And we return to our regular (at least once a year is regular, right?) look at Tengu profiles, continuing on this occasion with feathered (and one non-feathered) friends of a spiritual or magical bent. The Shisai of the Tengu and indeed Hill Tribes play a useful (if not necessarily compulsory) role in supporting their more combat orientated companions, while the two Shugenja give more ranged attack options as well as causing potential problems for your opponent.
As ever with Tengu, its important to understand how Place effects work, so if you haven't already, please take a look at my previous blog post on this subject.
Done? Then let's make a start with the Shisai. A quick note that most Tengu Shisai are Koroko or Owls and because GCT have a sense of humour, they all have the Aware trait i.e. 360 line of sight (what a Hoot!). The Koroko also have access to the Channel trait which is of course useful for getting Ki where it needs to be. Coupled with Spiritual Harmony and the Gorinto will ensure that you should have great flexibility with what Ki feats can be used right from the first turn. Furthermore, having at least one Koroko in your warband enables you to take Wisdom of the Mountains which lets you start the game with 2 additional Virtue Tokens. More on the uses of Virtue in this blog.post.
Naturally, with low Melee statistics, Shisai are best kept away from the busy areas of the battlefield unless you really really need them to get a scenario action done. And if that's the case, there's a possibility that your game plan might not be in a good place. Fortunately, like all Tengu, Cloudwalk or place effects can assist in getting out of uncomfortable places by putting some rough terrain or even better, a nice sized building or rock between them and potential foes.
Naigubu
Let's get this out of the way... if your opponent get's a half decent melee model into base to base with Naigubu, he's probably a goner. Fortunately, he does have a fairly decent defence mechanism that will move him over 4" away from the threat (remember his base width contributes to the distance moved). However, this only works once per turn and once it's burned, another opposing model can move in to deliver a relatively easy killing blow. The art of fielding Naigubu is positioning - keeping him out of harms way and keeping your opponent's mind focused on other matters. Putting aside the threat of imminent death, Naigubu's principle benefit is his peerless ability to redistribute Ki without the aid of any other tricks. There are quite a few things Tengu can get up to if specific models are fully stacked with Ki (see Qimmiq below for an example). The other point of note is Naigubu's Virtue abilities. Not only can he distribute a Virtue token, all of his Virtue benefits have a credible function. Keep in mind that using a Virtue benefit is done in the same way as an Instant Ki Feat, so you can activate them at the moment they will be useful e.g. declaring Ranged Defence (1) when your opponent declares a Ranged attack action. I think Wisdom of the Mountains is well worth including alongside Naigubu as you will nearly always find a use for those Virtue tokens. My general impression of his Ki Feats are that they are useful for specific situations and it's not helped that 2 of the 3 are Complex Ki Feats. They have the potential to create some interesting challenges however... e.g. a 6" bubble where Yatsumata can't end her move closer to Naigubu even if that's not the snake's primary intent. Also, Detection is worth a mention as Camouflage is fairly prevalent trait.
Narahobo
This Koroko is the starter set option and like many models in that set, he might look a little under cooked at first. His Channel (1/6") is the weakest of the 3 Koroko and he only Heals 1 wound. Spirit (1) is at least fairly standard for Shisai, but his Virtue benefit (Immunity to lightning based attacks) is the very definition of situational. However, 3 factors make Narahobo worth a look... At only 11 Rice (cheap for Tengu), he constitutes a fairly good value Ki Stat 2 model, which adds more to the pool that can be shared around via Spiritual Harmony. He also has access to a Ki Boost on his Movement Statistic which means if he really needs to get somewhere, a 9" run (at the minimum) is very achievable and you don't have to worry about anything in the way, because... wings! And don't forget all the other movement boosts that are available to Tengu as discussed in this blog.post. There is possibly a decent VIM strategy to be had with Narahobo for this reason. Lastly, Elder's Aegis which grants Immunity to a chosen State is a pretty damn useful Simple Ki Feat with great flexibility, not least as it enables a State, such as Control, to be stripped off a model without having to engage it in melee or use the activation costly, Cleanse Ki Feat. Being able to send a model into range of a particular threat without necessarily having to worry about said threat (be it a Poison inflicting Ito, the grappling nets of Jung or the various machinations of Cult) makes your game plan a little more robust.
Qimmiq
Outside of Wind Watchers and (if you're playing on hard mode) Blue Gale Scouting Party, Qimmiq is as near to an auto-include as you will find in the entire game. Voice of the Wind which grants a 1" place and can be used multiple times in the same activation (provided you can keep Beanie Boy stocked up with Ki - very feasible when combined with Naigubu) is just so damn useful. It can be used to cover ground (very handy in for the race to to be the first to reach objectives & zones), remove your models from worrying situations (including melee) and (successful Opposed Ki Test permitting) push opposing modes away from objectives and out of zones. Binding Roots is a handy secondary Ki Feat for attempting to keep enemy models in place. Keep in mind that most Small models will pass the test to remove the Immobilised State half of the time, but you can greatly improve the effectiveness of the Ki Feat by playing Royal Mandate (which I'm pretty sure was actually intended for Wing Buffet) in the turn that you really want it to work . Putting his Ki Feats aside, he has a decent Melee stat and if you're running low on Ki and really need to move an opposing model, Drag Defence may just get the job done. Immunity to all the damage inflicting States is a nice little bonus, particularly when facing Ito or Jung.
Ryuhobo
Bargain, especially in a faction where most models of note cost 15 rice or more. With Channel (2/6") and Leech (2/6") he is pretty effective at redistributing Ki. His Virtue benefit is one of the more useful available to Tengu as Sixth Sense is not widely found in this faction. Cleansing is great in a pinch where you really have to ditch that Control marker (Narahobo is better at it though) or a key model is drowning in Poison markers, but because it is a Complex Ki Feat you may need to hold Ryuhobo's activation back until later in the turn. Healing Touch gives the option of getting a badly wounded model back up to full strength, an ability available to very few factions and here you have it sitting on a character costing a mere 8 rice! Ryuhobo's main weakness is that both his Ki Feats require him to be in the aforementioned busy section of the battlefield, but he has a good early to mid-game function staying out of harm's way, just keeping the Ki flowing.
Hirobo
There are a few errors on Hirobo's card to note... He is Spirit (1), Death Sentence should be an Opposed Ki Feat and Weak Mind (1) is actually Spirit (-1). With those out of the way, Hirobo's main strength is Fujin's Will. A 2" place for all Cloudwalk models not in melee within 6" is great for either pushing Tengu up the table in the first turn or repositioning your models into more threatening/useful positions e.g. placing them into the rear arcs of your opponents' models. A Gorinto ensures that Hirbo has sufficient Ki to deploy this in the first turn. Getting a Death Sentence marker onto a model you really want to get shot of is always of benefit and Hirobo's unique effect means that he can "soften up" the target ready to receive it. Note that aside from Karasu and Qimmiq, Descension have very few Opposed Ki Feats, so Spirit (-1) on the target is largely there to benefit Hirobo, but worth mentioning that this can also greatly increase the chance that the target will fail a Fear test if engaged by a Kurama (the big birds) or a Hill Tribesman with War Cry.
Sanjakubo
A single successful Ranged Attack has the potential to deploy a Stunned Marker which complements Tarabo's ability quite nicely. However, Stunned can be added to further models via Rajin's Rage and like all models with this ability (e.g. Takashi Matsu and Grey Pilgrim) this Ki Feat is especially useful in Zone Control scenarios where models are likely to be clumped up. Sanjakubo's other Ki Feat, Curse Fate, is also worth a look. Having multiple dice results only count as 1 can really cripple an opposing model for the turn. 3 Ki is an expensive cost so chose targets wisely, perhaps avoiding Resistance and other Ki Statistic 2 models with Spirit. Note that the effectiveness of the Ki Feat will be reduced against models with the Kata trait (where 1s always count as supporting dice).
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