Crazy Train- Malifaux Mei Feng Tactica

The next in my Malifaux tacticas, this finishes off the Ten Thunders I have played in the last year with Mei Feng. I do now also own Yan Lo and am working my way through Shen Long, but they will come later (likely much later) because I want to play around with them a lot more before I write anything up. 

Keyword abilities-

Walking Forge- Very simple but very useful, the pure constructs in the crew (that is the ones that aren’t also living) drop scrap when they end their activation. Sets up a ton of things in the crew but especially Ride the Rails cause it gets out the network a lot easier

Ride the Rails- Your primary method of movement, this allows you to just teleport from scrap to scrap with your walk actions as long as they're within 12" of each other. There is a little bit of finessing to plan out exactly where you need markers, but with the amount of easy ways to drop scrap in the crew you will usually find yourself with more than enough options to get where you need to go, and moving 12" with your crew is insanely fast despite their terrible Mv stats almost across the board.

Armour/Hard to Kill- Not really a keyword thing but almost the whole keyword have some combination of Armour and Hard to Kill. It makes for bad matchups against anything that ignores these (McCabe especially is rough) but if they don't ignore it the keyword is really tough to kill.

Vent Steam- Really great both defensively and offensively, it gives a 3” aura of Hazardous for enemies and Concealment for everything at the cost of 1AP. It’s not always worth using it for your AP, and honestly more often than not won’t be, but when you have triggers to do it for free on things you wanted to do anyway it’s really great to have.

Magnetism- As a bonus action you should have uses for it fairly often, and it does quite a lot in keyword. 16” range is huge and it lets you move the models its on that little bit extra every turn to get things where they need to go. You can pretty reliably topdeck it as well which is nice

Keyword models-

Mei Feng- Mei as a master does a ton and she is really versatile with regards to what she can accomplish in any given game. Df6 and 12 wounds with Vent Steam and Armour 1 is great, especially with soulstones, while Wp5 is average, and Ride the Rails makes her decently fast. Breath of Fire gives her a ranged attack which is ok, and Condensation on it is the most important thing because it lets you get Vent Steam without losing damage efficiency. She has 2 unique abilities that function really nicely to keep her moving around and guaranteeing she does what she wants to, as she can reduce her duel totals by 2 to add free suits (especially good when you’re already winning duels or are above a TN anyway) and when she declares triggers she gets free 2” pushes. This is mainly to allow her Jackhammer Kick melee trigger to function as she pushes enemies away, then pushes towards them before getting extra attacks. Its best use is on her bonus action Freight Train though, because you can potentially get really high amounts of movement spread across 2 models if you target something else, or missile Mei across the table with enough scrap markers set up (and then because you declared a trigger you can drop a scrap again). The damage on Freight Train is somewhat incidental and mostly nice when it happens, but if it does happen (especially on the Golem) you are doing a good amount of damage. Her melee is pretty good if not low damage, and she relies mostly on rate of attacks over spiking damage (although she can spike with Blinded by Iron to go to 3/5/6 damage). In general Mei does a lot in game and in pools that play to her strengths (mostly scheming/survival based) she is a reliable choice if not always the best one

Forgeling- It’s a totem, it does the job. No damage from Burning, Armour 1 and Df5 are all decent, it also pulses out Burning 1 when it activates (which you need to be a bit careful of with your own models, but you can use it to your advantage). Its melee attack is nothing to write home about, but Remove Impurity is a good way to start a scrap engine early on because it needs just a 4 of Rams to get out scrap and can do it as soon as the game starts. For this I like to start with the Forgeling and give a single model Burning (easy enough to do with careful deployment), use the Ram trigger to remove that Burning and drop a scrap and then double walk as far up as possible to Walking Forge a second scrap onto the table. It’s simple but it works, and the Forgeling is also not Insignificant so can work to score points which is really important. 

Kang- Kang is a little bit support piece, more beater but unique in what he does in the Foundry keyword. Hard to Wound is his only defensive tech, which means he is a bit easier to land damage on than most things in the keyword, but Juggernaut gets around that a little bit if you can spare the card (and most of the time you should be able to). Hot Coals is a decent ranged attack to blast onto enemies, with Blaze it has a pretty good role too but isn’t his main job really because his Shovel is pretty great. 2/3/5 on a beater type henchman may not be great, but built in Critical Strike shores that up and Knock Aside is great for moving things around to deny or facilitate scoring when you need to. In terms of support, he can stop friendly models gaining Slow or Distracted which keeps you functioning, and can pulse Focus for pretty low cost (card or scrap marker, you should almost always have at least one spare). I like to take Kang more often than not, but he tends to be the thing I drop if I really want to fit something else in

Sparks- I've touched on Sparks a bit in my talk about the GG2 Errata because he changed quite a lot there, and while he is very different to what he was before he is still a really great choice for Foundry crews, and one I would take more often than not. Command Construct is amazing, although a 9 isn’t a low TN, it can trigger off almost anything in the keyword and is basically free AP. Analyse Weakness is a situationally useful action but when it does work you have a good amount of anti-Construct and synergises well with a lot of other models. He can heal friendlies with his melee attack, or otherwise it’s just a decent attack, while Now Yer A Robot is a great way to make your things even tankier with Shielded and can synergise with things the crew wouldn’t normally (making things Construct). Pack With Explosives doubles down on the “force bad decisions” playstyles of Foundry and when your defences work it also adds great ping damage on top of Vent Steam. Hostile Work Environment shuts down tons of support in enemy crews, and Scrapyard Mines makes the area around him a big Hazardous danger zone which is really nice because it works for making really nasty no-go zones. Sparks is tough because he is a support model, but at the same time needs to be on the front lines to get the most work out of him and needs to be protected a bit. 

Metal Golem- the big beater of the crew, the Metal Golem I really love and always take when I play Mei. Despite Mv4 it has deceptively high movement through Off the Rails, which also boosts his offensive capabilities through free attacks (this action you should really always take if you want to move or charge because of the value from it). Defensively Df/Wp5 is pretty average, but Armour 2 and Vent Steam help that and if it does die you get 2 free scrap markers from Excess Material which helps a bit. Walking Forge is always great to have, and being able to get Shielded +2 from scrap markers as a bonus action is really nice (and if you pair it with Sparks giving him bombs, even better). Stat 5 melee isn’t fantastic on a 10SS beater, but positive flips gets around that and 3/4/6 damage is also great. Condensation trigger is a must for its value, Defensive Reflexes for Shielded is also nice (and like I said, Sparks synergy) and Knock Aside plays into the keyword having a lot of ways to shove enemies out of position where it benefits you. In general I would always take the Golem if you’re playing Mei because it’s too much good value not to

Mechanised Porkchop- As far as your Walking Forges go, this is the quickest and 7SS is a very good cost for what it brings. It does have low wounds and is fragile to ignore Armour, but at the same time Armour 2 and Df5 with Vent Steam is decent enough. Its wounds are a resource with Reckless and you need to be very careful with that, likely alternating between Reckless and Tin Feast to keep it topped up (or use Sparks aggressively to heal it). Its melee is decent, although having to declare triggers and 0” melee are both slight downsides. Trigger on every suit is great to have though, and they’re all useful triggers if you play around them

Neil Henry- Neil is a bit cheaper than the other beater models in keyword, and 8SS is really competitively priced for him with looking at what he does. 2/4/5 isn’t super high damage, but Stat 6 is great and he has a few triggers that are all useful, Reckless and Flurry make his output really insanely high and he has 2 separate ways to give out Injured which only punishes the opponent more. I only recently picked up Neil and got him painted so haven’t really gotten much practice out of him, but I think he has huge value if he can do what he wants to do. He is a bit more fragile than most models though with no Armour and no Hard to Kill, relying only on Hard to Wound for defence so he can’t be overextended that much. He is similar defensively to Kang but without stones to help out, albeit priced cheaper. Neil is also not a Construct so lacks more of the synergy with the crew that others have

Willie- While he has a niche, I don’t really rate it too highly in the keyword because he doesn’t really do enough that affects how the keyword plays. While I think it is probably a worthwhile model if he was in M&SU with what his actions do for them synergy-wise, the help for gun-based crews and more shockwaves isn’t something I rate very highly for Foundry

Rail Worker- For 5SS their weaknesses are moderately easy to work around (or just acceptable, Wp4 really) and they do a lot for the crew. Armour 1 and Hard to Kill is great, Ride the Rails as standard and Creative Salvage can be ok but you don’t really tend to kill much with them to make use out of it. They have ways to reduce Burning from other models (really amazing offensively against things like Kaeris because it also gives Stunned) and the action also lets you generate scrap markers on a Ram trigger. Rail Driver is an ok attack for a 5SS minion, but Pneumatic Toss is their best offensive action because it has so many applications when compared to schemes. One Rail Worker is something I always hire, and I usually end up taking 2 because they all give value

Survivor- Slightly faster than Rail Workers as normal, and much higher Willpower but otherwise fairly similar. They bring Magnetism and the excellent trigger to instead move the target which you can use to rearrange your scrap network or help your crew reposition. They have pretty low damage, and their ranged weapons hurt them if they use any triggers at all, but both triggers are pretty good (ranged scrap generation is always useful). In general I think they have a niche, but of the 3 faction minions I think they’re the least useful.

Metal Gamin- Cost 5, 4s in every stat but they exist to just fuel the rest of the crew. Armour 2 keeps them alive longer, and what you want them for is Walking Forge and Excess Material to guarantee you’re getting out heaps of scrap markers reliably. They can give any model in 3” Shielded +1 for a 5 of Tomes, or just a 5 if targeting a Construct (most things in keyword). Their attack is pretty meh honestly, but its there if you need it, and they have Magnetism only needing a 3 which is really great for mobility. In general I’d take 1 in most crews just for the support they bring along, but not always. 

10T OOK/Versatile models-

My usual go-to when it comes to Versatile models, the Terracotta Warrior, I would not suggest here because it's only 1 stone less than your minion options, and I'd just go for an extra one of any of them and play a stone less. I really honestly don't think anything massively grabs me OOK any more, although I have played around with Minako Rei for Katashiro summons and McCabe for janky interactions with the scrap, but they don't do all that much for me personally

Upgrades-

Masked Agent-I really like this on Mei Feng, because it tunes her up quite a lot. Ignoring Resistance Triggers is the biggest part, but being able to bring along something else when she charges too is really nice as well because it lets you set up extra movement you might not have had access to otherwise

Trained Ninja- This upgrade used to be worth taking on Sparks to keep him safer, but since the GG2 errata it doesn't really have a place in Foundry I feel. Unimpeded is ok but Ride the Rails is better, and otherwise you don't really have a need for anything the upgrade gives. 

Silent Protector- You can get almost all the benefit of this upgrade across different things in keyword, so I would really give it a miss. If you really need Hard to Kill on something then maybe, but even then it's really only going to be on Sparks or Neil who I think are mostly fine without it. 

Arcanist OOK/Versatile models-

Most people would note the Soulstone Miner here, and Steam Arachnid Swarms were popular for quite a while, but I honestly feel like they aren't super necessary any more and the keyword can do what it wants to do without really dipping OOK that much. The constructs Mei does want are the ones that can create scrap to feed to the crew, and her keyword models do it easier than most. 

Mechanical Rider- This however is where I accept that going Versatile is an excellent option. Natively very quick, Ruthless, great defensively and supports the crew in really great ways. Revel in Creation fuels your Ride the Rails with Scrap drops (or you can drop other markers to score if you need to) but Revelation does a lot of work in Foundry (as if it wouldn’t anywhere). Revel is really why you take the Rider, but it is all around a really great, if expensive, model. 

Upgrades-

Magical Training- It goes on minions because Arcane Reservoir is so good, and really you probably want it on a Rail Worker or Metal Gamin depending on taste. Definitely take one

Diesel Engine- Almost the entire keyword are Constructs, so they all work nicely with it, but it goes best on a few specific models. Sputtering Exhaust is mostly a slightly worse Vent Steam effect, but always on and with no cost, and Charge Through means you will mostly want it on your beaters which means you lose out on On the Move. Putting it on Rail Workers is probably the best option, but even then I would probably take the other upgrades because of how great they are.

Soulstone Cache- The minion benefit isn’t huge, and it is so good on your beater Enforcers. This is the way you upgrade your Golem or Neil Henry 

Deployments-

With a good rail network setup, deployment doesn't matter a huge amount. Wedge is the most awkward, but its easy to set up all the time anyway. 

Strategies-

Reckoning- you’ll see things ignoring all your defenses in this strat and with that considered you’ll fold pretty easily. Some of your beaters are good enough to hit very hard by themselves, but not enough that you can carry the strat on them alone

Turf War- Mobility and tankiness together is pretty good here, as is Hazardous auras for creating bubbles where you can hurt your opponent for coming near you (excellent near the centre of the board and that all-important middle marker) but it’s likely the opponent will tech against your Armour and try and negate as much of your defensive tech as possible

Corrupted Idols- Like a lot of high-armour crews Foundry have lower wounds to compensate, and with virtually no healing in keyword and your wounds already being a resource to spend on some models you don’t want to have another reason to hurt your own models. Mei can do it decently herself, but you’re then hurting your Master to score which isn’t often great

Plant Explosives- Foundry can get in really great spots for this quite easily, and with them being moderately tanky if not teched to you should be better able to score this than some other strats (assuming the opponent will also be playing more scheme-focused)

Schemes-

Detonate Charges- Not bad, but not great either because you have no ways to put down markers outside of Interacts so it needs effort or hiring OOK. Mech Rider in Arcanists, Hucksters in Thunders both do it but I wouldn’t really be going for it as a first or even second choice

Breakthrough- Somewhat easy to score, but the end point needs a bit more work and a hard push into the enemy deployment. Depends entirely on the deployment zones for me (Corner I’d never do it, Wedge and Flank are things to consider heavily)

Harness the Ley Line- Pretty easy to score, just pop markers down on the centreline. There’s really nothing else to be said cause almost any crew can do this without even thinking

Search the Ruins- I’m a big fan of this just because I like a lot of marker-based schemes, and Mei can do it pretty well all things considered

Dig Their Graves- Use scrap to set up kill zones, then kill near there. It's easy to pull off

Hold Up Their Forces- You have very good tanky 5SS models in 3 different varieties. This is a huge strength for the keyword, and you can do it fairly well when you want to

Take Prisoner- Using Rail Workers to chuck things away from enemies is a decent way to score, but its also a bit of work and I don’t really find it super fantastic myself

Power Ritual- Depends on the deployment, but in Corner and Flank it isn’t terrible to take just a bit bland

Outflank- You can do it, just isn't the best option to take. Almost always you'll have 2 schemes you'll want to take more but it isn't difficult to score. It does pair amazingly well with Power Ritual in Flank and Corner, but no better for Foundry than anyone else

Assassinate- Mei herself isn’t too fragile and can survive pretty well, plus with Vent Steam she can make sure the opponent has to make bad decisions if they want to take her out. You can also threaten enemy Leaders in a lot of different ways with the crew, and late game there is little escape from you. 

Deliver a Message- With rail networks, you can get in and deliver pretty easily, and the 2nd point isn't too hard either

Claim Jump- Get in the middle and make a no-go zone, set up your hazardous and try and keep enemies out. You can use a few things to get movement in janky ways as well if you need to

Vendetta- If you are taking this, it’s the place to take Neil Henry. His mass amount of attacks and cost 8 means he has a good array of targets to choose from and he can take them down fairly easily. There are a few decent takes for it in-keyword but I would go for Neil myself. 

GG1

Strategies- 

Symbols of Authority- with your mobility on Mei and with Ride the Rails, you can get to symbols fairly easily and score points where you need to. You also have some great defensive models to protect your own symbols for fairly cheaply

Recover Evidence- not terrible, but not great either. It’s something you won’t struggle at, but there are a lot better options in both factions to make scoring easier

Corrupted Ley Lines- Mei can do this almost by herself fairly easily, but it’s also at the expense of not being able to use Ride the Rails in any model with the lodestone which affects your mobility a bit on its own

Public Enemies- I don’t really rate this for Foundry because as soon as someone sees Mei is declared in this strat, they’ll always pack as much armour ignore as possible to guarantee your main defence is gone. 

Schemes-

Breakthrough, Take Prisoner, Vendetta, Assassinate, Claim Jump- Nothing changed here, so my points from above are still my opinion on them.

Hidden Martyrs- There are a lot of very valuable combinations here to choose from (basically any 2 models in keyword that aren't Kang or the Golem) and you have the potential to keep it on your terms 

Sabotage- This one is a bit too deep in the enemy zone for me to rate highly, because its a lot of work to get into the enemy deployment enough to make it worthwhile

Catch and Release- Being able to pop in minions that are very tanky for their cost, score the point and then Ride the Rails all the way back where you can't be touched makes it very easy to score if you play to your strengths

Let Them Bleed- While they can fight, I don't think that the crew can hit hard enough to guarantee you'll be scoring this. Also consider the likelihood that with damage-based pools you're likely to see a lot of armour ignoring against your stuff. 

Leave Your Mark- Claim Jump for scheme markers, but unlike Claim Jump you just don't have the kit to make it worthwhile. I wouldn't take it

Research Mission- This one is really easy for Mei as long as you can survive, so I'd definitely recommend it

Spread Them Out- Because its only in the enemy table half, you can dance your way in with scrap pretty easily (or just your other movement tricks) and get markers where you need them to be. Both points are as easy as each other, so I would say this is a decent take with a lot of the keyword models you have. 

Runic Binding- Not bad, but it takes a lot of work in a keyword where you don't have any ways to cheat in schemes outside of Interacts so I wouldn't take it

GG2

Strategies

Symbols of Authority, Corrupted Ley Lines- Same as in GG1, my thoughts are the same.

Turf War- Same as it used to be, same opinion as before

Break the Line- Once you have a decent rail network set up Mei isn't bad at seriously pushing up 2-3 markers and going deep with it, but it's not her best strat I don't think. She is best at counterplay as the crew can jump around where needed and shove models out of position or get in their way in really annoying ways

 

Schemes

Breakthrough, Vendetta, Assassinate, Hidden Martyrs, Research Mission, Let Them Bleed, Catch and Release, Spread Them Out- These are all very much the same as before and I wouldn't change how I play them now.

Detonate Charges, Claim Jump- They’re the same as GG0, same as my thoughts there.

Death Beds- Not bad to do with Foundry, because you can very easily drop scrap markers by doing literally nothing with a lot of your crew

On the Table- Easterlings, Monsterpocalypse, Necromunda

 Another fortnight, another update because I'm still in lockdown and painting a lot. Hanging out for games but at least I can manage to get things finished in the meantime. 

Once all my Malifaux stuff from the last update was finished I started on the units I had leftover for Monsterpocalypse to finish that off. Quick paintjobs on them but it does the trick, and elite units have all been given different paintjobs to show them easily on the table. 

I also finished off a Delaque Spyker from ArtelW to go with my Necromunda gang. Got a campaign hopefully starting up some time soon and this will be the first thing I save my credits for because I love the idea of taking an unsanctioned psyker as part of my gang. 

Since then I've been working on a huge project for me, finally finishing the Easterling army I bought 2 years ago and have always burnt out before finishing anything. I painted up enough for a Battle Company a while ago, but now I've finished everything in the army except for the pikes (important part, I know) and Khamul's Fell Beast which I'll finish later on, because I know that if I start on them now I'll burn out again. 

Bushido- Shadow Wind Clan Part 2- Events, Enhancements, Terrain and Themes

 Back with part 2 of my look into the Shadow Wind Clan, this time I'm going into what really make the ninjas tick- their special cards. These allow all sorts of nasty tricks that let the ninja player play dirty and choose how and when to engage with the enemy, and in ways that will benefit them and only them which I really love because it matches their theme perfectly. 

Themes

All 3 themes give double pass tokens, which is great to keep activation parity at all times, and a bonus when models can trigger Assassin. They all allow all Ninja and Karapan, even Ronin, so the reasons for choosing different themes are entirely based on which bonus you want otherwise. 

Assassination Mission is probably the weakest benefit from all the themes, giving a Death Sentence marker to one model at the start of the game (but there is no other way outside of this theme for ninjas to synergise with Death Sentence). Fearless and the ability to swap Event cards is really nice, but again isn't really as big as the other 2 theme benefits so even for lists where you want to be outright killing the opponent you probably want one of the other ones. 

Scouting Mission and Skirmish Mission I have been going back and forth between which one is my favourite, but I tend to lean towards Skirmish now after a bit more practice. The 2 free Enhancement or Terrain cards lets you play a bit looser with list building and be a bit more versatile, while Scout 1/4" is really good and lets you put pressure on early so its really a pretty close decision there IMO. A more situational once per game Disguise 7 isn't really as great as every turn Disguise 5 which you can stack with other modifiers to make your key pieces really hard to target when you need them to be. Ki Block vs Bravery when you benefit from Assassin I think is a really obvious decision as to what is better, mainly because your key pieces are all already 2 ki and a lot also have bonuses to Fear tests so you don't have to worry about them as much (or Ghost auto-passing all Fear tests)

Terrain

Hidden Tunnel Entrance I really love using because it lets you as a player redeploy and jump around the table in unexpected ways, which is one of my favourite playstyles in any game. I tend to take it for free from Skirmish Mission, but in Scouting Mission I definitely find the 2 rice to pay for it as well, because the redeploy from Flank is something I really like to use to put myself in better positions and threaten Assassin runs. 

Smoke Field is a decent way of making sure you have more blocking terrain on the table to hide in and enable Camouflage on your own stuff, but I don't tend to buy any for my lists because Smoke Bomb and certain models (Axiam, Dudiko) are more versatile ways of getting the same effect when you need them on the table. 

 

Events

Blind Bomb, Hidden Kusari and Hidden Shuriken all give one-use weapons (although you can buy 2 Blind Bombs and unlimited Shurikens) that have pretty great uses. Kusari and Blind Bomb are both Lightweight with only range 3 in Medium Range so they’re somewhat short ranged but still very useful, while their effects are both amazing. Blind Bomb gives a 1” pulse around the target where everyone gets Blind (friend or foe which you should be careful of) so you can get around things with Aware and Surprise them, or just guarantee Surprised against something facing you to keep you safe or set someone else up for later. Kusari is the same attack as a few ninja models already have, and being able to get more options for Prone is really great to have because it wastes your opponent’s time a lot. The Shuriken is also a great ranged weapon (if lower damage output than most options in KKZ at -1) and the range bands are good for short ranged attacks, but it’s the possible Pierce you want the most in certain matchups. I think all 3 are useful events, but the Kusari and Shuriken are what I like the most. 

Co-ordinated Strike I feel is just really restrictive in when you can play it and although I trust there is a reason for it being explicitly working only on turn 3 I think the bonus isn’t big enough (Tactician can be found in a lot of other places in KKZ) to justify the purchase

Dawn Raid only has a use in 2/3 themes (Scouting Mission gives the same benefit and more) but it can be worthwhile in the other themes to get you up the board quicker (and deploying last so you can react to the opponent). It’ll usually be cost 3-4 which is probably worth the cost but not super efficient and I tend to spring for other things first

Decoy has a bit of timing restrictions to stop it being really oppressively stupid, but even only in the starting phase it is a great way to redeploy and put models into different positions where they can threaten the board better. I love Flank a lot so this is something I like, but it’s not at the top of my priority list when it comes to events

Espionage is pretty simple but it works really great in the right matchups. Any time the opponent is making decent use of Flank you can force them into telling you which side of the board one model is coming from and plan accordingly, which is great against Queen of the Waves Jung and potentially useful against Shiho (although there it is a bit iffy because of how many ways they have to appear on the table) 

Herbal Remedy works really well when it matters (vs Control especially but any condition-heavy enemy warband) but also can be a bit useless. For 1 rice it's not a bad option to tag in most of the time though. 

Jigoku Berry is one of my favourite things to take in my warbands, because when paired with ways to put out more than one Poison an activation (Rin, Kouhei and Kerasu) you have a massive damage spike that will put dents in any opponent. On Kouhei if you can manage to get 2 Hail of Steels off you're tearing through any weaker models the opponent has and doing massive damage, and that's why I love it so much on him every time. 

Lockdown is a really great way to force your opponent to adapt to your plans, or just to deny them as many points as possible. It costs 5 rice and as such is very expensive, but at the same time being able to just negate a zone or objective from working at all that turn is huge when you leave ones you’re more likely to score from and shut down opponents

Perfect Impersonation for 7 rice is insanely expensive, but it gives you some really funny options that are also pretty powerful. Gaining Flank is good but not really 7 rice good, although being able to shove enemy models (with a few restrictions) off the table for a turn and replace it with one of your own ninjas gives you a massive advantage. There are a ton of great targets for this, and also using it to pick out support pieces and kill it/remove them for the table for a turn is a great way to shift the game in your favour. It’s important to consider what the benefit of it is though vs taking 7 rice of anything else and whether it will do enough to win games for you

Poison Vial gives the entire warband Poison 1/1 for a turn, and that is definitely worth the 1 rice it costs. Paired with the right model it creates tons of carnage and lets you kill a lot. 

Shadow Moves has tons of use, and I love it a lot. Being able to swap around 2 ninjas at any point is a huge amount of versatility whether you put shooting models out of combat (and combat ones in) or simply use it to deliver models up the table before you activate them (on Katsumi or Rin this is absolutely nasty when done at the right time). 5 rice is expensive, but I always try and slot it in because of how much it potentially opens up. 

Smoke Bomb is cheap, versatile and lets you really annoy opponents by putting your ninjas into terrain that hides them. One of them is almost always a safe take, but 2 or even 3 are justifiable

Terminate is helpful for when opponent Bodyguards stop you from picking out annoying support pieces, but it still means you need to set up Assassin to benefit from it, and although that is very doable it still counts as an opportunity cost for using an event you’re already paying for. 

Terror Tactics I don't rate very highly, but it can be quite nice in the right situation. Fear (6) is great to have but being forced to Charge to get it isn't great when you have to make every activation have a purpose, which is why I don't really find myself using it at all

Enhancements

Cat-Like Agility is simple and good, but matchup dependent. Against things that are going to be throwing and proning you it’s amazing (like Buto) but when it doesn’t work it’s a bit of a feels bad moment

Disguise is great to have on your own stuff, and it lets you dictate the terms of engagement a little bit more which is the best part of ninjas and a major part of how they play. Stack it with Disguise from Skirmish Mission and you can really put pressure on an opponent and force them into rolling dice to do things they would otherwise guaranteed be doing.

First Strike for 2 cost is pretty steep, especially because it only applies to one melee exchange, but at the same time if you can guarantee it (which you can with Shadow Moves, but it hikes the cost up even more) it allows your killer models to be even more murderous on the first swing, and Katsumi especially can make a big hit to start off the game

 

Equipment

Grappling Hook is a great way to put some of your pieces into a position that benefits them greatly (I really love Flank in general) and this card I find really helpful in a lot of cases. Kouhei or Dudiko being able to pop up and get right into shooting range mid-game is awesome and does a lot of work when you need it to

Hallucinogen Bomb is, like most Fear effects, very swingy depending on what your opponent is playing. Against things with a lot of 1 Ki models it will be great as you can potentially cripple them, especially helpful because in these cases you’re almost guaranteed to be heavily outnumbered and anything to waste their activations comes in handy. If they don’t have 1 Ki models though, you’re not doing much with it reliably to make it worth it, which is why I think most of the time it’s something that you slot in with Skirmish Mission if you want to take it in a given matchup (but it is cheap enough to justify chucking in anyway)

Makibishi I can see value in, especially on boards where you can funnel things into chokepoints and dictate movement, but I find it hard to find a place for it in my lists (even with free equipment via Skirmish Mission). Being able to waste models activations, especially in low model count lists, is great value if it works but Makibishi being a random thing makes it unreliable when you might really want it

Poisoned Weapons I really like for the same reasons as Poison Vial as an event, but this works all game on one model. The things it pairs best with (Kerasu and Kouhei) should always have it attached unless there are 2 of them in a list because only one of them can have it

Signalling Flare is a bit expensive, but for a double-tap punch it probably should be. If you can use it to trigger Assassin in multiple places and kill off key pieces before they can respond you're in a really good position to keep threatening the game, so I do rate it (especially for free with Skirmish Mission)

Bushido- Shadow Wind Clan Part 1- The Ninja

 Now that I've got a few more reps in with Bushido, I've decided I'd try and put something together talking about how I like to use the models that I've got. This means going through all the ninjas and talking why I take which one and how I use it, but also how they fit into the faction at large. This first part I will be talking about the Ninja models themselves and leave the events, terrain and themes for a 2nd post because the entire faction is quite a lot for one post!

Axiam is really interesting because he is one of the most expensive models in the faction, but instead of being a total killer like Katsumi or Rin he brings a lot more tricks to the party and synergises with all of the North Star models in a really good way. He can drop smoke bombs when he activates, and has good stats with melee 4. Throw Attack and Sidestep Defence for 0 are both great to have, but him also being able to take any special attack or defence from other North Star ninjas alive on the table means he can do a lot more that opponents might not expect (Push and Grapple Attack or Counterstrike Defence) and in general he has a lot of ways to put an opponent on tilt during the game. Being able to give himself Equipment mid-game makes his high cost a lot better (especially when combined with Skirmish Mission for more free cards) and lets you adapt to the game state on the fly which I really like from him. Tactician is always nice, and paired with a Karapan can do a huge amount of work in guaranteeing you win the tactical roll all the time. Dodge and Indomitable keep him alive far longer, Bravery is really great to have vs Fear and him having the option to gain Feint all add up to make him reliable with his hits if not super high damage with them. The last big thing to note is Sempai, which lets him take the Ki Feats from any North Star model on the board, and treat them as his own at any point in the game, which means he is super versatile in terms of choosing which Ki Feats he can do at any given turn (Distraction, Mirage, Vitality, Fog of Hesitation are all amazing options). Overall Axiam isn’t going to do some things as well as the expensive models who are built for it (Bleeding Moon ninjas are always going to be better killers) but the sheer amount of versatility and adaptability mid-game he brings is well worth his cost.

 

Dudiko as a sniper is really good, but still needs a bit of care to make the most out of like all ninja. Her range is long and her shooting is somewhat reliable with Pierce as well, but Reload is a real downside so you need to make sure she is able to wait and reload it without getting trapped or at least use her so she can do something else useful instead of reloading. Her melee is still decent but nothing fantastic, but the tricks she brings as a North Star ninja are both expected and excellent. Being able to gain Agile on a shooting model is amazing, because it lets you make your shots even when someone tries to engage you, but Mirage is an even better version of this that lets you place away and deny them the chance to even strip you of activations or damage you in the first place. Shooting through Cover is not only not an issue for her with Dead Eye, but it is a massive benefit for her to be in Cover while shooting because it triggers Camouflage and it also makes the target Surprised if they’re at long range for a little extra bonus to hit. She can also chuck out smoke bombs for almost nothing just by activating and that also helps a ton in making the crew tick when it needs to. 

Ghost is by far my favourite model not only in the Shadow Wind Clan, but in Bushido in general. I love the tricks he can pull with being able to Flank, go Intangible and just gain activations and toss people around, and although he isn't a straight up murderer like most of the other 20+ ninja he more than makes up for it in sheer versatility. Counters to him being Unknown and Soulless with some of the generic event cards are quite annoying, but to be expected as a lot of people hate seeing Ghost opposite them. 

Karapan are one of the best ways for filling out lists and keeping a decent model count, and they definitely pull their weight while they do it. Being able to double attack with a pretty respectable melee pool for 11 rice is good on its own, but they also have move 6 with Cloudwalk for insane reach, and they can move at the end of the turn towards ninja models and give them Tactician for next turn which is awesome. 1 Karapan is an autotake for me, and 2 is something I very seriously consider as well. 

Katsumi is a killer with no comparison in the faction, and he is definitely a really great beatstick. With melee 4, Tireless and Indomitable he can take on a lot of the enemy warband and come out on top, and although he lacks rerolls like a lot of 25 cost models he still has Brutal (1) and all the tricks Shadow Wind ninja have- Camouflage, Assassin and Lightfooted- to let him choose engagements that he can make sure he wins. He can shoot with a Kusari to prone enemies at 3" which is helpful, but being able to also gain Pierce (2) and Unblockable are both really worthwhile for the job he wants to be doing the most- killing enemies. The choice of Melee Boost (2) and Sharp (2) during his activation is also great when you need it, but they won't always be useful and very often you can somewhat safely forget about them (as opposed to other ninja where the choice is incredibly important)

Kerasu is an interesting piece, especially looking at other Bleeding Moon attack pieces, but ultimately he is a bit more niche than Rin or Katsumi in list building. The point reduction is noticeable, but losing Indomitable and Tireless are both massive changes that are well worth the points increase. He can gain Indomitable, but it costs him 3 ki to do it which is very costly and means he isn’t boosting his melee (which he can reduce from 3 to 2 in his activations). Gaining Fear 6 and Terror is also a really interesting control option (if not done almost as well by Ghost), but his shining role is in stacking damaging effects through Combo Attack. Give him Poison from any of the ways ninjas can get it and he has the potential to tear through anything he touches with combined Bleed and Poison to guarantee kills. This role makes him the single best counter bar none to non-Kami Durable models in the faction (with Kouhei being a close 2nd) with him being able to chuck out a bunch of separate instances to damage, but even with his Ki Feats he struggles to do as much to enemies with Tough because they ignore all of his other forms of damage. 

Kouhei is the AK47 of the ninja where most others are a scalpel. When he gets buffed up with Poison through event or equipment cards he will shred things apart from range with Hail of Steel, and it is very rare I've had something survive the game after being shot at by him (with the exception of the walls that are Buto). If you can get into a surprised opponent when you do this as well (from Flank for example) they are even more guaranteed to die, and if you can stay in cover while you do it so you keep Camouflage? Even better. 

Makoto I see occupying a very similar role to Shizuka, but while Shizuka is all in defence Makoto is all about hitting the opponent. Makoto is pretty cheap, and she has 2 great Ki Feats (Distraction is excellent with everyone having Assassin, and Escape helps keep her alive for far longer) that make her well worth considering if you want a more directly offensive model to run objectives. On top of this she has Cloudwalk and Evasive which together make her pretty damn quick (not to mention possible Move Boost 2 when she activates) so she can get to objectives when she needs to and score points to put the opponent on the backfoot. Sidestep Defence and Combo Attack both as 0 are amazing to have and it goes to show even more her role as the Bleeding Moon objective runner, being able to both dish out a lot of damage and be defensive when she needs to

Rin is the last of the pure killers, and sits in a spot between Kerasu and Katsumi in terms of cost but exists in a role all of her own. While Katsumi relies on big hits and Brutal, Rin has easy access to Prowess and Combo Attack so she cuts her enemies apart in a flurry of blows. With Feint she also has a better chance of landing higher success levels to make the most of Combo, and she can get ways to really punish opponents through either of her Ki Feats depending on the situation. While Katsumi is the "defensive offense" model, Rin is more of a straight up offensive piece because she is far more effective on her own activation (even though she has Tireless as well). They're both excellent though and it depends entirely on personal taste (or you just take both of them and tear holes in the opposing warband)

Shizuka is one of the better objective runners in the faction because she has good movement traits and is great defensively as well. She can entirely ignore enemy zones of control during her activations, both of her ki feats being places are amazing and with her defensive traits she will mostly always just want to chuck all her dice in defense and declare counterattack if she actually wants to do damage because there's no reason not to do it that way

Yuto is really great, but at the same time the existence of Bikou really hurts him a lot. They both share the niche of being models with Kusari and Distraction, but what he brings over Bikou for that extra point isn’t always going to be as great as the amount of versatility Bikou brings with her shooting capabilities over Yuto being a bit more control focused. Yuto is definitely good, but I find myself reaching for Bikou far more

The Worms- the cheaper ninjas, they both have Kohai as a unique effect which lets them choose a Ki Feat of any model in the warband and treat it as if they had it on their own card. This has some excellent uses (Vitality from Ghost or Hiretsuna, Distraction from Yuto or Bikou) but with their Ki stat of 1 they have to plan for the perfect time to use it

Ujimushi sits in an interesting spot, because as a Worm he is on the cheaper end for KKZ, but he is also one of the better ranged pieces in the faction despite it. While he isn’t the long-ranged sniper Dudiko is or the short ranged killers Bikou and Kouhei are, he is cheaper than all of them and has the same ranged pool with great range bands. In terms of ninja stats he is fairly standard, except his Sidestep Defence costs him a dice instead of being 0 like most. With the choice of gaining Lightweight or losing a Reload marker whenever he activates he can keep shooting pretty often and can even do it every activation if you really want to. Ujimushi also uniquely benefits from using Kohai to take Deadeye from Dudiko, which means if you have both him and Wamu that she is open to take any other Ki Feat that might be more contested

Wamu is just a bit bland. She's there to be another body that can copy someone else's Ki Feat for a bit of fancy tricks, but overall she is just a cheap ninja with decent stats (but low Ki) to fill out a list. She's the cheapest model in the faction that can interact with scenario objectives, but I still prefer to take a Karapan and have 4 extra rice for using somewhere else. 

 

The Ronin- unlike the other ninja above, these ones can’t take ninja equipment (which is a big negative) but otherwise fully benefit from everything the rest of them do. Both are excellent models both in sculpt and in rules

Bikou simply put, is amazing. She is a package of everything you could want in a ninja, and brings a whole bunch of things that make the warband click so much better. Distraction to change facing on models and trigger Assassin, Hail of Steel for spamming shots and killing things, a Kusari for everything that brings with it (reliable prone and a good melee weapon) all add up to make a really great ninja even without factoring in anything else. Evasive built in is great, as is Jump Up, and the possible Pierce (3) on her Shurikens makes a Hail of Steel a terrifying prospect for any armoured enemy. 

Hiretsuna is the other "cheap" option after Karapan, and where they offer a surprisingly hard hitter Hiretsuna offers jank and possible scenario interaction. He is a total pest to shoot even without Camo, but when he does have it he is nigh on impossible to target and although he is Insignificant he can use Swift Executor to pull out clutch interactions with scenario objectives when you need him to. He is the most fragile model in the faction, so he needs to be leveraged as such, but you can also make sure he will be very difficult to target until he has already done his job. 

On the Table- Bakemono, Wastrels, Bayou

 Back with another little hobby update, we're back in temporary lockdown here in Sydney so I've been making the most of it by finishing some projects off and getting warbands done. 

First up I picked up a Bakemono warband for Bushido (I did say in my last post that I would be buying into Jung Pirates next, but I got a bunch of Bakemono for a good price and expanded from there) and got them all painted. These sculpts I absolutely love because they have so much character and I am a big fan of Bushido minis in general for this exact reason. 

I also picked up the last box I needed for my McCabe crew for Malifaux, which gave me Cryptologists and Rough Riders. I have always loved using the Rough Riders with proxies, but now with their official sculpts (which are really awesome) I will definitely be using them a lot more while I play around with the McCabe changes and GG2. I already had Jessie Halliday unpainted from when her box came out, so I painted that at the same time, and the Cryptologists I really didn't like in the renders but having their sculpts in hand I warmed up to them a lot as they look a lot better proportioned and less janky in the flesh. I really enjoyed painting these all and the newer Malifaux sculpts are very often really nice to paint. 

Most recently I've been putting in a dedicated effort in clearing the backlog, especially in getting all of my Bayou fully completed. Finishing bases has never been a strong suit of mine, and I like to procrastinate on them for a long time, so getting all of these done and finished is something that I am very happy with because I can get them all packed away and done for good, but also I can say that I have 6 keywords in Bayou almost in their entirety fully painted and based.