As you all know, it is perfectly possible to use the same type of trooper twice in your team, e.g. two schocktruppen instead of one stosstruppen and one schocktruppen. There is no problem with Reich and Union so far when you own the basic game, as, when you buy one troop pack, you can already field the same type a second time in different colours.

But: All Shogunate troop pack miniatures come in the same colour, so it could become difficult to tell them apart, for example when fielding two Ashigaru or two Shin Spys.

So, what would you do:

- buy the same pack twice and repaint one figure?

- do not buy and always just include one trooper at the same time?

- wait hopefully for FFG to publish some future pack/expansion including troopers with different colours?

- or... something completly different?

Any ideas?

I really thought about getting two Shogunate trooper packs but ended up buying only one. I decided to play for some time using one of each troopers as I also did with the Union and Reich troopers. If I really think I need to play two of the same Shogunate troopers, then and only then I'll invest in a second trooper pack and repaint the troopers. No wait, I'll just mark the troopers somehow because I'm unable to do a good-looking repaint. I think that's the only way to go because FFG probably won't release a pack with repainted troopers.

I just painted a small, white dot at the back of one of the bases, similar to the Voivode's white letters. Worked fine. Basically the troopers provide a melee and a ranged option. Getting 2 packs allows you to put together a range or melee focused group. Personally I like the option for variety and some maps may play better with one over the other but that is all.

FFG may release a second version of the Shogunate Troopers, and maybe even the Matriarchy Troopers will get two paint job. But I don't know.

I would have liked it if the had released the figures as doubles, i.e. two Shin Agents in two different colors in one pack, then two Asigaru in one pack, etc, etc.

Btw, that made me question why they decided to launch operation hinasho as a map suplement and not as operation novgorod was... Why didnt they launch the shogunate as a big box with 5 figurines and the others as separate packs?

Personally i do believe that FFG made another wrong call on that but well... Im going to wait till the full line is on the market to decide what to do and how to proceed (its good for me i gotta import anyway so less expenses with shipping are always a good idea), i really wanna have 4 factions to try out 4 player games since 3 player games just dont work out for me

im just buying 2 copies of each troop pack. I'm repainting all the figures anyway since all the prepaint jobs look terrible to my eyes.

Even if you do not paint miniatures, it really isnt that hard to pick up a bottle of paint and a brush to distinguish the second pair and not have it look that bad. Probably change Shogunate troopers uniforms to a navy blue and for the matriarchy troopers, paint their coats a very light grey, like zor'ka's cloak.

of course the cards will still be identical unless you do something to them...marking the bases is an idea i like too, however

Artemus Maximus said:

You are right, the cards will be identical so I will have to mark them too. I admit I didn't even think about that!

Part of the problem is that we are all in the dark as to where FFG are going with this game. Maybe there is no plan per se, just a wait and see. It must be selling after a fashion although the best part about the game may well be its LOS methodology! I wonder if they plan to release other games with this type of system. Seeing as they drop games so quickly, it is important to understand that this could happen to Tannhauser. It is a good game and there is enough of it to keep it interesting for some time to come.

Did FFG ever say anything official regarding whether it's supposed to be possible to field 2 of the same trooper for the Japanese or Russian factions? I know there's a bit in the revised rules that implies it might (it really only says no heroes can be duplicated), but was wondering if they had explicitly addressed it.

If so, even after buying one of each product in the line, you'd still need to get:

An extra Matriarchy Troop Pack

An extra Shogunate Troop Pack

An extra Frankenstahl

Is that the general consensus?

Seahawk

You can indeed field two ashigarus or two shin agents, and 2 boepripacy for example.

With the shogunate I like better fielding 1 of each (shin with stamina, ashigaru with combat) and in turn 1 I give the automatic weapon and the extra ammo to the Shin agent so with the art of surprise she rolls 7 dice (she gives back the first aid kit and the pistol). Then I spend grenade and first aid kit with the ashigaru and sacrifice him so he can come back as reinforcement fully equipped again. (Obviouslly you need someone equipped with call in the troops to pull this off if playing for 2 cps).

With the Matriarchy my preferred strategy is fo field 2 zazizag with command pack with zorka (stamina) and Irina (stamina) and use the fire grenades. That way I can deny one part of the board (a big part depending on the map and where you fire it, look for tri colored circles) during 6 turns to the enemy (2 grenades in a row) and walk freely through it with 3 of my characters (zazizags are inmune to fire and Zorka rolling 5 dice with successes on 2+ also qualifies as inmune). Not an option if playing the union with Ramirez by the way, he can put out fires with his bonus pack. Voivodes are for Oksana…

My preferred team with the reich has Hoss (Command), Eva (combat and elizabeth bathory), and 2 stosstruppen (command) I call this setup the Reichdoktor abuse. Stosstruppens heal themselves with each wound they make so no pain from reichdoktor and as soon as eva rolls a 0 the opponent is rolling 2 less dice, so with reichdoktor it is 90% an insta kill and ista full health for eva. With 3 characters freely reichdorktor-able I (ab)use reichdoktor once every turn.

With union… since Edison, it is all about three troopers in 2 cp games and 4 troopers in 3 cp games, I dont have 4 of the same so I do 2 and 2.