New year, new Bushido releases! The next anthology wave is available for pre-order now and it has some amazing models for almost every faction.
This wave does bring something we’ve been waiting for since 2014 (When I added its interaction with Master Enos) but we really needed the Minimoto release to make sure they worked synergistically in both factions.
In Bushido the Metal element represents not just metal but the ongoing advancement in metallurgy, blacksmithing and what we would call “Technology”. It differs from Earth in that Earth is very natural but almost all metal needs refinement to be extracted from ores. This is why Metal Kami often take the form of finished pieces of work rather than amorphous metal. The monks of Ro-Kan have a few masters of metal and they are known to be able to repair complex items instinctively for the villagers and can shape metal items such as hinges, ball bearings and cogs with their bare hands. This is something learned from the Kami and of course the Minimoto Blacksmiths do much the same with their tools.
The Kami of Tempered Iron is an offensive option, it can improve the attacks of nearby models and is not bad in melee itself. It has the most Ki of any lesser kami (It’s not easy to hack pure metal to bits!) so has some staying power even with no Armour or Tough traits. The Minimoto of course have other uses for the Kami, including melting it into liquid* and hurling it at the enemy! They can also use the Kami as a focus to defend many Minimoto models and even bless an ashigaru with the blacksmith’s favour. Temple can also interact with Master Enos allowing him to mitigate his, usually poor, damage. This should not be done lightly however, as the loss of Ki on the Kami will limit its ability to fight in melee itself.
Note, to use this model in a Minimoto force you must bring a Blacksmith that enables you to take Metal Kami, you cannot include them otherwise.
Ichiro is another option for the Temple but from a village that remembers the Shiho as the rulers of the isles, he will heed his master’s call to fight. After the tsunami, many of the rice farmers of the Ro-Kan had to find other sources of food or income. Most turned to the lakes and rivers to fish as their villages were raised not eating meat, like their monk allies. A few, often closer to the larger settlements turned to small game hunting and trapping. Ichiro is now a rabbit hunter and provides meat for his family most days. He still hears the calls of the temple and does his part when their mountain homes are threatened but he also owes allegiance to the rulers of the isles, which as far as he knows, is rightfully the Shiho. The Shiho use peasants to assist in their war and most of the lower classes have not heard of the Dragon War so know no better than to follow.
Bastions of the Mountain offers many ways to buff the mediocre villagers to levels where they don’t just die in melee and Ichiro helps by offering rerolls in case of bad luck. He also provides reasonably good ranged attacks which are boostable so can be quite effective. For the Shiho, he still hands out rerolls but the peasant models are less powerful than the Rokan villagers so they may not be as useful you also have to choose between peasants and the Samurai and Ashigaru, Hiroto’s Brotherhood, Mercenaries or other troops; so be sure to have a plan if you want to use Ichiro’s feat. He can always use it on himself of course and is very self sufficient with a decent ranged attack.
Ayame and Satzuko are the next two new Roses for Silvermoon. Ayame, this wave’s rose, is designed to be a very cost efficient model to help the Jade Rose Gumi players with the low model count. Her abilities are both great controlling options and of course she can be disguised until she makes her move.
Note she doesn’t have to lose the roll for allure to trigger so feel free to put all defence, use Dodge and sidestep out while leaving a Control Marker behind. Like most Roses, she doesn’t have much offensive ability so you may rely on Control Markers to take enemy models to do your damage. Adding Control Markers to attackers is somewhat a Rose thematic and this helps get more on the table while seduction can prevent key enemies from performing scenario actions and ruining the Silvermoon’s plans. An all-Rose Jade Gumi themed list just got slightly more frustrating to play against!
The Eagles of the Jwar Isles offer low Rice models to The Desension and Shiho with a range of abilities to suit any list. The different eagles of the Jwar isles can vary in size but the largest can easily carry away a goat in it's huge talons. Indeed the Dawn Eagle is known to pick up prey and drop it from a height to kill it. The dawn eagle is also easily trained to cry out if it sees danger, alerting others to the threat. The Eagles that inhabit the Rokan mountains have been long associated with the rulers of the Tengu and readily fight alongside them. They also use the same tactics with other eagles** ensuring combined attacks are deadly. The Fuwa Eagle hovers over its prey, high above, using it's keen sight to keep track of even tiny rodents. It then swoops into a fast dive, only stopping right as it hits the ground surprising it's prey and then lifts off to the safety of the skies.
All three Eagles can also leave the table and return using Flank so they can reposition very quickly. With their move 7 as well their maneuverability alone should be an asset at such low rice cost. Not every list will need all three eagles but almost every list can easily include one, the extra activations alone are worth the Rice you pay.
Moyasu and Korra will be discussed in the next post but they are part of this wave and will release on the same date.
This wave is up for pre-order now in the webstore. They are set to be shipped in March.
*No Kami are harmed by this process!
**Due to the way we use Descriptors in Bushido, this also means he gets Coordinated Attack with Shiho Hiroto, The Black Eagle (More about him soon!) because he has Eagle in his name!