I replaced my standard Sukeul hmg with a Draal Ap rifle in the lists I took to a satellite event this weekend, findings below: Cost- Below is a chunk of my standard list that i run along with the changes made to scrounge the points for the Draal. The Swc saving allowed me to swap a Sakeil lt to a Sakiel spitfire, doing so then meant I had to shuffle a kamael specialist to be a lieutenant. Finally minelayer was dropped from a Nikoul to find an extra point. So overall this meant the list has the same number of specialists and minelayers but cost one point more rather than the five that the Draals cost suggests. Tohaa ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 4 KAMAEL (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) NIKOUL Minelayer Viral Sniper Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 30) SAKIEL Lieutenant Viral Combi Rifle, Nimbus Plus Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24) SUKEUL HMG, D-Charges / Pistol, Breaker Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 35) 3 SWC | 102 Points Open in Infinity Army Tohaa ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 4 KAMAEL Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) SAKIEL Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 23) DRAAL (Minelayer) AP Marksman Rifle, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1 | 40) NIKOUL Viral Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28) 4 SWC | 103 Points Open in Infinity Army Synergy- As identified elsewhere the Nikoul is a bit of a beast when firing through the stratuscloud, bringing down a Tariq to 3 dice on 1s and fully linked elite snipers to 2 dice on 10s vs the nikoul's single 12. Somebody mentioned Le muet but I'm confident this would be overkill. At that point anything that can shoot/ignore the Nikoul is probably using smoke or Msv2 which both work just as well against the more expensive artichoke. The profile itself- The cloud is amazing, a misplay on my part saw the Draal take on two members of a full keisotsu link at once and reduce what should have been 4 dice on 13s in aro down to 2 dice on 10s. Unfortunately this brings me on to the worst bit of this guy, the weaponry. Whilst a Viral pistol is brilliant that ap rifle hits like a wet noodle. The range is a bit of an issue but vanilla Tohaa can overcome this easier than Spiral I think, but when you make it into range leverage your abilities and then inform you opponent your big dude is making them save against dam 13.... feels bad. Ap is fairly wet in most scenarios, I feel like this guy is crying out for a Viral marksman rifle or something. So in closing I think the Draal is an awesome addition to the Tohaa arsenal with a modern stat line and some unique rules that really seem to enhance the game without just being raw power. However I think I made the wrong call in replacing the Sukeul and making the above changes mentioned in cost, In future I would be more inclined to replace my Sakiel with a smg Draal and retain the Sukeul. Something like the below obviously costs a few points more again then my usual load out and still loses some range and killing power but closing 16 to 8 tends to be easier than making up for the 32 to 24 range band. Best bit of the Draal though has to be that model, so get it on the table and give it a go. Tohaa ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 4 KAMAEL Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) NIKOUL Viral Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28) DRAAL Submachine Gun, Pulzar, D-Charges, Dazer / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 30) SUKEUL HMG, D-Charges / Pistol, Breaker Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 35) 3 SWC | 105 Points Open in Infinity Army
So another thought came to me, Draal with LeMuet. The odds against non msv units are extremly in his favor. Placed in a way there he has good sights and the draal so that stratuscloud covers the muet...the enemy needs msv or crit to take out muet and even with msv its still not easy to do.
I rarely use LeFuet because he's very expensive, but yeah, this makes him even better as ARO piece. In Active turn it's only one dice, but it should be enough against the typical TR Rem that will be rolling 3 dice with a -9 modifier.
Just finished third at my first tourney with the new guys and did a lot of funny stuff, including using my symbiobomb on a Kiuutan to erase Sheskiin on her first order and killing my opponents models with the Kriigels fart gun! The one unit that overperformed heavily was the Draal, though. As expected, the Stratuscloud+Gao-Rael spitfire combo is just bonkers, but there is so much more to this guy than just that. Being able do move 6 and shoot is just awesome, too and a B4 SMG is nothing to laugh at, when you have to shoot at -3 against BS13. Also: Combat Specialist with two wounds and a Dazer! I know that the Draal comes at a price and most if the things stated above can be done by other units, too, but the Draal can do all of it. I really don't see many reasons why I shouldn't just field him all the time.
You can't put a Symbiobomb on Impersonation markers, that's true. That's why I deployed the Kiuutan as a model and held the Symbiobomb Kaeltar as a reserve troop.
I'm borrowing this, have to make all those Sheskiin players cry [emoji14] Also congrats on third! Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk
So apparently I'd totally misread the Stratuscloud, in particular assuming that unless you activated it at game start, it would only last one turn. But unless I'm misreading it, it will always last for two player turns (being cancelled at 'the end of the following player turn'). This opens up possibilities.
yeh it essentially lasts for the current round. also, from what i can tell, it still stays on the table even if the draal goes unconscious, as going unconscious isn't a cancellation clause.
This is true. It is also disposable (1), so while you cannot re-activate a Stratus Cloud, as it stands right now it can be reloaded by a baggage unit and a new one could be activated.
The last bullet point of the rule states "Once this state is cancelled, the player cannot activate it again." This prevents multiple uses of stratuscloud unless you have multiple Draal. Which is good, stratuscloud is one of the more powerful new rules and should be limited. A Draal AP MM rifle in a regular triad with stratuscloud active is better than a triad Sukeul HMG Vs a core linked fusilier ML, ORC feuerbach, and kamau msv2 sniper (Thats all I've put in the dice calculator so far but they're the golden standard of the various core linked AROs imo). It's also a fast moving, multi wound specialist that's good at dodging template weapons. The unit is top notch, I'd be hard pressed not to bring one all the time in vanilla and I've regularly run 3 in spiral corps with great success.
Ah, I missed that that clause was stated in the State rules and not the equipment rules. That does make it impossible to use again.
Well, I've been playing that wrong. If this clause is in the rules, why even make it disposable? It just adds confusion.
Hmm, I've gone ahead and made a rules forum post about it. https://forum.corvusbelli.com/threa...cant-be-activated-a-second-time-anyway.33541/
As I said there... This clause would mean that, RAW, if you have the 3 Draal on the table, you either have all three Stratoclouds going up at the same time, or the moment the first one stratocloud (Draal #1) gets cancelled (because of duration, for example), you cannot activate the stratocloud of Draal #2 or #3...
Note how it says that human attempts have been unsuccessful, while both Tohaa and CA (seemingly) already have it. I guess it's either a hint at some new unit with access to Stratuscloud for Shasvastii or perhaps.. more Sygmaa?