InvokeChaos

EDITED FOR PROPER RANGE ON YU'S ABILITY Snipers work extremely well with Shenlong. His ability to let them focus for a 0 action, plus pushes, fast and Sensei Yu's ability (+1 to attack flips when it's a focused attack within 3" of him), they can do some great work. 10T brothers are going to be probably your go-to scheme runners. They have a lot of cute tricks with their dance of many. Misaki + Sensei Yu = missile. Yu can use her 0 action to stalk a target, then push her up to 10" and give her fast. Then she just tears into whatever he stalked. Dawn Serpent is pretty solid with Shenlong because he is really accurate and his 0 action only matters when you need to heal. Otherwise it's perfect time to focus. Being given pushes and fast means 3 hyper accurate attacks and one can be focused. Really good.

Wonder Weasel with Terracotta makes for a potent combination of scheming as well. For much the same reason as Chiaki (mentioned above), Unhindered is an amazingly potent ability that can prove to be quite sneaky. Throw-in the Weasel's ability to push with a card discard, and you have an already potent package for those early game upgrade shenanigans suddenly becoming a combo that can suddenly put the scheme pressure out when needed. And Yokai are fantastic. I hire them in constantly. Especially with the new gaining grounds Claim Jumping, one Yokai can complete that twice. I will gladly trade out a 5 pt model for 2VP. They also are awesome for any scheme that requires interacting as their 0 action is a place than interact, not a scheme marker drop. Their ability to place at end of round also ensures they are in just the right place for certain schemes. They aren't too fast at Wk5, but that 3" place that can be triggered on command is just nuts. And if they don't need to scheme, they hit well above their weight on the charge. I often take one or two simply to be anti scheme runners, and cut down my opponents models. I've had yokai just flat out annihilate every standard scheme runner I've run into, silurids inlcuded. Don't have enough good things to say about them. You just have to really make sure you take advantage of their abilities and don't overuse their Flicker.

I've always preferred the Emissary to Yu for Misaki, just because I want the charge and more potent attack of the Emissary. But with the changes there's all KINDS of shenanigans you can do with positioning. You could cloudburst enemies backwards into the emissary's range for instance. Though I do need to figure out how to generate more cards so that I can use her dance more often than just occasionally.

Sorry, for some reason wasn't notified. Are you referring to the models? If so I do, translucent ice gamin but my Gaki just got pro painted, though I am not beyond buying Gaki if helps me acquire foil rezzer cards :-)

Misaki was the master I learned how to play Mlaifaux with, so I'm very excited. I have been using her exclusively as a scalpel/assassin, but the changes allow me to do board control, which I love. Being able to thunder after downburst is great for screwing up positioning, putting out some damage, and on top of it, don't forget that Thunder has a built in next target trigger. She is also immune to Thunder damage, so you can get tricksy with positioning. Super excited and can't wait to get her on the table with the changes

Tried out this list over the holidays: Brewmaster -Running Tab -Binge Kamaitachi Ama No Zako -Recalled Training Yasunori -Equality Samurai -Favor of Earth Yokai Terracotta Warrior I brought running tab just purely to swap and help facilitate wonder weasel. I ended up switching out binge too because brewie became a Swillbot. Which by the way is DISGUSTING with Ama and Yasu. Though my opponent tied up my Yasu pretty well. Misdirection with Samurai is fantastic and the Terracotta made a great late game scheme runner with wonder weasel pitching to push him. Unhindered is a treat. Was a great game, won and thoroughly enjoyed brewie's shenanigans. Even locking down just his emissary with Swill and Drinking Party was fantastic. I think Ama can be swapped out, she was great, but I think I could have used maybe another Yokai, or maybe another ranged piece, like a sniper or maybe even a performer.

Nah, it doesn't affect friendly tricks. They both specifiy you can't do this unless stuff (paraphrased) or its generated by "a model in this crew".

two things: emissary pushes it 4" instead of 5", so yes you still do. Just not two pushes. And I agree. Yu for yasunori is way too much investment. But emissary can't fast masters, whereas Yu can. I wouldn't bring yu to just fast yasunori. As a matter of fact yasunori doesn't need fast. Maybe a push, but he threatens plenty on his own. From deployment he has a 12" threat already. That's centerline in standard deploy. But Yu brings a potential heal/condition removal (with terracotta) and synergizes very well with brewmaster. That being said my current brewie list keeps him on the shelf. For now. But that's because I wanted to give Ama no Zako a try with him. I have an extra cache to be able to swap her with an upgrade out for Yu with his upgrade. Yu makes better use of terracotta/weasel for sure.

I don't put swill on yu (just read back thru and I think I just ignored that part). I use it to make the more common single and double negatives on damage, positives instead. I still like the idea of getting more use out of our favorite laughing man. Don't forget you can also pass out poison which enables brewie more, especially with his paralyze upgrade. Or pop burning on for an obsidian oni to ignite. There's a lot of options. Not saying an 11pt Yu is the answer. But with terracotta and the wonder weasel, you can start with wandering upgrade then move to low or fermented as needed for midgame.

Armor is not a condition. So unfortunately no.

Something to keep in mind, is that Jorogumo is still amazing and he is only Ml5. The reality is that Ama is a utility minion hunter. Jorogumo is tanky beater. Both eat minions for breakfast, and both heal from doing so. That's a totally valid position to be in. I'm not typically going to send her after a Df6-7 character. I'm going to use her obey, I'm going to set up hazardous terrain, and I'm going to devour anything that has Df5. And if nothing has Df5 or lower (I almost never see that), then she's going to become a utility scheme runner that at worst can focus to hit for 7 damage typically. Yes if you're opponent wants to guarantee a miss, they can cheat that 13 on a df6 character. But that's a pyschological game in itself. I'm not going to send Ama no Zako out for a game winning play against Df6. That's a hail mary play. You send her after things you can kill. Now that all being said, her Ml5 is a barrier for me. She does a ton of great stuff, but she has some staunch competition at her point cost. I think that Asami is a great place for her as is brewie, who can bring the negative flips. Anywho. Total maliFaux League - East Coast Had a great run of Asami at TFL East Coast! Thanks again to Chris Weinstein and crew for a great event! And thanks to all of you for great ideas and concepts that really helped me shape how I play Asami. Here's what I ran and I went 3-2, tied for 5th (with a bunch of people) and the 2 games I lost were high quality games that I could have won. So I was very happy all in all. Only my 2nd tournament, and my first "high level" tourney. 32 people. THE LIST Asami Tanaka - 5ss Cache -A Heavenly Design -Servant of the Five Dragons Kamaitachi Ohaguro Bettari -A Taste for Flesh Yasunori -Equality The Lone Swordsman -Recalled Training Terracotta Warrior Yokai/10T Brother (switched out as I felt was necessary) I was originally going to bring a more diverse set of models to swap in, but time was at a premium, so I decided to stick with this list throughout all my games. THE ROUNDS Brief breakdown, it was over a week ago, I've been in tremendous pain, and as such my memory of the event is very foggy. I remember my losses the most clear, aside from a Round 4 play against Reva, which I remember because Reva is my current obsession for Rezzers. Round 1 - Guild - Perdita with Papa in a Box - Win (don't remember scores but I won like 9-5 or something) Yasunori got taken out FAST, but that's because he dove in turn one and did SHENANIGANS. Lone Swordsman was a superstar here, though I forgot about his bulletproof when Perdita was shooting him in melee... DOH! Was able to put tremendous pressure on my opponent and close the gap super fast, with my three beaters all eventually dying, but getting me the game scheme-wise for their efforts Round 2 - Neverborn - Lilith - Played Andrew, he's a (the?) henchman out of NYC. Great guy, good game. lost 8-4, but was a winnable game. I made some poor committing choices that enabled my opponent to score 3 points, and kept me from scoring a couple. He had three waldgeists with flank deployment and leave your mark. Swordsman took out two, but I diverted Yasunori away to support Bettari (who on a bad run of cards was getting some hurt put on her) and sent yokai to tie up the other waldgeist. I SHOULD have killed it first, knowing betarri was going to die anyways. Then I could freely send in Swordsman or Yasu and not worry about the Bad Juju that was chilling out. But instead that waldgeist got 3 victory points on leave your mark, because I couldn't keep it pinned down and my yokai flickered away. I forget where I lost my points at, but I know that I made a bad play that lost me 2 victory points... think it was the overcommit of yasu when I couldn't reliably kill bad juju. Round 3 - Gremlins - Wong - Yasunori was the superstar here as he was able to get into a Glowy McTavish turn 1 and turn him into mincemeat. This game was the fuzziest, I remember that it was the popping up everywhere wong, glowy, 2x swinecursed list. But I had enough beef to put everything down. I kept tying up wong with Asami, just to keep him from blasting out. He had some kind of push/reposition, but it still always put him on the back foot. Won (again don't remember score, but it was close) Round 4 - Ressurectionists - Reva - I play Rezzers as my secondary faction, and have been theorycrafting Reva since she was spoiled. So I knew everything she could do, I think better than my opponent. I remember this game the most because I felt in control the most. He ran emissary, archie, reva with the kill master kit, three shieldbearers. Unfortunately, Asami is pretty close to a hard counter for Reva. He popped a corpse candle in front of my deployment zone to threaten hard. But I won initiative and sent Asami in to kill it, then used the corpse marker as fuel. Yasunori demolished Archie, and a Recalled Training, reactivating swordsman laid low the emissary, and by turn 2 he was down to a wounded reva, and three shieldbearers. I killed two of them before game was called, nearly tabling him. He just didn't have options. He tried to throw a massive attack from Reva into Yasunori, consuming a bunch of corpse markers, but Mold of the Other nullified that. Without the heavy hit, he just couldn't chew through Yasu. Solid win for me. Round 5 - Guild - Typical Sonnia-Papa crew, but my opponent Travis (great guy) offered for me to pick my master, so I said not Sonnia. So he gave me Perdita haha. Travis is a monster on the table, and it heralded back to the game with Andrew where I made some bad decisions that allowed him to put pressure on me, when I didn't need to be pressured. Ultimately lost at 9-7, but was a fantastic game. I gave him free shots on my 10T bros, that ultimately denied me a round of convict labor. I know I could have played a bit better to pull out the draw or win, but I was very happy with the game overall. THE WRAP-UP Asami was a lot of fun. I really missed not having my Chiaki or Anna (away getting painted all pretty) but having the Wonder Weasel was a great help with cards. And Yasunori. I'm strongly looking at running Anna, Yasu, Terracotta and the Wonder Weasel as my core. I really enjoyed Bettari, but I just didn't get enough work out of her. I had some great tricks, but it seemed whenever she dove in, I just didnt' have the cards I needed (so I was throwing her up to be a speed-bump) or I had the cards, but I HAD to summon. Lone Swordsman was amazing, as usual. But the MVP by far has to go to Yasunori. He is exactly the model that my lists tend to lack: A focus point. The opponent CANNOT ignore him. And with the Warrior and Armor 1 with 12 wds... he sticks longer than you'd think. He definitely folds to dedicated assaults, and he died in almost everyone of my games. But the work he did, even if it wasn't an even point trade, always impacted my games heavily. The opponent couldn't just look away. Each of my opponents had the same reaction... "Wow. It does what?" He's not going to be an auto-pick in all of my lists, but I cannot understate how well he performs when properly supported. I am looking forward to trying interesting shenanigans, like giving him Armor +2 from Yan Lo, or obeying him with Brewmaster. Or using his great sage to plan around getting my aces with Lynch. Tossing him Strangemetal Shirt or Badge of Speed with McCabe. But I will say he is a 17pt package. If you are bringing Yasunori, I really feel you need that Terracotta Warrior. I am seriously looking at Terracotta as a staple for everyone anyways. Terracotta was a much needed injection into our toolbox, and combined with Yokai, Asami and Yasunori, I feel we are at a very strong point with 10T as a whole. And that's not even talking about the utility and game changing presences of Sun Quiang and Black Betty. THE EVOLUTION My original list featured Amanjaku, Hannah and Anna. No longer. I also moved away entirely from Low River Monk. Not that I don't think he's not amazing with his upgrade, but he isn't required with Asami. I think he is golden with certain masters, but I always need those 4pts elsewhere, normally in upgrades and cache. Chiaki and Yokai are still solid picks that I use constantly (or would if I had Chiaki available haha!). So here's the deal: the Hannah/Anna combo is still on the table, but with wanting to field Yasunori, I think I may have to pass on it. I loved the card shenanigans, and Hannah, Anna, Weasel, Terracotta is a tremendous amount of card cycling. But I'm not running enough to enable Hannah to do anything more than copy a 3 damage ranged attack. She's got a great melee range and threat bubble, but for 1pt more, I get Yasunori. And as long as he gets hit, I get the card that Hannah would provide. And his threat range is MASSIVE, as is his damage potential. They both have Armor, but Yasu has his amazing 0 actions that at worst do damage and at best have utterly guaranteed my next attack from him ended my opponent. I can't tell you the number of times that I Great Saged and arranged for my next attack to be something like a 13, 2, 11 so that I could try for that straight flip into severe. Or make sure I get that repeat trigger. It's why I don't think he needs recalled training. That built in positive to attacks already looks at the top 2 cards. You want to Great Sage to setup your damage flip. And when Yasu flips a 13, and the opponent sees that his track is "only" 3/4/5, they often will opt to just let you have the straight flip rather than wasting a card to put you on negative. But that adds up. I used to look at great sage as a strong setup for summoning, but really it's only a situationally strong ability for setting up other models. Without accomplice/companion, I really like it to setup my next attack. I've also used it to discover I'm going to get three severes in a row, and just opted to scheme, so I didn't waste a severe on his positive flip. There's just so much you can do with that information. So yeah. The list has shaped up a bit... Hannah, Jaku and Low River are out... Yasu, Wonder Weasel and Terra are in.

Brewie!! You know I hadn't thought of hurling in Sensei Yu like that. With Drunken Kung Fu he is quite respectable and the push allows him to get into combat without wasting AP to walk... Nice idea! Plus Brewie could obey Sensei Yu to walk... more movement! I have been really trying to figure out a way to give Sensei Yu focused more easily, so that I can use it to give brewie fast. 4 cards out of your opponent's hand seems legit. Solid idea with Tannen, hadn't thought of that! New concepts on brewie: So I played with Yasunori a lot recently, and I have to say that thing is pretty awesome. But what's even more awesome is... his two extra attack triggers are once per activation, not once per turn. So I really have been thinking that Yasunori needs to be with Brewie. Not only can you put your opponent's models on negative flips with swill, but you can then obey Yasunori for 3 attacks with proper suits, granting our favorite almost-rider 7 attacks potentially from 3AP (his activation plus 1AP of brewmaster). Throw a sensei yu in the mix, and you can fast yasu as well... cuz reasons. I normally really like the emissary, but I think my lists in general lack some hitting power, and yasunori fits that bill quite nicely. I also think that the kamaitachi/terracotta trick is a good inclusion, despite being able to use running tab and swap it for misdirection. I like wesley, but that extra card/push and the walk from the kamaitachi are really crucial I think to brewie.

Been out due to medical issues, but finally able to respond so let's get to it! Yan Lo stuff first! I have been seriously looking at this very strategy. My concern at the moment is that the goryo are 14pts, yu is 11pts, terracotta is 5pts and Sun is 8pts. That's 38 pts with no ancestors on the table. Arguably your goryo are the beaters, but 2/4/5 is kind of shifty, even if you can pass out adversary. I'm thinking the sweet spot will be one goryo freeing up 19 pts for upgrades and other things. This lets me at least take an emissary, and I think the emissary is a must have with Yan which addresses my second quote: Hunpo Assault is fantastic in general, but it's not something to build around in my opinion. However... if you are going to bring a brutal khakkara upgrade (or swap into it with terracotta as needed), then you have to have the Emissary here I think. My indicator here is Ama No Zako, who is a fantastic model that probably doesn't see enough play. Why? Ml5, just like Yan Lo's melee abilities. It throws people off because you really can't use them against masters/henchman. You have to minion hunt. And for Yan Lo, I don't want to have to say "no, can't reliably hit here so let's just do this instead." If I want to dive in and eviscerate, let's do this! On another point, the Emissary getting fast every time you do the upgrade dance is really really good. Especially with him being able to pass out fast. What this effectively does is remove the negative to his fast action. It was already a good trade in offering up a basically a walk and an AP to another heavy model. But that sometimes left you with the choice of do I push and fast, or do I walk to stay relevant? With a great way to focus, a solid ranged Ca and a good damage track, as well as some great auras... you really want that emissary I think. I would even consider him over sensei yu for yan lo, just for the ancestor synergy. As to the Wastrel trick... it's cute. But I have a post here that explains why I don't really use it in detail, so I won't rehash here. The numbers don't work for me, simply put. Especially now that for 3pts more, I don't have to kill the model, and can get 2 chi and a much lower card investment with the goryo/seishin trick. And goryo is definitely a solid model for Yan Lo, whereas the Wastrel is... ok. Even ashigaru are just ok. I actually like hiring mine in (what!?!). Also, remember that you can't attach more than one upgrade a turn, so you're looking to get that 2 chi turn one for incorporeal, than you can be ok with 1 chi for impossible to wound after. It's barebones for his casts, sure, but stuff will die. You will get chi. Unless you are running a crazy synergy armor combo where you need like 3-4 chi banked for appropriate buffing, I don't feel it's necessary. And if that's the route you want to go, just take two terracottas, two goryo and sun quiang... you get three chi a turn for a card, some flips and the ability to walk up sun quiang. It's pretty cool actually. Sun Quiang is definitely a strangely tarpit-like unit, considering he has no real defensive traits. I really like the idea of using Anna, for a couple of reasons. Lightning Dance being one of them. If you can no longer push or place away... that's pretty solid. Secondly, as you said, if you can get that moderate/severe flip, and get some zombies going... that's fantastic for Yan Lo, as he can use them as chi fuel and you can use it as activation control. Plus if you have Goryo out, they are great chaff to keep your opponent honest. Nothing like having to kill a mindless zombie but if you do, it gives the goryo fast! I've toyed around with running Bettari and Anna so that you have this lightning dance bubble of none for you. You can't declare triggers, and you can't push or place out of it. And Bettari can keep you from walking anywhere but towards her, so you literally have this vortex where they cannot escape. Period. It's just a little points heavy, especially once you throw in say an Izamu as a beater... So for now it's in theoryfaux-land. Chiaki is a powerhouse with Yan Lo. Not only can she unslow and heal, she can pass out slow and with Terracotta, access to chi and the emissary, you can pass up to 3 conditions to Yan Lo a turn that totally buffs him out! I hadn't really considered doing double hunpo, I may have to look into that!

Greetings, programs! Basically I feel that Yan Lo and Brewmaster are probably on the lower end of played masters for us, simply because they are pretty complex to get consistent results with. So I've been looking at some synergies for them. I'd like to get other peoples' feedback on what they are thinking of with Wave 4. These two popped up for me as potentially really good: First, we have Yan Lo, Chiaki and the Terracotta. Chiaki passes any condition she has to another ancestor model... so you pop Terracotta's condition on her, then pass it to Yan Lo. One of my concerns, despite how difficult he is to kill, has always been dropping him too far up to secure his slingshot kill. I feel this really helps address that. With the Goryo shenanigans, you can easily have 2 chi start of 1st turn for upgrades. Anyone gets too cheeky with placement, you just slingshot Yan Lo up, drag it into your killbox, and don't worry because not only does Yan have his normal defenses, but he also has a one-time damage soak (where you choose what to soak). Suddenly the threat of a red joker isn't that bad. Second, Yokai... So let's say I have a yokai fly up the board, and then I give it poison with Brewmaster, to enable his push. When EoT hits, he gets two places: one for flicker reducing and one for the poison ticking. This makes the model incredibly fast, while giving brewie a solid target for his movement shenanigans. Contrary to the bubble concept (like one of my earlier list postings) I've really been looking at a mobile spread out Brewie list, where I take advantage of his utility abilities to put on some hurt. I really like the idea of going the samurai, terracotta, misdirection route here, to aid in his surivability with Yokai as scheme runners and Yasunori as your beater. You can even obey the samurai for supporting fire if needed. What cool stuff do you guys have for these two fine Masters?

Bumping! Also interested in 10T LE stat cards that are not McCabe.

Short list: Seconding Shadow Emissary, Terracotta Warriors, Goryo and Anna Lovelace. I would also look at Wonder Weasel, the Kamataichi. Obsidian Oni, Sun Quiang, Yokai and Monks of Low River are all solid picks. Then there is our new henchman, Ohagura Bettari aka Black Betty. Details: Shadow Emissary is a stalwart model that gets a Yan Lo only upgrade that gives him fast when someone attaches an upgrade. Also makes him an ancestor for rezzing purposes and the upgrade comes back if you rez him. Terracotta has been explained above, but discards upgrades for new ones and gives your minions and enforcers some added protection. Kamataichi gives a push for discarding an upgrade (say recalled training or the aforementioned Terracotta upgrade swapping) and draws a card for attaching one. Great synergy with Terracotta, Yan Lo and the Emissary with upgrade. Anna Lovelace gives rush of magic, a really nice gun that potentially summons (but also forces horror duels) the ability to bury a model and anti-movement/placement shenanigans. Great model all the way around. Oh and a henchman with armor! Tasty with Yan Lo. Obsidian Oni are armored, low cost minions with a decent melee and a ranged attack that drops scheme or scrap markers (scrap is built in) with a nice damage track (though bad min of 1... boo). They also have a 0 action to pitch a card and heal someone with an upgrade (non-master). SOOO good. Toshiro got an indirect buff in that Obsidian Oni can help fuel him with scrap for Komainu. Yokai are my new favorite model in general and have SO many shenanigans. Making one a spirit with Armor seems just bonkers to me. They use the new flicker mechanic from our book 4 master. They are speedy, have on the charge, have a ton of triggers and a 0 action to place and perform a 1AP interact... they are just so good. Take some getting used to though, on managing their flicker (they sac when it reaches 0 and they start with 5, losing one a turn at least). Goryo are one of the new rezzer minions that is sweet as anything on paper. Good attack, can pop adversary at range, drop seishin for a 0 action, and can gain fast just by being near a buddy who gets killed... I'm really digging these guys. Sun Quiang, the new enforcer seems SOOO good just in general, and works really really well with Yan Lo I feel. Did I mention that he heals two on his 1 AP attack at Rg 6? Or that if something takes damage he can put a card underneath your deck and walk towards the model? And if he moves at least 3" he does an interact? Even while engaged? And that's just the TIP of his iceberg. Synergy: Walk up your Goryo and take a 0 action to take 2 damage and pop out a seishin. Sun Quiang pitches a card to walk 5, drop a scheme marker and then when he activates, heals the Goryo. Yes, please. Monks of Low River got a sweet buff in a 0 upgrade (that goes perfectly on Sun Quiang) where they get a ranged heal that can drop scheme markers. They are kind of an auto-include in a lot of my lists now because they can just double walk turn one and start healing turn two. Plus bopping off conditions is never bad and that ranged heal is deceptively amazing. Especially if you are positioned well (say from a kamataichi) and can just heal twice... Black Betty is really solid but struggles with being a bit too easy to kill if you aren't careful of her placement. But where she shines with Yan Lo is that she turns off defensive triggers on Df and Wp in a radius, so you can run her and lightning dance a model in nearby her... woops, no triggers for you anymore. She also has Oni syngery (yokai and obsidian) as well as synergy with Goryo/Toshiro (she can place when something summons near her). She charges without line of sight and through intervening stuff, so you can hide her. And with Yan Lo's armor up, she can be given some much needed tankiness. Last but not least she has a Rg12 "force you to walk towards me" pseudo-lure. It prevents charges and they HAVE to walk towards Betty. Which just works well in general with Yan Lo's disruption plan. All in all a really solid pick.

Warning!!!!!! SUPER LONG POST that I tried to make cohesive, but I did ramble a bit... sorry, mind is in a million places. If it's too bad, I'll chop it up or rewrite it. TL;DR - Two points: Good and evil is a matter of perception. And when everyone is a devil, sinners can seem to be saints. Are the 10T all evil? Yeah... they kind of are. But it's fantastic. For me personally, the two points that matter most to me from this discussion thread (and writing on morality in general) are: Good and evil is a matter of perception So let's devil's advocate the only real sympathetic character everyone has agreed upon thus far: I would offer that Lynch, is just as bad/evil as the rest. Why? Because selfishness. Lynch is worried about his own personal survival and does what he has to do to survive. Is this good or evil? Well now we have entered the realm of perception. To some, simply doing what you must to survive doesn't make you evil. But if doing what you must to survive involves the destruction and manipulation of tons of innocent people... well are you really that good? Can you even put a label there? What other option does he really have? Die and let some other poor soul take his place that may be worse or better? If they even LET him die as opposed to punishing him until they get bored? From my own personal perception, doing whatever it takes to survive is dark... Killing innocents just so you don't have to suffer or die is kinda not cool in my book. Would I do it in the same situation? I don't know honestly. I just pray I'm never in that situation. Because I don't want to have to make the choice of my life over others. But Lynch did. And his choice was whatever it takes to stay alive. I have zero problems with this, and I think it makes him a great character, but I'm not willing to slot him in the good category just because he's trying to not die. However, the reality with Lynch (and most ethical arguments) is there's a bunch of grey in the picture. But that's what makes compelling writing. You want to cause emotional reactions. You want to create conflicting viewpoints depending on the perception of the reader. But all that starts with the simple concept of obstacle and goal. Lynch's goal is to survive. His obstacle is the the constant state of moral inequity he must perform. Or to be more blunt: the Ten Thunders. The Ten Thunders is his obstacle. They manipulate and control him (really everyone) they see as useful to further their own ends and place of power. Crying Freeman comes to mind with the 108 Dragons. The Triad and Yakuza... any mob affiliation really. The goals of those in power are what dictates the direction of those under them. They are tyrannical in the purest form not because they are tyrants, but because it works. They have learned that fear controls the masses more effectively than hope or kindness. And as such they employ it. Arguably, a person will go to much greater depths to overcome an obstacle when their life is on the line. We see this with Lynch and Mei Fang. Now that's not to say those characters own personal traits and morality compasses don't mark them as evil, that's kind of up to the reader. The interpretation. I think the 10T are ruthlessly efficient with power hungry people at the top willing to employ said efficiency. This comes across as evil no matter how you slice it. Just like an invading lord slaughtering people, even though his dreams of uniting his kingdom may actually be in the best interest of those who survive the war. Nobody cares about what the end goal is... you're ruining people's lives NOW. But to them, the ends justify the means and as someone already said, the road to hell becomes paved with good(?) intentions. Now I actually don't know the goals of the Ten Thunders overall. I'm not sure they've been clearly stated other than to combat the guild and regain the prominence of the Three Kingdoms... I think. I haven't read enough of that fluff, only the individual characters that I play! But the point remains that regardless of their intent, their actions define them as an evil entity... depending on your perspective. I love that the 10T are a bunch of ruthless, everyone is expendable kind of faction. I think it fits the world, it fits the aesthetic, and is realistic. Do I label them evil? Yup. Do I have a problem with that? Nope. They have a bunch of conflict with the other factions and internally. Sign me up. I mean, that's what makes a lot of the fluff for Malifaux so compelling in general: everyone has a goal, and everyone has an obstacle. Conflict. Everyone is in their own personal war that may or may not be part of the greater whole of the Malifaux storyline. And everyone has blood on their hands, which leads to point two. When everyone is a devil, sinners can seem to be saints. In a world where anyone is willing to do almost anything to accomplish their goals (whether that goal is survival or world domination) finding someone with ANY morality at any point casts a different light on them. It casts the light of sympathy. Oh, look! That evil murdering asshole felt sad for that person who died needlessly, he's not all bad after all. Look at Reva's new henchman. Her story is basically from his perspective and it shows that he's not only not a nice person, but a really really bad person who is facing somewhat of a moral conundrum that causes him to question. This doesn't make him good. It makes him human. He's still a murdering SOB... but the spark of character depth has been clearly shown. He's not JUST a murdering SOB. And that's something I feel the writers at Malifaux have been very successful at doing: creating complex characters where everyone is a dark, evil(ish) character, yet some have that spark of light that makes them sympathetic. And it's the reason that Ten Thunders is my favorite faction. Everyone of the masters I understand their motivation. I agree and disagree with them, but you get it. My favorite by far is Asami right now. So good! What a tragedy she is, but still a murdering, oni-spawning, creature of devastation... The ends justify the means. The fact that she was a sweet innocent girl just trying to once more become a sweet innocent girl makes her sympathetic. She isn't in it for the wanton blood and violence, and doesn't like it... but that doesn't mean she won't do it. So to answer the OP's question: are the 10T all evil? Yeah... they kind of are. But it's fantastic.

In the vein of Professor Pink, here's my Misaki iteration: Misaki w Misdirection, Recalled Training and Stalking Bisento Shang Lone Swordsman w Recalled Training Ohagura Bettari w Recalled Training Graves w Peaceful Waters Obsidian Oni Monk of Low River Shadow Effigy +3 SS Cache Effigy pops on the defense to misaki, and the three of them just dive in hard like. With Mr Graves helping positioning. Need to try out lust though!

I like that core a lot. I am going to have to mess with that. I haven't given the Terracotta enough love and haven't tried wonder weasel with Asami at all yet. What do you cycle to and why? And I agree with your perspective at the top there. My goal is simply to explain where my mentality is on the choices I make. But there is no right or wrong I feel. Sorry if what I've stated sounded like I was lobbying for the "one true way", as I don't believe there is one.

I feel she is a minion hunter with a Master who has no shortage of minion hunter options (yokai and jorogumo). What makes Bettari crazy is her ability to flay for 6 damage and to turn off triggers. But the 6 damage requires a severe... which gets me a yokai. Which can charge and generally get in 3 attacks at min damage 2 which gives... 6 damage. While I agree with @Cadaverousbirth that she is GREAT for hunting party, I just never want to use that severe in my hand for her 6 damage when I could get another model out that does things. I mean, if it's a 13 in hand, that's a jorogumo, who on charge does a min of 6 damage as well. 8 if you get the bite off. Now I know Bettari gets at least two attacks, but the math stays the same on a card use basis. One severe is potentially worth 6 damage, depending on what you flip. What you are gaining with Bettari is that she's a Ml6 that turns off triggers. She still has to hit, but if she hits twice and you have 2 severes, boom 12 damage. It's enticing as hell. However if she misses her swings... well you're kind of screwed. She just can't stay engaged with anything that has teeth for long. Don't forget with Asami, who needs a 6+ on like everything she does, you are chewing through cards. If I can summon a Jorogumo and a Yokai vs. having Betty potentially do 12 damage, I'm summoning more often than not. Obviously if you can eliminate your opponent's primary threat in 12 damage, thus letting you run rampant... the story changes a bit. For my list building, I look to the demon spider a lot. I can hire a Jorogumo for one more SS and it has better range, better threat, way harder to remove and comparable damage. Yes it doesn't have the tricks she has (most noticeably charging through terrain) but someone gets a bead on Betty and she's going down fast. Someone gets a bead on Joro, they better hope it dies before its next activation. I need to throw in more time with Betty as I have basically run her only a few times with Asami. The first time I lived the dream of summoning a Jorogumo, placing her, then being able to 1AP charge and then chain charge after doing severe damage... It's bananas when it goes off. If it goes off. You still need to expect the average, engineer the above average. Or I guess expect the minimum, engineer the severe. Yay rhyming! Anyways, this just all goes back to my initial problem with the design between Bettari and Asami... I don't want to have to be taking valuable time deciding if it's better to summon, or cruise missile Bettari. I want to be asking my opponent difficult questions, not contributing by asking myself one. By eliminating a card intensive model that is easy to overextend, you are freeing up more points for whatever you need in your list and streamlining your decision making process. While she is really really good with Asami, I personally think she's a bit too fragile and hungry for how I want to use her in my Asami lists. Now Shen Long, Misaki or McCabe... well that is a tale for another time.

If I have time, I can also put some stuff down, been doing a lot of wave 4 lately. I'll try this weekend.

So been running Yasunori in my lists, and so far it's been fantastic. I have all my rezzer models out for painting, so I don't have chiaki (no typos this time) nor anna right now. So I replaced them with yasunori and a jorogumo. Good stuff! Yasunori is great, as you would imagine. And the potential threat of attacking three times only to still be able to abuse his 10" charge is just icing. I will say that I have yet to take recalled training and I don't miss it. Here's why: You have baked in on attacks already. His damage track is NOT stellar. It's very mediocre, which it had to be for the quantity of attacks he can put out. So I don't really need positives on damage, I just need to hit and do min damage a few times. His defenses benefit from it, but honestly, with a 12wd armor 1 model, he's already hard to shift. Don't need the flips for wp duels because stubborn. And I generally want him to get hit, for his card draw. I like equality on him. Combined with obsidian oni, I can easily heal 4 wds off him a turn. And that is usually enough to get PLENTY of mileage out of him. I find that I am missing Anna for the double rush, but not necessarily Hannah. So I think Yasunori is a permanent swap now. I need the beef and a model that the opponent HAS to pay attention to. Asami has too many movement shenanigans that can help reposition him and a 1AP 12" threat charge that ignores terrain is just going to kept him anywhere I want him. My only real concern is the ranged game, so if going against say guild, I would probably give him smoke grenades.

Was looking to keep it in Asami, but now that you point it out, that core can kind of work anywhere. Hmmmm... I still think I would try it in Asami first, so she can continue to summon in yokai and the odd jorogumo. But shenlong and mccabe sound really good for this too. Especially mccabe, who loves the wonder weasel already. May have to move this thought to another thread. Thanks @newsun!!

In my meta, seven models gets punished, but otherwise I like it. I generally have Chisaki and Hannah in range of each other, so yeah, those upgrades are absolutely interchangeable. Chisaki tends to survive longer in my games, so Hannah gets the defensive tech. How do you like Grasping Strands? I've run it a few times, but find that I'm often against crews that shoot, cast or both... and the anti-charge rarely comes into effect. When it does its golden, but that extra healing on Asami just is so clutch pretty much every game I find. I do really like the Emissary and think the synergy is clutch. On a semi-related note (the emissary specifically) I've been theory crafting a burning list with Asami, just in that vein. Obsidian Oni's damage track is obscene if you have burning on the target, and they fuel Asami's summons amazingly well. I've been looking at doing something like running a dawn serpent and the emissary as my big models, then 2-3 obsidian oni. Dawn Serpent loves the obsidian oni, and focus 2 on a model that blasts and hands out fire seems legit. The bonus of the two dragons chilling side by side is amazing, for blasts or just the Emissary would grant the Dawn Serpent. If you go on the concept of a death ball here you are looking at all of your oni and the serpent getting on attacks, and the oni getting the same on damage for any burning targets. Asami can continue to support with her mobility and summons and the other 4 just walk up and say hi. My only real "issue" is no target for the emissary's push. So I would want to maybe look at another enforcer, maybe a yamazaki for the back line and her brace yari... she also has blasts and doles out some punch... still working it through though. I'll let you guys know when I finish crafting and piloting in. Any tips on mercs or other models that might synergize well with the burning concept without costing too heavily? Rail Workers popped into my head at one point, but I think I'm solid on the minion front...

Ah, good catch, I forgot about that. I will amend my post to avoid confusion.