Tell me a bit about the Masters..Lynch, Yan Lo, Mei Feng, McCabe, Shen Long and Misaki

[Merellin]

I'm doing it again.. I promised I wouldent, That I had decided.. But here I am, Running arround like a headless chicken.. I had decided to play Gremlins.. Then over the course of 5 days everyone starting the game in my group started discussing it, Two others wanted to play gremlins too, And they discussed the masters they wanted, And.. I dident order in time due to having to wait for my pay check.. And now.. i'm looking at Ten Thunders.. Ten Thunders have many awesome looking models I like, And.. I found, I actualy like the looks of most of the Masters.. So.. Tell me a bit about the Masters in the Ten Thunders? What ones are easy to play for a beginner, What ones are fun to play and face, What are their strengths and weaknesses?

[Lakshman]

Firstly, I'd recommend you read this topic:

It contains some decent insight into strenghts and weaknesses of masters. As for which ones are best for beginners... That depends on what exactly you mean by that. Misaki has pretty straightforward rules, but is not very forgiving when you make mistakes with her. McCabe and Lynch offer more gradual learning curve - understanding their basic rules is not very difficult, and when you master their tricks, they are really powerful. Shenlong is extremely versatile, but I wouldn't recommend him for beginners. I haven't played Mei Feng, Yan Lo and Brewmaster, but it seems to me that Brewmaster is not the best choice for the beginners, whereas Mei Feng and Yan Lo are OK.

[Tokapondora]

In a general sense, pretty much in order of difficulty to just pick up and play;

 

Easy

Misaki is incredibly straightforward, brings an decent crew with her that can be quite versatile. To a large extend she operates seperately from her crew, acting as either as harrasser or assassin picking off model after model of your opponent's crew while yours does their own thing (your schemes, most likely). The biggest trick here is to learn how not to or even when to overextend with Misaki. Her crew consists of a giant beatstick and three fast scheme-runners, so they play fairly well with most schemes.

Mei Feng is a brawler with some small combo-tricks that you can get the hang off in one afternoon. She brings a nice bag of tricks, a great crew of sturdy minions and an amazing henchman that can really fit in just about any crew. The biggest downside is that the entire crew save for Mei is slow as molasses and you're gonna need some extra units as without it you're gonna feel outpaced by everything your opponents do. 

Lynch, I'd say, is TT's most forgiving master. He brings some tricks that help keep your hand stable, get the most out of even the low cards you're dealt, and hits like a freight train. He, his Henchman/totem and minions all have damage tracks that can build up to a 4+ damage, and his minions are inredibly sturdy for their price. The one downside is that you can only use the minions in his crew with other masters. Mind you, great minions, but that's all you're getting if you're playing anyone other than Lynch.

 

Moderate

McCabe is someone who brings the best out of the units he brings along and speeds up everything around him. He's very versatile or rather, he a magnifier of his crew, which is as versatile as you want it to be. The downside is that your crew selection determines this versatility and if you're just starting out you might be a bit lacking in that. His minions are, well, fairly so-so in my opinion and his one decent henchman isn't quite gonna cut it. His tricks aren't particularly hard to learn, but to use them correctly requires some sense and familiarity with the game.

 

Hard

Shenlong is, I'd argue, the strongest master in TT. He can bend in just about any direction (gameplay-wise) during matches and do it very well. He can make up for his and punish your opponent's mistakes on the fly with a huge bag of tricks. The downside is that these tricks require a lot of knowledge of the game, a feel for game-flow, and most of all timing. He and his Henchman can buff and debuff your and your opponent's crews in various ways, even by just existing, and they can even go on a devastating streak of attacks if the game needs them to. The crew he brings is good, starting at some okay minions and finishing with the best henchman TT has to offer, who can really find a place with almost all masters.  

Yan Lo is someone who isn't necessarily difficult, but requires a lot of experience and insight in each individual game's layout to get the most out of him (need a real good sense of placement, not exactly forgiving when your judgement of you or your opponent is off, etc). Without that he will feel like an incredibly lacking master. Add to that the fact that, besides his amazing enforcer, all his minions are Resser only, and I'd say he is one of the worst picks to start out with, simply because it requires a lot of extras to get him to a functional level, and his box isn't gonna help any other boxes you're going for. His playstyle consists of buffing up at the first half of the game and then throwing himself in the middle of everything, jumping across the board and disrupting your opponent wherever he can.

The Brewmaster, a bit like Yan Lo, requires experience to work with and is difficult to use effectively. He revolves entirely around crippling the enemy's crew by the half-dozen debuffs he hands out in bubble around him, while his crew finishes off what he starts. The most annoying thing is that his box crew is entirely Gremlin-only, with only the Brewmaster being able to take them in TT. And I personally almost never even take his crew even when I do have the option. He is, in my opinion, the most fun TT master, though people seem to hate playing against him (might also be important, dunno how salty your group can get =w=).

 

That shouldn't mean everything though. Naturally you will grow into any master you play enough, some are just far more intuitive and easy to get into their groove with. It also depends on factors like preference for gameplaystyle, fluff, budget, all of that. If you seem to like the game I'd recommend going for 2 crewboxes quickly. One is not enough for full games, and each box and master come with a preference for a certain type of schemes (Malifaux is ultimately a game about choices, so having some will never hurt). 

What's going to be fun for you really depends on what sort of player you think you're gonna be and the types of people you're up against. Generally speaking, people are less thrilled to play against masters that snag control away from their units (think Brewmaster and Yan Lo), and some first encounters against harder hitting units can almost be traumatising (some people still groan in anguish/refuse to play some of my masters to this day). Usually, when playing against something you don't quite know yet, everything they do seems like pure magic. They can fly everywhere and do a thousand damage and disappear and turn you into pigs and etcetc. What you should try to do is run your opponent through everything you're doing so the both of you will have a general sense of what's going on. With a bit of context and limits described, there's hardly a master that, in my opinion, is unfun to play against. Only players. Dear god the players... (including myself here =w=)

[Merellin]

Thanks for the replies, Very useful information

My biggest problem is Malifaux have so many awesome models, And all I know is realy what I read on PullMyFinger and saw on battle reports on youtube (Oh, And 2 matches in the starter box) so I realy struggle to make up my mind, Because everything is just so awesome.. xD I think, I will sit down and read more on PullMyFinger, And discuss with my friends what they want to start, And maybe By the time the order day arrives I might have managed to decide.. xD

I'm realy looking forwards to building my first crew and joining this awesome game

[Skitt_Happens]

The above advice is pretty thorough, I just wanted to add in my personal experience.

I started by buying Mei Feng, Lynch and Misaki, then added McCabe. Yan Lo will be added soon, followed by Shenlong and Brew master. 

Mei I had heard was an excellent starting master, and in Arcanists she probably is. In TT I found I never had the tools to quite get what I wanted out of her. It took me about 6 months to really get my head around her in the true faction. Rules wise she is fine, but on the table as a new player she just felt a little ... damp.

Lynch was the opposite for me. Straight away I could see what he was capable of and the basic premise of what he does, but he bends the rules of the game, mostly in regards to cards. As I was trying to get my head around a new game system this hurt my brain. Coming back to him later I also saw many more options than I did at first.

I ended up playing Misaki exclusively for the first couple of months. She has definite strengths and weaknesses plays within the rules of the game. I lost a lot of games to begin with, but always had fun doing so.

[Mxbedlam]

I'm learning Shen Long in a campaign. Its interesting. I'd say that whatever crew you choose, first minion buys should be Ten T Brothers and Snipers. They are without a doubt the strongest minions in Ten Thunders and will find their way into quite a few of your crews. After that, its just a matter of who you choose to play. Shen Long seems to really hinge on the models in his crew as to what he is doing, so who you bring with him is key.  Sensei Yu is a huge boon to his crew, and honestly almost any crew you fit him in, because he can airburst models around the board, turning slower models (like Ototo) into decent strikers, and turning already fast models into speed demons.

[Merellin]

So, I have this big big problem.. I just cant decide who to play.. I'm running in circles between Gremlins, Ten Thunders, And Arcanists.. I have a horribly hard time making up my mind on anything... There is too many awesome models.. xD

I do realy like the looks of the monks.. All of them, High River, Low River, Fermented River, Wandering River.. They are all cool, Are any of them useful?

[Tokapondora]

Most important, I'd say, is picking a faction no one else is. Especially for a regular group diversity is key. 

As for the monks... well... I mean they're usable, but there are generally always models I'd prefer over them. I do use the occasional Fermented monk with Brewmaster, and I haven't gotten to try to the wandering Monks much though Im not exactly planning to either. You could always start with like Mei Feng and see whether you're being more swayed towards one faction over the other. 

Could you give us some hints on your preferences? What sort of game do you imagine prefering to play, do you like your crews to stick to a theme, do you care more for fluff and style or gameplay and function?

[Merellin]

Thats realy the question isent it? And I cant awnser it.. I realy dont know what I would like.. Maybe when I have played the game some I'd be able to figure out what I'd wanna play.. As it is, All I know is that I want something that isent to hard to learn with.. I like fluff, But wont be able to get the big rule book with the fluff untill next month (I want to get a crew box first so I can get started with my friends) I like cool looking models, And then gameplay kind of comes in third.. Atleast thats the order I chose in other games I play.

[Patzer]

TT Misaki isn't that crew independent as some people might have you think. Sensei Yu is her best friend, who can push her around and get other models Stalked. That is huge. She wants smaller models to take hits from Misdirection (Shadow Effigy, Shang), and she wants her beaters to get cards out of the opponents hand; like Snipers or a Samurai. She also likes to draw cards since Stalk requires you to discard. Thunder Brothers can help her with this, or Hannah who sports Arcane Reservoir. Rather than being independent of her crew, the whole crew is build to make her sing. That is at least how I tend to play her.

[Merellin]

I'm thinking of either Misaki, Or Ophelia from Gremlins.. Gremlins seem like fun, But at the same time I'd like to play humans for once and I do like the asthetics of the Ten Thunders faction (Will probably end up with multiple masters across multiple factions with in a year or two due to never being able to stick to something and wanting to have many options)

And it is hard to avoid factions others want to play because we are 8 people who are getting started, And I dont think anyone is intrested in Resurrectionists.. Two have already bought crew boxes (One has The Guild with, I think it was Lady Justice, And the other has Arcanists with Rasputina) The others, Like me, Havent chosen yet..

[Eclipse]

Ten Thunders is what you should start with if you want options; all Masters except Shenlong are dual-faction (all that are out, anyway). At the very least you will try out many models and different playstyles. Even if you do not particularly fall in love with any of those you will probably get an idea about what you want to play afterwards. I know I did, I started with Lynch in Neverborn, then Lucius and some Guild models (again Neverborn), then suddenly a guy was selling McGabe... Now I have most of TT and have had a lot of fun with painting and playing them.

[Merellin]

I must say, I'm suprised that Kirai isent a Ten Thunders dual-faction Master. She looks like she belongs in the Ten Thunders.

[Fetid Strumpet]

Being of Asian ethnicity does not = TT. Kirai does not belong to the criminal conspiracy, so she isn't a member.

[ArcticPangolin]

If you're looking at sticking with 10T and expanding into different masters I'd probably recommend starting with McCabe as he can get some great use out of many of the Minions in there; Illuminated, Rail Workers, Torakage, even Monks of High River. Yan Lo comes in handy for when/if you get Toshiro as he can potentially summon Ashigaru as well as buff Minions.

[InvokeChaos]

TL;DR Try Lynch or McCabe

My #1 choice for beginners: Jakob Lynch.

I could expound on the merits of Lynch for days, but let's sum it up:

1) Hits like a freight train with the right upgrades and is HYPER accurate with Play for Blood. So worst case you can always toss out a few points if your cards aren't the best.

2) Has card manipulation, which is REALLY powerful and helps you understand the concept of working with your hand, to make sure your cards ARE the best.

3) Huggy

4) Illuminated

5) ok seriously, huggy is a 0 stone henchman beater that with a 2pt upgrade can come back from the dead, which grants forgiveness for playing to aggressively. And Illuminated are just nightmares if they aren't handled and are in contention for best 10T minion. Play for blood makes both huggy and illuminated MONSTROUS.

6) Did I mention Huggy can come back to life? Yeah... I mentioned that.

Seriously, Lynch has all the tools to make you FEEL like you impact the game via killing. Which won't win you games per se, but you won't feel like you didn't accomplish anything either. His hand manipulation is parallel to none. His box is fanastic. He's easy to learn, but with plenty of depth and fun to his upgrades.

My #2: Lucas McCabe

1) He passes out upgrades while giving mobility

2) He is NO slouch in combat

3) Dismount is like a second life

4) He makes minions amazing... even if it's just by using his upgrade Badge of Speed to give them reactivate (which is ridiculously good with 10T minions)

5) Not too hard to learn, but lots of meat to his strategies. You can make a list of pretty much anything and he can help make it work/make it better.

McCabe has a lot of nuiance that isn't necessary for his base game: pass out gear and charge into things. But that's why he's really solid... just pass out gear and charge until you figure out the best way to use the gear and when/what to charge. He can literally take anything in 10T you want to take and have synergy with it. He's a top tier master that has a low bar of entry. Fantastic.

Sidenote

You mentioned being torn between gremlins arcanists and 10T. While it's not great on your pocket book, nothing wrong with just saying screw it, I want them all! Mei Fang is tricky, but can be run as a straight up beater at first until you nail down her tactics. Brewmaster is definitely complex, but just take the Pick Your Poison upgrade and use his obey. All you will use him for at this point is support for your dudes and card denial for your enemy. Still super effective and you can again just ramp up to more complex strategies.

My only word of warning is that the Mei Fang box has 2 great models and 4 decent models: Kang and Mei Fang are amazing. Foundry Workers and her totem are just ok. Not bad. But not great. Brewmaster is sensational, and his gremlin team is pretty awesome. His gremilns are awesome, but they require his upgrade to be used in 10T. So your playing down some points. And if you don't take that upgrade, his box is useless for 10T. Like literally. Nothing there can be used outside of brewie with his upgrade in 10T.

So just some food for thought.