Help: Support Shenlong

[Max]

Hey guys*girls,

I'm looking for new models supporting my shenlong crew, and I'm not shure about my decission.

Normally I play him with Sensei Yu (of course), almost every time with a Katanaka Spinper (greatest field cover), Jorogumo or Lone Swordsman for damage, Yamaziko to hold terrain (or the turf marker), Oiran (lure is nice), and torakare for sceme running.

I really love the asian monk fluff, so I plan to buy the wandering river monk box - the seme to be incredable fast - and the tengu box (fast, flying and great wiht the wandering river style, push + place marker new, I think).

So, what du you think?

Maybe tengu an wandering river monks are usefull for simular tasks on the field so I finally just pick one of them? What are your faorite combinations with shenlong? especially in case od the other stly-monks?

Thank you for you wise advice - I love ten thunders, but I'm far away from beeing an effective player

[thatlatinspeakingguy]

1 hour ago, Max said:

So, what du you think?

I think it's a bad idea. What are you trying to achieve with these purchases? What your current crew is lacking? Do you have problems with schemes requiring scheme markers? If so, Ten Thunder Brothers should be your next purchases - they're much more resilient than Tengu and you need only one of them, while Tengu works best in pairs. As for Wandering River Monks, I don't even know how do they look like. Seems they're just bad.

To put it shortly: Ten Thunder Bros are considered number 1 scheme runners across the faction. The only monk that I regularily see in Shen's crews (or in TT crews in general) is Low River Monk, the one which provides healing, condition removal and ridiculous card draw if combined with Emissary.

[Piccio]

Man you're taking many models that already have a good (0)ap (yorogumo's 3rd attack, lone's reactivate, yamaziko's brace....)

You totally waste Shen's free focus /free defensive as (0)ap near him.

 

Shen can be a good hitter if necessary, but usually he buffs and supports your crew with wandering and low river style.

He can push+fast+free focus atleast a couple of models each turn. This works pretty well with something like kang, izamu, lazarus (slow, tanky model with huge damage attacks).

 

I normally take the emissary over Yu, so I usually save 4SS for hiring a low river monk most of times and I prefer "upgrades users" while building crew.

I like Jebsen for a lot or reasons with Shen, not only because can be a 4ap beater with Ml6 and 3damage minimun..

 

Snipers and Wandering are ok for taking care about flank, in any case I do not hire both very often, my prefecence is strictly linked to scheme pool.

[Max]

Thank you!

[tomjoad]

For tengu v wandering rivers, I think you have to choose between them. You can take 1-2 tengu or 1 wandering river, but i think that's it. Especially since Shenlong+Yu are already quite good at putting markers down, you should have another use for them in mind if you take one, in my opinion. I often put a tengu in my Shenlong crews because they can use morning star to get around the field very very quickly and can threaten enemy scheme markers quite effectively.

I don't post on here that much these days, but I have written more than one essay about how much I love the 10T Brothers, so take this as a vote for adding them above anything else. I wouldn't worry much about taking models that already have good 0 actions 'wasting' the 0ap focus Shenlong can give you. That's a nice option, but it's just not that big a deal in my experience.

[Piccio]

You can also play Lynch without any synergy with deck dig and aces cycling (sub-obtimizing his mulligan and card advantage) or Mei Feng without any constructs (sub-obtimizing his railwalk) and still win. In any case the free focus / defensive aura is a really huge buff and it doesn't take any of your master AP. I really want to use everytime I can because the chance to cheat damage makes any duel a threat.  Def is also great: having 3-4 model in defensive at the beginning of turn 2 make losing the initiative flip less important. I usually take models with good (0)ap that have to stay far from Shenlong because flanking (pathfinder, wandering river monks, tt brothers...).

Tengu are nice removing enemy markers, anyway Shenlong can also replace marker away using mighty gust. I think I go for tt brother or wandering 90% of time because they can place up to 2 markers in their activation.

Anyway:

-models with high severe stat or blasts on damage profile are really good with him (due free focus)

 ....for example a fast emissary can go focus+2 at the beginning of activation, attacks, then go focus+1 due shenlong, attacks, attacks a 3th time (maybe others free attacks on any  trigger). 6+6+2(or more)+X damage avoiding incorporeal, engagement and cover with a good control hand and no black joker on the many cards you will flips.

-model with no important (0)ap benefit from him because they gain 1 ap for free.

-models with htk or lot of armor are preferable (you normally have time to switch low river style and heal).

-WK4 models benefit a lot from mighty gust.

 

[Adran]

Wandering river monk looks to me like a silurid, and those are one of the best scheme runners out there. But it depends on what you want them to achieve. Ten thunder brothers will protect schemes better, but won't be able to drop as many. 

I would use them all the time in stake a claim, and often in squaters rights especially with a diagonal center line. They are also useful for things like Breakthrough and leave your mark. 

[Erik1978]

I always thought Mei Feng was a SHE. 

22 hours ago, Adran said:

Wandering river monk looks to me like a silurid, and those are one of the best scheme runners out there. But it depends on what you want them to achieve. Ten thunder brothers will protect schemes better, but won't be able to drop as many. 

I would use them all the time in stake a claim, and often in squaters rights especially with a diagonal center line. They are also useful for things like Breakthrough and leave your mark. 

AND monks are just cool with Shenlong, I'm gonna play some games with all kinds of monks, just because. There are 4 kinds of monks, right? Low, High, Fermented, and Wandering?

[Nikodemus]

That's all. I like Low and Wandering. Fermented might be fun but looks corner case enough that I haven't prioritised hobby spending their way.

[bindi]

8 hours ago, Nikodemus said:

That's all. I like Low and Wandering. Fermented might be fun but looks corner case enough that I haven't prioritised hobby spending their way.

Low is too good with Shenlong to not get a game if you are taking the emissary, which should eventually be on your shopping list. Wandering is very good at they do, but I'll only take them if I think Shenlong will be busy.

I played last night with Burt Jebsen. A fast, reckless Burt with a trigger to shoot again can output a lot of damage, especially with recalled training. A LRM and shenlong can heal him up pretty quickly if he needs it too.

A yasanori is a handy way to maximize the output of a single sniper. Have a peasant make the sniper focussed. Activate the sniper, shoot, focus as a zero, shoot again. Have another peasant make the sniper focus. Yas can use his obey action to make his shoot a third time.

 

[Piccio]

Also Equality works fine on Burt