Nikodemus

And before you ask, their missing damage track is 2/3/4 +1 burning.

Rules pdf page 26 is all that's needed really: Laugh Off is a decision. Obeyer gets to decide whether or not it applies.

Seems pretty clear that you can use Fast. Action Limit, as defined on page 21 of the rules pdf (under "Activation Phase"):

In my limited experience, High River Monks are ok when they're souped up with Focus, Chi and Fast and you're discarding to Flurry. That's a lot of setup for an 8ss model with 2/3/4 damage track. I'm going to test them more when I get back to Shenlong, but initial thoughts is they're probably in the suboptimal club.

Answer is 2. Rules pdf page 9: Black Joker, while we're on the subject, is considered "weak" for any effects that care about that.

He can. See page 23 of the rules pdf, "Resolving Actions". Below is how you resolve an action: 1. Declare the Action 2. Pay any Costs 3. Targeting 4. Perform Duels 5. Apply Results 1: "I will do Falling Rave Kick". 2: "cost" in this instance is italic text in the action, if any. In FRK's case you "Discard a Chi token, then this model may move up to 6", ignoring other models.". You do this in step 2. 3: Step 3 is when you're actually targeting something. If no legal target is available, action simply fails and you skip steps 4 & 5. Steps 1 & 2 already happened and will not be retroactively undone in any way.

10ss done. Woo! After a long time of not painting (sigh videogames), I finished alt Ototo. Really happy with how he turned out. Misaki deserves a better painted berserker at her disposal. Now let's hope Wyrd releases Misaki's new box quick. While good, my old Misaki paintjob is starting to show its age in comparison to my new stuff

Trained Ninja is Restricted (Living). Can't go on Izamu. Single Ashigaru or Komainu for Take the Hit is worth a hire if you're worried about Yan's early game survivability. Or, since we're in TT forum, hire a Samurai with Silent Protector (hard to kill & take the hit). Yeah I agree at 11ss it's really pushing it, but thought I'd mention upgrades for laughs. But at 9ss I've liked him. Reason I don't like Geisha on paper is they're liable to be 1-shot, whereas Kabuki will likely survive. I feel Geisha also isn't pressuring the opponent the same way Kabuki is. But I tend to prefer more elite crews in general. It's certainly a good thing if both models are viable. For me Kabuki has been.

No. Rules pdf page 15 (note the bolded parts): "Horizontal" meaning you can't go up and down. So if you push up to a box, or fence, or other such obstacle, you'd have to go up or around it. Neither of which you can do with a push. So you stop there.

How does Guild handle armour? If you feel like giving specific model advise, consider Samurai from TT with or without upgrades. Buddy of mine is having bit of an issue with armour in general and Samurai in particular. There's only so much I can offer from other side of the fence. And yeah Samurai might be a bit busted but that doesn't change the fact that armour in general is an issue here.

Gotta watch out for anti-Demise abilities and bury shenanigans. My so far only Yan vs. Tara game was pretty hairy. Lot of reliquary tricks don't work when you're in Obliteration's domain. But in general, "distraction Izamu" is a pretty good move. Manos is a strong model. Leap (with attack trigger!), sort-of min 3. Assassin gets him the occasional Fast for 4 attacks per activation. And then there's his reliquary. They aren't officially out yet, but beta cards should be easy to find. Kabuki Warriors, from Qi & Gong keyword. 8+1ss, stat 6 greatsword, df 5 Combat Finesse. Ok model as is. But their big thing is Distraction aura. 2" to WP. Without any reliquaries I've used one a few times to good effect with Yan Lo. There's so many movement shenanigans to get Kabuki near enemies without charging (for Greatsword bonus) and since all of Yan Lo's tricks are vs. WP. Stat 7 3/4/5 is a lot scarier when you're on a . Now imagine throwing Terrifying upgrade on a Kabuki Warrior. Terrifying and 2" -WP aura in a game where all engagement ranges are 2" or less. I haven't tested it out yet, having only tried Yin once and that was without a Kabuki proxy. I don't think it'll rock the meta, but it seems like a fun shenanigan to pull off every now and then if it's a Yin pool. If you got the stones add Trained Ninja to Kabuki Warrior

^What he said. Rules pdf page 42: Emphasis mine.

Only Molly and Jack Daw, actually. But there's plenty of good, high-cost undeads in the faction.

I agree. Maybe it's my Minako deprived Last Blossom crew, but it seems like it'd fit, price & name wise. I recall Minako having been described as fighting ancient evil, although perhaps not in those exact words. I'm not too deep into Malifaux fluff. Seems like a decent fit.

And that "more models" argument falls flat the moment you go up against a summoner as 2nd master. Thankfully it will be an easy fix for TO's to just say "no 2nd masters" if that ends up being as big of a problem that some people fear it is.

Magical clay warrior... Seems to me they'd fit most crews with ease. Then again I used to play Misaki and Sue together in 2e and it was the most thematic thing ever. I guess it's down to how one views these things.

That's the same as the final open beta. If you're going to play Gokudo before their official release, that's the latest card for them. They might be tweaked in the final release, but for now that's the one to use.

Misaki's 2AP threat range went from 10" to 12". Ototo went from 9" to 12". Yamaziko went from 9" to 10". Crime Boss went from 8" to 10". Torakage went from 8" to 15". Small sample, but it shows the general trend of threat ranges increasing a fair bit. Add to that the fact that most deployments are as far or farther up than they were in 2e.

My main gripe with them is the ease at which they can deal 6 damage at 12" range in 1 action. Turning them into enforcers won't change that. But sure, if they do get nerfed eventually, becoming enforcers will eat some of their power and synergies away. It would be an "easy fix" without touching Gatling Gun (shared by other models) nor their concentrate bonus (which works nicely with their melee without being over the top in that respect).

No!

Most of those models are way better in 3e so you should be good 2x Trained Ninja pretty much always. Comboing Stealth with Extended Reach makes for reasonably tanky models. Masked Agent fits in nicely in a crew where everyone wants to be charging in and out of activation. Usually I put it on Ototo. He gets less out of Trained Ninja anyway. But any melee model will work at least ok with Masked Agent. Silent Protector doesn't really fit in with my usual Last Blossom crews. There's a decent amount of hard to kill in my favoured models as is. It's nice on a Samurai I guess. But usually no, I'd rather spend my Last Blossom ss on something else.

If they don't like dying when they hit 0 wounds, they really should get a different crew.

At the same time I'd say Misaki isn't tied to her keyword the same way as Yan Lo for instance. I think optimal list will have more Last Blossom in it than not, but as a midtable mediocrity I feel pretty comfortable whether I'm playing in or out of theme with Misaki. I bring Wokou as a counter pick to scheme marker pools/keywords. They've been ok. Not an "every game" pick. I like how I've painted mine

I've been really happy with Shenlong as a 2nd hire. Only when I'm counter picking against specific models, but still. He kills stuff dead.

Against Obey crews, maybe?