Yuto

---

---

Background

Yuto relished and excelled in training involving the use of a range of equipment, he believes that often some well-placed caltrops to thwart pursuers attempts to catch him or his squad or a smoke bomb to throw off their senses can change the course of a mission.
His successful string of missions suggests there may be something to his claims. It is certain that members of any squad he is part of are glad to have him and his carefully selected assortment of items along with them.

---

Model type(s):

• North Star
• Ninja

---

Melee Weapons(s):

Weapon	Melee Strenght	Traits	Special Abilities
Kusari-gama	+0	Chain Weapon (1)	Sidestep Defence (0), Grapple Attack (0)

---

Trait(s):

Armour (1), Assassin, Camouflage (2"), Lightfooted, Resistance (1), Ranged Defence (1), Tactician (1)

---

Ki Feat(s):

• Distraction
• Fog of Hesitation

---

Unique Effect(s):

At the start of this model's activation choose one of the following:

• This model gains the following Weapon Profile until the end of the activation.

Weapon	Ranged Strenght	Range	Traits	Special Abilities
Kusari	Sp	-/3/-	Light Weight	Sweep Attack (0)

This model may only make one Ranged Attack with the Kusari per activation

• This model gains Split Attack until the end of the activation.

---

Other +

Tactics

Yuto loves a gadget and is the best way to get Tactician (1) or (2) with a Karapan within the current Ninja lists.
He’s another character to benefit greatly from the Risen Sun changes, and Distraction, Fog of Hesitation plus the optional Kusari means he is a fantastic support model for your murderer type models to support getting them a Surprise attack.

Main things to note for Yuto:

• As with many Ninjas Yuto can struggle in melee when in a straight up fight with a stronger combatant, so it should be avoided. He is predominantly a support model that relies on being relatively in the thick of things so needs support from better combat characters or ranged attackers to remove potential threats. Of course he can also help with this using his Ki Feats. Additionally, if facing off against a really tanky or powerful model, Yuto using Grapple Attack will further support your murderer on their turn making the swift kill a little more likely. Finally on the survivability point, Ranged Defence (1) means your opponent’s Sixth Sense shooters are less likely to target Yuto while he is in cover.
• Distraction works well with any model that has good surprise attack potential, which is pretty much everyone. Using characters with Kohai (Ujimushi and Wamu) and Yuto means even more Distraction. Your opponent’s models won’t know where to look!
• If a single model is rolling up on Yuto and you don’t want to be engaged, Fog of Hesitation means you can double move away from that character before they get their second move, usually meaning you’ll be out of range or in cover over 2” away by the time the model gets to act. Alternatively, use it aggressively to give another model a free move to behind the opponent’s model for an easy assassination attempt.
• The Kusari is an amazing way to gain advantage against your opponent. It won’t do damage but if you manage to hit, which should be easy from medium range with three dice, you can stop a prayer or idol interaction from occurring. Much needed for Ninja! Split Attack on the other hand will probably only be used against group activating weak tiny models with 1 MS or against multiple already debuffed enemies, but with Ninjas, that’s not an easy thing to achieve. Split Attack also auto nullifies his Grapple Attack so not sure this will be used much, if at all.

Best gear to give him:

• Disguise - this enhancement or benefit from a theme works well with Yuto because his Ki Feats do not remove the disguise, meaning he can be very difficult to target while still getting benefit from Tactician and Distraction while being a blocker for ranged attackers behind him.
• Signalling Flare - Yuto can move up, use Distraction and then enable a friendly ninja to attack in the same turn, increasing the threat range of Distraction from 6” to 10” for an action.
• Arashi’s Fan - for some really brazen waltzing through a hail of fire with [Defence]] (3)! Probably a bit niche, and only something you’d want if it isn’t better placed on someone else though.

Where he is most useful:

• As a way to waste opponents Activations (Disguised) and give you greater control over your own assassination attempts. Distraction copies well to Worms (Ujimushi and Wamu) via Kohai, so he can help build some interesting distraction heavy lists. Yuto is also useful for holding up a model until someone better at murdering them is able to get into position.
• I see Yuto as being more of a scenario objective grabber than a killer model. His Ki Feats mean he is still able to support while performing this role, and you ideally want to keep him as safe as possible for as long as possible to keep the Tactician going.
• On Zone Control he can distract models within the zone for better killers to take down or use Fog of Hesitation to stop an opponent’s model from moving in before you’ve had a chance to block the route into the zone.
• On idol and prayer missions he is really good at defending idols by giving himself advantages such as Distraction, then Grapple Attacking or using the Kusari to stop opponents from being able to activate the idols because they are too busy standing up.
• On VIM missions it is mostly the Distraction that will help get through the blocking line, but a successful Fog of Hesitation on a model ‘going for it’ will enable your defence to get back and make an example of the overextended VIM. I wouldn’t recommend Yuto for being the VIM as his kit doesn’t really work for it. He would be a good blocker for a VIM model though with Fog of Hesitation and the Kusari.

---