Help.

[Martok]

YS are probably my favourite unit (apart from teppo of course). Like Sasaki said earlier in the thread they make up the backbone of your force. Players more familiar with MTW's spearmen types should not confuse YS with those units. They are much more capable.

Seconded. Yari Samurai are indeed excellent troops, which in retrospect is perhaps a little surprising considering they're "mere" spearmen. But then, as you've just pointed out, they're an order of magnitude better than those found in MTW. (It was actually a rude surprise to discover that spears in MTW weren't nearly as good as those in Shogun.) I've long since come to rely on YS as my armies' mainstay -- and to *know* that I can rely on them.

Yari Ashigaru are less dependable. Use them to pad out your armies and as cheap garrison units but don't rely on them too much.

FWIW, I find that YA can be surprisingly effective when defending bridge battles. One simply has to make sure to back them up with stronger troops (either YS and/or WM) in case they break -- which does happen to me, but probably not as often as you'd think.