Basic Unit Statistics
| Recruitment Cost | 500 | |
| Upkeep Cost | 125 | |
| Melee Attack | 10 | 31% |
| Charge Bonus | 11 | 31% |
| Bonus vs Cavalry | 0 | 0% |
| Melee Defence | 7 | 20% |
| Armour | 3 | 37% |
| Morale | 10 | 25% |
| Speed | 4 | 33% |
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Infantry units who excel in close-quarter melee.
- Vulnerable to cavalry and to missile units.
Description
Wako are men who have forsaken the code of bushido for a life of plunder and piracy. They have no qualms, though, about using samurai weapons, and these men carry the katana, the razor-sharp sword of the samurai. They can be part of a battle line and are fearsome warriors in melee, especially against spearmen. However, they are weaker against cavalry and missile units, and should stay out of range of enemy archers. Historically, ‘wako’ was the name given to the Japanese pirates who raided the Chinese and Korean coasts. Parallels can be drawn between the sengoku daimyos and the pirate ‘sea lords’. Both sets of leaders took their chances in a power vacuum and seized large areas as their fiefdoms, ruling them through their own clan structures. The Murakami were one of the most powerful wako clans and would extort tolls from passing ships for ‘protection’. Later, the Murakami would ally with the Mori, in the process making the Mori a formidable naval power in their own right.