M2E+Misaki


 * Misaki, Ten Thunders/Outcast Master**

=__Overview__=

Misaki is a dedicated melee scalpel, though her raw damage potential is not as high as other melee masters like Lilith or Lady Justice. What she does have is incredible mobility which lets her chose her fights and a very scary trigger in the form of **Assassination** to get unexpected kills. Her limited upgrades either make her more dangerous against a given target or make her harder to engage, using one or the other will tend to condition how she is played and what other upgrades to use.toc

=__Mobility__=

She has an average **Wk** of 5 but is sporting a huge **Cg** of 8, giving her a total 10" threat range when adding the 2" **Melee range** of her weapons. What really makes it all come together is her **Diving Charge** ability. This allows Misaki to charge even when engaged and ignore models and terrain during this movement. She still needs line of sight to charge a target, but it lets her stay mobile while also attacking what she desires.

She possesses the automatic trigger **Next Target** built in on both of her **Ml** weapons, allowing her to push 4" in any direction if she damages. This lets her do hit-and-run tactics as well as going in deeper as needed during the flow of the turn. Because it's a push, rough terrain is not a factor, though you will need to be careful to have a straight line to move where desired.

She also has the **Deadly Dance** action which gives her the **Deadly Dance** condition and it allows Misaki to discard a card to push 2" in any direction any time an enemy ends a **Walk** action 2" from her, this means she can be very slippery to get to if the enemy can't charge for whatever reason or doesn't have any movement tricks of their own that don't count as a **Walk**.

Downburst
Downburst is Misaki's only **Ca** action, This spell causes all models that are 3" from the targeted model to pass a **Df** 13 duel or be pushed 4" away from it. Do notice that though it has a **TN** of 13, it has no resist, so it's pretty easy to activate it against enemy models as wells as friendly ones, though it still demands at least an 8. This is initially more of a control ability than a mobility one, but it does have a trigger, that you need the suit for, that allows Misaki to push 5" towards the target if cast successfully. Chances are you will mostly use it to help your models get out of trouble, casting it on the model engaging that which you want to free and banking on failing the **Df** duel to allow your guys to get out though you may need to cheat down to get the desired effect. It can also be used as a good card drain if your opponent has a few models that can't afford to be pushed away.

=__Offense__=

Misaki really only has an offensive Melee presence, so it will be the only relevant section. Her Melee actions are her Bisento and Thunder.

Bisento
This is her bread and butter attack action, the damage spread is an even 2/4/6 with her weak damage being on the low side for a Ml dedicated master, she does have a very high **Ml** stat of 7 meaning she will connect with relative ease and a good 2" **Melee Range**. The triggers are where Misaki gets dangerous. The first trigger is **Next Target**, which was already-mentioned in the mobility section.

The other trigger is **Assassination** – which is what makes her a very real threat. **Assassination** causes a model to die instantly unless the player controlling it discards 2 cards or 2 Soulstones, this can be used with 2 intents, straight up murder, or as a resource vacuum, you'll be surprised how quick stones vanish if you can manage to get 2 **Assassinations** on a beefy henchman or enforcer when the enemy hand is depleted. The trigger does requires two Crows, of which Misaki has none built in. Initially it demands a stone and a crow card, which limits it's use greatly, So, you tend to have to prepare your hand for it to get good use out of it. Thanks to her **Risky Ventures** ability, Misaki does have a way to get one of those Crows but she has to have 0 Soulstones to activate it, she still needs a card to pull it off but it's good to know that without stones she is still able to use the trigger and at that point it's also possible to get a lucky flip where you can trigger **Assassination**, forcing some very hard decisions on your opponent.

Thunder
Thunder is her other melee action. It has a slightly less hard hitting damage spread, but produces blasts to compensate (2/3B/5BB) and Misaki also is immune to these blasts meaning she can place them aggressively over her without a worry. Thunder also has the same sky high **Ml** of 7 as well as a **Melee Range** of 2 though it tends to get a bit sidelined as it's only really useful when you have clusters of enemies and are packing [+] flips to damage to try and guarantee some blasts coming out as well as not benefiting from the **Stalking Bisento** upgrade. This usually means using **Focus** with Misaki which can be well worth it if that means you can get an extra kill from using 1 AP. Thunder has the **Next Target** trigger natively as was mentioned in mobility, so you aren't really sacrificing anything by using Thunder compared to the Bisento as long as you weren't planing to use **Assassination** and prefer blasts over extra possible damage.

=__Resilience__=

To put it bluntly, Misaki is made out of tissue, She does have solid defensive stats with a good **Df** of 6, a fantastic **Wp** of 7 and a good amount of **Wds** with 12, but her only native defense is **Bullet Proof +1** which is useful when targeted by ranged crews, but isn't going to save her if Perdita or Ophelia get a bead on her. Her other passive defense only triggers once she has no soulstones through the **Risky Ventures** ability, giving her a [+] to all her **Df** flips, this is incredibly useful to keep her running, but it also means she can't prevent any damage anymore, so each hit that goes in will hurt that much more. In short, relying too much on **Risky Ventures** is a trap. Misaki will often want to run with a cache somewhere between four and six Soulstones.

Her way of staying alive is based on keeping away. This mostly comes from how much leeway to engage from both **Diving Charge** and her high **Cg** stat gives her and from the **Deadly Dance** action that, if used at the right moment, can let her constantly get out of harms way. Don't be afraid to take a **Diving Charge** at one of your own models if you are stuck in the middle of a melee that you have few chances of getting anything useful out of, same applies to **Downburst** which can be used to push you out since Misaki isn't immune to the **Df** duel of getting pushed away from the target.

The most important thing though is to not obsess about how fragile she is. As long as she takes down something important with her in a blaze of glory and distracts the enemy crew enough to get your own schemes done, she can die in Turn 2 with a big smile.

Then again, her chances of surviving could improve should upgrades enter the equation, which will be covered in the next section.

=__Upgrades__=

Misaki has her own native upgrades and those she can use depending on if she is a Ten Thunder master or an Outcast master. So we'll cover it in those sections

Disguise - Limited
This upgrade makes Misaki not be able to be targeted by charge actions. This is a much bigger deal than it initially seems, since if you stack **Deadly Dance** into the equation, it turn out that Misaki can't be charged and every time something does a **Walk** that ends 2" from her her, she can discard a card and push away, meaning she can do a tremendous keep away game with anything that hasn't started in **Melee range** with her or that doesn't have a **Melee range** of 2 or higher. It is a limited upgrade though and closers her off to the **Stalking Bisento** upgrade which is more oriented to making her an offensive piece.

Stalking Bisento - Limited
This upgrade gives Misaki the **(0)** **Stalk** action. This allows her to discard a card to give the **Stalked** condition to an enemy model in line of sight, which means that after the stalked individual has
 * Walk**ed or **Charge**d and has finished it's activation, a model with the **Stalk** action can do a **Walk** action to get as close as possible to it's prey. This is fantastic by itself since Misaki doesn't have any (0) actions, so this gives her something to do while also increasing her already-insane mobility.

A lot more interesting is that the upgrade also gives her the **Stalking Bisento** ability which means Misaki gets [+] to hit and damage flips against a **Stalked** model when attacking it with her Bisento and she can do an attack action as a (0) action as long as it's against a **Stalked** model. This means that if you set it up right, you **Stalk** a model and next turn, charge it with all [+] to attack and damage while also having an additional attack from her (0) action. This upgrade makes Misaki the ultimate pinpoint assassin being able to go where needed and cause huge amounts of damage without depending on the **Assassinate** trigger as much. Using **Stalking Bisento** does close her off to the **Disguise** Upgrade since they are both limited.

Cutpurse
This upgrade gives Misaki an additional **Ca** action which is **Pilfer**. It's a 2" **Melee range** action with only a **Ca** of 5 and it only works when targeting the enemy crew leader. If it hits, you discard a Soulstone from his pool and add a Soulstone to your own. It also adds the **Cutpurse** trigger to the Bisento, it requires a single Crow and allows Misaki to make the **Pilfer** action for free. This action is for the novelty factor, it can be useful when the enemy is low on stones and you plan to get an **Assassinate** or just want to stop them using stones for prevention but you always have to evaluate if you won't get more out of hitting the enemy master with another one of your melee actions and with a much higher attack stat. It's more compelling used as a trigger. But using a stone to get it is conditional on what you want to achieve at a given moment, do keep in mind that if you stone for the Crow and get lucky on the flip, you can also get a surprise trigger of **Assassinate**, so that's another nice perk to it and if you are feeling risky you can use a SS to trigger it and bank on using the free **Pilfer** action to effectively get back the stone you spent, though be mindful of the enemy's defense and your own hand to guarantee it.

Untouchable
This upgrade allows Misaki to go into **Defensive** without having to discard a card and also gives her an anti-Horror mechanism allowing friendly models in an 8" aura from her to take 1 **Wd** every time they fail a Horror duel to count as having passed it. This can be a true life saver against Horror based crews like a Seamus Hanged crew with **Wp** debuffs which can cause a lot of hard to pass tests. Keep in mind it doesn't say anything about "other friendly models" so Misaki can use it too, so it can save a situation where a failed Horror duel could kill the whole turn. It won't be useful all games though so it's more of an insurance upgrade.

Smoke and Shadows
This is a minion-buffing upgrade that only affects **Last Blossom** minions; currently these are only Oiran, Torakage, and the Jorogumo. Misaki can field them in both Ten Thunders and and Outcast crews thanks to her **Infiltration (Last Blossoms)** rule, though she is limited to a maximum of 4 **Last Blossom** models in Outcast crews.

The upgrade gives Minions the **Shadow Stride** and **Smoke Bombs** actions. **Shadow Stride** is a 2 **AP** action that lets the model that cast it bury and unbury at the end of the turn 6" from a friendly model, no need for it to be **Last Blossom**, and **Smoke Bombs** lets them put smoke markers while also having a trigger that lets them cast **Shadow Stride** for free if it gets a Mask. Both are very useful utility actions, especially for quick repositioning, or setting up Deliver The Message.

The upgrade is useful, but it's often best to give it to another **Last Blossom** model that isn't Misaki, since she tends to have very good options for her 3 upgrade slots. Of course, this upgrade is only useful if you will be fielding Torakage and Oiran and in a decent number (I'd say 3 **Last Blossom** minions is a good number to justify the upgrade).

Misdirection

 * Misdirection** allows Misaki if she gets a Mask on her defense and is hit, to pass off the hit to another model 2" from her that wasn't the attacker. This can be friendly or enemy, if the model that is the new target wants to avoid the effect, it can discard 2 cards to do it. This is the top Ten Thunders upgrade for Misaki, it makes her become very hard to take down and gives her a defensive edge without having to depend on her **Disguise** upgrade or can be stacked with it to make her very hard to shift. You do have to be careful of using any Mask to use the trigger, as long as your opponent has 2 cards or more in hand, it means he can make that hit go in and dropping a low Mask only to have him discard and cheat damage on Misaki can be crippling. Don't be afraid to simply let your own models take the hit instead of Misaki too, such as the Shadow Effigy or a Samurai with Favor of Earth. Also, **Misdirection** combos really well with Misaki once she is out of stones since thanks to her **Risky Ventures,** she gets [+] on all **Df,** increasing her odds to get Masks.

Recalled Training
This allows Misaki to discard the upgrade at the start of her activation to get [+] flips on all duels and flips for the rest of the turn. This is the other big Ten Thunder upgrade for her since it either makes her very dangerous for a turn with one [+] to attack and damage or outright evil with [++] to attack and damage if using **Stalking Bisento**. do remember that this also affects her **Wp** and **Df** flips, making her that much more resilient for the turn. Used at the right time it can be a game winner, though don't sit on it too much since Misaki may die before you get to use it. During the **Recalled Training** turn, do a quick balance of whether you will get more mileage out of the Bisento's higher damage or out of Thunder's blast damage, since 3 well placed Thunders with a straight flip can cause pure mayhem on a cluster of models and this is Misaki's best bet at doing it.

Broken Promises
This upgrade allows Misaki to discard the upgrade and gain the **Betrayal** condition, this causes all enemy actions targeting her for one turn to have a [-] flip in all duels. The utility of this upgrade fluctuates greatly, being a wall of protection if your opponent doesn't have ways to get [+] to his actions or utterly pointless if full of [+] effects. It also forces you to activate first to get the most use out of it because it's discarded at the start of her activation, so it may condition your activation order. It's still a good upgrade, but more oriented to a tarpit style of play where Misaki engages everything she can and tries to keep them with her as long as possible.

Servant of 5 Dragons
Utility upgrade that gives +1 **Wp** and you can discard at the start of her activation to discard all scheme markers in a 3" pulse from her. It's important to keep in mind that it's at the start of the activation, so you have to get her into position to where you want to use the scheme pulse the previous turn. This can be interesting in a scheme marker heavy match and thanks to **Next Target** Misaki should have a decent chance to get into a position after a round of attacks to go where it may be useful, but other more scenario based enforcers and henchmen can probably take care of this instead of her. The +1 **Wp** is good of course, and it does plant her in **Wp** 8 which is insane, but it's debatable if it's worth 1 Soulstone and an upgrade slot if you want to use it for this, so you have to be very sure that you will be facing a lot of **Wp** based effects before committing to it.

Dragon Stone
This allows Misaki to use a Soulstone when defending against an attack to increase her **Df** or **Wp**. The increase can be 1 (0-5), 2 (6-10) or 3 (11-14), but the max a stat can reach thanks to the upgrade is 8 and it can't be cheated. Misaki has a good **Df** with 6 and a very good **Wp** of 7, so it's use is limited for her while also costing a Soulstone and an upgrade slot to have. It also gives a (0) action that allows the user to discard the upgrade for the **Focused** +1 condition, it is a good effect, but very expensive when costing a (0) action and a Soulstone to buy and is completely eclipsed by **Recalled Training**, really would not recommend using it.

Survivalist
This gives Misaki **Hard to Kill** and [+] flips on her healing flips. This combos well with any form of healing you can get in the crew (Shang, Friekorps Librarian) and **Hard to Kill** is a fantastic rule to get one last wind out of Misaki before she finally falls. As usual can make a defensive Misaki even more of a nightmare to eliminate or make offensive Misaki take a bit more punishment.

Oath Keeper
This gives Misaki **Finish the Job** (place a scheme marker when this model is killed before removing it) or can be discarded for **Fast**. Most times you will use it for the **Fast**, since 4 attack actions from Misaki (5 with the **Stalking Bisento** upgrade on an already **Stalked** target) can end the hardiest of pieces or if with some crows in hand can let you go for more **Assassinate** attempts to deplete resources/get kills. It's also the utility of blowing it at the right time to have Misaki put an extra scheme marker and so on. Just remember you have to discard it at the start of your activation. If she dies before using it you at least get the **Finish the Job** effect, though it's more a consolation prize than the reason to use it, though don't discount letting Misaki die if that scheme marker can give you some points.

Scramble
This gives Misaki +1 **Wk** and +1 **Cg** and **Unimpeded**. It's an expensive upgrade at 2 SS but making an incredibly mobile master even more mobile should be worth considering, though chances are it would be better giving it to slower pieces to help them keep up like for example Ototo or Taelor and Misaki barely gets any use of Unimpeded between **Diving Charge** and **Next Target**. Misaki can place scheme markers for schemes like Protect Territory after the first move with that **Wk** of 6, so that may be enough of a reason to give it to her.

Tally Sheet
This upgrade allows Misaki to draw a card every time she kills a model. This can be another very interesting choice for Misaki since she is a killer at heart and you can get great mileage out of it if you setup a cluster of wounded models for Misaki to wade through. It's still more of a filler upgrade for her though.

The Traveler's Stone
This allows Misaki to use a Soulstone when defending against an attack to increase her **Df** or **Wp**. The increase can be 1 (0-5), 2 (6-10) or 3 (11-14), but the max a stat can reach thanks to the upgrade is 8 and it can't be cheated. Misaki has a good **Df** with 6 and a very good **Wp** of 7, so it's use is limited for her while also costing a Soulstone and an upgrade slot to have. It also gives a (0) action that allows the user to discard the upgrade to gain the **Hunker Down** condition, which gives a [-] to all attack flips from **Sh** actions that target Misaki for the rest of the turn. This can be a very useful effect or be dead weight depending on what you expect and actually face, giving you a second wind vs something like Perdita or being utterly useless vs a McMourning crew. Can be a consideration in more defensive builds if you expect some ranged attention but would keep it very low priority.

=__Tactics and Tips__=

Well, the first big decision you have to make with Misaki, no matter what faction you go with, is if you will go for **Stalking Bisento** or for **Disguise** as her limited upgrade, they both change her focus a lot. The first makes her a death dealing machine while the second makes her a very hard model to get a grasp on. After that, the rest of her upgrade selection can skew her more or less to a more defensive, balanced or offensive extreme. At the end of the day, no matter what you go for, Misaki will always be a scalpel and will be used like that, choosing her opponents where she can cause the most mayhem and going for targets of opportunity, be it thanks to Assassinate or simply because of her huge mobility to finish off a couple of wounded minions.

Misaki should be able to use all her **AP** for attacking as long as there is a target in line of sight and 10" from her and should barely ever need to even **Walk** once she is in the thick of it, between **Next Target** and **Diving Charge** she should never have a problem to keep moving forward just by making attacks or to get into range to do a new charge. Do remember that **Next Target** needs to damage, so be careful when attacking soulstone users if you really need the push since a good prevention can block you. Also, remember that **Diving Charge** requires line of sight, so plan accordingly to avoid having to waste **AP** to get it to your desired target.

Don't be afraid to sacrifice Misaki, if she kills something important and demands enough attention, it will be worth it, though in dire situations don't ever underestimate just charging one of your own models to get out of a bad spot.

Also, always try to have an eye on the table for situations where **Downburst** can cause mayhem, be it by forcing enemy models into rough terrain they will have to later **Walk** through, into hazardous terrain or to become engaged by models they may not be interested in being with since it can put a huge wrench into their plans or at the very least make them have to blow a card or 2 to stop it from triggering. Same applies to getting your models out of nasty places and letting Misaki go in to cover the hole, though always remember that you may need low cards to allow your models to push out.

Stalking Bisento Misaki

 * Stalking Bisento** Misaki is pretty much focused on destroying a model per turn, thanks to her huge mobility she should be able to reach it quickly enough, though without proper support and depending on her other upgrades, she may not be able to come out of the ordeal, so always be conscious of your odds when you jump in with her and what you plan to achieve with her.

Ten Thunders
As a Ten Thunders with **Stalking Bisento**, one of the best combinations you can go for if you just want to kill kill kill is to take **Recalled Training**. This makes Misaki be a god of death during a turn, where if planned right she can make 4 attacks on her intended target with [++] to attack and damage, that is master killing quality right there. Don't discount using **Thunder** though, it may not get any benefit from the **Stalking Bisento** ability, but blast damage can be a death sentence for some targets that live on their defensive triggers like Kirai or the Dreamer or those that have very high defensive stats like Lilith or Pandora. **Recalled Training** also it hard to to deal with her for that turn thanks to the [+] to **Df** (another [+] if she has no Soulstones) and **Wp**.

You can either keep it as is for a pure killy missile or take it one step further and add **Misdirection** into the equation, this means she not only has a turn of huge power, but she also becomes very hard to shift thanks to passing the hits she takes on to other models. Since Misaki is so good at choosing her targets you should have no problem charging into a cluster of enemies to get the full use out of **Misdirection**, though always remember how many cards your opponent has since getting cocky can get you killed and don't forget you can pass hits to friendly models without worrying about the effect being canceled. **Broken promises** can also be considered to give her one turn of relative security, but as mentioned before, be weary of **Focus** or ways to get [+] flips and chances are if you have to decide between **Misdirection** and **Broken Promises** that you will be better served by **Misdirection**.

Outcast
As an Outcast with **Stalking Bisento**, the golden upgrade becomes **Oath Keeper**, which with some planning gets you up to 5 attacks with [+] to attack and damage against a **Stalked** target, this is pretty much a sure kill and since it's 4 separate **AP** it also means she can charge twice in one turn, letting her **Charge** her current **Stalked** target, kill it in two, then **Stalk** another target and **Charge** again. **Scramble** can be considered too, though most would say that a 10" charge threat is already enough.

Probably more sensible though is combining it with **Survivalist** for the **Hard to Kill** to give her that little extra edge at staying alive, which can then become pure horror if you manage to keep any piece than can heal her (mostly Shang or the Friekorps Librarian) close enough to keep her out of the **Hard to Kill** threshold.


 * Tally Sheet** can also work here, but **Stalking Bisento** Misaki tends to focus heavily on dropping a single big model per turn, not so much taking down various small ones, so it may give you limited gain, though an extra card per turn is never nothing to scoff at.

Disguise Misaki
With **Disguise,** Misaki has the same objective of going deep where needed but operates completely differently, Misaki stops being a one man assassination squad and becomes more focused on finishing targets of opportunity and harassing weaker models or for preparing the **Assassinate** trigger after depleting the opponent's hand and farming some crows into yours. With **Disguise**, **Deadly Dance** becomes your bread and butter action since between not being able to charge and being able to discard a card to push away you greatly limit your opponent's ability to actually deal with Misaki. To attack her in melee he needs models with 3" melee range, models with 2" melee range to get into base contact, to start engaged with her, to use push/move effects to get in range with her or to use clever positioning to funnel her into a place where she can't just retreat. Also remember that every use of **Deadly Dance** eats at your hand, so be sure you have some dump cards before you go into a place full of hostilities.

Since engaging becomes problematic, ranged becomes the way to control her and that is where **Bullet Proof +1** comes in making it a bit harder to damage her and trying to hug cover as much as possible during your moves. The ideal situation with this configuration is to charge, hit a model a couple of times, use **Next Target** to get out or just stay engaged with minor threats and possibly into cover and activate **Deadly Dance**, if possible, in an area your opponent wants to reach but can't get to without removing Misaki. **Untouchable** also becomes something worth considering for the free defensive stance which can make her even more annoying to target and gives you a no card costing alternative to **Deadly Dance**.

Ten Thunders
You can consider **Recalled Training** to give her a turn with a tremendous burst of damage to try and even how defensive she becomes, this is never a bad idea since it gives her a very scary fang once per game that isn't based on **Assassinate** and opens up Thunder to it's full potential. **Misdirection** is also always a good choice, though more oriented to using it on your own models while moving away with **Deadly Dance** or to compensate for when the enemy surrounds you, because it becomes pointless to have **Disguise** to just charge into the middle of the fray and stay there. **Servant of the 5 Dragons** can also get some good use thanks to the constant desire to move the flow of combat with her and getting to a key area where it can work to full effect to stop a Protect Territory or Breakthrough scheme.

Outcast
Outcast **Disguise** Misaki is mostly interested in **Oath Keeper**, it gives her some good flexibility to get an extra **AP** for whatever may be needed and is never a waste, be it to go for another **Assassinate**, make another strike before doing **Deadly Dance** or to get a charge and be able to stack **Defensive** and **Deadly Dance**. **Scramble** can be another good choice if Misaki becomes a sort of objective grabber, having her move placing scheme markers and either using **Deadly Dance** or **Next Target** during her activation to keep moving to keep placing scheme markers, with a 6" **Wk** she can collaborate turn 1 and with the Fast from **Oath Keeper** can achieve some very aggressive last second scheme interactions.


 * Survivalist** is also always a good choice simply to give Misaki **Hard to Kill.** Since **Disguise** Misaki is a lot more defensive than **Stalking Bisento** Misaki, it should cause a lot more distress to your opponent to not manage to get that final strike to end her. As usual, the [+] to healing flips on her is always useful if you keep healers near her.


 * Tally Sheet** also has more of a place with **Disguise** Misaki since she tends to do more flanking duty. Taking out objective grabbers which tend to be fragile increases her chances of getting more than one kill.

=__Leading a Crew__=

No matter what faction you use her with, Misaki will mostly be doing her own thing, so it's not so much what Misaki does for her crew as much as what her crew does for Misaki. She is mostly a pinpoint killer with variations depending on her upgrade configuration. The big thing to consider is what you want her to do for your crew and build the rest aiding that concept. If you are going to go with an aggressive **Stalking Bisento** configuration oriented on going for the enemy master or nearest big thing she can get to and destroy it, than chances are you will mostly want objective grabbers and control pieces aside from an additional beater or two to support Misaki. Unless the strategy is Reckoning and the scheme pool has any kill schemes, she won't be contributing directly to get VP, so she must be a distraction that allows the rest of the crew to get the VP and it must be built with that idea in mind.

A more defensive springy Misaki can also be a very good distraction, but it also means you will need to include something more oriented to causing damage, since Misaki won't be able to kill big targets without **Assassination** set up. Misaki will mostly be doing double duty of combat and scheme/strategy play taking advantage of her mobility. You'll still need some additional objective grabbers since she can't do it all alone though.

Turf War
Misaki loves it, it forces the enemy crew to concentrate to a degree into the middle of the table, bringing more chances to engage a lot of models with her. Another effect is forcing the enemy crew to commit more models to the Turf War area than he would like since he has to be weary of Misaki killing a model or two and denying VP.

Reconnoiter
Not as friendly as Turf War, but Misaki can work with it. Here she can mostly take care of a weak quarter quickly, allowing her to dominate it and then proceed to support where needed thanks to her high mobility. Do be mindful of not straying too far away and be careful of the enemy crews stronger quarter so that it doesn't punch through the rest of your crew. Also always have an eye on your own weak quarter in case Misaki has to abort and go back.

If necessary she can also go full commando into the enemy's strong quarter, but do expect her to probably die. If she engages enough models and keeps them busy while taking a few with her, it can be more than worth it.

Reckoning
Another strategy tailor made for Misaki, pretty much have her do what she always does and she'll be fine. Even with **Stalking Bisento** it may be better to focus on minions and peons to make sure you get VP instead of getting greedy and ending up not managing to seal the deal.

Squatters Rights
This strategy is a bit harsher for Misaki. She does have the mobility to get into squatter markers to interact, especially on a **Disguise** configuration but she will be banking more on her crew than on herself to achieve it. As usual, she can be more useful gumming up the enemy crews advance and stopping interaction on the markers with clever placement.

Stake a Claim
A hard strategy that costs Misaki a lot of resources to do by herself. That doesn't mean she is dead weight, but you always have to be mindful of your pushes to get into an area where you are free to interact and drop a Marker to cause the most amount of damage, this does cost Misaki almost all her activation though, so again it's preferable that her crew takes care of it.

__Schemes__
I'll do a quick rundown on the schemes Misaki shines on.

Distract
Since Misaki tends to be constantly engaged, it's very easy for her to distract a couple of models, keep them there and stop them from removing the condition. Preferably use small fry models as the distract targets leaving her to keep wailing at the big targets.

Assassinate
This is mostly for **Stalking Bisento** Misaki, though **Disguise** Misaki can do it too if she plays her cards right and prepares an Assassination run. Quite doable, though its difficulty will vary wildly depending on how good the enemy master's defenses are.

Cursed Object
Since Misaki tends to be constantly engaged, it's very easy for her to give out a cursed object per turn and keep the cursed model from being able to disengage to remove it. Try to get a bead on a non threatening model that can't get away from Misaki to farm it as a Cursed Object bearer the whole game while also still being able to threaten something bigger.

Entourage
Misaki tends to be in the deep of it most games, so it should be easy for Misaki to be on the enemy's side. You do have to be more mindful of her survival when playing to this scheme though, so it's probably better for **Disguise** Misaki who can play keep away and luring the enemy crew back to their deployment zone to try and stop you from scoring full VP.

Make Them Suffer
It's basically Reckoning again, but only with minions and peons, so Misaki is in a good spot here. Do make sure to bring another killy henchman with her to help assure two kills per turn.

Take Prisoner
Another scheme that requires Misaki to stay alive till the end for full effect, but if she choses the right target, she can kill of the rest while keeping her intended prisoner close enough to move into at the final turn or keeping it with her all game. Try to chose something that may seem "bothersome" to kill in the hope your opponent doesn't catch on.

Murder Protege
Another pretty easy scheme for Misaki, she excels at elite model elimination, especially with **Stalking Bisento**. Do be mindful of the target's defenses though, **Armor** gives Misaki a hard time as well as **Incorporeal** and can make what seemed like easy VP become a complicated affair.

__Building a Crew__
Her crew build as stated mostly depends on covering what Misaki will not be doing, since she mostly excels at harassment or big target destruction she'll mostly want objective grabbers no matter what. Depending on Misaki's focus, go with big scary beaters or smaller support beaters to either take the lead with Misaki as support or the other way around.

Last Blossom

 * Last Blossom** models are the keyword of the models Misaki can always field no matter what, though in Outcast crews she can only hire a maximum of 4. Since they are her thematic crew, we'll have a look at them in detail as well as Shang, her personal totem.

Shang
Shang is Misaki's dedicated totem, he exists purely to allow her to draw an additional card on the draw phase and then discard one and to be able to heal her at the cost of his life. He also has a passable **Ml** attack and a cornercase **Sh** attack that happens to also cause blast damage on Severe. His place in a crew is purely dependent on whether you will have Misaki going in deep alone or of she is going to do more guerrilla style combat where she is constantly going in and out. If it's the first case, he isn't really worth it since he won't ever really be in a position to heal her without getting himself killed and the additional card isn't really worth 3 SS. If you will be playing the second style, he can become a great asset by healing Misaki up whenever she gets some distance from enemy models, this lets her get a second wind and without requiring Shang to go in deep into no mans land.

Yamaziko
Very mobile budget Henchmen at only 7 SS cost and with **Nimble** giving her an additional **AP** to **Walk**, making her **Wk** of 4 not seem so low after all. She does very solid weak damage at 3, and can put some blasts on the table even though her moderate and severe damage are low end. Her **Df** is poor, 4 without any additional rules but her **Wp** is a top notch 7 and with **Stubborn** she can be outright daunting for any **Wp** based crew. She basically gives Misaki a cheap model to carry the **Smoke and Shadows** upgrade instead of her, some easy blasts, and a lot of **Wp** resistance. Her other selling point is **Brace Yari** which makes it so if an enemy charges any friendly model 3" from her, it takes 4 damage. This is an incredible control tool though it does have some counter synergy with the **Disguise** upgrade. Never discount using her **Master Tactician** ability, though costly, if it means leaving your opponent without a hand and opening up **Assassination** then it can be completely worth it.

Ototo
Ototo is a spendy brawler henchman at 10 SS. He starts being pretty tame for his cost, but when below half wounds, he becomes a lot more dangerous, gaining +2 **Ml** a Ram to his Tetsubo and [+] on damage flips. His **Df** is decent at 5 with **Hard to Kill** and a (0) action heal but his **Wp** is a pathetic 4 though he at least has **Laugh Off** to avoid being pushed/moved by enemy actions into unwanted places. His **Wd** stat is also amazing at 12. Ototo has a good **Wk** of 5, though you will find him to be slower than the rest of the usual crew and he tends to lag behind without support, this meaning that he tends to get late to the party when Misaki is already dancing. He is worth considering if you want a beefy model that can take and give punishment while also being another **Smoke and Shadows** bearer, though without some extra help tends to lag behind and is overshadowed by other options in similar point costs who aren't dependent so much on certain conditions to shine.

Torakage
They are the standard **Last Blossom** minion. Very solid stats all around. Misaki mostly wants them as independent objective grabbers that can take care of themselves. They hit like trucks when alone and their immunity to disengaging strikes means they can always slip away to keep going for the mision. Their fantastic **Wk** 6 also allows them to contribute turn 1 on certain schemes. Do keep in mind that they are very spendy at 6SS and quite fragile once they take hits.

With the **Smoke and Shadows** upgrade on the table, they become even better at objective grabbing having the option to do complete table area shifts thanks to **Shadow Shift** or can protect the crew from ranged menaces thanks to the **Smoke Bombs**.

Oiran
They are the cheapest **Last Blossom** minion. By themselves they are a pretty tame package, with a high **Ca** **Lure** action, but without the required suits to cast, so they demand Crows and Misaki doesn't like sharing her Crows. They are competent in combat and their biggest selling point is a passive +1 **Wp** at a 4" aura from them which can be a life saver vs **Wp** based crews.

With **Smoke and Shadows** their options open up a lot, becoming mostly walking cover or objective grabbers thanks to the added mobility of **Shadow Stride**. I wouldn't recommend taking more than one though since Misaki can't really part away with that many crows, but it's always useful to have some sort of movement control on the table and the **Wp** buff aura can be very useful.

Ten Thunders Brother
This minion is a budget Torakage, very worth considering if you won't be using **Smoke and Shadows**. Their biggest selling point is their **Dance of the Heavens** (0) action, full of useful effects like hand rotation, small teleports, increasing their threat range or giving them some Armor. Outside of that versatility, they are surprisingly hard models to take down, especially when they have the **Defensive** condition. They also give some scheme marker protection. On the offense they are nothing to write about, but have useful triggers, mostly rely on **Focus** to get damage done. They give Misaki a mixed play minion that is at a good budget cost.

Tengu
They are dedicated scheme marker placers and removers, taking care of all scheme marker related responsibilities while freeing Misaki so she can dedicate to killing and harassing. Their trick is that they are placed in base to base with a friendly scheme marker 5" from them at the start of their activation. This gives them a tremendous amount of mobility and gives a big incentive to use them in pairs and have them leapfrogging of each others scheme markers. With the added benefit of flight, they have a very easy time getting where needed and their **Still the Earth** (0) action lets them remove enemy scheme markers without interacting.

You do have to be careful where you place the scheme markers they use as stepping stones because bad placement could mean that you can't place a scheme marker at a desired area. This is especially important in schemes that require placement based on enemy models like Spring the Trap or Plant Explosives.

Kang
Kang is a brawler henchmen that gives some very strong passive effects to his crew, especially against **Undead** and **Constructs**. He is one of Ototo's biggest competitions, having as his edge a **Ml** 7 weapon with a weak damage of 3, a 6" passive aura that gives immunity to horror to his crew and a 6" passive aura that gives [+] flips to all living friendly models to attack and damage against **Undead** and **Construct** models. The benefits of this can be immense against the right crew, making him a very big consideration against Resurrectionist and Arcanist crews. He is still a solid package even if not facing constructs or undead, he is still hard to take down thanks to **Hard to Wound** and **Hard to Kill** and also possesses a (0) action heal, though it does require the use of a Soulstone. Kang's presence means Misaki can decide to pass on **Untouchable** since Kang already brings horror protection and his attack and damage buff against **Constructs** and **Undead** also benefits her, making her even more lethal if she can reach those targets under Kang's watchful eye.

Izamu The Armor
Izamu is one of the Enforcers that eclipses Ototo by doing the tank that hits very very hard. The greatest edge of Izamu is that he is packing **Melee Expert** and a passive [+] flip to all his damage flips, this means that he has a much easier time getting straight flips on damage. Hi also gets +2 **Ml** and [+] to attack flips when doing disengaging strikes, meaning that what starts in combat with Izamu tends to stay. He only has 9 wounds but with **Armor +2** can take a lot of punishment, his heal is a 1 **AP** action though. He doesn't really do anything for Misaki but he is a very strong self contained model and gives Misaki a reliable hard hitting partner in crime once she commits to combat.

Lone Swordsman
Lone Swordsman is another close combat enforcer. He only costs 8 SS but is quite fragile once engaged. He has a varied list of triggers that make him dangerous, their effects are ignoring **Hard to Wound**, **Hard to Kill** and **Incorporeal**, not allowing the use of Soulstones to prevent damage, ignoring all [-] flips in the damage flip or placing the target in base combat with him. He can keep up with Misaki while also having a ludicrous Sh defense in **Bullet Proof +3** to go with Misaki's own, making Sh based crews annoyed at not being able to punch through as well as they would like.

Do be careful when using his **You Shall Not See Another Sunrise** action, it is very powerful, but you have to make sure of two things. The first one being that the Lone Swordsman has to get the final blow, which may mean Misaki would have to refocus her actions depending on if they are both going for the same target. The second is to be sure that you won't be needing the two cards you need to discard to activate the ability, be it for **Deadly Dance**, **Misdirection** or other similar considerations.

Katanaka Sniper
This minions give Misaki early game ranged support. They are snipers with **From the Shadows** and can easily shoot into enemy deployment zones turn 1. Once Misaki gets into the thick of it, they can follow suit and charge in to support her thanks to being very competent in melee for ranged pieces. Also, since Misaki tends to die, they will get **Reactivate** once this happens within their line of sight, giving them a second activation to cause more mayhem.

Ten Thunders Archer
This minion gives middle-late game ranged support to Misaki. Their biggest selling point is their ability to shoot into combat without randomizing and to ignore other models when doing ranged attacks. This means they can either soften up models that Misaki may be engaged with or kill models that Misaki has already softened up. It is very important to get good use of the archers to make sure they can't get engaged by anything since an engaged archer is a useless archer, so either they need something else to babysit them or simply make sure that your core combat elements are already keeping the enemy models busy to let them do their job. Since Misaki has a constant flow of where she is at a given moment she is more than capable of blocking a good chunk of the enemy crew to stop them from going after them. If they do get engaged, don't forget **Downburst** can be a ticket to freedom for them.

Sensei Yu
This flexible henchman opens up a lot of Misaki's offensive capabilities. To do this requires Yu to have the limited upgrade **Wandering River Style**. The upgrade gives Yu the action **Mighty Gust**, which can push models (in addition to up to three corpse, scrap, or scheme markers) 5" and give them **Fast** (or **Slow**) with a trigger. The trigger requires Yu to lower his **Focused** condition by one. Luckily Yu gets a free Focus from a trigger on his other push action **Air Burst**. Thus Yu can push Misaki twice and give her **Fast** while doing so. The synergy doesn't stop there, Yu's **Disciple** (0) action lets him copy a (0) on Misaki (regardless of LoS or range). This makes Yu able to dish out the **Stalked** condition, which lets Misaki either tag another model herself or use her own (0) to attack.

Shadow Effigy
A cheap filler model with a lot of survivability, and can also provide some synergy with the crew. For Misaki its best ability is the (0) which gives her the condition **Blend into Shadows**. The condition can be ended once a enemy targets Misaki, in order to put that action on a negative flip. This provides a very solid defense for Misaki, especially against attacks who can later chain into combos. Like Marcus' Domesticate for example. Its a surprisingly good assassin too with **Ml** 7, which only does 1 damage, but its a great tool to kill minions with 1-2 wounds remaining.

Shadow Emissary
Ten Thunder's Emissary is a solid back line model for Misaki. The Misaki only upgrade (Conflux of Thunder) gives the Emissary an 8" aura which will give Misaki an additional action point if she kills a models while within the aura. Making Misaki able to charge another time, among many other things. The Emissary are height 3" and is on a 50mm base, making it easy to keep LoS and range to Misaki. The specific upgrade also gives the Emissary a (0) which pushes it up to 4" in any direction. Making the Emissary fairly quick with Misaki. Its (1) action "**The Right of Strength**" pushes another non-leader model with an upgrade up to 4" and gives the model **Fast**. A great way to make another model fast enough to run with Misaki for instance. The Emissary's **Ca** attack action "**The Angry Winds**" is really good, especially since it can gain **Focus +2** once a turn after discarding a card. The damage track is ok, with a solid severe of six, which is pretty easy to get to. On a Mask trigger, the Emissary may take the action again. The attack got two ranges of 2" (melee) and 7", which brings a lot of versatility of who it can attack. Another massive synergy boost is its (0) **Aspect of Dragon** which puts out a massive 10" aura to the end of the turn, with one of four (!) possible effects. The most interesting for Misaki is the **Dragon's Breath**, making friendly models who **Focus** attacks and hits for moderate or severe damage, the damage gains a blast. Making Misaki able to put out a lot of blasts in melee. On top of everything else the Emissary got solid stats, a bunch of wounds, has some later game healing, and **Hard to Kill**. All of this makes a solid choice for Misaki.

Johan
The merc with a Relic Hammer, but Misaki's main reason for hiring him in either faction is his condition removal. Johan is a complete package who can dish out hurt, is fairly hard to get rid of with a good amount of wounds and **Hard to Kill**, and can also get rid of nasty conditions such as **Paralyze**. That is huge for Misaki who can be in real danger once such a condition lands. Thus, Johan is your insurance. He is somewhat overlapping with Chiaki in Ten Thunders, but if you want hitting power and condition removal; Johan is your man.

Ronin
If you decide to pass on **Smoke and Shadows**, they become a very good alternative to Torakage, being a bit nastier in combat and with a more damage based ranged attack. Their **Hard to Kill** can give them an extra turn or activation to stay around and if they are about to die, they can use their (0) action **Sepukku** to sacrifice themselves and give you a couple of Soulstones or two cards which can be a lifesaver. Their greatest synergy with Misaki is when she is using the **Disguise** upgrade, since Ronin also have the **Disguised** ability, this can generate a lot of frustration for the opponent where there are no models that can be charged in a given area, making a melee based crew have to be inefficient and walk into combat. They also have the **Next Target** trigger automatically on their sword, meaning that like Misaki they can keep going deeper inside or doing hit and run attacks to allow you to keep the tempo of the match.

Taelor
Taelor is a big 10 SS henchman bruiser which is pretty hard to take down thanks to **Hard to Wound** and **Hard to Kill**, she only has 9 wounds though, so she has her limits. She has no additional **AP** and is slower than Ototo so she ends up becoming a firm second wave model. The big reason to hire her outside of her very dangerous **Relic Hammer** with nasty triggers is the **Welcome to Malifaux!** ability which gives her the condition with the same name, this allows her to single handedly keep a summoning crew in check thanks to the potential of the free charges, it does make her mostly an anti Resser choice with Misaki, since you will prefer faster pieces to accompany her into the fray, but she is still worth considering.

Bishop
Bishop is a 10 SS enforcer specialized in combat, his defense is tame, depending only on his **Df** 6 and **Wp** 6 to keep him alive, though his **Cage Fighter** trigger will let him get some good counter hits in when models start ganging up on him. Misaki appreciates him since even though he only has a **Wk** of 4 since he is **Swift**, so always has 3 **AP** and can follow her through the battlefield. He may only have a **Melee range** of 1", but still has an 8" threat with a charge. Once in combat he may not be as inherently damaging as other options, but his strongest asset is how versatile he is with the ability to chose at the start of his activation the suit he wants to apply with his attacks, meaning he can cause heavy hits, move models around, finish off annoying **Hard to Kill** targets or spread out **Slow**. His 2 **AP** **Paralyze** action is also huge to keep any big models that may go beat on Misaki honest and thanks to **Swift** means he can apply it where needed.

Student of Conflict
Pretty much tailor made for **Stalking Bisento** Misaki, gives her **Fast** without having to resort to **Oathkeeper**, giving her that extra **AP** more frequently to be able to cause as much damage as possible. Can also work really well with **Disguise** Misaki if you manage to have her retreat back into the student's buffing range with **Next Target** or **Deadly Dance**, keeping the come and get me flow of play that she likes while still getting the buff.

Freikorps Librarian
The Librarian, aside from giving the crew some much needed **Ca** offensive attacks which it is very lacking, it also brings a heal into the equation which when staked with **Survivalist** can increase Misaki's lifespan tenfold. She can also cause the enemy crew fits by removing all suits to **Ml**, **Ca** and **Sh** 4" from her making her a priority to take down and giving some leeway to other models in the crew.

Freikorps Trapper
The Friekorps trapper gives Misaki some early game ranged support, being able to snipe into the enemy crew from turn 1. They have **From the Shadows** and automatically trigger their **Reposition** which lets them stay mobile. Once combat is met and no more good targets are available, they can go into full objective grabbers and thanks to their **Retreat to Cover** (0) action are capable of staying on the move and not be afraid to be engaged into uselessness. Do be mindful that **Retreat to Cover** requires discarding a card which can eat into a **Deadly Dance** or **Stalk**.

Strongarm Suit
Another 10SS brawler enforcer that is also very tanky thanks to his **Armor +2**. It is surprisingly mobile thanks to his **Augmented Jump** ability which pretty much works exactly the same as **Diving Charge**. This means it can charge while engaged exactly like Misaki, making them perfect partners in crime and helping Misaki take a lot of heat off herself since now there are two very mobile and hitty threats in their midst. He also has a long range gun that can be surprisingly accurate if using his (0) action for it. Once engaged he has the option to use his (0) action to increase his damage by +1, making his weak be 3 and severe be 7, or just make enemy models take 1 damage each time they deal damage to him with a **Ml** action, which can stack up fast thanks to his good defense and high armor.

Void Wretch
This is the budget objective grabber to reach for in an outcast crew. It's selling point is being an **Incorporeal** 4 SS minion model with a **Wk** of 5, meaning it can go wherever it wants and at a brisk pace. They can be very easy to take down early turn, but become hell to shift when hands are depleted. They can also spam their (0) action to spread **Slow** around making other models stop being a problem for a turn. Misaki greatly appreciates them simply because it lets her just worry about the killing while they take care of scheme play.

=__Playing Against Misaki__=

The first thing you have to recognize when facing Misaki is what style of play she is focusing on, though there are things that work on both no matter what. Mostly conditions that either put **Slow** or **Paralyze** will give her fits or anything that doesn't let her chose her desired target (Barbaros **Challenge**, Madame Sybelle's **Only Sybelle**, Kang's **Taunt**). Her **Wp** is very high but that doesn't stop you from winning once in a while against her, this is especially important if she has **Misdirection** since that trigger only works on **Df**. The other important aspect is that she tends to discard cards for one reason or another and she likes to farm Crows, so any form of card discard will be golden against her.

Stalking Bisento
Chances are that if she is going with **Stalking Bisento**, she is going full offense by also bringing **Recalled Training**/**Oathkeeper**. She will murder anything she gets a bead on, and it's very hard to stop her from getting there, so to a degree you have to accept the loss and try to stop her from gumming up your game plan. Remember that she always can charge again once engaged, so try to use your models to cover Line of Sight to juicy targets, forcing her to blow an **AP** to either **Walk** or use the **Next Target** trigger to get a bead on what she wanted to engage. Also, if you manage to enclose her in some impassible terrain you can block her push vector play, though this will be hard to achieve. Try to stay spread out so she doesn't engage big chunks of your crew once she dives in, especially if she has the **Misdirection** upgrade since she'll just make you attack yourself as long as her stones and luck last, though don't be afraid of discarding a couple of cards to stop the effect if you are sure you can get a good hit on and don't forget to use **Focus** since against **Misdirection** quality is a lot more important than quantity. Also, in the early game you can try and lure her with a big juicy target that has a decent chance to survive, if she is interested enough she may jump in and if she considers it necessary to blow her **Recalled Training** or **Oathkeeper**, then the sacrifice was worth it.


 * Hard to Wound** pieces really gum her up since with just **Stalking Bisento** active she can't guarantee to be able to get a straight card on damage anymore, though be very careful if you are **Undead**/**Construct** and Kang is on the table. Chances are that if she is going with **Stalking Bisento**, she expects to mostly do killing and will leave interaction based strategies and schemes to the rest of her crew. Try to disable these elements as quick as possible, at the very least it will force Misaki to lose focus on the kill to go save them or she will stubbornly stay with her target letting you neutralize some of her objective vectors. If she has **Misdirection** she will end up falling, but don't waste too many resources to take her down, because to a degree, she thrives on you blowing a couple of turns to remove her from the game. Without **Misdirection** or with **Survivalist**, she will end up dying after applying a decent amount of pressure, though as always, you have to value the cost of achieving this and be very careful of any models that are able to heal her, especially if she is using **Survivalist**.

Disguise
With **Disguise** it will be a completely different game. Misaki will mostly focus on hunting your own objective grabbers while being a constant annoyance with her table presence and skirting away from conflict with **Deadly Dance**. She will be building her hand to get some high crows till the perfect moment to get a one hit kill with **Assassination**. This Misaki has a slower tempo than **Stalking Bisento** Misaki but can cause a huge shift late game when stones and cards are lacking by nailing an easy important kill. Her biggest weaknesses become in this configuration any form of **Ca** action that has a range higher than 2" and **Sh** actions, though to a lesser degree because of her **Bullet Proof +1**, since they avoid triggering **Deadly Dance**. If ranged is not an option, then try to overload her **Deadly Dance** and force her to discard a big chunk of her hand to do it, if you also have abilities that cause her to discard cards, this can be outright crippling by getting her to discard a high Crow. If she is playing a lot with **Deadly Dance**, remember that she has to activate to put it up again, so try to take advantage of this forced activation order.

She is a lot less deadly in this configuration but even more mobile, so managing to block her vectors is crucial so she doesn't go hunting for your softer targets. If she has **Recalled Training** though, do be careful for that one turn burst of power she will get since she can take down heavier targets in that turn or cause a huge hole with **Thunder**. Outside of that she is still mostly dependent on **Focus** or **Assassination** to get kills against big guys.

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