Are Akaname any good outside of Brewmaster?

[Kutslo]

I picked up a box of these little filth demons after winning a store voucher at a recent tournament (it had to be used that day and I was in a rush!)... the models look cool, but are they any good?

I run Shen Long, Lynch and Mei mainly (not Brewmaster who seems to be their main man!). The dropping a scheme marker for (0) seems useful for things like dig their graves, but getting the poison on them in the first place looks to be the problem. Peasants I guess are an option, but I usually prefer Kamaitachi.

Any found them to be a good pick, or are we (as is often the case) better off paying the extra stone for a Thunder Brother?!

[Tris]

They could provide quite some synergy with an Asami crew, I suppose

[Somnicide]

I either run 0 or 2 with Asami. You can easily get a scrap/corpse marker on turn 1 for an extra Flicker, they don't have to deploy next to each other (I usually run on each side with a yokai each). Turn 1 one shoots a target 8" away but 6" from the other twice and the other activates takes the poison and pukes up a marker - corpse scrap if I have a high summon in mind or if not I wait until 2 other things have set up my fallback point with 4" between them with a scheme place which gives me a 6 point heal as needed.

other uses I've found were to bump up their poison in similar manner to buff melee then lock something in Ml and go defensive. 

When they are following the yokai they do a good job of sweeping and scheme running while yokai do the work and then fade out.

[Somnicide]

Also if you need to kill something by conditions they are obviously useful there and for ticking off hard to kill (just remember to shoot before a charge since it randomizes into melee.

[Kutslo]

I'd forgotten about Asami! Yeah can see how they'd work with her. 

I guess I'll give them a go. They could maybe work with Mei as they can bump up their poison when scrap markers are dropped nearby. May be a bit too much work though when others could do a better job.

Otherwise I'll just keep them til I eventually pick up Asami or Brewmaster!

[Cadaverousbirth]

Caveat: I haven't played with these guys yet so my impression is only on paper, and from a generally competitive-sense.

I wouldn't hire them. Asami can clutch summon some if she's going against a poison-heavy crew like McMourning for some help, doubly so if you didn't take Chiaki or you Low River Monk got punked earlier. Corpse, and sometimes Scrap, markers are not hard to come by throughout a game so using 8 stones of models to get some out doesn't seem worthwhile, especially since Obsidian Oni can do that at range on their own anyway. 

10T Brothers are definitely superior, there's just no getting around it. That's true over all cheap 10T minions really.

CounterpointIng myself: If you want to run Poison-heavy Shenlong they could be fun little additions and the models are awesome. Brewmaster has obvious synergies as well so I can see them getting play there too. 

[newsun]

I like summoning them with Asami, even that is situational, as generally I'd rather have a yokai, but at times there are only 8s in hand. I'm going to look at the effigy before them in the 4 point slot or a low river monk.