M2E+Oiran


 * Oiran, Ten Thunders Minion**

=__Overview__=

Oiran are sexy geishas of death. They are 5 SS support models that can hit decently well. They are a bit of a Jack of all Trades, Master of None piece that has a bunch of useful tricks but which aren't reliable, though they do have a bit of a focus on being defensive. They can be surprisingly hard to remove and have a surprisingly big threat range, so can have more options open to them than what initially seems. They are also the cheapest Last Blossom model currently in the game and also have the Mercenary and Showgirl characteristics which open up other options in different crews. = = =__Mobility__=

Oiran are packing a nice **Wk** of 5 and an outstanding **Cg** of 8. This means that they should be able to keep up with the rest of the crew and can charge deep once lines meet.

Lure
Outside of their base stats, the only other mobility based ability in their arsenal is the **Lure** action. This is a **Ca** action with an insane range of 18" which targets Wp and it causes the targeted model to move it's **Wk** towards the Oiran as close as possible. Since it is a move and not a push this has some pretty big implications, the main two being that the move does not have to be in a straight line and it does not ignore rough terrain unless the lured model can ignore it natively. **Lure** is an incredibly versatile action and has a very high Ca of 8, but Oiran lack the crow suit to be able to use it freely, so you need to reserve some crows for them. A well placed **Lure** can be a game changer, so never discount this.

=__Offense__=

Concealed Weapons
This is the Oiran's main attack action simply by the virtue of being a 1 **AP** action and not needing any suits to work. It's a **Ml** 5 melee attack with a **Melee range** of 1" and a damage track of 1/2/4 that also puts **Poison** +1. Although the damage track is very poor, the poison does make it more akin to 2/3/5, which is more respectable, but it does have diminishing returns if you hit the same target more than once per turn. Her huge **Cg** of 8 means she can threaten anything 9" from her so she can go surprisingly deep to attack somebody. The attack also has a trigger in **No Witnesses**, but it makes more sense to talk about it in the resilience section.

Assassin's Gift

 * Assassin's Gift** is the Oiran's other damage action. It is a **Ml** 6 melee attack with a **Melee range** of 1", the damage is still 1/2/4, but unlike **Concealed Weapons**, it does not stack **Poison** on the target. It also costs 2 **AP** to use, so you can only use it without help if she starts her activation 1" from her target. It's selling point is that it automatically triggers **Flutter**, which lets it take this action again against the same target, but with -1 to it's **Ml**, though the trigger can only be declared if the attack that triggered it is **Ml** 2 or higher. This action is very cornercase and can be outright worse than two uses of **Concealed Weapons** or one use with **Focus**. Basically, you need to be able to connect with 4 attacks to be as efficient as a single Focus strike that gets severe with her **Concealed Weapons**, so unless you are attacking something with - to **Df** or the Oiran is getting a + flip on damage from some other source, you are probably better of just using **Concealed Weapons** for damaging.

=__Resilience__=

This is the Oiran's true calling since it has a nice arsenal of defensive tricks to make her harder to take down than one would think. Her defensive stats are goodish with a **Df** of 5 and a **Wp** of 6, though things get interesting once you look at her abilities.

Right of the bat, she has **Disguise**, which means she cannot be charged, this effectively can reduce a lot of melee heat that may be heading her way and thanks to her own huge **Cg**, there is no reason why she can't engage in her terms outside of an enemy double moving just to engage her. She also has **Reading the Stone** which gives her an additional **Defensive +1** when she uses the Defensive Stance action. This makes her **Df** suddenly go through the roof with a ++ to **Df**.

Her **Concealed Weapons** attack has a trigger called **No Witnesses**. This puts the **Unbeknownst** condition on the target when succeeding, meaning that the model with the condition cannot use Attack Actions against models with the Showgirl characteristic for the rest of the turn. This adds more fire to her annoyance factor since activating quick and either getting lucky or putting some highish tomes to good use can force a model or 2 to have to try and find other targets to attack since they cannot target the Oiran. This becomes a lot more crippling when hiring her as a mercenary on a Collete crew where all the crew can have the Showgirl characteristic and the **Unbeknownst** can cause offensive lockdown.

Finally, she also has the Appealing ability, which gives +1 **Wp** to all other friendly living models in a 4" aura from her. It may not affect herself, but bringing an Oiran if you expect a lot of **Wp** tricks on the other side of the table can be a life saver and pretty much justify her cost by itself. Do remember that the range is pretty short, so always be mindful of the bubble. Also, Appealing does not stack, so two Oiran would not give you +2 **Wp**.

=__Tips and Tricks__=

First thing you have to consider every time you activate an Oiran is what suits can you offer her. If you have crows and don't want them on something else, she can get a very reliable **Lure** going, high crows moving enemy models and low crows moving your own. If you have high tomes in hand, you can try to lockdown a model with the **No Witnesses** trigger from **Concealed Weapon**.

If you don't have any suits you want to offer the Oiran, you then have to wonder what you want to achieve. Do you need her close and in the middle to buff your crews **Wp**? Do you want her in the front blocking charge lanes but not being able to be charged herself? Do you want her to charge in deep to annoy something and keep ti grounded until she gets killed? Do you want her to just move and go into defensive stance to force the use of resources to remove her? These questions are all important, but without some card support she does tend to be limited in how much she can achieve.

Remember, the Oiran is not really a damaging model, she is pretty bad at it, she is a model that hugs another one or two and forces them to pay attention to her. So try to be with her in the most annoying place possible to force them to remove her. Never discount going into **Defensive Stance** unless you really need to move, your attack can do something worth mentioning (finish killing a model, get **Unbeknownst** going) or you need a given Lure and can guarantee it.

Always remember that you can use Assassin's gift for Disengaging strikes for the **Ml** 6, this is another layer to how much of a pain it can be to get out from an Oiran if she manages to get **Unbeknownst** on you and you really need to get out of combat to be of use.

If it's relevant, get all the use you can out of her **Appealing** aura and always keep in mind how much it reaches against crews that attack **Wp** heavilly, it's better to put the Oiran in an ugly place to protect your crew and force the enemy crew to kill her fast than to keep her in the back and wasting that aura. Its better that they feel the need to focus on the Oiran than on your expensive enforcers and henchmen.

They are also mobile enough to be objective grabbers, though there are better options for all the masters that can field her for the job, but they can get the job done if needed.

If you have any Oiran in your crew, you should always find someone with a free upgrade slot to carry ** Hidden Agenda **. It's 0-point upgrade (so all it costs is the upgrade slot) which gives all Oiran within LoS Fast and Focused once a turn when the carrying model damages an enemy. This isn't something to plan your strategy around, but it can be a nice free bonus.

Smoke and Shadows
Oiran have the **Last Blossom** characteristic, and benefit from the **Smoke & Shadows** upgrade if taken in the crew. This gives them two new actions. **Smoke Bombs** which is a 1AP action which lets them place 2 smoke markers (50 mm bases) with a **Ht** of 5 touching their base and **Shadow Stride** which is a 2 AP action which lets you bury the Oiran and unbury it 6" from another friendly model at the end of the turn. Both this actions add more tools to heir shed, though Smoke Bombs is the big seller for her since it's an ability she can use while advancing that doesn't require a suit and that covers her weakness to ranged actions.

The **Smoke Bombs** are mostly helpful to block line of sight to your own models, though they do need an 8+ to work. They have the **Blocking** trait, so being inside of the smoke protects the model from line of sight, though do remember that auras and pulses require it. They cannot be placed touching other models or markers but the smoke markers themselves don't need to be in contact, so as long as they are in bases to base with the Oiran, it's enough. The action has the **Vanish** trigger if it flips a mask, which immediately lets them cast **Shadow Stride** for free with +2 Ca and a mask, which makes it a lot less costly to use.


 * Shadows Stride** is mostly a redeployment trick which lets you quickly reposition an Oiran in another completely different part of the table. The spell is costly requiring a 6 of masks, though the **Vanish** trigger from **Smoke Bombs** makes it trivial when it works. Burying is full of advantages like not being exposed for the rest of the turn and letting you chose your spot freely knowing how all the models are placed at the end of the turn. Do though remember that the Oiran is considered dead if there are no friendly models in play when they unbury and that any model that uses burying mechanics in their favor (like Tara), can make it be more of a curse than a blessing.

Oiran and Showgirls
====Would you look at that? Oiran's have the showgirl characteristic, as well as mercenary. This would typically mean that they should have some sort of synergy with a Colette crew, or at the very least a crew with other showgirls. You'd be right!====

While much of what Colette can do is to Minions and Showgirls (which includes the Oiran under the Minion Characteristic as well), some of the synergies start to crop up a bit more when you look at Colette's thematic crew. Cassandra is able to **Understudy** their Lure spell with has two huge impacts. First, it's still at casting 8, which means it's as hard to resist as a Rotten Belle's lure, and she can use a soulstone to get the crow, if you're blessed with extra soulstones (and as a Colette crew, when aren't you?), and no crows in hand.
 * Cassandra**

The coryphee have a **Dance Partner** Spell that only targets showgirls, and which means if you're looking for a model that is a little tougher and stabbier than a performer, but still want to use it as a dance partner waypoint, you can use an oiran. It's less apparent, but they're also not targeted by the Duet's **Orchestral Crescendo** ability, so fire away. Perhaps you can use Cassandra and the Oiran to pack a zone for a massive Crescendo. "Time for the big finish!"
 * Coryphee/Coryphee Duet**

The performers "Precious" already dictates that a minion can take the reactivate, so there isn't a ton of synergy there. Same with the mannequin's "**Magician's Assistant**" action- and since there aren't any actions that seem to require scheme markers, "**All Part of the Show**" is pretty useless as well. But they can serve as magnets for "**Mechanical Adorations**", and pull the Mannequin around.
 * Performers and Mannequins**

The oiran can bring a few very solid things to the crew herself, and get better because of some of the mechanics inherrent to Colette's trickery. For instance, **Unbeknownst** as mentioned before gets a lot more powerful if you can land it on their beater, and your whole crew is composed of showgirls. Also, as mentioned before, the Oiran's attacks get much better when you can force positive flips to damage, or if you can cause your enemy to have negative twists to DF or WP. Well, if the Coryphee land **Hypnotic Movements** on a target the Oiran is about to engage, it will be coming in at a negative twist to defense. And if a mechanical dove empowers her with a (0) action, it can be at a positive flip to damage. Together, this could make **Assassin's Gift** very powerful, landing multiple attacks at a positive twist to damage, and the enemy being unable to cheat.
 * Oiran's contributions**

All in all, if you're looking for a more reliable lure than Siren's Call, someone who can stop a melee attacker in their tracks, or maybe just a model that's a little more survivable and a little more stabby than a performer at a touch more of a cost, then the Oiran is your woman.
 * Part of the Show Part of the Crew**

=__Playing Against Oiran__=

The first big question you have to ask yourself when there are Oiran at the other side of the table is if you attack **Df** or **Wp**. Anything that attacks Wp will want to kill the Oiran quickly to drop her Appealing buff, or at the very least, separate her from the pack. Outside of that, they are mostly an annoyance piece, their intent mostly to engage something over their weight size to distract is as long as possible while using **Lure** in useful ways as long as her cards permit it. So basically any form of ranged actions will take them down quick. If engaged with one, make sure to go first to avoid the **No Witnesses** trigger from making you unable to deal with her.

If your model has the **Unbeknownst** condition, do consider doing a disengaging move supposing you can't reach anything you can target. Do keep in mind she can use **Assassin's Gift** for the disengaging strike meaning she will have Ml 6 to keep you engaged.

She is a very suit dependent model, so she tends to be less useful the later she activates since she tends to count on less cards from the hand to fuel her tricks and anything that removes suits from her utterly kills her utility.

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 * __Ownership__ **