Kosaten Shiro: Units and Tactics

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Crane Units:

• Daidoji Iron Warriors:  This is one of my favorite troop types. They are expensive, but with 2 wounds, they are have the staying power of the other elite heavy infantry types.  Also, they are one of the only heavy infantry types with a +2 att, which can lethal if you have a large number of models engaged.  Better yet, they have yari, which can take some of the sting out of an enemy charge by inflicting your casualties first.  For the Crane, I think these guys make a good, solid anchor unit.
• Crane Elite Archers:  This troop type I have also used with a fair amount of success.  Their range is not as impressive as the Hurricaine initiates, but it is respectable.  And with +2 ATT, they can pull off extreme-range attacks that other units can't.  Put a good leader in charge of them (I like Doji Yosai, with a Yumi of his own, of course).  If you can find a good safe place to put them, form up in 2 ranks and assume the archer's row.  Conventional wisdom says not to let them get engaged, but I had an interesting battle where my Crane Elite Archers managed to severely whittle down a unit of Crab Heavy Elite that tried to attack them.  I let the weakened Crabs engage me, and then held them off long enough in Close Combat for my Daidoji to come around on the Crabs' rear.  There's something poetic about a crab being crushed in the scissors of a crane's bill.  Don't be fooled though.  It only took 6 Matsu House Guards 2 turns to wipe out twice their number of these guys.
• Doji House Guard:  I thought that an archer unit with TN 7 and 2 wounds per model was a little too good to pass up.  In battle, however, this unit proved to be a little dissapointing.  They are moderately effective as archers, and moderately effective in Close Combat.  But at 28 koku per model, you want to get a unit that's going to be really good at one or the other.  I still think that they might make either a good reserve unit, flexible to fit any role you need them in, particularly if aided by Asahina Tomo and Wind Borne Speed.  As for guarding your general, well, with the new Command Unit rules they are kind of obsolete in that role.  For a heavy-hitting frontline unit, though, I suggest the Iron Warriors. If you want an archer unit that can stand up to a Close Combat assault, try the Crane Elite Archers with Daidoji Kisu (who has the Stalwart Defender trait) in command.
• Empress' Guard: The Crane's answer to the Akodo Death Seekers.  This unit proved to be something of a dissapointment.  Against certain clans, the bonus to ATT and DAM when receiving a charge might be very cool indeed, but when I played them, that ability never came into play.  Also, the immunity to Kolat and Ninja actions, at the moment at least, seems of very limited use.  The low Morale Level is nice, but not nice enough to offset the high cost per model.  There are other, less expensive forces available to the Crane with comprable ATT, DAM, TN, and Wounds.
• Doji's Fan: Well, the Crane don't have a lot of options when it comes to cavalry units.  The Doji's Fan are certainly superior to the generic medium cavalry, and even the heavy cavalry units which are available.  It would be nice, though, if they were a little better equipped.  Yari would be nice.  Goodness knows the Crane have enough Yari to go around.
• Kenshinzen: A very hard-hitting unit, but not one that you want to use as an anchor.  Their low TN and Wounds make them vulnerable to casualties, but their ATT and DAM bonuses are very nice indeed.  Try using Wind Borne Speed and maybe even the Gunsen of Water to give these guys some mobility, and you will have a  very dangerous unit.
• Daidoji Spearmen: Cheaper than the iron warriors, these guys are almost as good.  Their only real drawback, when compared to their big brothers, is that they are easier to kill.  But then, so are almost all the Crane units.  Play defensively, and use the Yari to your advantage.  Engage for one round, then fall back.  Try recruiting a Hiruma and having them swear an Oath of Fealty....  okay so that's a little unecessary.  Though I have not yet perfected it, Kakita Disaru's ability seems like it would be handy with this unit.  As a side note, these troops are, in terms of stats, almost identical to the Isawa Elite Pikemen, but the Crane are less restricted as to how many they can field, and they're cheaper too.  Phoenix definitley got a bum deal there.  Of course they have Isawa Tsuke.... (and we get Asahina Tamako?)

• Doji Kuwanan:  The only Crane with the Tactician ability, Kuwanan is a great asset.  If you can maintain the Honor advantage, the ability to draw 3 tactical cards instead of 1 at the end of each turn can be an enormus advantage.  Also, at sometime between the release of the initial Clan War set and the Crane Army Expansion, he seems to have picked up the Iaijutsu skill, the lack of which was the original version's only weakness, and also he has gained Yosai's ability to command any Crane unit regardless of Glory or Honor requirements.  Nice bonus.
• Doji Yosai:  Doji Yosai is another of my favorite personalities for the Crane Clan.  He is the only Crane besides Hoturi to boast Leadership of 4, which is an incredible advantage if he is commanding troops with high ML or TL (and many of the Crane units are not particularly well-trained).  High leadership is also an asset when contesting another commander's maneuvers during an engagement.  His other skills are not spectacular, but they are not too slouchy either, and he's a particularly good Duellist (just watch out for Kharmic Strike).
• Daidoji Uji:  A fairly well rounded character with good ratings in Battle, Leadership, Defense, and Iaijutsu.  He's got the wounds to survive a drawn-out Iaijutsu Duel, which many of the other Cranes lack.  However, with 2 honor and a relatively modest +2 ATT, he is worse off than many of his lower-ranking (and less expensive) clansmen.  A fairly cool personality, but in the big picture not one you can't live without, I don't think.
• Daidoji Kisu: With a decent Leadership and the Stalwart Defender trait, he's a decent leader for the Crane Elite; the Stalwart Defender gives you a little extra edge if your archers are engaged.  His skills are decent too, though his leadership is not as high as Doji Yosai's.  The main problem I can see with this personality is that his honor is only 2, which means he can't be targeted by Strength of Purity.  Of course, for an archer unit, hopefully that's not much of an issue.
• Kakita Toshimoko: He's a super-dueller, but I have not had good luck with duels so far.  If your opponent knows you are playing a duelling army, they can simply stack their tactical deck with the anti-duel cards.  He's very expensive for a personality that doesn't do much but duel.  However, if you put him in a command group as your general, he's much less expensive.  And he can have hatamoto to inflate his pitiful Battle skill.  And he can 'loan' (through the Signal Corps) his Iaijutsu or Double Chi skills to other personalites.  I actually did not find this all that useful, though I did find it useful to loan his Leadership to a couple personalities who were lacking there.
• Doji Rimaki: The Crane cavalry commander is a good leader for Doji's Fan.  Seeing as she's the only mounted Crane personality, and they're the only mounted Crane troops, that makes sense.  When rolling dice, its convenient that she has identical ATT and DAM as her unit.  Also, she is the only Crane personality of her Glory rank with 2 #S, which is pretty nice if you ask me.  Also, I have discovered that with Air 5 and Water 3, and a decent Leadership and Defense, she makes a great leader for the Crane Elite Archers if you dismount her and equip her with a Yumi.
• Kakita Disaru: I tried putting him in command of the Daidoji Spearmen.  I wanted to take advantage of his ability.  I haven't quite pulled it off yet, but I think it will work.  Either way, placing him in command of the spearmen makes for a relatively inexpensive, but reasonably potent unit.  And since he's non-unique, you can build two such units, for fairly low cost.

• Matsu House Guard:  I have no advice on using them, but having faced them, I can say this: they are a very dangerous unit in close combat,  triply dangerous when led by Matsu Gohei.  Keep them at bay however you can... air magic, terrain, whatever.  And pick them off one at a time with your Elite Archers...
• Wardens: Lions.  Cavalry.  Charge.  Ouch.   Get that Superior Tactics and that Stagnant Air ready.
• Lion Heavy Regulars: They didn't do much in the one engagement I saw them in, but boy were they good at that Oblique movement.  Seriously, though, that little bonus they get for initiating engagements is pretty cool, considering they are a 'regular' unit and not Elite.
• Akodo Death Seekers: Their low TN makes them very vulnerable, especially to Yari, which can seriously reduce their potency in the first round.  That having been said, this unit is still pretty darn cool.  They have 2 wounds, which makes up for their low TN in terms of vulnerablity, and they have decent combat stats.  But they are almost impossible to rout.   Very important for a unit that will take as many casualties as this one.
• Crab Heavy Elite:  With 2 wounds, TN 8, and the Crab Defense ability, this unit has a lot of staying power. Their offensive stats are not spectacular, but they are good, and if time is on their side, they will certainly win a battle of attrition.  They are very difficult to whittle down, particularly if their leader has a high Defense rating.  A leader with 4 defense means a total of 7 is subtracted from Damage rolls made against this unit.  That's almost always enough to prevent a Wound.  Combined with the fact that the TN makes it hard to score hits against them in the first place, this means the unit will not be taking a lot of wounds.  If I played crab, I think I would like these guys as much as I like the Daidoji Iron Warriors.
• Hida House Guard:  They are cool, but not nearly as cool as the Crab Heavy Elite.  Their main advantage over the Heavy Elite is their cost, which is offset by the fact that you can only have 12 of them.  Still, with TN 7, they have almost as much staying power as the Heavy Elite.  I'd say the Heavy Elite are worth the extra 4 koku per model though.
• Tsuru's Legion: Nice heavy cavalry.  Their +2 dam is quite nice.  Mounted troops charging infantry have enough ATT modifiers anyway, but a DAM modifier is always nice, when you've already got a bunch of hits scored.  If you can use them properly, they seem like a good choice for rolling over those soft Crane troops.  Just don't get any where near those archers...
• Hiruma Medium Elite: An interesting unit.  Their low TL and ML seem to make them quite useful.
• Tsunami Legion:  These guys are not too tough, but they are pretty darned cool.  They have the Cavalry trait, a +2 initiative modifier, and Yari.  They are too weak to be a core unit in an army, but are certainly very mobile.  They would probably be very effective as a supporting unit, moving around and harrassing enemy flanks.  The Yari, I think, give them just the bite they need to be a really cool unit.  The other very cool thing, though, is that all personalities in their unit gain the Cavalry trait as well.  This includes the unit commander and assosciated personalities. When I played Phoenix, I had Isawa Tomo in the unit as an assosciated personality.  Tomo turned out to be quite an asset.  His ability to move any unit 4" proved very annoying to my opponents.  Overall, a unit that fills an army's cavalry role well, without the added expense of horses.
• Hurricaine Initiates:  32" extended range is amazing.  Place this unit correctly, and they can fire almost all the way across the table. Put Shiba Tsukune in command, and their poor ML and TL are not so much of a problem (her leadership is 4, plus she has a Yumi already).  I'm sure they're terrible in close combat, but my opponent never had the chance to teach me that; a testament to the unit's effectiveness.