I bought his crew box because it looked good, and the Ashigaru looked really cool. Already thinking of a paint scheme for him, but it will probably be months before the crew is done. I run an ancestors list mainly with Yan Lo, Soul Porter, Chiaki, Toshiro and Izamu with the remaining points in ashigaru (because they look great more than anything) and maybe a canine remains depending on points left.
I go straight to Yan Lo when certain schemes show up. I like to take him when turf war and protect territory are options as the crew seems great at moving up to the centre, spreading out a bit and holding ground. Ashigaru are fairly tough to shift for their points and Toshiro can sit behind and buff them in close combat, summoning extra Ashigaru as well. Yan Lo and Chiaki heal / remove conditions and it's quite demoralizing to an opponent when Izamu dies and is then resurrected again and then is healed and has slow removed by Chiaki. Once Yan Lo is tooled up with the ascendant upgrades he's hard to get rid of and I use him to lighting dance enemy models to wherever I need. I can see why some schemes and strategies might not be suited to him but when the right ones come up I really like playing him.