So the issue is that the new stationary aspect suggests passivity? If that's the case, I'd argue that it depends on the way they are used. Throwing a Koala past a corner, so the defending troop will have to deal with it and your upcoming charge in their ARO - that's a fairly offensive move. In terms of rules, the Koala will be treated as stationary, but if you picture the scene as it would actually happen without this layer of abstraction, the Koala works more like a self-propelled hand grenade.
we'll just have to agree to disagree - to me JSA is the "ride or die" - "fight with reckless abandon" - "kamikaze" faction - in both terms of fluff and playstyle, for the most part, they've taken a piece of equipment that's stylish and self serving and turned it into something that's kind of cumbersome and order intensive. I'm not saying the CK changes ruins this or anything so dramatic, just that if Yojimbo was designed tomorrow he probably wouldn't have them. The crazy koala changes are probably better for the faction because it makes them alot more defensive, and better for the game in general.
The new Koalas are far better for JSA, they've gone from just being passive ARO pieces or chaffe to blow up mines to an active attack weapon. You want to deal with a unit that's being difficult to get past. If Yojimbo can get within 16" of them, no LOF required, he can dump a Koala in striking distance of them. Next order, Yojimbo activates again and moves in front of this unit. Either they contest the smoke he's about to throw in their face and trigger a free damage 15 hit from the Koala, or they dodge the Koala. They can't do both they've got to choose. You can force all sorts of shitty decisions that allow Yojimbo to straight up either kill them or block their vision off.
I wouldn’t bet on that, but also maybe just think about them from a different point of view - Yojimbo is racing along on his motorcycle, and tells one of his CrazyKoalas to jump off the back of the bike and bounce 16” into a nearby enemy. In game terms, they’re as static as you choose them to be, because they now go off against AROs, not just against the Active Trooper. Order 1, Yojimbo zooms up near a target and sends out the CrazyKoala. Order 2, he screams round the corner into LoF, daring the target to shoot as that will prompt an automatic Dam15 Shock hit as the CK bounces again. Assuming the target survives, or Dodged, he then races up into combat. Cinematically, that’s less static than in N3, where they just ran alongside him and completely ignored the guy trying to shoot Yojimbo.
Follow up question: The Boost skill states that 'to avoid the attack' a normal dogde roll is made. And: 'After detonation the weapon is removed from play' I think this can be read as: if my oppnent successfuly dogdes, the koala does not explode because the attack is avoided (not the damage). Therefor it stays on the table. What are your thoughts on that?
No. The CrazyKoala detonates regardless. The Dodge just means that the target avoided the detonation.
No? Avoiding the attack doesn’t stop the attack from happening. EDIT - the target avoids being affected by the attack. They don’t avoid the attack happening.
Hey, i couldn't help but notice that Yojimbo has minelayer on his dismounted profile only. How does he actually make use of that?
Dumb question - do the Crazy Koalas themselves trigger AROs if you put them in LOS of an enemy model? I always get the deployable rules scrambled in my head a bit. Edit: Ah, nevermind found it "The Token is placed at the Conclusion of the Order in which the Trooper declared this Skill. The enemy may only react against the Trooper that declares the Skill, not against the Weapon or piece of Equipment that is placed on the table during that Order or ARO."
Can the Koalas be placed in a seald room, if yojimbo is directly outside, but his ZoC is inside? Seems legit in the rules, but is maybe not intended
No, the Koala has to have a path traceable to the source, as per page 88 (see my added underline); ► Deployable and Perimeter Weapons and pieces of Equipment with both the Deployable and the Perimeter Trait have the following additional rules: ► When players declare the Place Deployable Common Skill, they place the Weapon or piece of Equipment totally inside the Zone of Control of the Trooper, instead of placing it in Silhouette contact. ► It must be possible to draw a path from the Trooper to the Perimeter Weapon’s location. The path cannot be blocked by an impassable obstacle (for example a wall of infinite height, a closed door or sealed room...) or a gap too small for the Silhouette Template of the Perimeter Weapon to pass through.
Deployables must be placed "totally inside the ZoC of the trooper" Just a clarification for anyone else who might have overlooked that. (Cant gain that extra inch placing it touching edge of your ZoC)
Are you allowed to measure before you place or is it place it then measure and if it's outside of range you lose it?
This is a good candidate for the unresolved questions thread I'm running in the rules forum; but I'll note that it kind of ties in hard to another question that hasn't got an official answer and that is how much of a skill's details you need to give when declaring it. That said, I think the least amount of bent rules gives this answer; When you declare the skill you need to tell your opponent where your unit deploys the CrazyKoala from and what position you want to deploy it in. When measuring during Step 6 (Resolution), the the CrazyKoala is not entirely inside your ZoC from the position where you declared to use the skill from, the Koala will be lost. Likewise, if a model moves into the spot you declared to deploy the Koala to, such as by means of Dodge, then the Koala will also not deploy and it will be lost.
Not gonna lie, the last part about your opponent dodging a model to the position of crazy koala is fucked, it's a corner case to be sure but still fucked!