MA Shinuyama - Land of the Bakemono

These three nations are heavily influenced by Japanese history, folklore, and myth. The first is an uncivilized nation of demonic brutes, enslaving and eating humans and other races. They are replaced by Bakemono, ghostly goblins of Japanese folklore. Finally in the Late Age, the humans take control. The beings of Shinuyama are quite heavily influenced by the old pen-and-paper RPG Bushido, although some other sources on mythological beings such as Tengu and Kitsune have been used. Modern myth, such as the western idea of the ninja, also has a place in the late nation of Jomon.

"In Dominions 5, I wanted to elaborate on Yomi and make the nation a bit more of a swarm-nation with demons entering this world in increasing numbers through demon gates raised by misled human priests."-Illwinter

When the entrance to the Netherworld closed, the Oni became fewer and fewer. Their Bakemono slaves and human servants rebelled, and when the last of the Dai Oni died, the realm was taken over by Bakemono Kings. Human smiths were forced to reveal the secrets of metalcraft to arm the Bakemono for their conquest of the lowlands. The Bakemono still live in a tribal society ruled by the strongest and most powerful of their kin. The Bakemono are a diverse kind. Huge lumbering O-Bakemono, proud Dai-Bakemono, strange shapeshifters and ghostly apparitions all heed the call of the Bakemono Kings and the Awakening God.

How the nation plays and what it is good at should go here, aka why would it be cool to play, what's good about it (in general terms) and where they falter.
How does this nation compare to other similar nations with similar units or specialties (sacred heavy, elves, communion nation, blood nation, research, economical, forging, stealth, thug based, etc.)

General description of the units in the nations rooster, any standouts, shared qualities aka temperature, any foreign rec, what makes a good basis for planning around

The commanders are a highlight of Shinuyama's lineup. Including flexible and cheap foreign recruits, no Cap-restricted recruitment, and one of the most powerful mages in the game (Bakemono Sorcerer), Shinuyama is a versatile and formidable nation. The main weaknesses are a lack of priests above 1 and the poor magic resistance on most of their troops.

Img	Unit Name	—-SpecialAttributes—-	Comments
	Bakemono Scout 20 5 1 +Highlands & Mountain Rec	Stealthy(55) Darkvision(50%) Mountain Survival Forest Survival	The cheapest scout in the game, and foreign recruit too! A key strength of the nation, allowing you to easily have a scout in every enemy province during a war.
	Bakemono Chief 40 6 1 +Highlands & Mountain Rec	Stealthy(40) Darkvision(50%) Mountain Survival Forest Survival	Cheap stealthy foreign recruit leader. Ideal for leading small raiding parties. Doesn't have a helmet.
	Bandit Leader 45 16 1	Stealthy(40) Pillager(3)	Stealthy leader that requires a fort to recruit. The main benefits over the Bakemono Chief are decent armor and the pillage ability.
	Kappa Chief 50 1 1 +Underwater Rec	Land Encumbrance(5) Amphibious Recuperation	Amphibious commander to lead Kappa squads.
	Bakemono Shaman 80 1 2 +Highlands & Mountain Rec	11100% 5 Sacred Stealthy(40) Darkvision(50%) Mountain Survival Forest Survival	Your most efficient researchers per unit upkeep, especially with Skull Mentor and Lightless Lantern. Ubas are more effective and efficient as battle mages. Great for building temples, forging, casting remote site searching spells, and supporting stealthy raids.
	Bakemono General 85 31 1	Darkvision(50%) Mountain Survival	Commander with 80 leadership is important for line formation and reducing routes with your undisciplined troops. Can be an effective light thug or antithug with some gear.
	Shuten-doji 100 1 1	Darkvision(50%) Invulnerability(15) Sleep Aura(10)	80 leadership commander with much higher magic resistance, higher map move, and much lower resource cost than the Bakemono General. Invulnerability 15 and built-in Sleep Cloud make him a useful light thug chassis against foes without magic weapons. Undead and magic leadership with high map move make him useful commanding summons and cavalry.
	Noppera-bo 100 5 1	Stealthy(70) Assassin(3) Fear(5) Blind Forest Survival Spirit sight Female	Assassin very high patience (expect few bodyguards) but no armor. Intended to kill by forcing a route with her Fear aura, but has generally high stats. Needs gear to be effective, but can kill most commanders with just an Amulet of the Dead.
	Uba 135 1 2	1111100% 13 Shape Changer: Ghost Cat Forest Survival Supply Bonus (10) Female	Cost-effective researchers with valuable cross paths and your main access for site searching and battle magic. The cheapest researcher per gold, but have much higher upkeep than Bakemono Shaman. The stealthy cat form has very high map movement but 1 less in all paths. In battles, this means wounds that kill unarmored human mages will turn her into a high HP cat that will often run very fast off the battlefield.
	Bakemono Sorcerer 390 2 4	212211100% 10% 21 Sacred Darkvision(50%) Mountain Survival Twiceborn(Wight Mage)	A very high level mage on a durable chassis with several valuable cross paths. Not capital-only! His age is a major problem but can by fixed with the Unaging bless or the Twiceborn Ritual, which has a unique chassis and has a chance to upgrade him to 3/4. Very expensive.

Shinuyama has an interesting troop lineup. The Bakemono and Bandits are great inexpensive chaff, while the Dai Bakemono are excellent heavy infantry with very high damage attacks. These strengths are balanced by key weaknesses: no shields (with no recruitable Air access to cast Arrow Fend), low magic resistance (with no recruitable Astral access to cast Antimagic), low map movement, no access to magic weapons, and no sacreds (so one can't mitigate any of these weaknesses with a bless).

Img	Unit Name	—-SpecialAttributes—-	Comments
	Bakemono-Sho 7 1 3 +Highlands & Mountain Rec	Undisciplined Stealthy(40) Darkvision(50%) Mountain Survival Mountain Recruitment(2)	The grunt swarm of Shinuyama, only costing 5 in highland and mountain provinces. Low morale, poorly armored, and undisciplined, they compensate by being extremely cheap, fighting 6 in a square, sneak and raid, and don't mind Darkness. They are easy to mass, can expand in groups of ~60, and are effective stealthy raiders. The yari variant is far superior to clubs; you pay one more resource to get more damage, a repel, and ignores 20% of enemy prot.
	Bakemono-Sho 7 2 3 +Highlands & Mountain Rec	Undisciplined Stealthy(40) Darkvision(50%) Mountain Survival Forest Survival Mountain Recruitment(2)
	Bakemono-Sho 8 5 9	Darkvision(50%) Mountain Survival Forest Survival Mountain Recruitment(1)	A disciplined version of the Bakemono-Sho, getting slightly better armor and access to scripting/formations. They cost slightly more gold, are no longer foreign recruit, and require a lot more resources and recruitment points.
	Bakemono Warrior 9 6 12	Darkvision(50%) Mountain Survival Forest Survival Mountain Recruitment(1)	Getting into the most elite of the small goblins. They may have only human stats, but that only becomes more important when you factor in your opponent will suffer greatly from the harassment penalty of your swarms.
	Bakemono Archer 7 2 3 +Highlands & Mountain Rec	Undisciplined Stealthy(40) Darkvision(50%) Mountain Survival Forest Survival Mountain Recruitment(2)	Extremely cheap archers recruitable from any fort, highland, or mountain. The main downside from these being undisciplined is that you can't control their target priority.
	Bakemono Archer 8 5 9	Darkvision(50%) Mountain Survival Forest Survival Mountain Recruitment(1)	Better trained Bakemono Archers. Better body but still no head armor. Paying extra gold so those size 1 bows can be scriptable and thus easier to point buff.
	Bandit 9 11 5	Stealthy(40) Pillager(1)	Humans in armour and wielding a two-handed spear. Unlike the armoured bakemono, they wear head protection, are still stealthy, and also pillagers. They do lack the overwhelming attack density of the bakemono. Could be used to raise unrest (for various reasons) and ruin someones economy with no plans of future invasion.
	Bandit 9 16 5	Stealthy(40) Pillager(1)	Archer variant of the Bandit. Similar as above, providing a more protected and disciplined archer who retains their stealth. Still fairly cheap in gold but harder to amass the resources for them.
	Kappa 20 1 8 +Underwater Rec	Land Encumbrance(5) Amphibious Recuperation	Your Underwater expander troops. Expensive but will handle most indies so you can profit from underwater resources.
	O-bakemono 25 2 4	Undisciplined Darkvision(50%) Mountain Survival	Big brutes with stats nearly identical to Ogres, these can be used for expansion (best mixed with Bakemono-Sho to limit casualties), siege chaff, and for massing damage output (E.g. to kill regenerating giants). They do extremely high damage but have mediocre protection and only 8 magic resistance. The low resource and recruitment point costs mean that any fort can make dozens of them a turn in an emergency, if you have the gold.
	Dai Bakemono 25 31 19	Darkvision(50%) Mountain Survival	Take that O-bakemono and make him a well-trained samurai. With high attack skill, a big two-handed sword, and heavy armor, these are excellent heavy infantry that take buffs well. For only a few more resources and losing a single point in some stats, the longbow versions are worth the versatility and ranged damage paired with the strength of a half-giant. The longbow variants can be excellent as line holders: with a Hold and Fire order, they will stay put so that you can buff a whole formation (E.g. every Uba can buff 5 squares of them with Mossbody).
	Dai Bakemono 25 35 19	Darkvision(50%) Mountain Survival

Shinuyama's heroes are very important for site searching and . The Tengu King is your only native way to summon Tengus without 21 on your Pretender.

Img	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Yukinaga - Heart Hider	11 9 Darkvision(50%) Immortal	An immortal Bakemono General with low magic paths. Always valuable to have a commander who can't die and has very high morale. Has a bow and can shoot Bane Fire
	Sojobo - Tengu King Hero turn arrival limit(10)	4122 19 Sacred Resist Shock(7) Supply Bonus(20) Flying Mountain Survival Storm Immunity	Gives you that important Air 4 to break you into air boosters and Queens. Also your only way to cast Contact Dai Tengu without a lucky 2 Kitsune random or boosters.
	Tamamo-no-Mae - Kitsune Hero turn arrival limit(10)	223 19 Animal Glamour Spy Forest Survival Stealthy(100) Resist Poison(5) Supply Bonus(30) Shape Changer(Kitsune) Female	Invaluable to cast Antimagic to help with your troops' low magic resistance and efficiently site search and , which you don't otherwise have access to. Extremely high stealth allows her to travel with an army and suddenly appear in a key battle. Vulnerable to Magic Duel as your only Astral mage. With Power of the Spheres and a Thistle Mace, can cast Antimagic, Wind Guide, Howl, and then spam Summon Air Elemental for a key battle.
	Zennyo Ryuo - Dragon of the Cave Hero turn arrival limit(10)	22 13 Sacred Resist Fire(5) Resist Poison(15) Resist Shock(5) Supply Bonus(20) Darkvision(50%) Amphibious Flying Comes with Dragon Pearl (+W, 1 in battle) Cast at start of battle (Natural Rain) Shape Changer(Dragon of the Cave) Female	Weaker precursor to the Ryujin of Jomon. Your highest water access and can raid underwater with Summon Water Elemental. Able to cast Bone Melter (a lesser Soul Slay variant) if you need to kill a low MR thug. The rain is not exciting given Shinuyama's high fire access.

Shinuyama has an unusually large number of national summons, many of which are useful in the right situation.

Img	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Tiger Conj 3 3 10 for 10+	Troop Darkvision(50%) undisciplined animal Forest Survival	Undisciplined, fast beasts with two attacks. Rarely used on this nation, since you need a 2 Uba with a Thistle Mace to cast this, and they are usually outperformed on a per-gem basis by Okami. Summoned by Ambush of Tigers
	Okami Conj 3 1 6 for 10+	Troop Darkvision(50%) Stealthy (40) Cold Resistance (5) animal Wolf Snow-Move Forest Survival Mountain Survival Magic Power(1) Bodyguard(2)	An economical summon, about 2x more Gem efficient than Tigers (a 3 gets 12 for 6 gems), with similar stats but disciplined (so you can script Attack Rear), much better Magic Resistance, Stealth, Cold Resistance, a bunch of survival abilities, but only one attack. Okami are good bodyguards for important mages and are extremely fast light cavalry (on a nation whose main cavalry options are buffing troops with Haste or Quickness), useful for interrupting buff cycles on enemy thugs and sniping poorly protected commanders. As a Magic Power unit, they perform much better in high provinces. Summoned by Summon Okami
	Omukade Conj 4 21 6	Troop Darkvision(100%) Fear (+5) Poison Resistance (15) animal Forest Survival Mountain Survival	Death poison (35 AN poison damage) and 15 attack skill on a tough unit make these useful for killing thugs or as raiders fluffed with Mossbody. Only one attack per square and poor defense. Summoned by Summon Omukade
	Shura Conj 4 3 10	Resist Cold (25) Resist Poison (25) Chill (3) Fear (5) Salt Vulnerability 1 Undead Ethereal Floating Amphibious Need not eat Spirit Sight	are ghost commanders that can lead undead and demons and are Ethereal with Cold Aura, Fear, Amphibious and a Bane Blade. Inexpensive thug chassis useful for light raiding, taking lakes from indies / PD, thugging against foes without magic weapons, and killing enemy thugs. A more efficient use of 10 than giving a Horror Helmet to a Bakemono General to add fear to an army, and cheaper than Revive Bane Lord (Bane Lord). Main weakness is only having 20 hp. Summoned by Ghost General
	Nushi Conj 5 21 25 Need a Swamp.	312 17 Resist Cold (5) Shapechanger ⇔ Swamp Serpent Awe (3) Supply Bonus (20) Homesick (20%) Swamp Survival Swimming Cold Blooded (Swamp Serpent) animal (Swamp Serpent) Female	Honorary Hengeyokai and are basically Naiads with 12 instead of 3 Crossed a snake shape that partly makesLamia Queen Durable (and you can still cast Personal Regeneration). Homesickness prevents them from moving far. They are very useful in opening up your magic diversity with crosspaths. She can't be away from her home Swamp for long but can be defensive by casting Bone Melter and Foul Vapors at invading army. She can also help you climb other paths as she can cast Contact Naiad, Streams from Hades (with a boost), or Hidden in Snow (with Mapmove boosting boots). As a nature mage she can overcome her homesickness with a cast of Transformation. Summoned by Contact Nushi
	Ox-head & Horse-face Conj 6 3 7	Troop Need not eat Demon Spirit Sight	Summons in pairs, for their polearms that inflict "Trap Soul" against thugs; this doesn't Soul-Slay, but it's a tougher-to-resist False Fetters. Summoned by Summon Gozu Mezu

• Call of the Drugvant 41 thaum 7 for 15. A very expensive independent attack. Summons several Daeva flyers with Fear, plus some Bandits. Only the bandits stick around after the battle, so it's likely only worth it if you expect the handful of flyers to kill an important mage.

Tengus
Tengus all have:

• Sacred
• storm immunity
• Flyers
• Mountain Survival
• Supply Size 2

They have high Attack and Defense skill with their two-handed Katanas and can throw a single weak Lightning bolts (Str-3 AN Shock plus a D1 AOE). Unbuffed Tengu have low protection and thus are not effective against archers, but they are a valuable tool for a nation that otherwise doesn't have an easy way to snipe mages with flyers.

Shinuyama doesn't have native access to the paths required to summon Tengus, so 21 can be a good choice on your pretender to unlock high air magic in the mid/late game.

Img	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Karasu Tengu Conj 1 11 3 for 3	Troop	These bird-headed guys have 17 Attack Skill and 16 Defence Skill. Shinuyama has an easier time summoning these than Yomi did, thanks to Kitsunes. Summoned by Summon Karasu Tengus
	Konoha Tengu Conj 3 11 5 for 5 + 1/2*overcast	Troop	These big-nosed guys have 15 Attack Skill and 14 Defence Skill, but you'll also get more of them per cast. Yomi had an easier time summoning these than Shinuyama, but one of your own Dai Oni summons might be able to do it. Summoned by Summon Konoha Tengus
	Conj 5 21 55 for: 15 Konoha Tengu, 10 Tengu Warrior and 1 Dai Tengu	Commander & Troops 3112(Dai Tengu)	Get a lot of Tengu, Tengu with body armor, and more importantly, the Dai Tengu. While they can thug, they are best as extremely mobile casters to put up air magic like Storm, Mass Flight, or Fog Warriors in important fights for a nation with very limited air access. Note that in battle, Dai Tengu can cast spells as a 4 mage with just a Thistle Mace and Strength of Gaia. Summoned by Contact Dai Tengu

Hengeyokai
Magical Shapeshifters native to Shinuyama, boasting a fragile animal form with some of the highest Stealth and Map Move values in the game and a slightly less Stealthy humanoid form that typically has other utility. While they have some Magic paths that shouldn't be ignored, they primarily excel at infiltrating and disrupting enemy territory. Note that, since they're Animals, enemy Nature Mages might shut them down.

Hengeyokai all have:

• Shapechanger
• animal (both forms)
• Forest Survival (usually both forms)
• Mountain Survival (usually animal form)
• Magic Power(1)

Img	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Bakeneko ⇔ Bakeneko Conj 3 2 8	1100% 7 animal Stealth (100/ 80 Cat form) Forest Survival Mountain Survival (Cat form) Female (cat form)	Turns a handful of Nature Gems into a stealthier Shaman with less holiness and randomness (1100%) along with 33% more bulk. This is more of a Jomon summon since you already have Death Mages, but there are pinches when you need extra Mages for cheap. Interestingly, their "human-like" form is tougher for foes to spot than their 100%-kitty form. Summoned by Contact Bakeneko
	Mujina ⇔ Mujina Conj 5 2 21	12010% 11 Stealth (70/ 80 badger form) Fear (5) Spirit Sight Assassin (1, Noppera-bo form) Blind (Noppera-bo form) Shock Resistance (15, Noppera-bo form) Forest Survival (Badger form) Mountain Survival (Badger form) Female supply bonus(20)	Mujinas are turbo-Assassins that flip between Badger & Noppera-bo form when the need arises. They have so much that you might not even feel the need to gear them up: Blind, Spirit Sight, Magic Power, Fear, 12150%, and 15 Shock Resistance. With the gear, they can out-thug thugs in single combat. Be careful when equipping Hengeyoka; their Armor, Hats, Boots, and Weapons will be lost if you accidentally have them change back into their animal shapes. Summoned by Contact Mujina
	Tanuki ⇔ Tanuki Conj 5 2 26	121100% 10% 13 Stealth (80) supply bonus(20) heretic (1) Cause Unrest (2)Forest Survival (Tanuki form) Mountain Survival (Tanuki form)	Tanukis are Sneaky Heretics that Generate Unrest, but they're also slightly-better Ubas with Fire and increased Nature instead of Death (122100% 50%). Amassing enough Tanukis to troll a nation into the dirt is expensive, but some missions are worth doing at any cost. Summoned by Contact Tanuki
	Kitsune ⇔ Kitsune Conj 6 2 30	3250% 50% 50% 25% 13 Stealth (80) supply bonus(30) Poison Resistance (5) spy (Humenoid form) Forest Survival Mountain Survival (Fox form)	Kitsunes are Spies, but they're better-known for having the most Magic of the Hengeyoka (3250% 50% 50% 25%). Even the Celestial Empire has these, though under a different name. The real appeal of these fox-girls for Shinuyama is their Magic; in addition to always having more Nature Magic than the recruits, a fair amount of them (7/16) will give the Bakemono valuable Air paths, and a slightly-smaller amount (3/8) will give them debatably-more-valuable Astral paths. Some will even have the crosspath, breaking the nation into Communions. Summoned by Contact Kitsune
	Jorogumo ⇔ Jorogumo Conj 6 21 32	1221100% 17 Summon in Battle (Large Spider×2d6) Stealth (80) supply bonus(20) Poison Resistance (15) Forest Survival	Jorogumo are solo Raiders, accompanied by decent amounts of Large Spiders and possessing Uba-like Magic (1221100%). Their Spider form is actually more resilient than their human-like form, though they get more attacks that do damage in their human-like form. Though they don't have Earth (what almost every thug needs), their other three-to-four paths offer decent substitutes, and they can always hedge their bets ahead of time with an opening casting of Horde of Skeletons or Foul Vapors. Curiously, they can cast Twiceborn in their size 2 humanoid form, and come back as a size 5 Wight Mage (unless they're instakilled in their human-like form); the Black Sorcerers of Machaka were once able to do this as well, but Illwinter patched the interaction out for them, suggesting that being able to do this trick with the Jorogumo might be an oversight. Summoned by Contact Jorogumo

Oni Summons
The rulers of EA Yomi before the portals closed. Demons with Chaos Power and pillager but have Undisciplined, Gluttony and cause unrest. Oni units have poor protection, with a secondary ethereal ghost form that that returns the original unit (healing all afflictions) after a battle. The unit summons are relatively expensive for what you get, but the Oni General and Dai Oni have useful niches as air mages and freespawn generators.

Oni all have:

• Demon
• Chaos Power
• Gluttony
• Cause Unrest
• pillager
• Wounded Shape (Ghost form)
• Heals afflictions when shapechanging
• Undisciplined (troops)
• Need not eat
• Spirit Sight
• Mountain Survival

Oni Spirit forms also have:

• Resist Poison (25)
• Salt Vulnerability 1
• Undead
• Ethereal
• Weapon Replaced with Phantasmal Weapon (Magic weapon & MR negates damage)

Img	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Ko-Oni ⇒ Oni spirit Conj 1 1 7 for 5 + 1/2*overcast	Troop Chaos Power(1) Gluttony (1) Cause Unrest (0.1) pillager (1)	Useful chaff; despite the mediocre stats, low morale, and no protection, the ethereal second form makes these a better choice than Reanimation for turning death gems into early-game chaff. Summoned by Summon Ko-Oni
	Ao-Oni ⇒ Oni Spirit Conj 2 11 10 for 5 + 1/2*overcast	Troop Resist Cold (5) (lost in spirit form) Chaos Power(1) Gluttony (2) Cause Unrest (0.3) pillager (1) Snow Move (lost in spirit form)	Slightly tougher naked demons; their main contribution is their second attack that inflicts 20 armor piercing Cold Fatigue Damage, which is pretty effective at putting thugs to sleep. Summoned by Summon Ao-Oni
	Aka-Oni ⇒ Oni Spirit Conj 3 11 10 for 5 + 1/2*overcast	Troop Resist Fire (5) (lost in spirit form) Chaos Power(1) Gluttony (2) Cause Unrest (0.3) pillager (1)	They Throw Armor Piercing Fire. These are not competitive with Summon Fire Elemental or Flaming Arrows as ways for Shinuyama to do fire damage. Summoned by Summon Aka-Oni
	Oni ⇒ Oni Spirit Conj 4 11 12 for 5 + 1/2*overcast	Troop Chaos Power(1) Gluttony (3) Cause Unrest (0.5) pillager (1)	Big demons with a high damage sword and Javelin. Similar stats and damage output to Dai bakemono, with better stats in Turmoil, but suffer from a lack of armor. Summoned by Summon Oni
	Kuro-Oni ⇒ Oni Spirit Conj 5 21 10 for 4	Troop Resist Fire (5) (lost in spirit form) Resist Poison (5) (in living form) Chaos Power(1) Gluttony (3) Cause Unrest (0.5) pillager (2)	Oni that throw fire and spit poison. The combination of bad precision and being undisciplined means friendly fire is a real issue, but a small group of these can be useful as counter-raiders. Summoned by Summon Kuro-Oni
	Oni Shugo ⇒ Oni Spirit Conj 6 21 20	21100% 7 Sacred Inept Researcher(4) Resist Fire (5) (lost in spirit form) Resist Poison (5) (in living form) Chaos Power(1) Gluttony (3) Cause Unrest (2) pillager (3) Summon in Battle (Wolf×1d6) Oni Summoner (25) Snow-Move	An affordable 21100% mage summon that will freespawn Ko-Oni chaff. The randoms can cast Bane Fire with a Skull Staff, while the randoms can cast Wailing Winds with a Skull Staff. Summoned by Summon Oni General
	Dai Oni ⇒ Oni Spirit Conj 8 41 45	2231100% 10% 9 Sacred Inept Researcher(12) fear(8) Resist Fire (5) (lost in spirit form) Resist Poison (5) (in living form) Chaos Power(1) Gluttony (5) Cause Unrest (3) pillager (5) Summon in Battle (Wolf×1d6) Oni Summoner (50) Snow-Move	with 3221100% 10%, these are powerful mages with super combatant tier paths, with the vulnerabilities that come with being a demon. However, those paths are common on your Bakemono Sorcerer; hope for an air random for Wailing Winds and being able to Cloud Trapeze. Summoned by Summon Dai Oni

Shinuyama has excellent magic access to 5/8 magic paths, and has one of the easiest times casting diverse high-level magic without communions of any nation.

Recruitable in any fort Bakemono Sorcerer can give you 3, 3, 2, and 3. You can get to 5 by forging a Skull of Fire and then a Flame Helmet, and 4 by forging a Water Bracelet and Robe of the Sea. One can then combine these 4 boosters on a 1/4 2222 Sorcerer to forge a Staff of Elemental Mastery.

Rounding out the elemental paths, if you can summon a Dai Tengu, he reaches 4 with the Staff of Elemental Mastery and can forge the air boosters and then summon elemental royalty if desired.

Shinuyama has essentially no access; so you'll want to find independents and/or have some on your pretender.

One in four Uba have 2 and can forge a Thistle Mace. The 223 Kitsune hero can forge a Moonvine Bracelet and then a Treelord's Staff for high nature. Otherwise, Kitsune are easy to summon and have at least 3 and likely at least one useful cross path.

You'll want to climb to 5 by the late game; there's two ways to do it without empowering or getting a 1/160 lucky random. If you have a pretender with at least 41, he can forge a Crystal Coin, Starshine Skullcap, and then Ring of Sorcery, which allows a 1/4 3 random Bakemono Sorcerer with a Skull Staff and the Ring of Sorcery to forge a Skullface and then cast Lichcraft and Call Wraith Lord. Another option is to cast Forge of the Ancients and then forge the Skullface the next turn so that you're broken into 5 even if it gets dispelled.

Blood is the hardest to break into. The Treelord's staff, Moonvine Bracelet, and Skullface are enough for an Uba to cast Contact Lamia Queen break you into blood magic for the late game. A priority for a limited blood economy should be Blood Stone, since it lets you field a lot more Bakemono Sorcerer with high earth access for things like Crumble, Iron Walls, Army of Gold, and Petrify.

Do you have any National items(Construction Level, Price, and required Paths). Any unique generic items few other nations can forge? What item would be useful on your unit lineup (non-standard recommend thug gear)?

do you have a game plan? Anything you should always be working toward? Any National weaknesses?

Since Shinuyama has no recruitable sacred troops and hard to access sacred summons, a bless should be designed around the Bakemono Sorcerer. Unaging is extremely economical, since Bakemono Sorcerer are very old and have excellent thug paths. That said, it competes with Regeneration, which can be valuable for sorcerers who fix the age problem by using Twiceborn to become Wight Mages.

Because Bakemono Sorcerer have very wide path access, it's generally possible to forge or script a combat spell to get the necessary resistances for a given fight, but resistances on the bless do reduce the effort required to thug with them safely against armies containing mages.

For scales, most forts will be able to max Dai Bakemono recruitment with and as scales; is primarily helpful for strategies involving disciplined Bakemono. is great for the income and heroes; is necessary for the Unaging bless as well as research.

As a result, Shinuyama is a nation where one has a lot of freedom in pretender choice; there are viable builds with many combinations of paths and scales.

The easiest way to expand as Shinuyama is with Bakemono-Sho (the Yari variant).

• Assuming a mountain capital, they cost just 5 and almost no recruitment points/resources, so you can make dozens a turn in your capital. During the first few turns, avoid the trap of hiring half as many of the disciplined variety unless you are gold constrained; having a critical mass of Bakemono is what's important.
• Their high attack density and repel mean that 50-70 can take most indies with 5-10 losses, and will win most bumps. Keep in mind that the club Bakemono-Sho in your starting army are much less effective when estimating your strength.
• If you beeline for mountain/highland provinces, you can start foreign recruiting them and have each such province make another expansion party with two foreign recruit commanders and 40-60 troops every 2-3 turns.
• Heavy cavalry are a relatively easy indie type for Bakemono expansion parties! Take rich farmlands early for the income boost.
• Beware large groups of archers and slingers (Jaguar tribe provinces are particularly problematic, because 100% of units stand and shoot).
• Using mercenaries with shields or ~30 Bakemono Archer ordered to to Fire Archers (hoping to trigger a rout before your Bakemono get murdered closing into melee range) works well against most archer-heavy independents.

One can also expand with squads of Kappa or O-Bakemono. Both units require almost no resources, so you can dump all of your gold into them if you like. These troops will also take losses in expansion, often more on a gold basis than with Bakemono expansion, and will fail to expand against more indie types. Note that it's easy to lose 400+ gold worth of Kappa failing to take an underwater province, so it's rare that you'll want to expand underwater first.

A few other notes on expansion:

• You'll want to start recruiting Dai Bakemono in your capital once you have the resources to do so and enough foreign recruit capacity to recruit all the smaller Bakemono you need. This sword version, with better stats and lower resource requirements, are best when not using point buffing tactics. Note that they are faster in combat than the Bakemono-Sho, so avoid mixing small numbers of them into a squad during expansion; they will run in front, get surrounded, and take losses.
• It can be well worth repeat-recruiting indie heavy infantry for use later in expansion, taking thrones, or in a first war. Since Bakemono-Sho are very killy with low protection and morale, even 10-20 indie units with armor and shields in front of the Bakemono is much stronger than just the Bakemono.
• You will want to recruit some 80 leadership commanders. Generally the Shuten-Doji are a better choice if you can afford them, due to their low resource cost and higher map move.
• The Uba are much faster researchers than Bakemono Shaman in addition to being superior combat mages, and well worth paying extra for in the early game. The 2 randoms are the best for site searching, since you'll want to site search everything with Bakemono Sorcerer for 2221 in the early game, and the nation needs nature gems more than it needs water.

There's are few elements to rush defense and very early game warfare for Shinuyama:

• You can have a very large number of Bakemono-Sho foreign recruited by the end of the first year. These cheap troops trade well on a gold-for-gold basis with most national troops and especially cavalry, and are easy to mass/replace. Be sure to use a good leader and bring enough troops to win decisively before your low-morale, undisciplined troops rout.
• Against hellbless giants, a line of Dai Bakemono with O-Bakemono on the flanks. Because your capital can likely burn 500+ gold on O-Bakemono in a single turn, it's best to avoid recruiting these before you need them.
• Bakemono-Sho are excellent stealthy raiders; ~30-50 led by a Bakemono Chief or Bandit Chief can be foreign recruited in your nearest mountains and take 6-10 PD. For an offensive war, you can easily operate 3-5 such squads leftover from expansion as a complement to a Dai Bakemono heavy core army, each costing only ~200-300 gold. Don't miss out on the opportunity to take many of your opponent's lands in the first few turns of a war.
• In multiplayer, try to keep your troops stealthed when not fighting, so that it's hard for your opponents to know the size of your forces. Especially in multiplayer, having hidden extra forces can lead your opponent to miscalculate.
• Shinuyama can easily forge Effigy of War when you want to make it look like you have an army you don't.

Shinuyama has a few ways to destroy armies using early game magic:

• You can defend very effectively using a line of 10-15 Dai Bakemono on a mix of Hold and Fire and Guard Commander (for any Dai Bakemono present), point buffing them with 3+ Uba just behind casting 5 x Mossbody (Protection is great for any leftover turns). Add additional magic like Strength of Giants, Legions of Steel as available, but such a force can kill many early game armies with a very small commitment of troops.
• Shinuyama can easily mass archers using Foreign recruit. An army with Flaming arrows, with Dai Bakemono and Bandit on Hold and Fire with Bakemono Archer massed behind can be very strong before Arrow Fend is available to opponents. The above Mossbody approach is great for buffing the line of Dai Bakemono. When on the offensive, you can take advance of the stealthy high mobility of Uba in their second shape to reinforce. If you have your air magic national heroes Wind Guide adds a great deal.
• All Bakemono Sorceror make excellent early game thugs. With just 5 gems of Construction 2 gear (Kithaironic Lion Pelt) casting Ironskin, Summon Earthpower, Liquid Body, Breath of Winter, and Fire Shield and an 2 Uba fluffer with 11 casting Mossbody, Regeneration, Enlarge, and Quickness they are heavy thugs able to destroy entire armies of elite troops. It's well worth bringing a Holy Water Bottle if you have a useful bless. Note that replacing their Quarterstaff with another weapon loses the repel; so especially against units with lances, it can be better to use a length 3 weapon (so enlarge brings it to length 4) like a Stinger. Add gear resist whatever magic types your opponent is using or win against counter-thugs.
• Note that a Blacksteel Full Plate is essential to thug successfully against heavy cavalry like Knight of Avalon.
• Beware trying to do fluffed thugging with your own PD present (the Uba fleeing/dying plus the PD dying can make your sorcerer run; a Dragon Helmet can help when it's only 1PD, but a rout is a certainty with 20+ PD).
• The specific combination of high protection, Mossbody, and Temper Flesh / Liquid Body essentially negates 75% of all attacks, even with anti-thug weapons like a Greatsword of Sharpness. With only Mossbody, it's likely that eventually a high DRN roll on an attack will result in Mossbody popping, and the thug dying. If you're worried about flyers hitting you turn 1 and interrupting spellcasting, cast Mossbody and Liquid Body first; for this reason, it's much more important than Ironskin.
• All Uba can cast Mossbody; so if you have a Regeneration bless, a Wraith Sword, or Ring of Regeneration, you can use any Uba for fluffing.
• If you're using 2 Uba as fluffers often, consider using a Skull Staff to cast Twiceborn on them as soon as you have the research. The fluffer often dies, and it's easy to run out of this highly valuable random. And the resulting Wight Mage is a highly mobile Foul Vapors caster.

what is the first big research rush, what is the first big powerspike, where do you shift recruitment to? what are the big magic diversity issues, are there particular globals you should gun for

How do you close out the game if you are in it, is the high-level research stuff you can do uniquely well, does your nation fall off, aka do you have to force things to conclude swiftly

Mandarbmax' Shinuyama

Daibakemono Archer Army guide

Lucid Tactics National Overview

Nations
Early Ages	Arcoscephale • Ermor • Ulm • Marverni • Sauromatia • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Mictlan • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Agartha • Tir na n'Og • Fomoria • Vanheim • Helheim • Niefelheim • Rus • Kailasa • Lanka • Yomi • Hinnom • Ur • Berytos • Xibalba • Mekone • Ubar • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Therodos
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Late Ages	Arcoscephale • Pythium • Lemuria • Man • Ulm • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Jomon • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Midgård • Utgård • Bogarus • Patala • Gath • Ragha • Xibalba • Phlegra • Vaettiheim • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia