Bushido and Ito!!

Yesterday I received my shipment of the "Ito" - the fifth faction for GCT Studios amazing skirmish game of Bushido. They ran an Indiegogo campaign a few months ago which you can view here:

http://www.indiegogo.com/bushido

I'm not going to go too much into what Bushido or the Ito are in this review - have a read of that page or head over to:

http://www.bushido-thegame.com/

Also look up GCT studios on Facebook for photos of greens and upcoming information. This is an exciting time for Bushido - a new faction, another set of incredible releases for the existing factions and hopefully forthcoming rulebook, more faction dice, tokens etc. 2013 is shaping up to be a great year for the game! In this review I will look at what I received from the Indiegogo campaign and show you just how incredible these models are.

Dice & Cards

First up dice - normally in Bushido starters you get ten black and white dice and a red die (defence and attack). This is GCT's first foray into Faction dice. They are a good size and contain five green and five green/black dice. The six on the dice is the Ito faction logo. The dice are bigger than the normal starter dice at 16mm compared to 8mm. Not much more to say about them but they look nice and will be good to roll the colours for my team! I will definitely be getting more faction specific dice in the future being the hobby tart I am.

For the Profile cards they look great and are in the "New Dawn" rules format which I feel is a great improvement. The starter set cards are in a special Ito design. These are an Indiegogo campaign backer thing only, but as you can see in the pic they are very nice and hopefully an indication of card sets being made available seperately to movels and in different styles for the other factions too.

Starter Set

Kenzo Ito

This guy is the main chap. He is on a 50mm base and looks easy to put together, although the middle body part will probably require some extra pinning to hold it securely to the tail peice. Both arms glue onto the body holding the spear in front with the dual swords going onto the right side of the body. Well armoured with a good CP, First Strike and very useful fighting feats making him excellant in close combat.

Naoko

Another 50mm mounted model with an awesome tail. It will be quite long when assembled. The head is easy to attach, the arms fit on quite nicely and I hope won't require a pin. The tail I probably will to give it extra strength. Being a slow painter the idea of a finished model being re-worked is not a good one! Can blind his opponent on the way into fighting them, he's fast, slippery and fear causing too!

Sakura

A 30mm base, I will dig out the arm a little to make the insert of the arm onto the body a bit deeper. The fan has a small nodule for extra security on the back of  the head. In game she has a nasty ability to dump poison counters on the enemy from afar!

Temple Bushi/Chiyo

These two models are either standard Temple Bushi with a joint profile card, or the fellow on the bottom can be Chiyo, who is more expensive (in terms of rice), but has a few different traits and a special defence which gives you additional force building options. I look forward to seeing more of this as I think it works well to have a few rules tweaks in this manner.

A 30mm mount, the front arm is pulling his sword out of the sheath so two points on contact. The back of the scabbard though extends from the rear of the model and deinitely could do with a pin, but it is very small! Time to get my careful hands ready....

30mm too, with the same pin needed on the scabbard. His left arm is holding the sword out though so I will also try to pin this for added strength while playing/transporting. These two guys are fairly standard foot soldiers in game with armour, six wounds and a healthy CP. Chiryo has leap and jump up making him a bit more agile than the Temple Bushi.

Extra Guys

These models will come available over the next few months and give some nice options as well as being some of my favourite miniatures ever!

Satoshi

30mm with two contact points for the spear. The horns are quite small and the extra swords will be easy to attach on the side/front so I hoping for no extra pinnning here. Very good armour and hes tough with a Ki feat to give extra toughness! He can gain the order ability as well, but only six wounds. A modest CP but it only costs 2 Ki to increase it.

Akimoto

An easy to attach arm on this 30mm model. He is a cheap in game character and can make himself fear and terror causing. A low CP, but brings 2 to the Blood of Orochi pool!

Itsunagi Ito

The scabbards attach in his middle wich will be east enough. Again with the arms though care is the name of the game to get a pin in there! A 30mm incredble fighter! The most in game expensive model for the Ito. A high CP, low wound count but has ranged defense. Can give himself armour peircing and his Ki feats focus on improving his close combat.

Ayaka Ito

A 30mm beautiful figure. Look on GCT Studios Facebook for the studio paint job. Very very impressive. Expensive in game, but like other Shisai can channel. Can dish out poison from afar, suck ki from a target and remote worsen models conditions! 

Summary

There isn't one figure here which doesn't blow me away. I'm loving the Indiegogo flavour cards for the starter set and the dice are a nice addition to the range. The entire snake aspect to this force makes for some incredible figures. My clear favouite at the moment being Naoko. 10/10 GCT Studios - these figures were worth the wait and surpassed all my expectations.

Just got to decide on the basing now! Expect pics of assembled figures very soon!