Mei Feng missing something at 50SS

[keeperofgrudges]

So, I ran Mei's box (Kang, 3 Rail Workers, and the Emberling) plus a Rail Golem at 50SS, declared Faction as 10T... and a lot of upgrades, too many upgrades... I think.

Feels like I'm missing some staying power and board control, not to mention I'd like some more activations.

Is there anything in 10T that can give me a healing flip buff that works well with these guys? How are the little gamin dudes in this list as cheap Activations and board control/ friendly scheme planters...

Don't have the cards in front of me... any thoughts?

[osoi]

Metal Gamin are good additions and if you are looking at some cheap reliable board control Yamaziko works well also, plus you could look at adding some range support with Thunder Archers.

[Fenton Crack]

The Metal Gamin are only 4ss, so they may give you an extra activation or so in the end, and they have a 6" push with Magnetism. as far as staying power you may get that too because they are Hard to Kill, Armor +2, get Defensive stance without and have the Protection of Metal tactical to give Df6, but they do not hit quite as hard as the Rail Workers.

Looking at what you gave as your list, aside from losing Kang, is there any reason you do not want to run Mei as an Arcanist to further open up some options?

[rythos42]

I think Arcanist Mei is the way to go. Philosopher's Stone (flip for +Wp/Df, discard for cards), Imbued Protection (+1Df, discard to prevent 2 damage) and Imbued Energies (when killed draw 4 cards, discard for Fast) are brilliant and hard upgrade choices to make.

I definitely recommend the Metal Gamin - every list I make has 2-3 of them in there. They're good at holding things and staying put, and they're cheap enough that they give you extra bodies to perform non-killing tasks. Magnetism is great if you can use it, but mostly I avoid it - the only Constructs on most of my games are my own!

I then add a December Acolyte for some schemes, to get to places before my enemy.

And you wouldn't lose Kang - he's Foundry, so Mei can hire him out of faction.

[Argentbadger]

If you're looking for stuff with a direct synergy with Mei Feng (i.e. constructs or things that do Burning) then you're pretty much limited to the options you mentioned plus the Dawn Serpent. Ten Thunders have plenty of helpful options in wave 1 though. I wouldn't get too hung up on Rail Walker needing constructs though as there are plenty of other things Mei Feng can do to mess with the other crew.

Monks of the Low River are useful in theory for removing nasty conditions from your own guys and are as cheap as Metal Gamin if you're looking to pad your activations. Illuminated are great control pieces who hit hard. Thunder Archers are nice spot removal if you can keep them safe (though they do have an irritating anti-synergy with Vent Steam). Oiran have that ever useful Lure if you ever draw a high-ish crow or two and are cheap, non-threatening objective runners otherwise and Torakage are pleasingly independent and also great for interacting. Yamaziko can be amusing if you place her next to Mei Feng and Brace Yari while Vent Steam is up as almost any action taken against them is penalised, plus can take Smoke and Shadows if you're keen on the whole disappearing ninjas thing with Oiran and Torakage.

It sounds like your problem was having too many upgrades though if you had only 7 models on the table at 50SS.

[Joebill]

A wastrel perhaps? It's a 2 action to heal an ally with castoffs, but as long as it goes off you heal the rail worker for 2, and if you have the right suit (or just discard a trash card from your hand) you can teleport the wastrel around or take pot shots at people, or even heal him back up if ya need to. The look on my regular opponent's face when hard to kill has to be surmounted twice is worth it to me. You'd have to get McCabe's box i guess, but rail workers are excellent additions to McCabe's crew.

[Falconrider]

It sounds like you need to add some shooting to your crew. Fuhatsu, Thunder Archers, Ansatsu Sha even Gunslingers all help with board control.

Especially Fuhatsu (translates to misfire in English), he is a bastion for models to hide behind, especially weaker ones such as the archers and helps hide models you don't want lured.

I second the wastrels, for 4ss they are solid all round minion and has synergies with the Kamaitachi in regards to bravado and castoffs.

[vonevilstein]

For heals (other than wastrels) you need to look at the Tengu in wave 2 which will be finalised and tournament legal on Feb 10th - although you can download the latest stats from top forum board. He/she/it can dish out up to 4 Regen +1's (6 with fast!) - and this can be on one model or split as you see fit. The downside is that the extra 2 Regen +1's need a tome trigger. But for 4ss who cares.... GCT Studious do a really nice Tengu model for their game Bushido, which makes an excellent proxy until the Wyrd model is released.

If you go Arcanist you've got the Bleeding Edge Tech upgrade which you can stick on the Rail Golem and that dishes out Regen +1 to all minion constructs within 8" aura. Not as flexible as the Tengu but cheaper and less resource intensive.

[dgraz]

The Metal Gamin are only 4ss, so they may give you an extra activation or so in the end, and they have a 6" push with Magnetism. as far as staying power you may get that too because they are Hard to Kill, Armor +2, get Defensive stance without and have the Protection of Metal tactical to give Df6, but they do not hit quite as hard as the Rail Workers.

You can increase their hittiness a little bit by using Protection of Metal on each other.........considering (what I think it is) the loop-hole on that spell........Starting fairly close together, they cast Metal on each other, then they can split up and go wherever they want. They are always in range of a friendly Metal Gamin (themselves) so the spell never ends, and they are always attacking someone that is engaged by a friendly model with the Metal condition (again, themselves).

This also increases their staying power, as now they are always Df 6.