For my 2nd in the update posts on the Shadow Wind Clan I've got the ninjas that aren't attached to any specific clan. These are unaffiliated to any house, and belong more to the generic Mission themes but are still really cool mechanically and give a lot to the faction overall
Models
Kima- a newer Worm, Kima brings a Poison Blowgun which is interesting but ultimately doesn't have a really great home in terms of lists. Reload means you can't take Rapid Fire from Bikou or Kouhei, no Sidestep Defence is a bit out of the ordinary for Ninjas and is in general a bit of a weird package. For the cost you have Neko, who is way better and I would take over Kima any day despite Aloof.
Phantom and Spectre- a 2 model package, these 2 are quite interesting as most of their rules are about synergising with each other. Both of their start of activation abilities are a choice between Intangible or to swap positions with the other, swapping the model if you only took one in your list which is really interesting to play around with positioning and slingshot things up the table without needing Shadow Moves. They both also have exactly the same statline with fairly standard Ninja stats, but Soulless for some nice ways to get around Ki Feats from the opponent. Both have Sidestep Defence on their swords, while Spectre brings Combo Attack and Phantom brings Dual Attack (with the bonus of when he gets off a Dual Attack, Spectre also rolls damage against something he's engaged with- you can stack very high damage quite easily if they're both in combat with the same thing). They can both do a lot of damage with their special attacks, and their Ki Feats only help them by giving them both more abilities for an activation. They all cost 3 Ki so they are on the expensive end and you need to likely make sure you'll get a lot out of the Ki, but all the options are great. Phantom gives you access to Brutal 1 and Parry 1 for making your melee far more reliable, or Aware and Ranged Defence 2 for if your opponent actually manages to get the drop on them, which should be somewhat difficult given their toolkit but can be quite useful in the right situation. Spectre on the other hand gives Feint and Dodge to be even more defensive at the expense of not giving any offensive buff, while his other feat gives Ki Blockso you can really punish opponents in the longer term (this one I feel is likely the weakest of them all, but can be quite useful if you can't manage to outright kill the target that turn). In combination you have an excellent pair of models that really only come into their own together, and at 40 rice for the pair they're definitely worth the take.
Events
Jigoku Berry Tincture- At the cost of removing your Ninja after the exchange, you can give them Lightning Reflexes, Feint, Combo Attack 0 and Strong. Excellent on something that's likely going to die anyway, and you can take something down with you provided you roll well enough. It is likely however that you won't have a massive difference in dice, so you need to make sure to set up a situation where you're very likely to be trading your model for another
Know Your Enemy- Restricted to the Weeping Sky cycle and only the Scouting Mission theme, this forces your opponent to reveal their dice in a melee exchange before you allocate so you can tailor your roll to be as effective as possible. It also pairs perfectly with Preordain where if they allocate low into one thing and you rolled a low dice on Preordain you can make that roll something you'll very likely succeed on
Masked Fate- Like the next Event, Masked Fate works great in a Death Sentence themed list. For 1 Rice this forces your opponent to think carefully about removing Death Sentence markers for the entire game, as they will give you Scenario Points every time they do so. A fairly easy way to get Scenario Points or simply deter your opponent from removing them, in which case you're doing a lot more to them
New Contract- Playing into a Death Sentence themed list this just lets you punish the opponent more, giving you a Death Sentence on a Unique enemy, but they have to have nothing with Death Sentence in the Starting Phase so you will either have been quite successful and killed things that had Death Sentence or going terribly and haven't gotten any to be useful. It requires a very tailored list, but in that list it's quite a good choice
Shinigami's Due- Nothing healing could be quite good, but it's the same cost as 2 Smoke Bombs which will likely have more of an impact. Healing isn't something that's super prevalent in the game so the one matchup it matters it will really matter, but often it won't come into play
Umbral Assassin- Assassination Mission only and quite janky, this one is really interesting because it lets you attack from 6" away and without activating, although Special Abilities are ignored and you can't Surprise. It's interesting, and can be a good way to kill something that's trying to escape, but it is expensive and takes a lot to make the most of so is probably something on the fun side of taking and not the more competitive side.
Enhancements
Shadows That Walk- exclusive to Ghost, this upgrade means every enemy loses Sixth Sense when trying to target Unknown Ninjas which is massive. Your Phantom and Spectre get heaps out of this and it really amps up the defensive nature of the warband, and not having to factor Sixth Sense makes Camouflage placements far easier. For 1 Rice this is an auto-take in a list you take all 3 of the Unknown Ninjas
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