Yan Lo Tactica?

[ElPuto]

Searched a bit, didn't found anything that could satisfy my curiosity.

So here I am, asking you: what's a typical Yan Lo build? What's his general plan? What is he supposed to do?

I see him (looking at cards) as a bruiser that can disrupt your opponent's plans. Am I wrong?

Help me understanding my new Master for a virtual hug.

[DonCheadle]

From the little I have understood, Yan Lo revolves around Lightning Dance. 

 

This makes him a good pick for Ply for Information, and since GG18 has a lot of schemes that depend on enemy positions, in a bunch of other pools as well. 

I like to imagine Yanny as Muten Roshi who starts out feeble but slowly gathers his powers to go Super Saiyajin on his opponents. 

[whodares]

I'm not THAT experienced with Yan Lo, but played a couple of games with him so far after wave 5. How I play him might also differ from the norm, so please don't take it as gospel.

Yan lo has actually become a decent mid to lategame beater model, even moreso than he was before. His pattern is rather straightforward: gather Chi, get upgrades and demolish stuff starting from Turn 3 (in my case Turn 2). Lightning Dance allows you unprecedented movement shenannigins in the Thunders, which is also a big part of his identity.

Yan Lo is a lot about proper positioning of models and can severely abuse mispositioning of the enemy. The reason for this is, as you may have guessed, Lightning Dance. Starting off at a mere ca5, this placement action rapidly gains power as Yan gains Chi, rising up to an impressive ca8 on 3 Chi or more. Missing this means your opponent was either Zoraida or flipped a red joker. Any other excuse will not be tolerated

So I've mentioned Lightning Dance a couple of times already, but how are you supposed to use it? I prefer to run a triple threat setup, usually consisting of Yan Lo, Yasunori and another damaging model such as Emissary or the newly released Crime Bosses. Yasunori is usually in position thanks to his very good walk and charge range, but can he handled if he only has 1 small model per turn in range/engagement. Enter Lightning Dance! They try to tie up Yasunori, you just teleport models next to him and watch him go wild. This is the main use I get out of Lightning Dance and the use you'll probably be using the most.

The second way of using Lightning Dance would be to deny things. They accused your model? Dance the engager away and activate unengaged to just remove the condition. They are trying to score Leave Your Mark? Lightning Dance the model into other things and tie it up.

This is just the most basic ways to use Lightning Dance, but it should help you get started with the possibilities you have.

 

That still leaves his beater options.

Before wave 5, beater Yan Lo brought the Emissary, started with the Kharakka (or whatever it's spelled again) upgrade and rushed to get his 3 Chi Ascendant upgrade. This allowed him to get a better damage track and longer melee range, as his default attack only has 1", which works wonders with the 3 Chi upgrade. An 8" place attacking all models in range with  to attack and damage is a lot more scary with a better damage track and longer range. Usually this style paired with using the Wastrel trick to get 3 Chi Turn 1 and use the chi of next Turn to get a defensive upgrade. Since the soulstone upgrade uses a Ml attack it is not affected by Chi, so feel free to spend it all.

 

Then wave 5 happened, which changed his meta-game rather significantly. I'm venturing into theoryfaux a bit here, mixed with the experience I have from playing some games in Wave 5.

Wave 5 gave Yan Lo 3 new upgrades: 2 normal ones and a 4 Chi casting Ascendant upgrade. Both normal upgrades provided a monumental change for him as they eased his Chi gain AND allowed for a more flexible playstyle regarding upgrade in the way Shenlong can swap Styles.

First off is what I see as the best thing happening to Yan lo: the new Awakening upgrade (1 SS). It gives him Instinctual, which allows you to take 2 different 0 actions per turn with him. No longer do you have to choose between Ascendant upgrade OR spirit armor OR healing. You can now choose 2 of those, which means he actually has a 0 action he can use in the first few Turns. Added to that it allows Lightning Dance to be taken as a 0 action, which means a saved AP per Turn thanks to Instinctual. Since you were probably already using Lightning Dance once per Turn, this is great! To finish the upgrade, Lightning Dance gained a trigger that deals damage and slow if Yan Lo ends Lightning Dance in base contact with the target. This upgrade basicly gives Yan Lo an extra AP in the form of an Instictual Lightning Dance that can now end up dealing damage and giving slow. Not bad at all i'd say.

 

The second upgrade is called Follow Their Footsteps and is the gamechanger when it comes to Chi generation and Ascendant upgrade flexibility. It gives you 1 Chi whenever the opponent scores any amount of VP, which is great. Starting from Turn 2 you'll probably be getting a "free" Chi per Turn. the second effect allows you to discard an Ascendant upgrade to gain back the Chi spent in it and you MAY choose to pay the Chi price for a different Ascendant upgrade. Say you want that 2 Chi upgrade, but only have 1 Chi. Next turn you drop a card for +1 Chi and then drop the 1 Chi upgrade to get the 2 Chi upgrade. Or you need survivability, so you ditch the 3 or 4 Chi upgrade, get the 2 Chi upgrade and then use a 0 for the 1 Chi upgrade, suddenly becoming suprisingly difficult to take down thanks to Incorporeal and Impossible to Wound.

 

The last new upgrade is the new 4 Chi Ascendant upgrade called Blood Ascendant. This gives you casting expert, so probably another free Lightning Dance per Turn and a new 2" melee range Ca attack with a much better damage track than your default attack. This is also huge, as you can now get a Ca8 2" range attack that works together with your 3 Chi upgrade. I've managed to pull off the combo a couple of times in which I can hit 2-4 models with  to attack and damage on Ca8 and those attacks hurt like hell on a 3/4/5 damage track. It allows Yan Lo a way to get rid of chaff and plow through certain summoners with easy. Killing an enemy with the attack also lets every friendly Ancestor in play heals 1 damage which is just icing on the cake.

 

This all sounds great, why isn't everyone playing Yan Lo?

Lategame Yan Lo is extremely powerful and can plow through crews on his own. The downside is that you actually have to reach lategame AND score VP at thesame time. I'm using a trick with the Wastrel and a Goryo to reach 4 Chi on Turn 1, to then reach 3 Chi on Turn 2 rather easily and even get an attack in on Turn 2. A Major downside is that this strategy requires a specific hand setup (4/6 cards in your hand need to match certain criteria) and it is extremely vulnerable to an Alpha Strike.

Incorporeal is also becoming less and less of a reliable defensive mechanism due to the increase of "damage that cannot be reduced" and a rise in the amount of Ca actions. This leaves Yan Lo mostly with only Impossible to Wound, which is not enough for a master that wants to go in deep. His base stats of 5 def and wp also leave a lot to be desired as the average attack value has been steadily rising and almost all models have a stat 5 attack.

 

 

This is just a quick overview of Yan Lo and how he was impacted by Wave 5 without going into specifics about possible interactions with his own crew. There are different threads which have already discussed that. I hope this can get you started and you have fun playing Yan the Man!

[ElPuto]

1 hour ago, whodares said:

I'm not THAT experienced with Yan Lo, but played a couple of games with him so far after wave 5. How I play him might also differ from the norm, so please don't take it as gospel.

Yan lo has actually become a decent mid to lategame beater model, even moreso than he was before. His pattern is rather straightforward: gather Chi, get upgrades and demolish stuff starting from Turn 3 (in my case Turn 2). Lightning Dance allows you unprecedented movement shenannigins in the Thunders, which is also a big part of his identity.

Yan Lo is a lot about proper positioning of models and can severely abuse mispositioning of the enemy. The reason for this is, as you may have guessed, Lightning Dance. Starting off at a mere ca5, this placement action rapidly gains power as Yan gains Chi, rising up to an impressive ca8 on 3 Chi or more. Missing this means your opponent was either Zoraida or flipped a red joker. Any other excuse will not be tolerated

So I've mentioned Lightning Dance a couple of times already, but how are you supposed to use it? I prefer to run a triple threat setup, usually consisting of Yan Lo, Yasunori and another damaging model such as Emissary or the newly released Crime Bosses. Yasunori is usually in position thanks to his very good walk and charge range, but can he handled if he only has 1 small model per turn in range/engagement. Enter Lightning Dance! They try to tie up Yasunori, you just teleport models next to him and watch him go wild. This is the main use I get out of Lightning Dance and the use you'll probably be using the most.

The second way of using Lightning Dance would be to deny things. They accused your model? Dance the engager away and activate unengaged to just remove the condition. They are trying to score Leave Your Mark? Lightning Dance the model into other things and tie it up.

This is just the most basic ways to use Lightning Dance, but it should help you get started with the possibilities you have.

 

That still leaves his beater options.

Before wave 5, beater Yan Lo brought the Emissary, started with the Kharakka (or whatever it's spelled again) upgrade and rushed to get his 3 Chi Ascendant upgrade. This allowed him to get a better damage track and longer melee range, as his default attack only has 1", which works wonders with the 3 Chi upgrade. An 8" place attacking all models in range with  to attack and damage is a lot more scary with a better damage track and longer range. Usually this style paired with using the Wastrel trick to get 3 Chi Turn 1 and use the chi of next Turn to get a defensive upgrade. Since the soulstone upgrade uses a Ml attack it is not affected by Chi, so feel free to spend it all.

 

Then wave 5 happened, which changed his meta-game rather significantly. I'm venturing into theoryfaux a bit here, mixed with the experience I have from playing some games in Wave 5.

Wave 5 gave Yan Lo 3 new upgrades: 2 normal ones and a 4 Chi casting Ascendant upgrade. Both normal upgrades provided a monumental change for him as they eased his Chi gain AND allowed for a more flexible playstyle regarding upgrade in the way Shenlong can swap Styles.

First off is what I see as the best thing happening to Yan lo: the new Awakening upgrade (1 SS). It gives him Instinctual, which allows you to take 2 different 0 actions per turn with him. No longer do you have to choose between Ascendant upgrade OR spirit armor OR healing. You can now choose 2 of those, which means he actually has a 0 action he can use in the first few Turns. Added to that it allows Lightning Dance to be taken as a 0 action, which means a saved AP per Turn thanks to Instinctual. Since you were probably already using Lightning Dance once per Turn, this is great! To finish the upgrade, Lightning Dance gained a trigger that deals damage and slow if Yan Lo ends Lightning Dance in base contact with the target. This upgrade basicly gives Yan Lo an extra AP in the form of an Instictual Lightning Dance that can now end up dealing damage and giving slow. Not bad at all i'd say.

 

The second upgrade is called Follow Their Footsteps and is the gamechanger when it comes to Chi generation and Ascendant upgrade flexibility. It gives you 1 Chi whenever the opponent scores any amount of VP, which is great. Starting from Turn 2 you'll probably be getting a "free" Chi per Turn. the second effect allows you to discard an Ascendant upgrade to gain back the Chi spent in it and you MAY choose to pay the Chi price for a different Ascendant upgrade. Say you want that 2 Chi upgrade, but only have 1 Chi. Next turn you drop a card for +1 Chi and then drop the 1 Chi upgrade to get the 2 Chi upgrade. Or you need survivability, so you ditch the 3 or 4 Chi upgrade, get the 2 Chi upgrade and then use a 0 for the 1 Chi upgrade, suddenly becoming suprisingly difficult to take down thanks to Incorporeal and Impossible to Wound.

 

The last new upgrade is the new 4 Chi Ascendant upgrade called Blood Ascendant. This gives you casting expert, so probably another free Lightning Dance per Turn and a new 2" melee range Ca attack with a much better damage track than your default attack. This is also huge, as you can now get a Ca8 2" range attack that works together with your 3 Chi upgrade. I've managed to pull off the combo a couple of times in which I can hit 2-4 models with  to attack and damage on Ca8 and those attacks hurt like hell on a 3/4/5 damage track. It allows Yan Lo a way to get rid of chaff and plow through certain summoners with easy. Killing an enemy with the attack also lets every friendly Ancestor in play heals 1 damage which is just icing on the cake.

 

This all sounds great, why isn't everyone playing Yan Lo?

Lategame Yan Lo is extremely powerful and can plow through crews on his own. The downside is that you actually have to reach lategame AND score VP at thesame time. I'm using a trick with the Wastrel and a Goryo to reach 4 Chi on Turn 1, to then reach 3 Chi on Turn 2 rather easily and even get an attack in on Turn 2. A Major downside is that this strategy requires a specific hand setup (4/6 cards in your hand need to match certain criteria) and it is extremely vulnerable to an Alpha Strike.

Incorporeal is also becoming less and less of a reliable defensive mechanism due to the increase of "damage that cannot be reduced" and a rise in the amount of Ca actions. This leaves Yan Lo mostly with only Impossible to Wound, which is not enough for a master that wants to go in deep. His base stats of 5 def and wp also leave a lot to be desired as the average attack value has been steadily rising and almost all models have a stat 5 attack.

 

 

This is just a quick overview of Yan Lo and how he was impacted by Wave 5 without going into specifics about possible interactions with his own crew. There are different threads which have already discussed that. I hope this can get you started and you have fun playing Yan the Man!

Mate, thanks for your awesome tactica. It really helps me understand what I'm supposed to bring into the game with Yan Lo, and what to do with his Aps.
The only doubt I got, reading this and another thread, is how I build Chi using Wastrel (and you mentioned a Goryo too). It seems I need to go severe on damaging the Wastrel (+1 Chi), then killing him with another one (+1 Chi). Where does the third Chi point come from? You even talked about a 4th. This is leaving me a bit disoriented ahahah

[ElPuto]

1 hour ago, whodares said:

Lategame Yan Lo is extremely powerful and can plow through crews on his own. The downside is that you actually have to reach lategame AND score VP at thesame time. I'm using a trick with the Wastrel and a Goryo to reach 4 Chi on Turn 1, to then reach 3 Chi on Turn 2 rather easily and even get an attack in on Turn 2. A Major downside is that this strategy requires a specific hand setup (4/6 cards in your hand need to match certain criteria) and it is extremely vulnerable to an Alpha Strike.

And why a Wastrel? Why not choosing another 5 Wd Minion?

[DonCheadle]

Or even a Pathfinder trap for that matter. 

[Adran]

Chi building is not essential for Yan lo, but it can be something that you build an engine for. (I don't and normally have spent 6 chi by turn 3 and still have some on the card. but the newer upgrades do seem to encourage more early chi.)

I assume that you are getting 1 chi from disarming a card. You probably use the Goryu to summon a seishin for Yan to kill for that last chi. 

I guess the wastrel has the advantage of defensive stance for (0) cards making it easier to get cheatable damage flips against it (You walk twice) 

[whodares]

52 minutes ago, ElPuto said:

And why a Wastrel? Why not choosing another 5 Wd Minion?

 

11 minutes ago, Adran said:

Chi building is not essential for Yan lo, but it can be something that you build an engine for. (I don't and normally have spent 6 chi by turn 3 and still have some on the card. but the newer upgrades do seem to encourage more early chi.)

I assume that you are getting 1 chi from disarming a card. You probably use the Goryu to summon a seishin for Yan to kill for that last chi. 

I guess the wastrel has the advantage of defensive stance for (0) cards making it easier to get cheatable damage flips against it (You walk twice) 

Adran is correct. If you let the Wastrel take 2 walk actions, he gets defensive stance. This makes it easier to win the duel.

It also has the added benefit that you can get the max Charge range out of Yan Lo for the best value. Yan Lo wants to get up front and the Wastrel is just perfect for this.

The last benefit has to do with crew building. I tend to bring Toshiro with the upgrade in a Yan Lo crew. He's an Ancestor (benefit with the new 4 Chi healing) and his upgrade allows him to summon Ashigaru/Komainu. Since the Wastrel has the keyword "Living" on it, it drops a corpse marker when it dies.

The 4 Chi combo works like this:

1. Activate Goryo and use him to summon a seishin
2. Walk the Wastrel for defensive
3. Activate Yan Lo and discard a card for +1 Chi (total 1 Chi)
4. Seishin gets placed into base contact with Yan Lo and gets killed by a 1 AP attack for +1 Chi (total 2 Chi)
5. Yan Lo charges the Wastrel, hitting a severe on he first attack for +1 Chi (total 3 Chi)
6. Second attack of Yan Lo kills the Wastrel for +1 Chi (total 4 Chi)
7. BONUS: Toshiro turns the corpse marker from the Wastrel in a half health Ashigaru
8. BONUS: Charm Warder places the Disguised condition on Yan Lo

 

18 minutes ago, DonCheadle said:

Or even a Pathfinder trap for that matter. 

A Wastrel allows you to charge him and get the combo off for 4 Chi. I'm not familiar with the Pathfinder trap, but I thought it died in a single hit, which means charging it would deny you the 4th Chi in comparison to a Wastrel. I'm also not sure whether or not it would drop a scrap marker which Toshiro can use for a Komainu. Again, I don't own the Trap, so I'm just working on muscle memory here from when I was building Yan Lo lists.

[ElPuto]

6 minutes ago, whodares said:

 

Adran is correct. If you let the Wastrel take 2 walk actions, he gets defensive stance. This makes it easier to win the duel.

It also has the added benefit that you can get the max Charge range out of Yan Lo for the best value. Yan Lo wants to get up front and the Wastrel is just perfect for this.

The last benefit has to do with crew building. I tend to bring Toshiro with the upgrade in a Yan Lo crew. He's an Ancestor (benefit with the new 4 Chi healing) and his upgrade allows him to summon Ashigaru/Komainu. Since the Wastrel has the keyword "Living" on it, it drops a corpse marker when it dies.

The 4 Chi combo works like this:

1. Activate Goryo and use him to summon a seishin
2. Walk the Wastrel for defensive
3. Activate Yan Lo and discard a card for +1 Chi (total 1 Chi)
4. Seishin gets placed into base contact with Yan Lo and gets killed by a 1 AP attack for +1 Chi (total 2 Chi)
5. Yan Lo charges the Wastrel, hitting a severe on he first attack for +1 Chi (total 3 Chi)
6. Second attack of Yan Lo kills the Wastrel for +1 Chi (total 4 Chi)
7. BONUS: Toshiro turns the corpse marker from the Wastrel in a half health Ashigaru
8. BONUS: Charm Warder places the Disguised condition on Yan Lo

 

A Wastrel allows you to charge him and get the combo off for 4 Chi. I'm not familiar with the Pathfinder trap, but I thought it died in a single hit, which means charging it would deny you the 4th Chi in comparison to a Wastrel. I'm also not sure whether or not it would drop a scrap marker which Toshiro can use for a Komainu. Again, I don't own the Trap, so I'm just working on muscle memory here from when I was building Yan Lo lists.

Again, super helpful. Thank you so much man!

The Trap won't die in a single hit thanks to 3 Wd and Armor +2. Btw, it's not a Construct, so it won't leave any Scrap.

[bedjy]

And the trap cannot get defensive stance so that you may have to keep a low card to cheat for him (in addition to the activation discard).

[whodares]

59 minutes ago, ElPuto said:

Again, super helpful. Thank you so much man!

The Trap won't die in a single hit thanks to 3 Wd and Armor +2. Btw, it's not a Construct, so it won't leave any Scrap.

 

9 minutes ago, bedjy said:

And the trap cannot get defensive stance so that you may have to keep a low card to cheat for him (in addition to the activation discard).

I'll highlight this just to mention how important it is. Yan Lo's opening hand becomes more and more fixed the more models you add in the mix.

1. The seishin summon requires a 6
2. The first hit on the wastrel requires at least cheatable damage. This means you need a low card to cheat down the wastrel in case of need OR a medium card to let Yan Lo hit if they both flip low.
3. The first hit needs to be a severe, so an 11+
4. Toshiro's summon requires a suited 9, but I forgot which suit. He can stone for it, but it's still a 9+ you need

If these conditions are not met, you can't even guarantee to do your 4 Chi combo. The construct worsens this as it does not get defensive, which makes cheatable damage harder to achieve.

 

However there is some light at the end of the tunnel. That light is when you are not planning on bringing Toshiro. This opens up those soulstones for other models aka the new Obsidian Statue, the Emissary, ... Say you still want SOME Chi generation Turn 1, you can just bring the trap for 2 stones and combo off of it. This brings you to 3 Chi, which is still very nice and it only cost you 2 stones for the trap and a couple of Turn 1 cards.

 

I'm personally not a fan of that tactic as it lowers your activation count in a faction that is already running rather elite. The Toshiro Ashigaru summon gives you a better model back, which makes it a net gain in terms of stones. The downside is that any alpha will hit you hard as it takes away your Chi generation or comeback mechanic on a master that really starts working from Turn 3 onwards.

[InvokeChaos]

So some old information from Yan Lo posts of yore.  I feel most of it is still relevant, but there have been some game changers since Wave 5.

On 6/1/2016 at 3:09 PM, InvokeChaos said:

Two things to be careful with here (I've done this trick a few times and have gravitated away from it):

1) Cards in hand on turn 1 (I would never do this outside of turn 1).  If you can't pull this off with cards in hand, hoping for good flips is going to be a waste of AP. It's too big a risk. If you don't have the cards in hand to do it, just accept that the wastrel will actually be used for it's abilities and focus on how to to get their work in (not hard honestly pretty decent model all in all).

2) Your opponent's crew. I guarantee you that depending on who you are facing, taking 3-4 cards to gain 3 chi is NOT worth it. If you have a bomb coming in or an aggressive ranged list, they will love you pitching all those cards. And arcanists with a december acolyte just cackle with glee. I know this is kind of an obvious point, but it's easy to miss in the heat of the moment and you're excited to do something really cool.

Further food for thought: 

You need a high card for the severe. Maybe a moderate card for the attack from Yan Lo. If you flip higher than you'd like on the defensive, you may even need to cheat in a low card... and you've potentially lost two good cards from your deck. Then Toshiro needs a 9+ and a soulstone possibly for the Ashigaru. Not to mention the card you pitch for 1 chi at the beginning of Lo's activation. Worst case scenario here is that you've used 4-5 cards from hand, 9 cards from your deck (4 on +def, 4 on atk/dam, 1 on summons) and a soulstone to gain 3 chi. At least one of those had to be a face card and the other a high moderate. 

Versus gaining 1 chi for one low card and just popping the ash ascendent. Turn 2 you are going to be in the thick, ideally, anyways. 

I'm not saying that the Wastrel (or Komainu) trick isn't a good idea.  But you have to keep those two things in mind. Flipping a red joker on that + def flip from the Wastrel hurts SO bad. At least if you flip a black joker in those shenanigans, you are trading a chi for removing the black joker from your deck for a turn. Which I can handle.

I've used the trick. It's actually made a sizeable difference before as well. But I was playing against a slowish crew, and we did no engagements turn 1.

As such, my recommendation is that if you are going to attempt this trick... wait until the end of the turn. Figure out what your opponent is going to do, and with what... and then IF you still have the cards and you don't need them for turn 2... go for it.

 

As to the above, I was still learning Malifaux's intricacies and feel I have far more to contribute and several updates.  If anyone would like to see my thoughts or commentary on Yan Lo's evolution, I'll put something together and post it. I still play Yan Lo as described in the linked post, but with a lot of changes and more wisdom to how to play the game. But it should be a decent starting point to get the brain juices going.  

[Bazlord_Prime]

Quick question to clear this up for a mate who's loving living la vida Lo:

Is the new Awakening upgrade giving Yan Lo up to four Lightning Dances per activation (3*(1) + 1*(0)), as the Pull My Finger entry suggests? Or does the wording ("instead") mean that if the Lightning Dance is used as a (0) Action, it may not be used as any (1) Actions that activation?

Cheers!

[Adran]

I don't have the words to hand, but if it is just it may take this as a (0) action instead of a (1) action, then that doesn't stop them doing it as a (1) action if they want

[Bazlord_Prime]

The wording on the Upgrade (the "Spark of Enlightenment" Ability that it confers) is:

"This model may take the Lightning Dance Action as a (0) Action instead of a (1) Action" (emphases mine).

So, the inclusion of that term "instead of", to me, dictates that it's an exclusive choice - you either use it as a (1) or as a (0). 

But, on second thought, I guess that if that actually was the case, there'd be further wording around when and how long that setup would apply (like, "till the end of this Activation", or similar), so without any further wording around that, then I think I'm with you on this one, @Adran

[newsun]

If yan also was fast and casting expert he could do it six times times in one activation.

[thewrathchilde]

so.....typically I play Yan is Ressers not Ten Thunders simply because Rotten Belles are so good in the crew and in quite a few strategies and schemes as well. I also think you get the rapid Chi generation more reliably with them as well. 

The last game I played with Yan I had 6 Chi turn 1 and picked up Blood Ascendant, had a stack of Chi second turn and picked up Bone Ascendant and was off to the races. 

In Ressers I was running: Yan w/Awakening, Reliquary, and Follow Their Footsteps; Soul Porter, Izamu w/(pick the 1 SS upgrade that fits that game best), Yin w/Take Back the Night, Chiaki w/Pull of the Grave, a Goryo, and 2 x Rotten Belles. If I don't need the condition removal from Chiaki then I option her out usually for a Shikome. Almost all of this list can transfer over to Ten Thunders except the Belles and option piece (Shikome). You can get something set up similar w/Beckoners instead if you convert Chiaki or the Goryo to something cheaper to free up the 2 x SS you need to pay the cost difference between the Belles and Beckoners. However, in Thunders I would be tempted to just rework it in order to get the Shadow Emissary into the list probably at the expense of Yin, his upgrade, and the upgrade on Izamu which I would replace with a 0 SS upgrade so the Emissary could still make him Fast. In Thunders I would also consider Yamaziko as the option piece to replace Chiaki. 

I never have a problem with rapid Chi generation in this list and have enough threats and good damage dealers (unless they have a lot of armor) to deal with a lot of lists. The only things I don't like to play this into are things that require me to spread out considerably as it works best when the different parts of the list can support each other. 

[Hermit]

Unfortunately Beckoners can only be taken in Ten Thunders with Lynch. They're not dual-factioned like some of his crew. Lynch takes them via Darkened keyword.

[Mxbedlam]

4 hours ago, thewrathchilde said:

so.....typically I play Yan is Ressers not Ten Thunders simply because Rotten Belles are so good in the crew and in quite a few strategies and schemes as well. I also think you get the rapid Chi generation more reliably with them as well. 

The last game I played with Yan I had 6 Chi turn 1 and picked up Blood Ascendant, had a stack of Chi second turn and picked up Bone Ascendant and was off to the races. 

In Ressers I was running: Yan w/Awakening, Reliquary, and Follow Their Footsteps; Soul Porter, Izamu w/(pick the 1 SS upgrade that fits that game best), Yin w/Take Back the Night, Chiaki w/Pull of the Grave, a Goryo, and 2 x Rotten Belles. If I don't need the condition removal from Chiaki then I option her out usually for a Shikome. Almost all of this list can transfer over to Ten Thunders except the Belles and option piece (Shikome). You can get something set up similar w/Beckoners instead if you convert Chiaki or the Goryo to something cheaper to free up the 2 x SS you need to pay the cost difference between the Belles and Beckoners. However, in Thunders I would be tempted to just rework it in order to get the Shadow Emissary into the list probably at the expense of Yin, his upgrade, and the upgrade on Izamu which I would replace with a 0 SS upgrade so the Emissary could still make him Fast. In Thunders I would also consider Yamaziko as the option piece to replace Chiaki. 

I never have a problem with rapid Chi generation in this list and have enough threats and good damage dealers (unless they have a lot of armor) to deal with a lot of lists. The only things I don't like to play this into are things that require me to spread out considerably as it works best when the different parts of the list can support each other. 

How are you getting 6 chi in one turn? using belles to pull models in to kill? If that's the case sounds like your opponent waaay overextended vs your crew.

[thewrathchilde]

12 hours ago, Mrbedlam said:

How are you getting 6 chi in one turn? using belles to pull models in to kill? If that's the case sounds like your opponent waaay overextended vs your crew.

Yes, the Belles help.... I don’t know that you would consider it majorly overextending. If the Belles are front line 1 x Belle can usually double lure something that advanced close enough to get it in charge range. 

However it you need to Lute with both Belles you can 4 x Lure a single model and drag it 16-20 inches and in range for the fun. With a single model you can still often get 4 Chi first turn pretty reliably, 5-6 is a bonus. 

In that game I lured in a model, charged with the Soul Porter and got 2 Chi, finished the model (Gremlin) off with Yin (1 Chi), he killed the Seishin my Goryo summoned (1 Chi), I lured some more, advanced my Shikome,  Yan discarded a card (1 Chi), picked up Bone Ascendant, Lightning Danced another Gremlin to the Shikome, Izamu killed the Gremlin (1 Chi).

 

Had he not killed the Seishin, Yan could have blasted it and still got the Chi. If he had stayed further back I might have had to commit both Belles to one target and gotten 1 less Chi (5 total) which is still plenty. 

Second turn was more of the same- I lured, he killed my Shikome (1 Chi), Izamu killed something (1 Chi), I lured some more, Yin/Soul Porter (more Chi), picked up Blood Ascendant, got medieval,......

[thewrathchilde]

17 hours ago, Hermit said:

Unfortunately Beckoners can only be taken in Ten Thunders with Lynch. They're not dual-factioned like some of his crew. Lynch takes them via Darkened keyword.

ah, never noticed. I don't play Beckoners or Lynch....... I play Yan (only in Ressers up to this point though I might try him in Thunders for the Shadow Emissary) and just recently picked up Shen Long.