To buy: Mei Feng, Rail Golem, Metal Gamin...and?

[Kapten Vendetta]

Hello, I've (more or less) decided that my last crew to fit into my Battlefoam bigbag shall be Mei Feng and c:o (I will not get a 2nd bag, I will not!).

 

From what I've gathered (coming from Guild & Ressers) her most common buds are the Metal Gamin & the Rail Golem, so they seem like a safe bet to go along side the box itself.

 

I have no more room for bigger models other than the Golem, I might be able to squeze in a Large Arachnid, if I shuffle things around a bit. Other than that, I'd say I'll have about 3-4 slots left after the initial purchase.

 

What to fill 'em up with?

 

Playing Hoffman I already have the Ramos box - for Howard & Joss - and I'll slightly convert the totem to be a Large Arachnid, and Hoff' likes himself some Soulstone Miner, which I also have. A Mobile Toolkit is also already in the bag.

 

Other than that, no more Archanist models.

 

I've been looking at the Arcane Effigy, which seems like a solid piece to add to Mei Feng.

 

For the TT angle? I have the TT Bros. unassembled, and the Yan Lo box + Toshiro & Izamu, but I feel there really isn't any synergy there. Perhaps the Dawn Serpent, which would unfortunatly eat most of the space left...

 

Thoughts?

[rythos42]

I can't speak to the TT side...

 

I've enjoyed:

• Firestarter. Mobile, shooty henchman that Mei misses from the rest of her theme crew.
• December Acolyte. I've stopped taking this guy recently because I tend to get him killed, but he's damn good.
• Joss is awesome for obvious reasons.
• Sue is another ranged model that is good times.

I've taken the Arcane Effigy, since there is obvious interactions there, but I usually end up wishing I had Johan instead. Your mileage may vary.

[SpiralngCadavr]

On the TT end...

 

I haven't played with her yet, but Yamaziko looks like Mei shores up a lot of her weaknesses.

 

I've had very good experiences running Toshiro in a melee-heavy crew with her (things get abusive if you're also getting Kang's buff). Also, Toshiro's construct summon is pushed into overdrive with her totem dumping out markers.

 

Either of the minions could work well enough with her, and have a lot more flexibility zooming off for objectives than with her thematic choices.

[Kapten Vendetta]

On the TT end...

 

I haven't played with her yet, but Yamaziko looks like Mei shores up a lot of her weaknesses.

 

You sir, intrique me and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter (a kiss to a cheek of your choice if you get that paraphrasing)...

 

But seriously; Yamaziko? I must admit I fail to see the benefit.

 

Regarding Toshiro I can only say: if you can't find a place for the Daimyo you're doing something wrong. However: it seems to me that Mei Feng likes herself some constructs to walking-along-the-railroad-all-the-live-long-day with. Is a few Rail Workers enough in a melee oriented crew? Komainu - not being released yet - seems like a distant choice. Disagree?

 

Which other melee minions would you recommend, given my limited spacing issues? (2-3 30mm. minions left of space...)

[decker_cky]

You only need a few constructs. Toshiro can make some of those constructs. 

 

I think you're limiting Mei by sticking to constructs too much. I'll be testing some crews including Lazarus as my only construct (with the emberling and toshiro to provide backup constructs).

[SpiralngCadavr]

You sir, intrique me and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter (a kiss to a cheek of your choice if you get that paraphrasing)...

 

But seriously; Yamaziko? I must admit I fail to see the benefit.

Heh, took a while to process, but, I think you're talking about the teamwork episode?

 

Regarding Yamaziko, her worst problem in my experience with her in other crews, is her getting blasted dead before doing anything due to that low DF, and a bubble of [-] to CA and SH from Vent Steam will go a very long way to ferrying her up, while it makes Brace Yari a lot nastier, since you're already clumping up a bit of Mei's crew in said bubble, meaning you've got a strong denial set of [-] to Sh, [-] to CA, 4 damage if you charge, so your only option without a penalty or damage is generally walking up and hitting someone (meaning, again, worse output), in which case you've got (at very least) Mei and Yamaziko breathing down your neck, and your deity of choice help you if you main damage output is a melee spellcaster. Again, just theory, though, since I haven't done a ton of exploring Mei outside of her more visually thematic stuff.

 

 

Regarding Toshiro, summoning some Komainu are very solid, along with him just being good by himself. I find I only field 2-3 constructs for being constructs, and beyond that, it's nice if they are and I might swap something out if I was mostly fielding it just for the Construct characteristic. You don't need that much flexibility, and the theory of jumping across the whole board isn't as easy to implement, since 7's are far from guaranteed, so it's pretty draining on your hand.

 

 

Oh, also... said newsletter

[bertmac]

Willie is fun. Fire gamin would provide good utility for handing out burning rail walk nodes and scheme running.

[Sybarite]

Arcane effigy and ss miner. December acolyte

[decker_cky]

Soulstone miners don't seem like they're a particularly synergistic unit to take. Don't they generally just tend to do their thing regardless of the crew? Sure, they CAN be rail points turn two wherever you need (aside from overexposing Mei), but I've never found Mei to have any difficulty getting her rail points in position (even if they die, you have a scrap marker in place that most crews can't remove). 

[SpiralngCadavr]

Yep, I don't think I've had any problem setting up a Rail jump.

[Math Mathonwy]

Soulstone miners don't seem like they're a particularly synergistic unit to take. Don't they generally just tend to do their thing regardless of the crew? Sure, they CAN be rail points turn two wherever you need (aside from overexposing Mei), but I've never found Mei to have any difficulty getting her rail points in position (even if they die, you have a scrap marker in place that most crews can't remove).

OTOH Soulstone Miners are utterly amazing and every Arcanist player should have one. They are utterly ridiculously good in some Schemes/Strategies and can win you games. But, the OP noted that he already has one, so that's that sorted out.

Mechanical Rider is another important utility model that can win games.

Cassandra is also something worth considering. She is very mobile and versatile and all in all solid. And, if you take a Mannequin, she can drag along a Railwalk point of her own.

As for the Rail Golem, though fluffy, it isn't really needed since you have Howard. They fill somewhat similar roles of a relatively durable, high-cost beatstick, but Howard is often thought to be the better one of the two.

[zFiend]

I have seen great use out of a Rail Golem on a Hoffman list. On the Arcanist side he seems a bit lackluster compared to that madness. Kinda like Izamu on Ten Thunders vs Izamu on a bro run with Nicodem. 

 

On the Arcanist side I would probably always lean towards Howard instead of the Rail Golem. 

 

Mech Rider is just pure filth, so a really good model if playing competitive. 

 

Soulstone Miners seem really cool, rules wise and model wise as well. 

[Kapten Vendetta]

I have seen great use out of a Rail Golem on a Hoffman list. On the Arcanist side he seems a bit lackluster compared to that madness. Kinda like Izamu on Ten Thunders vs Izamu on a bro run with Nicodem. 

 

On the Arcanist side I would probably always lean towards Howard instead of the Rail Golem.

 

As a Hoffman player I feel that the above statement if somewhat of a selling point; being able to use it with the Hoff' and Archanists both.

 

And would you care to elaborate on the Howard .vs. Rail Golem statement? (And by all means, teach me how to abuse the heck out of the Golem with Hoffman)

[Math Mathonwy]

As a Hoffman player I feel that the above statement if somewhat of a selling point; being able to use it with the Hoff' and Archanists both.

 

And would you care to elaborate on the Howard .vs. Rail Golem statement? (And by all means, teach me how to abuse the heck out of the Golem with Hoffman)

Rail Golem and Howard are both mobile and killy.

Howard has better Ml while the Golem has a positive twist. On a statistical basis, they are fairly even, but since they are important models with high damage output, you often might end up cheating and then the higher Ml stat is better.

Most importantly, however, Howard doesn't require the Tomes to shine properly. Rail Golem eats up into those precious Tomes when going to town and you often have other models starving for those cards.

So yeah, they are different but highly comparable with the biggest difference being that Howard doesn't require as many resources to make him shine.

As for how to abuse Rail Golem with Hoffman, this report goes into detail (though the execution fails due to bad luck) - but the general idea is that after some buffing, the "Golem is ML7, Df 6, defensive +2, Casting 8, and has burning 2 (3 when he activates), and is Fast and has nimble":

http://wyrd-games.net/community/topic/103485-hoffman-vs-von-schill-the-rail-golem-missile/

[zFiend]

Well Math pretty much went into it already but I'd just like to add that Langston with Imbued energies is just terrifying and has always performed well for me. 

 

It's Ml7, only needs a Ram for Decapitate and with min damage 4 and Flurry avalaible (thanks to nimble) it's just horrifying. Even without Decapitate I think the model is insanely good, like said, not many models can withstand a Flurry from Langston without (especially with) Decapitate. 

[bertmac]

Langston is very good and consistent but if youve ever seen a rail golem go on a tome fuelled rampage mine recently killed a young lacroix that was blocking its route to mancha killed mancha and francois then moved again and killed a slop hauler 1 activation no imbued energies used my entire hand and pretty much cycled the deck and i felt a little bad for my opponent but thems the breaks howard could not do that costs 1ss more and has less armour its certainly not as cut and dried as some people make out between the two big guys!

[decker_cky]

The rail golem definitely has the potential to smash through small stuff a lot more. Langston is the hammer that can smash through hard targets (including masters), since he has flurry and decapitate.

 

Langston's smoke cloud is underrated too.

[SpiralngCadavr]

Yeah... I find Howard just hugely more reliable than the Rail Golem. I've seen the Rail Golem fluctuate from okay to very good, but Howard's just really reliable and killy.

[zFiend]

Yeah... I find Howard just hugely more reliable than the Rail Golem. I've seen the Rail Golem fluctuate from okay to very good, but Howard's just really reliable and killy.

 

That's what it comes down to when choosing between the two. 

[Fancy_Hat]

On the Ten Thunders front (note I am an Arcanist player and have only gotten Mei on the table several times as Ten Thunders) the Wave 2 Leader Upgrade "On Wings of Wind" is invaluable to Mei Feng. This will give her a push at the end of the turn (great for getting out of melee if you got her stuck against something that she shouldn't have been next to, or great to push her to use her 3" Engagement range to stop people from Interacting), bt it also gives her a (0) Action and she is notably lacking in those on her own card. This (0) Action lets you push around another model. Did you screw up your initial Rail Walk point? (0) Action and push it where it needs to be. Did you jump in and failed to beat enough face, but got to cavalier in your kicking and are now out of position? (0) Action and push a Rail Walk point near you and get away! This upgrade notably allows you to run fewer constructs with Mei and still take advantage of Rail Walking. Generally I would say no more than three or four constructs are necessary, but in Arcanists I tend to accidentally place constructs, in Ten Thunder you have to be a bit more judicious in your choice of Constructs. Komainu, Rail Workers, and the Shadow Effigy are the only constructs within the faction itself and as noted above Lazarus can be hired as a mercenary (and he loves that (0) Action push to get him into position so he can Focus and fire a shot to get those blasts off). Don't forget that Mei can jump to scrap markers as well. I take the Emberling in Arcanists and place a scrap marker turn one or two in an area that Mei Feng would likely be needed (playing Turf War?, stick a scrap marker in the middle!). As some have noted above though, Rail Walking is great, but it is not Mei's only action, don't be afraid to charge with her or to just hang back and Vent Steam.