As a Ten
Thunders player, there are no shortage of fine versatile model choices
available. For 10 stones, Yasunori can get just about anywhere you need him to
be and deliver some serious hitting while being obnoxious for the opponent to
remove. The Shadow Emissary is a versatile model that can create concealment, let
you reshuffle a bad hand, flies, and delivers a nasty 3/4/5 damage spread bite.
The Dawn Serpent has been gaining popularity of late (read: I’ve been hearing
about it more in podcasts) due to his versatility, hitting power, and
self-reliance. Samurai are the only anti-armor tech we’ve got and can serve as
gun platforms that can infiltrate when paired with Trained Ninja or be very
strong bodyguards with Silent Protector. It’s possible there are TOO many good
choices (I hear you crying out there, AWP).
But lost in all of that is a model
that I think is somewhat underrated, the Lone Swordsman. It’s possible this is
due to some of his value not being immediately apparent at first glance. But more
and more, he’s finding a way into my crews, led in part by prodding from
Phiasco. Part of it initially was due to nostalgia, I’ll admit (if our Wandering
River Dojo had a mascot outside of the titular monks, he’d be it, given how
much we used to put him on the board.) But there’s some hidden power under the
surface of this model that lets him pull more than his weight, particularly for
his cost. And as Ten Thunders players, isn’t hidden power the best kind of
power?
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| And, I mean, who wouldn't want to have Samurai Jack in their crew? |
As a pure beater, he’s not likely
to keep up with Yasunori or his ilk. His defense is only 5, which doesn’t
scream front-line fighter. However, he’s 8 stones, which makes him cheaper than
everything I just mentioned above, so you can afford him plus an upgrade
somewhere in the crew for the same cost as some of the more well-known Thunders
heavies. Armor+1 and Hard to Kill help to make up for his lack of defenses.
Ruthless is an ability you don’t appreciate the value of until you play a
Terrifying or Manipulative heavy crew, and then it will suddenly become
something you look for every game when you’re facing Pandora or Seamus. Move 5
is nothing to write home about either, but he makes up for this with Creep
Along, and the Thunders has plenty of other mobility tricks to make sure the LS
is where he needs to be. His tactical action Last Breath is vastly inferior to
what he used to be able to do (grant himself Reactivate at the cost of dying
automatically if he didn’t kill his declared target), but if you absolutely
need to bring down an already weakened Enforcer or higher model, doing this in
place of charging is probably a good choice. Where he really starts to shine
(and where the less-obvious value hides) is in his single attack paired with an
ability from the front of his card.
Unsurprisingly, he has a Balanced
Sword attack as his only option (he is a SWORDsman, after all.) It has a good
but not great 2/4/5 damage track with a trigger for each suit. While I like
these in theory (it’s always cool to hit triggers) I generally don’t put a ton
of value on this when I see it on a model, because you can’t rely on getting
the one you want when you want it. Critical Hit would be nice to make up for
his weaker damage track, for instance, but it would stink to only have it one
attack out of four. Lone Swordsman, on the other hand, has the ability Adaptive
that lets him declare a suit at the start of his activation that is added to
each of his duels. This lets you pick what you’re bringing to bear, and that
versatility is where the Swordsman really shines. If you’re going in for that
big Last Breath attack round, you might want the rams to help spike your damage
spread. If you need to delay the opponent or hamstring a key model, crows let
you bring some Slow to bear. Horde of smaller models? Quick Reflexes on a mask
can let him spread the punishment around. But maybe the unsung hero is Tactical
Planning on a tome. Pass tokens are (at least for me) an oft overlooked asset
in the game, as I rarely want to use them after the first turn or two when
combat is fully joined. Delaying by an activation means letting the opponent
dictate the action in the fray, and that can be devastating. However, if you
save those tokens up, that can help you to make sure you win the initiative
flip on the next turn and get your attacks in before the opponent can respond.
This is good in most games, but it’s absolutely clutch for Cursed Idols, as the
player that wins initiative determines where the marker lands. I find that I
rarely play a game of Idols that the Swordsman doesn’t find his way into my
crews for this reason, and he’s usually declaring tomes with Adaptive before
each attack. +2 to your initiative when the range of options is 0-14 is a big,
big deal. Just ask everybody crying about Shenlong’s Chi tokens.
Anyway, I like the Lone Swordsman, and
I encourage you to give him a try in your games. And if you like these
quick-hitter style articles, let me know about that as well. I want to get
Malifaux Musings back on track, but reduced gaming time paired with some chronic
writer’s block has made that difficult. I hope that putting out smaller,
bite-sized content like this should help with this.
Later, Wyrdos!
