Jump to content

New Ten Thunders Player


Sluki

Recommended Posts

Hey guys,

I decided to start Malifaux with a friend, we are both long time tabletop veterans and want to try something new :)

We usually like to play competitively and we would like to participate in tournaments as soon as we figured out the game and get a number of games under our belts.

Since aesthetics are a crucial part of the hobby for me, I decided to Start Ten Thunders since I really love the models.

As far as masters are concerned, I would like to start out with Misaki and her Crew box.

Now I would like to know what I could best add to the box to build a solid crew?

I would really like to add some archers to my crew but as far as I have Seen they do not appear in any lists currently.

Can you guys recommend whats best to add to the box in order to field a solid list :)?

thanks in advance for any advice :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes. Avoid the archers like the plague.

With Misaki there are a couple of different ways you can go with her based on how much of an alpha strike vs. surgical strike route you want to play with her.

Regardless, the Shadow Emissary is a must for her and almost any other Thunders master. 

From there you have options- I like Sensei Yu but if you don’t want to buy the Shen Long box you can take Mr. I also Graves as the poor man’s version for a push but with Yu you can also make her fast. I have a version of my list with both. 

Aside from Yu, Graves, and the Emissary it is a kind of salt to taste situation. I like Yamaziko as a cheap Henchman that can scheme, I also like to fill out he rest with cheap activations to burn through most of the opponents activations before you start the Misaki launch. 

You can also consider Shang- who I usually despise- for the card cycle to help make sure you have the tools for the alpha strike or Kamaitachi who can give you an additional push to help get her deeper. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

to expand my above response a little. With Misaki there are a couple of ways that I have seen people tend to play her as I mentioned above. The surgical strike style (my way of explaining it) using her Stalking Bisento upgrade is focused on selectively taking out key models/lynchpins in their crew to disrupt their ability to accomplish the strategy and their schemes while your crew runs your own schemes to score points. This version, in my opinion, doesn't require as support support/setup to enable Misaki and can balance other offensive models and/or scheme runners in the crew. 

In the other version where she focuses on the alpha strike (the way I usually run her) you focus more on enabling her and trying to nuke as much of their crew as possible turn 1 to cripple their ability to do anything for the remainder of the game. This version is very much a "kill first, scheme later" approach to Malifaux. It can be very good in the right match however there is a lot of risk with it as well- if it fails to take out their key models then she (and other parts of your crew) are going to be out of position and vulnerable to the counterattack. 

In my general Misaki list there are  a few standards (my auto includes) and a few option pieces:

Misaki w/The Storm & Recalled Training (sometimes (50/50) I take Risk & Reward also).

Sensei Yu w/Wandering River Style

Yamaziko w/Hidden Agenda

Shadow Emissary w/Conflux of Thunder

These are my mandatory pieces. The Storm gives her the tactical nuke alpha attack by enabling her to cheat damage even on (-) flips when necessary. Recalled Training is there to put you on (+) flips to ensure that your attacks hit and to give you (+) flips to damage to let you see more cards and not have to rely on your hand as much. The Emissary is there to make Sensei Yu fast, push him, and then just push and then move forward to ensure Misaki can get the additional AP when she kills. Sensei Yu is there to push the Emissary to make sure he is in range and double push Misaki and give her fast. Yamaziko makes it into my mandatory section just because I think she is so good for her points even though she doesn't really help Misaki. Ideally you want to activate the Emissary, Sensei Yu, and Misaki last so that Misaki is going in after they have activated most/all of their models so you know where everything is and can make the best choices about what to kill. With the pushes from Yu, Misaki can be pushed 10" before she activates and then has a charge of 8" w/2" reach s a total threat range of 20" for the initial charge target. When she goes in fast she is at 4AP and when she kills something within range of the Emissary she gets another for 5AP total. Against the right targets that is 5 Storm attacks that are double blasting all over their crew. If she kills the first target with the two attacks from the charge she can charge again if needed to reposition to continue blasting on their stuff. Her diving charge lets her ignore other models on a charge to get into the right place as long as you could see the charge target and her push trigger lets her reposition while she is making attacks as long as you don't need the trigger to cheat on (-) flips.  

My option pieces include either totem option- card draw/cycle, cheap activation to help burn through their activations, Mr. Graves in case you need another push for either Misaki or the Emissary, I occasionally take the Terracotta Warrior so if I took Risk & Reward on Misaki I can swap it out to give her another turn of Recalled Training. Past that most of my other choices are based on whether I think I need more cheap activations and scheme runners- things like Tengu, Bunraku, Wastrels, Low River Monks. Generally nothing else in the list really matters if you can get a good strike off turn 1 and then go again at the beginning of our 2 with her for more cleanup. 

 

Obviously I am sure others can offer more ways to play her, more ways to build either version of this list, or more advice for how to use her. This is just my $.02 based on my experience playing her as an alpha strike master. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been playing a bit more a a themed crew lately... I really like the Smoke & Shadows upgrade.  You just need a bigger minion for it.  Jorogumo are fantastic, as are Wokou Raiders (especially when combined with a Crime Boss for card draw!)

I also prefer Graves to Yu.  For a start, he's 3ss cheaper (that free Shang!).  He still gives Misaki a 21" reach which I've found to be enough to kill a model turn 1. He also gives a solid, second line beater, who's reasonably tanky.

The other models I'd highly recommend are 10T Bros, they're like Torakage, but better and cheaper... (yey balance...👎), Chiaki is probably my most used model ever (she just gives so much and asks so little!), Yamaziko is amazing for 6ss (she's my S&S carrier too).

On Misaki, call me old fashioned, but I still really like Stalking Bisento on her.  Those :+flip flips for attack and damage are just so good!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, thewrathchilde said:

...

This is the same core my wife use with Misaki and having faced it quite a few time, I can tell it is solid. Though now she almost always bring Risk&Reward and Yamaziko is in and out, sometime replaced by or accompanying Chiaki. Rest of crew vary a lot.

  • Agree 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Da Git said:

I've been playing a bit more a a themed crew lately... I really like the Smoke & Shadows upgrade.  You just need a bigger minion for it.  Jorogumo are fantastic, as are Wokou Raiders (especially when combined with a Crime Boss for card draw!)

I also prefer Graves to Yu.  For a start, he's 3ss cheaper (that free Shang!).  He still gives Misaki a 21" reach which I've found to be enough to kill a model turn 1. He also gives a solid, second line beater, who's reasonably tanky.

The other models I'd highly recommend are 10T Bros, they're like Torakage, but better and cheaper... (yey balance...👎), Chiaki is probably my most used model ever (she just gives so much and asks so little!), Yamaziko is amazing for 6ss (she's my S&S carrier too).

On Misaki, call me old fashioned, but I still really like Stalking Bisento on her.  Those :+flip flips for attack and damage are just so good!

The problem with Jorogumo and Raiders is the cost- high cost models (outside of what is required to support Misaki) cut into the number of activations. I like Jorogumo for Asami and would also run one with McCabe but in a Storm Misaki list I prefer some cheap things to fill those last few slots. 

Graves can give her a decent threat range also, but if you are getting that range out of her with Graves then we was walking for (1) AP then Charging so you end you with one less attack plus she isn't fast. With Yu the double push and fast gives her the cheat range with more attacks. Yes, with Stalking Bsiento and Graves you have a good threat range to kill A model and if you want to play her as a scalpel that may be enough (as I discussed in my first reply using her surgical vs. alpha strike) but if you want to go full nuclear with her then the two extra attacks are critical  because typically you need to hit models with a blast multiple times in order to kill them. In the Storm version she is often getting 5 AP giving her 5 Thunder attacks  and with the (+) flips from Recalled Training (and against low Def target she might be getting (++)) and/or cheating almost all of them are/or have the potential to be generating blasts in addition to their damage on the primary targets and instead of killing 1 model you are killing a lot of models. 

Occasionally I will even have Graves and Yu both for the additional push Graves provides which I often use to push the Emissary further  to ensure Misaki gets the 5th AP ifs she is going to have to be at the far end of her threat range to strike. 

 

Nothing wrong with playing her with Stalking Bisento- I like it as well and it can make for fun games and might be easier for some players. The Storm version is definitely more all or nothing but I think also has a lot more pure destructive power. With her ability to place the blasts within 8" of her it is very difficult for someone to spread enough to keep you from being able to get quite a few models of their crew and if they do it just lets you concentrate on sections of their crew with all of yours. Either way against a lot of crews they are losing a huge chunk of their crew between turn 1 and the beginning of turn 2 and it's really hard to recover from that. Obviously there are some specific crews or counters that work well to mitigate it, but most crews are in a lot of trouble if the Misaki player plays it right. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/29/2018 at 3:23 AM, thewrathchilde said:

...the post above...

Whilst I'd agree that Sensei Yu is probably the most effective way to play Misaki, especially when combined with Yas in there too.  However the uber competitive format is not the way we really play nor is it the way I really want to play, so I was presenting some other options. 

Even with a Jorogumo (or the Wokou Raider/Crime Boss combo), my crews have 8 activations, which I find standard.

Stalking Bisento has really been the killer (pun intended) though.  She's been the star of the show with this, just taking out so many key pieces in every game, as she's generally killing her targets, she's also kind of difficult to kill (so far I've only lost her once out of 4 games).  The Storm looks great, but at the moment , I'm just having so much fun with Stalking!

The only downside I'd say for Misaki so far is that she's not that complex, which is something I like (I'll probably try either Yan or Shen next for that), however that's not to say the games haven't been tactical with lots of tight decisions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

As said in the above posts by @thewrathchilde and @Da Git, both Storm Misaki and Bisento Misaki are good options with different play styles and crew builds.

Storm Misaki tends to either destroy your opponent, or if it fails and you lose Misaki, it becomes an uphill battle for you. Both, in my opinion, are a negative play experience, especially if you're still learning the game.

For a good learning experience for both you and your friend, I strongly recommend using her bisento upgrade for the first few games.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

I agree that Bisento Misaki is a good, fun, and competitive way to run her. It's the way I just run her normally.

I generally run her with Yamaziko, Crime Bosses, Wokou Raider.  Tengu are a great model to smoke and shadows another minion off of.  

 

While a lot of people hate on the Archers, I have to say that they're good--maybe not in the most competitive games, but they can be good, they just need to be run very well in very specific ways.  You need someone like Yu, or another tougher model, to hang around it for them to get the benefit of their upgrade.  If you can give them reactivate or fast they can be good too--something that Misaki herself can't do.  They're a fun model, but not the *best* model.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information