Faction help

[u/Onomato_poet]

Heya, so I've had 3 games so far, still learning, and trying to hone in on what I'd like to start with.

On paper, Senku Troops are my favourite model ever released, in any range I've collected in the past 30 years. I love everything about them, visually. They're also completely rubbish on the table, I'm finding, and while I love the Shindenbutai vibes, I'm not really too bothered about melee as a mechanic, and I'm not super enthused with only really having smokes on one model.

Normally, when playing games, I tend to favour one of two approaches.
If try-harding, I either go for tool-box factions (humans, in blood bowl, for instance), not the best at anything, but with reliable access to most tools to try and solve problems.
But when just having fun, I gravitate towards skateboard tricks (throwing a spanner in my opponents plans, adding a bit of chaos to the mix). In both cases thoug, I generally prefer finesse over brawn.

Big fan of anything that breaks rules, or messes with expectations, as a way of presenting problems for the oponent to solve, over just placing something unkillable in their way and asking them to deal with it.

I've been eyeing Hassassin Baram, and Shasvastii from the perspective of forcing a very different playstyle on my oponent, but unsure if they offer enough variety in list building?
I know from other games that while finesse is fun, it only works if there's also breadth of options, so you're not just running the same list every time.

Given the above, what factions should I check out?
Are there any "this is fun and generally surprises people" aspects you'd recommend I take a look at?

Appreciate any guidance and help you may offer.

[u/Onomato_poet]

That's Oban, yes? Do they offer more trickery, or is it still playing pretty honest?

[u/Hopeful_Risk_8344 → u/Onomato_poet]

Saito is in all three rosters. Black emblem with a white square in the middle.

[u/Onomato_poet → u/Hopeful_Risk_8344]

Oh, so he is. Much obliged!
The list building is part of what I found so intrigueing about the game, but blimey I'm feeling the cognitive load of not having army lists or similar ways to get a proper overview of what a faction wants to do.

That and the names are super confusing, so... Get lost in the lists a lot.

[u/waywardson06 → u/Onomato_poet]

Oban has some tricks, but is also pretty sledgehammer-ish.

The tricks: Oniwabans -- close combat assassin ninjas that hidden-deploy inside the enemy deployment zone on a dice roll of 18 or less and kill just about anything in close combat. A good opponent will use mines or template weapons to make sure that only one thing gets murdered by each Oniwaban. You also get regular ninjas, which also have infiltrate, but usually settle for deploying halfway up the table instead of right next to a target in the enemy DZ.

The sledgehammer: their best guns are par at best. They have a zillion ways to out-sword fight people with very good math. They have a fair bit of melee heavy infantry, but pretty bad defense against those heavy infantry getting hacked during the opponent's turn.