Makin' Shockwaves!

 Introduction

One of the new mechanics introduced into Malifaux 3rd edition are Shockwaves. These attacks are different than traditional blast attacks in that they force a simple duel from the opponent to create an effect. Though they are found all over the various faction, they are not as important in any keyword as much as they are in the Whizz Bang keyword. I'm gonna try to break down Shockwaves, the good, the bad and the ugly. At times this might feel like a rant, but bear with me, there's light at the end of the tunnel. 

Mechanics

From a mechanical stand point shockwaves are something very new to the game. They represent splash damage, a grenade going off or a pulse of horrible fear inducing magic. Often, as in Wong's case they are considered a projectile attack and can't be used if your model is engaged but they also don't suffer from the effects of cover. They also get around hard to wound and friendly fire. Shockwaves are usually pretty easy to hit, in Wong's case only requiring a 6 to go off. They put a lot of the agency on their effectiveness in the hands of the defending player to respond correctly. Can they flip the right card off the top of the deck or do they cheat in a card to keep the model from taking damage? Unlike many attacks where the onus is on the attacking player to figure out how many resources to dump into the attack, shockwaves flip the script around. 

Wong Way or Right Way?

So why is this an issue? Shockwaves don't seem to be a big deal on the models that have them. Well, all of this gets a bit more exaggerated when you consider Wong. He is THE shockwave model in the game at the moment, tossing out 2 with every attack. Wong is where we really see the issue with Shockwaves come to bear in my mind. 

So number point number 1) Shockwaves are inconsistent. If I go in with Mah and a hand full of good cards she is gonna swing for the fences almost every time. If I go in with Wong and a handful of good cards (which is actually fairly easy for him to get) its all on my opponent to decide which models take damage and which models don't. I have no control over how well Wong does in the combat phase.

Now it is to be said, every card out of the opponent's hand is a card they can't cheat with later on, but we'll get to that shortly. 

Point number 2) Shockwaves don't have a gradient of damage. They either do something or they don't. Wong, gets a bit of a pass with this as he puts a glowy token on you for more damage later on, which isn't the worst thing.  However, one of the things that makes Malifaux dynamic is that there are times damage will spike big, and their are times it won't. Those moments are things we remember in the game. Gamer stories often revolve around the big hit that changed the game, and shockwaves don't offer many of those.

Point number 3) They just aren't fun for either player. Shockwaves tend to be polarizing. Either your opponent flips well, has the cards to cheat and it is a big disappointment for the attacker or the opposite and you flip horribly and your models just blow up and its not fun for the defender either. This ties back into the last point, but in general the play experience with mass shockwaves doesn't create great play experiences for either player. 

Point 4) and I think this is the biggest one for me. Shockwaves are incredibly hard to balance from a game design perspective. Shockwaves have 4 numbers that are important. The initial duel to make it go off. The radius of the shockwave. The duel to defend against the shockwave and the damage of the shockwave. Any changes to any of these numbers can drastically change the effectiveness of the shockwave. Damage or the TN to defend goes too high and it becomes oppressively for the defender. Bring those down any lower and its barely worth using the attack. Same for the initial duel. If it is too high, the attack is way too inconsistent to use. Overall, Wyrd did a good job at balancing the shockwaves with the numbers they have on them, but there's no room for changes there. These things are stuck as they are. 

Is All Lost?

Not exactly. Shockwaves are a part of the game, and whether we like them or not, there they are. So what can we do to make the best of them? Well let's look at Wong himself, the master of the Shockwave. Wong gets multiple uses out of his shockwaves. They are both a buff for his crew and a damage source to the enemy which is ultimately why he has 2 shockwaves, so he can make sure his own crew gets fast and a token. 
This creates a sort of trap in playing Wong as a Rube Goldbergian Machine where he's constantly trying to keep up buffs and shockwave opponents and still trying to be effective on the board.  For a while, I looked at Wong as only for Launch in Space and to buff his crew, with the required Bokor to heal them back up. While writing this article though, I have delved into ways that you can use his shockwaves offensively and gain the maximum effectiveness. 

So the first thought is to use Wong as the opening impact to your turn. He tosses out a ton of simple duels. You can use Launch into Space offensively as well, creating another simple duel your opponent has to reckon with. Then a volley of Fzzaaps at the opponent early in the turn will start to whittle down their hand while Wong and Sammy can keep your hand filtered pretty well for your other models to start wailing on the opponent. This won't always work, as your opponent could just flip well, but its a start. 

The other thought I had is to start leaning out of keyword for Wong so he can make more use of his shockwaves and spend less time buffing. Wong has some strong keyword models to choose from. Namely, bokor, Sammy and Alphonse but after that its possible to look into other good all star models that benefit from the opponent's hand being shredded by Wong's attacks. Models like Francois and the First Mate. I think an akaname with Wong isn't a terrible idea either as it can provide you with "free" markers to fling with Launch into Space. 

I don't have a fix per se for shockwaves as I'm not a game designer, but I do recognize that they aren't the most fun play mechanic around and there's some design space to make them feel like there's more agency. Hopefully, Wyrd is willing to take a look down those avenues in the future. Until then, tell me your Wong Wins and your Wong Woes in the comments!