Bushido The Deep

Bushido The Deep Themed Warband Review

Reviewed by

Published: August 22, 2024 8:00 AM

The Jung Pirates are the masters of the seas around the Jwar Isles, evading the patrols of the Prefecture and plying their trade. Along with the seafaring pirates, other sea creatures also support them, and now, a vengeful spirit from the deep has also emerged. In this article, we'll have a look at the new The Deep Themed Warband starter set for Bushido Risen Sun. We'll have a look at what's in the box, and where to go from there.

We've been covering Bushido for years, so if you'd like to learn more about the game, check out our guide to Bushido Risen Sun, our review of the Bushido Risen Sun 2-player starter set, and our "Start Collecting" guide to Bushido, which includes an interview with the game's developer.

Bushido Risen Sun Artwork

What's a Themed List in Bushido?

When selecting a warband in Bushido, you must first choose a faction from the 12 available to select your fighters from. Each faction also has access to theme cards, which offer special abilities, but restrict the units that can be included in the warband. The Jung Pirates are a faction for Bushido, and The Deep is a theme card.

Bushido The Deep Artwork.
Credit (GCT Studios)

Who Are The Deep?

A drowning woman's heart torn asunder by her greedy husband’s apathy and avarice. Her unending rage becomes a terrible curse as she sinks slowly into the cold, dark embrace of the deep. But the raw power of time and tide will not let her die; they have work for her and those who once embodied a similar unrequited anger. A red pearl, the focus of her wrath, becomes a death sentence to whoever possesses it. What the seas have wrought, no one can tear asunder. There is no escaping them, those of the deep or the red pearl. Betray the pirate queen at your peril!

The Deep is a brand new themed box release for Bushido Risen Sun. They fall under the Jung Pirates faction, but by taking the Deep theme card, it gives you access to the Red Pearl event (that becomes an attachment on an enemy model) for free. It also offers all friendly faction models Ranged Defence (+1) and each phase, allows you to give a friendly Deep model Terror, which makes it harder for an opponent to pass a fear test against them.

Bushido The Deep Box art.
Credit (GCT Studios)

Why Play The Deep?

The Deep is a powerful theme card to play, but not because of pure aggressive combat ability, but because of the Mother-of-Pearl fighter. The Deep theme card is the only way you can use Mother-of-Pearl, which means you're getting the Red Pearl event for free.  The Red Pearl attaches itself to an opposing unit of your choosing at the start of the game, and 5 of the units included in The Deep box have Vengeance [Red Pearl] which adds to the Death Sentance status that the Red Pearl gives to the enemy unit, on top of stripping Fear and giving any unit that charges the attached fighter, the Banzai trait.

The above would make you think that this is an aggressive warband, going after the unit with the Red Pearl attached, but it's not as simple as that. While the Red Pearl does help you take out a key enemy unit or powerful hitter, what The Deep likes to do is immobilize and hold enemy fighters, then grind them down every end phase with Mother-of-Pearl's unique effect that deals 2 damage to all enemies with Imoblised or Held markers. Keeping Mother-of-Peal safe then becomes the key, but luckily you get some cheap disposable crabs to do that.

A lot of The Deep fighters are quite pricey, so you will be trying to pull all that off with limited fighters. The Deep is a combo heavy theme, but fun and rewarding to play.

Bushido The Deep miniatures.
The Bushido The Deep themed warband box contains 8 miniatures (including 2 crabs and the fabulous Jellyfish Fu Ran Ku). Credit (GCT Studios)

Where Should I Start With The Deep?

The best place to start with The Deep is with the themed box. It contains 8 miniatures. It also has 2 theme cards and 9 special cards, 7 of which are restricted to The Deep theme.

The units included in The Deep themed box are:

  • Mother-of-Pearl - The main character of the box, which a lot revolves around as mentioned above. Mother-of-Pearl's Drown ability deals 2 damage a turn to enemies that are Held or Imoblised. They also have access to an Imbolise ability using their Paralyse ki feat. They're not great in combat, but they can sacrifice a nearby Miyakomo's Echo, which can be replaced if nearby non-soulless enemies are taken out using the Tokkiko's Choice ki feat.
  • Jung Keikoku - Keikoku is expensive (1 rice more than Mother-of-Pearl) but is a solid fighter for getting in and holding enemies. Intangible makes it easy to get to the fighter you want to hold, and Indomitable (8) and Tough (1) make them difficult to gang up on and take out, allowing them to keep hold of the enemy fighter for longer.
  • Meunagi - Meunagi is a solid damage dealer for the Deep. Their attack has Pierce and Sharp, allowing them to get through Tough and Armour, and Bleed to build up damage that combines well with Mother-of-Pearl's Drown ability to keep damage racking up on enemies.
  • Anko - Anko is a combo piece, with drag attack to move opposing fighters and the Illicium ki feat which allows you to change the target of a nearby attack to them. They also have the Hypnotic Gaze ki feat that takes an activation counter from an opponent and gives them a stun counter.
  • Himei - Himei is great at disengaging with their Slippery ki feat, and their Sonic Wave ranged attack can dish out stun counters. They're not great in melee, so keeping them at range is key to keeping them alive.
  • Fu Ran Ku - Fu can dish out a free Imbolised marker once per turn by entering base-to-base contact with enemies (or if if they enter base-to-base contact with them), and models in base-to-base contact during the starting phase also get one less activation counter. They don't have a movement value, but they can move 3 inches after performing any action. Fu only has 4 wounds, but durable means they only take 1 damage per attack. Be careful of them being surrounded by enemies, because once they get into base-to-base contact with a few of your opponent's fighters and start to shut them down, they'll be a target for removal.
  • Miyakomo's Echo (x2) - These super cheap crabs are there to sacrifice to keep Mother-of-Pearl alive. You can take 4, at 3 rice each, and Mother-of-Pearl can also generate them if enemies are taken out within their pulse range of their Tokkiko's Choice ki feat.
Bushido The Deep Electric Eel.
The Electric Eel is also available to add to your The Deep warband, just be careful as they zap your own fighters as well. Credit (GCT Studios)

What Products Are Available For The Deep And Where Should I Go Next?

While The Deep theme does restrict many of the popular fighter choices from the Jung, there are a couple that still very much tie into the theme:

  • Electric Eel - The Eel attacks anyone within range of its ranged attack whenever it moves, so send it off into groups of enemies and just walk around them for free attacks, just watch the positioning of your own fighters.
  • Miyakomo's Echo - These are the same profile as those from The Deep themed warband box, but 2 additional miniatures to allow you to include the 4 total you can take in your list.
  • Mitsukarina - The Juhin Mitsukarina is mentioned on The Deep theme card, but is not currently on the Bushido release schedule, so we can't even begin to guess what their profile will look like.

GCT Studios has shared with us, early concept sketches for the next shark, which will have The Deep keyword for some extra bite for the warband.

Early concept sketches for Bushido's Jung Goblin Shark.
TechRaptor can exclusively reveal the concept sketches for the next Bushido Jung Pirates Shark (which will have the Deep keyword on their profile), The Goblin Shark!

What Are Our Final Thoughts On The Deep?

I really enjoyed testing The Deep for this article. They've got an interesting playstyle with the slow burn wound effects, while also looking to slow your opponent down with restrictive movement, and the Red Pearl is a great way to stop your opponent's key fighter (they'll be very careful about positioning and won't want to ever leave the exposed to multiple charges from your side). I love how it all ties into the theme of the underwater creatures, whilst limiting the units from the Jung that don't fit the theme.

Bushido The Deep Scenery miniatures.
There's also a The Deep scenery pack available for Bushido. These complement the special cards that come in the warband pack and look a lot better on the tabletop than tokens and bases. Credit (GCT Studios)

Should I Buy The Deep Theme Box?

If the playstyle of The Deep sounds appealing, then you absolutely should pick up The Deep themed warband box. The miniatures are great and really capture the underwear creature theme, all centered around the amazing-looking Mother-of-Pearl miniature. If you're a Jung player already, then although you won't be able to use all of your current fighters, the depth (pun intended) that The Deep adds to their games is fantastic and a real breath of fresh air (ok, I'll stop now).


The copy of the Bushido The Deep themed warband used to produce this guide was provided by GCT Studios.

 

Review Summary

I really enjoyed testing The Deep for this article. They've got an interesting playstyle with the slow burn wound effects while looking to slow your opponent down, and the Red Pearl is a great way to stop your opponent's key fighter (they be very careful about positioning and won't want to ever leave the exposed to multiple charges from your side. I love how it all ties into the theme of the underwater creatures, whilst limiting the units from the Jung that don't fit the theme.
(Review Policy)

Pros

  • Great looking underwater style miniatures
  • Great thematic playstyle
  • Fu Ran Ku, the Jellyfish has an amazing miniature and fighter profile

Cons

  • You can't use all of your Jung in the Deep theme card, which may not suit some
A Potts TechRaptor
| Senior Tabletop Writer

Adam is a Tabletop Specialist for TechRaptor. He started writing for TechRaptor in 2017 and took over as Tabletop Editor in 2019 and has since stood down… More about Adam