[Astroking112]

Originally Posted by Maklar the Silver Prince

Hey @Astroking112 , you've got some really neat stuff going on here!

Your Yokai faction has some cool stuff going on. They're reminiscent of Scytale's Corsairs, to me at least; the interactions with moving around revealed order markers is a super thing. Abe no Seimei is probably my favorite because you've got those creative leader powers on that card; getting the balance right on a passive commander that allows your army to do some tricksy, flexible things must be pretty tough. I do find it a bit unfortunate that there isn't really any reason to put an order marker on Seimei - I think that he might be too passive, to a fault. Figuring out a use for Seimei that would require activating him sometimes will add even more complexity to the faction, but I think it is a flaw that you may need to eventually address, although I've got no suggestions on how you might do that.

Thanks for the feedback!

Seimei is definitely intended to be more of a passive commander given his place as an imperial advisor, but one of the things that emerged in testing was that he surprisingly is worth a turn every so often. Being the only ranged Yokai means that he can bypass pesky powers like Flutter or Defensive Agility, and his decent durability means that he can absorb attacks to distract your opponent from critical targets like Ibaraki-doji or the Kirin. Given that he benefits from Shapeshift himself, he can often get ranged attacks from height, too, so long as you don't save him for when you have no Yokai left.

That said, I do plan to make a Unique Yokai for each general as suitable sculpts emerge, and Vydar's Yokai will very likely be ranged to emphasize his gameplay themes, which means that Seimei's ranged attack will eventually have an alternative. Seimei's relative price and mediocre offense means that you rarely want him to be your last figure in clean-up over a more useful Yokai, though, which means that shifting him into danger to absorb some attacks is sometimes the right call. It can also still serve as a substitute when you can't afford another ranged Yokai, given that they're often tight on points already.

I wouldn't be opposed to giving him a more active role if he fails the SoV process, but I similarly struggle to think of elegant ways to do that. He's already a full card in terms of powers, I think, and putting a range requirement on one of the powers messes with the balance of the faction considerably (given that each Yokai has other armies that they work in, Seimei's very strong synergies for them is a key reason why the Yokai faction can work together). 4 attack is another possibility to boost his offensive power, but I'm a little reserved about baking a decent ranged attack into every Yokai build given that each Yokai is meant to be a strong-but-limited tool in a big toolbox. It's a tough thing to change either way for sure.

I love what is going on with Nure Onna and Kincho, they look like great low-cost additions to an army. The Mokumokuren is awesome too, Chomp and immunity to most ranged attacks warrants a high price tag for a common hero. They look like they'd be an absolute blast to learn how to play.

I'm glad that you like those three Yokai! I think that they're some of the most unique and fun heroes in the faction. Kincho is a really fun addition to Seimei as a way of developing one more Yokai position per round, and his ability to tie up key figures to protect your Yokai is also invaluable. Similar to Seimei, I've found that knowing when to put an OM on him is vital to playing the Yokai, as if your opponent isn't expecting the Tanuki to breeze through their screen, they could quickly find an angry Kirin in their starting zone.

Nure Onna is a really fun figure at 20 points. The Yokai really want to have as many figures and options on the board as possible for Shapeshift, so she's a great value even when she dies quickly. She also combos very well with Seimei if he becomes engaged, since he can swap with her and then shoot at the defense-penalized target.

I've only tested out Mokumokuren a little bit so far, but having Chomp on a Common Hero with 0 move that enemies have to approach has definitely made for an interesting design. In a Yokai build where there is no OM-turn efficiency, giving up on a movement for one of your developed positions can be brutal, but Chomp is of course a great ability in any case. My experience so far has been that 2x Mokumokuren is probably too much with Seimei at 500 points given how limited your movement options become, but I'm curious about Talingul's potential with them.

The Rahnik Protector is pretty cool too, I'm liking the interactions with Ramming Spear and Flocking/Flutter. It might be cool if Ramming Spear allowed you to push figures back a space too!

I like that idea for Ramming Spear (and it gets quite nasty when paired with Flutter)! Unfortunately, the card is already pretty wordy thanks to Flutter and Flying, so I'm a bit hesitant to add more text to the card. I took a quick peak at some VC examples of movement like Z'Thoth and the Hoplitrons, and there are a couple of clauses (like LEAs, falling, etc.) that would probably need to be addressed that would make the addition lengthier than I'd prefer.