Asami Tanaka Guide Pt. 2 – Her glorious underlings

In this part of the guide, I am going to cover the Oni models available to Asami as hires and summons. In a later part, I will cover models outside of the Oni characteristic. As always, I welcome all feedback and comments - questions get me all kinds of excited because I love talking about this crazy ass game we all love!

Totems

Who's a cheeky little demon?

 

Amanjaku (3ss) – Asami’s thematic totem, this little fella is packed full of character and provides a range of purposes on the board. DF 6 is delicious, as is his WK and Cg of 6. Insignificant as expected, but with Disguised and Manipulative 13, he hangs around longer than he ought to.

He provides two attach actions:
(1) Trickster’s Claws – (Mi 5 Ma, Rst Df) – 1/2/3 damage spread. The kicker here is that he gains a bonus to his damage track equal to the VP your opponent has (max +2). Having your totem dishing out min 3 damage is just lovely J

(1) A Taste Of Life – (Ca 5, Tn 14, Rst WP, Rg 6) – select a Condition on the target and increase the value by 1. The high target number and low cast value discourages you using it on an opponent, but this is handy in a pinch if you need to give one of Asami’s summons another turn of life.

Tactical Action:

(0) Onwards Into Night – Ca 5 Tn 10Cr – Until the end of the Turn, Sh Attack Actions that target models within 6A suffer a negative. Extremely helpful against shooting crews by providing models with a little bit of protection as they shuffle up the board.

Overall: If I am taking a totem into the match, then it is this fella. I can see the appeal in the Kamatachi, but this guy just provides so much for the crew that he is hard to go past. Take him, love him and embrace the look on your opponent’s face when you tell them he has hit for min 3 damage.

Henchmen

Mumma?!?

 

Ohaguro Bettari (8ss) – Asami’s loving mother with the added bonus of no eyes and black teeth! She has quickly become my favourite henchman within the faction (and that is saying something when you consider the others available!). Solid 6s for Df, Wp with 8 Wds is welcomed given that is all she has in the realms of obvious defence. Wk 6 and Cg 7 is great, anymore on the Cg value and she would become kinda bent given her front of card abilities.

Front of card abilities: So, this is front of card is extremely impressive!
The Bird and The Snake: Enemy models within 6”A may not declare Df or Wp triggers. The mother of all front of card abilities – all of a sudden, Colette becomes much more killable, Gremlins no longer squeal away in fear, Ironsides is no longer punching you back in the mouth. Of course, you have to get her into a position where this counts…luckily she has a few tricks up her baggy sleeves to help this.

Drawn To Essence: When a model is summoned within 6”A, this model’s controller may choose to place this model into base contact. Please note that it is model, not just friendly model. This abilities is fantastic for two reasons – it can help pull her out of danger when she has over extended herself (1AP charges tend to do that) or help reposition her for her next move. Given you will be summoning at some point, and a surprising amount of models are now being given access to summoning, the usefulness of this ability is really high…just don’t be like me and forget she has it all the time ;)

From The Darkness – You know what is cooler than a model that can deny Df and Wp triggers – a model that can do it after charge through terrain with no regards for LOS. With a charge of 7, she is going places and going there fast. Fantastic for hunting those little pesky Slop Haulers hiding behind a wall or if a certain small horse riding master wants to throw some walls all up in your face.

Attack Actions

(1) Blackened Teeth  (MI 6M, Rst Df, Rg 2 (those are some long ass teeth!)) – Her only damage dealing option and it is a good one! 2/3/6 damage spread is respectable, anymore on the lower end and she would become ridiculous with her charges. Three triggers which all have their place. Flay (cheating on negs) is always nice on a double Mask. Plough Over (Mask/Tome) allows her to charge a target, push it 4” away and then charge a different model instead. Great for getting to those hard to reach models. Just A Taste (Crow) after succeeding, place a Corpse marker. Useful for feeding Asami’s summoning shenanigans.

(1) The Hunting Song (Ca 6C, TN 12C, Rst WP, Rg 12) Target model may not charge, next time they wish to walk, it must be directly towards Bettari and as close as possible. Condition then ends. Great for messing with the opponents positioning.

Tactical Action

(0) An Oni’s Call – CA 6C, TN 10 C/T, Rg 6 – Target other friendly Oni performs 1 interact action – always useful.

(0) The Flaying Song – Autocast, until the end of turn, friendly Oni in 4A gain a Mask to their Mi – WOO! Built in flay for all! Seriously useful, especially as she can use this on herself!

Upgrade wise, I am a fan of running her with a single upgrade and that is always her Taste Of Flesh upgrade, which allows her to heal all damage when she kills an enemy model. Considering that she should be charging through all the terrain and picking of the targets she is capable of murdering, this is a fairly reliable heal for her.

Other Henchmen Of Note:

Ama No Zako – An Oni before being an Oni was cool. Solid damage track, an obey, ability to create hazardous terrain – all things that are super welcomed. I have found her hard to place in the crew – I want to like her and love her, but when push comes to shove, Bettari gets my vote.

Enforcers

How To Train A Dragon took a murderous turn...

 

Yasunori (12ss of balls out amazingness) – This guy is a straight A killer. Capable of shredding most opponents in his threat range, he is at his attacking best in an Asami crew (although the thought of Shenlong’s focus and fast shenanigans make me weak at the knees), while in other crews he can become more beefy (Yan Lo and Mei Feng crews throwing him some armor spring to mind). You opponents will start to call you terrible names and insult your mother for taking him, but fuck it. You deserve to have this guy in your life.

Front of Card

Armor +1 is welcome given his Df 5 won’t be protecting his 12 Wds for long, while the combination of Stubborn (negs on attack actions that target WP) and Wp 6 helps him against those pesky casters. Flight is amazing when you consider his Wk 6 and Cg 10. Ht 3 is fantastic for setting up charges. Scales of Heaven provides him with a card once per turn when he suffers damage. Nice little bit of silver lining to being damaged!

Attack Actions

(1) Vengeful Katanas (MI6, Rst Df, Rg 2) – 3/4/5 damage spread with a built in positive flip is amazing…but it gets better…disgustingly better. For you see, the attack has two triggers – which are the exact same triggers, but with different names and different suits:
On a Mask or Ram – Wind and Water – after succeeding take this action again. This Trigger may only be declared once.
On a Crow or Tome – Earth and Fire - after succeeding take this action again. This Trigger may only be declared once.

Now, the triggers can trigger off themselves. So 1 AP can lead to three attacks (1AP attack -> Wind and Water trigger -> Earth and Fire trigger, or vice versa). The math then becomes gross:

1) A standard Yasunori can generate 4 attacks on the charge – 2 charge attacks, 2 triggers.
2) A Yasunori with Asami 1AP charge can generate 5 attacks – 2 charge attacks, 2 triggers, 1 extra AP left.
3) A Fast Yasunori with Asami 1AP charge can generate 6 attacks.

Currently, there is discussion about whether an Obey’d Yasunori would be able to use its triggers a second time due to acting outside its activation (I emailed Wyrd about this and the response was to post the question on the forums…super dooper help there…). If it can, then fuck me that is a disgusting amount of attacks. Personally, it hasn’t affected my games as the only Ama No has an Obey and her Obey clearly states that no triggers may be used.

(0) Kodoku (Ca 7, Tn 13, Rst WP, Rg 8) Target minion model immediately performs a (1) attack action controlled by this model. It gains the trigger that on a Ram, the attack deals +1 damage for each VP the target’s crew has. Super handy and can be a clutch move at the right moments. I use it regularly to soften up a target before sending the Yasunori in if I have a minion around (Obsidian Oni cast attack is a favourite here).

Tactical Action

(0) Great Sage (CA 7, TN 13) Allows you to look at the top three cards of your deck and replace them in any order. Great little way to line up your attacks before charging the Yasunori in, or if you are managing to out activate you opponent, useful for setting up your next models turn.

Upgrade wise, I know there are those who will argue that Recalled Training is just way too good to pass up on him, but I honestly don’t think he needs it. I am much more inclined to put Equality on him, providing him with some utility and a nice little heal.

Minions

Murder death spiders are the best kind of spiders

 

Jorogumo (9SS) – I have ever only used these guys as a summon. Early days, my thoughts were that I would be hiring them all the time, but other models fill vital roles in an Asami crew that make it impossible. For me, the most valuable role that I have found that these guys fill is as a good old fashioned tarpit that can dish out the pain when needed.

Front of Card

Df 5, Wp 6 and Wd 8 is pretty acceptable when you take into consideration that they have Hard To Wound +1, Hard To Kill and Eat Your Fill (kill a model, heal all the damage – destroy all the peons or half wound summoned models). Wk 5 and Cg 6 seem small when you look at this size of these bad boys, but take into account that they have a 3” engagement range (producing an 8” area of denial/engagement)

Attack Actions

(1) Glaive (Mi5, Rst Df, Rg 3) – 3/4/6 damage – the Mi 5 is a bit of a let down here, but we deal with it and move on. Two triggers are available, with one built in:
Mask (built in) Entrap – After damaging, push the target into base contact with this model – handy as it sets up one of the Jorogumo’s 0 actions.

Ram – Crushing Strike: When damaging, the damage flip gains + for each Ram in the final duel total. Excellent for getting you to that straight and cheating in high damage.

(0) Vicious Bite (Mi 6Mask, Rst Df, Rg 1) – How sweet is having a 0 action bite! 2/3/6 damage track that ignores Armor and Hard to Wound. Especially useful after you have dragged them in with their built in trigger on Glaive. With the addition of a crow, you gain the Venomous Bite trigger, giving the target Poison +3.

Tactical Actions

(0) Wander The Earth – 2” push is handy given the engagement range of this model.

As I said, I love to use these guys as massive tarpits. Their incredible resilience with HtW, Htk and Eat Your Fill allows them to hang around with some heavy hitters for a while. Having a 50mm base and a 3” engagement, these guys have an 8” area of denial to lock models down with. Coupling this with Asami’s ability to reposition model with her Grasping Strands, you can really put the pressure on your opponent’s plans.

 

We're here to fuck shit up

 

Obsidian Oni (9ss) – Personally, my favourite of all the Oni minions! They just have so much utility that it is impossible not to find a purpose to hire one, let alone summon one. The play a vital role for me in kick starting Asami’s summoning engine by helping early summons to increase their flicker life. They are also fairly durable and hang around longer than they should.
Df and Wp 5, Wd 6 with Armor +1 and Ruthless to save it from Wp in it’s activation. If that isn’t good enough, then when the enemy kills them, they explode, raining death and destruction down upon all those around them!  Wk 5 Ch 6 is standard.

Attack Actions

(1) Spiked Club (Mi 6, Rst Df, Rg 2) – 2/3/4 damage spread is nice, as is the two triggers available to them. On a Ram, you gain Crushing Strike. With a Tome, you gain Blaze, which gives the target +1 Burning. This feeds into their second attack action.

(1) Flames From The Heavens (Ca 6Ram, Rst Df, Rg 8) – 1/4/5 damage. Low damage 1 sucks, but you gain + flip if the target is already Burning to death. Obvious connection to the first attack. Again, we have two triggers, with on built in on the Ram – Scorched Remnants: After damaging, place a scrap marker. On a Tome, you get Mark the Way: After damaging place a scheme marker. The built in scrap is handy for fuelling Asami’s summoning, which placing a scheme marker is always gravy!

Tactical Action

(0) The Strong Grow Stronger: Discard a card to heal up to 2 damage on a target non-Leader model within 6” which has an upgrade attached. This becomes super useful in keeping your Yasunori or other beater model alive!

You damn dirty apes!

Yokai (5ss) – If Obsidian Oni are my favourite minions at the moment, Yokai are gaining ground quickly in 2017 (see what I did there ;) ). These dudes are packed full of flavour on their card and can find a purpose in most situations…many of which involve them murdering fools!
Df, Wp and Wd 5 makes them fairly squishy, but that is to be expected! Wk 5 is average, but Ch 7 is just delicious once you start looking at how potent they can be!

Frenzied Charge gives them + to attack flips generated by a charge action (always handy with Mi5!). Fickle allows them to add an additional Flicker +1 when summoned (meaning they can start at Flicker +2, although there will be times when you do want them to fade away at the end of the turn).
Ephemeral Warriors – if they drop a point of poison or flicker and are still on the table, they may take a 3” place. Only restriction is that they may not be placed in terrain – super handy for helping them to get around the table!
It is important to note that if you choose to hire them instead of summon, they begin the game on Flicker +5, and tick down a point at the end of each turn, thanks to their The Fading Fight ability.

Attack Actions – only one, but it has 5 triggers, so bear with me J

(1) Kama (Mi 5M, Rst Df, Rg 1) 2/3/4 – standard and solid for a 5ss minion. The triggers are where the real fun begins:
Double Mask Flay – allows you to cheat on negatives – super useful, especially when Bettari can be handing out that second mask for free.
Mask Soul Burn – While damaging, gain ++ to the damage flip and lower this model’s condition by 1. – always great being on positive flips, but you really need to make sure that an extra turn of life wouldn’t be more useful in the long run.
Crow Just A Taste – After succeeding place a corpse marker in base contact. Helpful for those Flicker summons of Asami’s.
Tome Stolen Life – After succeeding against an enemy, this model gains Flicker +1. Always helpful having an extra turn of life.
Ram Vital Strike – After succeeding, lower this model’s Flicker condition by 1 and take this action again. Extra attacks are always handy, just need to manage the flicker carefully.

Tactical Action

(0) Corrupting Essence (Ca 5/ Tn 10) – Lower this model’s Flicker condition by 1. Then, if this model is still in play, it may take a (1) interact action. On a Ram, you can trigger a heal for 2 health. I think this would be more commonly used if it allowed for a scheme marker to be placed, rather than the interact action, as it would allow it to get around the summoning sickness issue. 2 heal is always welcome though.

Who's a pretty birdie?

 

Tengu (4ss) – Quality little scheme runners available as both a hire and a summon to Asami. The provide a few different roles in the crew, but mostly will be used to run schemes and tend to work quite well in pairs. Df & Wp 4 with 5 Wds is nothing to get excited about, but with Regen +1 and an ability to increase that, they can be self-sufficient healers.  Flight helps with the movement of Wk 5 and Cg 6, while their Shooting Star ability allows them to be placed in base contact with target friendly Scheme Marker within 5”. Working in pairs allows them to leap frog from one scheme marker to the next.

Attack Actions

(1) Razor-Edged Talons (Mi 5M, Rst Df, Rg 1) – 1/3/4 damage track is quite nice for a 4ss minion, and the triggers are insanely useful:

(Double Mask) Flay – Cheating on negative flips is always a lovely thing.
(Mask/Tome) Katanaka’s Mark – After dealing moderate or severe damage, place a scheme marker in base contact with this model. Scheme marker placement is never a bad thing. Asami can heal from you, you can score from them, hell, bluff the crap out of your opponents with it.

Tactical Action

(1) A Song of Night and Day (Ca 5, Tn 11, Rg 6) Target model gains the Regen +1 condition. On a Tome, you can take the action again. – The ability to give a model Regen is just ridiculous, especially when you can ramp it upto Regen +2. Very useful for helping Asami resupply for 1AP charges, or heal the Yasunori back up.

(0) Still The Earth – Discard upto two cards to discard one scheme marker per card within 3Pulse. Given the amount of schemes requiring scheme markers to score in GG17, the ability to remove your opponent’s markers and mess with their plan is always welcomed.

So that is it for tonight, people! Feel free to throw any questions and feedback my way! I will be back next time to discuss some of the non-Oni models that are worth considering with Asami.