I have been clearing out.
Some things have gone, some have been rediscovered and one is even growing again.
Malifaux 1st edition was a thing for a while. I even painted a few figs, but uninspired by the game itself, I had other plans for the figs. I have a great western town, but also a medieval village, either of which could fit the bill. I will use the cobblestone Dickensian village as it fits the horror themes better and I have a ton of bases.
With Warmachine/Hordes gone, Malifaux became the next on the list, literally uncovered by the removal of 5 large plastic tubs of the bigger game. After a quick stock take, the same ideas came flooding back. Use the minis, but do your own thing. I also have 1e Puppet Wars (but no tiny Teddy, sad face), again with little intention of playing it, but a real hankering to use the figures, so I will do something that combines both.
The idea is along the same lines as the original game, but set in “Old Kroy” and based roughly on “Gangs of New York” (Old Kroy, get it…….….eh, tough crowd!).
I have several factions or “crews” in mind, all based on cliches and themes all possibly “overdone” already, but not by me. I do intend to paint the figures close to the Malifaux versions, just in case. My collection was nearly complete for my original needs, it just needed a few holes filled (Noble Knight and Tabletop Empires both had stock and between them, reasonable prices for most).
The Bayou Clans, all things damp and gruesome with a voodoo vibe.
Zoreida and co, Mc Tavish, Voodoo doll, Som’er Teeth and the Bog Gremlins with hogs of all sorts.
The Outlanders, a mean and desperate crew from the wasted desert.
The Ortegas, Pistoleros and Marcus (Spirit Walker) with The Rattler, Cerberus, Mauler and Jackelope.
The Lost and the Damned. Souls caught between here and Perdition.
Kirai and her lost spirits, Ten Thunder Brothers, cursed Samurai and Pandora with Sonnia Criid and their devilish crew (Tots and Fire Garmin).
The Twisted Ones, many different paths to “improving” the human condition.
Leviticus’s crew, Boy > Mr Chompy bits, Coppelius (squid head) with Ramos (or Mc Mourning) with his metal monstrosities including the two Rattlers from Puppet Wars.
The Gutter Snipes. Proving that children should not run with scissors or knives or swords…….or cleavers.
Seamus “The Slasher of Kroy”, Copy Cat, Crooligans + student of conflict, witchling hunters (as assassins), Hamlins crew.
The Cutting Crew. Everyone should have a dolly, something they can hold and cherish………..
Cassandra, and Molly the Maker with Teddy, stitched together horrors, wicked dolls and the bulk of the Puppet Wars figs as mocking parodies of the main players. Special moments are reserved for characters facing off against their stitched and stuffed avatars. (I played with the idea of these as actual Avatar companions, but I did not have the right coverage).
The Restless and Rotten. When the story is not over, but probably should be.
Nicodem, Mortimer and the spirits from Pandora’s set, the Grave Spirit, the Vulture, Sebastian, Autopsies, Crooked men, Jack Daw and mindless zombies. Desperate Merc #1 would fit here also.
The Wardens of Kroy. The not so squeaky clean, self appointed defenders of “normality”, what ever that is.
Hoffman and his team (the Guardian, Kaeris, the Freikorpsmen as “minions”), the Guild Lawyer (Warden) Guards, Gunsmiths, the Exorcist (Executioner) and Captain Sue.
The Bounty Hunters. Guns for hire, used to balance out other crews and be played as characters.
The Seven Sisters, Von Schill and the other left overs including Tuco, Sam etc.
There are a lot of switch-outs and leftover figures who may find homes in the stories above or will end up being Mercs.
As for a game system.
I am thinking of using my Savage Worlds Adventuers edition (SWADE). This was origionally a minis game based on the Deadlands world, similar in backstory to Malifaux. The previous edition even had a free download wargame only option called “Showdown”. It uses tabletop inches by default and cards for initiative. One house rule would be to take the Malifaux “players hand” instead of Bennies which would allow some swap-outs to “cheat” fate, a clean and simple way of retaining the gems of both games.
I cannot see myself using SWADE for anything else, like my Supers/Sci fi mixup I wanted to do with Explorers (if they ever get around to the expansions), so just using it as a deeper wargame experience may simply add the character that Malifaux had, but without the deeper pay in. A Malifaux theme can tap that resource fully, especially their clever arcane backgrounds that use the same core systems with fluff added for theme.
For role playing, SWADE sits on the opposte end of my comfort range. It is swingy, overly simplistic and a bit “gamey” and sometimes too abstact. These are things I avoid by playing realistic, gritty and grounded d100 games (except for their occasional swinginess).
For Malifaux, a game where luck and gambling phrases like “raises” and dirty tricks (cheating) play a part in a world that is brutal, SWADE actually feels like a good fit. It is smooth, quite nasty without being too dark and has good flexibility built in for the various forms of Malifaux style weirdness to be introduced.
Ironically, SWADE would then back add in a seamless story telling experience and advancement system to a wargame as it is a full RPG.
Maybe a last gang standing campaign, with the dead (usually) staying dead.