Red Bear Infantry

Red Bear Infantry
Appears in	Fall of the Samurai
Belongs to	Tosa
Type	Line Infantry
Ammunition	10
Soldiers per unit	50/100/150/200
Attack skill	6
Charge bonus	15
Anti-cavalry skill	5
Armour	2
Defense skill	4
Range	125
Precision	40
Loading speed	35
Morale	8
Produced from	Barracks
Special abilities	Kneel Fire Suppression Fire
Cost	990 SP/800 MP
Upkeep	130
Turns to train	1
Unit cap	None

Red Bear Infantry are a type of line infantry in Fall of the Samurai.

Description

The Red Bears are line infantry from Tosa, with modern training and weapons.

Armed and equipped in the latest foreign style, but wearing a form of traditional red-haired “wig”, these men are staunch sons of Tosa. They fight as line infantry, delivering disciplined volleys of rifle fire into the enemy. They carry foreign-made rifles that are accurate, powerful and quick to reload. Despite being motivated and having good morale, the Red Bears are not particularly well trained in close combat. They are also vulnerable to cavalry attacks if they are left in exposed, unsupported positions.

The red bear wigs, or shaguma (meaning “red bear”), worn by these Tosa infantrymen, were a peculiar affectation of Imperial troops during the Boshin War. While amazing and intimidating helmets were common currency for samurai warriors in earlier periods, there doesn’t seem to be a ready explanation for why an otherwise modern force would adopt such hats, except for the fact that they look wild and scary. The red colour used by Tosa troops is alleged to echo the red hair Dutch traders who were confined to Nagasaki during the Shogunate, but this explanation does not really explain very much or seem all that rational. Dutchmen, like most mainland Europeans, are not especially likely to be red-haired. The wigs, then, seem to have been a nod to traditional warrior attire, and just plain intimidating to enemies!

Strengths & Weaknesses

• Good accuracy and reload rate.
• Average in melee.
• Weak against cavalry.
• Good morale.

General Information

Unique to the Tosa, Red Bear Infantry are a step above line infantry, superior in most categories save armor and bonus vs cavalry. They are correspondingly more expensive to train and maintain, however. Red Bear Infantry are in turn inferior to Imperial Infantry/Republican Infantry/Shogunate Infantry, yet are cheaper. For those factions that can afford to shoulder the recruitment and upkeep costs, training Shogunate/Imperial Infantry is the better option.

The exception to this rule is if the player wishes to betray their allies and transition to a Republic come realm divide: whereas all Shogunate/Imperial Infantry disband automatically if a faction declares itself a Republic, Red Bear Infantry do not, allowing the faction to retain its line infantry forces.

Red Bear Infantry have identical combat statistics to Black Bear Infantry, Azure Dragon Force, and White Bear Infantry. However, while the Red Bear Infantry and Azure Dragon Force can be recruited from 2nd-tier barracks, White and Black Bear Infantry can only be recruited from 3rd-tier military buildings, making it require considerably more time and research to obtain them. Red Bear Infantry are thus a useful stepping stone between line infantry and Imperial/Shogunate/Republican infantry.