Missile REMs going into line troops has been a pretty consistent thing for the last year - this will likely be more of the same.
Nox being the only Core fireteam is one thing i find really interesting. So many of the LI and MI listed there having no fireteam options really signals to me that a lot of troops will likely have access to marker states or suchlike. How many of them will be pseudo-skirmishers, like Streloks or Zulu Cobras? And what about all these troops and characters that are AVA1 and have Special listed beside them? Is it all just gonna be Nox + Friends? Very interesting to see how this turns out.
My thought was that last year's Gencon release was the OSS/TAK box, and both of those armies were officially released in 3rd Offensive a few months after Gencon, rather than Uprising a couple of months before. Also the Gencon release isn't always an Operations box; in 2017 is was Beyond Icestorm and Beyond Red Veil. It's not impossible that this year will be Beyond Coldfront (and maybe another smaller thing - maybe that Knauf/Arslan box?)
Well, we already have precedent in Onyx and Corregidor. Both of these sectorials have more than 1 light TAG and no main battle TAG or another armored option. And Shas IMHO wouldn't use main battle TAG, so another light TAG wouldn't be that weird for them. Of course maybe there is mistake in the sectorial chart and Gwailos have profile similar to their N2 version. Don't forget Jayth Cutthroats some of the special fireteam options could be linklable with them. Yes, but at the same time new Yu Jing IA sectorial was released in the 3rd offensive, but models were realesed in the January. Also Bostria said in one video seminar for the sattellite tournaments that Shas were planed for 3rd offensive, but they were moved to Daedalus' Fall. According to him Morat video in 3rd offensive week should be Shasvastii video, but plan was changed 2 days before planed shooting. What also speaks that Shas will be Gencon release is shedule we was and there is last blue N as gencon release and these blue N were always release date for the new sect models.
I really hope it's just a shas big box. They need so many minis so would be good to get a big chunk in one go
The GenCon release is quite unclear atm. They've made reference to it being a 2 player battlebox, which breaks the tradition of them being every 2 years. Tohaa and Shasvastii would make sense as that would mean all the core factions are in a 2 player box, but they've said they wouldn't do 2 alien factions in one box before as the aliens don't sell as well (although they also said they wouldn't have Aleph in one, so they might have changed their mind), and also Spiral Corps is pretty much a Tohaa release. I could still see Tohaa vs Shas, with a new Tohaa starter to replace the one that's being discontinued. Another option is Shasvastii vs an NA2 army, but I dunno what would be in the NA2 starter, I guess Brawlers don't really have their rifle profile sculpts, just the SWC stuff. It's a lot harder to guess this year with the info we have so far than it was last year. I reckon Shasvastii is gonna be part of the GenCOn release though.
We could still get a surprise force tomorrow. But of the existing forces I think could be in a battle box, I think Shasvastii is one because it has many new troops (especially Line Troops), it could also be a general Combined since none of the previous ones were a specific sectoral. I guess Red Veil was with Ramah but it might have been a coincidence. For the second it's hard to say. Spiral already has many of it's line troops now. They just came out with a box of the Kaauri. Foreign Company & Dahshat already have many of their troops. Ramah already was in Red Veil and their new troops are not high AVA. So my thought is that it might be Varuna! Here is why, the Varuna box set is all SWC troops as well as all of the single blisters that have come out. Here’s what a Varuna set could look like 2 Kamau Combi Rifle 1 Kamau HMG 1 Helot 1 Orc 1 Trauma Doc Or Machinist
Ramah in Red Veil was intentional, they pointed out as much in the previews. Coldfront was pretty explicitly OS vs TAK.
I had forgotten about Coldfront, but that makes the case of Shasvastii vs. Varuna even stronger. They have said that people wouldn't do a box set of of aliens because people don't "identify" with them. But what if they do Alien vs. Human?
I still think a Foreign vc Shasvastii is possible and is still my guess to the Gencon release. The ForCo force could be: 2x Kaplan 1x Brawler 1x CSU 1x Cube Jager 1x Zero 1x Valkyrie Exclusive Kind of strange having a Bakunin there, people waiting for a new sculpt and having to get in a big box could get angry, and having Cube Jager, brawler and CSU that have newer sculpts is strange but not impossible...
I know. As i said, it's all but one SWC troops. They have only 1 Kamau with combi. They could use at least one more (medic). Unless you are going to do a core fireteam of nothing but Snipers, Rockets, and a hacker. They have yet to come out with Helots. The only new Orc is the Feuerbach, and PanO NEEDs a new Doctor and Engineer. All of those things will make PanO players want to get the box either for Varuna or Foreign Company or whatever else.
I don't think I'd ever need more than one Kamau combi, it can represent an FO/Medic/Haris and 99% of the time if I need link filler it's going to be Fusiliers for half the cost. ORCs are totally getting a box, probably with Patsy. New Doc/Engineer is going to be in a support pack as that's the most efficient way to do the SKUs and directly replaces the old repack one. A Helot would be nice to have though, but again I'd prefer a box rather than just one.
Ah but if many of those things were in this box, would you get it? It might be what you get the Montessa biker in too.
I'd be kind of pissed, we need a full ORC box, and a proper support pack. The Kamau aren't much use, so I'd basically be buying the box for the Helot, which I'd still want more of.