Now that I've got a few more reps in with Bushido, I've decided I'd try and put something together talking about how I like to use the models that I've got. This means going through all the ninjas and talking why I take which one and how I use it, but also how they fit into the faction at large. This first part I will be talking about the Ninja models themselves and leave the events, terrain and themes for a 2nd post because the entire faction is quite a lot for one post!
Axiam is really interesting because he is one of the most expensive models in the faction, but instead of being a total killer like Katsumi or Rin he brings a lot more tricks to the party and synergises with all of the North Star models in a really good way. He can drop smoke bombs when he activates, and has good stats with melee 4. Throw Attack and Sidestep Defence for 0 are both great to have, but him also being able to take any special attack or defence from other North Star ninjas alive on the table means he can do a lot more that opponents might not expect (Push and Grapple Attack or Counterstrike Defence) and in general he has a lot of ways to put an opponent on tilt during the game. Being able to give himself Equipment mid-game makes his high cost a lot better (especially when combined with Skirmish Mission for more free cards) and lets you adapt to the game state on the fly which I really like from him. Tactician is always nice, and paired with a Karapan can do a huge amount of work in guaranteeing you win the tactical roll all the time. Dodge and Indomitable keep him alive far longer, Bravery is really great to have vs Fear and him having the option to gain Feint all add up to make him reliable with his hits if not super high damage with them. The last big thing to note is Sempai, which lets him take the Ki Feats from any North Star model on the board, and treat them as his own at any point in the game, which means he is super versatile in terms of choosing which Ki Feats he can do at any given turn (Distraction, Mirage, Vitality, Fog of Hesitation are all amazing options). Overall Axiam isn’t going to do some things as well as the expensive models who are built for it (Bleeding Moon ninjas are always going to be better killers) but the sheer amount of versatility and adaptability mid-game he brings is well worth his cost.
Dudiko as a sniper is really good, but still needs a bit of care to make the most out of like all ninja. Her range is long and her shooting is somewhat reliable with Pierce as well, but Reload is a real downside so you need to make sure she is able to wait and reload it without getting trapped or at least use her so she can do something else useful instead of reloading. Her melee is still decent but nothing fantastic, but the tricks she brings as a North Star ninja are both expected and excellent. Being able to gain Agile on a shooting model is amazing, because it lets you make your shots even when someone tries to engage you, but Mirage is an even better version of this that lets you place away and deny them the chance to even strip you of activations or damage you in the first place. Shooting through Cover is not only not an issue for her with Dead Eye, but it is a massive benefit for her to be in Cover while shooting because it triggers Camouflage and it also makes the target Surprised if they’re at long range for a little extra bonus to hit. She can also chuck out smoke bombs for almost nothing just by activating and that also helps a ton in making the crew tick when it needs to.
Ghost is by far my favourite model not only in the Shadow Wind Clan, but in Bushido in general. I love the tricks he can pull with being able to Flank, go Intangible and just gain activations and toss people around, and although he isn't a straight up murderer like most of the other 20+ ninja he more than makes up for it in sheer versatility. Counters to him being Unknown and Soulless with some of the generic event cards are quite annoying, but to be expected as a lot of people hate seeing Ghost opposite them.
Karapan are one of the best ways for filling out lists and keeping a decent model count, and they definitely pull their weight while they do it. Being able to double attack with a pretty respectable melee pool for 11 rice is good on its own, but they also have move 6 with Cloudwalk for insane reach, and they can move at the end of the turn towards ninja models and give them Tactician for next turn which is awesome. 1 Karapan is an autotake for me, and 2 is something I very seriously consider as well.
Katsumi is a killer with no comparison in the faction, and he is definitely a really great beatstick. With melee 4, Tireless and Indomitable he can take on a lot of the enemy warband and come out on top, and although he lacks rerolls like a lot of 25 cost models he still has Brutal (1) and all the tricks Shadow Wind ninja have- Camouflage, Assassin and Lightfooted- to let him choose engagements that he can make sure he wins. He can shoot with a Kusari to prone enemies at 3" which is helpful, but being able to also gain Pierce (2) and Unblockable are both really worthwhile for the job he wants to be doing the most- killing enemies. The choice of Melee Boost (2) and Sharp (2) during his activation is also great when you need it, but they won't always be useful and very often you can somewhat safely forget about them (as opposed to other ninja where the choice is incredibly important)
Kerasu is an interesting piece, especially looking at other
Bleeding Moon attack pieces, but ultimately he is a bit more niche than Rin or Katsumi in list building. The point reduction is noticeable, but losing
Indomitable and Tireless are both massive changes that are well worth the
points increase. He can gain Indomitable, but it costs him 3 ki to do it which
is very costly and means he isn’t boosting his melee (which he can reduce from
3 to 2 in his activations). Gaining Fear 6 and Terror is also a really
interesting control option (if not done almost as well by Ghost), but his
shining role is in stacking damaging effects through Combo Attack. Give him
Poison from any of the ways ninjas can get it and he has the potential to tear
through anything he touches with combined Bleed and Poison to guarantee kills. This role makes him the single best counter bar none to non-Kami Durable models in the faction (with Kouhei being a close 2nd) with him being able to chuck out a bunch of separate instances to damage, but even with his Ki Feats he struggles to do as much to enemies with Tough because they ignore all of his other forms of damage.
Kouhei is the AK47 of the ninja where most others are a scalpel. When he gets buffed up with Poison through event or equipment cards he will shred things apart from range with Hail of Steel, and it is very rare I've had something survive the game after being shot at by him (with the exception of the walls that are Buto). If you can get into a surprised opponent when you do this as well (from Flank for example) they are even more guaranteed to die, and if you can stay in cover while you do it so you keep Camouflage? Even better.
Makoto I see occupying a very similar role to Shizuka, but
while Shizuka is all in defence Makoto is all about hitting the opponent. Makoto
is pretty cheap, and she has 2 great Ki Feats (Distraction is excellent with
everyone having Assassin, and Escape helps keep her alive for far longer) that
make her well worth considering if you want a more directly offensive model to
run objectives. On top of this she has Cloudwalk and Evasive which together
make her pretty damn quick (not to mention possible Move Boost 2 when she
activates) so she can get to objectives when she needs to and score points to
put the opponent on the backfoot. Sidestep Defence and Combo Attack both as 0
are amazing to have and it goes to show even more her role as the Bleeding Moon
objective runner, being able to both dish out a lot of damage and be defensive
when she needs to
Rin is the last of the pure killers, and sits in a spot between Kerasu and Katsumi in terms of cost but exists in a role all of her own. While Katsumi relies on big hits and Brutal, Rin has easy access to Prowess and Combo Attack so she cuts her enemies apart in a flurry of blows. With Feint she also has a better chance of landing higher success levels to make the most of Combo, and she can get ways to really punish opponents through either of her Ki Feats depending on the situation. While Katsumi is the "defensive offense" model, Rin is more of a straight up offensive piece because she is far more effective on her own activation (even though she has Tireless as well). They're both excellent though and it depends entirely on personal taste (or you just take both of them and tear holes in the opposing warband)
Shizuka is one of the better objective runners in the faction because she has good movement traits and is great defensively as well. She can entirely ignore enemy zones of control during her activations, both of her ki feats being places are amazing and with her defensive traits she will mostly always just want to chuck all her dice in defense and declare counterattack if she actually wants to do damage because there's no reason not to do it that way
Yuto is really great, but at the same time the existence of
Bikou really hurts him a lot. They both share the niche of being models with
Kusari and Distraction, but what he brings over Bikou for that extra point
isn’t always going to be as great as the amount of versatility Bikou brings
with her shooting capabilities over Yuto being a bit more control focused. Yuto
is definitely good, but I find myself reaching for Bikou far more
The Worms- the cheaper ninjas, they both have Kohai as a
unique effect which lets them choose a Ki Feat of any model in the warband and
treat it as if they had it on their own card. This has some excellent uses
(Vitality from Ghost or Hiretsuna, Distraction from Yuto or Bikou) but with
their Ki stat of 1 they have to plan for the perfect time to use it
Ujimushi sits in an interesting spot, because as a Worm he is on the cheaper end for KKZ, but he is also one of the better ranged pieces in the faction despite it. While he isn’t the long-ranged sniper Dudiko is or the short ranged killers Bikou and Kouhei are, he is cheaper than all of them and has the same ranged pool with great range bands. In terms of ninja stats he is fairly standard, except his Sidestep Defence costs him a dice instead of being 0 like most. With the choice of gaining Lightweight or losing a Reload marker whenever he activates he can keep shooting pretty often and can even do it every activation if you really want to. Ujimushi also uniquely benefits from using Kohai to take Deadeye from Dudiko, which means if you have both him and Wamu that she is open to take any other Ki Feat that might be more contested
Wamu is just a bit bland. She's there to be another body that can copy someone else's Ki Feat for a bit of fancy tricks, but overall she is just a cheap ninja with decent stats (but low Ki) to fill out a list. She's the cheapest model in the faction that can interact with scenario objectives, but I still prefer to take a Karapan and have 4 extra rice for using somewhere else.
The Ronin- unlike the other ninja above, these ones can’t take ninja equipment (which is a big negative) but otherwise fully benefit from everything the rest of them do. Both are excellent models both in sculpt and in rules
Bikou simply put, is amazing. She is a package of everything you could want in a ninja, and brings a whole bunch of things that make the warband click so much better. Distraction to change facing on models and trigger Assassin, Hail of Steel for spamming shots and killing things, a Kusari for everything that brings with it (reliable prone and a good melee weapon) all add up to make a really great ninja even without factoring in anything else. Evasive built in is great, as is Jump Up, and the possible Pierce (3) on her Shurikens makes a Hail of Steel a terrifying prospect for any armoured enemy.
Hiretsuna is the other "cheap" option after Karapan, and where they offer a surprisingly hard hitter Hiretsuna offers jank and possible scenario interaction. He is a total pest to shoot even without Camo, but when he does have it he is nigh on impossible to target and although he is Insignificant he can use Swift Executor to pull out clutch interactions with scenario objectives when you need him to. He is the most fragile model in the faction, so he needs to be leveraged as such, but you can also make sure he will be very difficult to target until he has already done his job.
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