Help choosing a model to complete an order.

[muraki]

Hi, so I've recently switched over to TT and found a old gift card in a drawer, and was trying to figure out the last model to fill out an order.  The models the store has / I don't have are:

Izumu

Queeg

Sue

Toshiro

Yin

Shadow Effigy

And since I'm toying with the idea of getting some Gremlins

Gracie

Burt

I've been playing mainly Lynch or McCabe, and I'm interested in Brewmaster.  I also Yan Lo / Mei Feng but they're not a priority since I'd play the other 3.  I already picked up a decent number of TT models (TT brothers, tengu, yokai, jorogumo, samurai, low river monks, shadow emissary, terracotta warriors, etc), so a lot of bases are already covered. 

I was thinking Sue or Yin, but I'm not sure if one makes more sense than the other, or if there's a different option for those 3 masters that I'm overlooking.

[Pyrflamme]

I probably like Toshiro the best of all of those. The summoning lets you play a mean activation game, and his minion boosting plays well with Illuminated or whatever minions you might take for McCabe's Black Flash targeting. Yan and Mei also benefit from him to an extent (Yan obvious synergies, Mei Emissary provides scrap markers for doggies, plus Rail Workers + their 0 + Toshiro aura = highly accurate).

Queeg is funny but a little limited since you can only take him with one Master, and I haven't really taken Sue in 10T. Yin gets played with Jacob sometime for her (0), but I've had a hard time fitting her into my preferred Yan compositions. Shadowy Effigy is nice because it's a resilient and significant minion for just 4SS. Don't count on its (0) being more than a minor bonus, though it can be nice at times. Izamu is a nice beater, but outside of Yan he's probably overshadowed by Yasunori unless you're strapped for SS.

My personal rankings given your conditions is Toshiro > Shadow Effigy = Yin > Queeg > Izamu > Sue.

[muraki]

Thanks pyrflamme! I went with toshiro and I'll admit I didn't look at his card before tossing him out of the running to begin to start. Thanks for the advice, now I just gotta decide how I want to paint him.

[Tokapondora]

If you're going with any other models, prioritise Izamu. He's pretty much our best all-round beater. Sturdy, tarpit, high damage output; every beater I put in my list gets compared to Izamu first. No clue why he was put so low Pyr's ranking. Yin is great but niche, and the Effigy is always a great filler piece. But yeah, definitely get 'Zamu.

[twibs]

Izamu is overshadowed by Yasunori in every way except sturdyness. There it's kinda draw, Iz has armor but Yas has def and card draw.

[Tokapondora]

Izamu has "Not being 13 SS". You'd be surprised how useful that is.

[hydranixx]

I think Toshiro is the right choice as well, for the same reasons stated. He's especially nice in Thunders (as opposed to Ressers where I've played him the most) since there's better Minions in Thunders to take advantage of his Ml buff and Focus/Fast (0)s, and of course because his access to summon is worth so much in Thunders since they naturally have so little of it.

Yin is also a terror and I always recommend picking her up. She's a specialised model, but can a complete pain to deal with if your opponent hasn't brought high WP and buckets of . I think her strengths are better utilised in Ressers though so she's not a huge priority for Thunders.

For the Izamu vs Yasunori question, I think they're both good models, but for different reasons. I don't think they compete with one another, actually, since they kind of excel at different things.

As the opponent of both, I can tell you at least from what is perceived by the opponent, Yasunori offers far more damage and is generally more accurate at getting that damage to hit. I'm not convinced there's anything more psychologically scary than playing against a competent player who hires Yasunori. He could very well be the best in the game at what he does, or at least best in the faction; raw killing power on a long threat range and frustrating layers of durability. The additional 2ss price tag is too low to make Yasunori inferior to Izamu in any meaningful way (unless your master is Yan Lo).

Most of Izamu's comparative value comes from Warrior's Death, Melee Expert and the 3" on his attack. If the game lets you abuse these abilities he becomes a fine choice. Sometimes the extra point of Armour will be clutch, when your opponent can't bring any armour ignoring attacks to bear on him. If you can manipulate where their anti armour tech goes (or just kill it lol) then Izamu becomes a god. I've always found him terrific at Squatters Rights and Headhunter since he can do so much in one activation here and is pretty good at denying it. I think he's going to be an excellent at this new Hold Them Up scheme, especially with Yan Lo ferrying models into his Ml8  disengagement range.

[scarlett fever]

Toshiro def a good choice, you'll obviously need the Ashigaru and Komainu to summon in to play him.

Agree with Hydranixx on the Yasanori/Izamu split. I happen to be a regular Thunders opponent of his also.

They perform different rolls and I like them both equally but in an odd way prefer Izamu over Yasanori as he's more likely to fulfill the role I give him.

Izamu will lock down an area like you won't believe. He's generally somewhere near the middle of the board and his innate 'slowness' means he usually has back-up if he's struggling. Being in Thunders he can also become a missile if need be but at his heart he's an 8" circle of table lock-down with 3min damage. In a crew that's drawing the enemy in (Asami grasping strands/Yu Wandering River) he's my goto. So that plus not giving up heads in melee makes him great for Headhunter.

Yasanori is primarily a psychological threat, but you also want him to be worth 12 stones on the table. In a typical Thunders crew he can strike any model on the board and that's what makes the opponent react to you. You want him to remove 1-2 models that will skew the game and sometimes vs a good player he doesn't achieve this. Can be a little bit like playing Viks, there's a risk involved.