Ten Thunders match-up selections

[Argentbadger]

Who would you play when declaring Ten Thunders given any particular strategy, scheme pool or faction match up? Let me briefly pretend that I wouldn't simply pick the master I was in the mood for at the time of the game.

 

I like Mei Feng a lot for Squatter's Rights, Reconnoitre and Turf War as she works well Rail Walking to trouble spots. Entourage on Mei Feng is pretty simple to score on too, at least assuming that I don't get greedy and get her killed early on by biting off more than she can chew.

 

Yan Lo feels good for Turf War as it forces a lot of models into range for collecting Chi. It's not strictly a Yan Lo choice but I do like Bodyguard on Chiaki as she's tricky to kill off and rarely a high target priority. It's never come up yet but as I read the rules it would still count if Chiaki is resurrected using Reliquaries.

 

Lynch is a favoured choice for Reckoning as I build him with a lot of fighting in his crew (though of course I could build any master this way) and also because Play For Blood is an excellent way of taking the last wound from a troublesome model to get the VP for a turn. Getting Hungering Darkness for 'free' also feels like Lynch should be a good option for Reconnoitre as you can afford to keep Lynch out of harm's way and send in the big chap in his stead. I like Lynch when Deliver a Message is on the table as he doesn't really want to be engaged, as opposed to Mei Feng who frequently ends her activation with a model or two in range to hand her the envelope.

 

I have to admit that I've never really felt that I want to select a particular master based on the faction I'm facing. Kang is an obvious strong choice against Resurrectionists in general, and also some Guild, Outcast or Arcanist builds. Clearly in the latter three cases you shouldn't know what is in the other crew until it is too late but Kang is good enough that I wouldn't feel at a disadvantage using Kang with no terror causing models, Constructs or Undead to face. Toshiro feels like he should be strong in Reconnoitre and Turf War with the Command the Graves upgrade to summon in more models.

 

I haven't got enough experience with McCabe, Misaki or Brewmaster to have much of an opinion on them yet, and I have never tried Shenlong at all.

 

As an aside, the strategy I struggle with most is Stake a Claim. I don't own any Last Blossom options and theorise (but haven't yet tried) that Torakage and Oiran in combination with Smoke and Shadows should give a good chance to get over the centre line at the end of turn one. The pieces I do own tend more toward the slow and steady.

 

So, my fellow infiltrating faux-Far-Eastern crime lords, what would your opinion be? I feel like I'm rather over simplifying the thought process I ought to go through for this. But as mentioned my actual thought process is usually 'I am going to play a game of Malifaux, which crew will be most fun to use?'.

[decker_cky]

Less of a direct benefit, but whenever Kang is going to be extra useful (eg, undead or constructs), Toshiro with Command the Grave is a headache because he competes for the opponent's resources. So long as they fit the overall crew, Kang + Toshiro + Command the Grave is a very nice use of 20ish SS against most resser crews.

[daemonkin]

This is interesting. I'm moving over to 10T or a while during Vassal league. First game is Recon vs Viks. I'm torn between Mei Feng who I have used in the past and possibly McCabe (with his wastrels and significant dogs with Luna) or an altogether new master in Shen Long.

 

Any thoughts? Jon if you are reading this please stop now 

 

D.

[Argentbadger]

Less of a direct benefit, but whenever Kang is going to be extra useful (eg, undead or constructs), Toshiro with Command the Grave is a headache because he competes for the opponent's resources. So long as they fit the overall crew, Kang + Toshiro + Command the Grave is a very nice use of 20ish SS against most resser crews.

 

That's an interesting possibility that I have to admit hadn't previously occurred to me.  Is it actually practical to deny resources like that?  My games seem to be awash with corpse counters and I can't really see a situation where I'm going to use them all up.  It is certainly true that Kang plus Toshiro are awesome, though.  I don't think I've ever had them both in the same crew as I feel like they're both doing a similar thing for the most part, i.e. enhancing my killing power within a fairly small zone.

 

This is interesting. I'm moving over to 10T or a while during Vassal league. First game is Recon vs Viks. I'm torn between Mei Feng who I have used in the past and possibly McCabe (with his wastrels and significant dogs with Luna) or an altogether new master in Shen Long.

 

If winning or at least playing well is your priority then the answer is almost always going to be 'use the master with whom you have the most experience', so Mei Feng in this case.  Otherwise, I like Mei Feng in general for Reconnoitre, but against the Viks I have to consider Lynch as Beckoners are fantastic for reeling one Viktoria at a time to where you can take them right out rather than having to deal with both at once and have them constantly healing each other.  The same goes for getting Ronin into a more manageable position.  I haven't tried the match up with Yan Lo yet though I suppose he could make a good fist of it, Lightning Dance feels like it ought to be useful for isolating models and taking them out (plus you'll get to full Chi very quickly).

 

Whatever you choose I'd certainly be interested in reading about the reasons and results.

[chris_havoc]

Sorry if I am raising this topic from the dead but I had a game recently with Mei Feng against aNicodem and the general synergy of Mei's Foundry models toward getting rid of undead is impressive. Kang is obviously useful and a very big target but Mei being immune to Slow and Paralyzed means that only The Hanged bother her and even then 6 Wp is a solid stat to start off with. The Rail Golem really works well against undead with their relatively low Df stats and his abundance of attacks and high damage render the undead into dust pretty quick. Not to mention that Hard Worker's bonuses make a massive portion of undead lose their core defensive ability. Rail Workers also ignore it even if out of LoS of Hard Worker. So against any undead crew Mei Feng is a solid bet almost regardless of scheme pool. Thunderous Smash is also an amazing upgrade that I had dismissed in the past but it basically undermines your opponents schemes and counters. In essence vs. a construct heavy or undead heavy faction Mei Feng is a great choice. Her models are tough and dish out good damage so are good for Turf War and Reckoning and should work with Squatters Rights given that they need to be close to one another but not bunched up. Reconnoiter might be a struggle though. Aside from Mei and the Rail Golem though they are not the fastest crew around and so schemes that require being a distance out of the Deployment Zone can be tricky.

[Malicte]

As far as Hanged and immune to Paralyze goes, I'm away from card at the moment but don't the hanged only negate immunity to horror duels, not to paralyze?  So Mei would still take a check, succeed or fail, but it would have no effect because she's immune to paralyze.

 

I can't say enough about him, but extra credit for bringing Toshiro against upgrades.  Deny them corpses via summoning your stuff first!

[chris_havoc]

Oh yes! I must have been thinking Anathema.