Building a Malifaux List

I tend to be a fairly scattered person. My friends constantly tease me because I never seem to be able to make and stick with a decision with games. When we sit down to a new roleplaying game, I am the guy who comes away from the table with three or four characters made before I decided on one. In our most recent league, the line that said “Faction” has a few of them written and then scribbled out before I finally wrote “Neverborn, I guess” at the top.

It used to be easy to start a game of Malifaux. I had only one faction, so I would always announce that faction. Now I have essentially three factions so I have to already start narrowing down my options before the game even really begins. I hate having to pick my faction before knowing my strategy, but I do manage to do so.

Once I get down to creating a list to play though, I tend to have a very strict set of rules I follow to create a list. Assuming that I did not come into the game specifically intending to play a certain master or certain minions, and assuming that I did not come into the game with my opponent having asked to face a certain master or certain minions, there are several steps I take when crafting a Malifaux list.

So I’ve decided on my faction. Let’s say it’s Neverborn.



There are certain points in the list building process where I have to narrow things down, and at each of those points, I have a little more information about what I’m doing and who I’m facing.

Before Strategies are even flipped, I already know four things:

1. I know what player I am facing. This only really helps when playing against people you know well. I know, for example, what Bill favors versus what Dan favors. I know some tricks I’ve been able to pull against different people and have take those into account. I might know what my opponent is strong against. Even if I am very good with Dreamer, I know Dan can beat the Dreamer, so he might take a step back.

2. I know what faction my opponent is playing. This limits my possible opposing leaders to five, and gives me an idea of what matchups might not work. If my opponent chooses Ressers, I don’t want to play a list that relies heavily on Terrifying.

3. I know what faction I am playing. This is a pretty obvious one, but it limits me to five choices for my leader, and dictates what kind of tricks and tactics I can utilize.

4. I know what the terrain is set up to look like. Are there are a lot of open areas where guns can shoot me? Are there perches for flying models to reach and keep relatively safe? Is there a spot where Zoraida can start the game with a nice view of the opposing army? All of these things should play part in crafting my crew. If there’s plenty on the field to cover LOS, maybe I don’t need the Stitched Together’s cloud.

Next, Strategies are flipped and I learn two more things:
5. What am I trying to do?
6. What is my opponent trying to do?

Often I find that people forget about this second part. When starting to play, people focus heavily on what they do and forget that even if they get max points, their opponent can still tie them. It’s important to not only max out your points, but also to minimize your opponent’s points.



So if my opponent flips A Line in the Sand, for example, I know I want a lot of cheap models that can quickly get to his objectives and flip them back over. If he flips Supply Wagon, I know I need to get to his wagon somehow without it being in melee and hit it. Maybe a Mature that can fly over his crew and just needs to tap it 3 times, or maybe a Terror Tot that can speed its way from way back and toss a Severe to wound it. Thinking about how to block your opponent’s mission is just as important as it is for you to figure out how to achieve yours.


Now we’re finally to the point of creating lists. There are a couple of other things I also take into account here:
7. What schemes should I take?
8. Do I have the tools to stop a fair number of his schemes?

Generally there are a few facets of an army that I try to make sure I’ve shored up. It’s nearly impossible to cover all the bases, but it’s good to get as many as possible.

Melee power – This is pretty straight forward. Do you have something in your crew that can land a hit in melee? There’s a lot in the game that hinders ranged attacks, and odds are solid that something is going to end up in melee at some point. Can you put a hit down that your opponent will feel?

Ranged power – This is not quite as straight forward as Melee. Ranged power can come in a bunch of forms – spells with blasts, guns with high damage, something that has a great trigger. Paired and Hunter are great abilities on shooters because it allows you to bypass the annoying cover some models get.

Speed – For my playstyle, this is king. The game is about grabbing victory points, not about killing things, and most times your speed will get you victory points better than your ability to land a punch. This becomes especially important in Shared strategies where the first person to achieve something gets a bonus. When you know you’ve got Shared Destroy the Evidence, you should have a way built into your list to at least contest the center objective marker on your first activation if not to outright destroy it. If you have Shared Deliver a Message, if your list can reach your opponent’s master on turn one with actions to spare, you’ve got a nice boost.

Durability – Sometimes just getting to an objective is not good enough. You have to stay there. If I am playing Claim Jump, I’m less likely to take something like a Terror Tot and more likely to take something like a Stitched Together. Durability can come in more than just having a lot of wounds or high defense. The Hooded Rider is durable against certain crews because in Night Stance he can’t be shot.

Activation Control – Simply put, can you outactivate your opponent. Collodi is king here, giving me 4 Marionettes for 8 points, and also letting me alpha strike with those dolls if I need to. Being able to out-activate your opponent means that you can force him to finish his turn before you’ve gone with your key pieces.

Non-conventional Attacks – Some models are great against basic attacks. Bring in something that will target WP or CA instead of DF. You want to have a varied set of things to strike. Don’t go all-out with Stitched Togethers who excel against WP. Your opponent might be Immune to Influence and then you’ve got some unhappy sacks.



Building the perfect list for me is an impossible goal. It’s one of the reasons I love playing at 30 soulstones. I can never reach that ideal of covering all my bases. It forces me to play better to cover my deficiencies. But when I sit down to create my list, I try to take into account all the information that’s provided to me and build what I believe to be the best choice given what I know.