A buddy of mine may get into the game with me but he is a bit overwhelmed by the shear volume of rules, options, builds, etc. he mentioned that there are 300 point premade armies but wasn't sure how viable they are. what is the general consensus here about it?
sorry I didn't specify. I meant Corregidor, I also posted the same thing in the aleph section for the steel phalanx. figured the bromads would know if the mobile brigade army had merit or if it was CB trying to offload some back stock lol
You've essentially two options for Nomads: 1) Corregidor 300 point box, not the best list, lacking a full link team or any decent cheerleaders, it makes a decently priced expansion from the Nomad starter into Corregidor though. I probably wouldn't recommend it to a new player, more of a second faction booster IMO. 2) Operation: Icestorm and Beyond, now we're talking, lots of useful troopers complete with tailored tutorials building from simple to full complexity over a series of missions, perfect for a newbie starting the game. It also gets you dice, tokens and a bunch of terrain. On the downside you need to find someone else to take the PanO half or commit to starting two armies.
I mean it is playable I guess and it has a lot of useful troops... but it's not very good as a 300pt ready to go list imo.
Just to expand a lil on colbrooks point - the 300pts box actually makes a great second purchase to expand what the general Nomad starter brings to the table. Combined with the starter you get some fine options, especially if you proxy the Starter Spektr as Moran and the Grenzer as an Intruder Sniper for the time beeing. The only thing that's a lil hit or miss for me are the four Mobile Brigadas because you either build a list around them or you pretty much leave them out.
I haven't seen any premade lists but if they're made out of the box they're pretty bad. If you or your friend wants I'd be happy to help them make a list within their budget or with whatever models they have.
It's not that great as a list, but you're getting a lot of models for a very good price (if you're getting it through a discount site).
I'd go either for Operation Icestorm + Beyond Icestorm for a starter force, or buy single models and start playing with lower point games and proxies, so he can figure out himself what kind of unit archetypes he enjoys. If the goal is to play competitively / in tournaments, there are plenty of guides on YouTube and here on the forums. The corregidor 300 pt box is not well suited for that purpose.
The problem is that Corregidor's box is a pack with a not very useful "backbone": The Mobile Brigadas are seldom used, and the tomcats, while great, won't see the gaming table in great numbers (1-2 is the limit). If you want to start Corregidor, be aware that most of its central units are not used in Vanilla Nomads lists, and starts with the Corregidor Starter Box, the two Wildcats Blisters, the Jaguar Box, the Alguaciles Box, possibly the Beyond Icestorm box (for the Intruder Sniper and a second Hellcat, the Kriza is for Vanilla or Tunguska), the Bandit (s) blister (s), the Moran blisters (suffer the "must have unit, old sculpt" tax here), and the Nomads Support Pack box, then Remotes. Please notice that the Nomads Support Pack and the different Remotes boxes and blisters are a must have buy for all Nomads options atm, not because you always bring them to the table, but because several are used in the lists (one or another, or several at once, or...). As for Why no Brigadas? The Geckos (~55 pts "mini TAG") cover their slot better (it's a box of 2, never buy 4 of them however, since you won't field so many). Also, the Iguana (the "real" TAG for Corregidor) sees better use in Vanilla, but it's a nice TAG.
I view the Corregidor box as a really great expansion: it's a bunch of units that you'll want but nothing you 'need' immediately*. But it's not what I think you need to start Corregidor. Much as xagroth says: Corregidor Starter Box, the two Wildcats Blisters, the Jaguar Box, Senior Massacre blister, Bandit Hacker blister, Intruder HMG blister, Dark Sun Analyst (good Dak / Clockmaker proxy). Then I'd grab the Alg box and the Nomad Support box and only then the Corregidor box. OTOH Operation: Icestorm and Beyond: Icestorm are a really great start to the hobby. There's a bunch of corregidor units that you can use and it gives you the option of playing Vanilla if you want. Adding the Alg box, Corregidor Starter and the Nomad support box to the Icestorm minies will give you the core of a CJC force that you can easily expand.