Damn, it’s
been a while since my last post! I make no excuses (real life… whatcha gonna
do?) so let’s dive straight into the update on my Ten-Thunders adventures…
As of
writing this I’ve had games with Misaki, Jakob Lynch, Mei Feng and Yan Lo.
Lynch has only seen one game thus far, in which I took a pretty standard
Brilliance-heavy crew. It did okay but it wasn’t super-exciting for me – not
quite mobile or flexible enough for how I like to play. I’ll need to try him
outside of his core models at some point (specifically to pile in any model who
discards for an effect! ;) ), but in the meantime I’ve got other Masters to
play.
Mei Feng has
also only seen one game thus far, in which I found out how horrible she can be
with Misdirection! One game isn’t enough to truely appreciate her though, so
she’s going to need to wait as well…
Yan Lo is a
Master I’ve disliked for a long time, but after some intense study and a few
more games, I’ve changed my tune. The tale of my Yan Lo adventures deserves a
post of it’s own however, so for now I’m talking about the fourth Master I’ve
been messing with – Misaki.
Out with the Rats, in with the Ninjas…
Having used
her regularly as an Outcast last year, I have a pretty good handle on how Misaki
works. As an Outcast I came to enjoy her playstyle, which basically seemed to
involve burning her upgrades and soulstones fast to Assassinate a bunch of
models, then playing more evasively while the rest of her crew gets the job
done. But playing her as Ten Thunders means I lose some of the tools I was
using almost every game with her, specifically Oathkeeper, Scout the Field and
the Obedient Wretch w. Rats. I’ve been forced to rethink how I approach using
her. Fortunately, the Ten Thunders Faction offers plenty of new tools to take
advantage of.
My standard
Misaki crew is currently something like this;
Misaki
- Stalking
Bisento 2
-
Misdirection 2
- On Wings
of Wind 2
Sensei Yu 9
- Low River
Style 2
Shang 3
Shadow
Effigy 4
Mr Tannen 6
- Smoke
Grenades 1
Yin 8
Samurai 8
- Favor of
Earth
At the
moment the last three models (Tannen, Yin and the Samurai) are the ones being
swapped out between games, depending on the strategy/schemes but also so I can
just try new models.
Game 1: Turf War vs Colette
The only
difference between the list above and what I took this game was swapping the Samurai
for a Lone Swordsman. My opponent went for a pretty standard Colette crew, with
Howard Langstone, a Coryphee Duet and Cassandra being the primary hitters.
With an
Airburst and (0) push from Shenlong, Misaki was able to charge and kill
significant chunks of my opponents crew from turn 1. Howard Langston was the
first to go, followed by a Performer and in subsequent turns, Cassandra, a
Mechanical Dove and I think one more performer. By that point the Lone
Swordsman managed to finish off the Coryphee duet, leaving Colette on her own
and sealing the game for me.
Game 2: Reconnoiter vs McCabe
In this game
I swapped Yin from the above list for a Katanaka Sniper. My opponent Kyle went with
a minon-heavy crew with various hounds, Wastrels a Witchling Stalker and a
Peacekeeper to make things go dead.
In turn 1 I
got a little too close with Misaki, giving McCabe a chance to Paralyse her and
then push an upgraded Peacekeeper close enough for a Flurry. She fortunately
survived and after winning Initative on Turn 2, managed to heal, remove
Paralysed and push her back to safety with Sensei Yu. Not wanting to deal with
her while in range of potential Misdirection targets, the Peacekeeper instead
went for the more isolated Katanaka Sniper (killing him easily) and Misaki went
straight for McCabe, managing to kill both him and his horse by Turn 3.
Pushes from
both Misaki and Sensei Yu got the Samurai into a commanding position on a hill
in turn 1, allowing him to let lose with his gatling cannon on most of my
opponents minions. With no Black Jokers flipped he killed 5 minions over the
course of the game, eventually finishing off Luna in melee and single-handedly
securing a table quarter on his own.
Game 3: Reconnoiter vs the Viktorias
This was a
40SS game so I was forced to cut my list down. Basically this meant swapping
Yin for the Katanaka Sniper (again) and dropping Misdirection, Mr Tannen and
Shang for a pair of Tengu. My opponent took a standard Viks crew, with Ronin,
Void Wretches, the Student and Vanessa.
Once again
Misaki got way too close to my opponents crew, this time copping a charge from
Blood Vik in turn 2. Once again Misaki just managed to survive, which sealed
Blood Vik’s fate and enabled Misaki to start tearing up the cheaper minions
trying to sneak up the flank. The Samurai and Katanaka Sniper helped take out
the void wretches, eventually making it safe for the Tengu to leap-frog their
way up the board and start taking table quarters. Eventually Ash Vik also fell
and there was little left of my opponent’s crew to claim VPs.
What I Learnt – Misaki loves her Crew
Back in my original post about
Outcast Misaki, one of my main impressions of her is that she tends to run
independently of her crew, and doesn’t really need their help to do her job.
I know now
that I was wrong. So, so wrong.
Maybe it’s
the new options available in the 10-Thunders, maybe it’s the wisdom of age, but
I see now that her crew composition can make a HUGE difference to how she
performs on the table. On her own Misaki is a decent, if fragile melee beater.
She can play evasive with Disguised or use Stalking Bisento to sneak up and
wallop one model at a time. But her biggest strength by far is her Assassinate trigger. Being able to wipe out enemy models with a single
swing is brutal, but to do that well she needs three things;
1. She needs
to get into melee with her target with a minimum of fuss
2. She needs
her opponent to have spent most of their cards
3. She needs
to survive the potential counter-attack.
With Diving
Charge and a good Wk and Cg value, Misaki’s pretty capable of getting into
melee under her own steam. But unfortunately her threat range is also easy for
your opponent to predict and ideally, you want to spend as much of your AP
charging and attacking, rather than walking into range. This is where push
effects from the rest of your crew (such as from Sensei Yu…) can really help,
since they reduce the risk of her actually having to walk and make it much
harder for your opponent to predict her potential threat range.
I could
write a whole article on emptying your opponents hand (and probably will at
some point…), but it goes without saying that Misaki’s Assassinate trigger
becomes much more dangerous when your opponent has no cards to discard and
prevent the insta-kill. This is the job of Misaki’s crew, and they can do it by
either using discard effects (eg. Tannen’s Cooler) or making attacks as early
and often as possible that your opponent will want to cheat.
I think one
of the traps you can get into when using Misaki is treating her like the
Viktorias – charge in, do as much damage as possible and hope her imminent
death was worth the model/s she killed.
As an Outcast I used to use the Obedient Wretch and Rats to at least
out-activate my opponent before sending Misaki in, but with 10-Thunders I
rarely seem to have the luxury of out-activating my opponent. Misaki’s Wings of Wind upgrade (for the end of
turn push) and Misdirection (just
read it… it’s practically an auto-take ;) ) can help a lot with this, as can
choosing your targets intelligently (ie. don’t throw he into the middle of your
opponent’s crew). But otherwise it’s once again up to the crew to ensure she doesn’t
die an early death. Once again push effects have their obvious uses here, as do
models that can buff or heal Misaki directly, like the Shadow Effigy and
Misaki’s totem - Shang.
Thanks to her upgrades and a certain friend, Misaki pracically lapped the board in this game. :)
Misaki’s Upgrades
Thus far
I’ve been pretty consistent with my choice of upgrades for Misaki, generally
going for Stalking Bisento, Wings of Wind and Misdirection. Stalking Bisento mainly just reduced her
reliance on having a good hand and helps you get that moderate to damage flips
when you don’t have the Assassinate trigger. Wings of Wind gives her some much needed mobility, not to mention
Sensei Yu can copy the (0) action to push Misaki or other models around. Misdirection is, well, amazing. So long
as you have another enemy model nearby it’s got the potential to empty your
opponent’s hand, which your opponent is less likely to oblige with if you’re
threatening them with that lovely Assassinate Trigger.
Of the other
upgrades, I’d like to try out Recalled
Training (for a turn of positive-flip insanity) or Disguised (to play super-evasive). Cutpurse might be another option – I’m not sure it will ever work
but it does add yet another must-win duel to help empty your opponent’s hand.
Misaki and Sensei Yu are BFFs
The problem
with Sensei Yu packing Low River Style is that he’s 11SS of pure support, and
as a support piece he doesn’t contribute much to emptying your opponents hand.
The thing is, while Sensei Yu might not be a fighter, he’s one hell of a
support piece. Between Airburst and
using Disciple to
access Misaki’s Wings of
Wind upgrade, Yu offers some tremendous mobility for your crew. Then
with Low River Style he’s tougher to kill (gaining Defensive +1 every time
someone whiffs an attack on him) and can heal and remove conditions from
either himself or the models around him (or both, with the trigger).
The other
great thing about Sensei Yu is that if Misaki’s taken Stalking Bisento, he can
use Disciple to give enemy model the Stalked condition, saving Misaki the trouble
of doing it herself and essentially giving her an extra attack with her (0)
action! I’ll admit I only realised this in my third game with her, but I
definitely plan to abuse the crap out of it from now on.
Lately, I’ve
been thinking I might move away from Low River Style and try Wandering River
Style instead. Up until now it’s looked a bit redundant on Sensei Yu, but
Mighty Gust can stack with Airburst to push Misaki twice (and give her Fast?!),
not to mention that using the trigger to hand slow out to enemy models might
encourage them to cheat some cards on those duels!
Misaki misses her Rats
As an
Outcast player the Rats/Obedient Wretch Combo became
a staple in my Misaki crews. The activation control it offered was great for
Misaki and more or less guaranteed she got the jump on the opponents crew
(especially when combined with Scout the
Field to charge from outside LoS).
Unfortunately,
10 Thunders have no such super-cheap activation chewers. Even worse, I’m
quickly finding that there’s a lot of amazing, yet costly 10-Thunders models I
want to take with her, which means I’m regularly finding myself out-activated.
This in itself has proven to be an interesting learning experience for me – if
nothing else I’m seeing the value of thinning out my opponents models early
with shooters like the Samurai and Katanaka Sniper, as well as playing to
anticipate the inevitable counter-attack once my key models have done their
thing. The mobility I’m giving Misaki (see above) helps a lot though – she can
reach places my opponent might have trouble responding to and I can potentially
get her out of tight spots if she ends the turn in danger.
Shang
Shang’s
model is god damn awful. It’s way too large for a 30mm base and trying to fit
it in my Malifaux bag is a challenge in itself. That’s why I use an Air Kami
from the Bushido range instead. :)
I use to
hear a lot of talk about how bad Shang is for Misaki, but I honestly don’t
understand why. I’ve found Rush of Magic to be invaluable for a Master who
relies more than others on having a decent hand (being so light on soulstones
and all…), and his heal action has helped Misaki recover from imminent death at
least once in my three games thus far (when she was beaten up by a Peacekeeper
on turn 1). Still,
I’m left wondering whether those 3SS are better spent elsewhere. At the very
least, three damage prevention flips might be just as effective. Or I could
upgrade him to a Tengu or Wastrel (both of whom can heal Misaki), or possibly
just replace another minion with something beefier. I’m undecided right now,
but it’s certainly something to think about.
There's been no official model until recently. Fortunately, Puppet Wars pulled through. ;)
The Shadow Effigy
So I’ve been
taking the Shadow Effigy for three reasons – he’s a cheap resilient activation,
he can help place scheme markers with Remember the Mission and he offers some
protection to Misaki with his (0) action. Ironically however, the crews I’ve
taken have been very light on minion models, leaving few useful targets for
Remember the Mission! That said, even if his only valid “Mission” Target is
himself I’m still happy taking him for his other strengths. If nothing else,
Misaki really appreciates that (0) action when your opponent is trying to take
her down!
The Katanaka Sniper…
…is great.
:) Given how much I’ve heard about him that’s not exactly a surprise either!
With the immense range on his rifle and From the Shadows, the Katanaka Sniper
has consistently been a major thorn in my opponent’s side. I love that he’s
also very capable in melee, but his general amazingness has also meant that
he’s been a priority target for my opponent in almost every game I’ve used him.
He’s rarely made it past turn 3, but he also seems to get a disproportionate
amount of attention. A lot of the time my opponent has sent their Master or
something equally chunky like a Peacekeeper after him. The end result is not
pleasant for the Sniper, but the distraction has been quite welcome while the
rest of my crew does its business.
Yin
I’ve only
taken Yin in one game with Misaki (my only game that wasn’t Reconnoiter), but
at the moment I see her as my go-to anchor for the crew. Enemy models with
positive flips to attack are her kryptonite but that’s not really been a
problem for her as of yet. Depending on the mission I might not need her
either, in which case I’ll replace her with someone a little more pro-active.
Maybe a Samurai or Lone Swordsman, perhaps?
Mr Tannen
Okay, so on
paper this guy seems like a really great choice for Misaki thanks to his Cooler ability. Misaki wants her
opponent to empty their hand so if you can get Tannen up in their business,
they’re faced with the tough choice of either not cheating their flips, or
emptying their hand and risking an Assassination run.
In practice
this hasn’t worked quite how I imagined. In my first game against Colette (Turf
War) my opponent kept away from Tannen (who was hanging with Yin in the
centre). It helped me score Turf War but, his contribution to emptying my
opponents hand was mostly absent. In my next game I played Reconnoiter, which
turned out to be not the best choice for Tannen. In that particular game Misaki
retreated back to within Tannen’s Aura after being nearly beaten to death by a
Peacekeeper (armed to the teeth with McCabe’s adventuring gear). Tannen’s
Cooler aura then encouraged my opponent to chase after the Katanaka Sniper
instead of Misaki with his Peacekeeper. So once again Tannen proved to be a
deterent, but still without any actual discards.
After that I
dropped Tannen from my list for the next (latest) game, which was another
Reconnoiter. For that particular Strategy I don’t see myself taking Tannen
again (there’s better and more mobile options at 6SS IMO). In more centralised
Strategies however, I still want to see how he actually performs when he’s in a
position to force discards!
Mr Samurai eyes off his many targets...
Samurai
My first
game using the Samurai was possibly the first time in years in which I put an
unpainted mini on the table. Having recently assembled one I really wanted to
try him out. However I didn’t want to paint him yet since I’m planning to use
them for the next Tale of Malifaux Bloggers, along side Shenlong and a whole
pile of other 10-T stuff I bought from Gencon.
Anyway as
per my McCabe game with him, I didn’t regret including this guy at all. Killing
5 minions (even relatively fragile ones) is no mean feat and while I’ll admit
this was probably an unsual game for him (lots of targets to shoot, plenty of
rams for extra attacks and no black Jokers flipped), I think the potential is
there for him to be a great inclusion.
Given I was
using his Gatling Gun almost exclusively, Favor
of Earth (+3 Wds) might seem an odd choice over Favor of Jigoku (immune to
damage in own activation). The potential to take 4 wounds after missing with
the attack is a definite concern, but I think the Risk works in the crew’s favour.
As per above, part of the aim of this crew is to force my opponent to cheat as
often as possible before Misaki activates. So if they think they can cause an
easy 4 wounds to the Samurai by cheating their resist flip, let them try! With
the Samurai’s many positives to attack I’ll usually be cheating second, and at
worst he’ll take 4 damage (which is mostly counteracted by the +3 wds).
For now I’ll
probably keep playing with the Samurai to see how he goes under more normal
circumstances, and might even add a second one with Mark of Jigoku to help
fliter out the Black Joker before the Earth one activates. I suppose there’s
also the option of adding a Wastrel to heal him up if things get dicey.
Wastrels are a model I’m really loving at the moment, so you can be sure
they’ll feature more often in my games!
THE FUTURE!!!
Okay, so
what’s next for Misaki? Well for one I still think I can fine-tune the core
list a little more to maximise its hand-emptying potential. I also want to mess
around a little more with Misaki’s upgrades. Now that I have Shifting Loyalties
on hand I’d also love to give the Shadow Emmisary a run with Misaki, as well as
Lust and possibly a few more of the Crossroads Seven (there’s a lot of discard
tricks in there…).
My only
other thought with Misaki at the moment is how she seems to have become the
focus of the crew. As I said above, I seem to have gone from treating Misaki as
a separate entity to her crew, to designing the whole crew around what she
does. So what happens when Misaki dies and the rest are left to fend for
themselves? Does playing Misaki like this make her the lynchpin of the crew, or
can the rest do their job even when Misaki has bitten the bullet? At least for
now, this is definitely my most pressing question about her so at some point,
I’m going to have to get her killed… ;)
Until next
time,
Adrian
