emissary

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Pity I've already primed my first 12 Ten Thunders models. Here's my showgirl crew:

Yeah, yellow has been something I've usually stayed away from. I do like bright colors though so that plays a part. Anyway, had some stuff come up the last couple of days, but I'm going to put up the rest of the Ressers and Neverborn today. I'll put up the Showgirls once I finish their Oiran.

I plan on putting up the Resser stuff over the next few days. Masters and totems today, character minions tomorrow and regular minions Friday.

no, something printed on the card is not an effect. An effect is something that causes a chance in the model's normal state. Er, after re-reading you may be saying that Chiaki can't do that. Hard to tell if you're referring to rancor's question or ratty's answer.

Thanks for the advice. Few things: I agree on the glow. For some reason the colors on Izamu and the Ashigaru don't sit well with me (I think it's the blue cloth). As I stated before, I plan on repainting parts of them soon when my new bases get here. The current plan is to paint Chiaki's purple robes, the green cloth on the Soul Porter, the blue cloth on the Ashigaru and Izamu and Lo Pan's robe and blue cloth on his skeleton a darker green and to paint the white cloth on Chiaki, the grey back on the Soul Porter, the red on Izamu and Ashigaru and the beltsash on Yan Lo a richer purple (I've discovered that Xerses Purple and Liche Purple are not the same color no matter what GW says...) This should bring out the glow more that you mentioned. As a side note, I was disappointed to find that the spirit glow on Izamu and Yan Lo weren't modeled. I had to do some of the physical nature of it with greenstuff. Yeah, I agree at times I can kill off the detail. Sometimes it's on purpose so that it won't blend all together on the tabletop and I want to make something stand out, and other times it just happens. I must admit that getting out the details on these new plastic models have been unexpectedly hard as they're really subtle at times. The first one I did was Mr Graves and I really don't like how his face turned out, but thought I did a better job with Yan Lo's face. I'm a little worried about the fact that I've just bought the rest of the Ten Thunders this week and will have about 50+ plastic models to paint up now. Haven't had this problem with the GW plastics in the past. Figure I'll adapt quickly. There are times where I'll go a little more severe with the shading though just because I like the look. In my crews I've had some visual things I put in to make it obvious about some traits of the model on the table. For example, my spirits have blue skin with very severe highlights (you can kind of see it in the soul porter), my undead will have green/brown putrid skin and pupil-less eyes unless they're skeletons, neverborn will have red eyes with no pupils, nephalim will also have a more severe contrast on their skin as well.

I've actually been curious as to whether or not the brilliance keyword is an effect since it's not a talent or spell. Looking at it again, I'm pretty sure it would be an effect and so could be removed. In which case Chiaki is great against the Lynch crew.

I do think that Yan can handle that crew. Here are some strats that have worked for me recently. 1) I usually try to ignore or limit Huggy as much as possible. I know that's easier said then done. What I do try to do is take out the other brillianced models while he's on the board so that it limits their options on summoning him. Izamu is also a good model to engage him because he can stop him from getting the permanent brilliance trigger easily. Also, Yan Lo has access to Rigor Mortis which can shut him down for a turn. The strat that's never gone well for me against Huggy is making a point to kill it over and over unless it comes back with just a few hps. 2) Another thing to remember is that Jacob's return shot is that it's against ranged attacks. Yan Lo's Weight of the Ages isn't a ranged attack so you can shoot him with impunity. 3) An archer or two wouldn't hurt. Get a couple of shots in against those beckoners. As stated before, they only have 6 wounds. Getting a few shots in against them will keep them honest in moving or risk getting taken out quickly. Plus the archers can make it hard for him to shield them with other models as he moves to you. 4) I've really loved Drowned with Yan Lo recently. Riptide and their explosions can weaken the opposition enough to where you only need a few hits to take things out. They also clear out clumps fairly quickly (like the models that will huddle around Toshi for his aura). In addition, Jacob and the Beckoners only have a 6 & 8 wounds, so Riptide doing 2 and their explosion doing 2 will take off a significant portion of their wounds.

Some more. Also, when I got these I was playing Ressers pretty heavily and was the first time in years I actually painted according to the pictures in the book. However, with the move to the Ten Thunders, I'm getting Asian Bases for everyone and changing up the color scheme, so all of these guys will be rebased and the cloth will be repainted.

My plan is to get this gallery set up ahead of selling 5 of my crews this week. Going to start off with my Yan Lo stuff today, then on to my Colette, Lilith, McMourning, Seamus, Kirai and Nicodem crews later this week. I also hope to get the Marcus, Leveticus, Zoraida and Viktoria crews I've also painted for some friends. I feel a bit sad that I finally get everything painted, then will proceed to sell of Lilith, McMourning, Seamus, Kirai and Nicodem the same week since I'm switching over to Ten Thunders, but it should be fun painting more. Anyway, here we go:

1) Yes, she can target herself as she is a friendly model to herself. 2) Hunter doesn't help against creepy fog for the reason you thought 3) No, paralyzed models do not get a slow to die action.

I've had a lot of success running the following 35ss list: Yan Lo (6 stones, 1 chi) Soul Porter Izamu Chiaki 2 Ashigaru 2 Drowned The Drowned are great because they can weaken your opponent's guys pretty easily so that Yan Lo can have an easier time getting his Weight Trigger off. They're meant to die and get converted into chi themselves as the game progresses. You can also use them to get objectives well also. Izamu is a true beater and I like being able to adapt Yan on the go to fit the needs of the crew. In my last game against Lady Justice Yan had completed 3 levels in all 3 paths and would have completed a path if Lady Justice hadn't gotten really lucky (charge and severe for charge damage then a red joker + severe on the 2nd hit. Plus I had 2 13s in my hand buy flipped aces for the add soulstones on my defense both times). Still won the game 8-0 but was hilarious watching poor Yan pay the price right before Izamu finished off Justice.

I should have included that if you really want to push Izamu with Chiaki's Purity spell you can use an Onryo to strip off his immunity fairly easily with the Mark of Jugoku. Agreed, the point is more of the fact that he can do it without a ton of effort. Most of the time this movement will be spent more towards the action.

Well, you can do it all in 1 as you can companion the all of them with Yan Lo and the Soul Porter. Also, Chiaki can't push Izamu with the pulse because that spell has a WP resist and Izamu is ItI unless I'm missing something. However you can get more movement if necessary by having the porter kill him, the card going to Yan Lo and then Yan Lo moving and resummoning him. You also can get 2 activations out of Izamu that way. Also, making him a spirit is more of a situational thing for me. Yes, it's needed for Swirling Spirits and is good against certain masters, but it's terrible against others and isn't necessary. Yan Lo can move him around just as well when he's not a spirit. Also, Neverborn do have a lot of speed and nobody is arguing this, but just assuming they'll always have more speed then Izamu is really just sticking your head in the sand and ignoring what he can do. Given that the board is 3'x3' if Izamu is near the center of the table when he activates he'll be 15" from the table edges and not too much further from that from the corners. Yan Lo can give him spirit to move through any terrain that would slow him down if necessary. Given his walkx2 and Empower Ancestorx2 would = 16" he could cover most of the board from that position. Even if he isn't towards the center of the board, he can cover roughly half of it in a single activation. Also, I have also murdered zoraida and collodi on a few occasions as well. He speed is close enough that you can corner them if necessary or can start taking out their crew. It's also been my experience as well from Fetid's that his true power is how easily you can resurrect him. He drops 3 counters which means when he's ressed, he comes back at 60% life from those counters at a minimum with the easy ability to heal him quickly as well.

Few other things to consider. Izamu can be very hard to get to run away with mental anguish because all he has to do to avoid it is cheat with a mask or crow of any value. I do think that a lot of things that you can or cannot do really vary based on the players and situation. That all has to be weighed. Somethings may work and some may not depending on how things go in the game. Another little trick I learned tonight is very similar to Swirling Spirits from Kirai. I've been using Yan Lo a lot since they both came out. One thing Yan can do to move Izamu around quickly other than his totem's Empower Ancestor is to use companion to activate Yan Lo, Soul Porter, Izamu and Chiaki. Izamu goes and does his thing, then the totem goes and kills Izamu and he drops 3 corpse counters. The porter is still free to move Chiaki if necessary into position for her Cleanse later if needed. Yan Lo goes, moves into a better position if needed and resurrects Izamu (even using the 3 corpse counters Izamu dropped if possible and within 6"/picked up by Yan Lo) and heals him if needed. Then Chiaki can activate and remove the slow from being summoned and can get near him for the free heal. After your opponent goes, Izamu is free to activate again with full ap. Depending on how everything is positioned, this can teleport Izamu quite far across the table as Yan Lo only has to be within 8" when he is killed, can move up to 8-10" before resummoning him 6" away. Certainly something to keep in mind. Plus it gets another activation out of Izamu that turn.

Didn't notice that on the severe hit heal. Good to know. One thing that people may not realize about Izamu's mobility is that he can have good mobility in a Yan Lo crew. Yan Lo can give him spirit and the Soul Porter can make him push up to 8" if needed. Given those and melee expert he can cover a lot of ground in a turn if needed. It's not quite swirling spirits but it is similar. Also, trying to paralyze him can be risky if he has Chiaki as she can just clear it off. Another thing that can be a pain is if he has an attached Grave Spirit. It's easier for him to block los to it as his base is much bigger but not guaranteed. If you can't get the grave spirit you've got a potential armor 2, object 2, spirit model that can self heal to worry about...

With marionettes you have to be careful about his riposte trigger. Unless you fill yhem with stones riposte will kill a them. Also i may be missing something but why wouldn't he get his healing flip on severe damage? It isnt a trigger. Im going off memory but I also think that Chiaki can get rid of hex with cleanse spirits.

It's to have 2 relic cards on him and one path fully complete at some point during the game.