FrostHunter

Deployment : Wedge Strategy : Turf War Schemes : Harness the Leyline Search the Ruins Outflank Assassinate Claim Jump Opponent's declared leader : Yan Lo My Leader & crew : McCabe Luna Sidir Desper Samurai Huckster Huckster Ruffian Tanuki Score / MVP / Thoughts: 6-5 for me (we played not full 4 rounds, with 5 rounds it would be 8-6). MVP - Samurai - killed Izamu twice, and would rather kill him third time. Thanks to the False Claim with Mask trigger and Luna i' ve always had enought scrap to attach artifacts (need to learn how to juggle them better, but they are freaking great), also it allowed me to draw a lot of cards. Not so sure what would be better - two Huckslers or two Ruffians. Fast Samurai at the center of the table backuped btyTanuki from first turn and McCabe in vicinity gave me great board control.

After tournament i reamain in my opinion that Lynch is on of the top/best keyword (played against Kaeris, draw 5-5 and 5 rounds, plant exposives, dig their graves, outflank, deliver the message, Claim Jump, Vendetta), and McCabe (played against TT Yan Lo, win 6-5, 4 rounds, Turf War, Harness the Leyline, Search the Ruins, Outflank, Assasinate, Claim Jump) and Wastrels are also freaking powerful (maybe even more powerful than Honeypot), but thanks to versatile models like tanuki and samurai (he has killed Izamu 2 times, and he was ready to kill him third time after surviving charge from Izamu), but Youko (against Mah Tucket with Big Brain Brin and 3 roosters, i've lost 2-6 after 5 rounds, Reckoning, Breakthrough, Harness the Leyline, Hold up their forces, Take Prisoner, Deliver the message) struggled a lot, because of lot of positive flips that negated distracted and card manipulation from BBB and lack of my imagination how to bite opponent roster, also i can't see how she could win against Kaeris where almost everything had positive flips from burning or probably any other roster with access with lot of positive flips and good shooting (but against Perdita it worked very, very well). Two trained ninja are probably must take in that situations. Yan Lo from perspective looks also very, very nice and without ignoring armor and strong shooting i would have a lot of trouble fighting against him and his keyword.

Damn it, I knew that i've missed somthing there... it was so wonderful idea at first glance.

I would separate the masters from keyword as the Honeypot i would agree that is one of the best keyword as so ability Rig the Deck, but Lynch alone is quite... mediocre and unfortunately boring in play in comparision to other masters (quite slow, not the best buffer/debuffer, all his oomph comes from Succumb to Darkness which is freaking great and i am jumping from joy for spontaneus and opportunistic summoning for Honeypot but... it overshadows the rest of his attacks actions a bit, and as i played him a few games i miss a little the old Lynch from second edition with cheating bastard upgrade, now it's charge to deliver more brilliance, Succumb and Summon something then walk behind something more beefy in my crew). Youko is freaking great controller even without true obey action, okey she suffer a bit from focus spam as it negates her defensive tech. She can mess with opponent hand and a little with his deck, frustrating any heavy hand depending crew (for instance - Lynch). As for glass cannon crew members - Leverage is wonderful and very powerful mechanic for the defence (for offence i ussualy don't need to use it, so much 6 and few 7 stat attacks and cheating possibilities), also Hard to Kill and Stealth from upgrades are your friends. Hinamatsu is hard to crack with armor, leverage and stones while he is beats with his 6+ attack. Funny question - what is the timing of Zoraida's Threads of Fate if Youko is within 6" from her, both players discards their hand simultaneously so Youko draws 12 cards? McCabe for me is probably the top master in TT - freaking mobility that he can share with someone thanks to the Ride with me, wonderful condition spam from netgun and discarding artifacts, also spam of high Mv duels and some Wp and Df duels too... and only 3 actions wit so many possibilities... in case of glass cannons i would say that Wastrels are much less durable then Qi and Gong.

I would say it's still count as flipped and for each Ace flipped. Look at the page 8 & 9 at Rules Manual - ctrl+c then ctrl+v copies without any spaces for me.

Well, with all that healing i'm used to play i've forgotten totally about teleporting Huggy for weak damage and then healing from Lynch or Sun Quiang. Like Cursed25 said - Tanuki is also tempting for mass Condition removal, some healing and focus spam. Two cents for Rig the deck for reminder - beware of Jabber... enemy discard - Youko especially, the fewer cards you have the less powerful it's became. Also thanks to the Rig the deck you may have opportunity to flip naturally Red Joker on demand so enemy will not be able to cheat!

My basic Lynch roster is: Lynch with trained ninja Huggy with Silent Protector (if enemy has too much shooting) Gwen Kitty Tannen with Trained Ninja (if enemy has too much shooting, otherwise rather silent protector) Sun Quiang Beckoner Beckoner Cache 2-6 For first turn - Kitty pushes Beckoners where they need to go (+2" from Tannen for one Beckoner) and eat brilliance from one to push hersefl 5", then Beckoner lures the rest of the crew (Huggy is mobile enough to move by himself) using Reposition - first lures should touch the Kitty so free brilliance and extra 2" movement for one model per activation, then during activation of rest of the crew scatter according to plan. Eventualy through the activation i want to filter for two medium masks to focus spam from Sun Quiang and/or pushes from Lynch. From second turn i' ve always spammed brilliance from Beckoners on enemy and summon at least one model (usually the illuminated). You have a lot of mobility and ways to mess up with opponent's positioning (all models has their ways to move somehow the enemy), also you can pack a punch as you will spam brilliance a lot so Huggy will be always on positive flips, Gwen +2 dmg, Kitty's draw essence can be murderous with a lot of brilliance around. Kitty, Gwen and Sun Quiang have their ways to drop scheme markers near opponents models so it should help in some schemes. O, and there is quite healing. This roster has one major drawback - shockwaves - for first two turns you are rather clumped together and i feel that shockwaves are quite powertful if not slighty overpowered as they cancel stealth and have pretty high TN values to defend while low TN to cast. Also as we' ve lost the armor from whole crew we are not as tough as previous. For strategies: Reckoning - quite fun, but high amount of high quality that are so tempting to hire Henchmens may be risky (damm Perdita and enforcers spam - don't do that!) - use minons spam. Corrupted Idols - lure/reposition already activated enemy model to Idol than obey from Huggy aaaaand... smile! Access to lot of mobility, repostioning the enemy, healing, some summoning - what to not love? Plant exposives - Look up for Corrupted Idols. Turf war - I prefer some more shooty crew, but... look up for Corrupted Idols. Schemes - all are quite duable, with some difficulties for - Hold up Their Forces (many high cost models, Beckoners don't like to be engaged with enemy), Power Ritual (maybe no, but i hate that scheme), Outflank (you are rather bubble crew). I would rather pass on versatile models, we have a lot of good/freat henchmens, and for versatile mininons i've would point the McCabe.

Lotus Eater from Ten Thunder also can eat any marker to heal himself.

Waldgeist are quite slow with Mv4 and they are not so tanky as in the second edition, but now you have easy way to heal them thanks to Zoraida's ram trigger on Hex, but thanks to Germinate they have some good synergy with Juju and Mysterious Emissary as they can create more severe terrain (probably main reason to take them) and add some kind of protection thanks to concealing trait. As the severe terrain now affects all kind of movement it is also nice to germinate whole alley so enemy model will have to break through almost whole game or just leave this part of the table for you. But i see more uses of Waldgeist in Titania rather than Zoraida (no soulstones for them after hiring other models).

There you may find some useful information. Basically: Henchmens: Almost all henchmens are great, maybe with some little exception. McTavish who provides nice shooting (but not so nice as in 2nd edition, i miss his mask trigger) has quite nice movement (16" per turn). Juju is great brawler (if there are not too many shooters in enemy crew) and Zoraida's spell arc, First Mate is just leaping wonder anti schemer scheming beater. Spawn Mother has great synergy with Gupps which she can summon (in second turn for one soulstone you have all three Gupps on table) and Gupps may be wonderful for annoying & free Spawn Mother's charge spam and funny scheme runners (size 0 with stealh with low masks should be enough). Also Hinamatsu is wonderful versatile model, but there is almost no room for him. As for some Enforcers: Adze looks quite tasty and nasty with high mobility, wonderful triggers and zero actions, but... i usually don't have enought ss for them after hiring the rest of crew including Will O Wisps. Doppleganger with McTavish gives you additional and high quality shooting. Mysterious Emissary - i' ve always enjoyed hazardous terrain mixed with Zoraida's obey. Minions: Bokor and Will O Wisp have quite nice synergy with voodoo doll (bokor is wonderful target for the doll to stab with frantic frail). Silurid is even greater scheme runner than in second edition. Gupps mentioned above. I would rather pass on Gators. I have no clue in practice, but in theory i wouldn't hope too much for Will O Wisp or Gupps evolution, especially the second one.

I played few times against Perdita using Youko with Chiyo, Kabuki Warrior with Trained Ninja (very pricely, but against Perdita he was great, especially that he usually kill something at the beginning of turn one thanks to the lure with high ram and From the Shadows from upgrade), Charm Warder also with Trained Ninja, Hinamatsu(my opponent after first game has learned to use alternatively Perdita rather than pure shooter like in second edition, after this Hinamatsu goes as far from Perdita as he can and murder everything), Sun Quiang, Kunoichi and Geisha and i feel that i can recommend this list (eventually skip some upgrades with geisha for second Kunoichi). The only thing that came to us is the fact that Papa Loco with his easy to cast shockwaves (stealh is bypassed by shockwave mechanic, isn't it?) is the best murderer of all models from this list even if he is double edged sword because of his WP stat of 3.

I would recommend you also Doppelganger (great utility model), if you want to use McTavish, she won't be as strong as in 2nd ed (three ignoring armor shots), but still she doubles your shooting (by the way - does she use mimic stat for copied attack? It's not so clear for me, but if yes - then you will have 2 stat 7 shots + 1 more stat 7 shot from Zoraida's obey to trigger Following Orders to draw a extra card).

For me Kitty might sometimes compete with Graves for adding movement to the crew (2x reaching tendrils pushing 6" any models + drawn to brilliance pushing herself 5" versus 2x Lead the Way for 4" push any model and Graves). Kitty is wonderful scheme runner (and so much needed), Graves beater, but there is one but - Kitty has Draw Essence that can be quite devastating for clumped enemy (I'm loooking at you Gwyn!). In theory if schemes allows you for starting clumped together then Kitty + Tannen gives you nice free movement boost thanks to Delirium - after activation any model excluding Lynch by moving throught Kitty you get 2" free movement. Also it will add some free brilliance for your own models so Beckoners with some 6+ tomes gonna give you a lot of free movement (there is no limit with added movement from brilliance). For me Gwyn and Kitty are practicaly auto-take, and the model where I'm still thinking to take or not to take ironical is Graves (with a lot of brilliance on the enemy models Gwyn has the same damage track as Graves - 3/4/5 with wonderful crow trigger) when I'm looking for exchanging some model for upgrades.

I would add to the list: Sun Quiang - great healer, free assist action, sometimes nice schemer, 7 df, great triggers for Yin and Yang (stat 7 attack) and all for 8ss after tax. Great addition for the crew as support - tested with Honeypot and Qi and Gong. Probably Sidir - 10ss after tax, brings nice shooting (but there is Fuhatsu and Samurai), but Analyse the weakness and Blow to hell against some crews gonna be devastating. Maybe Huckster - 7ss after tax for quite soft model, but Secret Passage, False claim, maybe free soul stone.