Empire of the Blazing Sun Alchemist Tonegawa and Takera Isamu - Review and Unboxing

 Tonegawa and Tarkera stroll onto the battle field in a small Spartan box, the front only depicts Tonegawa with his mechanical grenade launcher.

 The back, as standard, depicts the included models as a render, along with some fluff and a detailed listing of the box contents- shown here:

Both of the game cards included are used to empower other friendly units.

The models themselves are highly detailed:

Assembling them was easy; care should be taken when cleaning up Takera's claws so that they fit correctly into the slot on the model.

Here they are assembled: I removed the strip from each model's feet with a piercing saw, this enables the use of a scenic base. If done correctly it also means the models can stand on their own feet.

Contents as list:

Two detailed models

Required bases

Activation card

Two game cards

Quality:

The models are of a very high quality, the cast is clear and the mould lines easy to clean up.

Appearance:

I  like both of the models, Tonegawa's pose is nice and evocative; I picture him pinging gas grenades into the distance. Takera meanwhile has a 'Bring it on' pose befitting his 'Way of the warrior' (Must accept challenges.) MAR nicely.

Tabletop usage:

A weakness of the Empire forces is the lack of sergeants, currently only the imperial rifles are able to purchase a sergent. This means that in order to function efficiently all empire forces must remain near an officer. As the starter box only contains two of these a third is a highly desirable option - which Takera helpfully provides.

This need for the use of Takera as an officer does suggest that the primary place to deploy the pair is attached to a unit of infantry. Of the options available ashigaru seem the best option: a smaller unit with a pair of specialists will be able to make three, three red dice attacks against enemy ironclads a turn! While a larger unit will gain increased melee punch and the ability to lay down smoke on the approach.

Alternatively the pair could be deployed with a section of imperial infantry, in this case the section can neglect to bring a sergeant (increasing its ranged firepower) and no longer be such a soft target in melee, the section can also deploy smoke after it fired each turn allowing it an advantage in ranged duels against, say, the British.

Price per model:

At an RRP of £9.50 or £8.55 from Troll Tader or Fire Storm Games this box works out at £4.75 or (£4.28) a model. Remembering these are larger 32mm metal models this is great value.

Price per section:
Tonegawa and Takera are a section unto themselves

Conclusion:
Overall this is a great box 10 out of 10