The Book of Ashigaru Yari

[Metaknight]

Well I think these guys are pretty useful now. Hide out in little groups of three or so behind trees, ruins, hills, towers and then just pop out and use Encirle to kill.

These guys rock against melee heroes! I mean they own and are almost incincible in a swarm againts melee heroes!

[The Super Atheist]

These are a fast, but weaker version of the zombies that don't move 6 per turn. no. maybe with large point games, with an army consisting completely of ashigaru pikemen and riflemen, hatamoto, and kato, I could see swarms upon swarms over running the enemy.

But then again... I also see deathwalker 8000 over the horizon...

[Sweetcurse]

Originally Posted by Metaknight

Well I think these guys are pretty useful now. Hide out in little groups of three or so behind trees, ruins, hills, towers and then just pop out and use Encirle to kill.

These guys rock against melee heroes! I mean they own and are almost incincible in a swarm againts melee heroes!

No they are not. 1 defense on a melee unit is garbage. Even with Kato it's a questionable draft. But I will hold off on Kato until I actually play him. I still think these guys are major suckage. I'm still partial to the Harquebus squad, but even those suffer a lot with 1 defense.

[ThrasherDarkrai]

Originally Posted by Sweetcurse

No they are not. 1 defense on a melee unit is garbage. Even with Kato it's a questionable draft. But I will hold off on Kato until I actually play him. I still think these guys are major suckage. I'm still partial to the Harquebus squad, but even those suffer a lot with 1 defense.

Well, with Kato, it's an inexpensive way to get the Harquebus ready to Fire on their foes, and in the meantime you can set up more Yari to serve as more blockage. The 6 attack with Encircle is just a bonus using them with Kato - they should primarily be used to rush into gun to give the Harquebus time.

[Sweetcurse]

Originally Posted by Bloody the Marro Stinger

Well, with Kato, it's an inexpensive way to get the Harquebus ready to Fire on their foes, and in the meantime you can set up more Yari to serve as more blockage. The 6 attack with Encircle is just a bonus using them with Kato - they should primarily be used to rush into gun to give the Harquebus time.

Yeah, maybe with him...maybe. But on their own they are just bad. And see, Orcs, even without a hero to bond, aren't completely bad. Their six move and disengage is pretty useful.

With Katp though, you need about 500 points minimum to start something good I think. Then all you have is low defense squadies for the Q9's and Braxas of the world to feed on. I want to like Kato, maybe I will.

[ThrasherDarkrai]

Originally Posted by Sweetcurse

Yeah, maybe with him...maybe. But on their own they are just bad. And see, Orcs, even without a hero to bond, aren't completely bad. Their six move and disengage is pretty useful.

With Katp though, you need about 500 points minimum to start something good I think. Then all you have is low defense squadies for the Q9's and Braxas of the world to feed on. I want to like Kato, maybe I will.

Of course, the Harquebus AND the Yari will eventually overwhelm Braxas. Q9 will die to repeated Harquebus attacks - all you have to do is tie him up with some Yari, and encircle when you have the chance (though even then, Q9 can kill you back. You have to overwhelm him before he overwhelms you). On their own, the Yari and Harquebus suck - with Kato, however, they turn into killing machines by sheer number. Braxas, after all, will have some trouble killing so many figures at once coming for her head.
But, I cannot defend the Yari and Harquebus without Kato. They suck without him.

[Metaknight]

If you surround, let's say the Old Drake, with 7 or 8 guys. You can't fit all of them around him but with Encirle you can attack with 6 attack! It doesn't matter if they had 4 defense much because you have so many guys and Drake still has 6 attack. If you give Drake 3 wounds with Encircle then he kills one guy, then you give 2-3 more wounds, he's dead and you only lost 1 guy. They can do this to most guys, Krug only you'd lose a lot more guys, Valguard, Alastir, etc. The problem is getting to that point.

[ThrasherDarkrai]

Originally Posted by Metaknight

If you surround, let's say the Old Drake, with 7 or 8 guys. You can't fit all of them around him but with Encirle you can attack with 6 attack! It doesn't matter if they had 4 defense much because you have so many guys and Drake still has 6 attack. If you give Drake 3 wounds with Encircle then he kills one guy, then you give 2-3 more wounds, he's dead and you only lost 1 guy. They can do this to most guys, Krug only you'd lose a lot more guys, Valguard, Alastir, etc. The problem is getting to that point.

I'm guessing you play you move all your commons at once? There is NO way in heck that Drake is letting you get Encircle off. He'll just ignore you, Grapple Arm, and reach your Harquebus. Same with Valgaurd - no one uses him anyways. Alastir overextends and attacks another guy, ruining your Encircle.

[Eirikr]

Originally Posted by Bloody the Marro Stinger

I'm guessing you play you move all your commons at once? There is NO way in heck that Drake is letting you get Encircle off. He'll just ignore you, Grapple Arm, and reach your Harquebus. Same with Valgaurd - no one uses him anyways. Alastir overextends and attacks another guy, ruining your Encircle.

I assume by Grapple Arm you mean Grapple Gun but I don’t understand how that would help you in this situation…

[ThrasherDarkrai]

Originally Posted by Eirikr

I assume by Grapple Arm you mean Grapple Gun but I don’t understand how that would help you in this situation…

He's talking about the new Drake, which has Grapple Arm (I think, anyways. All you have to remember is that it's the new Drake's). Grapple over the Yari's heads and kill some Harquebus.

[Su_Nan]

I don't think you guys know how to use them properly. You have to get 3 or more squads set up in a spear wall formation, usually in a line or cluster. These guys should never be used to rush the enemy, but instead you use them as a sort of wait then fire. Wait for melee troops or heroes to come to them and after you roll the dice, encircle.

Think history. Soldiers with spears used them to block cavalry by standing in a straight line waiting for a charge. Same goes for these guys. Set them up in mass and wait for melee to come to them. As melee engages the front lines you should be able to encircle with the back squads. Even the Greek phalanx comes to mind.

Rushing a 1 defense melee squad into battle gets them killed. With no bonding it would be difficult to get multiple squads into position to do any damage. In fact, rolling 1, 2, or even 3 defense dice pretty much gets close to the same result. You aren't going to get that many shields.

[DarkBladeCB]

That's the problem, Su. They're a 1 defense melee squad that needs to let the range come to them. The Venoc Vipers have a really low defense... but they also are designed to blitzkrieg the enemy, so it's OK. The Yari are just going to sit back and... well... get shot at.

Though, getting bonding, I think is going to help them. Rising points values, will, too, because you can field more of them. But in a 500 pt, competitive setting, 1 defense melee is bad.