Zuba, he's Big, He's Red, he smashes in your Head, Zubaaaaaaa!

Ok after Necra Chi's great summary of observations i thought i would pick up the mantlet and do a piece on everyones favourite Oni, Zuba, the All Seeing. 

So to start lets look at his statisitcs 

Combat Pool; He has a good CP and is able to boost which is nice

Ranged Combat Pool; unfortunately no ranged attack, but who needs one when you have a giant hammer and ....

Movement; those stocky but heavily mucsled legs give Zuba an advantage in speed over most humans, meaning he can out charge them. 

Ki; Oni's Ki management is different from anything else currently in the game which might take a little time to get your head around. Basically i think of it as in any one turn Zuba can spend 8 Ki, but theres a risk or a certainty that you'll lose control of him the next turn. Choosing when to explode him it key as once he rages you might not get him back and so will be unable to contest objectives, pick up objects or do anything but squash things. Ill talk more about Raging and its pros and cons later. He does also have a nice -2 Ki a turn meaning he can "future sight" every turn and not rage or boost his CP with only a small chance of Raging.

Wounds; 10 Zubas tough and has a big body he can lose bits off  

Traits; 

Bravery; rerolling fear tests with two dice means zuba's no going to be scared of much.

Brutal; increased chance of hitting, pushing though those hits 

Brutal Blow; this is an amazing ability, +1 when hes the active player, means that an and Bravery your getting a 5 or 6 33% of the time and unless they have "Parry" your going to hit.

Devastating Charge; +1 CP when charging

Fear (5); chance that his target will "frighten" losing dice and forcing them to put as many dice in defence as attack, meaning you can more comforatably put dice in attack. Be careful of models with  Defence into Attack though

Large; he's big

Oni; hes going to have 2 dice in Ki tests and other affects that apply to Oni.

Rage; See above

Stubborn; not so bad but be careful not to get him stuck in combat with someone who can handle him as he wont back down.

Toughness (1); shrugs off minor wounds, better than armour.

Feats;

Future sight; Good ability in the early or late game and can help to ensure you get Zuba in first.

Quake Strike; costly but good stealing an activation from models if they are made prone and also controling the opponents activation as they'll want to stand up Prone models quick or Zuba will make them a big red stain. Also if they're prone you can get Zuba through to a good target as they'll have no ZoC.

Consume Soul; this and toughness mean you can get a little bit back when you have over extending and hes taken some damage, remember Bakemono have souls too!

Weapons;

Reach; extends Zubas control at little extra

Cumbersome; important to get Zuba in first and not get struck as his CP can go down quick once he get exhausted, out numbered coupled with this negative trait means you want to get in quick and get out.

Strength +2, ouch means Zuba can hurt things, this with Brutal Blow means he can splat nearly anything.

Trigger (5) Slam, with Brutal Blow, good CP, Devastating Charge, Fear means you'll get this off more than you would think. It good to simple action into combat get the slam as this will damage a model and mean that its done for the turn tired from the Melee and exhausted by standing up. 

Summary; I think of Zuba as very like his g iant hammer. When it comes down its going to hurt, but also like his hammer once its come down its hard to lift back up to use again. So be very careful where you strike but when you do make it count. Use his good Move and future sight coupled with the numbers advantage the Bakemono give you to pick his fight. 

More later and then the Bakemono.