The Book of Kitana

[Scapemage]

Stealth Combat is an awesome power! Being able to attack during movement is something not a lot of figures get to do. Glass cannon for sure.

[Arkham]

This passes.

[Lazy Orang]

Name Of The Playtest Units: Kitana

Army Test 1
Map: Bad Moon Rising (no glyphs)
Armies:
Kitana, 2x Hand Ninja (355 points)
vs.
Wendigo (350 points)

Spoiler Alert!

Overview of Kitana’s performance:
Damage inflicted through normal attacks: 4 wounds on Wendigo
Extra Attacks through Steel Fan Assault: 6
Extra wounds through Steel Fan Assault: 2 on Wendigo.
Attacks made on the move: 6
LEAs avoided via Stealth Combat: 6
Times moved through figures via Stealth Combat: None
Wounds inflicted through Fan Lift: 1 on Wendigo

Round One

Kitana and three ninja advance.
Wendigo Super Leaps forwards and rips a Hand Ninja apart.
Kitana moves in and strikes Wendigo to no avail before backing off and throwing a fan at him, which misses. Two ninjas advance and throw shurikens at Wendigo while another charges and strikes him with his nunchucks - none achieve anything.
Wendigo breaks away from one of the ninja, who fails to harm him, and charges Kitana, who Fan Lifts him, inflicting a wound. He lays into her, striking her for a wound.
Kitana strikes Wendigo and misses before running to height and throwing a fan at him, which is blocked. Three ninja surround Wendigo and lay into him with their katanas, but he blocks each of their blows.
Wendigo devours a ninja, healing a wound in the process.
Kitana throws a fan at Wendigo, missing, as the Hand Ninja reposition, one advancing from reserve, and strike, shockingly inflicting two wounds.

Round Two

Kitana claims the initiative and moves in to strike Wendigo, failing to harm him, before backing off and throwing her fan, again to no avail. The ninja strike, but achieve nothing.
Wendigo devours a ninja and heals a wound.
Kitana closes in and strikes Wendigo, who blocks, before pulling back to height and throwing a fan at him, which inflicts a wound, and then inflicts a second one due to the sharpness of her steel fans. The last three ninja strike Wendigo in melee combat, inflicting a wound.
Wendigo strikes a Hand Ninja, who blocks.
Kitana closes in and strikes Wendigo twice, inflicting a wound whick becomes two with her second blow, and then pulls back.
Wendigo rips a ninja apart and devours him, healing a wound.

Round Three

Kitana claims the initiative, closes in and strikes Wedigo before running to height and throwing a fan at him. Both blows fail. The last two ninjas strike Wendigo, but he blocks both blows.
Wendigo cannibalises another ninja and heals a wound.
Kitana closes in, strikes Wendigo twice to no avail and retreats. The last ninja fails to harm him.
Wendigo charges Kitana and is wounded by Fan Lift, before striking her for three wounds, leaving her bleeding out and near death.
Kitana strikes Wendigo - she takes him entirely by surprise and he doesn’t even attempt to defend, so she decapitates him with ease. Fatality!

Ninja Assassins victorious - Kitana 4 wounds, 1 Hand Ninja.

Overview: She felt solid and fun. She's a bit fragile, but the Hand Ninjas can do a good job of keeping her safe and protected from enemy reprisal, basically acting as meat-shields. She tends to struggle when it comes to the punch to break through enemy defences, but, when she does break through, Steel Fan Assault makes it count. I imagine her best builds will be based either around buffing her stats, both to make her attacks stronger (a multi-attacker who gets a bonus wound when inflicting a wound will be pretty scary!) and to make it so she's better able to take a punch - such builds, obviously, being primarily Captain America or Star-Lord based, though her Assassin status means that an all-class Kingpin vII build would work well as well (I doubt she’d do well in an all-Assassin Kingpin build, as it does nothing to help assauge her fragility) - or Ninja builds, using Hand Ninja's swarming ability to keep her protected despite her frailty. Solid Ninja-style builds for her would likely be ones involving Shredder or Masahiro Arashi, due to their ability to boost her very boostable attack, which would make her quite terrifying - though, of course, both come with a risk.
Honestly, there are enough build options for her, I'm going to ask what you'd consider most helpful for me to run for her second test - would you like see her in an Avengers or Guardians build, perhaps even combining Cap and Star-Lord? Would you like to see her in a Foot Clan build, geed on by the Shredder while the swarms of Ninja take the hits for her? (Masahiro would make a good alternative for the Shredder, or you could even stack them in higher point games.) Or would you even like to see her as part of Kingpin's syndicate, which, while not telling you much that you wouldn’t already see from the Avengers or Guardians, is still an eminently viable build for her and does, uniquely boost her Move as well as her Attack and Defence, which may well be useful given her Stealth Combat/Steel Fan Assault combo.

[Arkham]

I did some testing with Star-Lord and Cap in the initials.

I'd go with a larger army with Shredder and ninjas etc. Essentially how Karai was tested but with Kitana in her place. Though, it's starting to make me want to go with Princess instead, as I'd hate to see her run with a bunch of villain ninjas and assassins as her primary builds.

Any preferences here?

[Lazy Orang]

Originally Posted by Arkham

I did some testing with Star-Lord and Cap in the initials.

I'd go with a larger army with Shredder and ninjas etc. Essentially how Karai was tested but with Kitana in her place. Though, it's starting to make me want to go with Princess instead, as I'd hate to see her run with a bunch of villain ninjas and assassins as her primary builds.

Any preferences here?

I still quite like the idea of her as an Ambassador - ever since you mentioned that she was one, the idea of having someone who's an Ambassador just seems cool to me, though that might be the Babylon 5 fan in me coming through. I prefer that to Princess, as it's a thing she does rather than a role she was born into that could be merely ceremonial.

That being said, Assassin synergies are probably no less appropriate here than they are for Gamora... but then, as much as the class was kind of necessary, the actual synergies never felt like a great thematic fit for Gamora anyway. Can't speak for Kitana, thematically, as I don't know her, but if you decided that Sub ought to be a Warrior to distance himself from the villainous Assassin synergies due to him defecting from the Lin Kuei, giving those synergies full-on to someone who defected from Outworld could be a little weird when it comes to internal logic.

[Arkham]

She was raised as an Assassin by Shao Kahn, who she was brainwashed into thinking he was her father. However, she eventually finds out that he killed her father, and used her as his Assassin.

At the end of the day it's not a huge deal. I don't think ambassador lends itself here, as that's something she has done but it's never been a major part of the character or a continuing theme. If we were to represent that role of hers, Leader would be more appropriate as she has led armies to oppose Shao Kahn. If we were to capture something beyond her role of Assassin, or her title of Princess, Rebel would be the best fit as was suggested before as she escaped Shao Kahn's rule and led several armies against him and tried convincing others to rebel against him as well. However, I believe that's a class we're saving for Age of Apocalypse people. Though we could always make that synergy based on Mutant Rebels.

[Arkham]

We may as well just stay the course here. I think Gamora is a reasonable comparison. I also think Kitana's best armies as have been stated relate to stat boosting, so she should be fine in both build types, villainous and heroic, which does cover the history of the character.

[japes]

Would she be team-up worthy for SubZero...if so perhaps Warrior?

[Arkham]

They all team-up to protect Earthrealm, but other than that they don't really have any deep rooted affiliation.

[japes]

Originally Posted by Arkham

They all team-up to protect Earthrealm, but other than that they don't really have any deep rooted affiliation.

Just trying to think outside the box. Throw something at the wall and see if it sticks. Maybe inspire someone else in the right direction. My thought was that since none of them have any Direct Synergies a class overlap may work. Maybe give someone down the line a soft Warrior synergy...

[Tornado]

I really like the idea of Warrior synergy.
Somewhere, someday.

[Lazy Orang]

- Theme Test - Inconclusive - I don't know the character.
- Mirror Test - Pass - That would be short and bloody fight.
- Bonding Test - Pass - She's pretty standard level for a Hand Ninja bonding option - they all seem to cluster around the 160-180 range, I don't know why.
- Synergies Test - Pass - Assassin synergies are solid, and having a presently unique species is nice for Star-Lord and Mantis, but nothing concerning.
- Power Check - Pass - Stacking attack boosts could be pretty scary, but she's hardly alone in that regard.
- Fun Test - Pass - Being able to run around with Stealth Combat and attack multiple times was fun, and needing to hit in melee first to hit again gets that combo feel across nicely. I've always liked the Surgical Strike mechanic, and seeing it used on a multi attacker is fun. I also really like Fan Lift - an Engagement Strike that has a solid chance of working, on someone who can kite in and out of engagement? Sign me up!
- Fun Competitive Test - Pass - She's dangerous, but any frustration facing her is mitigated by the fact that she's really quite killable.
- Drafting Test - Pass, though 185 feels like it could just be a little bit high for her.
- Usage Test - Pass, though I've not found much use for Fan Lift preventing the affected figure from moving.
- Strategy Test - Pass - Her mobility and positioning in combat is really quite strategic.

Name Of The Playtest Units: Kitana

Army Test 1
Map: Bad Moon Rising (no glyphs)
Armies:
Kitana, 2x Hand Ninja (355 points)
vs.
Wendigo (350 points)

Spoiler Alert!

Overview of Kitana’s performance:
Damage inflicted through normal attacks: 4 wounds on Wendigo
Extra Attacks through Steel Fan Assault: 6
Extra wounds through Steel Fan Assault: 2 on Wendigo.
Attacks made on the move: 6
LEAs avoided via Stealth Combat: 6
Times moved through figures via Stealth Combat: None
Wounds inflicted through Fan Lift: 1 on Wendigo

Round One

Kitana and three ninja advance.
Wendigo Super Leaps forwards and rips a Hand Ninja apart.
Kitana moves in and strikes Wendigo to no avail before backing off and throwing a fan at him, which misses. Two ninjas advance and throw shurikens at Wendigo while another charges and strikes him with his nunchucks - none achieve anything.
Wendigo breaks away from one of the ninja, who fails to harm him, and charges Kitana, who Fan Lifts him, inflicting a wound. He lays into her, striking her for a wound.
Kitana strikes Wendigo and misses before running to height and throwing a fan at him, which is blocked. Three ninja surround Wendigo and lay into him with their katanas, but he blocks each of their blows.
Wendigo devours a ninja, healing a wound in the process.
Kitana throws a fan at Wendigo, missing, as the Hand Ninja reposition, one advancing from reserve, and strike, shockingly inflicting two wounds.

Round Two

Kitana claims the initiative and moves in to strike Wendigo, failing to harm him, before backing off and throwing her fan, again to no avail. The ninja strike, but achieve nothing.
Wendigo devours a ninja and heals a wound.
Kitana closes in and strikes Wendigo, who blocks, before pulling back to height and throwing a fan at him, which inflicts a wound, and then inflicts a second one due to the sharpness of her steel fans. The last three ninja strike Wendigo in melee combat, inflicting a wound.
Wendigo strikes a Hand Ninja, who blocks.
Kitana closes in and strikes Wendigo twice, inflicting a wound whick becomes two with her second blow, and then pulls back.
Wendigo rips a ninja apart and devours him, healing a wound.

Round Three

Kitana claims the initiative, closes in and strikes Wedigo before running to height and throwing a fan at him. Both blows fail. The last two ninjas strike Wendigo, but he blocks both blows.
Wendigo cannibalises another ninja and heals a wound.
Kitana closes in, strikes Wendigo twice to no avail and retreats. The last ninja fails to harm him.
Wendigo charges Kitana and is wounded by Fan Lift, before striking her for three wounds, leaving her bleeding out and near death.
Kitana strikes Wendigo - she takes him entirely by surprise and he doesn’t even attempt to defend, so she decapitates him with ease. Fatality!

Ninja Assassins victorious - Kitana 4 wounds, 1 Hand Ninja.

Overview: She felt solid and fun. She's a bit fragile, but the Hand Ninjas can do a good job of keeping her safe and protected from enemy reprisal, basically acting as meat-shields. She tends to struggle when it comes to the punch to break through enemy defences, but, when she does break through, Steel Fan Assault makes it count. I imagine her best builds will be based either around buffing her stats, both to make her attacks stronger (a multi-attacker who gets a bonus wound when inflicting a wound will be pretty scary!) and to make it so she's better able to take a punch - such builds, obviously, being primarily Captain America or Star-Lord based, though her Assassin status means that an all-class Kingpin vII build would work well as well (I doubt she’d do well in an all-Assassin Kingpin build, as it does nothing to help assauge her fragility) - or Ninja builds, using Hand Ninja's swarming ability to keep her protected despite her frailty. Solid Ninja-style builds for her would likely be ones involving Shredder or Masahiro Arashi, due to their ability to boost her very boostable attack, which would make her quite terrifying - though, of course, both come with a risk.
Honestly, there are enough build options for her, I'm going to ask what you'd consider most helpful for me to run for her second test - would you like see her in an Avengers or Guardians build, perhaps even combining Cap and Star-Lord? Would you like to see her in a Foot Clan build, geed on by the Shredder while the swarms of Ninja take the hits for her? (Masahiro would make a good alternative for the Shredder, or you could even stack them in higher point games.) Or would you even like to see her as part of Kingpin's syndicate, which, while not telling you much that you wouldn’t already see from the Avengers or Guardians, is still an eminently viable build for her and does, uniquely boost her Move as well as her Attack and Defence, which may well be useful given her Stealth Combat/Steel Fan Assault combo.

Army Test 2
Map: Conflict Chernobyl (no glyphs)
Armies;
Shredder, Kitana, Kirigi, Foot Clan Ninja, 2x Hand Ninja (930 points)
vs.
Master Splinter Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello (930 points)

Spoiler Alert!

Overview of Kitana’s performance:
Damage inflicted through normal attacks: 1 wound on Donatello, 1 wound on Raphael
Extra Attacks through Steel Fan Assault: 4
Extra wounds through Steel Fan Assault: 1 on Donatello, 1 on Raphael.
Attacks made on the move: 4
LEAs avoided via Stealth Combat: 4
Times moved through figures via Stealth Combat: None
Wounds inflicted through Fan Lift: 1 on Leonardo, 1 on Raphael


Round One

The TMNT claim the initiative. Don advances and fails to move anyone with his gauntlet.
Kitana and three Hand Ninja advance.
Michelangelo runs forwards before yelling Cowabunga! and running further forwards.
Shredder advances and three Hand Ninja charge Mikey while in range of him. Mikey blocks one blow, counters another, knocking out a Hand Ninja, before being struck for a wound by the third ninja.
Leo activates the X on Raph and they both advance.
Kitana charges Mikey and strikes him twice while they’re both in range of Shredder - the first blow would inflict a wound, causing an additional wound through her fans’ sharpness, but Mikey remembers his training from Splinter and blocks it, while the second blow is also blocked. She then retreats. The two ninja in combat with Mikey strike him - one is blocked while another inflicts a wound. A Hand Ninja advances from reserve.

Round Two

The TMNT claim the initiative. Leo activates the X on Raph, who charges the two Hand Ninja in combat with Mikey, knocking them out. Donnie runs forwards and, with help from the focus Splinter has taught him, chucks Kitana to low ground near his brothers with his Gauntlet. Mikey strikes Kitana for a wound from height. Leo leaps to height next to Kitana, and she wounds him with Fan Lift before he strikes her twice from height, inflicting three wounds and leaving her near death.
Kitana moves around and strikes Don twice in melee, inflicting a wound with her second blow, which inflicts a second wound due to the sharpness of her fans - he drops the Gauntlet. Three Ninja advance, and one throws an ineffectual shuriken at Don.
Kitana moves around Don to strike Raph twice from height, inflicting a wound with her second blow, which becomes two. Two Hand Ninja charge Don, striking him for a wound, while a third throws an ineffectual shuriken at Mikey.
Kitana strikes Leo twice and is blocked both times before retreating, moving out of range of Antagonising Presence. Two Hand retreat while a third throws an ineffectual shuriken at Michelangelo.

Round Three

The Turtles claim the initiative. Leo activates the X on Raph. Raph charges Kitana, who Fan Lifts him for a wound before he strikes her twice, knocking her out with the second blow. He activates the 3 on Michelangelo, who leaps towards Shredder, striking him with a deadly blow and inflicting four wounds, but his throat is slashed for his trouble, and he collapses to the ground. Leonardo runs towards Shredder and decapitates him.
Kirigi runs forwards and throws two Kyoketsu Shogi at Leo, inflicting a wound with the first one and pulling him towards him, onto low ground, with the second, before striking him for another wound. Two Hand Ninja throw shurikens at Leo, inflicting another wound. The Hand Ninja in combat with Don runs him through. Splinter appears on the front lines, claiming Don’s OM 2.
Shredder charges Kirigi and strikes him twice. The first blow rolls one skull, and Kirigi blanks on shields, receiving one wound normally and one for his broken balance. The second blow rolls all skulls, and Kirigi only one shield - he blocks one wound and absorbs two more with Undead Resilience, but he still receives one normally and an additional one through Breaking Balance.
Kirigi leaps over Leonardo and strikes him from height, but his sword bounces off his shell. Three Hand Ninja throw shurikens at Splinter from height, inflicting a wound.
Three Foot Clan Ninja leap in and strike Leo - he blocks the first two, but the third takes him completely by surprise, and he finds himself cut down. The fourth runs up and strikes Splinter - he would inflict a wound, but Splinter gathers himself and blocks it, and the ninja pays for going for the blow, as his balance was sacrificed and Splinter knocks him out with ease. Three Hand Ninja throw shurikens at Splinter, inflicting a wound.

Round Four

The Turtles claim the initiative once again. Remembering Splinter’s training, Raphael goes off the rails. He leaps forwards and knocks out two Hand Ninja, before leaping further forwards and knocking out a Foot Ninja.
Kirigi throws two Kyoketsu Shogi at Splinter - the first inflicts a wound, but the second misses. The last Hand Ninja throws a shuriken at Splinter, but misses.
Splinter charges Kirigi, but his blow is blocked.
A Foot Ninja appears from the shadows, and the three remaining Foot surround Raph and strike him - one inflicts a wound.
Splinter strikes Kirigi - his initial blow inflicts a wound, and Kirigi’s balance is broken, allowing the undead monstrosity to be eliminated.
The three Foot strike Raph, but he blocks. The last Hand Ninja moves down off height and throws a shuriken at Splinter, who blocks it with his walking stick.

Round Five

The Turtles claim the initiative (again!), and Splinter charges the last surviving Hand Ninja, knocking him clean out, eliminating the Foot’s first turn.
Splinter charges one of the Foot Ninja, knocking him out.
Another Foot Ninja appears from the shadows, and the three Foot strike Raphael, cutting him down.
Splinter knocks out another Foot Ninja.
The remaining Foot fear to act.

Round Six

The Foot finally claim the initiative, and another Foot Clan Ninja appears from the shadows. The three Foot Ninja surround Splinter and strike. The first would kill him, but Splinter musters his skill and blocks the strike, and the ninja, who sacrificed his balance for a killing blow, pays for it. The second misses wildly, but retains his balance. The third also sacrifices his balance, is blocked and is knocked out.
Splinter knocks out the final Foot Ninja before gathering the battered bodies of his sons - hopefully, they are not yet quite dead, and can be nursed back to health.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles victorious, Master Splinter 3 wounds.

Overview: Well, that was a close game! (And it's joyfully refreshing to see the Turtles beat the Foot for a change - I mean, that's actually a villain faction that I thematically like being a tough nut for the heroes to crack, they surprisingly routinely tooled the Turtles in the 2003 cartoon, but damn...) Kitana was solid and fun to play, and Shredder is... an interesting pairing for her, as he accentuates both her main strength and her main weakness to the extreme - her main strength is a multi-attack with a bonus wound if it lands, and being able to not only boost her attack but drop her opponent's defence is a massive boon for that, but her primary weakness is a pretty low defence for a Superscape hero, which he drops to being paper thin while increasing the attack of those striking her. Basically, he makes her a more extreme example of herself. I'd probably sooner draft her with the likes of Cap or Star-Lord to try to boost her potential while also boosting her survival skills, but going all out offence by pairing her with the Shredder is an eminently viable tactic.

Final Thoughts On The Tested Unit:

I really, really like her - I think she’s cool and fun to play - but I feel like she might be a little overpriced, only by 10 or so points, mind. She feels about on the level of the characters around the 170-180 category rather than the 180-190 category - I know there’s some crossover there, but still. Let’s compare her with Karai, with whom she shares a lot of similarities and who Arkham thought may be overpriced at 185. Kitana has 1 more Life and 1 less Defence - generally, I find a point of Defence more useful than a point of Life, but there are times when that’s not the case and it’s probably fair to call this a wash (though it should be noted that Karai can escape melee multi-attackers with Acrobatic Movement, while Kitana cannot). Their stats are otherwise identical, save that Karai has a much longer range. Kitana has the major advantage of being able to attack before and during movement, while Karai can move after attacking or defending via Acrobatic Movement, so let’s call this a wash too, with possibly a slight edge to Kitana. Then we can compare Focussed Strikes and Steel Fan Combat - their most obvious point of similarity, as both give them double attack as long as their first strike was in melee as well as an extra effect (Surgical Strike for Kitana, an auto-skull in melee for Karai). Kitana’s has the advantage of working in both melee and at range, while Karai’s is, I’d argue, actually the better effect - it’s more reliable, increases your chance of actually inflicting a wound in the first place and makes her less susceptible to Counter Strike powers. At this point, we reach the powers it’s harder to account for - Ninja Leadership vs. Fan Lift. Ninja Leadership is a major boon for Karai in a swarmy ninja army, making her fellow ninja significantly more manoeuverable when spread across an entire squad based army, and is a significant factor in her bump to 185. Fan Lift is fun, cool and quite scary, but all told I’m not really sure Kitana is quite up to 185 standard - 175 or 180 feels a little more appropriate. Splitting hairs I know, butI do think I’d feel better about her at either of those prices.