Just a couple of quick
mini-muses today, as it’s been a bit since I trashed Tara and got the most
pageviews and comments of any blog post I’ve ever done (this is an unfortunate
message that you’re sending me, internet world.) Fortunately today’s work is
going to be somewhat more positive.
One of the significant
differences between the previous iteration of the game and current Malifaux was
the introduction of the upgrade system as a means of adding complexity to crew
selection and allow people who are playing the same masters to come up with
completely different looking and feeling crews on the tabletop. The promise of
this comes in the form of very different upgrade packages, particularly upgrade
cards with the “Limited” designation. I think the general consensus is that the
success of this effort has been mixed. On one hand, there are masters who very
clearly have a couple of different modes of action depending on their upgrade
suite. Seamus jumps out as probably the marquis example, as selecting between
his two limited upgrades (I’m at work, so can’t look the names up at the
moment) results in a master who either focuses on terrifying and more of the
ranged aspect or transforms nto a full-on melee beast by adding the Bag o’
Tricks (discussed well on the most recent Cheated Fates Radio). On the other
hand, other masters don’t really seem to have this. I like Sonnia, but in my
opinion there are only a handful of upgrades that are worth taking on her, and
I don’t think any of them significantly alter what you’re doing with her on the
board (namely, standing back and blowing enemy models right the hell up.) When
I was doing crew construction for the game mentioned in my last post, it
occurred to me that Misaki seems to me to be a fine example of the upgrade
system working the way it is supposed to work, giving you an ability to build
two very distinctly flavored crews depending on which of her two limited
upgrades you attach during the pre-game.
The “Typical” Build
This crew is the much
more aggressive of the two builds, and it seems to be the one that I see most
often in discussions of how to play Misaki, namely an attack oriented,
aggressive build focused around attacking with Misaki and tearing up the enemy
crew. The reasons for this are pretty obvious, as Misaki’s high combat rating,
long melee range, and good defenses (particularly after burning out her
soulstone reserve) make her very well suited either for minion sniping or going
after Assassination targets. The upgrade you use for this is the Stalking
Bisento, giving her the ability to, as a 0 action, attach the “Stalked”
condition to any model in line of site. The now unfortunately “stalked” model
triggers a move from Misaki every time they take a walk action and, on
subsequent turns, will allow Misaki to use her Bisento attack action as a 0
action against it. This makes an already very aggressive master even more
dangerous. I enjoyed Mike Marshall’s discussion of how to run versions of this
on this week’s Malifools podcast, particularly the combination of recalled training
and utilizing Misaki to go attack the enemy leaders and basically just tie them
up during the game, freeing the rest of the crew to go claim objectives, kill
enemy minions, and do other things that generally result in winning the game.
Currently, my agro Misaki build looks a little something like this:
50SS Aggressive Build
Misaki-Stalking
Bisento, Recalled Training, Misdirection, 3(ish) SS
Torekage x2
Ototo (or Yamaziko,
your henchman of choice can be here)-Smoke and Shadows, Recalled Training
Ten Thunders Archer
Oiran
Dawn Serpent
This crew has a couple
of effective hitters outside of the master. Ototo and the Dawn Serpent can chew
through most of what your opponent brings for minions. The archer can back up either
Misaki or the other hitters since they can fire into melee. Dawn Serpent is one
I haven’t had a chance to use and could be subbed out for Ronin, particularly
if you think you’re going to be up against an armor heavy crew.
The Switch Build
On the other hand, it
occurred to me that you could build a very effective defensive build with
Misaki by utilizing the other limited upgrade, Disguise. This upgrade makes it
so that Misaki can’t be made the target of a charge action. I would pair this
particular upgrade with another, Untouchable, which lets her use the defensive
stance action without discarding a card. This becomes particularly rude when
you activate her Deadly Dance ability, leaving you in a situation where you can
engage enemy models with 1” melee ranges while denying them the ability to hit
you back, since you can dance away before they can make a strike against you.
Thus, you now have traded some of her melee ability to create a soft control
model that is extremely difficult to get away from and could potentially be
very disruptive to the enemy force. I went on to build a theory-faux crew to go
with this that is much more objective oriented than the previous:
50SS Misaki In Disguise…with
Glasses
Misaki-Untouchable,
Disguised, Misdirection, 6(ish)SS
Yamaziko-Smoke and
Shadows, Recalled Training
3x Torekage
2x Oiran
Monk of the Low River
I’m not sure this crew
could really kill anything (at all), but I have to think it would be damned
annoying to the opposing crew and quite good at objective based scenarios. I
like using Yamaziko’s Brace Yari ability to fend off opposing chargers. The
Torekage can get a ton of movement out of burying for Smoke and Shadows first
turn and then either popping out of Misaki or Yamaziko at the end of the turn,
leaving them free to walk out of melee and not be subjected to disengaging
strikes. I’m not amazed with the Monk of the Low River, but being able to
remove conditions is huge and he’s cheap and resilient, so he matches fairly
well with the crew. It’s a very passive crew, to be sure, but I’d be interested
to see how it would actually do on the tabletop.
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