Painting: Recipe for fire

I started with basing it white, followed by a layer of thinned down Stormhost Silver (molten metal only)

While the silver was still wet, I continued with Lamenters Yellow (Glaze), Casandora Yellow (wash), Fuegan Orange (wash) without waiting for anything to properly dry

After the Fuegan Orange everything was a wet mess and I was even removing the silver and white in places

I touched these up with some firebright orange while allowing it all to dry a little

I touched the areas that I wanted lighter up with some Lamenters Yellow

Then I used Bloodletter (glaze) and a bit of nuln oil to finish it off

Colour Scheme: Minimoto

Base coat: Abaddon Black

Overcoat: Doombull Brow with Bloodletter (Glaze) to make it redder
Coat fringes: Ulthuan Grey
Wool: Ulthuan Grey
Ropes & Obi: Evil Suns Scarlet w Carroborg Crimson
Metal: Lead Belcher w Nuln Oil Gloss
Under Clothes, Robes: Russ Grey base w Fenrissian Grey layer

Fun with Lists: Ok Boomer!

Faction: Savage Wave

Theme: Thousand Eyes

Ig (14 Rice)
- Soul Medallion (1 rice)
Wei-Shu (14 Rice)
Wu-Zang (14 Rice)
Trak (13 Rice)
Tra-Peng (11 Rice)
Bakemono Boomer (10 Rice)
Bakemono Boomer (10 Rice)
Bakemono Archer (7 rice)
Idol of the Deep (2 Rice)
Totem Pole (2 Rice)
Sneak (2 Rice)

Ig: is actually a quite reliable tank with his Armor(1), Parry(1), Ranged Defense (1), Melee 3, Counterstrike Defense, ... Soulless and Pile On Ki feat. He's got a lot going for him for his rice cost and can be quite frustrating to remove.
As long as Wei-Shu is around, he counts as a Horde Model so when he dies, you just summon a new one and with Soul Medallion, it'll only cost you 2 Ki to do so.
Wei-Shu: His Ki stat of 3 and his Mind Control Ki Feat alone make him worth taking. He also makes Ig Horde and Psychic Drain keeps your Ki pile stocked up for those Darkness and From the Shadows Ki feats.
If no targets are nearby for Psychic Drain, he can Focus to fuel your Horde Ki feats
Wu-zang: Curse Fate is one of the best debuffs in the game in my opinion (and experience) and Psychic Venom is a very nice damage feat which can usually guarantee that the targeted model will die within 3 rounds.
The first few rounds he'll probably focus to fuel your Horde Ki feats
Tra-Peng: I think Tra-Peng is an auto-include just because of his Stun Marker ability. No Opp Ki test, no Attack roll, simply here's a Stun marker for your beat stick. The Snare Ki feat is interesting but there are more useful things to do with that Ki in this list.
Trak: I love the model and Risen Sun Trak is much more interesting than New Dawn Trak. Cheap Ki boosts, nice Ki feats, Brutal on full attack, a reroll and Co-ordinated Attack Bakemono, he's the ideal pile on model to make a bad situation worse for your opponent.
Bakemono Boomer: These are the stars of this list. At first glance these guys aren't great shots at all. But then you apply Darkness. Your opponent's line of sight is now limited to 4", Boomer guns have a short range of 5". So if you stay outside of 4", your target is surprised unless it has Soulless or Sixth Sense. Things are already looking up for these little gun nuts.
Darkness also facilitates Shadow Walk, a 3" place with a Medium sized base, is actually quite some distance. So they don't even need to walk to get within 5" range and after the shot you Shadow Walk them away to safety for a reload.
First round kills can happen this way. if your opponent is running an elite list, he will be very unhappy that his 25 rice beatstick got blown to pieces by a 10 rice bakemono with a boomstick.
Bakemono Archer: Eh... the cheapest way to generate an additional Ki to fuel Shadow Walk, Darkness and From the Shadows. 2 Ki if you focus the bugger.
And who knows he might actually hurt something with his arrrows
Idol of the Deep makes Ki feats cheaper for models in BtB with it. Always nice.
This also works on Summon from the Shadows and Darkness. Is very nice.
Totem Pole gives an extra 2 Ki, since this list relies on Darkness and Shadow Walk a lot, those 2 Ki come in handy.
Sneak: I added in for those rare times that your Boomers get caught out in the open and unable to Shadow Walk.

This list is a menace, even my Minimoto fear these Boomers though I hope to have mitigated that a little by using 2 Fire Kami instead of 1.
They are vulnerable to list with a lot of Soulless, Sixth Sense, or just models with Move 5 that might catch those Boomers. So you should try to keep Ig, Trak and 2 summoned Raiders handy to protect them.

Fun with Lists: Don't bother getting up

Faction: Temple of Ro'kan

Theme: Initiation

Suchiro (21 rice)
Riku (17 rice)
Yuuki (16 rice)
- Patient Crane Stance (1 rice)
Seiji (14 rice)
Kira (14 rice)
Hotaru (11 rice)
- Name of the Wind (3 rice)
- Student of Master Koju (1 rice)
- Wind Kick (1 rice)
Gorintõ (1 rice)

From a previous discussion I understand that most people use Hotaru as a missile. I like her model too much to sacrifice her like that, instead I turned her into even more of a nuisance via enhancements.
Student of Master Koju gives her the Air element (and Asp Strike for 2 Ki, which is nice when needed). Wind Kick gives her Charging Bonus(Cloudwalk, Slam Attack(0)), this is very interesting on a model with Banzai! and the potential to have Split Attack. Name of the Wind allows me to place her out of BtB at the start of the turn, so she can Banzai! some more. Initially I had given her Patient Crane Stance too but I don't think she will use it that often.

Suchiro is the straightforward tank of the list, Initiation ensures that he always generates 3 Ki to use his feats.

Riku is the second tank and his Wall of Water and Tsunami are great denial tools, as well as provide cover for your squishy monks. Initiation ensures that he can use Wall of Water every round and has the Ki for Tsunami.

Yuuki is fast, she isn't the hardest hitter but again with Initiation she will have Vitality up every round. Patient Crane Stance will allow her to use one of her 3 activations to Wait and then still have 2 activations to use that Unblockable(1)

Seiji has been an unexpected wonder, his Binding Roots can be really effective, if not always fully reliable.

Kira is a great runner, really fast with her Cloudwalk run and Dash ki feat.

Basically in this list, I decide who gets to move and when. I have had a lot of fun with it, but not so sure my opponents agree.

It is especially effective against samurai lists (mostly Prefecture and Minimoto) and Kairai, but I expect it will struggle against Buto herds and the like.

Fun with Lists: Where are those arrows coming from?

Faction: KKZ

Theme: Skirmish Mission

Rin (24)
Dudi(o)ko (22)
Bikou (18)
Shizuka (18)
Ujimushi (16)
Smoke Bomb (1)
Herbal Remedy (1)

This is a list I have played extensively for a long time and that I enjoy a lot. It's not the most efficient, because then I would drop Dudioko and the Smoke Bomb for Ghost, but it's a lot of fun.

Rin: Rin was the second ninja I got after Makoto and the most used. I love the model and she is such an asset on the board that I'm hard pressed to replace her. Only Katsumi comes near.
4 Melee dice, Feint, Combo Attack are a nice combination. Add in Lightning Reflexes, Indomitable(1) and you have a very aggressive tank that can easily kill any model your opponent is willing to throw at her.
When she activates she can add in a nice Prowess Attack(1) to make sure she makes that hit.

Dudioko: I love the model, I love the idea of the model but she rarely delivers her 22 rice. Her Pierce(3) and long range Surprise ability make her a threat. But at the same time that ability makes me use her too much as a turret when she is actually a very mobile model. Also my opponents keep sending Soulless models at her which deny her Mirage ability.
If possible she will fire on her first activation, even if that requires me to walk her up 4". On her second activation she can then reload, drop a smoke bomb, and she's ready and in position for another shot in round 2. In my experience it becomes hard to reload after round 2.
The Smoke Bomb ability is very nice for mobile cover or if you need to block some LoS to allow Shizuka to Shadow Walk.

Bikou: My favourite ronin ninja. Distraction, Kusari and Rapid Fire shuriken are a lethal combination. Distract for the surprise bonus, Kusari to knock them Prone on a 4+ and 2 more shuriken at 3+ to hit. If you can get her in your opponent's backfield, she can wreck havoc (see Hidden Tunnel Entrance), especially against low armour targets like Shisai. But even just keeping a heavy armoured target Prone is extremely valuable. Unfortunately she is a bit lacking on the defensive side, if she gets caught, she tends to die. How often I have wished she had Agile, or even just Dodge(1)

Shizuka: My favourite objective runner. Shadow Walk got a bit of a nerf in Risen Sun now that it is only once per turn, which is a shame but she was a bit too fast before. Mirage is a nice Ki feat but not too reliable, when it works it opens a lot of tactical options though.
Dodge(1), Parry(1), Agile when needed, Pierce(2) when she is in position which pairs really well with Counterstrike Defense. She's a defensive toolbox.

Ujimushi: Very straightforward archer, except he gets to either choose to have Lightweight on his bow or remove a reload marker on activation. I.e. he shoots twice per round, unfortunately my damage rolls are terrible and he rarely does more than scratch the things he shoots. I like giving him Shadow Walk or Distraction in this list for his Ki feat. Deadeye is a nice option too but at 3 Ki it's a bit expensive for him.

For my free Skirmish Mission Enhancements/Terrain I'm now taking Hidden Tunnel Entrance by default, and tailor the other Enhancement to my opponent.

Makibishi for Shizuka is nice against Kairai, Immune(Prone) on Rin is nice against Throw/Slam heavy lists, Hotai's Coin is nice for Shizuka, Grappling Hooks to Flank, Rice Ball Barricades, ...

The Herbal Remedy is there to remove any pesky effect from a model that can't afford it, very handy against Poison but also works against Control, Prone, Stunned or Frightened.

Fun with lists: What are they waiting for?

Faction: Prefecture of Ryu

Theme: Prefecture Patrol

Takashi Katsumoto w/ Battle Plans (24 Rice): As I post more Prefecture lists you will notice that I'm a huge fan of Katsumoto. He brings so much to any warband he is part off. Leadership(2/8), make him the best Leadership provider in the game. Tactician(2) makes him the best out of the box tactician in the game. Order[Prefecture] (3/8) is brilliant, you need Mizuchi or Akio to have an extra action? Katsumoto can do that for you.
Armour(3), Prowess(Melee)(1) and Melee 3 means he's not too shabby in combat either.
His Ki feats are another set of toolboxes. Inspiration speaks for itself, whenever you want someone to have an extra die, he can provide. Considering his high Rice Cost of 23, that includes Hiro and Hagane. First round though Shinobu is likely the most interesting target.
Tactical Mastery is interesting for when you absolutely need to activate more models at once.
Dominate really helps to ensure that your opponent activates the model you want him to activate or more likely prevent him from activating a model that you don't want him to activate yet.
Hanso (18 Rice): Another model that I love. When I first started playing Bushido I was mostly afraid of his big sword, 7 wounds, armour 2, Powerful Attack(1) and Cleave feat (Brutal +2). Turns out this was just a tip of the iceberg.
Built in Leadership (1/8), Command(Ashigaru)(2/8) and Tactician(1), though likely obsolete thanks to Katsumoto it's a nice kind of redundancy. Move It! is where he becomes really interesting. Ki 2 means he needs to focus to use it in turn 1. Thanks to Katsumoto, he can do so and still move up 4" with a walk, or 6" with a run to stay near your main line. So turn 1, 3 of your Ashigaru get a free 4" Walk and Hanso doesn't stay too far behind.
Atsushi (14 rice):Strategy (+1 pass token) synergizes very well with Katsumoto's Tactician(2) to practically ensure you get that extra pass token.
First round we have so far Ordered Hanso. Atsushi is the next model we will Order. He will also receive Move It! from Hanso. Scout (1/4) means he already starts 4" up the board. He now gets a free 4" walk and 3 actions. Here Boy! has a 12" range. So you can walk him 3 times 4" forward (that's 16" up the board) and still call Shinobu in BtB with him and he'll still have an action left to back up his pet with Co-ordinated Attack. While Shinobu is now 16" up the board with 2 actions left. When Shinobu is too overextended, Here Boy! pulls him right back. Sick Em can come in handy when Shinobu is off somewhere assisting another model.
Shinobu (6 rice):The dog is a pretty decent model for just 6 rice, Grapple Attack(0) is very nice. Then you give him Inspiration, now he has 3 melee dice for that Grapple Attack. With what I described above under Atsushi he actually has a 20" threat range for 2 attacks, that's the whole board. I.e. he can grapple something 20" from your deployment zone and because Atsushi still has an action left, he can join him to take full advantage of that Grapple and Co-ordinated Attack. If done right, your target is Exhausted and if your opponent was bit overeager, it has even Run. Keep the dog for last activations and it's likely he and Atsushi will destroy something turn 1.
Jin (13 rice): Pretty decent ashigaru. 3 melee, Reach and Push Attack(0) gives you some control over your opponent's models. Pierce(1) can be nice and Military Training provides another pass token to ensure that your opponent is exhausted by the time Shinobu and Minuro do their thing.
Minuro (12 rice):The bane of everything. The bastard with the big gun.
First round he will be Ordered and receive Move It!. 3 actions and a free 4" Walk means he has a 17" short range threat range without suffering movement penalties. If he doesn't need all those walks, even better he can use the remaining actions to reload his gun.
In a similar list he once shot Shizuka in the back when I was using my KKZ a bit too aggressively. She was in cover on her last activation but that didn't matter with all his actions.
Second round he will have 3 actions thanks to Junichi's order so he can reload his gun and fire another shot, Hanso might even be able to give him another Move It! to help him re-position. Third round, he uses his Ki feat to reload and fire.
Junichi (10 rice): This guy has one job and one job only, to Order in round 2. First round he'll Focus and receive Move It! so that he can still move up 4". Second round, he'll Order Hanso, Minuro and Jin so that Katsumoto can move up the board and bring his Ki feats to bear. After that he becomes a standard Ashigaru to support Jin and Hanso.
If the first round went well, Hanso has the space for another Focus and Move It! on Jin, Minuro and Junichi.
Inspiring Words (3 rice)
I picked Inspiring Words because thanks to the Prefecture Patrol theme both Hanso and Katsumoto have a leadership bubble of 10", that should cover even an overextended Atsushi and generate 1 ki for all your models.

There are many possible variations on this list. Originally Atsushi, Shinobu and the Inspiring Words were replaced by two Yarimen to generate pass tokens.
I'm now thinking of replacing Jin with Hiryu and the Inspiring Words with Battlefield Maneuvers to exploit Co-ordinated Attack to its fullest

Your opponent will quickly learn that being the first in the center of the board, isn't always a good thing.

Fun with Lists: If at first you don't succeed, apply more Fire (Kami)

Faction: Minimoto

Theme: Army of the Minimoto

Minimoto Yuji (20 rice)
Nuan (16 rice)
- Ice Totem (1 rice)
Masaema Aya (16 rice)
Masaema Yoshinobu (14 rice)
Jyoto Ashigaru (12 rice)
Kami of the Evening Flame (8 rice)
Kami of the Evening Flame (8 rice)
Just a Scratch (2 rice)
Just a Scratch (2 rice)
Blizzard (1 rice)

I used to play this list with Raiko instead of the second Fire Kami and the second Just a Scratch. It worked pretty ok, Raiko is a decent objective runner and can surprise your opponent especially once he's build up 3 Ki. But I have found Fire Kami are much more of a thorn in my opponent's side.
Army of the Minimoto allows your Ashigaru to deploy 2" up the board, which incidentally is just two walks away from small center objectives. I always forget the +1 Melee Damage ability though.
The idea is that the Fire Kami help to exhaust enemy models, or jump in to take advantage of outnumbering bonuses (and other debuffs) to further put the hurt on anything that is being tied up by my other models.
If my opponent has pesky backfield models like Kato... well burn them all.

Minimoto Yuji: This guy doesn't need much of an introduction. He is a walking tank. Extremely resistant to both damage and Opposed Ki Feats and packs a serious punch, and he's actually quite Ki efficient.
Try to keep some distance between him any other Minimoto if you're playing an opponent with lots of Slam and Throw attacks and defenses. 3 die models are much easier to hit and Yuji will be just as Prone if they bump into him.
I like giving him Irokane Tetsubo but for now I didn't do that in this list because I want Blizzard and at least one Just a Scratch.

Nuan: He is becoming a bit of an auto-include for me, but he needs the Ice Totem to power his Dashuhua feat. No one wants to get within 3" of him while he can have that feat up and it protects any Minimoto within 3" of him from ranged attacks. With Blizzard I don't need it in the first round yet and with Ice Totem he will be able to use it in round 2, 3 and 4 before he runs out of Ki.
His ranged attack is decent, but can be hard to use due to its short range and lack of Lightweight. Ideally you don't want to get within 3" of an enemy model as you prefer them to step into his Aura so often you'll be shooting from Medium range. Against certain opponents he'll run of ammo markers, against others he'll never fire a shot.
I also think I under-utilize his Fumeiryo feat.

Masaema Aya: You need someone to hold a flank? Aya's got it. She's also a nice missile, just charge at something you want to pin down asap, Endurance will ensure that she won't be exhausted and it's unlikely that your opponent will be able to dislodge her.

Masaema Yoshinobu: What's not to like, +2 melee damage, Powerful Attack (1), Sweep Attack(1) and Push Attack(0), Ki feat to give him Immovable, ... Too bad he only has a Ki stat of 1 which means you won't be using that Powerful Attack or Sweep Attack nearly as often as you'd like.

Jyoto Ashigaru: Good old boring, Jyoto Ashigaru. Unfortunately Minimoto Ashigaru are quite expensive but they are reliable. Sweep Attack(1) and Ki 1 means you won't use it that often. Still you will be hard pressed to find a more resilient objective runner.

Kami of the Evening Flame: So Move 6, Agile, Evasive Cloudwalk, Soulless model in the slowest faction of the game? Give me two please. The Fire Chicken is the Minimoto answer to the likes of Kato, Mari, Minuro, ... They have killed more Korusea and Kairai in my games than any other model by simply attacking Mari Jung or Kato.
Their Fire effect is a nice deterrent, they can catch ranged attacks if necessary and make those Tetsubo's hit even harder. I'm still trying to get their own range attack to work for me, but again their short range and lack of Lightweight make it often hard to use.

Fun with Lists: Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated

Faction: Cult of Yurei

Theme: Death & Decay

This list won the Benelux masters twice and caused some controversy in the Dutch and Belgian meta.

Kato the Puppet Master (22 Rice): Kato is probably the most powerful control caster in the game thanks to his accursed Marionette. He holds this list together and everything else is there to protect him.
Basic stats are ok, Ki 3 is really nice of course. Ivory Prison Attack(2) on a model with only Melee 2 is a bit strange at first glance, but it's such a powerful attack that it's worth setting it up, esp. when you consider the offensive options that Protected(Kairai) provides, i.e. trade a cheap Kairai for an Armoured Kairai if your opponent is careless.
Leech and Cultist are the reason we bring Yugio.
But we don't bring Kato for his combat ability, his Ki feats are what makes him shine.
Capture Soul, so Death and Decay gives you 1 Risen if a non-soulless model dies, not bad, but for 3 Ki Kato turns that Risen into an Armoured Kairai instead. Your opponent just lost a model, and your warband got a huge upgrade.
Craft Marionette scares everyone, your opponent will do everything to prevent Kato from creating that little bugger, and once you put 3-4 control markers on an enemy model, you just summon another one to repeat the process.
Prayer of Undeath: Kairai are a pain to kill with their Rise(4). Well for 2 Ki they now have Rise(2)...
Marionette: The scariest tiny model in this game. Agile, Durable, Soulless, Evasive, Jump Up, if it wants to get someone, it will get to its targets and when it gets there Kato rolls an Opposed Ki test and its Ki stat turns into an equal amount of Control Markers, or it sticks around for another try. It's Slow so it can't Charge or Run. Luckily it only has a Move of 3 but a Ki boost of 1. So it can be faster for less control.
Yugio (10 Rice): Yugio isn't that impressive but has a very important role in this list. He's a battery for Kato, but you don't want to bleed him dry too fast because of those Desecrated Shrines of his. Those Ki costs I mentioned above for Kato? Or those from the Kairai below? They all become 1 Ki cheaper within 3" of the shrine and enemy Ki feats become 1 Ki more expensive within 6".
Keep in mind that the Desecrated Shrines disappear when Yugio dies so don't bleed him dry too fast.
2x Kairai Militia w Ijimyo's Masks (8 rice x 2 + 2 Rice= 18 Rice): I gave these guys the masks because they have Reach. Fear(6) will help debuff your opponent and Reach will mitigate their Slow, meaning that they can be (even) more aggressive. Their Ki feat is strong but we have better use for our Ki (see Kato).
2x Kairai Farmer (7 rice x 2 = 14 rice): Again nice Ki feat, we may use it sometime after turn 3 if we have Ki to spare.
2x Kairai Villager (9 rice x 2 = 18 rice): Powerful Attack is nice, again nice Ki feat. Again maybe after turn 3 we will consider it (when Yugio bites the dust and upgrades to an Armoured Kairai).
Kairai general info: Their stats aren't too impressive. They are Slow, and slow with Move(3). But Fear(5),Soulless, Rise(4), Tough(1) makes them frustrating hard to get rid off. Especially with Kato's Prayer of Undeath.
2x Kusatta Kairai (7 Rice x 2 = 14 rice): So these Kairai can actually die, but they have a very strong Ki feat that you might consider using earlier and they hurt your opponent if they get hit. Also they are your first choice for Protected(Kairai). Why sacrifice a perfectly serviceable Kairai with Rise when you can remove one of these instead?
Bonus: Armoured Kairai (12 rice each): 3 melee, Fear(5), Armour(2), Soulless, Rice(4), Tough(1), potential for Terror. Nice package for 12 rice, but Kato gets them for the low low costs of nothing.
Breath of Yurei (2 rice): LoS of 2" for most models in the game, except most of yours? Not bad, your opponent wants to Run? 2" max distance. Charge? Same. Shoot at Kato? Nope. And the second round you can extend it for the low cost of losing the Tactical roll.
Drain Spirit (1 rice): Does your opponent have a lot of Ki and you're a little low? Time for them to share.

This list is a pain in the backside to play against. What works? A ton of movement control, Slam Attacks, Size tests, Move tests, ... Fire. Fire solves a lot of problems too. Especially Fire Kami to attack Kato. Steal his activations and force him to sacrifice Kairai to survive. Ranged Models with Deadeye so the Kairai can't prevent you from actually hitting Kato by jumping in front of the arrow.

Score early, score often, and keep the pressure on Kato, you will not win the long game against this list.