A few people have been enquiring about playing Ninja in the new Ronin skirmish. One can cobble them out of the existing Koryu Buntai for competitive play. But for more informal play I have made the following up as a start.
Please try them out and send me feedback as obviously they will need testing for balance and playability,
'They travelled in disguise to other territories to judge the situation of the enemy, they would inveigle their way into the midst of the enemy to discover gaps, and enter enemy castles to set them on fire, and carried out assassinations, arriving in secret.' Historian Hanawa HokinoichiIn his Buke Myōmokushō 1760
Historically Shinobi ('ninja' is an chinese influenced pronunciation of the kanji) were the spies and assassins of medieval Japan. Thought to be, by many, as the special forces of the army they were secretive in nature and often drawn from certain 'clans' who would hand down the skills and information. It appears that the clans were less mercenary than is popularly thought of and many were affiliated closely with certain Samurai families. Fact and fiction are entwined in myth of the Shinobi (often perpetuated by themselves it must be said). They can be a faction well capable of taking on any Buntai in a head to head fight; but will excel when used in a more 'devious' fashion.
Composition
Special Rules
All Shinobi may be equipped with shuriken as per the rule book. This is at an extra 3 points cost to the model.
Only one model may be deployed as disguised as per the rule book page 44.
At a cost of 10 points overall the Shinobi Buntai may use the following set up rules:
Morale
The morale rating for Shinobi is 9 so long as there is a Chunin or Jonin on the table; otherwise it is 8.
Genin
Rank 3 CP3 Initiative 3 Fight 3 Shoot 2 Light armour 26
Katana/kusuri-gama and shuriken.
Acrobatic and one other Ability or Bujutsu
May take Yumi or Fukiya for +3 points.
Chunin
Rank 4 CP4 Initiative 4 Fight 4 Shoot 2 Light armour 29
Katana/kusuri-gama and shuriken.
Acrobatic and one other Ability or Bujutsu plus one extra attribute for +3 points.
May take Yumi or Fukiya for +3 points
Jonin
Rank 5 CP5 Initiative 5 Fight 5 Shoot 3 Light armour 33
Katana/kusuri-gama and shuriken.
Acrobatic and one other Ability or Bujutsu plus up to two extra attribute for +3 points each.
May take Yumi or Fukiya for +3 points.
All models may take other weapons +3 points per model. No swords for hire may be purchased.
Suggested abilities to model Shinobi 'traits'
Intuition – to represent the reported 'sixth sense' and ability to feel sakki (the killing intent).
Acrobat – represents the Shinobi 'free running' skills and the ukemi (tumbling) skills; especially useful for getting out of combat.
Optional rules – which may well unbalance the Buntai so use with caution.
Tetsubishi/Metsubishi – caltrops/blinding powder – melee use weapon. Shinobi forgoes any attack that melee (but may use defence stones) to gain the use of the above in the 'action phase'. This causes an automatic stun result to opponent – to model it slowing them down in the next round.
Kuji-Kiri – in historical use this relied on the opponent being very superstitious – seeing a shinobi finger weave was often enough to slow an opponent for a while. Any Rank 4 or 5 Shinobi may use this ability in the movement phase. Any opponent within LOS and 7” will gain an automatic stun marker unless they roll their Rank or UNDER on a d6.
Please try them out and send me feedback as obviously they will need testing for balance and playability,
'They travelled in disguise to other territories to judge the situation of the enemy, they would inveigle their way into the midst of the enemy to discover gaps, and enter enemy castles to set them on fire, and carried out assassinations, arriving in secret.' Historian Hanawa HokinoichiIn his Buke Myōmokushō 1760
Historically Shinobi ('ninja' is an chinese influenced pronunciation of the kanji) were the spies and assassins of medieval Japan. Thought to be, by many, as the special forces of the army they were secretive in nature and often drawn from certain 'clans' who would hand down the skills and information. It appears that the clans were less mercenary than is popularly thought of and many were affiliated closely with certain Samurai families. Fact and fiction are entwined in myth of the Shinobi (often perpetuated by themselves it must be said). They can be a faction well capable of taking on any Buntai in a head to head fight; but will excel when used in a more 'devious' fashion.
Composition
- There may only be one Rank 5 model.
- There must be more rank 3 models than all the other Ranks unless all the Buntai is made entirely of Rank 4 models.
Special Rules
All Shinobi may be equipped with shuriken as per the rule book. This is at an extra 3 points cost to the model.
Only one model may be deployed as disguised as per the rule book page 44.
At a cost of 10 points overall the Shinobi Buntai may use the following set up rules:
- The opposing player sets up first (if they are also using Shinobi then place one at a time).
- The Shinobi player then places all his Shinobi anywhere on the table between 8-14” of any opposing model so long as the model is out of Line of Sight (basically behind or in some cover).
- Optional rule; for a further 3 points per model using it the Shinobi can be using Kyojutsu (juxtaposition of truth and falsehood) to convince the opposition that they are where they are not. In this case the Shinobi is represented by 3 models on the table with one of them marked with a sticker underneath (the real one) the decoys remain on the table and may be activated as normal until they are within 1” of the opposition at which time they must be revealed as a fake. (This will need playtesting to determine the right cost of the ability
Morale
The morale rating for Shinobi is 9 so long as there is a Chunin or Jonin on the table; otherwise it is 8.
Genin
Rank 3 CP3 Initiative 3 Fight 3 Shoot 2 Light armour 26
Katana/kusuri-gama and shuriken.
Acrobatic and one other Ability or Bujutsu
May take Yumi or Fukiya for +3 points.
Chunin
Rank 4 CP4 Initiative 4 Fight 4 Shoot 2 Light armour 29
Katana/kusuri-gama and shuriken.
Acrobatic and one other Ability or Bujutsu plus one extra attribute for +3 points.
May take Yumi or Fukiya for +3 points
Jonin
Rank 5 CP5 Initiative 5 Fight 5 Shoot 3 Light armour 33
Katana/kusuri-gama and shuriken.
Acrobatic and one other Ability or Bujutsu plus up to two extra attribute for +3 points each.
May take Yumi or Fukiya for +3 points.
All models may take other weapons +3 points per model. No swords for hire may be purchased.
Suggested abilities to model Shinobi 'traits'
Intuition – to represent the reported 'sixth sense' and ability to feel sakki (the killing intent).
Acrobat – represents the Shinobi 'free running' skills and the ukemi (tumbling) skills; especially useful for getting out of combat.
Optional rules – which may well unbalance the Buntai so use with caution.
Tetsubishi/Metsubishi – caltrops/blinding powder – melee use weapon. Shinobi forgoes any attack that melee (but may use defence stones) to gain the use of the above in the 'action phase'. This causes an automatic stun result to opponent – to model it slowing them down in the next round.
Kuji-Kiri – in historical use this relied on the opponent being very superstitious – seeing a shinobi finger weave was often enough to slow an opponent for a while. Any Rank 4 or 5 Shinobi may use this ability in the movement phase. Any opponent within LOS and 7” will gain an automatic stun marker unless they roll their Rank or UNDER on a d6.