Skitt_Happens

I've taken Sun on a few occasions now, always in extraction with the intention of auto winning the strat: hasn't worked out that way! The mistake I've been making is taking him with Asami - a somewhat card hungry master! My idea was to activate Sun late in the turn, activate the 5600 aura and walk into the middle of the crew. The issue is, if I have any cards in my hand at this point they are not good ones, and seeing as I seem unable to top deck a 6, I'm not sure why I thought I could top deck an 8! Because of my mismanagement, Sun has every time turned put to be a massively overpriced healer (except the first time I took him: in that game he was a massively overpriced corpse marker). Taking him with a master with better hand control/retention seems like he may be far more effective... Huggy a spirit? Now there is an idea that appeals!

May I please be added to the reserves list for either/both days? Thanks Tom Skitt

I think in 1.5 the traps were dual faction but the pathfinder wasn't: something to do with the way they worked as they were hireable by McCabe only. I didn't play 1.5, just accidentally bought the 1.5 pathfinder and tried to make sense of the cards. I think it was a practical reason for making the pathfinder dual faction, rather than fluff led. But I think he is supposed to be synonymous with McCabe . Having said that, my pathfinder, when I do get round to painting him, will be wearing a panda skin. Because... 10T.

Near enough. It is quite a bubbly list, because they are all benefiting from each other. Perhaps my favourite moment was summoning a Jorogumo next to Genbu and placing Betti in behind. Creating a 100mm, ht3 wall with a 3", and Betti hiding behind it ready to charge straight through! Not a nice proposition for your opponent ! The rest of the crew tucks in behind so Genbu has ancient protection active, as does Tannen, your opponent can't get to the TW of LRM, The Kamaitachi auras cover anyone you might swap upgrades on and Betti/summoned models get 1ap charges from Asami. I actually used this in headhunter, using Asami's tendrils to drag models into a kill zone - it was brutal!

The list I've had some success with is: 50 SS Ten Thunders Crew Asami Tanaka + 7 Pool - A Heavenly Design (2) - Nefarious Pact (2) - Servant Of 5 Dragons (1) Kamaitachi (4) Ohaguro Bettari (8) - Recalled Training (1) - A Taste For Flesh (1) Izamu The Armor (10) - Smoke Grenades (1) Mr. Tannen (6) - The Peaceful Waters (0) Terracotta Warrior (5) Monk Of Low River (4) (exported from CrewFaux) + death contract/false target Similar to @mythicFOX's core, it's based around swapping upgrades to draw cards. Tannen is indispensable for me: he can turn a mediocre hand of masks into a great hand for summoning - to be used at your discretion; his cooler ability helps protect Asami, as well as her attacks more potent. I love Grasping strands, but it doesn't do much turn 1, so swap that in early for So5D. Tell your opponent that if they charge Asami they will only get one attack and have to discard to cheat because of Tannen, I find they usually won't bother! Tannen's aura has also meant that, despite my opponent having the Red Joker in hand, because he had no other cards I have had Asami eat Howard Langston! Izamu is a bit of a find for me. Part of my reasoning, is that I use Genbu: so he looks awesome in the crew! He is also an entirely self-reliant model who can tank pretty well and dish out reasonably high amounts of damage. The best way I've found to get corpse/scrap markers down is to kill things! I would be interested in trying Yasanori or Emissary in this list, and Izamu is the obvious one to give way. In terms of upgrades, I might take Feigned Weakness to start if I think it might influence my opponents scheme selection, and then change it out early for Grasping Strands. Smoke Grenades and Taste for Flesh are targets to get swapped out for Equality or RT: as good as Smoke Grenades is, once you've reached a brawl it's less useful. Likewise, Nefarious Pact gives early game draw, but turns 2-3 your opponent will start scoring vp and your summons will start to get kills, so swapping for the Fate of Mortals would be useful.

Damage from Misdirection. Damage from "until I shatter" trigger. Choking death, caustic aura, industrial nightmare, desolate supplications, 52 card pick up... Basically: lots of stuff!

Second on Dawn Serpent. You know that game when Hunting Party is in the pool and your opponent thinks they're clever because they've got one minion/Peon (usually the totem) hiding at the back of the board? Reactive, and then give badge of speed to Dawn Serpent. Effective threat range of 42" on an sh7 attack - hide from that! Basically, whatever you take with McCabe gets better, and high cost minions get ridiculous. You like Oiran? cg8 and disguised with Glowing Sabre will ruin anyone's day. Monks of High? 3 attacks on the charge, added survivability... all good. Whatever you like the look of will be good with McCabe.

I'm always a little confused by people shying away from a Brilliance list - I find it incredibly dependable. Huggy dishes it out with relatively ease, and then usually once per game I active Lynch early (which in itself can catch your opponent off guard) and mark 2-3 opponent models. Those models will be dead by the end of the turn, almost without fail. All it really needs is a couple of illuminated (which you probably take anyway) and Addict on Huggy.

The difference is: your opponent can do something about McCabe and hounds. Yes, it takes some medium/high cards for Asami to pull these tricks off (don't underestimate Tannen's leave it to luck aura if you can get him in the mix too) but by the time you do it, your opponent will just be left staring at the 3 Yokai standing in the corner of his deployment zone, with little they can do about it - you are scoring 3vp for occupy. If it was easy, it wouldn't be fun!

I've played against Parker: aside from Lynch, I've never seen a master cycle cards as much as Parker. Your biggest advantage as Lynch is only a slight one against Parker. He's a good all round master, so their is little to exploit (that I am currently aware of). Sensei Yu is probably a good shout, as above, but I would also look at "birds and bros": tengu to get rid of any unwanted scheme markers (friendly or enemy) and 10t brothers to protect your own. Don't give him easy kills (=more card draw) - illuminated are probably a good shout.

What's your thinking behind Smoke and Shadows on Yamaziko? Other than summoned Jorogumo, who don't need the movement tricks and I wouldn't really want to spend AP dropping smoke grenades, there is no one to make use of the upgrade. What schemes would you look to score off? My concern is Mark for Death - I can't see how to deny vp on this, without really careful flicker management, as M4D scores if the model sacrifices and... it's Gremlins... I'm unlikely to get activation control.

Teleport into their deployment, summon 3 tengu for breakthrough, 3 Yokai for occupy. Job done.

Interesting take - very different to what I had in mind. Public Demonstration doesn't require markers though, just to be near an enforcer+. Summoning requires a model to be named as part of the action, so can't be copied: I think that was FAQ'd. I'll have to have a good look at your list a bit later...

Huh. Never clocked that. Interesting because that's two completely different timings. The rules specifically forbid going through your discard pile, so mechanically that means you can't pick up an ace if it was not used in the last duel/flip of the action. Common sense makes the rule work, but technically, Ace In The Whole is almost completely useless in this reading.

Here's the game I'm playing tomorrow: Random encounter generated with CrewFaux Deployment: Standard Deployment (7) Strategy: Guard the Stash (Crows) Schemes: * Convict Labor (Always) * Hunting Party (Crows) * Exhaust Their Forces (Masks) * Mark For Death (9) * Public Demonstration (10) Opponent has declared Gremlins (I suspect Ophelia) and I will be taking Asami. I don't think she's optimal, but I will take her regardless. I think I have my list already, just curious to see if anyone can suggest anything that surprises me.

Set up; detonate the charges; occupy their turf; breakthrough; entourage. These are the schemes that have come up that are an easy 3vp with Heavenly Design attached... At the moment I'm taking her for all strats and schemes.

Wonderfully, in the campaign I did I managed to get cursed on my Katakana Sniper: you know that completely useless crow attached to his blow dart...! Think we may be heading slightly off topic here.

Nicely thought out argument guys. Rapid fire does indeed end after the third attack is resolved. However, that has absolutely no impact on Acer In The Whole - rulebook pg. 24, 'Determine Success': "... Once success or failure is determined, the cards in use are discarded..." You discard after the duel, not the action. Ace is back in your hand by the time you flip for damage.

I played my first 3 games with Asami earlier this week: it feels like learning to play the game all over again! I made some pretty basic errors. I threw grasping strands on just to try it - for one AP I dragged in a scion of black blood, took a bite for 8 damage (red joker) and then walked 3" away... I have a great respect for this upgrade, and the aura never came up. I think it's well worth 1 ss. I kept trying Fate of Mortals on Betti - bad idea. I think it has a place on Asami, but not anyone else as they tend to be in the wrong position to make benefit of it. I think I took it all 3 games and didn't get a single thing out of it, but I see its worth - really struggling to get flicker.

Being 10T Darkened makes no difference to Lynch. But making him Darkened would mean even if he ends up, for example, a Gremlin, he is still able to be taken by Lynch. It's a win, even if we don't win situation.

P.s. Add Terracotta Warrior to the mix, once you know they've taken the schemes you told them to, just swap the upgrade!

I suspect this is not a coincidence: in general, players fear summoning and will go to great lengths to deny their opponent any opportunity to do so - even pick schemes that are sub-optimal for their crew... look at it this way, would you pay one stone for an upgrade that allowed you to pick your opponent's schemes? As soon as you reveal your crew, your opponent will look at the scheme pool and lean towards end of game scores. With Asami, Tengu, Yu and probably some others I can't think of right now, schemes like search the ruins, even breakthrough and entourage, are reasonably easy to deny. The trick for me, is taking feigned weakness to push your opponent towards certain schemes, but rather than trying to get summons off by selecting the same schemes, you take the Hunting Parties etc. and build up a nice vp lead instead. Still Theoryfaux: Her Oniness is now in my possession but currently on the painting table.

I think we have to play this like a shadowy crime syndicate would: evenly split our attention in the first few weeks, so we are still in touching distance for all three. Once we know how the characters are shaping up, we pick our target and go full steam for our declared target.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought: just checking their wasn't an errata or subtlety in the rules I'd missed.

A summoned model may not take interact actions. The Yokai and Betti both have other actions that make them/an Oni minion perform/take an interact action - so this can't be done on the turn they are summoned, right? I know it sounds a stupid question, but unless I misunderstood, in Justin's interview on Malifools he seemed to imply the Yokai at least could do so. Just got my models and after reading the cards, I don't think they can.