Basic Unit Statistics
| Recruitment Cost | 350 | |
| Upkeep Cost | 300 | |
| Melee Attack | 2 | 6% |
| Charge Bonus | 2 | 5% |
| Bonus vs Cavalry | 0 | 0% |
| Range | 150 | 23% |
| Accuracy | 30 | 33% |
| Reloading Skill | 20 | 22% |
| Ammunition | 20 | 40% |
| Melee Defence | 1 | 2% |
| Armour | 1 | 12% |
| Morale | 6 | 15% |
| Speed | 4 | 33% |
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Fast firing and long-range infantry who can fill the sky with arrows.
- Very vulnerable to cavalry and weak in melee. Not as damaging as matchlocks.
Description
These men are pirates with no honour and no code to follow. They fight to protect the regions they control and live off plundered goods and by extorting money from others. True, they are not samurai, but they still know how to fight! In the time it takes to fire and reload a matchlock firearm, these men can loose a dozen arrows at the enemy with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Once the enemy starts getting close, these pirates retreat behind friendly melee troops for protection. They are not armed or trained for close combat and are very vulnerable to cavalry attacks. The Japanese ability to deal with their pirate problem was hindered by the civil war and the lack of a strong central government. The Chinese and Koreans, who were on the receiving end of many wako depredations, continually demanded that the Japanese deal with the pirates, but each solution only seemed to halt them for a short while. Attacks on known wako ports, mass beheadings and even bans on foreign trade did not seem to make much difference to the wako. In 1588, Toyotomi Hideyoshi declared that any fighting in Japanese waters was illegal at the same time as he banned peasants and other non-samurai from owning swords. This effectively made piracy almost impossible, also hindering anyone thinking of raising a revolt.