Hey guys, As a new JSA player (Nomads are my main), what are your exepriences with Mushashi? How does he work out for you as a single irregular or in a Tanko Haris team? Do you have any particular strategies that work well? Thanks!
Good question. The Tanko Haris is solid. It's cheap compared to other Haris options that involve Karakuri/Domaru/Daiyokai, which is a real plus. It can be very versatile too, since it's a cheap way to work great tools (SMG ammo options, shotgun, E/M2 with great rangebands, blast weapon) into your force. Since Musashi has to come along for the ride, you don't really have a choice here, but that doesn't mean Musashi isn't good too. His chain Rifle becomes very very useful since Tanko don't have a direct template weapon, and his Flash Pulse goes from being interesting to being quite good once it's Burst 2. His hard-hitting EXP CCW is also a big step up over the Tanko Monofilament weapon, is more deadly against 1-Wound targets, and is phenomenal in missions where you need Anti-Materiel. Musashi in melee, with two Tanko jumping into contact to support him, is also the hardest-hitting single Order you can issue in Infinity, short of coordinating 4 missile launcher shots that all hit. The Haris has major drawbacks though. The .5 SWC can feel expensive when you want to spend it elsewhere. Musashi himself is vulnerable to Shock Ammunition, and sometimes I just wish I had another Tanko instead since Musashi's applications are pretty specialized. But if the Tanko manage to do some good gunfighting, and then deliver Musashi to a key target, you'll see good results. For unlinked Musashi, he's definitely good in missions where you want anti-materiel (these are rare, but they certainly exist.) I tend to reach for something like an Oniwaban or Yojimbo if I want a solo melee unit though. The Oniwaban tends to be more Order efficient, easier to protect, more decisive thanks to Surprise Attack, etc., while Yojimbo is faster, brings that crucial smoke support, Koalas, etc.
Take him if you want to field a Tanko Haris, but I don't really see a compelling reason to include him otherwise. I started a thread on the old forums to discuss his role and potential place in lists, but the general consensus was thus: he's a gimmicky model stuck in a faction chock-full of models with the exact same gimmick (extremely good CC). His issue is that almost everyone else has better tools for the job: Ninjas infiltrate and have marker states, Yojimbo is faster, has Koalas, Smoke and is cheaper, Domaru are Regular and have a real second wound and E/M grenades... etc. If you love the model then field him, hitting someone with that AP+EXP MA4 goodness will certainly put a smile on your face. But I think JSA has superior options if you really want a model solely for hitting stuff in CC.
I've run it twice, and had good results both times. It's very fun, moves well, commands respect from your opponent, and not that it matters, but looks very cool on the table. However, at times I did wish for that 3rd Tanko, or Mushashi to have a bit better weapon. Nobody in their right mind are going to get close to him so you can unleash your CC.
The Haris is dirt-cheap for it's utility (less than 80 points without a missile launcher) and it's great for third turn Musashi delivery. I just rarely have an opportunity to use it for much. I usually pair it with an Oniwaban in the same group, and the the Oniwaban does all of the work turn 1. By the time there's stuff for Musashi to do the game is already over :(
Musashi gets a lot of attention for his CC ability, and deservedly so. But Haris does allow him to threaten in other areas too. The triple threat of direct template, flash pulse, or moving into base-contact is good for keeping an opponent guessing.
So something like this: Japanese Secessionist Army ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 8 OYAMA Lieutenant Chain Rifle, E/M Grenades / Breaker Pistol, AP CCW, EXP CCW. (0 | 28) DAIYŌKAI Red Fury, Panzerfaust / Pistol, DA CC Weapon, AP CC Weapon. (1 | 49) KEMPEI (Chain of Command) Combi Rifle / Pistol, CCW, Electric Pulse. (0 | 22) KEMPEI (Multispectral Visor L2) Shock Marksman Rifle / Pistol, CCW, Electric Pulse. (1 | 25) KEISOTSU (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) KEISOTSU Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 11) KEISOTSU Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 14) TOKUSETSU EISEI Doctor (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) GROUP 2 4 2 MIYAMOTO MUSHASHI (Regular, Fireteam: Haris) Chain Rifle, Flash Pulse / Pistol, AP CCW, EXP CCW. (0.5 | 28) TANKŌ Flammenspeer, Contender / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 23) TANKŌ Blitzen, Submachine Gun / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 23) SHINOBU Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Monofilament CCW. (0.5 | 47) 4.5 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army Seems ok
Great unit selection. I'd claim the list is doing too many things though. That second Combat Group should have 10 Orders for what it wants to do, not 3.5, and I think it craves smoke (and I don't consider Shinobu to be a smoke dispenser... She uses it for herself when making a key move, but having her toss smoke out for other units is order-intensive and risky.) I'd take a look at the Daiyoka + Neko team, figure out which one you're okay not having, make room in Group 1 for the Tanko team, and then develop your second Combat Group with the points used from whatever you dropped to make space. The big challenge of the Tanko team is they need to get close to do anything, which means spending lots of Orders, and (possibly) needing to survive in a midfield for a turn so they can drive home their attack in the following turn. This means you need to give them some support and defense in the midfield, which means Smoke (Yojimbo) and/or Koalas, and/or mines, and/or ARO weapons. You have the ARO weapons there with some missiles, but I think they could do with one more asset to help them out.
perhaps this is heading in the right direction: Japanese Secessionist Army ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 10 2 DAIYŌKAI Red Fury, Panzerfaust / Pistol, DA CC Weapon, AP CC Weapon. (1 | 49) KEMPEI (Chain of Command) Combi Rifle / Pistol, CCW, Electric Pulse. (0 | 22) KEMPEI (Multispectral Visor L2) Shock Marksman Rifle / Pistol, CCW, Electric Pulse. (1 | 25) KEISOTSU (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) KEISOTSU Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 11) KEISOTSU Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 14) KEISOTSU Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 9) MIYAMOTO MUSHASHI (Regular, Fireteam: Haris) Chain Rifle, Flash Pulse / Pistol, AP CCW, EXP CCW. (0.5 | 28) TANKŌ Blitzen, Submachine Gun / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 23) TANKŌ Flammenspeer, Contender / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 23) GROUP 2 3 SAITO TOGAN (Specialist Operative) Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW, Knife. (0 | 40) TOKUSETSU EISEI Doctor (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) RYŪKEN (Forward Deployment L2, ODD) Submachine Gun, Antipersonnel Mines, D-Charges / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 24) YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) 5.5 SWC | 298 Points Open in Infinity Army I'm on the fence about the points for the Daiyokai, he is a man amongst boys tho, and I'm never sad when bring him.
Used this list today with great success in a casual game of Supremacy: Samurait 5 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 9 1 3 SAITO TOGAN (Specialist Operative) Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW, Knife. (0 | 40) DOMARU Lieutenant Chain Rifle, E/M Grenades / Pistol, E/M CCW, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 26) DOMARU (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, E/M Grenades / Pistol, E/M CCW, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 36) DOMARU Spitfire / Pistol, E/M CCW, Shock CC Weapon. (2 | 39) TANKŌ Missile Launcher / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Shock CC Weapon. (1.5 | 32) TANKŌ Missile Launcher / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Shock CC Weapon. (1.5 | 32) MIYAMOTO MUSHASHI (Regular, Fireteam: Haris) Chain Rifle, Flash Pulse / Pistol, AP CCW, EXP CCW. (0.5 | 28) RYŪKEN (Forward Deployment L2, ODD) Submachine Gun, Antipersonnel Mines, D-Charges / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 24) TOKUSETSU EISEI Doctor (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) YOJIMBO Contender, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 21) 6 SWC | 298 Points Open in Infinity Army It starts with the DoTanko Fireteam: Core with two Tanko MLs on overwatch providing a very hard surface for the opponent to bang their head against, and once the long range threats have been dealt with Musashi forms the Haris with Tankos and frees up the Domaru to advance up the field. At this point the Spitfire Domaru should be enough to deal with whatever threats are left even without the +3 BS MOD from full Fireteam: Core, and it's also easier to maneuver a three man fireteam.
Ah, heh, it's just the fifth version of the DoTanko list :D But indeed, it is the seven samurai. I like that!
Tr True, but he's so cool. As a serious question, would planting a YaoZao next to him help stay alive longer, so then not really caring about him being the LT?
Good point. No reason other than that I don't have the model built yet :P Lieutenant is indeed very obvious in that list. The couple of times I've played with it my opponents have immediately called the chain rifle Domaru out as the Lt... however, they haven't really been able to do much about it.
The second group shouldn't be an afterthought. At the very least, I'd drop the Kempetai Chain of Command, all the small upgrades on the Keisotsu, and one of the Palbots, and that will give you enough points to just buy 3 Keisotsu. Add those extra Orders to group 2 so it feels a bit less sad. I don't think you need the Daiyokai either, given that you have the Tanko to serve as your aggressive forward element. Just opinion though. Try it out and see.
It doesn't make a huge difference. If he dies in your reactive turn you'll be in LoL anyway, and given those loadouts (double missile) you'll want to stay back anyway. It's one of the big reasons I don't like the inclusion of the spitfire in the double missile link.
