Shenlong blitz

[Inquisitor Wall]

just curious if anyone else has been using Shenlong to set up numerous turn 1 charges, and then clean up.  Basically using wandering river, pushing 3 beaters and giving them fast.  Lone swordsman, samurai and joromugo are my favorites. This also combines well with air burst from Yu to cover even more of the board. From there, I take out the most important models from the opponents crew then use the rest of the turns dropping scheme markers with peasants and brothers.  

Just curious if this is a pretty standard way to play him, or if players have found it better to play the slow grouped crew with him.

[Stranglelove]

I've had great success with Thunder Archers and Blot the Sky upgrade. Toshiro and Kang make that even sweeter in the right situations. Doesn't help with schemes, but it picks off anybody who dares to get close.

Edited September 14, 2015 by Stranglelove

[EnternalVoid]

I imagine this could work against certain masters or crews, but at the same time it could quickly turn against you.  If your enemy has Braced, severe terrain, nasty range attacks, or something like Pandora things could potentally go quickly wrong.  I imagine it quickly comes down to the player's play styles.  I am well known in my group for liking to get the party going turn 1 while I know others that prefer not to do anything risky turn 1.

[Rurouni Benshin]

I get the impression that Shenlong plays best at board and model manipulation/movement.  That said, he's good at just about all the Strategies, and there are very few Schemes he can't do well.  However, I'd be cautious about bringing him against certain factions/Masters.  Like EnternalVoid mentioned, one faction in particular is Neverborn.  Shenlong doesn't have great defenses against the Ca attacks against Wp that the majority of the Neverborn Masters can dish out.  Against factions that tend to target Df more, his crew would fair better.  That isn't to say he can't beat a Neverborn Master though, it's just that in my experience I've had considerable difficulty using him against the faction.

As for my experience with that playstyle, I've played it before with pretty good success.  I start the game with the Peasants casting "Gifts of the Temple" for the +1 Focus on Shenlong (not that hard when you've got 2 of them)  Then when Shenlong activates, he switches to Wandering River Style, and pushes one or two of my heavy hitters up the board.  Sensei then gets his turn to "Airburst" them, moving them effectively 10" before even activating.  With luck, you'll have 2 beatsticks 10" up the board, both with "Fast" and ready to engage combat.

In a tournament last month, I played this crew against a Sonnia lead crew and managed to Assassinate her on Turn 1.  Granted I don't believe my opponent was using her as well as he could have, but even if I didn't kill her, it definitely got me close enough to make an impact early on.

[santaclaws01]

I get the impression that Shenlong plays best at board and model manipulation/movement.  That said, he's good at just about all the Strategies, and there are very few Schemes he can't do well.  However, I'd be cautious about bringing him against certain factions/Masters.  Like EnternalVoid mentioned, one faction in particular is Neverborn.  Shenlong doesn't have great defenses against the Ca attacks against Wp that the majority of the Neverborn Masters can dish out.  Against factions that tend to target Df more, his crew would fair better.  That isn't to say he can't beat a Neverborn Master though, it's just that in my experience I've had considerable difficulty using him against the faction.

Pretty much. Neverborn have a lot of Wp shenanigans, and while 10T isn't lacking in decent Wp, Shenlong doesn't have any way to help them defend with Wp like he does with Df and giving it to people as a (0), however you can just turn your crew into a gunline crew and not have to deal with it as much.