Taiki & Niseru

When he was younger, Taiki was a light-fingered miscreant with a heart of gold and a taste for anything cooling on the kitchen window. Pies, rice cakes, and sweet treats were his pilferage of choice that he would then dutifully dole out to all the other wayward children too. He grew up hard in a myriad of villages nestled in the Ro-Kan Mountains. Taiki was never selected to join the Temple of Ro-Kan, but his eyes never left the monks when they trained, and between what he watched and practised and tousling with the other village children, he adapted a fighting style all of his own. Niseru, his now stalwart companion, also had a spurious approach to what was his and what belonged to other people. His penchant ran to fermented apples that would get him tipsy, as well as being able to open a sake bottle or a beer keg. But when they teamed up? They became a tsunami of almost unstoppable thievery. Were it not for the way they defend the village and the villagers from attack and unwanted aggression, this mischievous pair would have fallen foul of the local militia long ago. But the two are inseparable, and the villagers have grown fond of them, even learning to turn a blind eye when a meal or a drink magically disappear.

Taiki’s Ape Ki Feat requires a friendly Monk model for Taiki to watch and copy as best he can. This allows you to break the activation order, take TWO activations in a row, and give Taiki additional melee options. Taiki also brings Event-Trap cards to Temple’s Monk themes for the first time. When paired with Niseru, Simian Trickery allows for a wide range of tactical plays that keep your opponent guessing where these models will attack by spreading out then using the feat to outnumber the enemy suddenly. Niseru is more of an annoyance than a combatant, but the negation of Surprise can be a real boon, especially with the recent release of the Shiho. Changing Special Attacks from 0 cost to 1 is a real worry for specific lists; those Takashi now have to pay for Critical Attack!