Mikes' Journey Into Ten Thunders

[Mikes]

So I had my first game of Maliafux in over year and just my second in two (thanks covid) last night, and I took the opportunity to try a new master and with Shenlong into Dreamer. I painted the faction over lockdown so was keen to try it out.

First impressions are Shenlong is a beast. He almost managed to kill Teddy in 2 actions, then did kill Copernicus in two, only taking 1 point of poison damage the whole game.

We only managed to get to the end of turn 3, because my first game back and my opponents first game of 3rd Ed, but I'm very much taken by Shen.

This was the biggest crew I've ever put on the table with ten models. The crew was entirely in keywork (Shen, totems, Yu, HRM, LRM, 2 x WRM, 2 Thunder Archers). I was a bit disappointed by the LRM's healing output, but I did fluff his roles, which were offset by the amazing flips for Shen and Yu's melee attacks. And the two WRM's did not last long, but that can probably be put down to my poor use.

Score at the end of turn3 was 4 points to 3 in my favour. Had we reached turn 5 I think I would have run away with it. My opponant had lost Teddy, Copurnicus, two Stitched Togethers and one of his totems, and there was nothing stopping me from continuing to score my vendetta points and one scheme definitely, and probably both. However I will say my opponent was still new to the edition and was very unfamiliar with his crew, so less patting myself on my back as would otherwise be the case.

 

 

 

 

[Jinn]

The Low River Monk is great because you can use the healing aura for the chip damage and then save up all of your chi for a nova heal when you need it. If you just walk + concentrate on turns 1 and 2 then you'll have minimum 5 chi on turn 3, which you can use to walk + heal a model 13” away 6/7/8 health, which is insane.

You absolutely want to have a way to guarantee that trigger to get the most out of the LRM, so either save any moderate rams you see or plan to use the aura on Shenlong's Low River Style to build in the suit.

Take a look at Terracotta Warriors for a cheap versatile option that'll take some pressure off your hand (and the other wonderful things they do).

Also note that if you punch an ally with Sensei Yu you can still declare the Good For a Laugh trigger to improve your hand, and then heal up the damage with the LRM. In fact, if you're okay with risking it, the LRM itself heals 2 when it activates, so you can hit it with Yu for the card draw. Just be careful not to flip severe!

[Mikes]

Good tips, thanks. I was trying to figure out how to get the most Chi onto Shen. He ended up wit much more than I needed. But learning how far tp push what abilities is part of learning a crew. Loading up the LRM does seem to be moved up the priority Queue. I ended up having to burn a Severe on Yu's Juggernaut to keep him up which wouldn't have been necessary with a loaded LRM.

[basti]

I'm relatively new to Shenlong.

The thing I was doing poorly was activating Sensei Yu 1st, so I didn't have model with chi token to give out fast. Card hunger was stronger than willpower

2nd big mistake is not remembering all the abilities on the upgrade cards, most importantly: "This model and friendly Aspiring Student models gain....." So when Shenlong has Low River Style, models in aura of 3" of aspiring students also give out the same aura. Wandering river monks no longer need to flip/cheat mask.