Shenlong vs. Zoraida 11.16.19

[Forgotten]

Ten Thunders vs. Neverborn
Shenlong vs. Zoraida
Shenlong - 7ss
2 Aspiring Students 
Minako Rei
2 Katashiro
Sensei Yu
Yasunori
Low River Monk
Vs.
Zoraida - 4ss
Bad Juju with Inhuman Reflexes 
Grootslang
Vasilisa
Spawn Mother
Will o’ the Wisp

Strategy: Malifood Scenario One: Holiday Shopping 
Scheme Pool: Breakthrough, Outflank, Dig Their Graves, Hold up their Forces, Deliver a Message 

Ten Thunders: Breakthrough and Outflank 
Neverborn: Hold up their Forces and Breakthrough 

Standard Deployment 
The map included several buildings mixed with two severe, hazardous areas and two severe, dense forested areas. On the map three 50mm severe, dense trees were equally spaced along the centerline. Around each of these trees were evenly placed four 30mm size 0, severe present markers.

Holiday Shopping Strategy awards 1VP every turn after the first for each team that acquired as many present markers as the turn number. Each present can also be opened for a chance at a healing flip and/or more present markers.

Turn 1: The Thunders are deployed towards the sides of the map with most of Neverborn crew looking to make a rush at the middle with a scheme runner wide on each flank. The Grootslang moved to deny easy pickings of the present markers that Shenlong, his students, Sensei Yu, and the Low River Monk were moving towards. A Silirud ran out on the other side of the map and screeched loudly enough to distract the Katashiros and Yasunori. Minako laughed at the cute swampfiend. On the other flank Sensei Yu Wind Blasted The Grootslang back towards Zoraida, then a drunk Shenlong popped Grootslang with The Dragon’s Light twice and blasted Zoraida each time. The Grootslang decided to call it a day.

Turn 2: The Neverborn team win initiative. The silirud screeches and the katashiro each assist in refocusing Minako and Yasunori before they engage the silirud. Yasunori charges a butterfly jumping silirud and pops back to claim part of outflank while Sensei Yu moves into position on the other flank. We learned that Sensei Yu’s Laugh Off ability does not deny a walk commanded by Zoraida’s Obey. If he had Unyielding, then he could refuse to move after an obey. However, even if he did move, the Low River Monk was in position to help claim the first point of Outflank. Both Katashiro had picked up a present, a summoned wicked doll and Bad Juju had picked up presents, so both teams score a point for the strategy. 2-1 Thunders

Turn 3: Thunders win Initiative. The Spawn Mother charges Minako but does not continue once Minako reveals her Karmic Fate. The Spawn Mother drops another set of eggs and eats it to heal. Yasunori charges and kills the Spawn Mother. The Will o’the Wisp lures a student towards hazardous terrain. Minako charges and kills a Wicked Doll and the Silirud but meets her end when Vasilisa’s Stitched Together Gambles Fate which actually takes two attempts as the first backfires. Zoraida moves Bad Juju into range and through him obeys a Katashiro to attack Yasunori using the Oni’s flicker. The other Katashiro moves into the Neverborn’s deployment zone to claim the first point of Breakthrough. Sensei Yu moves up to pick up a present, Vasilisa  and Bad Juju pick up another present, so both teams score another strategy point. 4-2 Thunders

Turn 4: Thunders cheat to win Initiative. The Katashiro that had started beating on Yasunori moves back into position to claim outflank and be out of range of Zoraida’s Obey. Zoraida Obeys Bad Juju to charge Yasunori. Yasunori lives through it and denies two attempts at being Obeyed. Yasunori moves out of range of Bad Juju, and flies to the other side of building and charges some Gupps. They stand strong against the Yasunori’s flailing blades. The Breakthrough Katashiro continues dropping scheme markers in preparation for the second point, but Bad Juju positions himself in a clean up position. Shenlong turns into a master healer and moves into a position to heal Yasunori and his last fast student does the same and between the two of them, Yasunori is healed from three left to full. Sensei Yu passes off a present to Shenlong and picks up another to get the strategy point, while Vasilisa picks up another present to get Neverborn’s strategy point. Another Stitched together moves up to engage Sensei Yu, while Vasilisa moves into engagement with Yasunori. 5-4 Thunders

Turn 5: Thunders cheat to win Initiative again. A drunken Shenlong pops the Stitched Together before he Gamble anyone’s Fate and then he picks up another present. The breakthrough Katashiro schemes and moves again, but thinks she’s good to move into engagement, thinking she’ll block any other attempts of denying the scheme by picking up the markers. However, she forgets she’s holding one of the five presents her crew needs to hold to score the fourth and final strategy point. She stands strong against a charging Gupps, but falls under the charge of Bad Juju. However, while the Thunders were denied a strategy point, the Neverborn are not able to claim the second point of Hold Up Their Forces or the fourth point for the strategy. 7-4 Thunders Win!
 

[Forgotten]

Copied and pasted above from Google Docs. Not sure how to fix that. Oops!

[thatlatinspeakingguy]

6 hours ago, Forgotten said:

Copied and pasted above from Google Docs. Not sure how to fix that. Oops!

by clicking on a "paste as a plain text" option which appears in the bottom left corner 😉

[Ogid]

Ty for the report!

8 hours ago, Forgotten said:

• Minako Rei
• 2 Katashiro

20SS? Here we go:

Mind you can include scrap/shadow markers and summon them in game

[Forgotten]

3 hours ago, Ogid said:

Mind you can include scrap/shadow markers and summon them in game

Yeah, I thought about taking one and using it’s death for the scrap marker, but I needed it for scheme running and couldnt guarantee Minako would be nearby. I’ve used her with obsidian statue and got the scrap markers from him, but if opponent dodges hitting him then no scrap is generated. This is the first game where Minako somewhat worked for me. She was killed by Stitched Together so there was no way to put up her Karmic Fate. hate those things.

[Ogid]

2 hours ago, Forgotten said:

Yeah, I thought about taking one and using it’s death for the scrap marker, but I needed it for scheme running and couldnt guarantee Minako would be nearby. I’ve used her with obsidian statue and got the scrap markers from him, but if opponent dodges hitting him then no scrap is generated. This is the first game where Minako somewhat worked for me. She was killed by Stitched Together so there was no way to put up her Karmic Fate. hate those things.

There are a few ways to generate scrap markers or shadow markers reliabily (requing only passing a duel or a suit).

• Scrap: Obsidan Oni, Dawn Serpent or Huckster. Also Anakame or Luna, but those require playing a second master.
• Shadow Markers: Ototo or Torakage (and Misaki)

With the 12 SS of those 2 Katashiros, you may afford a Huckster and a Wandering monk for example; or even Ototo. It requires a bit of work in turn 1, but you end with 2 Katashiros and another model(s). And Shenlong + students may use the wandering style to push them forward in the first turn even if Minako+X spend their 2 actions generating Katashiros. 

In fact the list of the winner of UK nationals used that same idea.

To handle the stitched take in count it's still a damage flip, use something with armor, shielded or hard to wound to reduce the damage or put the damage flip with a negative. Also it has 6'' range and they move 5, any 12'' gun outrange it. It's unlikely a Stitched may use gamble your life more than once, monks have a lot of healing that may be used to patch attacked models; don't let the damage pile up. Minako without any kind of damage reduction and relying in high defense and a defensive trigger is the kind of model that is better keep away from them (mind also she may use SS to reduce the damage)

[Forgotten]

19 minutes ago, Ogid said:

To handle the stitched take in count it's still a damage flip, use something with armor, shielded or hard to wound to reduce the damage or put the damage flip with a negative. Also it has 6'' range and they move 5, any 12'' gun outrange it. It's unlikely a Stitched may use gamble your life more than once, monks have a lot of healing that may be used to patch attacked models; don't let the damage pile up. Minako without any kind of damage reduction and relying in high defense and a defensive trigger is the kind of model that is better keep away from them (mind also she may use SS to reduce the damage)

I setup the monks on the left, and Minako, Katashiros and Yasunori on the right. Hindsight, with Zoraida bringing Vasilisa, I had other options for Scrap Marker generation. Even not knowing that I think bringing another LRM instead of 2 Katashiros, would've been better. Give her the healing she needs. And maybe use the 2ss savings to give her Silent Protector upgrade. The Challenge Bonus Action would probably have been used more than her normal one, because Zoraida's Crew always had more cards than I did.

Thanks for the thoughts!

[Forgotten]

7 hours ago, thatlatinspeakingguy said:

by clicking on a "paste as a plain text" option which appears in the bottom left corner 😉

Hmm, I tried it again... fixed a little bit of the problem, but still having white background with black text. Could not find the "paste as a plain text" option you refer to. But thanks for the suggestion. I'll keep working on it.

[Ogid]

3 hours ago, Forgotten said:

I setup the monks on the left, and Minako, Katashiros and Yasunori on the right. Hindsight, with Zoraida bringing Vasilisa, I had other options for Scrap Marker generation. Even not knowing that I think bringing another LRM instead of 2 Katashiros, would've been better. Give her the healing she needs. And maybe use the 2ss savings to give her Silent Protector upgrade. The Challenge Bonus Action would probably have been used more than her normal one, because Zoraida's Crew always had more cards than I did.

Thanks for the thoughts!

I'm glad it helped . Some extra thoughts:

Agreed with the silent protector, that's annoying in her and some extra healing would benefice her a lot. The other player will want to kill her fast to avoid having also a Wanyudo running wild; and those will make that much harder for him. Extra healing is also good to use the Yasunori's revel ability.

Katashiros are great summons, but I'd had hired Wandering monks instead of them if I wanted a model for scheme duty in a Shenlong crew. They cost 5 instead of 5+1; are faster, fight better, have better defensive stats and abilities... the Katashiro is better to double scheme tho, a wandering needs a 5+ to do it. Hired Katashiros aren't a good choice into crews with Obeys unless Asami is also present because the flicker can be used against them (and in fact they can be one shooted if the Unnatural Speed trigger is used as they would gain 3 flicker)

Sensei Yu has a nice kit, but he is primarily a tanky support for monks. I'd pick him in a crew with more monks where his "Brutal Sensei", "Shouting Orders" and "A simple lesson" have better targets (HRM, FRM, Charm Warder, Archer...)

Even with IR, Shenlong may kill Bad Juju (it's not that easy if he is at full wounds, but it's doable; much easier with 1 student near); that's not something worth it in this pool but it's good to keep in mind if the right situation arises. Spawnmama and Vasilisa are also easy preys for him.

And if in your meta is allowed, consider double master versus Zoraida; that's another model she won't be able to obey. Misaki, McCabe, Lynch or Asami could be good second masters versus her.

Also, versus Zoraida or models with df triggers consider Masked Agent in Shenlong. Unnerving Presence just counters her regret trigger; which is the only thing that keep her alive versus mele beaters. Stunned is another way to get rid of that (like Misaki's "omae wa mou shindeiru" trigger in her bonus action or Lotus Eater's "Stunning Strike" trigger, this last one will still be affected by the trigger, but he'll leave her vulnerable for shenlong)