Help Me Kit Out Jomon

[Stryke11]

I'm taking the new Jomon for a test drive. I've been away from the game for a short while. While they still seem as weak as ever they are a lot more fleshed out, thematic, and fun. I wish all nations had this level of attention put into them (I would love to see what MA Ulm's special underwater only troops would be).

I have read the nation guides in the guide section, but they all seem written before the changes. My main question, as the title implies, is what items to use to make the most of my national summons.

I just read a guide by I think Baalz on effective thugging and a lot of it resonated with me as I tend to spend many times over what the thug is worth to equip them. Sure they do ok, but in the bigger map 2 hour turn SP games I play just organizing all that takes forever. I would like some opinions on what is the best bang for the buck.

To start with, the ujigami and kenzoku. These guys are basically ethereal twin brothers. Uji has priest levels and Ken has awe. Since Uji loses one priest level when leaving his home (way too many Jomon troops have this hindrance) Ken is by far the winner. I can't imagine ever summoning the other, especially as the paths are the same.

Now, bargain basement, I have been sending out my kenzoku's for crowd control with a horror helm and one of the reinvig boots. That still keeps their cost manageable. The sword they come with is actually pretty nice, so I didn't think spending the gems on a 'brand and a shield (vine or the air shield one) was warranted, under the bang for buck scenario. So, community, how do you kit our your kenzo's, and do you ever use Uji's?

Oh, I should mention I'm using the latest CBM. I wish there was a CBM "manual" that gives you magic and troop stats and pricing that were changed.

Dai Tengu - Thunder strike out of the box. Mostly I send 'em out naked, but if I can afford it I'll give 'em a robe of shadows. Being as an air booster costs almost as much as they do, that seems wasteful. I can see how a storm staff can help them in certain situations, and it would allow the storm power buff, but it seems really niche. I try to give them gems and have them arrow fend, but that's such micro because I have to leave the gems with a spy or non magic commander since otherwise they'll waste them all. Any other fun DT kits I could try?

Tatsu's - I dunno, these guys look like they can rock the party that rocks the par-tay, but in practice I am unable to use them optimally. They have the HP, but only two misc slots if I recall and so itemizing them is problematic. As far as magic they get a random pick twice (so EE, AA, NN, etc) which is nothing my national mages can't do. They seem like a waste. Any other ideas?

Yama-no-kami seems cool but I only used one of them since they can't leave their home without being hit by a big nerf bat. I had him guard the one chokepoint in my game and he did ok, but he isn't NEARLY good enough as his placement on the research tree and horrifying nerf would suggest. My feeling is that if you have a unit that must stay in one area that unit better be the almighty God of that one area, defeating whole armies by themselves. Otherwise why bother? It's just for fools like me who like thematic immersion.

Kitsune seems ok, but just as a spy - magic is nothing my recruitables can't do. Jigami, Mori-no-kami, and Kaijin all seem pretty useless.

Ninjas - I haven't actually used any recruitable ninjas, but I did get two of the free multihero ninjas and sent them out with robes of shadows and boots of strength (as shriuken is strength based). They seemed a little light for me. Would it be better to equip a bow? Are their other more effective assassin accouterments that I am missing? I can afford to spend some more on these guys since they are so rare.

Shura's and Dai-Oni's - I have summoned these boys but haven't put them to use. What are some synergistic kits for these guys, remembering again that I play SP and as such use them mostly for crowd control.

Oh, as an unrelated question, I only recruit Aka-Oni Samurai. I just don't see any situation where any other troop in the roster has an advantage that outweighs the low prod cost and the mapmove 2. The o-ban seem cool, but just a few more prot points don't seem worth it. Anyone know something I'm too oblivious to see?

Thanks! Sorry of this is long. My brain starts spewing and off it goes.