Never to be perfectly honest. I've built a few lists with him and tankos but they're always suboptimal and I end up ditching them for other things. I guess he might be OK as a door kicker for missions like the armoury where you can safely advance behind a huge LOS blocking piece and the CC is handy, buts its a narrow niche. He's in a weird place because he's a CC specialist that doesn't have any reliable method of approach in a faction with good cc models that do have reliable methods of approach.
Very very rarely. I have taken him in missions like Biotechvore, Frontline and other such missions that tend to pull both armies towards the center. Normally I take him alone, in "ARO groups", to use up orders of Ryuken-9s, Keisotsus, or other such models that don't really want to use their own orders much. I haven't taken the Haris since Tanko's on him feel wasteful, they are better in Cores, and Flash Pulse doesn't get the burst bonus of the FTs anymore. Even the possible burst bonus from having the Tankos engaged in CC together with him is not that interesting since a burst 2 AP+EXP DAM18 critting on 12+ is already overkill, most of the time. I feel like he goes well in lists with Shinobu or Saito since they give him the smoke cover. I play him like a weird Liang Kai. I have yet to understand in what type of meta he thrives, but still, it's a cool option to have.
same here I never take him in JSA he just doesn't fit my JSA lists, but I love getting him in aristeia
Ever consider running him like this, with two kempeitai, any and Yojimbo providing smoke? Then put the kempeitai in SupFire for the reactive once you reach the midfield.
Depends on what you want from him. Forward Deployment could be a good QoL change. He would then be essentially JSA's Ajax, only more fiddly and squishy. But I think he's fine as is... just really really situational. I see him as an independent flank striker (6-4 is pretty good to get some good angles). The reason I don't consider Musashi in any fireteam is that if I want a Haris, Karakuri-Yuriko-Neko/Domaru is very tough to say no to. And in a FT he's a bit weak since he's very squishy, NWI notwithstanding. So I prefer having him roaming around, creating a pressure zone and making some opportunistic attack vectors. I'm not defending him, or saying he's stellar. I'm saying that in some missions, knowing my local meta he has been situationally worth considering. But, since I am (and my playgroup are as well) still figuring out N4 as a whole, the meta, rules interactions, etc... it can very well be that in a few months I'll find Musashi unworthy to consider. Specially because Yojimbo is a thing, and damn, if Yojimbo isn't THE thing.
Right, so not necessarily what I or anyone else would want specifically but what could differentiate Musashi more so it's an actual choice is the question. People used to debate whether he qualified for some sort of leadership or tactical skills.
This has been my issue with him, that he needs to move up the table but doesn't have a good way to do it. And I'm not sure that it's an issue that his stat block is bad, so much as it's a problem that JSA doesn't have a way to utilize his stat block very well. If I wanted to make him more likely to be used, I think the simplest way might be to make a Tanko profile with a Mk12. Then you could take a cheap Haris with a strong mid-range gun for him to advance with, and let him loose when you get up close. If we're having fun and want to give him buffs, I think I'd slap Dodge +6 on him so he could become a very specialized CC nightmare.
I think for me the simplest and laziest fix for him would be a slight bump in points and getting smoke grenades. That would give him his route of approach and sticks with the theme of only characters having smoke in jsa
So, you just want Yojimbo? If you want Yojimbo, take Yojimbo. If you make Musashi as is more expensive just to have smoke, everyone will not hesitate to dump his rare MA5 for an 18 point trooper that moves 8-6 comes with two orders, Smoke and Crazykoalas. I disagree, I think Musashi has enough approach mechanism, they are just not the crutch that smoke is. Moving 6-4 around the map is very good, Cautious Movement of 6 inches goes a long way. And a WIP 15 Flash Pulse is difficult to win out in F2Fs and can disable a MSV2 ARO trooper, which smoke cannot. The main problem right now is that Musashi wants a lot of orders and most list are not made nor want to give Musashi that many orders. But that stems from another problem, not Musashi's approach tools. Exactly, I think right now what he offers is not unique enough. When I mentioned FD was thinking in that he would become sorta of an anti-skirmisher, discovering opposing camo's on WIP15 and moving around swiftly CC'ing everyone to death. That would be different enough, I don't think JSA as a dedicated anti-skirmisher. But our skirmishers are top tier, so I'm not sure if my solution is healthy. I wouldn't mind a command skill, like Strategos 1 but that has deep implications for the rest of the army, some units would need to be more expensive to balance out. NCO could also be a bit of order efficiency, but then he's back to being Yojimbo 2.0 ("2 orders", big movement, all CC).
I've been pondering +1 B for Flash Pulse so it can be better used offensively and since he has the FTO, instead of Forward Deployment, perhaps Strategic Deployment instead? These changes make him very unique compared to the rest of JSA accomplishing both the Skirmisher hunting task and minor strategic benefits to JSA while not stepping on Yojimbo's toes.
I think Mushashi occupies a space that overlaps too similarly with a basic Domaru. The the areas where Mushashi's profile are "better" - notably the WIP and CC stats - aren't sufficient improvements over the Domaru profile to offset the places where his profiles is notably worse. He moves 2" farther than a Domaru doing a mov+mov; has higher CC and has access to B2 in CC through MA5. But a Domaru has two full wounds, better armor, and EM grenades. The regular profile costs 4pts and 0.5SWC over the basic Domaru. I happen to like the 21pt EM CCW Domaru. The Domaru is more tactically flexible and Mushashi's improved CC stat are only marginally more useful than getting hit with an EM weapon unless you need that antimaterial hit. If you need someone to stand in an area and defend it with a chainrifle, the Domaru does it better. If you need someone to trade with a TAG or another HI, the Domaru arguably does it better through Berserk and the EM CC weapon's ability to brick a target. The Domaru can link with everything, so can hot swap if plan A goes wrong. The Domaru can spec fire their grenade. Aside from the desire to bring the model itself or the rare occasion you can meaningfully make something take 8 armor saves in close combat, why take Mushashi? I would honestly love to see him gain Sixth Sense and Dodge (reroll), while losing the chainrifle entirely. It would make him unique and definitely help him get into melee combat more frequently. Wuji's Strategic Deployment is also a good idea
Nah, it wouldn't fit with the new MA design and Shinobu doesn't need it. For fluff reasons at least Musashi should probably be immune to NBW though. I don't see why Musashi would need Guard immunity either; why would he stop his opponents from coming closer so he can kick their ass?
I think when talking about mushashi we have to talk about martial arts as well. With MA2 is the new sweetspot of MA as before was MA3. So a lot more guys are pretty competent at CC. Fights between CC specialists are pretty much a dicethrow as is. I was kinda dissatisfied with that. N3 MA arts was pretty complex because you had to choose the level you use so the simpler approach in N4 is nice with commulative bonuses but I think something is still missing. My take would be to compare the MA levels. So when a MA 2 guy fights a MA 4 guy the MA2 guy is essentially Without MA and can't mod his or his opponents CC skill he would otherwise still get the pH bonus to his damage. The MA 4 guy then gets to mod his and his opponents CC according to MA2 and his dmg boost. Futhermore and skilled martial artists isn't just relying on brute strength so the ph mod for dmg should be changed to pure dmg from MA 3 onward since they are going for weakspots of armor and body. Dmg 14 monofilament CCW anyone? MA 4 could give burst 2 in CC and MA 5 lets you ignore NBW as @Hecaton implied. I don't think it would break CC or balance at all. It would make CC a little lesx risky as it already is when Martial artists Duke it out with one another. Mushashi and Shinobu would be the goddamn King and Queen of CC as they should be. Insert "are you approaching me?" meme here. Have a nice Easter everybody!
No, mushashi can link, yojimbo cannot. If I wanted a non linkable bike, I'd go for yojimbo. As it is, mushashi is a damn site more hideable and the linkability would give him some good utility as a door kicker
I would love to have SS on him too, but truth to be told there is some good points why to take Musashi. 1. He hits harder than Domaru, but is not hackable. 2. E/M Grenades are great in 0-8 band, but Flash Pulse is effective also at long range. We all know how a stupid journalist can mess with expensive rambo. He is not ARO piece, but Wip 15 FP projects a lot of threat during ARO turn and can force opponent to lose orders. 3. He is actually better in CC. If You face other CC specialist, even a cheap warband like Jaguars, Domaru have 50/50 situation against enemy with DA or EM weapon (so You don't want to trade hits with Berserk). Musashi brings much better odds because of Burst 2 and superior stat. Against Total Immunity opponent he still makes 2 S17 hits. 2 Tanko and Musashi Harris is cheap assault unit with wide range of aro threats as a bonus (Blitzen, Flammenspear, Contender, LShotgun, Chain, Flash).
