Ming Shouchongbing

"Infantry armed with handguns."

- In-game description

Ming Shouchongbing are a unit in Sengoku Jidai. f

Full Unit Profile

 * Shooting:
 * Handgun: Range 1. Effect not reduced against armor.


 * Impact: None


 * Melee: None

Gameplay
With an incredibly limited ranged and no Melee or Impact Capabilities of any kind, Shouchongbing is difficult to use well. Having a range of only 1 square means can only fire at units well within charging range of them. Concentrating the fire of multiple units onto an enemy and getting off multiple volleys before close combat will feel almost impossible.

The embarrassingly short range is shorter than even the charging range of infantry, meaning a very real possibility of getting of no shots before being charged. One way to avert this is to move the Shouchongbing up into range to preempt the charge, but this gives the unit a penalty.

Its complete lack of Impact or Melee Capabilities necessitates protection from other units, yet its short range means it cannot offer covering fire to the units protecting it.

However, none of this means the unit is cannon fodder. While lacking Impact or Melee capabilities, it can hold up for a while in a forest or other kind of rough terrain that disorders opponents. Forests are also ideal terrain due to the fact that all ranged weapons can only fire 1 square ahead, thus making the handguns not any less effective than any other ranged weapon.

In open terrain the tactics get more complicated. Unable to engage units effectively in ranged or close combat, the unit is best used as a dedicated flanker, as a distraction unit to draw fire or set up a flanking attack by another unit, as rout bait, or as a meatshield.

Another way to use it might be to put it at the "center" of a unit triangle so that it can turn diagonally and shoot units directly in front of its neighbors. Preferably, these neighbors would be Melee or Impact-dedicated units, the Protected versions of this unit, or ranged units with greater range.

If nothing else, it's cheap. At 18 points the raw version is certainly not overpriced, though this lends a cynical that realization that its essentially an upgrade of peasant mob. In any case pure unprotected Shouchongbing should not be the core of any player's army.

History
To be written

Unit Lists

 * Ming (Joseon Expeditionary Force) 1593