Reading over both of the Yan Huo profiles, they seem to scream "rambo piece" and "please target me". How do you guys use them?
On their own: HMRC/MHMG- Lying prone or behind a Wall on top of a building with good sight lines, then popping up and erasing anything in sight. Extreme range shooting is also feasible if no buildings are available. DML- Find a corner with extreme range sight lines and use it as a turret. On a fireteam: MHMG- Mobile firebase and main aro provider for the team DML- Turret with the posiblity of active turn shooting
The Yan Huo has a whole host of problems at the moment, unfortunately. The HRMC itself is a pretty nasty gun, but with no other bells or whistles and a pretty slow frame to mount it on, the Yan Huo just leaves a lot to be desired. Compare it to the 0-12 Gamma unit, and things just become sad. It's hard to believe there's really three points difference between these two units, and it really goes to show just how inadequate the Yan Huo is. The Neurocinetics ML is intimidating as a defensive tool, but B2 in ARO is not going to be as practically successful against most of the real active turn threats. Moreover, lack of Courage is crippling. Every time you fail a FtF roll, you run a 35% chance of falling behind cover and wasting your entire investment. It's one of my favourite models, and I love the gun itself, but with that investment, I'll probably get more done with a Hsien, Su Jian, or Mowang. I've just been having a really hard time fitting it into anything lately.
Models are awesome. HRMC is a great Move+Shoot monster. 4-2 MOV doesn't matter if you never Move-Move. 2xML is much harder to use well. MHMG is really kinda overshadowed by the HRMC.
I love mine, the HRMC is a great attack piece and a good pick for a hold-back as even when the opponent knows you have it left to deploy, there's a good chance they will leave you a couple of easy targets. The dual missile launchers (whether you go for the basic or neurocinetic profile) isn't as reliable but the threat from those templates is very nasty and there are situations where it becomes incredibly useful. (Particularly as part of a co-ordinated order.) The multi-HMG is the hardest one to justify outside of a link (which is only available in IA) because it is just that little bit worse than the HRMC but when part of a haris team it's a solid choice. Special mention to the missiles in a zuyong special haris because burst 3 missiles are really good.
Invincible Army ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 3 YĀN HUǑ (FTO) 2 Missile Launchers / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 52) ZÚYŎNG (Fireteam: Haris, Tactical Awareness) Combi Rifle + 1 TinBot B (Deflector L2) / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 34) HǍIDÀO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 26) 2.5 SWC | 112 Points Open in Infinity Army BS 14, B3 ML in the active turn with a tinbot protected KHD +Tactical Awareness.
I like the HRMC in Vanilla, I pair him with a Zhanying with nimbus grenades in case a linked sniper (like a Kamau) shows up. It's a really fun piece
Is that legit? I forget how the ruling came down. The special haris says it's 2 x Yan Huo + Zhanying. Wildcards can join any team, but my read would be there is no space for them as 2 x Yan Huo are listed as a requirement and the Wildcard does not count as a Yan Huo. I could be wrong. *edit* Looks like I am wrong! That's pretty amazing, then. Makes a YH haris a lot more affordable.
It also enables the amazing KHD + Tinbot Deflector 2 combo. It's a really unique Haris overall and I've grown to enjoy it a lot.
The Yan Huo are great models to paint, but I wouldn’t recommend using them. Compare a dao fei , hsien, hac tao or su jian to the hmrc yan huo. I just don’t think he stacks up to any of those . Compare the ml yan huo to the ml hac tao. While the yan huo is cheaper and offers B2 , the hac tao beats him out with hidden deployment... it’s fairly easy to avoid a yan huo. It’s much harder to predict when and where a missile will come from in hidden deployment , or what the missing points are at all. still, great minis, and that alone can justify using something .
With the last Army update for TAGs, I would like to run this Haris in one of my lists for the upcoming Merovingian tounament in France, but with what would you support it ? As it will be Limited Insertion, I don't know where to go with it, because a Core of Zuyong will be more usefull in anyways, and a Zhanshi one with a Haidao MSV2 will be even more deadly, despite losing the ML but at nearly 30pts less...
Probably something like this: Yan Huo Haris + Zhanshi Core ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 DĀOYĪNG Lieutenant L2 Hacker (Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 29) MÓWÁNG (NCO) Red Fury, Akrylat-Kanone / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (1 | 52) ZHANSHI (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) ZHANSHI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 11) ZHANSHI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 11) HǍIDÀO Engineer Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 28) SHÀNG JÍ (Tactical Awareness) Spitfire / Pistol, Shock CCW. (2 | 45) ZÚYŎNG (Fireteam: Haris, Tactical Awareness) Combi Rifle + 1 TinBot B (Deflector L2) / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 34) YĀN HUǑ (FTO) 2 Missile Launchers / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 52) HǍIDÀO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 26) 6 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army Or if you really want to cram the Zuyong Core in: Yan Huo Haris + Zuyong Core ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 DĀOYĪNG Lieutenant L2 Hacker (Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 29) TAI SHENG Breaker Combi Rifle, Chain-colt + 1 TinBot B (Deflector L2) / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (0 | 45) ZÚYŎNG (Fireteam: Duo, Tactical Awareness) HMG / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (1.5 | 38) ZÚYǑNG Combi Rifle / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0 | 27) HǍIDÀO Engineer Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 28) PANGGULING FTO (Repeater) Light Shotgun / Electric Pulse. (0 | 13) ZÚYŎNG (Fireteam: Haris, Tactical Awareness) Combi Rifle + 1 TinBot B (Deflector L2) / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 34) YĀN HUǑ (FTO) 2 Missile Launchers / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 52) HǍIDÀO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 26) CHAĪYÌ Yaókòng Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) 4.5 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army
Yan Huo is fun, but it's not quite 50+ points of fun. It's too slow for that, lacks MODs for it or lacks survival compared to any other S5. I'd say high 40's points of fun is where it reasonably should be. Even when compared to Az'rail, whom trades BS 14 for WIP 14 and MULTI for AP on the HMG, it's still not 12 points difference, so something truly is fucky with Yan Huo cost.
Yeah, he's not the most efficient choice and one of the victims of "new profiles are more efficient but it's not power creep". However, I find this particular Haris option quite interesting anyway, since it has a great internal synergy and B3 ML is something unique. The low movement of the Yan Huo is also somewhat mitigated by the "free" Tactical Awareness order of the Zuyong. Not meta changing in any way, but still a nice little incentive to put this bad boy on the table from time to time.
Thanks @Knauf for your lists! I will cogitate a little around them, but they looks great, I might try one of them, but don't know which one yet. The Mowang has done wonders for me in the past, but I'm little affraid to run my Zhanshis out of the deployment zone, that's not something I'm familiar with ^^" But with the Haris behind... "Cogitating intensifies"...
I wouldn't count on winning too many games with them, but they should be fun to try out and maybe surprise some of your opponents.
Thing to watch out is that dedicated ARO's, something as simple yet solid as Acon Regular sniper will already be a problem for YH ML even with B3. I mean, yeah, they don't have mobility to engage something of value like fat pieces or links on their active turn, and they also don't have surprise factor to threat those target better in reactive. That's to be expected. But it's the fact that you will be banging your head against simple defensive links and its own movement with this unit is depressing.