Thursday, March 14, 2019

It's The End (of the Open Beta) As We Know It, And I Feel Fine!






            If you pay attention to M3E beta news, you know that the end of the test is coming soon. Actually, at one point it was scheduled to be done already, but then they went and broke the Journalists and so they had to push it out to another update. In any case, the Beta process should be coming to a close in short order, which makes sense for Wyrd to move towards a Gencon hard release of 3rd edition (IE actual books coming out, models, etc.) Some of you gentle readers have likely been participating in the process, playing a lot of games of M3E. Others (like me) may be giving the game a break to rest and solidify before you put a large amount of mental bandwidth into learning rules that may change next week. Either is fine, let me emphasize. But, if you fall into the latter category, you may want to start getting ready for the switch-over, and might appreciate some guidance on resources you can use to bone up on the new rules and strategies.

            As such, I thought I’d do a quick sweep of the internet, highlighting some of the resources available to get you up to speed.

Wyrd Beta Forums and other web tools

            The most obvious source of information, of course, is the still open Wyrd Beta forums. All the files are there for your reading pleasure, including the rulesets, models, and upgrades in printable pdf formats. Additionally, there is a great deal of discussion occurring regularly in each of the faction sub-forums as well as battle reports. If you’re looking for the most direct source of information on M3E, this is the place to go.
            If you don’t want to read through all of them, or are looking for an easy way to throw crews together, a handful of web tool developers are completing the herculean task of developing them and keeping them up to date with each release. This one lets you put a crew together online. There’s an analyzer of the beta files that can be adapted to let you make some printable cards.

Third Floor Wars

            These guys, I would say, are the superstars of M3E content at this point. Led by Craig Shipman, they’ve been steadily churning through the new crews one master at a time to discuss what they and their themed crews’ models do on the tabletop. They started out with the Guild and have (I believe) gone through all of them at this point, moving on to the Ten Thunders now. These are presented in small, bite-sized bits of content, so no need to sit through a long 2 hour ramble to get at the bit of info you really wanted, making them useful to put together a general idea for the very large meta of Malifaux. Best of all, it’s available in multiple formats. You can go to their Youtube channel here, or listen to ports of the videos on the podcast feed here (at the time of writing, the videos are ahead of the podcasts.)

Schemes and Stones

            Kyle took a bit of a break/detour into ToS for a little while, but he’s come back to Malifaux with a vengeance since then. The S&S posts have hopped through various topics, starting with a discussion of introducing the Open Beta materials, discussing a couple of different crew keywords and how they play individually as well as how they play against each other. They’ve taken a look at Euripides vs. Mccabe and Infamous vs. Transmortis so far. Most recently, he and a cohost are taking on faction breakdowns, with the first episode discussing the Arcanists in total.

Other Podcasts

            So the other casts have been hit or miss thus far. The break between editions has been rough, driving most of the casters into hibernation (we miss you Arcane Reservoir). However, since the Open Beta, some peeps here and there have started to be heard. The Flippin’ Wyrds, hosted primarily by Jamie F’N Varney have a few episodes on offering. They were aiming to increase the frequency of their releases, and predictably they seem to have failed to do so (I kid because I love, guys.) But they deliver great content, so whenever you put something new out, you should listen. Additionally, a preview episode of Max Value with Travis and everyone’s favorite coffee slurper came out back in January. They can be a quick way to hear some assorted opinions from around the world of Malifaux. The thing is, we know these guys make great content, so if they (or any other Malifaux casts) are on hiatus, keep an eye on their feeds to see if they'll be making a comeback with the release of the new edition.

And quickly before you go...

Adepticon is coming! And Malifaux Musings will be there!

            I intend to make the trip down the road to Chicago in a couple of weeks for Adepticon, one of the most consistent tournament conventions nationwide for Wyrd games. There’s going to be a handful of Titan battle royals, a The Other Side one commander tournament, painting competitions, and a farewell to M2E tourney. You can find tournament packets there. Additionally, I’ll be bringing along M3E cards for my crews and will be looking to get in as many pick-up games of The Other Side or Malifaux as I can. And, if you beat me, you will receive one free “IOU A Blog Post” marker from me, allowing you to pick a topic for a 1000 word Malifaux Musings post in the future. Not enough for you? Then you should sign up to play The Other Side, Fatemastered by yours truly. If you survive, maybe you can pick a blog post topic too!