I've been playing around with PanO in army builder recently, and one of the options that I find interesting is the version of the Tikbalang available in MO. You lose the mines but gain an AP HMG, which is pretty scary on a profile with BS 15, Mimetism, climbing plus, and TAG durability. My initial thought was to run it alongside an OS core team containing a father knight w/ missile launcher as a strong defensive option, adding a killer hacker santiago knight also seems like a pretty good choice for the sake of defending the Tik from hackers. How would you run this particular unit?
It's a pretty good alternative to the Hospitaller HMG Haris. it alleviates that need for a long range gun fighter. It's. too bad MO lacks the cheap mid-field skirmishers to support him. it's too bad about the price hike too. and the lack of cheap LT options, as your pretty much forced into taking another expensive, usually un-synergenistic HI alongside the tik. He's a good unit, and a great TAG. the army has trouble supporting him though but you could make it work
Every time I consider using it I feel order short and list constrained, unless I go for it with a OS defensive link and some infiltrators, at which point I have basically ASA, but worse. It's a great unit, but it just doesn't run well with the rest of the sectorial IMO.
Well, I could make those work: Military Orders ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 9 1 2 TIKBALANG OF MONTESA (Religious Troop) AP HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / DA CCW. (2 | 92) CRABBOT Flash Pulse / Knife. () KNIGHT OF SANTIAGO Lieutenant (Specialist Operative) Spitfire, Nanopulser, E/M Grenades, D-Charges / Pistol, DA CCW. (1 | 43) KNIGHT OF SANTIAGO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, D-Charges + 1 TinBot A (Deflector L1) / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 38) MAGISTER KNIGHT Panzerfaust, Light Shotgun / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 23) MAGISTER KNIGHT Panzerfaust, Light Shotgun / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 23) ORDER SERGEANT Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 15) MACHINIST (Father-Engineer) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) TRAUMA-DOC (Father-Doctor) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) MULEBOT Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25) PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) TECH-BEE (Remote Assistant Level 1, Specialist Operative) Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) 5 SWC | 299 Points Open in Infinity Army Military Orders ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 TIKBALANG OF MONTESA (Religious Troop) AP HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / DA CCW. (2 | 92) CRABBOT Flash Pulse / Knife. () KNIGHT OF SANTIAGO Lieutenant (Specialist Operative) Spitfire, Nanopulser, E/M Grenades, D-Charges / Pistol, DA CCW. (1 | 43) KNIGHT OF SANTIAGO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, D-Charges + 1 TinBot A (Deflector L1) / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 38) ORDER SERGEANT Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 15) ORDER SERGEANT Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) ORDER SERGEANT Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) TRAUMA-DOC (Father-Doctor) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) MACHINIST (Father-Engineer) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) MULEBOT Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25) SPEC. SERGEANT (CH: TO Camouflage, Infiltration, Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27) PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) 5 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army But there are tons of possibilities to build your list around a Tik. I just find that it is easier to make some around Seraphs.
It's moments like these where the Military Orders hard limits on Lieutenant start to hurt. But something like this perhaps? Military Orders ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 TIKBALANG OF MONTESA (Religious Troop) AP HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / DA CCW. (2 | 92) CRABBOT Flash Pulse / Knife. () FATHER-KNIGHT Missile Launcher / Breaker Pistol, DA CCW. (1.5 | 49) BLACK FRIAR (Albedo, Biometric Visor L1) MULTI Rifle, Nanopulser, Drop Bears / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 28) ORDER SERGEANT Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) ORDER SERGEANT Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) ORDER SERGEANT Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 15) ORDER SERGEANT Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) FATHER-KNIGHT Lieutenant (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Breaker Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 45) SPEC. SERGEANT Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21) FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) 5.5 SWC | 299 Points Open in Infinity Army
Do you think not running an engineer or a killer hacker is a detriment? I've got to admit I've not played much against assault hackers yet so I still don't have a feel for how dangerous they are.
If you keep running Tags in a small meta they pop up to counter you. If you don't have killer hackers and they posess your Tag it's close to game over. And if you do have Killer Hackers their assault hackers are easy prey. With MO they have even more incentive to take them.
I think I'd go with something like this: Military Orders ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 9 1 TIKBALANG OF MONTESA (Religious Troop) AP HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / DA CCW. (2 | 92) CRABBOT Flash Pulse / Knife. () JOAN OF ARC Lieutenant Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, AP CCW. (1 | 51) KNIGHT OF SANTIAGO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, D-Charges + 1 TinBot A (Deflector L1) / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 38) KNIGHT OF SANTIAGO (Specialist Operative) Spitfire, Nanopulser, E/M Grenades, D-Charges / Pistol, DA CCW. (1.5 | 43) ORDER SERGEANT Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 15) ORDER SERGEANT Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) ORDER SERGEANT Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) ORDER SERGEANT Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) MACHINIST (Father-Engineer) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) WARCOR (Sixth Sense L1) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3) 6 SWC | 299 Points Open in Infinity Army But I really like the lists @Ayadan came up with.
I think the thing is: your link is mostly going to be defensive static firepower that you can use to support your TAG, and therefore with that plus TAG plus Engineer you've basically got three slots to fill for other roles. Different missions have very different roles and therefore like most TAG lists I'd say it is heavily mission dependent as to what else you want.
IMO, you don't need this AP bullets. 15 BS 16 damage HMG is enough to destroy any target. And it is very difficult to build nonLI lists with MO tikbalang. Really better to take new Seraph if you want HMG, because it (faster, cheaper and even have +1 arm) instead of mimetism. I'm not very strong at MO, but maybe it still worth trying something like this? Military Orders ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 8 2 SERAPH HMG, 2 Nanopulsers / EXP CCW. (2 | 79) CRABBOT Flash Pulse / Knife. () ORDER SERGEANT Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 15) ORDER SERGEANT Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 15) ORDER SERGEANT Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) ORDER SERGEANT Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) ORDER SERGEANT Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) JOAN OF ARC Lieutenant Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, AP CCW. (1 | 51) TECH-BEE (Remote Assistant Level 1, Specialist Operative) Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3) GROUP 2 5 SPEC. SERGEANT (CH: TO Camouflage, Infiltration, Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27) MACHINIST (Father-Engineer) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) PEACEMAKER Heavy Shotgun + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21) AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4) MULEBOT (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) MULEBOT (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) 6 SWC | 299 Points Open in Infinity Army
Yea, this is frustrating especially as MO Tikbalang just got a premium price increase for lulz. Played similar list but with spec OP CoC, as I think you cannot play enough agresively Joan without CoC to make this list work.
It's definitely a big risk, though I'd hide her behind KHD, SF Tikbalang, and link team fire lanes whenever possible. In general Tik should be able to kill hard targets with less risk, while Joan should have an easy time going for the soft ones.