Nikodemus

WGV was sending out non-errata cards so Wyrd/WGV pulled them from sale until the issue is resolved. I received non-errata cards and have a customer service email from January 28th with WGV stating they don't know when they will get the right files. I'm guessing it won't be long, but who knows.

Just so people don't go mixing up 11$ 4ss models with 40$ 10ss models, I do believe Freman is talking about Hodgepodge Emissary. Effigies are cute little dolls, Emissaries are big centrepiece models.

Any love for Sue? I've got the guy ordered for my TT-Misaki and general purpose mercenary duties. I've had good experiences using stat5 models with to attack. Effective weak damage 3 is gold and there's a lot of utility on his card. At the very least he should be good pick against ressers *curses local meta*. Main reason he caught my eye as a Misaki pick is his card draw. Stalking Bisento Misaki discards a card on most turns. Sue draws a card every turn. Six card control hand is a good default to aspire to.

Hodgepodge gives soulstones for kills. Misaki kills things. More specifically, Misaki can spend her last stone to get a crow, get second crow for not having any stones thus hitting her assassinate trigger, kill the target with assassinate and get back a stone. Repeat.

Seems to me last such promotion was December for an alternate firestarter: https://www.wyrd-games.net/where-to-buy Since they've had such a promotion every two months for a long while now I've assumed they'll do a similar thing in February and have planned my spending accordingly. They didn't put up January's promotion up until a little ways into January so I'm not surprised there's no info on February promotion yet.

Reckoning scores when: "a Crew earns 1 VP if it killed or sacrificed two or more enemy models during that Turn". If you sacrifice your own models enemy won't score for them.

Ones I've attended so far haven't taken painting into account in any way. People generally come fully painted but apart from someone saying "that's a really cool paintjob" you don't get any recognition. Your experience does sound odd, even 'wrong', though at least it was announced beforehand. If it were me I'd prefer there to be a separate "best painted" award that has no bearing on who won on the gaming tables.

I've played maybe 60/40 Shenlong/Misaki this year and plan to Single Master Misaki for a while now. I wouldn't rate Misaki as particularly marker prone master and I've been playing her without Sensei Yu's marker tricks. Haven't had issues with Dig Their Graves so far. If I really want that immediate kill I can use accomplice/companion models to do so. All factions have at least an effigy for accomplice shenanigans, at least a few factions have companion beaters like Francisco, Francois etc and murder masters can always interact-charge something nearby. That said I don't think you need chain activations for this scheme. I mainly pick this if we're doing Extraction or Guard the Stash since I know the general area of where the enemy will be. That's all just first impressions like yours, of course. Might be another month or two of active playing will change my mind. I'm with you on Last Stand. I've seen it in the pool several times but I've never picked it since I just can't see how to pick it and score anywhere near 10VP. Haven't had a chance to pick Recover Evidence yet but I so love the look of that scheme.

I received an automated notification after sending the form and further mails as Wyrd processed it a few days later. Did you check your spam folder too?

Ama No Zako still not painted? I like Yamaziko but feel that she loses some appeal if she can't threaten masters with that she has. She still has her other perks so she wouldn't be useless, but I can't say she'd be my first or second pick for a campaign. Consider Smoke Grenades mandatory if you do pick her, they help a bit with survivability.

At 6ss they're competing with Torakage and Obsidian Oni. I'm generally looking at these models as budget hitters, (anti)scheme runners and as warm bodies for extraction etc.. For all those roles I find it hard to pick Monk of High River over their competition. They'd have to cost less or give me more for those 6 stones. Going by their fluff as murder monks I'd expect them to hit harder.

Nice thing about is that, at least it feels like it, I more often end up cheating second. So when using a model like sh5 I'm either aiming to hit in which case I prioritise df5 targets or I'm aiming to drain my opponent's hand in which case I'm more willing to attack df6 or greater targets. High stats are better if you have a control hand to back them up, but I prefer positive flips and average stats for majority of my crew if I have a choice.

Do you know what strategy & schemes you'll be playing? That usually helps me build a crew. Here's a few pointers about Shenlong: Wandering River Style moves scheme markers with ease. Either don't pick marker based schemes or pack enough killing power to take out Shenlong and Yu so they can't move your markers. Low River Style is a great healing upgrade. Don't half kill stuff, either squash stuff in an activation or don't bother. Odds are it'll get healed back up, but then that's AP not used to support rest of his crew. Sensei Yu is relatively fragile at Df6 Wd10, but costs a whooping 11ss after the near mandatory upgrade. He doesn't really earn his keep until he's buffed the heck out of his crew for three or so turns straight. I hate it when he goes down early without contributing to the game. Katanaka Snipers seem to be a popular pick if forums are to be believed. In a Shenlong crew they can fire two focused shots per activation. If you see them on the table be aware of their threat range and damage potential. This crew can push a model potentially 14'' up the table and give it fast. Don't get surprised by an alpha strike. That same mobility can be used to achieve position based schemes (Entourage, Take Prisoner etc.). Shenlong is only ml6 with 2/3/5 but can shut down soulstone use and (0) actions. He has easy access to focus and with Fermented River Style he can get to damage with minimal effort. He's not a melee beast but don't underestimate him. He's more than capable of killing models that are low on wounds if it earns VP. Misdirection upgrade and defensive stance makes him a pain to kill when near other models. Odds are he brings at least one beater model (Lone Swordsman, Izamu etc.). That beater will not take walk actions. That beater will routinely have Fast. That beater will be up your face. That beater will be healed up to full after you've spent an activation, maybe even two chained activations wailing on it. It helps a lot if you can ignore said beater's defences or act after Shenlong and Sensei Yu have activated. Far as taking a Shenlong crew head on, I reckon your best bet is to kill the crew. Support masters really lose their lustre when there's nothing to support.

Obey doesn't change who the model considers friends and enemies (small rulebook page 23). In short: Small rulebook page 27 has an "Attacking Friendly Models" shoutbox: Reads to me that player B can relent with their peacekeeper.

Brothers also make great use of Lynch's ace discarding trick. Both would also fit thematically I think, Thunder Brothers at least. Lynch may be a drug dealing casino owner, but he's a drug dealing casino owner indebted to a powerful criminal organisation. Having some goons from said organisation in his crew is only proper.

Informative thread. Going to have to read through ssk's blog next. Considering expanding into Marcus faction in the summer. Seems like Marcus box + Scheme runner box is a good budget start? I'd prefer to stick mostly with beast models but are there any Arcanist stuff I want to consider, preferably stand alone boxes? Arcane Effigy seems useful for condition removal and buffing punchy Marcus. I might grab Arcane Emissary, just because I like Avatar Marcus model. How's the Emissary in beast Marcus lists? Seems like a solid model by itself. Haven't seen a lot of text on Scorpius, how is it? It probably wants crew to hand out poison, which Myranda and Razorspine can do but I don't see either wanting to use AP on their attack all that often. Right now I'm looking at getting: Marcus + Avatar/Emissary (extra muscle and tank) + Silurids (schemes!) + Raptors (so long as I don't cheese these with Practiced Production I'm good, right?) Probably Molemen or Waldgeists too, to have some cheaper than 7ss significant minions. With a few mercs I have those seems like a solid pool to work with for most strats & schemes.

I see Thunder Brother as a relatively cheap activation that's sturdy enough to stay on the table for a good while. What do you use in his place or do you prefer more elite crews?

You guys are painting a real gloomy picture. If I ever get into Neverborn (not likely, but still) Nephilim box would be one of the first I grab as they do look good. Are they really that bad or is this another case of good models competing with great models?

I like Torakage, pretty nifty generalists. I wouldn't buy a crew box just for them though. Ototo is a nice beater, but there's a lot of beaters in the faction. No unique tricks to him either. Haven't played enough Shang to judge the pup. It's a neat box but I wouldn't worry about missing faction essentials if you go and grab vintage Misaki.

Gracie is pretty good in Ten Thunders. 4-6AP Recalled Training turn kills things dead. Few heals from wherever makes her ridiculously tanky so long as armour isn't ignored. That's how I've got the most out of her actually, she can be a colossal AP sink for the enemy. She doesn't have to kill anything if enemy spends 2-3 big activations for a few turns straight to get rid of her. But she's Gracie, of course she kills something in that time. Distraction pig goes nomnom I'm guessing she's a more reliable damage dealer in Gremlins with ram auras. And you've got healers. I suppose there's room for finesse with her but I just point her at the enemy and charge. Earns her feed almost every time.

I sometimes, not too often, take two LRM, but that's partly down to my lack of options in the cheap minions range. They've got a nice heal if terrain allows for it. One is definitely enough for what they do if you're not buying/assembling all three. At 4ss I'm a big fan of effigies, even if I prefer some other factions' puppets more than ours. Standard effigy statline. Marker trick is expensive (10 of any suit for a scheme marker) but useful for a few schemes, ml7 can be handy for budget tarpitting and I've gotten some mileage out of his accomplice. Dig a grave and accomplice to a beater before the enemy flees from or removes the scheme marker. If both of us pick accuse I can chain accuse two or more models while making two of my own immune to the scheme for the round. I reckon I take him more than half the time and rarely if ever regret it. At worst he's a durable 4ss activation.

As I understand it's both. Small rulebook page 46: Though true climbable and impassable often go together.

As per the rulebook, climbable terrain blocks pushes but severe does not. Do you define your walls etc. climbable or severe? My local group tends to go with climbable walls.

With moderately lucky flips Shenlong can do quite good damage with Drunken Kung Fu or blasts, but I wouldn't rate that among his top-3 characteristics. Scheme manipulation and force multiplication are where he shines. He can easily push models and markers into or out of scoring positions, hands out fast/slow with his pushes and also heals like a boss.

Shenlong/Sensei Yu can push markers around as well as ever with Wandering River Style. Dig Their Graves seems quite doable for them. Interact a few markers next to your beater of choice. Push said beater and markers up, give it fast and bust some fools. Honestly I tend to look for easier schemes, something I can score just by interacting or killing, as opposed to interacting AND killing. I guess this scheme is easiest in pools that encourage bunching up, Extraction and Guard the Stash come to mind. Definitely seems like a scheme made for those newfangled marker dropping wave 4 models if you ask me Heck I might give Shenlong a try as a beater in that scheme. Drop a marker (potentially as a free non-(0) action from Wandering River Style), then charge & kill a nearby enemy. Might be more of a casual way to do it though, for me Shenlong performs best when behind a wall of beefy goons. I already mentioned planning to give Shadow Effigy accomplice a try, though that might be too demanding far as positioning goes. There's of course a bunch of models that can get near and drop a marker. I mainly worry for this scheme's AP efficiency. Seems easy to do, just that most other schemes take less AP to achieve.