Malifaux 2.0 Public Beta Live

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Malifaux – Well June is here and Wyrd as promised has released the public beta for Malifaux 2.0. The new look of the game is interesting and I'm glad to see everything is starting to tie together with a similar look and feel. While it loses a bit of the charm the mismash of the original release, solid art direction wins with the new look.

Justin and Mack (new developers for Wyrd) have been making the rounds on all the podcasts that cover Malifaux to hype the new edition and ease fears that they ruined the game. Also in the latest Wyrd Chronicles their are several articles about the new direction.

To be honest Malifaux has fallen from my regular rotation as of late, I just haven't had time to run demos and getting up to the game store when there is yardwork and whatnot to be done on the weekends has severely limited my playtime. And what games I have been able to get in have been super secret because of my NDA, and play testing has really burned me out (I've been doing it since Book 2). 

The new edition is different and ultimately I think the game will benefit from the simplified rules. The change to an upgrade system is a great way to avoid the glut of FAQ's they had to release every time a broken interaction reared its ugly head, (although to be fair some of the knee jerk FAQs caused more issues than they solved ... still gotta love that Wyrd pays attention) and most likely we'll see a banned list for any broken interactions and supplements in the Chronicles if models start to feel weak or overpowered.

From the public beta I can sum up Malifaux 2.0 as "less is more" there is definitely be less text on the cards which means more time spent playing and less time trying to figure out what you should do. I'm looking forward to the release of the new book and faction decks although I'm not sure I'll be investing in new models for the ones I already have unless the sculpts are utterly mind blowing.

Most of my playgroup (that actually still plays Malifaux) is split 50/50 about the new edition. Some of the guys are pissed that their broken combos are "gone" or that the lack of walls of text on the cards means there's no tactical depth. The rest of us are excited to see what the final product will be and look forward to being able to enjoy a fun setting again. (hopefully leaving the baggage of the last edition behind and looking to the future)

And we're back ...

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First I'd like to introduce the newest member of the Twilight Emporium Family, Oliver Patrick Powers. My son surprised us by coming a little earlier then we expected, which was probably the best Christmas gift we could ask for. It's going to be a few years before he can help dad out with hobby projects but that doesn't mean he can't get his geek on. (note: yes that D20 is a gift my wife crocheted for me, cool huh?).

It's been an interesting experience so far as my daughter is 12 so it's been a while since there's been a baby in the house. Luckily much like riding a bike you don't really forget what to do. Babies for the most part just sleep, eat and poop, the fun part is getting them to switch over to regular hours. For some reason they don't understand that nighttime is when you're supposed to sleep not during the day.

In hobby news I still have quite a few projects to complete and I hope to be able to get back to work on them soon. I received an airbrush for Christmas and I need to relearn how to use it. Once I get the hang of it again I'm going to focus on completing the downtown Malifaux board. I also got a vacuum chamber that I'm looking forward to using on molds, I'm hoping that by degassing the molds they'll stand up to more rigorous use.

I'm in the process of reading Black Crusade (newest Warhammer 40K roleplaying system) and will post up a full review once I've had a chance to try it out.