Tokapondora

Not sure you get to overrule the official rules.

I'm pretty sure she's lost her damage reduction ignoring ability. The text on The Storm has changed to ^. If it was just about mentioning it went from 12" to 8" they wouldn't have left the "Markers placed in this way do not need to be touching each other." in there. That's the entire text of that ability. I mean I'm sure the trigger The Coming Storm is still on The Storm, I hope, but this clearly seems all they've intended to do with this ability. I really feel they should've either went 6" but keep the damage reduction or lose the damage reduction but keep 10-12" range. Both just feels a bit overkill for a model that hasn't even been dominating tournaments, especially when you compare it to other masters.

@TrisI pointed at Wong for nifty triggers, though Sonnia does get to ignore LoS against burning targets, can place the initial blast marker 2" away and can get that attack up to Ca9 for hitting a target at 22" away. And all of that while she doesn't have to be in base contact with another model. And I compared Yasunori to the Riders because they just about share a statline. If we're comparing it to Archie/Nekima we're at a 13SS model with the same damage output that can't use soulstones. Again, not calling this change out but 3 SS just feels like an insane difference.

Not sure I'm particularly happy with 3 more models being added to our 9 SS pool. 8-9 SS models are taking up half our roster at this point. Would've much preferred a bump in their utility. Fuhatsu, Otto Otto, Bunraku, Archers and Monks of High River are still not going to see particularly more play I think because they still don't do something people need and now find themselves in even more competitive price brackets. Dawn Serpent being cheaper is of course nice for McCabe who I occasionally took it with, but it's not gonna make me change my hiring process. Yamaziko gives us a very cheap henchman, which is always nice, though I'm not sure she suddenly does enough for me to need her. But the option is nifty. I'm sure there's a Gremlinny explanation for why the Porkchop is suddenly 2 SS less but for Mei this is brilliant. I already took it whenever I took Mei anyway so a 2SS discount makes me happy. Terracotta Warrior change was fair - was getting bored of seeing them suggested in every list. Yasunori nerf doesn't seem like too big a deal, though he's now 3SS more than the other Riders which seems a bit too much. The one thing I feel was too far was Misaki. Losing both 4" and reduction is really eating away at the two unique roles this upgrade gave her. At 2" 2/3/5 and now no reduction an 8" just doesn't seem particularly interesting vs the 14" 's of Sonnia or Wong's nifty triggers. One or the other would've really sufficed. It kinda feels Wyrd overreacted here in a panic. And Running Tab is now more expensive to Terracotta Warrior away into Misdirection, especially with the more expensive TW, which I suppose means you'll now be stuck with this if you pick it. This change honestly didn't do shit for the Brewmaster, who as one of the weakest masters of the game really deserved it.

The problem with Smoke & Shadows is the models tagged with Last Blossom. If you want to take S&S you're gonna need Last Blossom models, and you very rarely want to even take the LB models that can take this upgrade, let alone the minions. Maybe if the TTB, Archers, Crime Bosses and Lotus Eaters got it you might've found yourself occasionally running it - especially Archers should've had this baked into their card to begin with. There's nothing wrong with the card but if the models won't play ball there's just no point in having it.

I proxy him in all friendly games after one game of them insisting I bring him out and they quickly understood why I went with a more manageable model from that point on. I do have a foam hole in my bag that's just big enough to lie him in his side, though even at tournaments I ask if I can proxy him and just set him next to the table or whatever because he's so cumbersome if you ever want to make clever use of that 50mm base on an actual board. Whoever designed this shit should get a stern talking to. But yeah, can't you magnet the Emissary sideways? Maybe glue some slight foam layer on the bottom so he still has something to rest on.

Gwyneth is good but doesn't overshadow his other options, and that's what he got in her and a few other wave 4/5 models; options. She makes heavy Brilliance a whole lot more appealing, but that's far from the only way to play Lynch and generally more limiting than I'd like my crew to be. As for how to use Lynch, he's 70% cardbot, which speaks for itself, and 30% finisher. You want to use him and Yu's pushes to get him to a place where he can pick off any leftovers his killy crew hasn't gotten to yet - be it clearing those last few wounds off a couple models or simply pick off a model or two that they haven't gotten to yet. And though he's best reserved for last there are naturally moments where a surprise first or so activation can completely ruin a plan, at which point Yu has the shenanigans to get him out of there safely instead. You should essentially be seeing his presence as the second line that focuses fire on whatever breaks through your first wave, nuking cleaning up after them if your opponent didn't quite make it through. And opposite to that you have Huggy who loves to frontline that first wave diving straight in, tying up any models and blocking off paths that might actually get to Lynch and generally being a big enough AP sink that you should be able to keep Lynch safe enough with the help of the rest of your crew and godly hands.

Lynch has always been my favourite master by a mile. I know Shen and McCabe are more versatile and yada yada but Lynch is just so darn fun. The key to Lynch is... kill things. That generally does the trick. For me he's always felt as just behind Shen and McCabe on the powercurve since book 2, and while the last three waves haven't given him anything particularly insane, they have given him more options (which is always nice). Much like Shen and McCabe he simply makes any crew stronger - Lynch somewhat more uniquely compared to S&M - which leaves you with TT's hugely versatile batch of generic options doing their thing but with a bigger and better hand. And of course his personal toys.

I'd honestly love getting rid of Jokers. You can play and plan around them being in your deck but you still have zero control over where they are unless you luck out and get them in your hand and their trumping all other modifiers makes them favour chance and flashiness over skill.

@Ludvig So is it telling someone they might be too reliant on certain models that's hurtful or is it using that specific word to describe it? At some point your leg may have healed and you won't need that crutch anymore, but the longer you'll keep using it the longer it'll take for you to get used to using that leg. Someone could've gotten great usage out of those pieces, but there might come a time where their reliance on those pieces will make their lists sub-optimal and make it harder and harder to stop using it. Doesn't mean you have to enter every conversation yelling CRUTCH CRUTCH CRUTCH but if you're ever finding yourself in a discussion involving people's playstyles and preferences pointing out that they may have ingrained biases for models that might ultimately cost them is completely fine. Crutch just happens to be the word that's perfectly described that scenario, and honestly this thread is the first time I've ever heard of the word specifically being derogatory. You can be a dick about it, sure, but that doesn't really relate to people giving this specific piece of advice and is nothing but a personal failure.

And you'd be wrong. When I started this game, with my limited model pool I slipped into a habit of using a Sniper in all my crews, to a point where I automatically counted 7SS out for pretty much every game because I'd gotten so used to their picking off scheme runners and late game scheming themselves. And by relying so much on them, though still very good and helpful models, I've been casting aside plenty of units that would've been a much better fit in some situations. Nothing derogatory about recognizing that and pointing it out; it's simply a point of self reflection. And in talking about other people's crutches all you're doing is giving advice and telling them their possible over reliance on this-and-that might actually be an obstacle to their play.

@Fetid Strumpet A crutch is something you rely on excessively, possibly to your detriment. Nothing derogatory about it and something you will find with any player. As for me, I'm as vanilla as they come in wanting either Yu or the Emissary in my list. Can't imagine playing without my Pushbot 3000's. Also condition removal. And I suppose Recalled Training is, to a degree.

@JoeCL no just no jesus christ Top of the totem pole are, and probably always will be, Shenlong and McCabe. They can be as versatile as you can make their crew, have access to cheap activations, are above all great enablers for scheming and have so much more control in short and long range respectively that it isn't even a competition compared to the rest of TT. Then there's the center of the pack, all of whom mainly compete with each other in terms of fighting. Asami, Lynch, Misaki and Yan Lo all have different areas of expertise and ways to interact with the board and their crew, but each of them deals with taking care of your opponent's models in some way with their own unique twist on it. Asami can dip into marker related pools, Lynch is a great all-rounder with disgusting amounts of damage, Yan Lo is there if positioning is key and Misaki is damage damage damage (the main difference between Misaki damage and Lynch damage is in applying it wide vs tall). And on the bottom is Mei Feng, whose entire shtick is being a counter pick, and if she's not facing her ideal opponent and board she's pretty much useless, and the Brewmaster, whose existence revolves around being a squishy nuisance. Should've probably dropped him down another tier.

If you want something to survive you're gonna need to be able to cheat and cheat in a severe for damage twice. That's just not realistic and incredibly wasteful. With killing something you need one severe and relent the other duel. With traps you're at 2 SS for 2 Chi, which is honestly something I don't mind giving up. With a Wastrel/Warder you're getting your 5 SS back, which doesn't really matter if you're spending the AP anyways.

"All you need is 28 SS..." Yeah, no, I prefer having actual options when building a list. By having Toshiro turn your now dead 4/5 SS unit into another 5 SS unit you're playing even+maybe a nifty condition, only losing 3 AP (2 Yan, 1 Toshi) and some cards which you would've also lost on picking off Seishin+2 AP from the Goryo, Charm Warder's positioning and Statue's positioning. And if I'm not taking Toshiro I'd much rather have the 2 SS cost over the fixed 28 SS cost, even if I'll end up losing that 2 SS, because I can act far more freely with my other units sending them wherever they need to go. The fewer parts you can spend on and make this combo the better.

Wastrels/Charm Warders get a to defensive, making it easier for you to cheat in the damage flip, and I'd only use these if I also have a Toshiro to turn their corpse into an Ashigaru. If you're not bringing Toshiro you should be using a Clockwork Trap for 2SS.

Yan Lo is miles better, but he's definitely not going to be some kind of all-star in the faction. He still mainly repositions enemies and heals his team, which is geared towards a specific niche in scheme pools. He'll still struggle with schemier pools than some other masters, and even killy pools he faces some heavy competition in. With this upgrade though, Yan too can be counted as competition, which is all I've ever wanted for him.

Definitely an amazing upgrade but against the wrong crew or on the wrong board you're essentially left with old Misaki, which isn't something that you'd want. To cheat in flips she's still bound to having no soulstones whilst always finding herself in the thick of it, her damage tracks still start at 2 as a combat master, it makes her even more card intensive... This might just be my meta's habit of filling half the board with terrain but it's really not as devastating as I occasionally see mentioned here on the forums. Good, but a very time-and-place-y upgrade that will leave you with a normal Misaki if that time or place is off. As for how that fits with that TT description, she's the odd one out in TT in that she's the one master that does absolutely nothing for her crew. Shen, McCabe and Asami buff and position, Yan and Brewmaster set enemies up, Lynch raises hand consistency and Mei protects her crew, but Misaki just does her own thing.

@TheMechE Factions certainly have some general themes but questions like that won't necessarily give you a good insight in that. If you want to know what distinguishes factions, I'm sure people will fill you in on that. As a primarily Ten Thunders player for example... Ten Thunders have somewhat weaker and less spectacular masters who make up for it by having a stellar hires, as shown by just about every TT master being on the lower end of the tier list in their other factions. They gravitate towards more elite crews and tend to compose their crew out of faction-wide staples moreso than master-bound combos or synergies. Their playstyle is distinguished by support and favours consistency over luck. This is mostly shown through ample positioning, nifty conditions, healing and a lot of flips, and tends to leave them with few and generally more straightforward triggers. If you go into a game with a good grasp of what your units should be able to handle they can generally do just that - no more, no less. And I'm sure people more familiar with other factions can give you a good insight into their respective fortes.

Because it creates clutter and a messy game. You have to recheck the stats of every model you might want to get or are facing, which is especially annoying for newer players. Unless you order a new batch of errata'd cards you're gonna have to play with shitty print-out ones, and depending on where you live ordering cards can get far more expensive than it has any right to be. And all of this doesn't have much of a point if you're not errataing them to be good enough to be used competitively, at which point every single errata has you flirting with the line of strong and overpowered as they have to prove their worth to the already strong models in the game.

If someone is in a position to remove your Disguise condition they're in a position to remove your Chi, at which point the Disguise is the least of your problems. Luckily, the Soul Porter has an antiremoval aura. But yeah, like Kogan said, the Wastrel and Charm Warder both drop a corpse marker, which in turn gets you a nifty Ashigaru.

Missed a few of those, thanks. Also, if there's any playstyles or strategies you feel really need to be added, by all means go wild.

With "low energy" on the TT forums and some spare time in me life, I went to work on one o' them shiny tacticas. Maybe it gets the ball rolling and some day we'll have one for every master . Naturally these things will always be a work in progress as long as the game's going on, so if you feel I've missed some tricks or synergies or that I'm dead wrong about this or that, do let me know and I'll try to wiggle it in.

Lucas McCabe McCabe is an incredibly versatile master with a slight preference for schemier and spread out games, as a counterpart to Shenlong's bubbly habits. He's fast, everything around him is fast, and he and his crew have a mean bite to boot. He can run with anything, though naturally he has his preferences. A core is roughly going to consist of 3 SS of upgrades, Luna, 2 Guild Hounds and the Shadow Emissary for 5 activations at 23 SS. He doesn't need more than 4 cache and benefits greatly from stuffing any spares above that into improving his crew. Beyond that you can go anywhere. McCabe will want to be engaged as soon as possible, raising his meager defenses, and maintain range and sight to the models he's loaned his stuff to. His Wk 7, his crew's Nimble and 4" pushes every time he hands out upgrades make his crew ridiculously mobile and great at reaching across the board within even just a turn. He is fairly reliant on his crew to do most of the scheming, with McCabe being the centerpoint they all converge on, though around the end of the fourth turn he's a great option to suddenly send off into the distance to do some last minute scheming of his own. Upgrades McCabe's upgrades are key to his playstyle, and he has a large range of to choose from with only 3(4) slots to put them. This tends to be easier than you'd think, seeing as there's a handful you could call auto includes. Loot Bag The easiest pick because at its core it's a 1 SS upgrade that turns itself into a 2 SS upgrade. Literally no reason not to pick it. It can also turn another McCabe upgrade into any McCabe upgrade, which might be nice if you're caught off guard and don't have a Terracotta Warrior with you, but you're rarely gonna need it for that. Use this turn 1 to transform it into a Glowing Sabre and you're a happy camper. Promises McCabe likes to hand out upgrades, so giving models with upgrades a to their Ml and Wp is a perfect fit for him. For me it's nearly impossible to pry this from his card. Glowing Sabre Whether it's on McCabe or on another model, this card gives you so many options. Your weakest unit can get a respectable damage track that ignores just about everything, McCabe gets a string of nifty new options on every suit... It's just a great upgrade, and the best contender to Terracotta Warrior into getting multiples of. Badge of Speed Probably McCabe's most distinct upgrade, and it should start on the Shadow Emissary. It saves you 2 SS, and with that your Shadow Emissary starts a turn with a Nimble walk, tossing this upgrade along with a push onto whatever model, using its Rite of Strength to give that model another push+fast. And beyond Nimbling your crew, it lets you reactivate minions, which is even better. Be it a Charm Warder, Illuminated or Dawn Serpent - if it does something well once it probably won't mind doing it again... And with those you have your three main upgrades, with Loot Bag into Glowing Sabre and Promises on McCabe and Badge of Speed on your Shadow Emissary. That just leaves us with one slot to fill. Cloak of Invisibility For 1 SS you're getting Perfect Camouflage, which helps McCabe with his biggest weakness of being weak against range and Don't Mind Me and Disguised on your crew, which turns any model into a respectable scheme runner. It's my go-to for the types of games I take McCabe. Strangemetal Shirt The biggest rival of Cloak of Invisibility, mainly focused around giving McCabe some resilience. On your crew it hands out a bubble of resilience, which can be great too, but is brought down by being a bit more awkward to use. Overall a great upgrade, but unfortunately one that you'd mostly want to keep on McCabe, which runs a bit counter to how you get the most out of him. Elixir of Life The last upgrade I'd call an option, but it's a niche one. A heal is nice, Regenerate is nice, Unimpeded is nice... but it comes at a 2 SS price tag. And while you could use Loot Bag to swap this one in too, even at 1 SS it's facing tough competition in that Cloak of Invisibility and Strangemetal Shirt. It's nice to have the option though, especially with the Terracotta Warriors being able to swap Loot Bags back in. And you really shouldn't look much further than that. TT's generic upgrades just don't mesh too well with how you'd like to use McCabe. Models McCabe can carry any crew and make it better, and in listing the models McCabe can work with you might as well be listing the entire TT catalog, so here's models that stand out with McCabe specifically. Shadow Emissary This is the #1 autoinclude model for me, above even the Guild Hounds. Its effect with McCabe might not spring out as particularly spectacular, but with the ability to take a free upgrade the Shadow Emissary becomes, for all intents and purposes, an 8 SS model. And a darn good one at that. Its Rite of Strength's push+fast action that is usually restricted to Enforcers and Henchmen with upgrades now works on any NonCabe crewmember. Take This allows it to hand out a second 4" push if it's holding any of McCabe's upgrades. The Explorer's Call even allows you to hold 4 of McCabe's upgrades. It's just such a solid model you're getting a discount on and so synergetic with McCabe's playstyle that it completely vanquishes its competition in this price range (looking at yu, Yu). Luna+Guild Gounds Now these guys are half the reason you're taking McCabe in the first place. They're TT's best source of cheap activations, only matched by Shenlong's Peasants. And unlike the peasants, they're much more than some free focus and an activation. They're fast, tiny and independent, and with that amazing scheme runners. While the Wonder Weasel would be great with McCabe, the usefulness of the extra activations the Guild Hounds give completely overshadows it. The only question you need to ask yourself is "How Many?" (to which the answer is 2 or 3). Terracotta Warriors We shouldn't be surprised here, since these buggers seem to find themselves in just about every TT list to start with. With McCabe's light preference for upgrades and Minions however, these guys shine. Mold Of The Other works on Minions and Enforcers, which cover 99% of McCabe's lists, which is nifty. Now Ancient Treasure is where they get nasty. McCabe's upgrades are his toolbox - you use whatever you think might come in handy at the start of the match and have to leave the rest behind. With these, you don't, and can swap in whatever you want whenever you need. What's more, as long as an upgrade with the same name isn't attached to McCabe, you can even sneak in doubles of McCabe's upgrades. Do we really need three Glowing Sabres or four Badges of Speed? I don't know. But I know I want the option. You can even use them to give your Enforcers and Henchmen extra Recalled Trainings if you're ever feeling you won't be needing McCabe's upgrades anymore. Yasunori TT's very own angry pony. Now McCabe doesn't do too much with this guy that other masters can't, but he does it all just a bit better. 8" pushes+fast+nimble vs 10" pushes+fast, 3~4 activations for 10~13 SS to offset the 12/13 SS price tag vs some Peasants/free Huggy, and a penchant for taking strong minions and Glowing Sabre, both loving Yasunori's Kodoku. Just an amazing model who McCabe can take while maintaining a decent amount of activations. Dawn Serpent/Jorogumo These models won't be found in a lot of lists, but with McCabe they're suddenly given new life. Being able to reactivate a 9 or 10 SS minion tends to have some devastating effects on top of that extra activation. Now personally I tend to go for the Dawn Serpent on account of it having Ml and Sh 7 vs the Jorogumo's pitiful Ml5, though the Jorogumo gets a 0 attack on top of that and Eat Your Fill for 1 SS less. You won't see them in every list but anything big and minionny will benefit greatly from McCabe's shenanigans. Gwyneth Maddox+Illuminated As an alternative to the Dawn Serpent or Jorogumo, with Gwyneth Maddox and an Illuminated McCabe gives you a reactivating 4/6/7 damage track. That is a lot. Focus it all on one unit, spread it out between two - it's all up to you. By themselves a GwynIllu pair gives you one activation of set-up and one activation of high damage, which isn't exactly worth the 15 SS, but with McCabe's Black Flash you suddenly double your attacks, and with fast you're even giving a fifth attack at that 4/6/7. This is fairly combo-oriented however. An Illuminated is hardly a bad purchase so you can live without Gwyneth, but without the Illuminated she veers towards being dead weight/an expensive scheme runner. Beyond that there's some smaller synergies found across his hiring pool, which can give both overlooked and staple units a new purpose. Wastrels and Wardens can both add 's to their duel totals, giving the Glowing Sabre a 3/5/6 damage track on these cheap minions. Ten Thunder Brothers can increase the range of their Glowing Sabre up to 4", with its damage track complimenting the sturdiness of the TTB turning them into formidable beatsticks. The Obsidian Oni's heal is normally restricted to models with upgrades, which McCabe turns into a heal on any model. Torakage and Rail Workers can get a to their attack and damage flips, which suddenly gets a lot more significant on a Glowing Sabre attack.

The more people talk about the upcoming erratas the more I feel like Wyrd shouldn't errata weaker models to become viable. Across every SS range there's some decent alternatives, and the game's already starting to show some signs of bloat. Some models didn't make the cut and that's a shame, but there's plenty of existing models that can take their place. The only things that really need to get buffed are the weakest bottom-of-the-barrel masters, in our case Brewmaster. As for nerfs, here too I hope they keep it light. The game's survived for years with minimal cuddling and did quite well because it got people to actually think of ways to defeat certain models, only tackling things that actually break the game or are just not fun to play against. The '17 errata seems to have created an eagerness to nerf things people haven't adapted to yet. Really hoping these too will be kept to a minimum, mostly taking a look at a few dominating masters.