Masters and Strategies

[barghest7]

Seems like this is a topic which keeps coming up, but hasn't really received its just due:

 

So, if you had unlimited access to all the Ten Thunder masters, which masters would you pick for which strategies, and why?

 

I'm traditionally a resser player, but have been branching out in my collecting. Now that I'm almost done with school (ONE WEEK TO GO!!!), I'm looking forward to getting some serious playtime in, and I'm thinking that the thunders will be my first starting point. I have zero actual experience with them, though, and they are obviously waaaay different then my ressers. I already own Misaki, Lynch, and Yan Lo, but plan to pick up the rest soon, so advice, experience, or even just theory-faux would be welcome. Given this topic has come up a couple of times in the past, looks like I'm not the only one that would benefit from your experience, either, so speak up!

 

Thanks!

[MasterDisaster]

I don't think any of the Ten Thunders Masters are particularly weak or strong at any of the Strategies. They can all do the job pretty well, it's really more crew dependent. These sorts of threads are often difficult to answer because 90% of the time the crew wins the game, not the Master. Saying that I've found in my experience that Lynch and Misaki tend to excel at objectives that require murder to the 10th degree. Both are quite capable of putting people in the ground and to be fair McCabe is also fairly capable at killing when he needs to so naturally I might lean towards these three for Reckoning depending on the schemes available. 

 

For Turf War or Squatter's Rights I'd take crews that like to work in a close or small area so perhaps Mei Feng, Misaki or Lynch again because they can quite happily dominate a small area of the board and hold it by killing or just taking a beating and not moving.  Again it's really hard to say yes I'd take X or Y because they all bring something to the party. McCabe's versatility makes him great at every Strategy and pretty much any scheme. 

 

Reconnoiter and Stake a Claim generally require a different style of crew again and most of our Masters can comfortably handle these Strategies. Usually though I've taken McCabe because he can handle larger crews with his support quite nicely and the extra movement he hands out is golden for these Strategies which require lots of movement or positioning. 

 

Additionally I can't really ever see myself reaching for Yan Lo for any of the strategies, I've played him once or twice and found him pretty boring and lack luster, most of the 10T Masters have a wow factor and for me Yan Lo doesn't. His play style doesn't interest me as much as the models do aesthetically, he feels like he wants to be a Rezzer and 10T but kind of falls short of reaching either's true potential. They are a fun crew to play with and I really had a couple of fun games with him but in my experience it feels like an Ancestors crew which Yan Lo has tagged along with. zFiend and I have discussed this a number of times and we can't think of a single scenario where taking Yan Lo over any of the other 10T Master would be beneficial. Saying all this though he is very capable of getting the job done like all of our Masters. I just think he's not for me personally. I'd take him because I'd want to play him not because he offers a distinct advantage over any of the others.

 

I have very little experience with Shenlong to really comment on him effectively, his versatility seems to be a great asset that makes him very capable at just about anything he needs to do. Having played against him a couple of times he's got a little bit of everything and his versatility probably puts him in the same boat as McCabe because he can adapt during the game to deal with various situations. Lastly I have literally no experience with or against the Brewmaster so can't comment at all. 

 

All of these comments aren't really taking into account schemes though, sometimes if I have Reckoning but non killing schemes I wont take a Master that excels at murdering things, instead I'll take something totally different or versatile because I can achieve more VP from schemes instead. I don't think I've ever bagged full VP for Reckoning so it's usually the case that I'll focus of the schemes more than the strategy when that comes up. 

[mistercactus]

McCabe needs considering when deliver the message is in the scheme pool. Badge of speed + hound = rocket dog!

[Cunning]

No as fast as a Mighty Gusted Sensei Yu

[Rurouni Benshin]

To echo what MasterDisaster said, all the Masters, from what I've seen and understand are all very capable of accomplishing each Strategy. What it ultimately comes down to are 2 factors:

 

1. Which Schemes are drawn with the Strategy

2. How the rest of your crew compliments your Master

 

If your Master is ideally used for beating on things, you want a crew that's faster moving to drop Scheme Markers and accomplish objectives. If your Master is better used for accomplishing Scheme Markers, you want to have a model that can lay out the damage when needed.

 

Most of my experience in playing a T.T. Master are with Misaki and Shenlong. As a combatant, Misaki has a slight edge, due to her Assassinate trigger, but with the right upgrades, Shenlong can be potent too. As far as dropping Scheme Markers, Shenlong with the "Wandering River Style" makes him paramount for accomplishing objectives, especially if he's with Sensei Yu.

 

In any case, with my experience with playing with and against these T.T. Masters, here's what I've deduced for this topic:

 

Stake a Claim: Shenlong, with "Wandering River Style" / Misaki with "Disguise"

Reckoning: Shenlong with "High River Style" / Misaki with "Stalking Bisento"

Turf War: Shenlong with "Low River Style" / Misaki with "Disguise"

Squatter's Rights: Shenlong with any upgrade that compliments his crew / Misaki: Same as Shenlong

Reconnoiter:Shenlong with any upgrade that compliments his crew / Misaki: Same as Shenlong

 

The upgrades I chose for those 2 Masters are based on only my experiences with working with them, but YMMV.

[Jewomie]

Well, of the three masters I have, I just about always end up running Misaki. She is kind of like our Lilltih. She's independent enough that I don't have to micro manage my crew (McCabe) and doesn't have a mechanic to be Micro managed (Chi for Yan Lo)

 

That being said, if I have turf war or reconnoiter or something that involves me wanting to control enemy movement, It's hard to skip McCabe. Or if there is a killy scheme or strat on the table I kind of like Yan and his ability to bring back his ancestors.

 

Otherwise, I take Misaki since she doesn't need her crew to work a certain way, so I can hire minions to do what I need done.

 

That being said, Mei Feng is on her way to my house at the moment, so I haven't used her. I haven't had a chance to proxy Shenlong or Brewmaster at all, and I have zero interest in Jakob Lynch. So maybe those three do something more than Misaki... but 4 out of 5 games, I'm Running Misaki.

[scarlett fever]

I run McCabe, Shenlong and Misaki, a little with Yan Lo and only tried Lynch a couple of times.

Any Master can adapt to any Strat but I find small bonuses to some.

 

Reckoning: Misaki, Yan Lo. I usually concentrate on denial.

Squatters Rights: McCabe with Pathfinder, Hounds and Austringer is just annoying. Shenlong is also good.

Turf War: Yan Lo and friends, biff the enemy out of the circle and stick them to Yin. McCabe is okay but you have to keep him from getting engaged and killed.

Reconnoiter: McCabe, lots of Hounds and small stuff. Shenlong, gunline it and hold 2 quarters and try to 'push' dominance in a 3rd. Tough against the big summoners.

Stake a Claim: McCabe, Shenlong or a Last Blossom based Misaki, good with movement tricks.

Head Hunter: Misaki, Misaki, kill model, auto push to marker, thank you very much.

Guard the Stash: Another I find tough. Big annoying models near the markers, prob Yan Lo if any preference.

Extraction: Yan Lo. But I go McCabe/Shenlong just because pushes, terrain/out activation can really backfire on this tactic though.

Interferrence: McCabe/Shenlong and take Brothers, 4" Ml.

Collect the Bounty: McCabe and some hard as minions, Pathfinder if the schemes suit, deny the opponent those points, worked for me the one time I played it anyway, (except the Pathfinder, opponent took Plant explosives and well, those Traps weren't going anywhere, duh).

 

Schemes matter though.

If Assinate is in the scheme pool I don't bother with Misaki any more. She's going to be in the enemies face and she will die, especially if the opponent focuses on her.

Conversely she loves Make them Suffer.

Scheme marker based shenanigans, Shenlong first, then McCabe with doggies.

Deliver a Message, McCabe or Last Blossom Misaki, then Shenlong.

 

So yeah, more about what I like to do than anything else though, so many ways to play this game, and then there's what Faction the opponent declared and what the terrain looks like and whether I just had a coffe or are hanging out for one...