Out-of-keyword hires worth noting

[Nikodemus]

There's a lot of models in our faction. I thought it might be helpful to talk about models that may be of interest to people even out of keyword. Models that do what they do really well. Models that do something unique. Models that counter specific things. Models that synergise well out-of-keyword. If you've got play experience using model in question great, but this early I'm willing to go full theoryfaux if it's all I got.

Here's what I got:

Shenlong (Monk, 15ss) - Drunken Kung Fu reverses + and - modifiers, making his 2/3/5 damage track ok. Trigger to deal irreducible damage bypasses most damage reduction. Bypasses all -flip based defensive tech. Bypasses Demise and Hard to Kill on his 2/3/4b ranged attack. Unresisted condition transfer between two models within 8".

Jorogumo (Oni, 9ss) - Mark of Vengeance bonus action prevents a model from healing. Decent beater by itself.

Kabuki Warrior (Qi & Gong, 8ss) - stat6, 3/4/5 beater with 2" -wp aura. Stat5 lure. This guy is on my short list to test in wp heavy crews.

Charm Warder (Monk/Qi & Gong, 7ss) - Barrier to the Other World and Lantern of Souls are 5" auras that damage summons and shut down Demise Abilities respectively.

Thunder Archer (Last Blossom/Monk, 7ss) - Action to remove a scheme marker within 20".

Mr Tannen (Honeypot, 6ss) - Betrayal aura enemies within 6" can't cheat unless they discard first. Bonus action aura forces a low TN wp duel for non-Walk actions within 6". This guy empties hands. Easy to play poorly, but one of my favourites when done right.

Lotus Eater (Monk, 6ss) - End of Activation can remove a marker within 3". Has Threaten (8" 5 vs WP, gives Adversary (X) where X is keyword of your choice).

[Jesy Blue]

22 minutes ago, Nikodemus said:

Shenlong (Monk, 15ss) - Drunken Kung Fu reverses + and - modifiers, making his 2/3/5 damage track ok. Trigger to deal irreducible damage bypasses most damage reduction. Bypasses all -flip based defensive tech. Bypasses Demise and Hard to Kill on his 2/3/4b ranged attack. Unresisted condition transfer between two models within 8".

I've had this idea rolling around in my head of adding Drunken Shenlong to Qi & Gong and loading him with Distracted turn 1; hasn't fleshed out yet, but it's on the back burner

[zavros]

Gwyneth maddox (9) - can tarpit groups of enemies and draw you cards, impossible to kill with a couple stones. Good against factions that like grouping up like hamelin.

Definitely charm warder(7) - you want the anti demise aura against some factions, her exorcism trigger is more likely to be helpful against most summons than her aura

Misaki(15) - when you really want to score assassinate, giver her masked agent against slippery masters

 

[FrostHunter]

I would add to the list:

Sun Quiang - great healer, free assist action, sometimes nice schemer, 7 df, great triggers for Yin and Yang (stat 7 attack) and all for 8ss after tax. Great addition for the crew as support - tested with Honeypot and Qi and Gong.

Probably Sidir - 10ss after tax, brings nice shooting (but there is Fuhatsu and Samurai), but Analyse the weakness and Blow to hell against some crews gonna be devastating.

Maybe Huckster - 7ss after tax for quite soft model, but Secret Passage, False claim, maybe free soul stone.

[TheDefenestrator]

I think the geisha belongs on there too as a combo into other wp-heavy crews. you get a better lure and the same -flip wp aura as the kabuki, but lose melee output while saving 4ss.

 

Her slow+distract close attack combos beautifully with her aura, which can make them far more effort to remove than you'd think.

[Nikodemus]

I considered them, but I gave them a quick pass. 4wd, 4df with no ranged defence. Easy t1 sniper kill. Add in that in my experience, it's better to have a slightly smaller crew than slightly larger in the current rules, strats and schemes. For my purposes I will gladly pay double for the Kabuki.

That's all on paper for now of course. I do like the Sharp Wit & Distraction combo. Didn't realise that on my first read through of her card. Doesn't fix her dying to From-the-Shadows sniper t1 but I do like it.

[yames]

Speaking of from the shadows sniper

 

katanaka sniper should probably be on the list.

[Jesy Blue]

20 minutes ago, yames said:

Speaking of from the shadows sniper

katanaka sniper should probably be on the list.

If it wasn't 9 stones, a stealthed sniper would be required for every list.... right now it's just most lists.

[Cursed25]

isn't the katanaka sniper 8ss with out of keyword tax?

[Nikodemus]

28 minutes ago, Cursed25 said:

isn't the katanaka sniper 8ss with out of keyword tax?

7ss base, +1 for ook, +2 for Trained Ninja upgrade (gives 'Stealth').

I did like playing against Sonnia in Reckoning with two stealth snipers. Pew pew t1 without retaliation. But that was Last Blossom crew so "only" 18ss for the pair. But I don't know, cos' Samurai are a thing. Ook it's 10ss for Sniper vs 11 for Samurai if I want a stealth shooter. Not much of a choice for me. Unupgraded Sniper vs. Upgraded Samurai is 8vs11 which starts becoming a bit more even pick between the two.

[Dr Mittens]

Minako Rei specifically for Mei Feng is a great summoner.

Haven't tested it yet, but Youko's distractions can be quite useful for stalling to yan lo's later power.

The Geisha's are squishy but lure is useful at 5ss.

Rail workers lack mobility without scraps, but there are worse ways to move your other units early and have a slow bruiser like old graves.

[Nikodemus]

56 minutes ago, Dr Mittens said:

Minako Rei specifically for Mei Feng is a great summoner.

In an amusing fluff-meets-gametable situation I had a match where one flank was just Minako vs Manos. Ended with both still alive, but Minako had summoned a ton of Katashiro, all of whom Manos killed.

But yea she seems nice with Mei. Plenty of scrap around to summon from. And her karma trigger is a deterrent to beating her face in.

[Trample]

On 6/6/2019 at 9:02 AM, Jesy Blue said:

If it wasn't 9 stones, a stealthed sniper would be required for every list.... right now it's just most lists.

I'll spend two more stones and get a stealthed Samurai! 

[yames]

When it comes to the katanaka sniper I don't think I'd spend 2 stones to give it stealth. It already has from the shadows and can extend it's range to be quite a bit further then a samurai so it's A bit safer from counter attack.

[CD1248]

Kamaitachi makes a good cheap buy if your opponent declares a summoner. Draws you a free card per turn essentially, and even with the tax it still fights pretty well for it's price.

[Nikodemus]

9 hours ago, yames said:

When it comes to the katanaka sniper I don't think I'd spend 2 stones to give it stealth. It already has from the shadows and can extend it's range to be quite a bit further then a samurai so it's A bit safer from counter attack.

I made a special case against Sonnia, who shares Snipers' 14" range. I deemed it worth a try to spend +2ss to not get burned.

By default no, I most definitely would not spend +2ss for Stealth & Unimpeded on Snipers.

[Drowsheep]

On 6/8/2019 at 11:32 AM, Dr Mittens said:

Minako Rei specifically for Mei Feng is a great summoner.

Minako is versatile, I noticed while going through the new cards--so that's pretty awesome!  I don't remember if she was in beta or not, but I didn't think she was.

 

Some people are starting to mention Masters.  Which masters do we think work well together--and which would you make Leader vs which do you hire in?

I think it might be funny (though I have no idea how feasible or practical this actually would be) to have Mei Fang rail walk into combat and then have Asami turn the scrap she railed in on into Oni to back Mei up.

Similarly, I felt that Youko might work nicely with Misaki or Mei--giving them good support and hampering my opponent (both with card control and pass token/activation control) so that I can take down what I need to.

[Dr Mittens]

Minako wasn't versatile in beta, presumably they changed her to versatile to avoid the unintuitiveness of her being core to mei feng. 

As for masters, Mei feng and mccabe have a lot of synergies with their keyword, so they should be the leader of any crew taking them.

 

Misaki got shangs cost increased to nerf her power as a hired master. She's still great in the role for some schemes and pairs especially well with leader youko as pass tokens synergise well with misaki.

 

Haven't tested it yet, but I've heard good things about shenlong as a varied toolkit who also gets off solid damage through drunken style.

[Cursed25]

34 minutes ago, Dr Mittens said:

Haven't tested it yet, but I've heard good things about shenlong as a varied toolkit who gets off solid damage through drunken style.

Not just dmg! Hire Shenlong and his 2 totems and you have the best mobility boost in the game! with these 3 models and the Wandering River Style upgrade you can push any models 6'' while moving schemes/corpses/scraps markers! The Totems can do it once each and Shenlong can do it 3 times. All it cost is a chi token which they can get a lot. This will be game changing in a lot of situations!

 

You can use this ability defensively to move back to safety your models, give extra threat range to your beaters, get enemy models out of position, remove enemy schemes from where they need them, move your schemes to advantageous position. The benefits are just so high, I'm pretty tempt to buy his box just for him and his totems! ahah! Also since there's no TN every time you target your models, it just works! I think this is a bit overpowered and I'm pretty sure it will be nerf when people will start abusing it, because all the other ability in the game who can do movement shenanigans habitually have a TN 12ish.

 

Shenlong can do every thing you want! yes he's expensive but he will always be useful in all phases of the game! Need to bring down long range model who hides away? With one charge and the fermented river style he can move 11'' and attack! need to kill something big his high river style hits like a truck, you need healing, he can do it 3 times if he wants and bring anything back to full health.

 

His only weakness is his lack of real defensive tech, but TT has the perfect upgrade for him, Ninja training! Range abilities can't target him from safety and with his wandering river style, he get butterfly jump wich his a really good defense against melee beaters! If you are smart and use him cautiously, I don't see many thing able to brIng him down before he gets to kill it first

[Nikodemus]

12 hours ago, Drowsheep said:

Some people are starting to mention Masters.  Which masters do we think work well together--and which would you make Leader vs which do you hire in?

I've been really happy with Shenlong as a 2nd hire. Only when I'm counter picking against specific models, but still. He kills stuff dead.

[mattbird]

Rail Worker with Pneumatic Toss can place either 1 model 8-9", or 2 models 4-5." Seems well worth consideration at 6ss.