Bushido- Shadow Wind Clan Updates Part 4- Ronin and Newer Additions

 In the process of writing the previous articles updating my thoughts on the Shadow Wind Clan, I had deliberately left out the Ronin as I don't often find myself playing them. I thought I'd take the time to put my thoughts on them for completeness' sake though, and now we also have 2 new Ninja profiles to discuss so I'm quite excited to get that added too. 

PS Long Shadow is coming, but there is a lot to get through there, so I've been saving it for last

Eclipse- in terms of his profile, Eclipse is fairly standard for a Ninja although his 25 Rice cost is on the higher end. He does bring Immune (Control) and Intangible to play though which is huge, as both of those things let him do more for his cost and stop your opponent from controlling him in some ways. He behaves as the head of the Unknown "house" of Ninjas as he has similar rules to Axiam and Obaachan with being able to access any Unknown Ninja's Ki Feats and can take their Special Abilities at Cost 0 when he activates. Taking the Specials from Unknown Ninjas is massive, as it means he can get access to things like Throw Attack from Ghost, Dual Attack from Phantom or Combo Attack from Spectre which are all fantastic, and access to Vitality and Apparition from Ghost are both also amazing. Pierce 3 on all his weapons makes for a model that can punch into heavier Samurai armour somewhat reliably, and the versatility he gives you in terms of Place Effects throughout the entire warband is honestly really crazy. Playing an all-Unknown list now is really interesting based purely on all the tricks you can do, although you will be playing a fairly low model count not factoring in the Reikon that Eclipse can summon in during the game. Soulsplit is a little high cost at 3 Ki, although summoning in another whole model that can then activate twice in the turn is really good, and the Reikon are great on their own. Gaining Soulless while the Reikon are out is also something important to note, as the immunities that come with it are really worth noting and will be important in most games. 

Reikon from Jigoku- The Reikon are mostly just a part of Eclipse's kit, but an important one to note as well. They're effectively a spectral Kami of sorts, but their Exceptional Attack letting you place 2" after successful melee attacks is incredibly good as you can put them back into cover for Camouflage or to play aggressively with the Kagenori no Koto Feat to swap another Ninja in. Reunite is nice in that it gives Eclipse some Ki regeneration at the cost of the Reikon itself, and works quite nicely as a way to kill it after it's activated and get Eclipse back to having a Ki stat for the start of the next turn. Fear and Dread access is also really nice to try and get some Frightened out on enemies, and the melee profile on the Spectral Kunai is just good. All in all a piece of Eclipse's package, but very good models on their own as well.

Dark Pilgrim- While not being the absolute monster she was before, Dark Pilgrim is still really good. She mostly exists as a way to blast things with lightning, and only gets better as she does shoot, but she is also a reliable quick model with Cloudwalk that can threaten objectives and get into the opponent's backfield to cause trouble. She synergises best with North Star as she can get way more access to Stun there through Noshinto Bomb and Fuma's Stun Attack, and she can still spike quite high in terms of Rapid Fire through those combos (although not as high as she previously could, as that old version was ridiculous)

Kiyozumi Kicho- on the expensive end for a Worm, although she does bring Soulless and a weapon with both Combo Attack and Sidestep Defence at 0. She exists almost as a budget Ghost, although that by no means makes her worth taking over Ghost at any point and while she could likely be a fun take in an all-Soulless list you can do all Soulless with Ninjas now that Eclipse is on the way and he does way more for the list. 

Lady Fox- At 18 Rice (or 19 if you take Master Bat) Lady Fox is quite an interesting take for Shadow Wind warbands. Bringing a slightly different kit to most things in-faction (although Agile, Dodge, Evasive, Lightfooted and Soulless are all seen in the faction in some way) she is quite a nice toolkit to add to most lists outside of the House themes. 3 Ki Soulless is something of particular note in the faction, as is Dual Attack 0 for offense which you can stack quite nicely with the usual Ninja debuffs. She ignores Blizzard effects, which is really nice into Minimoto particularly, and gaining Camouflage and Sixth Sense while in one is fantastic for Ninja shenanigans. Her 2 Ki Feats are useful as well, with one giving Fresh Fallen Snow being super punishing for Ki-heavy factions like Yurei and White Out giving a Blizzard Aura around herself. The Blizzard also giving cover in the bubble means you can also use it defensively to put your own models into Camo so the opponent can't target them, which is really important to consider as well.

Two Lone Swordsmen- quite similar to Phantom and Spectre, although much cheaper and less effective. They do infinitely respawn, and work great as a combo but there are far better things to take in Shadow Wind lists and ultimately you won't get as much out of them as you would likely get out of simply taking another Ninja. 

Itsumade- the newest Ronin option, Itsumade is interesting as a shooting option and honestly is quite good in Shadow Wind Clan and an option I'm quite interested to try. 20 Rice is a little steep but the package is great, with all the traditional Ninja traits and the addition of Cloudwalk to become a fast threat. Places in the start phase are very interesting on Ninja Scout models, which combos really well with most Long Shadow Ninjas to give you some great threat angles and make your opponent really have to plan their moves. The weapons are nice, another bow is a big reason to take Itsumade and what I will be trying in a North Star list myself, while the ability to give Blind on melee attacks from the Kakato Otoshi Geri Ki Feat is really great to debuff things and set up for your other models to hit. In all you have a pretty decent and interesting package, although I don't think Itsumade is really revolutionising the faction despite being a really cool take

BLKOut- Handler Team Bravo

 Needing Handlers to go with my Boone, I got Handler Team Bravo for a few different options. 

My favourite of these in terms of the sculpts is the Cyber Handler, which I've also played a couple of games with and enjoy, but the Marksman Handler fits a little better aesthetically with my Boone and also makes for a really good shooting threat. I've had games won by him alone, and I find him really fun to use. The Melee Handler I haven't used just yet, but I do plan on trying it out as it's just another option that I can play around with. 

Bushido- Shadow Wind Clan Updates Part 3- House Bleeding Moon

 For part 3 of my updates on the Shadow Wind Clan for Bushido I've got House Bleeding Moon. These are a lot less subtle than the other clans, and trend towards outright violence far more than the rest.

Models

Nagato- a middle of the range ninja, he does lack 4 dice offensively but he has quite a nice unique profile. Kata is amazing to have, and Indomitable and Split Attack combined means he can deal with multiple models if needed although you would likely not want to as you still have lower model count. Gaining activations when models remove Death Sentence markers is interesting, but ultimately not super useful as you won't have many ways to get them out reliably. Melee Boost 2 is great, but Tireless is even better especially on a 3 activation melee model that can also get Reach from a Ki Feat. Pin Weapon I have found quite useful, and it works great on models with really stacked weapons like Ito so you can shut down their worst models a bit. The melee profile having Combo 0 is great as well, while Parry means you can just waste opponent's time quite a lot in combination with Tireless before you hit them back with a Combo Attack later in the turn. 

Neko- Neko is just a cheap animal to buff out the model count in your list, but still quite worthwhile for the 14 rice. Aloof is important, but so is his package of really good traits both defensively and offensively. Fear, Dodge (1), Jump Up, Sixth Sense and Lightning Reflexes all make for a difficult model to attack although if Neko does get hit he will likely hurt quite a lot, and being an Animal and not Ninja means he doesn't benefit from the theme benefit to get an extra activation. Move 6 with Lightfooted already makes for great mobility, but the unique effect to auto Surprise an enemy as long as he is in Cover (and thus benefiting from Camouflage as well) and also get Banzai if he would Surprise the target gives really good activation economy and means he can punch up really well. Positioning is really important with Neko, but rewarding if he can work out well. 

Obaachan- The equal most expensive Bleeding Moon model at a hefty 25 Rice, Obaachan brings a lot of text and some really interesting potential to the table. Being the Jonin for Bleeding Moon she can take any Special Attack or Defence from Bleeding Moon Ninjas, although at cost 1 compared to Axiam's cost 0, and she can use any Ki Feats from any of the Bleeding Moon on the board which brings a lot of versatility to the table (Rin is her absolute best friend, having both a Ki Feat for Lightning Reflexes and Combo Attack access). As for her own Ki Feats, a 1 Ki way to remove almost every negative marker from her as active player is really great, so she's a lot harder to just control with this. Her card is quite good, with 5s in both melee and ranged making her a powerhouse offensively, although she will be -1 if she takes Specials off your other Ninjas so keep that in mind. Assassin, Camouflage and Lightfooted are all to be expected, although the addition of Courage (2), Evasive, Indomitable, Kata and Tireless all add together to make a real bruiser at 25 Rice although pretty fragile at 5 wounds with no Armour. Aloof is the real downside here, as not being able to interact with objectives makes her almost exclusively a threat in taking out opponents, and particularly in taking her with Neko and Master Bat to try and get higher model counts will mean you have relatively few models that can interact themselves so you have to plan around that. She does get an extra activation while undamaged, which stacks with the rule in the Bleeding Moon theme so she can get a possible 4 activations a turn which will do a ton of damage (or let you run her up the table to drop someone else off with Shadow Moves then still get her back in the fight early) and with Tireless the sheer damage potential that brings is not to be understated in any sense. She herself has a Sword with Counterstrike Defence, Sidestep Defence and Powerful Attack all at 0, and I think if she's not taking someone else's Specials here she is usually only doing a Special Defence, because both of those 2 have great potential to ruin someone's day and Counterstrike particularly on 5 dice makes an opponent really afraid of allocating dice to attack. The last important thing to note is that she has a No Shadow Kick with Ki Block, and on top of that the opponent can't use any Special Abilities or Ki Feats which means she is really doing exactly what she wants to do on that kick and the opponent will not be able to do much to counter it, particularly in combination with possible Specials from your other Ninjas. All in all Obaachan is a really cool profile and should be wonderful in zones, but not as great in objective based scenarios. 

Shinyuki- Fairly cheap at 19 Rice, Shinyuki is really great all around and a mainstay of my Bleeding Moon lists. Although only 3 dice unlike some of the more expensive Bleeding Moon Ninjas, he does have a really solid profile with his choice between Fear (6) and Terror, meaning he can punch up into Fear quite well, or Melee Boost 2 so he can pump his dice higher when needed. His Ki Feats are both ok, with Escape giving him some survivability so he can move back into a hiding spot after killing something and Slice giving him Bleed (1/3) although unfortunately not on the melee profile with Combo Attack, so it likely won't be used super often over just Combo Attacking (you can however pull off Bleed+Combo on Obaachan with him, which is important to note). Both his melee profiles are +1 so fairly reliable at dealing damage, and the Kama Point having Pierce (1) helps quite a lot against Armour which is also very useful when it matters. All in all Shinyuki is quite a good piece and I recommend taking him

Ronin

Master Bat- Although not a Ninja and not keyworded to Bleeding Moon, his card does specifically say you can take him and he is a perfect fit for the theme (as he should be, being the Asura of the Bleeding Moon). For 14 Rice in a Bleeding Moon list, as he is the only Asura you can take (in Shadow Wind Clan in general he can go up to 15 if you also take Lady Fox) he brings a fairly "Bleeding Moon Ninja" profile with Sidestep Defence 0, Combo Attack 0 and Camouflage (albeit 4" and not 2" but he still has it). Cloudwalk and Move 6 means you have a fast model, and Sixth Sense, Aware and Soulless means he is hard to affect in a lot of ways between immunity to Surprised, Opposed Ki Tests, Blind, Bleed, Frightened and Poison while also auto-passing Fear tests. His melee is quite ok for his cost, and he can generate Ki quite nicely so long as he wounds things which is also nice to have. Whistling Shriek is fantastic for Ninjas, as losing Sixth Sense means your Camouflage suddenly becomes way more useful and you also can now Surprise them making for some great potential plays with it. Master Bat in general is mostly just a really good support piece for Bleeding Moon, and you can play some really nasty lists with him as a way to get into an opponent's backline and start causing havok. Aloof basically locks him into this role, but it doesn't matter when he is the equal cheapest model in the theme and he definitely does the work needed. 

Events

The Blood Moon- 2 Rice for Sixth Sense for the entire turn, this is really good defensively but with careful management of Camouflage and placement you won't need Sixth Sense anyway. 

Under the Bleeding Moon- Bleed when you would benefit from Assassin. It plays into what you want to be doing anyway, but it competes with Smoke Bombs and Herbal Remedy so it has some tough competition, you have Bleed access already and can get Combo Attack fairly reliably so can do more outright damage. 

Theme

House Bleeding Moon- This one is super simple. You get no Pass Tokens, but you get a 3rd activation counter on every Bleeding Moon Ninja. It lets you pull off some massive plays early, but it hurts so much as soon as you get hit so you have to manage things very carefully. It also doesn't apply to Master Bat or Neko so you won't be getting the benefit on everyone, but it's really good nonetheless (especially with so many Tireless models on the expensive Ninjas)