So this ITS we can have an extra that allows us, paying 1 CAP, to field up to 75 points in mercenary troops (whose AVA adds to the base we had, unless it's a character, who stays at 1). Be mindful, this Mercs can be aligned by Tohaa and the Combined Army if the tournament allows this extra. Disclaimer: I am using the Army's data, Paradiso would forbid several mercs in this list to fight for Aleph. Let's have a look at what we have, and what we might face, in order of interest. Yuan Yuan: The most dangerous troop this ITS, since it's cheap, can show up and ruin your day, and can delay the first turn a lot because of the Booty roll. It is an Extremely Impetuous Irregular troop with Booty Lv1, fragile but with PHIS14 and smoke grenades. This means he will try to enter unless you spend a regular order to cancel it, and it can enter with the impetuous order, then use his irregular order freely. Stat-wise is CD9, melee 19 (careful: a 17 while rolling Booty gives them a Monofilament sword!), with the most common profile being the chain rifle one, either AP/shock (8 points) or the AC2 saturation especialist DA wielding (9 points). Cheap as dirt, and depending on the booty (which you roll when they enter, so if you are unconvinced by the roll, you can try to land another one there!) they can create an impressive chaos. The most important thing about this troops, however, is not what they bring to you, but how they can be used against you. They can try to land in the table with 11 (inferior Combat Jump) or enter through a border, but PanO is quite happy to place them in front of their Aquilas, Nisses and Order Sergeants, the same way YJ uses Shaolin Monks. Steel Phalanx needs to stay alert, since a template-wielding troop close to them can do a kamikaze attack and damage the whole fireteam. Bashi Bazouks: Another sacrificial troop, it helps to throw pressure on the rival by entering (through a pre-noted side, AD1) as three markers; while this gives the troop away, the point here is that the rival won't know what profile we are using until he surprise-shoots something: E-Mauler at 17 points, SMG in the cheapest (12 points) option, and so on. Also, by disguising the Irregular order's presence somehow we can make the enemy think it is another troop, like Patroclus impersonating Achilleus (place 3 in the table. One might even be a real Achilleus!). Another possible disguise is Patroclus as a warcor at one side, the Bashi Bazouk as something else in the other... Miranda Ashcroft is another good option, since she doesn't have to roll booty like the other Bounty Hunters. Cateran: Kinda like a cheaper Knauf, better at dodging but worst at firing, it gives the option of a camo'ed 0.5 Sniper Rifle for a little more points than the sniper Bounty Hunter, which is VERY attractive for CAP-starved factions like Aleph and SP. However, remember we are already paying 1 CAP to add mercs to the list, so this is more like a compensation. Mayor Lunah: Almost as expensive as Knauf, 1.5 CAP... she is like a more shooty Cateran with multiterrain, stealth and Marksmanship X. Do you remember the last time Teucer used Marksmanship X? Because I don't. Anaconda, and Scarface & Cordelia: Cheap-o-TAG, Cordelia is better than a Thorakite engineer (less shooty, but mimetism), we can see any of this on the table as remnants of ITS8. In generic, any Posthuman IP is better as an assault platform. McMurrough and Señor Massacre: Vedic might use them, Mr Massacre has E/M grenades. I see little sinergy with generic or SP, so they would go like in Corregidor (but unlinked, sorry Mr M). CSU: Him or a Thorakitai, it has a Combi instead of an SMG... aside from that, the Thorakitai are better side-guarding cheerleaders. Avicenna: 27 points a 15-5 Medic which heals at 18... SP has a use for her, alongside Machaon, but in Generic the Sophotect gives more by costing 4 extra points (d-charges, engineer). Padre Lucien Sforza: Irregular, Holo n2. Can be used to play mind games with Bashi Bazouks and Patroclus. Viral rifle, ADHL (same range than the rifle...), nanopulser, heavy pistol, electric pulse... Main selling point: X-Visor, which goes well with WIL13 to discover enemy camos. Saito Togane, Yojimbo and Miyamoto Musashi: Again, no sinergy here, we can play them like how JSA or YJ does. Saito is possibly the most interesting of them, since he infiltrates, is a melee specialist, and carries smoke grenades. EXP weapon makes him an option against an enemy AC2, or to take down the enemy Datatracker on Acquisition or Power Pack, but this last one seems more suited for Musashi. Druze: Cheapest hacker (aside from Proxy mk1 hacker), KHD version gives us remotes without paying CAP. Aside from this and the light grenade launcher, Thorakites are a better option atm. Kaplan: Mimetic Courageus troop, it brings a 27 points medic to SP, or a mimetic ARM2 sniper with PB9 (Warcor? Ha!). This troop is quite problematic in Hunting Party if we face Qapu K., since QK can deploy a Fireteam Core of 4 engineers with ADHL and a medic... and there they are Veterans, so they get another ADHL, for a total Burst of 3 in active turn, and 2 in reactive... Ideal to play "let's freeze the other team"!
Nice list. I would add that warcor can also be taken as a mercenary, allowing to field no less than 3 of them (1 vanilla + 2 extras). In Aleph, most of these options seems unimpressive since we usually have troops that can do the same thing better. The only ones who really do things we cannot do might be Saito Togan (melee proficient hidden deployment) and Anaconda/Scarface in Steel Phalanx (only TAGs here, through their utility is debatable). I think that for us, mercenaries are better seen as a source of cheap, expandable troubles. Yuan yuan, warcors, bashi bazouks ... I see extras as more a problem than a benefit for us, since it means we will probably face many of them, and they can be really troublesome for us. All those cheap, disposable, yet dangerous troops are a big problem for an elite army. I wonder what we could use to defend against them. Maybe it would be a good bet to field several smg thorakites on our flanks and put them on suppressive. They are cheap and well armored for their prices, plus religious means they won't have to retreat.
Well, I opted to talk only about the new additions, not the increase in AVA. While it's true we get 2 extra warcors, we also get +3 Bounty Hunters, another Cube Jaeger, +2 Krakot, a Wardriver, Valerya Gromoz, a Kempeitai and a Civilian. But since they can be fielded without the extra, or are exceedingly situational... I agree it's quite likely Aleph will face them, but using Yuan Yuan can be extremely disruptive (I took down a Hsien HMG using a Yuan Yuan with an ADHL...), the same as the Bashi Bazouks. As for defenses, yeah, 12 points Thorakitai FTW in the flanks. I think the best defense against this troops is to be able to count them. Aside from the Yuans and Bazouks, they are either on the table, or in Hidden Deployment, and we know you can field 75 points of mercs. So if you see Scarface, there shouldn't be surprises, for example.
I’m quite tempted by Saito Tōgan. As ninjas are just too cool to pass up. I could also see some fun in running Yojimbo alongside Penthesilia - or to provide smoke cover for a Marut.
Well, Penny is a mixed bag of wonders in my experience. She excels in closed maps, where she has trouble moving due to her size 4... Point-wise Yojimbo is good, but he will be in the front quite fast, while I prefer to stick a Myrmidon to the Marut's ass to prevent enemy throwaways to engage her in melee and stay there.
As far as Merc’s go I like run Patroclus as a war core and using a Bashi Bazouk on the table as achillies to mask the irregular order and draw attention away from pat.
Cool thread! Id be interested to try a Marut list, which uses Yuan Yuans for smoke support and clearing out hackers before the Marut advances. Didnt manage to write up a full list yet
The main problem is the SWC cost: you are spending 3 on the Marut, plus another on being able to deploy Mercs, leaving you with 2, thus limiting you HI options to Achilles (Multi Rifle), Asura (Multi Rifle or H+), or Ayax, since all HI Posthumans have a SWC cost of 2, and you will want one or two hackers. Also, the 120 points cost of the Marut is nothing to sneeze at! It's quite likely that it will resemble something like this: ALEPH ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GRUPO 1 9 1 CATERAN F. de Francotirador / Pistola, Arma CC AP. (0.5 | 21) NETROD . (0 | 4) NETROD . (0 | 4) NETROD . (0 | 4) DANAVAS Hacker (Disp. de Hacker Plus. UPGRADE: Maestro) Fusil Combi + Pitcher / Pistola Breaker, Cuchillo. (0.5 | 25) PROXY Mk.1 Ingeniero Fusil Combi, Nanopulser, Cargas-D / Pistola, Cuchillo. (0 | 10) PROXY Mk.5 (Observ. de Artillería) 2 Subfusiles, Nanopulser, Granadas E/M / Pistola, Cuchillo. (0 | 10) PROXY Mk.2 Hacker (Disp. de Hacker de Asalto) Escopeta de Abordaje, Nanopulser / Pistola, Cuchillo. (0.5 | 21) SOFOTECTO Fusil Combi, Cargas-D / Pistola, Cuchillo. (0 | 31) MARUT Teniente (Strategos N3) Ametralladora MULTI, Lanzallamas Pesado, Nanopulser / Arma CC AP. (3 | 120) KARKATA Pulso Flash / Cuchillo. (0 | 0) Rebot LAMEDH Pulso Flash, Sniffer / Pulso Eléctrico. (0 | 8) Rebot LAMEDH Pulso Flash, Sniffer / Pulso Eléctrico. (0 | 8) GRUPO 2 4 4 YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Granadas de Humo / Pistola, Arma CC AP. (0 | 8) YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Granadas de Humo / Pistola, Arma CC Shock. (0 | 8) YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Granadas de Humo / Pistola, Arma CC DA. (0 | 9) YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Granadas de Humo / Pistola, Arma CC DA. (0 | 9) 5.5 CAP | 300 Puntos Abrir en Infinity Army If there were a Specops extra avaiable, then we could go with a Mk1 medic, a Specops Medic + engineer, and change the 8 point remotes for 13-15 Dakini ones, but it would be a list centered around either missions with Paramedic bonus or killing missions.
Why the sophotech in your list ? She's good, but i find her too expensive for a Marut list. I see several weak points in your list: 1. low flank/rear coverage (no zayin/thorakite). That's a huge problem if extras are allowed, because your opponent will also be able to field yuans yuans 2. too many unreliable orders (3 netrods in main group is a thing i avoid whenever i can) 3. yuan yuans have no regular order in it, meaning you will have no way to press the advantage even if one of them is in good position I would remove the sophotech, she won't bring anything good enough to make for her price. With that, i would take some SMG thorakites, who will be able to cover the Marut's rear. And i would put the netrods in the yuan yuan group, unreliable orders for unreliable troops. And try to find 3 points for a yudbot, the MK1 will need it badly.
Fast, impulsive lists tend to go that way, I'm afraid! (first casualty: group composition). The problem is that we need a medic and an engineer, since we do not have a single type of troop; in that regard, an Asura Spitfire would be more interesting, but she cannot be our Lt (I would go with dual Deva+Devabot, one of them the Lt, and they would cover the flanks). This means using the Sophotect, because she is little more expensive than Avicenna (who would be her contestant, keeping the mk1 as an engineer), and barely 7 points more expensive than the next medic. I suppose we could go for Thorakitai engineer + Proxy mk1 medic, but that would be quite risky for the Marut, compared to having a WP 15 engineer. Personally, I don't even try to make lists with a Marut and more than 1 combat group, since in the end is just a bunch of flunkies and one triumph (maybe with a reserve card), and that's it. The advantage is, of course, that if the Marut gets taken down during the enemy's turn, it's very easy to start in Retreat, thus finishing some scenarios early.
Ho i see, well when i run a marut list i usually only run an engineer. No doc, i'm counting on NWI. It may be troublesome for the danava, but else the list is so order and points starved that i don't find the doc worth. I'm a big fan of AD, i try to keep one AD in a list, even if it's "only" a BSG garuda (this toy has won several battles on it's own till now :p ), and even in a 10-orders list, so i'm always careful with opponent's AD. It may depend on the meta through. One way to resolve both the "cover the rear" and "i need another heavy weapon" is to take a zayin, especially when you also take a danava. Assisted fire murder bot is nice, and if the marut is pinned down by msv, you can always white noise + shoot them :) Yes it's too bad the spitfire Asura can't be Lt.
