abraxus04

I've sent my gift out today & post office should be there by Wednesday. Thanks to everyone for making this an extra special holiday season!

my top ones are the convict gunslinger, desperate mercs, and to a much lesser extent Von Schill or Friekorps Librarian.

My particular thought is if you need to spread out and wish to not take ancestors than use a different Master.

I agree that works great, IF you have another master in that faction, but if you don't have all the toys it is not an option

I think he knows the Porter can't give Armor 2... What he's asking is the Porter better as a totem than the Grave Spirit. Is it better to have the movement from the Porter, or the Armor from the Grave Spirit? At least that's the impression I got from reading his post.

Fair enough, just wasn't making any assumptions. If you are taking ancestors then he is worth it, if not then no.

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Have to heavily disagree with abraxus04 about the no ancestor thing. Without an ancestor Yan Lo loses the use of 2 spells (one of them being the all important resurrect), 4 Talents and his main offensive spell is utterly limited in scope. If by some chance you feel to do a strategy where you'd rather not use any ancestor, you are better off bringing any other of our masters most time, because with Yan it's just a lot of wasted potential.

I fell 1 ancestor is doable (though I'd go to one of the heavy duty ancestors if I'm going this route) but 2 is the most recommended though 3 seems to work better than I expected (chiaki better be one of them).

What I can see fielding is a couple of ancestors and then good non undead models in ten thunder crews. Trascend the spirit does lose power but he does keep the rest of his tools and ancestors like Yin and Izamu mostly do their own thing, Toshiro helps anything hit better (though he will suffer to get reckoning tokens) and Chiaki is just pure utility for any crew.

Well everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I am new as well to 10T and Ressers, Yan being my only master for either. I looked over his card and and yes you lose 2 spells and 2 abilities tied to ancestors and 1 dg for each ancestor within 3' on a spell. While a detriment I didn't consider that crippling, considering all the potential goals you may be trying to accomplish. If your strat/schemes require you to be spread out, you are already losing much of that potential. The Paths are where I felt I got the most direct benefit to his performance.

Most of the games I played were with only 1 ancestor (Tosh as a result of a beginner tourney a few weeks ago) and honestly I felt I would have done better either with more ancestors or simply not taking them in the first place and concentrating on other things.

In the end all I was really getting at is: "Can you do it?" sure, " Is it optimal? No.

I did not recall Toshiro's ability correctly. He only gets conflict tokens when your models are killed by enemy and only from punks and ashigaru.

My assumption all along was that 8SS buys me 4 Chi and two punk zombies. I retract my thoughts on it for now as Datsu, so far, seems like the only dog killing worth while.

Tosh gets a token for friendly undead inflicting wounds on enemy models, so you get chi from killing dogs but that is it.

---------- Post added at 04:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:01 PM ----------

I’ve played about a half dozen games with a Yan Lo proxy crew and I have to say I am largely in the camp of "the strat dictates the crew" so with that being said

1) Is Yan Lo a support Master or a beat-stick Master? Yan is a swiss army knife, between the paths and his regular abilities, Yan can fill multiple roles.

2) Which path is best? This depends entirely on what you are trying to accomplish (strat/scheme) but Spirit and Ash provide the greatest benefit early in the game.

3) Is the Soul Porter worth it's two points? I'm assuming that the Weight of Ages/Soul Cage/Spirit Barrage trick is why anyone runs the Porter but is it actually worth the cost when you could, say, give Izamu or Tosh or Yin +2 Armor? – Porter cannot give +2 armor, only one I know that can do that is the grave spirit. All that aside, if anything the porter is undercosted. Link, Magic extension with a built in crow, and the extra movement he gives to an ancestor is worth the 2 points. The other ability and action can make getting Yan Lo’s master specific scheme almost a certainty.

4) Can Yan Lo be run with 1 or fewer Ancestors? Sure he can, ancestors are bonuses to your crew and to Yan when they die, but they are by no means required. Refer to question 1.

5) Is the Niece all that helpful in a Yan Lo crew? What about Yin? Both seem like they would be more helpful with other Resser masters. I haven’t used Yin yet but I can say Chiaki is so full of WIN! Chiaki does so much for a Yan Lo crew that I almost consider a default choice in nearly every crew. The HUGE downside is when Chiaki get’s obeyed as I found out last night….shivers…

6) What minions will you be playing with Yan Lo? Again this really depends on the strat/scheme. Things I would love to try would be Wastrels, Traps, and Tokerage.

Yan's book 4 models provide you with an incredible tool box to work with as a 10T or a resser. One of the biggest issues with them is “too much shiny”. All the ancestors are 8+ SS except Chiaki. In a 35 SS crew you are likely looking at taking maybe 2 or 3 ancestors. Add to this the relative need to keep them bunched up to get the most out of them can make a Yan Lo ancestor crew one of the most finesse style crews I have ever played. Nearly every special ability, has a range of 2, 4, 6, or 8 in and that can get to the point where it is easy to trip over your own crew. It can be awesome when you get all the synergies to line up but honestly it can be a pain trying to get them all going at the same time.

I think dog lists have their place but I still subscribe to the notion of get some use out of them by hitting the enemy not yourself. Dogs are great for a 1-2 punch combo, so get Tosh in combat and Yan or Chiaki within range for Abosrb Chi, then charge the dogs in. This is a great way to rack up tokens and chi. That being said I would only take 2-4 max.

My final thoughts are this, to get the most out of Yan Lo requires a degree of finesse, thinking a few moves in advance, and pure aggression on the table. I am nowhere near mastering this guy but that's my 2 cents...

Yeah she really outdid herself on finding representative models and the paint jobs look better up close. Played against it last night and it is really nice for ressers!

I think I might be bringing Guild as well. I'd seriously love to bring my wife's Yan Lo proxy crew but I don't think she would part with the new shiny for a month

I'm in! PM sent

I vaguely remember someone winning big while barely able to shuffle his cards lol

---------- Post added at 10:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:57 PM ----------

Much fun and amusement ensued following

I have to say I see a lot of Sonnia out there and Lady J on occasion. However I expect Lucas McCabe to quickly take the top spot in guild in the spring. Can't wait for the new guild models

I would tend to agree with the others. The cake match and story encounters are a bit more relaxed so I'll focus on the masters. But being a bit of a noob at last year's Adepticon, here are my thoughts...

1. Start timing your games. Time management is very important, you can't control your opponent but completing your activations quicker helps move things along.

2. Aim to achieve your objectives by turn 4. Depending on your opponent most games at 35 stones with a 90 min timer can end usually turn 4-5.

3. Most importantly, go in with a PLAN. The rules pack is usually out a few weeks or months in advance. Figure out which schemes you want to use for each round as they will be unique for the tourney. Play using those rules in your practice games and have an idea of what models you want to use to achieve your strats and schemes for each round. Some flexibility is good (swap model A for model but overall you should know what you are taking for each round.

4. Know your models pretty well. The less time you spend looking at the card means the more time you have to consider which move to make.

5. Lastly, remember its a game and to learn and have fun above all else. Even the masters is pretty stress-free so its more likely that any pressure you feel comes from within than from across the table.

Adepticon is awesome and the chicago crew always put on a good show. See you there in the spring!

Personally, I would consider swapping out Francisco for an Austringer, his (0) action to make someone activate right after him is aas good as companion and long range plus ignoring LOS is pretty nice. but just my 2 cents.

I'll be there and likely playing something new!

I'll be there!

Can't wait, signed up myself and malifuaxlady for everything, now just have to decide on which factions we are bringing!

I am just takin a guess here but I think the unspoken implied statement is that this is a team game where one team takes both hamelin and levi, not sure if it would still work but would be nasty

---------- Post added at 04:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:53 PM ----------

Of course if this is strictly a Levi crew then the whole thing falls apart for the reasons mentioned

Not exactly, but my wife and I play puppet wars over Skype while I am away for work.

No worries, My wife was up from NC and we stopped out there for while. There were 3 guys there and my wife played a Seamus vs Nico death match. I mentioned to them how things went last week and sounds like they may be showing up on a regular basis as well. the game was fun to watch as they play on some terraclips sewers terrain. All the movement penalties and limited line of sight made for a very tactical game. I'll try to be out next week and might start coming out on Saturdays for a little extra pre- Gen-Con practice.

I'm good pretty much any night except Sunday, have a regular puppet wars game via skype then

agreed on all counts, i've been the pub under the new owners and it is still great. beer selection is still phenomenal and the food is good. very much looking forward to checking out the new store this weekend.

I'll be there, signed up for the sunday event

I'll be there :Stuck_Puppet:

It is somewhat dependent on what you are up against but witchling stalkers are always nice for the magic weapon and explody goodness, death marshals are a close second, a student of conflict is a good one but unless i take von schill i tend to think the additional obey from the enslaved nephelim is better than an (all) fast on one of the other minions.

I agree with oz, 4 stone models are good filler and some other ones to consider would be Exorcist, brutal effigy, convict gunslinger, and there is always von schill

Correct about the Black Blood but the target part of the discussion was about Lelu and Twisted Thoughts. Sarsnick lays out a pretty good scenario in his original response. Essentially if there is a non-neverborn model within 2 in of him you have to target the model per Twisted Thoughts even if it is one of your own (ie. merc or effigy).