First of all I need to warn you, my reader, that I am not a guru, not a high level top player, not a cunning tactician... - well, the list would be endless. So, please don't expect the guide to reveal hidden wisdom - everything you will find below is not hidden.

Well, maybe it's hiding in the plain sight. I am talking about game logs which are available on the left hand side of the screen. The pics are rather small, but if you hover with your mouse over them, you can discover a lot of wonderful things. Like this:


Everything written below comes from looking at the logs. Of course, nobody has time to look at the logs during a real match, but "duel with friend" mode is the ideal "research lab" - if both parties cooperate, you can test whatever scenario you'd like to test. And I'd definitely encouraged you to do so.

For sure, everybody knows, that the number of dice the unit rolls is equal to his "toughness score" plus modificators (like surrounded or Enraged or whatever else). This is explained quite well in the training scenario and in the rules.

However, what is not mentioned explicitely is that you cannot roll more than 6 dice. Yes, 6 dice is max. So, if you have a lvl6 legendary Kensei (not surrounded, full health), the guy already rolls 6 dice - and even if you apply Enraged order in him, he still rolls only 6 dice.
If you have e.g. lvl6 Tsuyo Ashigaru (not surrounded, full health), then he would normally roll 4 dice. You can apply 2x Enraged on him and make it 6. However, if you apply Battle Frenzy on top of 2x Enraged, you'll waste the Battle Frenzy card.

Same (max 6 dice) goes for all abilities. E.g. Nodachi Kasira and his Strike of vengeance ability, which reads

Attacks with as many dice as there are allies lost

Technically, there can be situation on the field, where Nodachi Kasira has lost 7 allies. Yet, still, when using this ability he would roll 6 dice only.

Same goes for any other scenario you could imagine - you would not be able to go over 6. But should you one day manage, please share! :)

Let's talk about Kensei a bit more. If kensei is surrounded or outnumbered, then, of course, it makes sense to buff him with Enraged or Battle Frenzy. The screenshot below shows, that Kensei would get 6 minus 1 due to being outnumbered, but Battle Frenzy adds 1 and so Kensei strikes with 6:

So, max is 6. What is min then? - It's one.

E.g. Kensei and his ability Yadome Jutsu which reads

throws -2 dice for ranged attacks, countering arrows in case of equal or more successful roll

So, lvl6, full helath, not surrounded kensei would roll 4 (6 minus 2) dice to defend himself from ranged attacks. But what about a Kensei with just 2 or 1 toughness left? - He would roll 1 dice.

The only exception from "min 1" rule I know is Nodachi Kasira's Strike of Vegeance. Below screenshot comes from a one-on-one encounter (i.e. no allies at all). Interesting enough, the game allows to use the ability, but in this situation this would be the fastest way to get your Nodachi Kasira killed.

Order "Concentration" has following description

For this round only flags on dice will damage this warrior.

There is a small issues I have with this description: when I read damage, I think about defence, the order, however, can do much more than just provide your unit defence.

The truth is: When you apply Concentration on your unit, then his opponent's skulls on dice are ignored - it does NOT matter, whether the opponent attacks the unit under Concentration or defends against the unit under Concentration. So, Concentration is actually a very strong attack buff.

Let's have a look. Kensei is attacking Tsuyo Ashigaru. Kensei is under Concentration. And, as you can see, Concentration appears in red on Tsuyo Ashigaru (and that's why the dice with the skull does not count):


Same goes of course in the other direction as well: concentrated Ashigaru hit Kensei, but Kensei was lucky enough to roll 3 flags:


In the next chapter we gonna dive into the topic of shooting and Concentration.

So, Concentration seems to be a nice buff for melee attacks. But what about ranged attacks? Should we apply Concentration on our shooters / archers?

When your units shoots at another unit, then only your unit rolls dice. Your target does not roll (unless your target is Kensei, but we gonna talk about Kensei later).



Now, keeping in mind that Concentration does not make your dice better, but makes enemy's dice worse, the answer to the question is clear: as the target of our ranged attack does not roll any dice, there it doesn't make any sense to apply Concentration on our shooter.

Unless...

Unless your target is Kensei.

Kensei and his ability Yadome Jutsu which reads

throws -2 dice for ranged attacks, countering arrows in case of equal or more successful roll

Well, again, I have a small issue with the ability discription, because it makes you think, that Kensei can defend himself only against archers. However, Kensei can defend himself against firearms as well (i.e. e.g. against Kaijin's shoots). He must be dodging like Neo, dunno...


BUT! IMPORTANT! Kensei canNOT defend himself against Ninja's Shuriken. Reason: nobody can dodge or block this:


Well, anyway, let's forget about evil ninjas for now. Let say, Kaijin shoots at lvl6, full health Kensei. Kensei rolls 4 dice - and all flags and skull count. Now, if you apply Concentration on your Kaijin before he shoots at Kensei, then Kensei will still roll 4 dice, but only flags gonna count. Needless to say, that your conccentrated Kaijin has much better chances to hurt the bastard.

A picture is worth a thousand words. And I have 4 screenshots. So, I'm gonna put it short: Strike of vengeance is not affected by surrounded and outnumbered.

And, by the way, Kunoichi and her secret lover count as 2 allies. Kaijin and the two small guys he can split into count as 3 allies









And what if no allies have been kileld yet?
Below screenshot comes from a one-on-one encounter (i.e. no allies at all). Interesting enough, the game allows to use the ability, but in this situation this would be the fastest way to get your Nodachi Kasira killed.

Shooting with obstacles in the way - we all hate it, don't we?..

The rules are quite clear on this one

Obstcales on the field will take away from the result of the shot the damage equal to the number of obstacles in the firing line.

However, nerds like me wanna know, what happens with struck through flags. Do they give me moral points anyway? Yes, they do. Screenshot below shows first round of a skirmish game against an AI driven opponent. At the beginning I had 10 points and spent 3 of them for Battle Frenzy on my Kaijin. So, 10 minus 3 is 7. Kaijin made a shot - two flags! One of them is struck through, 'cause there was an obstacle in the way, but my moral is 9 (7 plus 2) - i.e. both flags count.

This one is inspired by Kanchendzonga and his Excel https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=937906751

Kanchendzonga did the calculation for the old dice (miss-miss-miss-hit-hit-flag). I've started doing the caculation for the new dice (miss-miss-hit-hit-hit-flag). To be continued (last update: 20.06.2018, only a few more lines to calculate).

Tanto Geboku's ability Shimobe's way reads

The servant steps back for his master. He offers his turn to the closest >3WP unit.

I love this ability. My Tanto Geboku's stands close to my Kaijin. In the first round I have 10 moral. Ability costs 6. So, basically my Kaijin shoots twice.

But then, of course, there is always this need for optimization. :)) Battle Frenzy costs 3. So, what happens, if I first apply Battle Frenzy on Kaijin, shoot with Kaijin and then make Kaijin shoot again by using Shimobe's Way? Would Battle Frenzy apply for the second shot as well?

Unfortunately it doesn't. Looks like the buffs do not apply for the "turn" granted by Shimobe's Way.

Well, Shinobe's way again.

Card Test of Valor reads

Every successful hit on next dice drop turns to 1 morale.

However, 6 pictures below tell a different story - as you can see, Test of Valor worked perfectly for both shots and not just for the next shot.






Played Shinobe's way.



Note that Test of Valor is still active. And it even works (2 hits generated two morale):