Blood & Deed: The Aftermath (Part One)

 

I participated in the Blood & Deed Masters event run by Jason Enos and Alex Smith this last Sunday and had a blast. There were four of us in the Glasgow crowd that made the trip: Alasdair Johnstone (Minimoto), Ricki McHale (KKZ), Johnathan Williamson (Prefecture), and myself (Jung). Our hotel stay in Stockport was decent, though we didn't get much sleep due to occupants of the room above loudly agreeing with each other all night.

I had thought of bringing my Savage Wave, but I simply don't have the bakemono models to summon as I refuse to buy identical sculpts. When the B sculpt box comes out, I will totally swap over to my bakemono hordes with gleeful abandon. Instead, I brought the Jung Pirates warband I have used previously, and taken down to the event in Sunderland.

Model Name	Rice Cost		Sideboard	Rice Cost
Jung Hibiki	20		Sho	9
Jung Minato	20		Kami of Reflection	8
Kohanin	8		Preordain	3
Itsiro Crab Swarm	7		War Weary	3
			Bounty	2
Eldest Brother	18		Bounty	2
Hiroto, Drunken Master	15		Sun Goddess Shrine	2
Kami of the Morning Dew	8		Second Chance	1
Sub-total:	96		Sub-total:	30
Special Cards
Kamikaze	1
Rice Bale Barricade	1
Squall	2
Sub-total:	4
Total	100

Looking at it now, I think Squall should be in the side board and Bounty in the main warband. I didn't get to use Squall a single time, it was a bit sad. It's a bit of a moot point now though as I don't think I'll be touching this warband for a good while.

The main focus of the warband is the sheer rice efficiency of the profiles. All the models are individually above the curve for their rice cost, but there's pretty much no synergy between them. I even forgot that the Kohanin gets Powerful Attack (1), and Sidestep Defence (0) until writing this article.

The warband is actually very weak on turn 1, but this often plays into how powerful it is on turn 2. With only five models on the table, it's very easy for opponents to kill them off on turn 1 if you advance too far up the board. It appears that I have conceded board position by only advancing about 5-6" up the board, and nearly every opponent will push forwards very aggressively in an attempt to seize a board advantage while I am so far back.

Then turn 2 arrives.

The arrival of Hiroto and Eldest Brother changes things dramatically, especially if I win the Tactical Test. The opponent has vulnerable support models (or you know, just models, any models) and it doesn't take a lot for a Hiroto, Drunken Master to charge into something to apply Surprised and use Assassin. Then Eldest Brother just romps around the back line. The danger these two models present cannot be understated.

One of the most important things about the warband to note is how much Prone it can give an opponent. Minato can slam, Eldest Brother can slam and sweep, the Drunken Master has sweep in both Attack and Defence, Hibiki can throw. Toss in the Kami of Morning Dew's Grapple Attack (0) that also applies Immobilised, and you can simple lock down large chunks of an opponent's warband. Once they're on the ground, life gets a lot easier.

Typically the warband has to deal with models that are at least as dangerous as my own models, and unless they have Combo Attack, this is where the Kami of the Morning Dew and the Itsiro Crab Swarm come into play. Both of them are Durable, and the Kami can just lurk behind the Crab Swarm to heal it back to maximum health each turn. It's rage-inducing stuff to have your best melee fighter bogged down fighting a water-squid and some crabs.

Another weird quirk of the warband is how much Fearless it has. Hiroto, Minato, and the Itsiro Crab Swarm all have it. The Kami is Soulless, and Eldest Brother has Fear (6). Hibiki is a 2 Ki model with Bravery, so he should be dealing with Fear fairly well. Warbands that rely on Fear to keep their models safe very quickly learn that I'm ready to rumble regardless.

To conclude the brief rundown, the warband operates along two main axis: threats from all angles, and controlling the enemy warband in close range.