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.