I'm not getting my hopes up for that one. Best I hope for is getting a native PanO Multi MR at some point.
I... don't know how I feel about Bolts being available to Mercs. On the bright side, Bolts getting CB attention and should hypothetically see them on the field more. On the other hand, NCA iconic unit now rubbing shoulders with space gypsies to go do Merc work...
The Kempeitai MMR is the standard PanO design. Hannibal’s is an Italieri (still PanO) design, like all ALEPH weapons save for the Feuerbach, which is FGA.
At which point we're back to "the Aquila is the best answer to a Core Fireteam Kamau Sniper". 45.71% Aquila Guard inflicts 1 or more wounds on Kamau Amphibious Intervention Teams (MSV 2) (Unconscious) 16.59% Aquila Guard inflicts 2 or more wounds on Kamau Amphibious Intervention Teams (MSV 2) (Dead) 31.08% Neither player succeeds 23.20% Kamau Amphibious Intervention Teams (MSV 2) inflicts 1 or more wounds on Aquila Guard (1 W) 2.51% Kamau Amphibious Intervention Teams (MSV 2) inflicts 2 or more wounds on Aquila Guard (Unconscious)
I don't think it's exactly bolts straight from the NCA. I think the mercenary companies use those profiles basically as an archetype so that way CB doesn't have to come up with a whole new unit if that makes sense. Like having the securitate and bolts represents hardened veteran troops with light and medium armor.
Yep, THIS. Securitate, Bolts and Orcs are all basically the same guys just kitted out differently (pity ORCs aren't Veteran actually to really underline that idea).
One interesting effect is that we'll be able to run an army that's almost exclusively Veteran. Securitate Core, Bolt Haris, combat Lt, some additional support...
Wonder if Foreign will have unique Orcs like Varuna did, this time around with Veteran. Mostly worried if Bolts will see any changes at all. Would have assumed yes, but lack of any mention gets my alarm bells ringing.
The Orc armor itself is very common in Pano space so its likely the Merc Company just buys Pano armor and REMs.
Just to answer to you and others : yes, Swiss Guard survives more easily, this makes a part of his legend. He is damn effective against standard troops with nothing fancy and maybe some link bonus in addition and that's all. But against high-end troopers or the most annoying roadblocks, he is not that effective. And as there are only 10 orders at best in a NCA combat group, you need the best out of these in your active turns. So, what I'm saying is that you should think about what you really want: Swiss Guard will be easily slowed by Camo/TO/ODD troopers or MSV wielders in FT (or maybe much rarer smoke + MSV combo in reactive). Aquila is easier to ambush with TO troopers and isn't as effective against plain vanilla troopers but excels at removing those which make the Swiss struggle in addition to be an excellent camo sweeper (I won't talk about terrains, I think you all have understood this). So, if you're always playing against MO, Tunguska, HB, USAriadna and other armies which don't have access to troops with MODs or means to cancel them, yes Swiss Guard is gold. But if you're playing against the others, Aquila is much more effective. My point on saying that I prefer taking Aquila sided by a Hexa Sptfire is that a Hexa has also access to the marker state to reach the appropriate range and make the work a Swiss Guard do (he is less effective for this though). If you take the Swiss Guard, the Deva or the BF won't have the same grace as they don't have a marker state to reach their good range. And since they don't have MOD to stack against their target neither the BS to equal them, they're pretty stuck in the DZ if the troop they are asked to remove has such possibility (even in France you can play on garbage tables regarding movement possibilities). Just the idea of losing because I couldn't discover a Tankhunter pains me as hell. I'm not sure if I'm pretty clear. It's really late and I have an exam in 6 hours but that's the conclusion I have reached so far. In my mind, both Guards are worth to be loved at the same level. Both of them have glorious moments and moments you would have prefered the other instead. The Swiss Guard is more forgiving against mistakes and so, I'm not surprised that a lot of players prefer him to the other. But would you play wiser with your Aquila, you would have greater success with him too. It's a different way to play and it took me a lot of time to begin to find out how to play him properly so I'm fine to hear people struggling with him. Just, please, don't say he is overpriced or meh or anything like that. He is really fairly priced. If you want to buff him, this will increase his point cost so becareful about what you wish (and I personally prefer to not have to pay more than 62 points for a skill he will have use on one game about 20).
I said combat group, not army list. Since we have no Strategos, no NCO, no Inspiration Leadership, yes, you have at best 10 orders available in each of your combat group for any non Lt trooper.
The problem with your analysis is, there are no troopers that "make the Swiss struggle", at best you're talking about mimetism/camo + MSV 2, against which the Swiss is a mere BS 12 (and will kick in an Intruder through burst, so you're literally referring just to the Kamau MSR) and which the Swiss can bypass in marker state. Thanks to stealth the Swiss can walk past repeaters and hackers which the Aquila can't. In firefights: Against the vast majority of targets the Swiss is as good or better than the Aquila. Against most camo and TO troops, it is also just as good thanks to its own TO applying to the enemy. Against a handful of very specific mimetism/camo/ODD + MSV troops, it is slightly worse than the Aquila, but better than most other non MSV troops thanks to BS 15 and/or simply not engaging. The only reason to take an Aquila over a Swiss is if you're specifically using the Aquila for camo hunting, but in NCA you're nuts if you aren't already bringing a sensor net second group that provides both the anti-camo capability along with fast FO specialists. The Aqulia is a HI version of the Bolt in NCA; a great model who's profile just doesn't mesh well with the other tools available and is a little too expensive for what he brings to the party compared with in-sectorial competition.
Corvus Belli realized that PanO players have no interest in buying Bolts, instead of fixing them they pawned them off on the Mercs
Mayby they will do both. But in general yes, I find it hilarious that Bolts got fixed only after actually someone started using them ;P
Wouldn't that be hilarious. "Here's Hannibal, the awesome CoC guy! BTW, everything in this army has Veteran, making it pointless!" His Lt profile seems a bit expensive to me, but I don't know what to make of it yet.