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by Andrew Kluis I have received many requests for Clan War starter armies of factions other than those included in the limited book found in the Daimyo Edition Boxed Set. These included Naga, Shadowlands, Scorpion, Toturi's Army, and Yoritomo's Alliance. These often come from people already deditacted to one of these groups through exposure in the Legends of the Five Rings CCG or the Rokugan set RPG. Others come from players who want to fully explore the options before choosing a clan or faction. For these potential players I have created 500 Koku "starter armies" for the Naga, Shadowlands, Scorpion, Toturi's Army, and Yoritomo's Alliance. In combination with the previous document, this covers all factions currently available to play in Clan War For all armies except Naga, the Daimyo Edition Boxed Set is still a good starting point for miniatures and basic rules, if not necessarily the specific units of the chosen faction. These armies will as much as possible only use game rules present in the Boxed Set book. Players may get the force profiles of their faction through a shared Daimyo Edition Hardbound Rulebook, or through the free Demo Version of ArmyBuilder (link to kuni's AB stuff) For that reason, as well as fairness in comparison to the first group of starter armies, these armies will as much as possible only use game rules present in the Boxed Set book. However, each will use many more special rules than the normal great clans (this is part of the reason why they were not included in the boxed set.) With the exceptions of Naga, all armies are designed to use half the figures included in the Boxed Set. In addition, wherever possible, I have chosen units that are also currently available as miniatures for people who decide they may never want the boxed set, but instead purchase the Hardbound Daimyo Edition Rulebook and the specific miniatures of a single clan. As previous, the armies are composed of an infantry element and an archery element. The archery elements here usually are lead by Leadership Packages, which are promising troops with a little extra training, they don't have all the skills and force of a true personality, but come at a much lower cost. Plus, detrimental cards that target enemy unit leaders(like Iaijutsu Duel or Arrow Knows the Way) can't target them. Remember that even though your archers are not skilled in combat, if they don't have anything to shoot at, they can be used to attack an enemy in the flanks or rear, especially if that enemy is tied up fighting The armies included are: Under the Pale -- a 500 Koku Naga Army Under the Pale -- a 500 Koku
Both the Naga Bushi models and the Naga Bowmen models are currently available, and will continue to be of use as your army expands. (No Naga commander can ever have too few bowmen!) Naga are a half-man/half snake creature from the dawn of time.
They have recently awakened from a long slumber and are beginning
to contact the great clans. The Naga use a larger base than normal
infantry. This makes them slightly easier to outnumber head to
head, and can make the Naga tricky and clumsy to maneuver. All
Naga troops have two wounds, this allows them to take quite a
pounding, so don't be afraid to take them head to head with more
numerous human units. In addition, most Naga units have Moral
of 5, making them unlikely to break after taking a few losses.
The bushi are a solid unit, so use them to strike at the heart
of the enemy. The Naga bowmen are likewise a solid unit, but
while they can take more damage than other archer units, they
have less members to shoot back. Try weakening up the unit your
Bushi are going to strike rather than getting involved in an
archery duel. Additionally, the Bowmen are very competent in
close combat. Bring them up and use them against the same unit
your Bushi are fighing. After you destroy his core, you can chase
down his archers. As you approach with your bowmen, watch your
opponent closely in case he also brings up his archers to threaten
your flanks. In that case, engage his archers with your Bowmen;
the little humans will be no match for your Naga! Special Rules Ignore any references to High Strike, it isn't an important rule right now (plus it's not guaranteed to work., and if you fail it your Naga are in trouble!) What figures should I get next? Hidden Sting -- a 500 Koku Scorpion Army
The Scorpion Clan is the dark underhand of the empire, but honorable in their own special way. The clan's strength lies not in the blades and arrows they bring to the field, but the tricks they hide. As this is a starter army, the tricks have been kept to a minimum, but should still be enough assure victory! The Black Cabal is a solid unit, use it to engage the standard infantry your opponent brings against you. Don't let your opponent know about the Poisoned Weapons or Shosuro Spy. Wait with the poisoned weapons until at least the second turn, your rank and file bonuses kick in then, and you will modify more dice. Remember that you must declare use of your poisoned weapons in the special orders phase, and that you can only use it twice. Ideally, time the poison weapons so the extra casualties caused by the poison, combined with casualties from previous turns, will be enough to force a moral check. Follow this up with the use of your spy, which hopefully will be enough to make him fail that moral check and break very early in the game. Once he is broken, chase him down and finish him off. Your archers don't have great range, but can sneak up close to the enemy units without fear of enemy archers firing at them. The archers can do some okay damage, but they aren't terribly powerful in a straightforward fight. Their real power lies in sowing confusion and dissent. Bring them up close (10") to his archers and shoot point blank (or just act like you are going to) or dance around the enemy infantry unit, or anything else that will make him sweat. Special Rules What figures should I get next? Marching Corpses -- a 500 Koku Shadowlands Army
The great power of the Shadowlands is its power to bring forth wave upon wave of undead troops, pulling down the clans with weight of numbers, and gathering the fallen to fill its horrid ranks. These shambling corpses will strike fear into the opponent. March forward to lock the Plague Zombies in combat as soon as possible. The zombies carry a disease that will strike down almost as many enemies as the rusted blades they wield. Don't waste time trying to get your archers to fire at the enemy infantry, the Zombies will have little need of help. Use your archers against his archers. Soften him up with arrows if you need to, but remember the opponent will likely have a farther range. Don't hesitate to engage his archers with your own, the fear effect may break his archers before a blow can land, plus your special moral rules will prevent your own corpses from running away. Eventually he will fall under the unrelenting dead. Many opponents will chose to avoid your Plague Zombies, fearing the disease and to be bogged down fighting them forever. The will maneuver back, hoping to do as much damage as possible with their own archers until as late as possible engaging the zombies. In this case, swing your zombies into his archers (they can't fire effectively as they scrabble to stay away) This will leave your flank open, but if you can engage the archers, it is well worth it. If you are flanked, that's just more troops to catch your putrid diseases. Your own special moral rules will keep you in the fight much longer than would be possible for living troops, meaning even more time for the plague to take hold. Finally, flank his infantry with your archers. This will slow them in killing the zombies, again giving the plague even more time to do damage. The longer he is engaged with your Plague Zombies, the worse off he is. Also, as your units cause fear, he will face extra modifiers to his own moral, as the fresh corpses begin to outnumber the cold, rotting Shadowlands corpses. Special Rules Now what figures do I get? NOTE: The boxed set infantry and archers are of course modeled to represent living humans, not animated corpses. With a little green, purple or brown in place of flesh tones, they can quickly become zombies, and if your skeletal archers have more of a zombie look than skeleton, well they just are much fresher corpses that's all, fresh from the last opponent you defeated. It can be fun to paint some undead so that it is clear what clan they served before "joining" the Shadowlands army. Everyman's Chance -- a 500 Koku Toturi's Army
Note, even though the boxed set doesn't contain Rules for Toturi's Army, it is a must for the Toturi General, as he will need as many regular infantry models and archers as he can get. In this army, you will be short on infantry models, so fill it out with 2 archers. The key to Toturi's army is great leaders leading masses of decent quality troops. They can make the excellent use of Ashigaru, but have relatively few high quality troops. The Elite troops they do have are very solid, very inexpensive, but don't have many special rules like Elite Clan troops. The leaders bring copious skills to these unassuming units at low prices. The Veteran Archers are equal to the best clan archer unit, but don't have anything special. They can trade arrows with the enemy archers all day long and not be out-matched, and can support a flank as necessary, or be used to weaken the main enemy unit before the infantry is engaged. The Heavy Infantry unit is straightforward, and quite large. The unit is a little light in moral and training, but the leadership of Mokoto will compensate. If you decide to make the enemy come to you, make sure the Heavy Infantry is not exposed to prolonged archer fire. Alternatively, bring the fight to them! The first round should go average or slightly in favor of flashy clan troops, but the second round your numbers and Mokoto's bonus will turn the tables. The following rounds you should be able to grind against the enemy with your superior numbers making up for his bells and whistles, unit he breaks. Special Rules Toturi's Army is for me! Now what figures
do I get? For Glory or Gold -- a 500 Koku Yoritomo's Alliance Army
Yoritomo's Alliance is reliant on decent troops with outstanding leaders. Unlike Toturi, the Alliance relies on the lesser clans troops, as opposed to Ashigaru. The Alliance troops often have special abilities and stats, and a leader that specifically compliments that unit. The Mantis Bushi get a moral bonus when being lead by a Mantis personality. The unit itself is straight forward, heavily armored, and hard hitting. Maneuver it towards the greatest threat. If the enemy has an equally strong and numerous infantry unit of his own, the low moral of the Mantis Bushi will keep them in the fight. While the Alliance does have elite archers of the Wasp Clan, they fill a special function as scouts and skirmishers, so Yoritomo must use unaligned troops when standard archers are needed. The archers are not able to compete directly with the archers of the major clans. Of couse this means less koku is spent on them, and a more devastating infantry can be fielded. Use your archers to weaken his infantry, so your Bushi can defeat that unit quicky and move onto enemy archers. When your archers do turn to the enemy archers remember the enemy unit will usually have a longer range. This is why you have more than twelve, don't worry about getting the last two to fire, they are there so you have more survivors to return fire after you get close enough to reach the enemy. Special Rules What figures do I get next? |
500
Koku Starter Armies II