What I really want to see is people's use out of Arslan. I feel like he would actually be great decoy LT material. Fatality on the multi-rifle will make him a heavy hitter and Hassassins know how strong light shotgun templates can be. That extra damage might make him a link team killer if he gets close. I don't think I want to put him in teams with the dronebot. With the dronebot I want to set up a firebase with Valerya and utalize the pitcher combo at range, but Aslan really wants a link team that moves up the board and delivers him close. Bayram are going to be an interesting sectorial. Staying power dependent on armor and roadblocks in the form of cheap tags/saturated x-visor/sniper support, and template/repeater hell
Normally, I'd say that arm 3 isn't going to provide much staying power but crunching numbers in the dice calculator, a Druze link has good odds to win shoot outs with even camo units with combi rifles (surprise shot gets negated by ssl2). Of interest is the long list of weapons they can take. Panzerfausts in a full link team are pretty nasty AROs vs TAGs and they are now only the second link team in the game with access to E/M LGL. Both weapons give Druze ways to deal with high tech enemies.
Yeah, the more I look at Arslan the more I like him. He might be on the expensive side, but he got a combination of NWI, MSV, decent BS and a weapon selection that makes anything regret getting within 16' of him. I mean, Fatality with Multi-Rifle mean D14 AP or shock bullets. If thats not enough, hes got D13 viral in the pistol or the template from the light shotgun. He basically has the ammo to handle *anything* that gets within 16'. Saito is a TO camo specialist with smoke. And one that can shove anything off of a objective to boot. That is nuts. Scarface also sounds really good - he looses the lack of cover from Frenzy, but can act as a true HI as long as he is linked. And now he has a good long range solution offensively too. And while the number of different units feel very limited, the Druze and Brawlers can do *everything*. They got decent profiles for almost any job you want them doing.
Good move with the HVT syncing. The Smart Launcher is better at shooting high armor targets in cover though, as the template shot keeps the AP rule. The missile loses AP if it goes for blast. Nice that you can totally ignore the cover with assisted fire, blast and AP.
The only complaint about this list is the Druze being Mercenary troops rather than Veteran; this comes into play in the Hunting Party mission. Sans that, I'm really interested to play against these guys, should bring some new experiences to the table.
Its interesting that rather than being an order spam sectorial, Druze are rather elite so loading up on them will result in 10-12 order lists that I don't think they would do well in. I'm a bit worried about their survivability since they don't contain the sort of heavy hitters I'd expect in a small order team.
Resiliency wise, I initially worried until I looked through them more and started crunching the calculator. I think they'll be okay barring something like a Fiday, Oniwaban, or drop troopers with boarding shotguns. They look like they have lots of tools to keep people at arms length, but if they close the distance the pain is really going to set in. I'm really pleasantly suprised at how toolboxy the force is. I think the Druze will be, save for some unique profiles to Bayram, but i think there is going to be two different profiles of Scarface indicated by the new logo. Same thing as Sforza with Imperial Service.
I was thinking the same thing for SML. Also, the EVO remote that makes Sat-Lock so nasty (for which you can field FIVE! remotes with sniffers) also unlocks B2 AROs on everything with a repeater. 2 Fugazi, 3 Pathfinders, 2 Peacemakers, and a Sierra, and nobody is going to close in on you in a single turn unless you make some big deployment mistakes. As for Scarface... getting Duo -and- a discount seems kinda powerful. Amazing deal for 51 points.
Eh, i just prefer good ol' Muyibs personally, no-face merc killsquads are pretty awesome imo. Btw, which TAGs do you think are the best for this merc guys, Scarface or Anacondas?
So! Is this a new army? I don't understand whats the point of this army. I will not drop one dime into it
Its our first Mercenary Sectorial. So yes, new army. As for the point of it, well there are some cool combinations of merc characters and a lot of link options. If you don't care for the minis or playstyle then thats ok. It just means this sectorial isn't for you. However, some of us have been waiting for a true merc force for a long time. I want to say the Anaconda just because an HMG let it attack far away from enemies and theres plenty these outdated TAGs have to fear when getting too close to enemies. But the Anaconda works more like an HI while Scarface is a bit more of a proper TAG with 6-4 movement and comes with his own Engineer. The problem with scarface is the frenzy, your not always going to be able to maintain that duo link. And frenzy sucks for a TAG.
For me, this helps in a narrative sense even though I am mostly a Haqqislam player. I have a merc force I associate with my Haqqislam forces, ran by a Hassassin who uses the force to deflect attention when it's needed. I have been using my QK which is a nice association to tie everything in but my play style calls for Haqqislam representation. This allows me to run just the merc force. I won't have access to my favored Mercs, the Kaplans, but I already own most of what is available to the Druze Bayram Security Sectorial so it is a nice piece to add. I am also excited for combining the stuff I love about Haqqislam and getting some of the stuff I have eye'd when it comes to PanOceania, mostly looking at that Peacemaker. I am personally a lot more excited for this army than I thought I would be. I am just hoping that the Druze profiles get updated in vanilla Haqqislam and QK, it seems kind of lopsided and the Druze available to them now especially seem useless compared to this Sectorial.
Don't forget the Duo link negates the Frenzy. I'm going with Scarface. Double Mk12s is just as good as an HMG on a 6-4 MOV frame. What I can't figure out is what to put in my Druze links. There are SOOO many choices!
Well, I consider his original configuration - twin Mk12s and a Panzerfaust - to be rather steeply priced for N3 standards at 1,5 SWC. I mean, Gecko with a single Mk12 and a Blitzen goes for 0,5 SWC, with twin Combi and a Panzerfaust for 0 SWC.