To continue with a look at the brand new Bushido Starter Set that was previewed at Adepticon and today, we're going to examine the Hozumi family models.
Taiyo
Available to the Hozumi Family Theme, Temple of Ro-Kan and Shiho
At first glance, this peasant character doesn't particularly grab the attention. His Melee Stat is low and hard to boost, his Movement is low for a standard model (possibly because he is lugging heavy supplies on his back) and like most peasants, his Ki Statistic is only 1. In additional to this, his only Trait is Cowardly meaning that even if he passes what would be a 1 die Fear test, he will have to re-roll it. All in all, Taiyo does not seem well suited for wondering into battlefields containing monsters and sorcerers.
However, his Ki Feat, Supplies, is very useful and makes Taiyo well worth a look. At the cost of 1 Ki and a Simple Action, this enables Taiyo to remove a Reload marker or add an Ammo Token to a model in the Pulse. This synergises well with Koga who needs to Reload after he makes a Ranged Action. All of those Shiho Archers will want to be close chums with Taiyo as well (especially Shiho Shota) and if the Ashinaga Tenaga throws their net away in a Ranged Attack, no matter, because Taiyo has another one in his pack.
The other aspect where Taiyo adds value (or rather removes it) is the reduction in cost of any Enhancement - Equipment cards bought by the Warband to a minimum of 1. This is limited in that of the factions that can use Taiyo, it only really applies to Ronin and Shiho Equipment cards (all Temple Equipment cards cost 1 Rice anyway). However, it makes some popular choices (Arashi's Fan, Hotai's Coin, Vial of Rajin's Breath etc) very cost effective and might make you take a closer look at some items you've never been minded to use.
Also worth noting that as both a Peasant and Villager, Taiyo can have his Melee Stat boosted by Hozumi Daihanji's Encourage Feat making it a more respectable 3. You could then give more consideration to using Push Defence which costs Taiyo one of his Melee dice.
I am less moved by his Enhancement card which costs 1 Rice and sees him lose Cowardly if he is within 3" of Koga or a Friendly Monk. While he is very likely to be within 3" of Koga when playing for the Hozumi theme, I don't see it likely he would pass many Fear tests in the first place, so this is perhaps only of great use against models with a low Fear value (Buto etc).
Hozumi Daihanji
Available to the Hozumi Family Theme, Prefecture of Ryu, Minimoto and the Bastions of the Mountain Theme
Daihanji (presumably the Patriarch figure of the Hozumi family) is a fairly decent Samurai for a fairly decent cost of 13 Rice. He is perhaps not as quick on the draw as he used to be as it costs 4 Ki to boost his nonetheless respectable Melee Stat of 3. His other Statistics are standard, including a Ki Statistic of 2. This is important as it will enable him to use at least one of his Ki Feats every turn. As a Samurai, he does of course have the standard Prowess [Melee] (1) trait along with Bravery.
His first Ki Feat, Encourage is an Active Ki Feat costing 2 Ki and is effectively a combination of Inspiration and Idolize meaning he can boost the Melee Pool / Ranged Pool of models of any cost, not just those cheaper or more expensive. However, this is balanced out by his Unique effect which restricts its use to Hozumi and Peasant / Villager models.
His second Ki Feat, Reputation, is an Instant Ki Feat costing 2 Ki which will place a Stunned marker on an enemy entering BtB with Daihanji. This makes Daihanji a tricky prospect to face in melee as most models are going to lose a die from their Melee pool. Furthermore, while Daihanji's Melee Stat is challenging to boost, Hozumi do have means of attaining more Ki via their Theme and the Beloved Nobles Event card which comes in the starter set. Therefore, what might have appeared to be relatively straight foward melee may quickly become otherwise for his opponents if he determines to spend surplus Ki to boost his Melee Pool to 4 dice.
Daihanji's Enhancement Card, Man of the People, sees him become available to the Bastions of Mountain Theme and gives him Leadership [Villager, Peasant] (1/4"). Outside of the Hozumi Family Theme, this is probably Daihanji's spiritual home given his Ki Feat which boosts the Melee / Ranged Pools of Peasants and Villagers. Note that this would combine well with the Inspiration Ki Feat of Hisao making surprisingly good melee fighters of Rice Farmers. Apparently, GCT felt Bastions of the Mountain could do with a boost.
I'm not seeing many reasons for taking Daihaiji in Prefecture or Minimoto, but perhaps there are some synergies coming down the road. That said, even putting aside his Encourage Ki Feat (which has no function in either faction), Daihanji is still a good value Samurai profile that you may find space for.
Hozumi Maha
Available to the Hozumi Family Theme, Cult of Yurei and Kinshi Temple
And you thought these Hozumi guys seemed like nice people? Well apparently there are bad apples in every barrel and so we have Hozumi Maha. Her profile is standard for her Shugenja type with a not great Melee Stat, average Movement and a Ki Statistic of 2 which will be needed to power her Ki Feats. She has no standard Traits at all, but is surrounded by Ghosts (represented by 3 Ghost tokens) which have a couple of unique effects. The first of these is that Maha can spend Ghost tokens to reduce the number of Wounds she suffers in melee for each token spent or spend the Ghost tokens in place of Ki. This makes Maha more survivable than she may first appear and also enables her to power her Ki Feats which are relatively expensive to activate. The second benefit of being surrounded by Ghosts is that after Maha is successfully attacked in Melee, the enemy starts to wonder if this was a good idea and gains a Frightened marker. The consequence of this is another Hozumi model, along with Daihanji, which debuffs enemy models that choose to engage them in melee.
Before we move onto Maha's Ki Feats, it's worth looking at her unique Enhancement, Plans Made, Bargains Kept. This allows Maha to add a Ghost token when a non-Soulless is model is killed within 4" of her. It's a little pricey at 2 Rice but I think it's worth taking for reasons that will become clear.
And so onto Maha's Ki Feats, the first of which is Ghost Fire. This is a Simple Ki Feat with a Cost of 3 Ki. It drains 1 Ki from all models in the Pulse (note - Enemy and Friendly) and for every Ki lost in this way, it also causes a Wound (incidentally, this Ki Feat is pretty good for hunting Lesser Kami as they will lose 2 Ki - one for the first effect and another for the second). The size of the Pulse is X" where X is equal to the number of Ghost Tokens currently on Maha. Therefore if you have been stocking up on Ghost tokens throughout the game via her Enhancement, the range of the Ki Feat becomes fairly significant. The cost/benefit may well be negligible, but it strips Ki off other models and that 1 wound may finish off models which are stubbornly refusing to die (adding more Ghost tokens to Maha in the process). The second Ki Feat, Obey, needs no real introduction, but I'd note that while it is usually challenging for a Ki 2 model to use every turn, Maha has the option of powering it via her Ghost tokens.
Ghosts or no Ghosts, Maha is still a Ki hungry model so the additional Ki from the Hozumi Family theme and Beloved Nobles event card will further increase her effectiveness. I'd also suggest that Maha is worthwhile beneficiary of the Magatama Enhancement - Equipment card (which will only cost 1 Rice with Taiyo in the list) to potentially extend the range of the Obey Ki Feat and keep her out of harms way in the opening turns.
Cult of Yurei players willing to discard their Faction Themes, will welcome Maha with open arms (or tendrils) given that this is yet another source of Control while there is similar synergy with Kinshi Temple who also favour some Control based play.
Hozumi Koga
Available to the Hozumi Family Theme, The Descension and Temple of Ro-Kan
The Hozumi family golden boy (at least in the eyes of Kiyozumi Hinadori) constitutes a solid Samurai profile that is part Prefecture (Push Attack, Armour) and part Shiho (Dai Kyu Ranged Attack) and ironically is available to neither. While Koga has a good Melee and Ranged stats with Prowess for both, he really starts to shine when combined with his Hozumi relatives and retainers.
Daihanji's otherwise fairly limited Ki Feat, Encourage, can be used on Koga to boost both his Melee and Ranged Pools until the End Phase and although he wouldn't normally benefit from 2 Ranged Attacks per turn due to the need to reload, Taiyo can keep those shots firing via his Supplies Ki Feat. Therefore you can quite easily have Koga with a Ranged Pool of 4 dice, one of which can be re-rolled, plus a free Reload. Nobody will enjoy facing 2 such Ranged attacks per turn.
As noted, Koga is also a decent Melee fighter and it may be worthwhile giving either of the swords available to the Hozumui as Enhancement - Equipment cards to further boost his melee ability. Once again, with Taiyo in the warband, you get these at a 1 Rice discount.
Koga's singular Ki Feat, costing 1 Ki, is Ancestral Armour which is similar to a lot of Clan Armour in that it will ignore any damage roll where the individual values are the same (this includes Critical Attacks). The fact that it is Instant means that you can wait to see if your opponent's attack is successful before using it.
His Unique effects see him lose all Ki and committing Seppku at the end of the last turn of the game if Hinadori (Friendly or Enemy) dies, so try to avoid killing her if she appears on the other side of the table. I'm subsequently not sure on the wisdom of including them both in the same warband which is what his Enhancement card, True Love, makes provision for. Costing 2 rice it also gives 1 additional Ki at the start of the game and makes him Fearless if Hinadori is in the same warband. I'd suggest that the first benefit is not worth the Rice cost, while the second involves selecting both and again, I wouldn't consider this to be sensible approach. While it would obviously not be the end of the world in some scenarios, it may be problematic in those focused on Zone Control or even VIM. Best not to indulge in public displays of affection, you two.
While strongest within the Hozumi Family theme, I think Koga's core Ranged abilities mean that he is a worthy inclusion in Descension who also prefer to keep the opponent at arms length. However, he could have Taiyo (and the associated benefit as outlined above) tag along if he chooses to visit the Temple of Ro-Kan instead.
Ryokeen
Available to the Hozumi Family Theme, The Descension, Temple of Ro-Kan, Cult of Yurei and Savage Wave
And lastly to the Ryokeen, because we gotta catch them all (chortle). This is probably my favourite model and profile in the Starter Set and it has great synergy with its Hozumi patrons. It has the standard Melee Stat of 3, but it's Movement is a whopping 7. This is fantastic mobility for a Bushido model and means that it can be readily available to aid melee or go charging across the board to capture an opposing Zone. Some caution here, however, as it only has 5 health meaning that it is not very survivable on its own.
It's primary melee attack allows it Push Defence as well as the ever useful Sidestep Defence (albeit at a cost of 1 die for the latter). Furthermore, one of the Yokai's unique effects grants it Coordinated Attack [Hozumi] when used in the Family Theme, which means that this attack can be quite strong, particularly if coupled with any debuffs that have been applied (see Daihanji and Maha above) and the outnumbering penalty.
There is also a useful secondary melee attack, Hypnotic Gaze, which inflicts a Stun Marker on the opposing model if the attack successful, which is yet another means that Hozumi have to debuff the enemy characters. Be sure to roll dice in defence when using this ability, as a Stun Marker won't prevent any successful counter blows as would be the case for Grapple Attack.
The Ryokeen has access to two Enhancements which are called Bright Nurture and Dark Nurture. The former restricts it to Temple or Descension (unless the Family Theme is used) and allows it to make a 1" place in every starting phase. This equates to almost 3" of additional Movement and allows it to escape a melee which it would rather not be a part of. The latter enhancement sees the Ryokeen become more of a vicious creature that can only be taken by Cult or Savage Wave (although again, it can by pass this restriction with the Hozumi Family Theme). It gains Fear (5) and when making a damage roll, you can mark X wounds to gain +X melee strength, increasing the chance of doing a meaningful number of wounds to the target.
The Ryokeen has greatest function in the Hozumi family theme where I'd favour the Bright Nuture Enhancement for the additional mobility. This will also serve it well in Descension, a faction that loves place effects and speed. I should also note that Temple players can include the Ryokeen in the Bastions of the Mountain Theme which allows Ronin Yokai. Furthermore by using Descension or Temple, you gain access to Wind Kami which can potentially increase its Movement yet further.
The Hozumi Family Theme and Events
The Hozumi also have 2 Events cards, the aforementioned Beloved Nobles (yet more Ki, Huzzah!) and Dauntless which will see Hozumi models only become Immune [Frightened]. I'm less convinced this has use as you still have to take Fear tests if you wish to engage a Fear causing model and it doesn't benefit Taiyo or the Ryokeen.
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Overall, the Hozumi family and their Pokemon work very well together and while most of these models will find a decent function in other factions, the fun part will be finding the right faction and combination of Ronin models to benefit from the Hozumi's Ki boosts and Melee Support.
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