As thread says, I'm still trying to digest it a bit, for now I've been both pleasantly surprised and disappointed at the same time. I still have to process everything. Also... Asura has Liutenant L2 whatever that is :D And Superior Infiltration on Andromeda!
Many pleasant surprises (Asura HD+ MULTI Rifle Lt2!!!!! WOOHOOOOOOOOOO, Deva AHD+Lightining WOHOOOOOOOOOO), but lack of smoke is just criminal. Also, no additional Dakini options. :'( She gets 2 Lt orders. If she's Lt.
Asura Spitfires are now pretty damn attractive given the Haris and Lt2 options. Arjunas feel like they haven't been playtested properly. They're extremely fragile for their cost. New Deva options are pretty nice.
My impression is that the Sectoral is extremely strong and flexible, large order counts despite powerful and efficient troops. The complaints over lack of smoke are pretty laughable tbh.
My first thought is that I need more devas (will wait to see if new sculpts happen). Also, I hope we get a new asura with spitfire sculpt.
Lack of smoke is indeed a shame, even if expected. Dakini have been a bit of a disappointment, no new profile, mediocre fireteam choice and for all the fact that they're possibly the most squishy line troops in the game between crappy dodge, ARM 0 and inability to go prone, we can't field an engineer with them in any form of fireteam. On a side note...wasn't the Sophotect listed has having "SPECIAL" fireteam in the pictures that got out a week ago or so? Am I hallucinating things? Also in general most of the fireteams aren't that exciting to me, I was expecting something better to be honest. Also after all the nice toys added with Tunguska like REM bike and G: Marionette, I was expecting something nice along that lines, but while we had a lot of nice profiles, nothing really with fun mechanics (I guess we have Jumper LZ, but being more or less a passive it's not something I feel it's... "fun to use") Can't find a possible use for Arjunas. On the good parts (that I've found for now)... Asura L2, somewhat better Rudras weapons, fireteams with rudras and samekh (eve if not with dakinis has I've hoped...) 0 SWC Chain of command, Jumper LZ, Andromeda got a bit better. We got Biometric visor L2 and a Viral rifle. Also Dakini fireteams between buffs, fireteam core and Jumper LZ can go to BS 16, Markmanship L2 and +1 Burst. Overall I find that it doesn't seem to be a bad Sectorial by far, but I think it's nowhere as interesting as Tunguska has been recently, nor as Steel Phalanx has always been. And Ariadna got the better end of the stick this time, for all I loathe it for the lore attached, the TAK sectorial looks quite nice to play and with a considerable firepower that I wasn't entirely expecting.
Imho Vedic is a much better Sectorial than TJC. They're just better at doing several things at once and get Posthumans for insanely strong 6 wounds for 40 something points. TAK on the other hand has me scratching my head. Just seems nuts in between T2 everywhere, great Camo troops with AVA through the roof, Wildcard Vet Kazaks that can link with everything and AVA Total 9 points Order Monkeys. I really like Vedic, it's just that TAK seems a tad bit close to OP for my taste. Which is a hell of a statement next to mixed Deva/CSU/Dakini Fireteams, LT L2, Upgrade Lightning WIP15 NWI AHD and the usual Aleph bullshit that is Danavas, Proxies and Nagas. No idea if people saw the 6-2 Mimetism with ARM/BTS3. Or the 6-2 bots with E/Mauler and Cybermines. Or Specialist Operative on the base Profile. The Spitfire is a nice G:Sync gunner that can mow up light troops no problem, together with 6-2 and the Kiranbot Arjuna are a nightmare for HI and TAGs. So... Specialist, D-Charges, TAG murder bot, 6-2 Spitfire on a Mimetic gunner. The guy can do everything. Remaining problems are it's 40 points, exists in Aleph next to Posthumans and is significantly worse against the usual Ariadna, Haqq and Tohaa lineups. Seems like occasional list 2 material, but they do something distinct enough to take them over i.e. a Yadu when you feel you need more Specialists and stopping power for big stuff.
RE: Rudras. I find its weapons distinctly mediocre and uninteresting. Damage 13 across the board is a big downside for 36+ point unit, as is the fact both Shock Marksman Rifle and Red Fury are Shock.
It's not Shock Marksman Rifle, it's K1 so that at least is a bit better. Honestly when they introduced it like the "ultimate gun platform" I was expecting at least HMG if not HRC or MultiHMG (at a higher price of course). Something like the REM cousin of the Yan Huo Invincibles. For all Red Fury and K1 might be good, I wouldn't call Combi Rifle variants "ultimate gun platform" worthy weapons. But considering at first we only got the profile for Multi Rifle in Vanilla, at least it's an improvment! Edit: Also they can end up in a fireteam core of Yadus (not Dakini unfortunately, not even Devas, but still a fireteam Core)
Agreed, literally the only things I'd consider a Rudras for is the linked Repeater and 2 sturdy wounds. Let's be honest Vedic's hacking is nuts. Then again Hacking is useless vs a lot of stuff, so it's not a mainstay for a staple allrounder list. Antisynergy with Assisted Fire and hardly any benefit from Apsaras is a real bummer on top. A K1 MMR to supplement a Yadu/Deva/Rudras Haris with anti TAG firepower and Whitenoise is the main argument here.
I am excited. The Arjuna looks like a lot of fun. Do we have renders yet? I hope the models are equally as awesome. The mixed fireteams look neat. I am wanting to run the Asura +2 Deva team. I am think Spitfire Asura to get burst 5 MSV3 spitfire, with a couple of flanking hacking Deva's to protect against enemy hackers and to push buttons. Rudra has me interested. Arjuna, Rudra, Naga minelayers, Yadu drop bears, aleph can layout one wicked minefield! AVA 3 Nagas and Dasyus, sweet. I am going to have to proxy some things and see what works for me, and what doesn't!
Yeah, I'll admit I was hoping for a HRMC as a premium option on the Rudra too, particularly as the RPG lists a model of HRMC that is almost exclusively used by Aleph's forces. But K1 on a good-BS REM that can benefit from Marksmanship might have potential more than the sum of its parts, and has potential to be one of our 'anti-big-thing' options, considering the initial consensus seems to be the Marut works better in Vanilla. Apart from that minor disappointment, I'm excited about what we got! Torn about which Deva to throw into a Dakini link, since I want four Dakinis in order to benefit the most from the Apsara - the AHD+Lightning one, or the MSV2+Spitfire one? The Dakini team itself can fairly easily fit in a MULTI Sniper and a HMG and a Paramedic, since Vedic at first blush doesn't seem to be as SWC-strapped as Vanilla or Steel Phalanx. Arjuna seem like they can Cautious Advance past a lot of things that might otherwise be a problem.
K1 is shitty ammo against anything except TAGs, and frankly, TAGs don't need even more counters. So even with that I feel it's quite underwhelming for 40 points. Only one I'll consider is MULTI Rifle for 36 points, and that just so I can have a midfield repeater for Garuda.
I disagree. K1 sniper is really bad. K1 marksman rifle is as good as a marksman rifle versus about everything (and honestly, if it has ARM0 you don't care), and will be a huge threat against armored and TAG. You wound them on 9- if they are behind cover, nothing to joke at. Especially on a buffable remote.
Well K1 starts being better than combi starting at ARM2 of the target. Quite good at putting those werewolves down.
You are missing my point. I don't care about wounding TAGs (or HIs). We have so many other ways of dealing with them (E/M weaponry, Hacking), that I'd like a high damage weapons to deal with everything else. And yeah. K1 Sniper is pure insult (Teucer :'( ). K1 Marksman is just meh. I don't rate normal Marksman Rifle highly* either. I'd have liked 2 Feuerbach option. Would have made for kickass looking model and would be interesting, strong but not too strong (as it would have cost around 45 points and 2 SWC), and frankly would have been just fun to play. Make it unlinkable and done. On expensive assault models. On cheapish Line Infantry it's useful, sure, or on specialists.
Whelp, I just read the entirety of rules regarding Jumper LZ and it seems it can't stack with Assisted Fire AND it works ONLY on REMs in firetams! This is a MAJOR bummer. It is suddenly dropped from a great skill to the "REMs can't have nice things" hole :( Why is it even available in Vanilla? :|
