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Nagato’s training regimen rivals that of the monks of Ro-Kan. Practising all day every day with the hooked swords in addition to their other duties has given Nagato a stamina like no other. All this practice has left them with fewer completed missions than their peers however and so when Nagato sees a target attempting to escape the Shadow Crows, a rush of adrenalin gives them alacrity only Ghost can match. KKZ players are really in for a treat with Nagato. Not only does the model have some great abilities (Including more tireless… kind of) but this model answers a lot of issues they have. Out activated? Split Attack and Tireless* should even that up, you can take enemy activations using split attack without losing yours because of tireless. We tested Nagato with Tireless as a trait. First, 3 Ninjas with it is really oppressive and also we wanted Nagato to fit in a particular Rice Cost band, which Tireless would have taken the profile way out of. So you can have sort of half tireless. It's just as good but you have to have activated once to make it work. As a Bleeding Moon ninja Nagato has the option to gain Melee Boost 2, which is a great benefit (Especially since both Ki Feats cost 2) and their constant practice gives them the Kata trait. This is phenomenally powerful and rarely seen outside of Temple models. Taken together Nagato is a great melee model even with only 3 Melee Pool.
Pin weapon is a unique defensive ability, you really need to choose a good target as any model with multiple weapons will be able to choose another good one (Though you can make sure they choose the least beneficial weapon to them). Knowing that any retaliation comes at -2 Strength and with no Specials allows for more daring split attacks which help further even up the activations. As exciting as the profile is, I know many KKZ players are looking out for this:
With Nagato (And Neko not too long ago) we feel there are enough Bleeding Moon Ninja to run warbands with just the house of blades and blood with a good range of options and different combinations of lists. The House Bleeding Moon theme will be a whole new way to play the Kage Kaze Zoku. No Pass Tokens, but a lot of activations! This will promote a more aggressive, combat based Warband as befits the Bleeding Moon. Three activations per model in the house with Tireless is very formidable and should offer some new and interesting ways to murder unfortunate enemies. It looks very powerful but there is some hope for opponents. First, even with 3 Activations, a Ninja Warband likely only has 12 Activations, still fewer than an average 7 model warband. With no access to Pass Tokens, they go through them fast too! Also you’ll notice only Undamaged ninja get this, so as the game goes on (We hope) the number of activations will reduce as they take damage.
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!
Nagato also comes with some new Special Cards to specifically boost your Bleeding Moon lists.
Even with the new focus on skirmishing combat, the Assassin trait should see some use. Under the Bleeding Moon gives a little more damage as an event so you know it will be used. Obviously this is best used on a model with Combo Attack for multiple Bleed Tokens. For extra fun, try it on a model with Poisoned Weapons so even one point of damage becomes a massive three, half killing most humans. If any Faction should utilise Death Sentence Markers, surely it should be the assassins! Until now their interaction with them has been lower than I would like and New Contract begins to redress the balance. It's also very thematic, if you have a target already, you cannot use this card until that target is dead, then you can get a new contract for a new target. Masked Fate is one of a number of now infamous scenario points affecting abilities. This one punishes enemies for removing Death Sentence Markers so any ways you have to put them out will be beneficial. KKZ can struggle with some scenarios so this could even the scales a little.