New to Malifaux, Ten Thunders

[Shintoninja]

So choosing to return to table top gaming and Malifaux was a thoughful decision. 

However the purshase of my first crew and  support box not so much. 

I picked up Misaki crew and a box of Tengus. I have always loved the mythology of Tengus and the Ototo model if utterly fantastic. 

All Oriental culture in general is of interest to me so Ten Thunders is a great aesthetic choice with the Outcasts a close second. 

 

That being said I have no game play experince and am wondering what models should I be looking to purshase next and for what reasons. 

I am not highly compeitive but enjoy providing good competetion.  

So any crew building suggestion and advise is completely welcome.  Please explain in layman terms. I don't fully grasp the lingo. 

I fully intend on using Ototo as much as possible but will not completely restrict myself to it.  

 

Thanks for your time and look forward to your respone. 

 

[Valgaav]

Shen Long and Sensei Yu are definitely your next place to go.  They embody the 'asian monk' concept, and are generally considered to be the most competitive, if also the most complicated, options.

Ten Thunders Brothers are secret warriors in a very different way than the Torakage, and are generally considered good because of their versatility and ability to tank damage.

Jorogumo work well with Ototo, as well as Misaki, because they are Last Blossom (Misaki's particular gang).  They can use smoke bombs to reappear all around the table, as long as Ototo is alive.  They're also Oni, in the classical sense, being giant spider demons right out of japanese myth.

Once you have Tengu and Jorogumo, Asami should be out.  She's not released yet, but will be Soon(tm).  Her bent is towards youkai and oni, forms of asian demons of which Jorogumo and Tengu are examples.

The Monks of Low River are all about 'soft styles' and being judo-monks, and make for incredible medics with a recently released upgrade.

The Dawn Serpent is literally an ancient chinese dragon.  It's also a very simple tool mechanically, giving up the versatility a lot of models in its point class have in return for being very accurate and defensive.

Yamaziko is a personal favourite, embodying the 'old lady who's secretly an amazing martial artist' trope, and also is good for holding smoke bombs in place of ototo.

The Lone Swordsman is everyone's friend, being a ronin on a death mission who is practically guaranteed to take out something your opponent wants to keep alive before he dies.

[Nikodemus]

Most important thing first: get a few games in. Figure out what you think your crew lacks and go from there. For terminology, when I say "beater" I mean someone who hits hard. "Scheme runner" is a guy who concentrates on your "get markers/models/interacts at X locations" schemes to get you points. "Scheme" is an objective you need to fulfil to score points. When I say premium/budget I mean in-game cost unless specified otherwise.

Misaki was the first box I bought and I've been mainly concentrating on "asian looking" Ten Thunders for now.

Re: Shenlong Crew Box. Sensei Yu is a great support piece for Misaki/Ototo, and High River Monks are decent enough despite the bad rap they get. I usually field a mix of one to three Torakage and/or High River Monks depending on schemes/opposition. They're not completely interchangeable but I've had similar experiences using both. Shenlong is also a really fun master to play if you enjoy his jack-of-all-trades style. But I don't think it's a high recommendation. If you just want to play Misaki for now, Shenlong is useless. Monks while neat roughly fill the same job as Torakage. And since you're not a competitive tryhard I really don't see the appeal of buying the box just for Yu. But if Shenlong interests you, and he is mechanically very distinct from Misaki making them a good master pair, go for it.

Do you have General Upgrade Deck 1? It comes with general upgrades for all factions, really good buy. There's upgrades there that really spice up your game. There's also General Upgrade Deck 2, which has a few neat upgrades. You want to get that too but I don't think it's similarly necessary right off the bat.

You lack shooters. There's a few options native to Ten Thunders. Fuhatsu is an expensive piece in both soulstones and $, haven't used him. Snipers are near universally praised. Archers are a bit fragile but can shoot into melee without hitting Ototo/Misaki, just bought them but can't comment yet. Samurai I've had lot of good experiences with, can also handle themselves in melee. Mean sword and optionally a high health pool.

Shadow Effigy is a cute little mini ninja. All around a solid cheap piece. Helps with marker based schemes, can buff any leader to stay alive longer and is simply a cheap resilient activation.

Yamaziko is a great multipurpose budget henchman. Free walk, high WP, immune to horror duels, min damage 3, blasts on demand, nasty discard trick, anti-charge. Does she sound stupidly awesome? She is. She also folds like paper bag. I personally really enjoy using her. With skill and finesse I get a lot out of her but I can't just throw her willy nilly and expect her to survive.

If you want even more beaters than just Misaki & Ototo, look at Izamu and Lone Swordsman. There's also Kang but he comes in a separate crew box (Mei Feng). Izamu is probably more similar to Ototo, being a big, expensive piece that hits hard. Unless you're collecting everything Ten Thunders, or prefer his rules/visuals over Ototo I'd skip. Great piece, but perhaps a bit redundant if you're set on Ototo (as I am). The Lone Swordsman is a bit more like Misaki than Ototo/Izamu. He's a scalpel not a hammer. He's got a trigger for every suit and with the right one he can kill anything. He's also a bit more fragile. Izamu and Ototo like tying up the enemy, being in the thick of it. Swordsman likes picking individual targets and removing them. He's also a reasonably cheap piece for his combat power. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of him. At his best he removed thrice his cost in models by the time he went down. Great complementary piece for any TT crew, whether they want something to supplement their big beater or a budget option to replace that big beater for a particular match.

Wandering River Monks are excellent premium scheme runners because they can "leap" (basically jump a large distance over other models/terrain) and still have their normal amount of AP to do what they like. Everything I've read indicates Tengu are excellent budget scheme runners. I reckon they'd complement each other in your arsenal, but right now if you want a sturdier scheme runner you can get by with Torakage and do well.

Few things I'm looking at, things you might want to look at, are Low River Monks and Ama No Zako. Low River guys remove conditions and can heal with an upgrade from Upgrade Deck #2. They're also dirt cheap which can be good for some schemes and are a wee bit sturdier than Tengu. Ama No Zako is a high cost henchman Oni that flies around at high speed, hits hard and does some nasty tricks while at it.

I don't have Jorogumo or Dawn Serpent, but some schemes really benefit from big beefy minions and these guys are it.

[newsun]

There is already some solid advice in this thread. I'd ask you what you are looking for in collecting?

What you buy next will be different if you're budget constrained vs planning to buy and play all masters at some point.

Another thing is to play games and then think about what you feel you're lacking. You may have a totally different play style than I do, so my advice might not work for you.

I did start with Misaki though at this point I own all the models in faction and many for infiltration too. Though, I've only played four of our masters at this point. Just knowing if you plan to pick up a second master can help us select models which work well in both to shore up weaknesses they both have. I'd point you at different models if Lynch was next vs Asami as an example.

I will say Misaki likes models who can hold their own as she does not really support and she enjoys getting pushed around to create new threats. Her box lacks ranged attacks too.

[Shintoninja]

Yes there has been some great advise from everybody. 

 

I returned to modeling after 18 years. Wyrd is not failing to deliver on challenging and dynamic miniatures.

I don't have a budget per say. I just don't want an astronomically high investment cost. I have plenty of other hobbies. 

As for collecting I'm not the only one involved. My partner also enjoys modeling and painting.  

Currently we are both on our first crews.  She will build and paint want she thinks is aesthetically cool.  Game play isn't a huge concern. 

I however want to body a soild crew. Currently looks like Ten Thunders and Outcast based. 

My local store has snipers, archers and samurai and the effigy. Also the 10T robot dogs. 

As the advise said Im thinking snipers or archers first.  I do lack long range fire. 

 

Thanks for the advise everyone. 

Take care

 

Edited November 12, 2016 by Shintoninja
My grammar sucks

[Valgaav]

As for Snipers or Archers, Archers are more thematic, but trade in killing power, defensiveness, range, and melee presence for versatility that vanishes as soon as they are engaged or die, which they are likely to do because of lacking defensiveness, range, and melee presence.

 

If you're looking for Ten Thunders and Outcasts, Misaki - the rebellious daughter of the Oyabun, the current de facto leader of the 10 thunders, and the disciplined whirlwind - is absolutely the way to go.  She can bring the aforementioned Jorogumo and Torakage into your crew in either faction, as well as Oiran.  I avoided mentioning Oiran, not because they're not good, but because they're what most westerners believe Giesha were, and it's an uncomfortable topic.  There's also the Wukou Raiders coming out soon, who quite simply make a killy Master even killier. 

 

The Effigy is an interesting choice, being part of The Metaplot - Someone tried to infiltrate all the factions by making puppets that embodied their concepts, forgetting that one of the Ten Thunders' core concepts is loyalty to the Ten Thunders, no matter who you may look like you're working for.  It's also a good cheap option - not an always-take, but when it can show up, it protects your leader and keeps your minions winning the game.

 

The robot dogs, the Komainu, are based on actual statues of lion dogs that were said in real life to be guardian spirits for places of importance - hence the name, translating out to Lion Dog.  In Malifaux, the "said in real life to" gets removed from that sentence, and they protect things.  Unfortunately, they're thematic to a very specific set of models and do better protecting them, and you don't have any of the Ancestors at the moment.

[newsun]

If you are leaning towards mixing outcasts with 10t, def get Ama. She can hit silly hard and what's not to love about a flying oni who eats little models.