Kitchener commands

Sorry about not posting Monday, but I with the newest range of models from Battlefront I've entered into the Great war.

For people more interested in Bushido next week Saturday I'm hosting a tournament at Gamers of the West in Rotterdam and will be posting reports about each round, best painted warbands, best painted model and some tactical tips from me and from some of the players.

As is common for most of my historical wargames I drift towards the British front. Now with the tremendous price of the armydeals that came out this month, a mere 80 euro's, I couldn't withstand ordering a box.

Fortunately a regular opponent of mine on the field of plastic and tin mayhem has also gotten the World War fever and gotten the German box.

Hopefully I will get around to painting and playing these guys soon.

The picture doesn't do justice to the true size of these ironclad behemoths

This will be a lot of work, but at the end I'll have a respectable army ready to go. Just have to keep in mind all the hard work like glueing and painting will be over by christmas.

Wave 19 review: The best & the worst.

Some like their girls to have a good head on their shoulders.
With the Cult it's all they require.

Best model: Penanggalan.
For only 7 rice and in my opinion the amazing abilities this model is the best model of the wave. The other contenders were Akio Takashi and Taisho Tenbatsu.

 I chose this model above the other two because of the their difference in rice. not because Akio and Taisho are overpriced but with 7 rice this model could easily fit in a 35 rice warband, while Akio and Taisho are 13 and 12 rice respectively limiting their use in lower point games.

Taisho, so awesomely sculpted,
 he makes everyone wish they played Cult or Wave.

Best sculpt: Taisho Tenbatsu.
While just missing the spot as best model Taisho's sculpt is great and I might even go as for as call it the best sculpt on the game so far.

And it's easy to see why, not only has he been painted amazingly but the amount of detail on the model is incredible, just look at all the detail just on his face not to mention his armour and swords. His pose is also very action filled as if he's stalking towards another prey.

While I do have to admit that he didn't really have much of a contest during this wave.... looking at you Satsuki, which is a real shame as models like Taisho and Penannggalan are amazing and what atract people to the game and show the GCT has the sculptors to do a great job.

Almost the same as a real rose.
Pretty to look at not much use otherwise

"worst" model: Hanami.
Alright I put worst into quotation marks because Hanami isn't a bad model, but simply put every other model this way is better because their stronger or easier to use. It was a contest between Hanami and Ashinagi for me and what made the choice for me is that while Ashinagi has less utility all his abilities work towards the same purpose.

 That's the problem with Hanami you want to use her ki feats to control your opponent, but to control you have to be in combat which means losing disguise which you don't want because she only has 5 wounds. She also can increase her melee dice for only 2 ki, but you want to use her ki for her feats.

Orochi why, just why?

Worst sculpt: Satsuki.

I apologize in advance for whoever made this sculpt.

Alright where to start, well the face is bad, really bad. She looks like she drugged herself and is looking out into space, the only other face I think is this bad is the Grey Pilgrim and she looks as if she ran a few times too many against a brick wall.

Body isn't bad besides the fact that the sculptor took the effort to sculpt her nipples, is that really a priority? She is also the female model showing the most skin of any model in the range. All this makes her simply look like a blow-up doll.

 Even the snakes look weird when compared to Sakura where you can easily say "that's a snake". Here well, it looks as if she's balancing on a pile of rope to say the least.

Wave 19 review: Hanami, the Queen of Flowers.

To me it seems as if the Queen of Flowers has wilted during her years as a Oyabun. Overall it's a good model but from what I can see from the picture I don't like the face. Being A Silvermoon player I hope seeing the model will change my opinion.

Pro:
The third Oyabun for Silvermoon, by now giving them enough options in building warbands.

Hanami has the two best ki feats from Saki and tsubaki, Seduction and Lure while having another ki feat especially for herself.

Kiss of the Rose gives control markers after a succesfull opposed ki test equal to succes level, but only one model may be affected by this ki feat at any given time.

She can buy a extra melee dice for only 2 ki.

Con:
11 Rice is pricey for a control model, making her the most expensive Oyabun so far.

While the control tokens gained from kiss of the rose seems fun it requires you to be in base-to-base making it a risky option in my opinion. This means that either you've lost disguise because you're being attacked or a valuable target has become available.

Tactics:
While I'll be playing Hanami with the other Roses this gives me a great amount of control options, it doesn't give me a lot of damage potential. For this you could go for a Buto or a lot of the Shatei. Buto leaves you with only a few models limiting you're options while the Shatei will probably outnumber but need to outnumber to take out bigger targets like Oni or Samurai.

Wave 19 review: Satsuki, Orochi Priestess

And after the amazing model of the penangglan we're back to the lackluster. this time with Satsuki the newest Shisai for the Ito Clan.

Pro:
At this point it's a pro that Ito finally get's it's third Shisai so they can get the maximum from each Shisai's unique effect.

Cheap ki feats of which one steals up to 3 ki from an opponent and the other causes the poison tokens to resolve during the turn and as normal at the end of the turn.

Con:
A perfect example of a model relient on it's ki feats to be usefull, when things go well she earns her keep but should she fail a few rolls she quickly becomes just an easy target for your opponent.

Tactics:
Satsuki should in my opinion be used for ki control steal 3 ki for the cost of 1 netting you 2 free ki you can immediatly channel it to your ki sinks in the same activation. But besides this Satsuki will only be usefull if you use a lot of poison, since it's Ito this shouldn't be a problem, with her accelerate venom ki feat it has become usefull to stack poison markers on a single model and kill them during the turn instead of having to wait for the end phase.

Wave 19 review: Penanggalan

Here we have a model again that's amazing to see, a wondrous sculpt of the organs flying out of the body. Just hope it's easy to assemble.

Pro:
Cheap for 7 rice with the potential this model has with average rolls, wouldn't recommend it for new players though.

Camouflage (4) is great for keeping this model save and to help it get close to it's target.

 Hypnotic gaze is simply amazing a good range, only 2 ki and when it succeeds the opposing model's condition worsens one step and gains a stun marker. Luckily this model has force of will to get a +1 on opposed ki test, as don't like how ki feat dependant models are either succeed and win or lose and die.

Now it's unique effect adds a nice degree of survivability with regeneration 2 and causing 2 damage ignoring toughness.

Con:
This model can only store 6 ki and that's not a lot for a model dependant on ki abilities. I find the lack of fear odd for a decapitated flying head with it's organs sticking out.

Tactics:
I would combo this model up with Nezumi. Nezumi can make rat swarms during his activation and these are excellent to exhaust enemy models. In an optimal situation I would try to use the hypnotic gaze first then attack with a rat swarm, if all goes well the opposing model is now exhausted and stunned. Always remember to declare the immobilise attack. It's free so you can always call it and it's needed for Penanglan's unique effect.

 Now I think the best targets for this tactic are ashigaru, peasants, etc and support models, as these often have 1 or 0 dice left when exhausted and stunned making them an easy target to kill in a single turn.

Wave 19 review: Ashinaga Tenaga

This is an odd looking model and while it's a yokai I'm a bit underwhelmed so far with the sculpts compared to the marvelous Taisho Tenbatsu.

 I'm a bit worried how the net and spear are supplied as I don't like how GCT Studio has a tendency to supply small and easy to break parts seperate.

Pro:
The ability to get armour piercing is always great and I think this will help the Temple deal with armored foes better. The quagmire is amazing, a movable dificult terrain with a max radius of 8 inch and seeing that a decent amount of the temple have light footed this will give a lot of control when done right.

The believer trait is nice for keeping ki but not really what you want this guy to do.

Con:
At 8 rice he's not overpriced but needs some thought or strategy to field this guy. His ranged attack only works once, while being held is nice, it does no damage and you lose his special attack. A tough choice to make in my opinion.

Tactics:
He's nice for protecting supporting models like the farmers or Aiko. for example with the farmers keep him within 4 inch to make the farmers ability to lower the cost of the monks ki abilities cost efficient and do what temple does best. throw around ki like a madmen. And in the off chance a disguised or model with concealment sneaks past the monks you can use his quagmire to protect your models.

I recommend this model with a few peasants and 1 or 2 monks to dish out damage while the peasants boosts the monks and Ashinaga makes the farmes cost efficient and save.

 Also don't underestimate this model in a fight 3 melee is decent but combined with first strike a large amount of wounds and the ability to get armour piercing this guy is a serious threat for Ashigaru, Karai and such.

wave 19 review: Takashi Akio

After a small unplanned break because of technical difficulties i'm back. To start off again on my reviews of wave 19. Starting with samurai sensei Takashi Akio.

For the looks of the model i'm a bit dissapointed he looks bland compared to the concept art in my opinion.

Pro:
A 4 die samurai is always something good to have, he can save up 8 ki which is a respectable amount and can buy an extra melee dice for only 2 ki. This combined with his special attacks: combo attack (0) and critical strike (0) make this a good offensive model. Even when pushed on the defensive this model got some tricks up it's sleeve with impenetrable defense for 3 ki.

Con:
This model is expensive 13 points for a human is a lot and this guy will probably won't get played that often because of it.

Tactics:
The strenght of this model lies in his ability to distribute tokens to make your other models better, just as Oda for the Silvermoon Trade syndicate. But opposed to Oda Akio can stand his ground and deal some damage on his own. Remember to be carefull with Akio though, you take him to boost your force and that's what you pay for.

Fielding Akio means you won't be able to field a lot of models and you need to work around this and play smart with what you got. Not being a Prefecture of Ryu player myself I find it hard to see what would be the best combined with him to get the maximum out of his kenjutsu ability.