Malifaux


Malifaux is a skirmish-level miniatures wargame manufactured by Wyrd Miniatures involving gang warfare in the ruins of a crumbling city. The setting of the game is centered around a mysterious city: Malifaux. The city of Malifaux was discovered through a breach opening into another world. This world is a source of the valuable mineral known as "soulstone" which allows for magical effects. Games pit masters and their crews against one another for control of this resource.
Released at Gen Con in August 2009, Malifaux uses a card mechanic in lieu of dice. Numbers are randomly generated by drawing numbered cards from a “Fate Deck”. The Fate Deck cards consist of 4 different suits similar to the suits of classic playing cards: “Masks” represent the similar suit of “Diamonds”, “Rams” represent “Hearts”, “Crows” represent “Spades”, and “Tomes” represent “Clubs”. A number of mechanics in the game allow for manipulating the cards flipped from the Fate Deck, including each player having access to a "Control Hand" allowing them to "Cheat Fate" and replace any card flipped with a card from their hand. The Malifaux Core Rule set is currently on its Third Edition.

The universe of Malifaux

The fictional universe of Malifaux as presented in the rules books and the online Malifaux Record and Wyrd Cronicles is both a city-state and a world in a parallel dimension. This universe is also the setting for the role playing game Through the Breach. The first known breach to this world was created in 1787 after our own world was threatened by the decline of magic and magicians looking for a new source of magic discovered a world separated from ours by a thin barrier. The creation of the breach destroyed the city surrounding the ritual site ripping the life force from its inhabitants creating a new equilibrium between the two worlds. Beyond the breach was discovered the city of Malifaux, surprisingly similar to many of our own but devoid of inhabitants. The new world turned into a new frontier when crumbling mining towns surrounding the city were rebuilt into boom towns in the search and trade of soulstones, the source of magic. With exploration continuing during the following decade, hostile natives called Neverborn were encroached upon. Tombs were discovered and with them the magic of resurrection. Discovered too were intelligent machines powered by soulstone.
In 1797, the breach was destabilised by a blizzard collapsing while smoke and the sound of battle was heard Earthside. After turmoil the Guild was formed by those who had made the Breach in the first place, controlling the dwindling resource of soulstones left Earthside and preparing for its reopening. In 1897 the Breach spontaneously reopened. The Guild was ready and took control with the Breach and the reopened frontier fueling a new boom-trade in Soulstone.
The present is 1901 Earthside. The Guild's control is precarious. Lesser, unstable breaches have appeared. A significant part of the workforce have organised themselves in the Miners and Steamfitters Union and smuggling is rife.

The city of Malifaux

The city itself is walled. Reclamation is underway, but large segments are still uninhabited, quarantined and walled off to protect the human population. A railway runs through the breach and into Malifaux as well as to a few mining towns. The city is run by the Governor General appointed by the Guild.

The surroundings

Around Malifaux human settlements are concentrated to boomtowns and pioneer towns.

First Edition

Malifaux features eight different factions led by different masters supplemented by different crews. Each master with their own Keyword denoting which models within the game are available to hire and have internal synergy.

The Guild

The Guild is the law in Malifaux. They exert a fascist control over the city and are more concerned with the production and mining of soulstones, a material which allows for wielders to perform supernatural feats, than they are with the safety of its inhabitants. The Guild offers a mix of ranged and melee combat, making The Guild a very rounded and even crew, and aesthetically possesses a number of Wild West motifs. The crew masters of the Guild are:
The Resurrectionists are necromancers who command forces of the undead. Where the other factions are concerned with collecting soulstones, the Resurrectionists loot the ruins of Malifaux for magical devices and tomes of knowledge. They are very resilient characters in play, with the ability to absorb a lot of damage and to raise dead models as additional combatants. The crew masters of the Resurrectionsts are:
The Arcanists are individuals who practice magic. The Miners and Steamfitters Union is run by one of Malifaux' prominent Arcanists, Ramos. The Miners & Steamfitters Union is an organization that represents the labor class in the city. The Arcanists are actually made up from different groups that range from the Order of the Chimera to the show girls of the Star Theater. Their primary strength is in the wide variety of spells they can cast and they also boast a number of mechanical and elemental constructs as well as beast minions. The Arcanists have a strong blend of ranged magic and mechanical tank front-men that makes them a formidable foe. The crew masters of the Arcanists are:
The Neverborn are the native inhabitants of the world of Malifaux. They are nightmarish monsters that terrorize the human settlers in Malifaux. Their existence is linked with a calamity that occurred in the world's ancient past. They are known for their speed and abilities that confound their enemies. They possess few ranged attacks but are very deadly in melee combat. The crew masters of the Neverborn are:
The Outcasts are a group of smaller interests unassociated with the major factions in Malifaux, while they previously would lend their services to the other Factions in Malifaux, with the ban of Mercenary work from the Governor General they have begun to form together into a semi-cooperative force working out of the Freikorps run town of Freiholt. The crew masters of the Outcasts are:
Inspired by the Triads and Yakuza, the Ten Thunders spring from the Three Kingdoms and is led by the Katanaka clan after their exile from the Three Kingdoms. Having found a second smaller breach in the mountains of Tibet leading into Malifaux, the Ten Thunders have become a powerhouse of smuggling and crime within Malifaux City. The crew masters of the Ten Thunders are:
Originally included as part of the Outcasts faction, it was announced as part of the update to Malifaux Second Edition that the Gremlins, now Bayou, would be a faction of their own. Natives to the lands around Malifaux, the Gremlins are a wild and rambunctious group. Their playstyle is characterized by often random acts that can at times injure their own fellows as easily as their enemies.The crew masters of the Gremlins are:
Originally announced as part of Third Edition, much about the Explorer's Society is unknown.