Yamaziko Complete!

Boy, did I struggle with this one!

First of all, please try to ignore the giant seam in the front, with an ill attempt of sculpting in the gap. It looked perfectly fine when I was filling in the gap, but then once I primed her it looked awful. Lemonade from lemons...

Secondly she has a lot of smooth textures, and it's very hard to shade it right to create contrast - at least it was for me. A lot of what the final product became was me putting down the brush and just giving up. It definitely was much harder than I thought it would be.

I don't know what came over me when I was just inspired to start painting her. I thought she'd be so much easier. It definitely was not what I was picturing in my head.

Overall it was a great learning experience, but I was so ready to be done with her that I didn't put my heart into it and ended up just painting her very fast to be done with her.

I'm not saying I think she's bad, I just was not into it after a while. She turned out great in my eyes, but I didn't have fun with her. Oh well, another one down!

In Malifaux I've been using her a lot more lately. I've teamed her up with Misaki as an Outcast crew to try out new things. I haven't had much success with the crew, but it's got a lot to do with using a different style, and my crews turn out small since I use a lot of elite models when I need to find more 4-6 point models to fill out the gaps. I need to figure out how to utilize minions in a better capacity rather than thinking my 10 point models will do all the work.

Yamaziko does a very good job at being mobile. She has a free AP for movement with a 3" melee range, so she's very good at placing markers and schemes like Deliver a Message. She's also good for Power Ritual, Squatter's Rights, etc. She also has a minimum damage of 3, so she can stack on consistent damage without a lot of resources.

Her Brace Yari ability is extremely powerful. Being that it's a 0 action there's no reason not to use it every turn. The condition doesn't go away until she moves again, so Strategies like Turf War really make her shine. If you weaken models before they get into charge range the ability can be really crippling in terms of enemy options. So far of all my new additions to the crew she's been the most successful. My only weakness when using her is her upgrades. Picking some of them turn her from budget Henchman to Elite quickly, and she doesn't necessarily need them.

Let me know what you think!