Hey guys, looking at vanilla Nomads and a little concerned about the Lt options. My meta is pretty heavy on the fidays and speculos (and increasingly grenades), so I can assume any obvious LT will be an obvious target. With the lack of a 0 SWC line trooper option, the best choices seem to be to blow a fair few points on two wildcats, to spend 35 points on a camo intruder, or to go balls deep on the HD+ guy with a ton of defense. Wondering if I'm missing something here which works better? The idea of an HGL putting me reliably in LoL first turn is enough to turn me off playing the faction entirely...
Lts. are Nomads weakness. Other then the Intruder you either can go HI Lt. Or Hacker Lt. both types can make good use of the Lt. Order but since we don't have CoC it's a bit risky, but that's just how they are designed, so far there is no way around that.
You aren't missing anything. I suggest an Intruder, especially if you are already taking an Intruder because they won't know which is the Lt. They can't enter CC or shoot you from behind without removing your token state so they have a much harder time. Same with Spec Fire.
Intruders are not cheap, but the Intruder LT is probably the game's best LT for protective purposes. If you are genuinely concerned about LT assassination, the Intruder will do a great job. They need to discover him first for a start, and to do that they reveal themselves. An Intruder with a Jaguar hanging around to be a big template ARO to frag the cheeky bugger if they reveal to discover works well I find. The Jaguar is useful for orders anyway, and can always drop smoke on the Intruder who can then shoot stuff out of it if you need to (and with BS 13 and MSV2 firing through smoke, in the second and third turn, my Intruder has absolutely done wonders).
I would tie Intruder for best to second best in the game. You don't always want it but if the situation calls for it it's great. Some people pay 1 SWC for a Camo Lt. and it's probably worth it.
I can also vouch for the Lt. Intruder. I've used him so many time to move up on the field and started using his Lt. Order from second turn and onwards. He can be surprisingly good at flanking and as long as you re-camo, he's very hard to dislodge (also, he has grenades, don't forget those!). As a bonus, you're nearly immune to Oniwaban/Fiday alpha strike Lt. assassination lists.
5th? Intruder Lt for when you want the joy of saying 'my Lt is this camo marker, do you think you're hard enough?'
I also second the Intruder LT for your problem. If possible try to use crazy koalas (Moran/lunokhold/Taskmaster) in the area. You either let them activate by their fiday or use your models to block aka surround the impersonation maker. Be careful not to place the koalas within LOF of the camo marker. They can be vaild targets for Flamethrowers and stuff.
Intruder or taskmaster are interesting options for a such meta. And if you use spec ops you can bring them a trap: holoproyector plus minelayer, and the spec ops disguised as an alguacile or another build spec ops
Headhunting is a risky strategy and it doesn't take much to turn the odds against your opponent. Take an "obvious LT" that isn't the LT. I always take a basic Wildcat. It's almost never the LT, but it always can be. You should be deployed in a way that your models are covering each other, so an assassination attempt is a one way ticket. Your opponent has no idea whether or not you paid the SWC cost for a line troop LT, so you can take an Alguacil or two and play the shell game. It's not really a single model that is going to solve the issue. As for the TAG, there are ways to make an opponent pay for bringing a TAG, and nobody does that better than Nomads.
I tend to favor the Custodier LT. She has ODD, and she can enter impersonation with cybermask. Not only protecting herself but also making the enemy unable to put her under any template thus indirectly protecting nearby troopers. You can go Interventor for the cheaper alternative.
Intruder Lt's aren't going to help you if the meta is shifting towards HGLs. With regards to fidays and speculos, I think the taskmaster is a much better option that an intruder you are worried about being headhunted turn 1. It is more durable, has CK's, has a template weapon, doesn't suck at CC that badly, and also makes better use of a Lt order than an intruder does. I rarely find the intruder LT justified. Having said that, I still think vanilla is fine without wonky Lt tricks. I take an Interventor Lt every single game pretty much and I find the primary way to deal with a fiday or speculo (I find anyway) is to make sure they can only kill one person. If you know it's coming, deploy in a way where they are gonna take AROs trying to kill your Lt. If they go first and you lose your Lt turn 1, that sucks but is definitely recoverable. It's much better than a turn 2 or turn 3 LoL situation. If you go first, just cybermask yourself and it's GG. for the fiday/speculo.
Intruder LTs are vulnerable to DTWs, which most factions can easily field a lot of. It's good for all the reasons listed above, but a remember 6 point model can ruin it's day, and it's not like your opponent isn't going to be gunning for your Intruders anyway, even if they aren't your LT.
If you include 2-3 of the options suggested and switch beteeen them with your regular opposition, you should be fine. Camo token in DZ, a Kriza/TM, an interventor/custodier or a random alguacile or wildcat are all handy. Nomads can also fairly cheaply riddle the dz with explosives and chain rifles.
My Kriza dies every game, so she is a lieutenant only if it`s spec-op tournament and I can use CoC spec-op.
@Rubberpiggy has it! Nomads have enough profiles now that are useful AND have lt load outs that you shouldn't have an obvious lt, you can easily have a least 2 potential LTs if not more without wasting points or swc. I also second the Intruder lt for the ultimate LoL protection in Nomads. Placing him prone inside/on top of a building with morlocks/jags/koalas protecting him, but not so close as to be a template target is a go to for me in missions like hunting party or decapitation. Finally just learn how to play through LoL. Don't give up. LoL is a temporary bump but use of command token for making priority coordinated orders etc can save your bacon. It's certainly not good game, my favorite wins are come back from misfortunes like that.
The Kriza HMG should be reasonably easy to keep alive and is a hard assassination target, but for the purpose of playing the shell game, it doesn't have to be your LT. It just has to be in your list.
