“The world’s first 3D-printable Miniatures Card Game” is here in the form of Malediction. Is this game a gimmick to sell miniatures, or is this a tried-and-true games system that could take over the wargaming space? Let’s find out.

Malediction is a competitive skirmish wargame that features card play and deck customization, published by Loot Studios. Games of Malediction take about 45-90 minutes to play.

Gameplay Overview:

In Malediction, each player controls an army, led by their Seeker. The Seeker is a powerful unit that doesn’t ever completely die and can be brought out from the graveyard, unlike other creatures within an army. Paired with each Seeker is a Legacy card, which will provide your army with rule-breakers and/or unique abilities. While this may not seem too unique within the tabletop wargaming space, what sets Malediction apart is that all units and most actions are driven by a deck of cards, which contains units, items, and spells.

A Seeker and its standee.

For better or worse, describing the rules of the game is a fool’s errand, as nearly all of the rules for the game are printed on the cards themselves, clearly explaining the effects of the items and spells, or the stats or special attributes of units. However, unlike other card games like Magic: The Gathering, Malediction has taken the wise path and included keywords (like Protection, as an example) and provided a clear definition for that ability, making it a smooth system for new and experienced players alike.

In each game, players play their cards with a currency called Echo. The goal of the game is to reach a certain threshold of Mastery (Victory Points) to win. Each round consists of a refresh, deployment, action, and end step. For the most part, turns are as simple as spending Echo on units, spells, or items, and then moving and attacking with their units. Of course there’s terrain to traverse and secondary objectives to complete outside of total domination, but the overall structure of the game is straightforward: dominate the play space with high-powered units to collect Mastery and win the game.

Early game fight for obelisks.

Game Experience:

It’s important to note that for the purposes of this review, I was provided a Two Player Starter Box. Because of this, I want to say upfront that I am not reviewing every single Faction, nor every Seeker, nor the deck-building portion of the game: I am merely looking at the Two Player Starter Box’s gameplay (as well as what becoming a Malediction enthusiast would look like for someone). Another important note: I am not a tabletop wargamer. My background and love lie with board gaming, and I reached out to review this game because of its streamlined nature and its card-driven gameplay.

Before we look at the gameplay, let’s look at the studio behind the game: Loot Studios. They are known for providing 3D printer files for miniatures to use with all sorts of games, but are primarily known for their Dungeons & Dragons miniatures. And this pedigree makes sense for Malediction’s main pitch of being “the world’s first 3D-printable Miniatures Card Game”.

Legacy, Seeker, and Creature cards.

But this pedigree perfectly matches how I feel about the gameplay of Malediction: it feels like some thinly veiled rules to have different miniatures fight each other. If a special committee were formed to create a new player-friendly wargame that could fit a bunch of random models, it would be a system similar to this. The card play makes the rules easy, but also causes the game to feel restrictive in a way that the open sandbox of most wargames doesn’t have, which is both a positive and a negative. Positive in that it keeps things smaller and focused; negative in that bad RNG can lead to rounds feeling lopsided. The use of the spell cards can help with that, but that’s also dependent on the economy of the game.

Overall, I find the gameplay experience completely fine. My main issue is that when a game like Malediction tries to be everything, it turns out to be nothing. It doesn’t feel like a board game because of the customization and bizarre monetization. It doesn’t feel like a wargame because of its restrictive nature and because of the limited play options.

My main issue with the game is the overall sales pitch and the cost to acquire everything. Each additional card deck runs about $35. However, this does not include standees or minis; basically, each card deck requires more money to be put in. The standee pack is $13, but the miniatures directly from the Malediction website run about $140. So it’s about $175 per faction, if you don’t print the miniatures yourself. Multiply that by ten and you have a game whose All-In price makes a Zombicide All-In look like a bargain.

Who doesn’t love measuring?!

There are two main counterarguments here, though: one, you don’t have to buy everything, and two, you can print the minis yourself. While it’s true you don’t have to buy everything, I do feel that purchasing each card deck is a requirement if you want any customization to your decks, which you are definitely going to want to do: the starter decks are full of duplicates which feel like they’re prime for replacement. And yes, you can print the miniatures yourself with the provided 3D printer files, but how much money is that actually going to save? You might be able to get army cost down to $10 per army, but that’s also a huge time commitment. But do note that this does not include playmats, more dice, paint…

And finally, the reason that all of this bugs me is two-fold: there isn’t a large scene at local game stores like with Warhammer, and the marketing is deceiving. This means that if someone went All-In, they have to build a community themselves. And with that being the case, again, it makes me want to review this more like a board game, and no board game is worth $1000. And even if they spent that $1000, that’s still missing a ton of items from the marketing (like terrain, playmats, etc.), and 3D-printed miniatures still need to be painted. So when Malediction is selling you this grand adventure for a $60 Starter Box, know that to have your game look like theirs in their marketing, that’s pennies in the bucket compared to where you’ll have to end up.

Final Thoughts:

Loot Studios is a company that created 3D printable miniatures and wanted to build a game around this to add some variety to the wargaming market. While I love this pitch, I find the game itself to be mediocre, and I find the marketing and cost associated with the game to be outright ridiculous. If you love detailed miniatures and 3D printing, I think the sunk cost fallacy of it all will make this game shine for you. But if you love a well-established community with your game, or you love having money in your pocket, I’d recommend shying away from Malediction.

Final Score: 1 Star – Send me $1000 to finish this review.

Hits:
• 3D printable miniatures
• Printer files included in all purchases
• Card art that stands out from the crowd

Misses:
• Disgusting marketing
• Incomplete products
• Loosely strung together gameplay