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This is a neater way of storing my playtests for my customs that I want other people to be able to see. I mostly intend on posting about units that I'd like to submit to the SoV.
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Masha's Samurai Spectacular vs. Marro Hodgepodge

Posted April 11th, 2020 at 11:00 AM by Astroking112
With the recent buffs to Masha, I wanted to make sure that he didn't become too good with the Unique Samurai. Dawn wanted to try out some more Marro units, so we created a hodgepodge of them for her to use and test out Masha against some decent ranged units.

ARCTIC DIVIDE by UranusPChicago

Glyphs: Lodin (D20 +1), Ulaniva (Unique Attack +1)
Astro: Masha Shingai, Tomoe Gozen, Tagawa Samurai, Kozuke Samurai, Izumi Samurai (500)
Dawn: Marro Stingers x3, Marro Gnids x2, Marrden Nagrubs x2, Su-Bak-Na (500)
(Dropped 1 Nagrub to fit 24 hexes)

GAME SUMMARY:
Dawn mostly led with the Stingers, throwing in a few Gnid turns every so often to keep them as an extra threat. The developing Samurai suffered a handful of whiffs early on, losing a Kozuke and Tagawa, but otherwise their defense held strong. Because Ulaniva was on the other side of the map and Dawn's army was much faster than my own, I made my way for Lodin and slowly cleared out the Stingers on the central hill height.

Despite falling pretty easily, the Samurai did good damage most of the time. I managed to finish clearing out the Stingers when I had a half-dead Masha and Tomoe left, plus two Kozuke and a very Bloodlust-ing Tagawa Samurai. I was making my way into Dawn's starting zone, too, despite my slow army.

At this point, Su-Bak-Na and a squad of Gnids were all that was left, so if I managed to kill the big undead dragon, then the Samurai very well could have won. Unfortunately, I made a poor Order Marker placement on the last round, losing a vital turn where I could've finished off Su-Bak-Na. He then proceeded to finish eating my army (and some of Dawn's, too, to heal himself).

CURRENT VERSION OF MASHA:
Spoiler Alert!


SURVIVING UNITS:
Su-Bak-Na (2 wounds)
2x Marrden Nagrubs (2 were eaten by SBN)
5x Marro Gnids
~180 Points Left

POWER USAGE:
Masha received a total of 6 Order Markers, one for each round that he was alive. During his turns, he killed two Stingers with his normal attack (neither of which would have been reachable with 5 move).

His Terror of the Honorless power reduced the attack of two Stingers. Both were engaged to him; the first whiffed his attack, while the second only dealt 1 wound to him.

His Fiery Retribution was activated twice, once to avenge two wounds to himself from a Stinger on height (17 rolled) and once when a Stinger blasted an Izumi Samurai two spaces away. He rolled a 5 that time, though, so no wound.

Total Damage Dealt: 60 Points

THOUGHTS:
Masha actually felt pretty good this game. Obviously, the opposing army wasn't maximizing efficiency or anything (which was actually intended, given how good the Stingers are normally and how disjointed the Unique Samurai are). Just three squads of Stingers basically destroyed the entire army, but the Samurai made a decent fight back and Masha's auras found very good usage.

Even if Fiery Retribution only got used twice, for example, Dawn constantly changed her targets to my other Samurai (such as the Izumi Samurai, who were less dangerous) in order to avoid taking the chance of a wound. She often found herself having to back away to her maximum 5 range to avoid the Terror of Honorless, resulting in her not being able to reach her original main target. Masha was frequently changing how the game played simply be redirecting attacks and protecting my Samurai.

Both the 6 move and the 2 spaces on Fiery Retribution are huge quality-of-life improvements to this design. Masha feels more like a normal melee Samurai now, being fast and powerful while having much more positioning freedom. Tomoe Gozen's 5 move still really hurts, and her defense bonus can't possibly protect everyone it needs to, but the combo is now much more manageable.

Obviously, neither Tomoe Gozen nor Masha Shingai bring as much power to this army as Raelin. They each bring new utility to the Unique Samurai, though, so they have value and are fun to play.
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