1 hour ago, Duciris said:

I was just thinking about him. He's my favorite character to Charge - you flip the contended province facedown, then immediately reveal it and can again use any reaction triggers for revealing, or any printed action a second time.

Oh man, back in the day when Charge wasn't restricted by Dragon buddy loved to charge him in while I was attaching resto, nothing like losing all your cards mid conflict when you thought the danger had passed.

I just realized we are all missing the single most important part of this article.

Wild Stallion has a 0 Political skill, and not a - Political Skill.

You can now Policy Debate a horse.

9 minutes ago, sndwurks said:

I just realized we are all missing the single most important part of this article.

Wild Stallion has a 0 Political skill, and not a - Political Skill.

You can now Policy Debate a horse.

Or have a buffed up horse debate you.

2 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

Or have a buffed up horse debate you.

Wild Stallion + Speak to the Heart + Policy Debate.

10 minutes ago, sndwurks said:

Wild Stallion + Speak to the Heart + Policy Debate.

You forgot the Ornate Fan that its holding between its teeth.

14 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

You forgot the Ornate Fan that its holding between its teeth.

You assume that it can have attachments...

13 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

You forgot the Ornate Fan that its holding between its teeth.

I would honestly be shocked if he was not "No Attachments". Because if the Wyld Stallyn allowed for attachments, why stop with the Ornate Fan?

Wyld Stallyn + Ornate Fan + Height of Fashion + Favored Mount, then Game of Sadane. Your horse shows up, riding their own horse, holding a fan and the finest kimono, proceeds to rap battle their way to Honored.

3 hours ago, Coyote Walks said:

Boooo!

Edit: I might actually buy this book.

And as a person that's played a 6 Fate Stronghold, I look forward to this lunacy.

As a Mantis player you'll want the clan pack too cuz Yoritomo is going to go beast-mode with that stronghold

For now, not many cards that I like, except the event for 0 fate. Let's see in the future spoiler. I am far more excited for the novella

16 hours ago, sndwurks said:

My thoughts:

Shiro Shinjo - We have our first stronghold with a non-standard (+7) Fate production. So, the Unicorn running this will be hurt turn 1, but should be able to basically outproduce their opponent from Turn 2 onwards, because if you are not throwing 2 conflicts on Turn 1 with this box, you are playing it wrong. With cards like Border Fortress, Chasing the Sun, and Iuchi Farseer, it is looking like Unicorn / Crab Seeker of Water with PF and Reprieve is going to be the new Unicorn deck. The question is: can it close?

Iuchi Farseer - .... I CAN POP F----ING RESTORATION OF BALANCE BEFORE MY FIRST DRAW PHASE!!!! Ahem. Hi, Dragon-killer. Good to see you. Oh, and you are a Unicorn Shugenja to boot? I don't care that you're not Cavalry. You are my favorite card in the world now.

Iuchi Daiyu - Excuse me, sir, I was still being amazed by your Farseer that I did not see you there. A 3M/3P/2G for 4F? Yeah. You're a normal Unicorn. At least you have a useful Action that does not require you to be in the Conflict to use? But yeah. I think Shahai is prettier.

Speak to the Heart - My favorite part of this card is that it only buffs Unicorn characters. We now have the strongest Political buff in the game. I do not care if it is max 1 per Conflict. This will give the Unicorn the ability to crack strongholds. And here I am, wondering why they did not slap a 1 Fate Unicorn card tax on it...

Compass - So, nice to see the Dragon and Crane are getting some fun toys in this box. If I am remembering my RRG Steps correctly, I would need to pop Spyglass before this card if I am assigning so... meh? Good for Crane and Dragon. Meh for Unicorn.

Hida Tsuru - Well, now, good to see you again, Tsuru-san. I remember when you would crap Provinces with a surprise Charge! and Wedge! back in the day. Nice to see you back, and with the same explosive potential. Crab are going to love you, but you really don't care about Support of the Unicorn.

Support of the Unicorn - So. Does Support of the Unicorn count as a Unicorn card for Gaijin Customs?

And the two extra in the spread:

Young Warrior - A 3M/3P/2G for 2 Fate? Hm. I am actually expecting your draw back is going to be something like "-1 Skill for each Fate on this card", but you are a Cavalry Battle Maiden, so the Utaku fans will be happy.

Wyld Stallyns - *ROCKS OUT IN AIR GUITAR?*

And from the Novella Announcement:

Utaku Battle Steed - This is the sort of card that the Battle Maiden fans need and love. Having a selective Pride keyword is pretty solid, all things considered. Combine this with I Am Ready for the next attack, or a Fight On, this is going to be good.

Don't forget Shinjo Trailblazer.

31 minutes ago, Mangod said:

Don't forget Shinjo Trailblazer.

Thanks for the catch!

Shinjo Trailblazer - I think this card is actually very indicative of what I think is going to be the weakness of this deck. It is incredibly reliant on the right cards appearing at the right time. Like Farseer, I want this guy on T1 or T2, since he's a credible threat. After I have flopped all the provinces, I do not think this card has the teeth to close the match.

31 minutes ago, sndwurks said:

Thanks for the catch!

Shinjo Trailblazer - I think this card is actually very indicative of what I think is going to be the weakness of this deck. It is incredibly reliant on the right cards appearing at the right time. Like Farseer, I want this guy on T1 or T2, since he's a credible threat. After I have flopped all the provinces, I do not think this card has the teeth to close the match.

I agree the Farseer is a hard mulligan for turn 1, and Trailblazer is a great supplement character to her as you run them both for five fate. Reveal when Farseer enters play, attack with trailblazer and hopefully Chase the Sun for a bonus flip and finish revealing your opponents board with the Farseer poke would be a dream start as odds are you will break at least one province (and possibly two depend on what the province strengths on your opponents side are. But more importantly you have 10 fate a turn on line for the rest of the game. It even gives you good odds at getting passing fate if you were first player as two characters against Unicorn isn't that unusual a buy. And Seeker of Water for chasing means you also have the possibility of getting passing fate if they face check the wrong province.

@Schmoozies - I actually think the Shiro Shinjo is going to really want Sneaky Shinjo and Way of the Unicorn as well. Going first (and thus, more likely passing first in Dynasty) will help recover your early Fate set back, and it helps you deny Fate to your opponent, which is how you are going to win.

I've been doing some interesting TheoryCrafting with this SH already, and coming up with some interesting ideas. I think Crab Splash for Pathfinder's Blade, Reprieve and Hiruma Scout, alongside Yoritomo and Gaijin Customs is going to be its dominant form, but I am curious in theory about a Support of the Scorpion for access to some powerful high Fate actions and running cheap courtiers for Forged Edict.

I cannot read Wild Stallion without thinking about Bill and Ted. It's impossible not to air guitar while playing that card I think. Be excellent to each other everyone

Just now, sndwurks said:

@Schmoozies - I actually think the Shiro Shinjo is going to really want Sneaky Shinjo and Way of the Unicorn as well. Going first (and thus, more likely passing first in Dynasty) will help recover your early Fate set back, and it helps you deny Fate to your opponent, which is how you are going to win.

I've been doing some interesting TheoryCrafting with this SH already, and coming up with some interesting ideas. I think Crab Splash for Pathfinder's Blade, Reprieve and Hiruma Scout, alongside Yoritomo and Gaijin Customs is going to be its dominant form, but I am curious in theory about a Support of the Scorpion for access to some powerful high Fate actions and running cheap courtiers for Forged Edict.

I think Crab will be a top contender as well to maximize your fate advantage, as well as access to additional 1 drops for turn 1 scouting (I'm actually thinking the Nezumi may be a better choice as the option to drop Province Strength lets him put a lot more targets in striking range on his poke and he keeps the option of Political attacks open. That said I also like the idea of 2 Fight On's to pull bodies back on defense if needed.

While I like the art, and it might just be something with the hair, but does Shono look like Link to anyone else? I think its mainly the pointy ears, but still... I can't unsee it.

8 minutes ago, Mirith said:

While I like the art, and it might just be something with the hair, but does Shono look like Link to anyone else? I think its mainly the pointy ears, but still... I can't unsee it.

I never even thought about it, but now that you mention it, he kind of does.

17 hours ago, sndwurks said:

I would honestly be shocked if he was not "No Attachments". Because if the Wyld Stallyn allowed for attachments, why stop with the Ornate Fan?

Wyld Stallyn + Ornate Fan + Height of Fashion + Favored Mount, then Game of Sadane. Your horse shows up, riding their own horse, holding a fan and the finest kimono, proceeds to rap battle their way to Honored.

Let's not forget the new Utaku Battle Steed. He can be riding a whole (what do you call a gaggle of horses? flock? congress? flange? troop? stable? heard?) of horses.

25 minutes ago, Mirith said:

While I like the art, and it might just be something with the hair, but does Shono look like Link to anyone else? I think its mainly the pointy ears, but still... I can't unsee it.

16 minutes ago, Mangod said:

I never even thought about it, but now that you mention it, he kind of does.

So, does that make the Utaku Battle Steed, Epona?

29 minutes ago, Duciris said:

Let's not forget the new Utaku Battle Steed. He can be riding a whole (what do you call a gaggle of horses? flock? congress? flange? troop? stable? heard?) of horses.

Yes horses would be a herd. That said a Stallion with his herd of Mares would be appropriate. And if it did have the No Attachments text it would almost me worth it to Fate Worse or Oni's Mask your own Stallion in a Scorpion Splash just to slap a Clouds on it and go to town with the toys. Just for the LOL's of course as it would be in no way competitive.

20 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

Yes horses would be a herd. That said a Stallion with his herd of Mares would be appropriate. And if it did have the No Attachments text it would almost me worth it to Fate Worse or Oni's Mask your own Stallion in a Scorpion Splash just to slap a Clouds on it and go to town with the toys. Just for the LOL's of course as it would be in no way competitive.

If you use either, then you treat the text box as blank. Then with Clouds, you continue to treat it as blank, so it never checks to get rid of the other attachments?

1 minute ago, Duciris said:

If you use either, then you treat the text box as blank. Then with Clouds, you continue to treat it as blank, so it never checks to get rid of the other attachments?

Yup. It's one of the weird ways around the "No Attachments" text.

On 11/28/2018 at 10:13 PM, sndwurks said:

Support of the Unicorn - So. Does Support of the Unicorn count as a Unicorn card for Gaijin Customs?

Role cards aren't in play. So they don't count for Gaijin Customs, because effects only reference or affect cards in play unless they specify otherwise.

On 11/28/2018 at 2:39 PM, sndwurks said:

As has been clarified here several times by @DGLaderoute.

Fantasy Flight Games does not have the license for the Legend of the Burning Sands. However, they own the Unicorn Clan fully, and they have a pretty good relationship with AEG, who own the Legend of the Burning Sands IP. As such, FFG has rights to USE elements from the Legend of the Burning Sands in as much as they relate to the Unicorn Clan as part of Legend of the Five Rings. This is why we are actually getting a bunch of material in the Unicorn Clan Novella ABOUT the Qamarist Caliphate in al-Zawira (based on the article and previous fiction), which will likely be radically different than the history of Medinaat al-Salaam and the Legend of the Burning Sands.

But yeah. What a day to wear purple!

While I can't go into details (mainly because I no longer remember a lot of them), simply using the name "Burning Sands" isn't an IP issue--in part because it's a pretty generic name (it's essentially the same reason Games Workshop can't really claim ownership over the name "Space Marines"). I think you'll find, however, that what's IN these Burning Sands is going to be very different than what was in the AEG version.

19 hours ago, DGLaderoute said:

it's essentially the same reason Games Workshop can't really claim ownership over the name "Space Marines"

Another reason for that is that "Space Marines" was used in literature long before GW used it in their miniature games, or even existed at all (as early as the '30s).

Interesting-- the first stronghold not to give 7 fate a turn.

So you start the first turn down 1 fate, but you can deny the opponent use of their stronghold and so long as you can get the opponent to reveal 1 province a turn, you can be even on turn 2 and have more fate by turn 3.

This works pretty good for imperial and Mantis Clan players as there isn't even a particular reason to run cavalry characters ought of this stronghold.

On the other hand, the pack only promises 1 cavalry for the 6 other great clans. No Imperial cavalry? A Miya with high politics and the cavalry trait would be great! Especially if it had an ability like "Select a opposing character with less glory, both this character and the opposing character are returned home". And way more iconic to the family than the other Miya cards that currently exist.