Really informative and academic video about the Horse Cutting Sword (Zanbato).

On first look at it, it seems like it is pretty much the same as a no-dachi.

I am sure someone could quibble about small details, but realistically no sword of any kind were ever designed exactly the same way by two different smiths. At least this is close enough that someone in Rokugan would call this a no-dachi and mechanically it would work the same.

32 minutes ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

On first look at it, it seems like it is pretty much the same as a no-dachi.

I am sure someone could quibble about small details, but realistically no sword of any kind were ever designed exactly the same way by two different smiths. At least this is close enough that someone in Rokugan would call this a no-dachi and mechanically it would work the same.

except the zanbato is actually in the corebook and have different stats that the nodachi, and this video is to show the difference ?

I always thought that the zanbato was in the place of the nagamaki since it shares the Cumbersome quality with the bladed polearms.

19 minutes ago, AtoMaki said:

I always thought that the zanbato was in the place of the nagamaki since it shares the Cumbersome quality with the bladed polearms.

you can probably use the zanbato stats for nagamaki yeah, maybe make nagamaki 6dmg 6deadly but add razor edged. if you really wanted to make it a bit different.

Historically, double-handed heavy blades have been good cavalry-stoppers - the Dane-axe in saxon Europe had much the same role. Formed infantry with spears are good at persuading cavalry not to charge, but unless they're obliging enough to ram themselves headlong into a point at the gallop, aren't actually very good at killing them.

Having the odd heavy blade here and there in a Yari block is probably a good idea - especially since the other element of European Dark Age warfare, the shield wall, has no real Rokugani equivalent, and Unicorn steeds (or Onikage steeds!) are implied to be bigger, stronger and smarter than any 'mundane' horse.

Some artwork of unicorn warhorses (like Favoured Mount) also shows them with rather more complete cataphract armour than I'm used to seeing on depictions of samurai cavalry (It looks like segmented plate on the neck and forequarters, for example)