Moon Shinobi - The Drunken Gremlin Kung Fu is Strong

One thing about Brewmaster and his crew, they are not from the bayous of Malifaux. They come from over the mountains, and as such, they have an entirely different culture. They share the same love of Shine similar to the Gremlins in the Bayous, but they have translated this into a new form of combat, Drunken Gremlin Kung Fu.

Abilities 

Moon Shinobi are a solid 6 Soul Stone model and a great addition against debuffing crews. The Df of 6 will help them avoid attacks and masks will let them stumble around drunk. This trigger is on their Df and Wp stats so it is effective against any attack action targeted at them.  The model isn’t immune to the Poison condition but when he suffers damage from Poison, they get a 5-inch push in any direction from their That’s the Stuff ability. However, the golden ability on this minion is their Drunken Gremlin Kung Fu. This ability makes them treat all negative modifiers as if they positive and all positives as negatives. By flipping the game on its head, this changes much of how the game is played. Anything that gives out negative modifiers becomes a boon to these little drunks. They are highly mobile with a walk of 5-inches, a charge of 6-inches, and getting a free push with Poison.

Actions

The Moon Shinobi’s attack actions are a Roundhouse that, at Ml 4 and a 2-inch range, isn’t much to write home about but if you can connect, you have a 1/2/4 damage profile. Using a Ram to hit grants Critical Strike, a +1 damage modifier for every Ram in the final duel total. On a Mask, Death To the Kneecaps!, you get to push into base contact with the target, which is useful for their other attack action, Tiny Green Fists of Fury. This attack is Ml 5 and can target either Df or Wp, though at a 1-inch range. It has a 2/3/4 damage profile and on a Crow after you succeed, the target gains Poison +2.  This is extremely useful to get around any nasty Df triggers and when used in combination of Wesley and Brewmaster’s auras can become a reliable way to do serious damage to any model. Their only (0) action gives them a 4-inch push towards a target that has the Poison condition; however that model must be within 8-inches.

Overall

As we have seen, these little guys can be quite a hassle to any debuffing crews. At Df 6, if they defensive stance then they are giving themselves a negative flip on their defense, also Focus is of little use to this model. This is made up for by the fact that when you hit with these guys, often, you will get positive flips for damage. While they seem like they don’t do a lot of damage, they have usually cheatable damage flips. Often your opponent can only cheat to get to a straight flip, because cheating to a tie means a double positive for the Shinobi. They are surprisingly mobile, with their (0) action and That’s the Stuff, a Moon Shinobi can move 19” in a turn. These guys make some interesting choices for not only Brewmaster led crews but also for crews when you feel you may be facing debuffs. Against debuffing crews, these guys are worth their weight in Soul Stones. Poltergeist giving off negative aura? Yup these guys make it a positive.  You can combine some AP from Brewmaster or Wesley to use Hangover, which puts these Gremlins on negative flips, and make them into little cruise missiles of Green death, getting positives to all duels and flips.  Yeah they can be that good. Overall, it’s a model that I consider in almost every crew build just because of the Kung Fu shenanigans that they can cause by flipping fate on its head and laughing all the way to the still.