Rurouni Benshin

I use Fuhatsu as well, but have from time to time put it on Misaki, pending on the faction I'm facing.

That's true. Unless I have a Henchman with me, my cache is usually around 4-5, otherwise it's 7. I find the Sabre more useful when playing McCabe as a Guild Master though. The amount of ridiculousness he can give to models in that faction are stupidly good. My favorite: Pale Rider + Sabre "Hello, +4 Critical Strike."

I usually take the Elixir over Sabre, personally. Mostly because I rely more on my crew to do the heavy hitting.

Exactly. Advice is taken at the value of the person receiving them. In general, most lists/crews will include a model or 2 from a different set or it's own blister pack to finish. For Yan Lo, for example, just about every recommendation needs at least 2 models not within his crewbox anyway. I'm glad you're learning from it, and hopefully enjoying the game just as much,

Yan Lo's box crew is pretty substantial, between Chiaki and the Soul Porter. Admittedly, I don't use the Ashigaru very often, unless Make them Suffer is on the table, and I need to have Minions available. I usually bring only one of them. Yin and the Shadow Emissary are 2 of my favorite additions to his crew. If you go to the "Shadow Emissary" thread in TT Faction discussion, I posted a picture of my proxie for it. It's a "Young Fire Drake/Dragon" from the Reaper line. Only costs about $3, and when painted, is a very closely resembles what's depicted in the Wave 3 book. Toshiro has since taken a backseat to the Shadow Emissary, since I've started using it though. Yin is great at locking down individual models, especially if their Wp is on the lower end. And of course, who could forget the 8th Master of the faction: Sensei Yu.

Along with the 3 you mentioned, I usually bring Chiaki, the Soul Porter, and 1 Ashigaru. After upgrades, I usually have a total cache of 6 or 5.

Not sure how much experience you have with either, but both do very different things in combat. Both play good games, and when catered to the right strategies and schemes, perform quite admirably. I compare them like this: Mei Feng is a "small game hunter", where Misaki is a "big game hunter". Mei Feng specializes in jumping into a bunch of minions/Enforcers, and tying them up with her long reach, forcing them to attack her before getting away. With the right cards and/or soulstones, and the "Misdirection" upgrade, she can avoid a lot of trouble. "Make them Suffer" would be the scheme that best categorizes her. Misaki specializes in going after the bigger targets, with her higher Ml and Assassinate trigger. She activates late turn usually, which by then your opponent's hand size is likely to be less than where it started at. "Murder Protege" (and sometimes Assassinate) would be the scheme that best categorizes her. Closest Outcast Master that comes to being like Mei Feng would be Von Schill though, if that's the type of Master you're looking for.

The last time I played Yan Lo was in a tournament against Levi (of all Masters...). We played Interference, and I ended winning (7-4, I believe). Yan Lo didn't make it to the end, unfortunately, but he managed to bring a good showing to one of the more powerful Masters in the game.

He's wonderful with Yan Lo. I used to take Toshiro with him, until the Emissary came out, and now they're rarely ever not together for me. Brutal Khakkhara is also more effective, which makes Bone Ascendant more a priority for me. Throw in Sensei Yu for some secondary healing and board control, and the crew is pretty powerful.

I love the Emissary. He has the strongest Cat attack, for a Non-Master/Henchman model, and brings a lot of interesting bonuses to their respective Masters. Only Masters I've played with him so far though are Misaki, Mei Feng, and Yan Lo though. I've played the Brutal Emissary with McCabe once, but I can't imagine him playing very differently by comparison.

I agree with Rath in his analysis. For what Hamelin provides, Misaki and the Viks provide a good counter measure and balance to your Overall Outcast capabilities. A good 3rd Master would be Von Schill. Tbh, out of all the Outcast Masters I've been playing, he's become one of my favorites to play (after Misaki and Levi). Something about seeing him and the Freikorps models running around the board is something I've taken an affinity to.

Not necessarily. The Mobile Tool Kit only has 3 Wds, and so long as it doesn't get out of Cg range of Joss, Joss can easily kill it (even taking into account the Black Joker coming up once). Ramos may not be able to summon 3 Spiders on every turn, but at the very least he can summon 2. All things considered, that's not the worst thing in the world. The Brass Arachnid can get silly too, if you have the cards to make the 3 Reactivates happen in a single turn too. Not something I'd rely on, but funny if you get it to work. I wouldn't attempt to try it unless I had the cards in my hand though.

A Mobile Tool Kit would serve the same purpose here, if all you're doing is sacrificing it for 2 scrap markers. Most importantly, it'll save you 1 ss.

I suppose Ronin can be added to the list then as well, with their (0) action.

Exactly. Don't get me wrong, it's great, just never the first thing I'm looking to do. It helps keep your options open for a lot of scheme running as well.

I've only had to use Perdita's Obey once in a competitive setting, because 1) She didn't have any targets at the moment and 2) with only 1 AP left for her activation, she used it to put Frank in better positioning to engage another enemy model. Largely situational, but useful when needed. 99% of the time, I'm usually attacking with her though.

I almost always take it with Hannah. Reasons being: She herself can use it, and she's Ht 3, which means her aura rises to the top of a lot of buildings. Vast majority of the terrain pieces we play with at my LGS are Ht 2 and 3, so as long as she's within range, the Trapper is almost always benefiting from it.

Absolutely. What's not to like about a suited "Obey"? I've only had to use it a couple of times, but only because she herself wasn't within range of any viable targets for one turn. From a competitive standpoint, Nino is very situational. In games where interactions are dependent to win on, he's great (Squatter's Rights is HIS game). Reconnoiter/Stake a Claim in any kind of deployment (aside from maybe Close) are his second best game, since he's able to set up somewhere where he can interact on Turn 2 or drop necessary scheme markers. Turf War, he's "hit or miss", depending on scheme pool. Avoid taking him in Reckoning, unless Frame for Murder is on the table, otherwise he's the best choice for it. In campaign and casual play, I take him just for fun, given how OP Perdita can already be. But if you really want a challenge, bring Papa Loco. Good luck!

Nino is very situational. Unless the scheme pool is Interact heavy, or if I'm playing Squatter's Rights, I usually leave Nino out. "Spotter" is great, but he is pretty squishy. I avoid taking him in Reckoning almost all the time as well. When I do bring him, I usually have the Emissary not too far away since he can shoot into melee and is Ht 3, so can see a good portion of the board, pending terrain. Worst case scenario, you can always pine box Nino for a turn, but that also means giving up "Spotter" for at least a turn. I have a "love/hate" relationship with Santiago. Fluffwise, he's my favorite character out of the entire family. I'm currently playing him in a campaign, and he's been my anchor quite a few times. Tag teaming him with Francisco has been the key strategy for me, and has largely worked in my favor. In competitive play though, he tends to take a backseat to Abuela. Between Perdita, Francisco, and the Emissary, I have A LOT of firepower already, in an already "Enforcer" heavy crew. Though I will say that if it weren't for the Emissary being available to me, I'd more likely bring him instead. I wouldn't go so far as to say he's utterly non-competitive, if you don't have other models to bring. In a "Family" heavy crew, he's good. When compared to Papa Loco and Nino, he's a much more well rounded choice, and less situational. I usually put "Hair Trigger" on him when I take him, to make as much use of his Peacebringer attack. The bonuses he gets from "Es todo lo que tu tienes" are nice, but don't depend on them. Usually he's the one finishing off anything that Francisco or Perdita haven't killed yet, or have brought down within striking distance to put down with a single shot or 2.

Exactly. "Oldest Magic" is pretty much the same as "Incorporeal" albeit worded differently. Doesn't avoid the disengaging strike, but the negative flips apply.

My favorite scheme runner when I play the Ortegas is my Guild Austringer, and occasionally the Brutal Effigy. My typical combo with Abuela is to make the Emissary "Family" first, so that Perdita can relocate to it when she needs to. Every turn after the first, she's using "Listen up Young'en" to make the Austringer shoot (usually). Unless I'm playing Stake a Claim, Perdita does all the other strategies pretty well, although I'd make a case that McCabe can do Reckoning just as well (or perhaps better) as she can. Some things to keep in mind though: 1. Models within 6" of Abuela can't charge, so be sure to always have that pre-measured to optimize avoiding getting charged. 2. Always take "Wade In" on Francisco. 1 ss for Hard to Kill goes a longer way than you'd think. Plus a 0 action heal is never bad. 3. Unless you're looking for a challenging game, leave Papa Loco out. Unless you're bringing either the Emissary or a Death Marshal along, he's going to end up costing you more than he's worth. That said, all the Family members are pretty useful in their own way. It's more a matter of how you'd like to play the game. Perdita is powerful, but relies on a few Family members around to be at her potential so she can use "Relocate" when she needs to. My usual strategy when Abuela is on the table, is to wait for Perdita and Francisco to get further up, and follow up with her. Her gun packs a punch, but it pales in comparison to little 'Dita.

I've played a few games as Nicodem, and have yet to use a single Belle. I've won them all, but I imagine that had I had one at my disposal, it would've been easier.

Emissary's "Dragon Breath" + Austringer's Focused Raptor attack + Sensei Yu's "Master of the Wandering River Style" would be funny to see. Damage spread wouldn't be amazing, but being able to get to most things on the board would be pretty effective.

Figured as much. I'd much rather have the 2 Abominations anyway though.

Would this work though? "Lost Focus" says that the model doesn't drop Corpse or Scrap markers when killed. Joss's "Creative Salvage" says the model killed by him drops a Scrap Marker, in addition to whatever markers are dropped. Would "Lost Focus" negate this effect, or would the D-Engine drop 2 Abominations and 1 Scrap Marker?