the end of activations. Kastore was probably looking at me with centuries of disappointment while I quietly skipped one of his defining mechanics. The second was spreading my crew far too aggressively during the opening turn. I was so eager to occupy the board that several models wandered outside the range of abilities that rewarded staying together. It turns out that "divide and conquer" works much better when you're the one doing the conquering.

For my scheme, I chose Runic Binding. The objective is very thematic: place three Scheme Markers to form a magical triangle, then trap enemy models inside it. In my enthusiasm, I overlooked one tiny detail: the markers must all remain within fourteen inches of each other. My triangle was less "ancient ritual" and more "ambitious civil engineering project." To make matters worse, my final marker was placed by the last model I activated that turn. Since the scheme only scores at the end of an enemy model's activation, I'd missed my opportunity entirely. A perfectly avoidable mistake, but an excellent lesson. Despite that, the first turn wasn't without success. Both of us concentrated on the strategy, and I managed to score the opening victory point by controlling two Informant markers. I also received my first practical demonstration of just how much ground Seamus can cover. Watching him disappear from one part of the table only to casually reappear somewhere completely different is unsettling enough in the lore. Experiencing it across the tabletop is even worse.

Turn two became an exercise in damage control. I repositioned my Scheme Markers to create a legal triangle, finally bringing Runic Binding online. At the same time, Kastore and Seamus decided that diplomacy had failed and settled matters personally. Elsewhere, poor Gwyn found herself on the receiving end of Seamus and Madame Sybelle at the same time. Surviving that encounter felt like a victory in itself. While I slowly lost control of the strategy markers and was forced to retreat, I finally completed Runic Binding and scored two victory points from it. James answered by claiming another point from the strategy, leaving the game nicely balanced.

By then it was clear we wouldn't reach the end of Turn Three before the club closed, so we packed away the models and spent some time discussing the game instead. Practice had been the goal all along, and on that front the evening was a complete success. I'm still spending more time reading character cards than making brilliant tactical decisions, but every game makes the rules feel a little more familiar.

Most importantly, it reminded me why I enjoy Malifaux so much. Every crew feels wildly different, every master brings unexpected tricks to the table, and every game leaves me with a list of ideas to try next time. The Breach has finally reopened. And somewhere in the darkness, Kastore is still thirsty.

The game never ends, only pauses. I'll see you at the next move.

Custodian Hargrave