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"My Kung Fu is Greater" 50 SS Shenlong vs. Brewmaster


MyMetalPony

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MyMetalPony vs. Mister Tezla

Setup:

-50 ss

-Standard Deployment

-Stake a Claim

-Line in the Sand

-Breakthrough

-Bodyguard

-Plant Evidence

-Power Ritual

Crews:

MyMetalPony:

-Shenlong (Cache 2)

-Monk of Many Styles (Cost 3)

-2 peasants (Total Cost 6)

-3 Thunder Brothers (Total Cost 18)

-3 Thunder Archers (Total Cost 21)

-4 ss pool

Schemes: Bodyguard and Breakthrough

Mister Tezla:

-Brewmaster

-Apprentice Wesley

-Whiskey Golem

-Fingers

-Lenny

-Slop Hauler

-2 Moon Shinobi

-5 ss pool

Schemes: Breakthrough (unannounced) and Plant Evidence

I must confess that I don't remember the play-by-play of this game, partially due to my lack of familiarity with Gremlins. I wasn't quite sure what they were doing while we were playing, so I am having a great deal of difficulty explaining to anyone else. I will tell what I do remember and give the highlights, but my focus this game was on getting a feel for Shenlong.

Turn 1:

-MMP wins initiative

-Shenlong uses Powerful Chi to 0-act Mastery, gives himself Poison 1. MMP misreads ability, neglects to pick a second condition.

-Peasant activates. Gives Shenlong an additional Poison 1, walks.

-Whiskey Golem uses nimble, moves forward, uses Good Craftsmanship to increase df to 7.

-Other peasant activates, gives Shenlong another Poison 1 for a total of 3, then walks.

-Lenny throws a pig at Whiskey Golem,dealing 1 damage and triggering Oh, It Survived. Mister Tezla summons a pig.

-Shenlong activates. 0-acts Monk of Many Styles to equip Wandering River Style upgrade. Takes Focus action, uses 1-act Mighty Gust, reducing focus to 0, to push ThunderArcher a total of 4 inches forward. Walks.

-Remainder of turn devoted to positioning on both sides. One Thunder Archer walks, 0-acts focus dueto Knowing the Wind and Stone, which results in Focus 2 due to Thunder Archer's ability. Attacks Whiskey Golem for severe 4, reduce to 3 by armor.

Turn 2:

-MMP wins initiative.

-Powerful Chi: Shenlong 0-acts Words onthe River, dropping poison to 0 to draw 3 cards and then discard 3 cards.

-Thunder Archer 0-acts Focus, getsFocus 2. Uses Rapid Fire to attack Whiskey Golem. First attack severe, second attack misses, third attack severe, kills Whiskey Golem.

-A lot of poison is handed out my Mr.Tezla's crew, and a lot of pushing is done. Two scheme markers are dropped for Plant Evidence.

-Moon Shinobi push into position, deal huge damage to a Thunder Brother.

-Peasants walk and give Shenlong Poison1 and Focus 1.

-Shenlong activates, 0-acts Mastery for Poison and Focus. Uses Mighty Gust and drops Focus to 0 to push a Thunder Brother up the side of the board toward Mr. Tezla's half.With remaining two AP, walks into wooded terrain.

-Thunder Brother who was pushed into position drops a claim marker.

-Second Moon Shinobi attacks Thunder Archer, kills him.

-Last Thunder Brother takes shelter in wooded terrain.

-Lenny throws pig at Thunder Brother who is moving up the side, another at the Archer who downed the Whiskey Golem.

-Unaware of Small Target, MMP tries to use a second archer to kill the pigs. Misses both attacks.

-End of turn two: Thunder Brother dies from Poison. MMP gets 1 point for Stake a Claim. Score is 1-0.

(Summary of turn two, in MMP's words:“The gremlins got drunk and stumbled around and then one of them punched me and it was terrible.)

Turn 3:

-MMP wins initiative.

-Powerful Chi: Shenlong 0-acts Mastery to give himself Focus and Poison 1.

-Shenlong activates. With focus 1, is able to hit the pig engaged with the Thunder Archer and kill it.Moves out of woods and toward Mr. Tezla's side of the board. Takes cover behind a building.

-Brewmaster lures Thunder Brother out of the woods and into engagement with himself, a Moon Shinobi, and Fingers.

-Thunder Brother kills the pig he is engaged with due to a lucky flip, moves farther toward Mr. Tezla's side.

At this point there was some more positioning done and a couple of inconsequential fights, but shortly thereafter we had to call the game, as the store was closing.

-End of game: MMP gains another VP for Stake a Claim, has nothing yet for Breakthrough or Bodyguard as it is only turn 3. Mr. Tezla gains 3 VP for Plant Evidence, but concedes to MMP on the grounds that, had the game played out, it was likely that he would have won due to VP from his schemes.

Thoughts:

-How does I gremlin?

-Shenlong is a magnificent support master, the first one I have really enjoyed playing. My initial reaction, especially at the beginning of turn 2, was that his Knowing the Wind and Stone ability was too powerful. However, once Mr. Tezla got into engagement range with me, thus eliminating the advantage of my Archers, it turned into a very intense game. He is easily the most versatile master I've ever played, rather like if Von Schill traded in some of his striking power for additional tricks. The fact that he can make his totems take interact actions is quite impressive, though I was not able to take advantage of the ability this game. Overall, Shenlong is a master who requires some buildup, but has a huge payoff once everything is in place.

Based on this game, the only thing that really needs to be cuddled is the Peasants' Provide for the Temple ability. The fact that they can hand out Focus like it's nothing is a bit absurd. Mr. Tezla and I agreed that it should require a TN 10 check, just so it has a slim chance of failing or of making you waste a card from your hand to do it.

Overall, I highly enjoyed playing this crew, and it seems fairly well-balanced. Perhaps some minor tweaks are in order, but overall he is an interesting and fun master for both sides of the game.

Edited by MyMetalPony
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Nice report, thanks very much for sharing it. Shenlong looks like a lot of fun to play; I'll be interested in seeing how he finally works out. I suppose that this should be in the beta forum though.

Incidentally, as Thunder Archers don't randomise into combat there's no particular problem with having the enemy crew up close and personal as long as you can keep them off the Archers themselves. Perhaps that wasn't your meaning.

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You could also take only one peasant, then using the Chi ability summon an additional peasant.

Just something I noticed. Interesting that you did not take a Henchmen with the crew. In my (single) game with Shenlong, I found that Master Yu performed very well for pushing models and gaining the focus condition on himself.

Good write up. I will try a similar build on a crew next weekend.

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