Is this Bostria hinting that Pan O is getting put OOP as he always intended? No need for an updated support box if the faction is gone... As I only play ASA I'm just going to echo the calls for updates on Rao and Singh. They're both really cool models and I'd love a reason to use them. Especially Singh, he's the only recognisably Indian mini in the range, seems a shame the only representation of such a big part of the Acon population isn't really worth using.
When did Bostria want to put PanO OOP? ;) About that support pack - it sounds like there will be a philosophy change, and PanO will be at the forefront of it. It might be both good or bad.
Well, Pan O was a mistake [emoji14] It could be a hint at a new way of packaging to combat SKU bloat. Bigger boxes, maybe a scrapping of the 6 man starter and a move towards boxes like the JSA and Spiral boxes for every army. The USARF starter has already been discontinued so you can only get it in the army box. The 6 man boxes haven't ever really made sense as a starter force so changing them to be more intuitive to new players would be very welcome.
OOh, maybe PanO's Doctors and Engineers are being replaced by next-generation REMs? At lest they'll be WIP 13 if that were the case.
Deletion of generic Machinist for a transision of this role into main MI core units of PanO (Bagh-Mari, Bolts, Kamaus(?), suck it up MO) ?
Or Father-Engineer will become Father-Knight (Engineer) having some Kaplan-style gear and retaining it's basic profile. And maybe becoming full wildcard instead of OS link member. But this won't ever happen :P
On this note, I wouldn't be surprised to see this happen. I also wouldn't be surprised to see the Vanilla starters become actual starters, with them including support pack, dronbots, etc. Stuff that works across sectorials and will always be used.
I've said it for a while, the best way to combat SKU bloat is to do 300pt boxes for all factions. Wrap up loads of skus into one box and have a few bits and bobs like the "beyond" boxes and blisters as extras
Well, gotta show that WIP -1. I think most of PanO is just fairly happy with what we have, and it's fairly easy to summarise favoured additions. NCA, ASA and Varuna are all great, MO is fluffy and most things people want in it are easy to summarise (Smoke, Better Teutons, An End To Spec. Sgts) and nobody plays Vanilla at all so there's nobody to complain!
A lot of our minor niggles are far more major issues elsewhere. For example, the CC tax pushing up the price of Order Sergeants is far more significant in Yu Jing and solving it for them will also help us.
Eh, vanilla Yu-Jing is more than capable of 20 orders at 300pts, so I'm not really able to agree here. Re valuing arm, re valuing BS on the basis that skills give equivalent benefits for less (BS literally protects you, as does mimetism for less price than a +3 BS bump).
Your objection is nonsensical. Their ability to get to 20 orders (dubious in a viable Vanilla list) is irrelevant the point that CC is an issue, it's what breaks the Order Sergeant, and Yu Jing have a better chance of getting it fixed than we do. But, assuming it gets fixed, we'll still benefit.
The zanshi CC tax issue is a non-issue if given their lack of sectorial (okay, NA2 for the contrarians), they will only be used in vanilla YJ and said vanilla YJ still doesn't have issue with order counts. Order sgts are never taken in vanilla, but also have a sectorial built on the premise of them being the basic infantry. I do agree that YJ will likely see it fixed before us though, because past evidence shows a lack of will on the team to deal with the mess here.
IA has Zhanshi too, and their order count issue is worse than MO if they aren't going REM spam or Zuyong.
I was thinking a lot about the Father Knight – wouldn't it be a cool fix if they just switched his assault out for Berserk. That would give him a unique role, he would useful and still true to the flavor.
