Mei Feng: General Strategy Advice and Crew Building

[Rurouni Benshin]

Hi all,

 

So I'm wondering how/what I can do to build an effective list around Mei Feng. I've played her twice now (once each against Hoffman and Somer), and have had decent success with her, so I guess I'm just trying to iron out certain kinks here and there. Below I've listed the models I've used with her so far, and my general impression of how they work with her.

 

Mei Feng: A combat junkie. While it makes her pretty one dimensional, she's pretty good at hurting things. I've given her "Misdirection" in both games, and in both games, she benefited greatly from it. "Seismic Claws" worked out just as well, once I had waded into the thick of my oppositions models. Managed to punch one model twice and a second once on a single AP. Didn't need to Vent Steam, since I was rarely targeted with Ca or Sh actions, and as long as I had a Soul Stone pool, it was easy to get Misdirection to trigger.

 

Kang: Brought him to the game against Hoffman, and it paid off extremely well. With the "Hard Worker" upgrade, I was able to get past every opposing model's Armor, and having the to Foundry MI attacks was great. Didn't need to get him into melee as much as I thought he would have to, but once he did, he packed a big punch.

 

Rail Workers: Brought them to the game against Hoffman as well. Only 1 lived to the end of the game, but then again I don't expect Minions to live very long anyway. Used them mostly to provide Mei Feng with Constructs to Railwalk onto, and it worked out as well as I planned it to.

 

Metal Gamin: They were my MVP Minions in both games. Their (0) Action is ridiculous against other Constructs, and helped with a lot of objective running. I had "Spring the Trap" in both games, and it was because of them that I managed to get full points for both games.

 

Emberling: An incorporeal totem that can create Scrap markers AND isn't insignificant? All day, everyday.

 

Shadow Effigy: Needed a 4 ss model to fill in on the game against Hoffman. Managed to get his get Mei Feng to "Remember the Mission" which contributed to "Spring the Trap". Worked out well. No complaints.

 

Sensei Yu: Brought him against Somer, after reading all the hype about him, and I thought I'd give him a try with a different Master other than Shenlong. True enough, he isn't as powerful when not paired with him, but he helped me get out of a few dodgy situations. I gave him the Low River Style upgrade, which proved very useful, as he healed about 8 wounds during the course of the game.  Provided board movement in a big way for me, especially when Somer activated his (0) Action that negates all triggers from models within 4" of him.  Had it not been for that, Mei Feng would've been hard pressed for her activation that turn.

 

Ten Thunder Brothers: Wanted to try them out against Somer, instead of the Rail Workers. Knowing that I would most likely not be facing Constructs or Undead was what motivated this decision to bring them and Sensei Yu. They managed to do what they do best, but I think just due to the circumstances of where models ended up, I couldn't get the best out of them.

 

Game results:

 

Game vs. Hoffman: Managed to table my opponent by end of Turn 4.  Got full points for "Spring the Trap" and "Entourage", and gained 3 points for "Turf War".

 

Game vs. Somer: Lost at the end of Turn 7. Got full points for "Spring the Trap", and 1 point for "Reckoning". My mistake with this game was not going after his Minion models and Skeeters sooner to score more points early on. Would've had "Take Prisoner" had the game either:

 

1. Ended on Turn 5

2. Ended on Turn 6

3. Not losing my last Metal Gamin on Turn 7.

 

Otherwise, I'd have won.

 

Please comment and critique as you would. Thanks!

[D_acolyte]

I am not a fan of Sensei Yu and Ten Thunder Brothers with Mei, I tend to believe they do not bring much to her or her to them.

Constructs: Komainu look like they are a good choice as well for her.   Once the Mechanical Porkchop comes out it should probably be considered.

For non constructs: I love Ten Thunder archers as most of Mie's crew like being in the thick of it so the not randomizing is great. Willy is ok, he is good if you think you are going vs armor. Toshiro is ok to help maintain your number of constructs but I would rather run Kang. The Dawn Serpent is fun, as it can give fire that Mei likes. This is also true about Monks of High River. Tannen never hurts depending on your scheme pool and if you take him you might want to take Graves as they work well together. Yamaziko is good if you want to go defensive.

 

I tend never to take 3 of anything for any master short of terror tots and totems.

[Rurouni Benshin]

I played 3 Rail Workers and 3 Metal Gamin in my game against Hoffman, which was at 50 ss. It didn't hurt, having that many Constructs with me, but I did rely heavily on Mei Feng doing the dirty work for the crew.  Kang was good, once he got in the mix though. I think I may have spent more time trying to keep him alive than using him offensively.

 

Have you tried using the Rail Golem yet? If so, what're your experiences with it?

 

I'll have to give Monks of High RIver a chance next time. Maybe in a 50 ss game against a non-Undead or Construct crew, they'll yield better returns. I was fortunate to have gone up against an all-Construct list the first time, so the passive benefits from Kang and "Hard Worker" were far more apparent.

 

Thanks!

[D_acolyte]

My issue with having 3 of one type of models is not that the models are not good but more of it does not bring me anything I do not already have. If I say I want 3 rail workers I tend to take 2 and then think if I really want/need the 3rd on or would I rather add more dimension to my force.

I do not run the Rail Golem but from what I have seen he is a self contained system and other than a big model to rail jump he does little for Mei. I am not a fan of his model but if your looking to just beat face, he is a good option. Locomotion lets him spend burning to hit someone and that triggers to let him gain burning, it is an infant cycle provided you have the cards and tomes for it. This is even sicker if you have recall training and then discard it. There are some models he should watch out for though, Rail Workers, Johan, Chiaki, Kaeris and so on. These models can either remove conditions or have an effect on burning models.

 

Once the emissaries are out I think it will be a standard in Mei's crew.

[Rurouni Benshin]

My issue with having 3 of one type of models is not that the models are not good but more of it does not bring me anything I do not already have. If I say I want 3 rail workers I tend to take 2 and then think if I really want/need the 3rd on or would I rather add more dimension to my force.

I do not run the Rail Golem but from what I have seen he is a self contained system and other than a big model to rail jump he does little for Mei. I am not a fan of his model but if your looking to just beat face, he is a good option. Locomotion lets him spend burning to hit someone and that triggers to let him gain burning, it is an infant cycle provided you have the cards and tomes for it. This is even sicker if you have recall training and then discard it. There are some models he should watch out for though, Rail Workers, Johan, Chiaki, Kaeris and so on. These models can either remove conditions or have an effect on burning models.

 

Once the emissaries are out I think it will be a standard in Mei's crew.

 

Agreed. The emissaries are amazing. And thanks for your help! I had similar feelings about the Rail Golem as well. He looks impressive, but for 11 points, I feel that I can invest them into better choices.

 

I think I'll try out the TT Archers with her crew next time.

[D_acolyte]

I like them because I get in the middle of everything and they lets me do things like rapid shoot a master trying to go 1 on 1 with Kang.

[Rurouni Benshin]

I like them because I get in the middle of everything and they lets me do things like rapid shoot a master trying to go 1 on 1 with Kang.

Fair point. Do you find Kang useful against non-Constructs and non-Undead? What kind of upgrades do you give him, if any?

[D_acolyte]

Kang by enemy faction:

Reser check

Arcs check

Outcasts check, about half there games will have at least one undead or construct

Neverborn: about 50% because the immune to horror duals help

Guild: once again about 50% but most guild players run there rider where I play

Gremlins: not so much

Even with out his buffs he is a stout fighter with his healing ability,  hard to kill and wound combined with his Mi 7 min damage 3 attack I think he is generally worth his 9 ss even without the buffs. Though you can probably find a better beat stick I do well with him.

As for upgrades as a Ten Thunder that is really personal preference, I tend to stick with Recalled Training, Servants of 5 Dragons, Smoke Grenades, Blot the Sky or People's Challenge (I like the option of hurting people when they miss) in any combination from 0-2. My most often are People's Challenge with Blot the Sky or Servants of the 5 Dragons.

[D_acolyte]

Also as a Ten Thunder player you can run Kang with other master beside Mei, I had some luck with him and Lynch and he is probably good with some of the other masters.

[Rurouni Benshin]

Also as a Ten Thunder player you can run Kang with other master beside Mei, I had some luck with him and Lynch and he is probably good with some of the other masters.

Thanks, I'll have to give him a shot next time with another.

[BigHammer]

Re: the Shadow Effigy - it's one of my favourite TT minions by far, but "Remember the Mission" only works on Minions. It's (0) action is for masters, and it's a fantastic one, especially for Mei.

 

I too have only ran her for a couple of games, but my overwhelming impression is that if you suspect you'll be going up against constructs, spellcasters, or shooting, she's absolutely amazing with her Vapourmancy and Hard Worker upgrades - trigger Vent Steam twice and she's nigh on invulnerable against Ca and Sh, without much need for Misdirection (she already has Leap Aside for a great Df trigger already, also on a  ), though it is a great upgrade and means that, with a mask, you get a benefit if something hits or misses you (assuming it targeted Df and there's a model within 2" of her).

 

Having come from playing Misaki an awful lot, Mei covers a lot of bases her Mistress doesn't; immunity to Slow and Paralyse (the two things that Misaki hates most), armour instead of bulletproof, reach 3, the ability to ignore armour (and hard to wound, though Misaki can get around that with Stalking Bisento, to a degree). That's not to say she's flat-out better than Misaki, of course, since the Mistress of Murder has Assassinate, blasts, some nice AoE pushing, Diving Charge, Risky Ventures, etc, but Mei does cover a lot of Misaki's weaknesses very well.

 

As for crew, she works well with Foundry stuff, which is great since I like fielding "fluffy" crews. Adding some ranged support in works well, as with most melee masters, and the Thunder Archers and Katanaka Snipers do this very well; snipers for the early game to cover Mei's advance (or to provide cover from afar with focussed shots), archers to follow her in and ping wounds off things that she doesn't quite manage to kill. Her Vent Steam aura and Kang's bulk and buffs really make taking an archer a great prospect (give Kang Blot the Sky and have the archer follow him around hiding behind his larger base - the archer can see and shoot through him anyway, just be wary that Vent Steam will affect the archer's shots as well, but they get 2 focus for 1AP, so they can offset even a double Vent Steam as long as the target doesn't give them any more  ).

 

And I agree re: Kang. If nothing else, his bubble of immunity to Horror and his 3 weak damage make him a solid choice for any master. Going up against undead with Kang accompanied by thunder archers can be a real shock to the system for a Resser player, who likely hasn't seen flesh constructs get shot to death quite so quickly before.

 

Something else to consider is the Dawn Serpent - a solid minion in any crew, the burning its shooting attack hands out can be exploited by Mei to give her Tiger Claw attack  to damage.

[Rurouni Benshin]

Yeah, I see that now about the Shadow Effigy. Thanks!

 

I'm actually pretty tempted to play the Dawn Serpent now as well. Never tried it yet, but it looks like fun.

 

You owe me dinner for being your punching bag, you know that right?

 

lol, you got it.

[Dirial]

I'm actually pretty tempted to play the Dawn Serpent now as well.

 

Good intro to Marcus, too.

[daemonkin]

Don't listen to Dirial's madness...

 

D.

[Rurouni Benshin]

Lol, I almost picked up Marcus' crew, but opted with Ramos instead. Once I've finished painting what I have, I'll look to expanding.

[EntrepeNinja]

I was looking at a Thunders Mei crew a while ago (when I was looking at jumping feet first into thunders. I haven't actually made it to TT Mei since.)

 

I think my go-tos were things like the Komainu, and Toshiro with Command the Graves. You can use the totem to drop scrap, then have Toshi turn it into a Komainu, and you have a mobile rail walk point. A little gimicky and moving part reliant. But still cool none the less.

 

I was also looking at the High River monks for the say reason people are saying Dawn Serpent- The ability to hand out burning on disengaging strikes is good. The ability to give out burning on successful melee attacks is also good. Being able to discard a crap card to get three attacks on a charge makes them pretty awesome, and the 0 makes them faster than people'd expect. Push 2, charge 6, ml1" Is a 9" threat range on a flurry. Pretty dope.

[Rurouni Benshin]

You're the second person to recommend Toshiro now. Think I'll give him a try next time, depending on who I'm facing. I like his passive abilities a lot, and he's a tough guy to take down with Hard to Wound +2. His (0) actions are great for what they do as well.

[D_acolyte]

Toshiro is good in a minion base crew, which tends to be what Mei uses a lot of. He also lets you reuse scraps and corpses to keep them out of other peoples hand. Fast or focus, both are good but it depends on your models example with rail workers I would give them fast as they can always zero action to get bonus flips and with archers I would give them focus.

[BigHammer]

Toshiro is good in a minion base crew, which tends to be what Mei uses a lot of. He also lets you reuse scraps and corpses to keep them out of other peoples hand. Fast or focus, both are good but it depends on your models example with rail workers I would give them fast as they can always zero action to get bonus flips and with archers I would give them focus.

 

The archers gain more benefit from fast than focused, unless you give focus to three or more archers. They can use the extra AP from fast to gain focus +2 for 1AP, rather than the 1 focus they get from Toshiro burning a scheme marker (which will cost something, usually an AP, to put down in the first place). A Fast thunder archer can focus, shoot, then focus again, and then in the end-phase use Blot the Sky (on Toshiro, of course) to spend that 2 focus on a Hail of Hachinosu attack (or Rapid Fire, then focus, then Hail of Hachinosu in the end-phase, if you prefer). Against Undead and Constructs, Kang will also give them  to attack and damage on top of all of that, so they become even more dangerous.