Infinity Sneak Peek: Tanko Zensenbutai
April 11, 2018 by crew
We've got another awesome Infinity preview for you this week as we unveil the Tanko Zensenbutai for the Japanese Secessionist Army.
The boxed set for these miniatures come with three models, each of them done with a dose of awesome authentic Japanese style - just look at those hats!
We also have some background for you on this particular unit thanks to Corvus Belli...
"For the JSA, the Uprising signified an alarming drain of trained, elite troops such as the Haramaki. Faced with unsustainable losses, the Japanese High Command pulled the trigger on an intensive recruitment and training program aimed at replacing battle casualties. Dojos across the country relaxed their qualifying standards and training camps were filled with martial artists that would otherwise have been turned away as prospective Haramaki. But their needs required it, considering Japan was on the brink of collapse.
To compound matters, quality craftsmanship suffered a similar hit, especially with the loss of Kuraimori, so a new light powered armour had to be designed. The new models sacrificed some performance for the sake of modularity and ease of maintenance to accommodate the supply constraints of a besieged military. To compensate, High Command furnished this new unit with upgraded weaponry, a cheaper alternative to powered armour. As per JSA tradition, the new unit was named after their novel armour model, and so the Tankō was born to uphold the operational role formerly filled by the Haramaki: that of a frontline, close-combat regiment.
Much like their predecessors, Tankō tend to hail from working-class families and provincial dojos of little note. They have a reputation as boisterous and haughty, always quick to flaunt their acquired samurai status—to the continued chagrin of the solemn bushi-born Domaru. Accustomed to the scarcity of replacement parts, the Tankō have pushed the possibilities of their modular armour to an extreme, and they have become infamous for their habit of diverting or downright stealing supply shipments.
As a result, no two armor suits in the Tankō Zensenbutai have the exact same configuration and adornments. But, despite their motley appearance, these troops are true samurai and would never shirk their duty at the vanguard of every JSA offensive. By design and by character, the Tankō Zensenbutai is an absolutely lethal shock force, battle-hardened by their constant presence where the fight is fiercest and courage is compulsory."
We're loving the look of these models and it really does open the door for some amazing designs for the Japanese Secessionist Army going forward.
What do you think?
While I understand the idea behind the models, they look very weird. Especially the one with the Missile Launcher, looks like he’s wearing a frying pan.
The Concept was so cool…
By the way, one small detail: it’s not “Japanese Successionist Army”, but “Japanese Seccessionist Army”
The looks and fluff of these is nice. Something to think about when I grow my JSA.
I think I love ’em, but I’m not sure… 🙂
I’m happy because I don’t like them very much and have enough minis to convert them into the ones I need xD
The idea and lore are cool, but the execution of the mini is not of my taste. The hats are too strange and too big.
All I’m thinking is that I need to do a re-watch of Samurai 7. A JSA force with all the samurai & ninja-types done up as the various members of the team could look boss….
absolutely brilliant, love em to bits. the armour style is spot but it’s those fantastic hats that steal the show. it just screams bad ass team of far eastern martial artists, stylised, super cool and everyone a character. well done CB for a bold choice.
Great design and rules, probably a must for every new JSA player.
Very Cool! Will be getting them and some domaru.
JSA. Yu Jing will beat them into submission very soon again. 🙂
They remind me to the three killers in the dunes from one of the movies about Kozure Okami.
I’m liking them, but I just think they’d look a bit better with just a bit more of their facemasks visible. Though I suspect the look will grow on me.
Technically impressive as ever. And I’d like to like them. If it were not for these humongous hats and each single model striking a silly looking down pose. What have CB been thinking? I can live with hats throughout the new JSA despite these breaking with Infinity’s core design philosophy of NOT servicing clichee looks. Fine, the new Japs go full on traditionalist propaganda sporting hats everywhere possible now. And this unit as heirs to the (now venerable *sob*) Haramaki are hotheaded show offs favouring style over substance. But then they make them look like huge robot heads and on… Read more »
Yeah… I love the new armor, poses, and weapons configurations as I was not a fan of the old style haramaki. But those heads? What the heck? Especially the one with the frying pan. I hope there are at least a couple different head options. That aesthetic seems to deviate even from traditional Japanese dress since you can’t even see their faces. Maybe it makes sense for Mushashi… but heavy armor? Just weird. And yet virtually every other sculpt done by CB is a win for me.
The more I look at them, the less the heads bother me, but at this point in time, I will probably headswap them so they don’t look so drastically different from my Haramakis that they will have to mix with.
“You’ve gotta have big hats to get in here”.
Oh blimey they look good.