Oiran

[scarlett fever]

Howdy folks,

 

So I'm a relatively new player, been playing Misaki in 2E and had perhaps 5 games now with her.

 

Really enjoying her, however I've taken Oiran every time I've played and I'm struggling to make them do anything much. They either get munched or I run them out of the way doing schemes, which is fine for a 5 point model I guess but I'd like to get some more utility from them.

 

The lure I've only used once and on my own models, I find the crow needed competes with Misaki's assassination trigger (or slow trigger on archers etc) and the other options always win out.

 

Their attacks are fairly ho-hum and I've tried defensive stance a couple of times but it seemed like expensive use of AP for little effect.

 

Maybe I'm not thinking the right way or expecting too much, dunno.

 

So how do other people use them?

[MR TORGUE]

I've had a few games against a friend who fields two alongside ronin and they can be extremely hard to shift at times.

He walks them up in defensive stance and hogs the centre board. With such a great defence flip opponents will often miss or failing this suffer negative flips for damage. Furthermore you can't charge them meaning you have to waste a walk action just to be in combat range with them.

Their 2 cost action can also be horrible since you can generate up to five attacks.

My overall experience of them was that they proved frustrating to move and dangerous if ignored. Their just so distracting for 5ss and really seemed more than worth their cost for what they could achieve in game.

[tadaka]

Unfortunetly after a LOT of games I have had the same results. I don't feel like they are worth there cost at all. I love the models but they just don't hold up to there soulstone cost imho.

[scarlett fever]

Thanks for the replies.

 

Guess I'm in Tadaka's camp at the moment. Pity as I also like the models, especially in a Misaki crew.

 

I find trying to hold the centre with defensive I'm not set up until turn 3 (negotiating terrain and the AP for defensive) and then they just don't survive. You can shadow stride them but you generally pull of one of those per turn, and because I field Torakage they get first dibs on this.

The anti-charge is meaningless against ranged attacks and by turn 3 you generally have enemys within melee range. They seem like utility models without enough utility.

The 2 AP attack requires a bunch of high cards in a row, I've never pulled it off effectively myself.

 

I don't want to be totally pessimistic though, I'll keep trying them out, there may be the perfect storm where they shine (perhaps reconoiter against a fear causing rezzer crew when I don't take archers) or just some synergy I'm overlooking.

[MR TORGUE]

Yeah fair enough; that was my opinion in fighting them but it really comes down to hiring them in games I suppose; I was playing Ramos against them too so they didn't get shot up in that instance.

I'm thinking of hiring them for my viks crew in the next game I play; hopefully I'll see something useful there and repost my results. ;p

[DeleteAccount]

I've used them a few times, but the incredibly unreliable Lure that happens to need  suit important to the rest of the crew and them frankly having nothing else of interest in the card outside of their ml attacks makes them very underwhelming. Had they been like beckoners with a Ca of 6 but both suits, they would get a lot more use, but being able to charge 8" is not much of a selling point as far as I'm concerned. I mean, the +1 wp is nice of course, but that's about it and if you want to control the table more, a ten thunder brother will serve you better most times.

[Gorbad]

I use them occasionally with Colette and I really like the no charge ability and the double defensive and their statline makes them quite resilient in my experience. Or maybe resilient is the wrong word, but often more trouble than it's worth for killing, meaning they can lock down specific areas and accomplish schemes. To me the main reason to hire them is not lure, despite what you might think, but their defensive upgrades. It can really slow your opponent down or demand resources far in excess of what they want to spend on a 5ss model to get them out of the way. And the +1 wp can be very important against some crews. And their attacks, while not amazing, are not bad either.

 

One thing about their defensive stance boost though. I generally only do it once I'm in position. If you can only walk once a turn they are too slow to get there, but walking twice in turn one means you can influence anything on your half of the board and a bit into the enemy half on turn two. For a model that can be really annoying to try and get rid of that can be very useful for any strategy that isn't reckoning.