I'm slowly building my VIRD force as the main antagonist to my Yu Jing for comfy casual play at home and this is the list I've come up with: Varuna Immediate Reaction Division ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 10 ORC (Varuna Div.) (Multiterrain: Aquatic/Jungle, Stealth) Feuerbach / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 43) KAMAU Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 28) BIPANDRA Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23) FUSILIER Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) FUSILIER Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) KAMAU (Fireteam: Haris) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21) MACHINIST (Varuna Div.) (CH: Mimetism, Stealth, Aquatic Terrain) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17) PATSY GARNETT Submachine Gun, Nimbus Plus Grenades, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 37) PEACEMAKER Spitfire + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27) AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4) ZULU-COBRA Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28) GROUP 2 3 1 ZULU-COBRA Lieutenant (Sensor) Combi Rifle, Jammer / Assault Pistol, Knife. (0 | 29) FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) HELOT MILITIAMAN Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 9) 6 SWC | 298 Points Open in Infinity Army Mixed core with Orc Feuerbach as main ARO/Attack piece. I won't field the MSV2 Sniper Kamau out of principle and even though I have a decent counter with the Hsien in my Yu Jing, I feel that this might deter people I want to introduce to the game. Bipandra as a competent (for PanO standards) doctor to get the Orc back up, just in case. Kamau Hacker to unlock and buff the Remotes and because I like the model. Could be a Fusillier instead, but I like the BTS 6 and Shock Immunity for defensive purposes. Two Fusilliers as filler and faux LT choices, even though the Sensor Zulu is probably a rather obvious LT anyway. Patsy/Kamau/Machinist Haris for midfield button pressing and general utility. The Machinist keeps Patsy mobile and the REMs alive. Patsy shreds things in short range with her B4 SMG and Nimbus + makes for nice combos. Zulu Spitfire for some more oomph and midfield presence. Also really like the model. Peacemaker to further establish midfield dominance, buffed by Assisted Fire and with HF Auxbot to combo with Patsy's Nimbus+. Zulu Sensor LT in second CG to make space for all the relevant pieces in GC 1. Has enough orders to use sensor, fire the odd Triangulated Fire if necessary and recamo. NCO works across CGs, so that's no problem either. Two Fugazis as roadbumps and Sniffer deployers to enhance the sensor range. One Helot as another roadbump.
Looks good. It's a nice use of units that are easily available for purchase... I would definitely show this to anyone who was interested in starting VIRD with a WYSIWYG, Bostria-challenge, out-of-the-box style list. The only caveat I'd mention is that the VIRD Machinist, unfortunately, is no longer linkable with Patsy. The upside though is that you don't need to buy the Kamau Haris option if you also have Patsy (confusing I know, but basically it breaks down to Patsy basically forms ORC fireteams, and you can freely join her fireteam with Kamau due to Wildcard.) Because of that, you'll have to reshuffle a bit. But you have plenty of good units there. I hear you about the Kamau MSV2. I think playing with something else is a good precaution.
Thanks for the heads-up, I wasn't aware of that change. It's a pity, too, since the machinist is really useful here :) Anyway, good to hear this list is not complete nonsense. How about this: Varuna Immediate Reaction Division ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 10 ORC (Varuna Div.) (Multiterrain: Aquatic/Jungle, Stealth) Feuerbach / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 43) BIPANDRA Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23) FUSILIER Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) FUSILIER Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) FUSILIER Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) PATSY GARNETT Submachine Gun, Nimbus Plus Grenades, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 37) ORC (Varuna Div.) (Multiterrain: Aquatic/Jungle, Stealth) Boarding Shotgun + 1 TinBot A (Deflector L1) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 37) KAMAU Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 28) PEACEMAKER Spitfire + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27) AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4) ZULU-COBRA Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28) GROUP 2 2 1 ZULU-COBRA Lieutenant (Sensor) Combi Rifle, Jammer / Assault Pistol, Knife. (0 | 29) FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) HELOT MILITIAMAN Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 9) 6 SWC | 299 Points Open in Infinity Army The TinBot Orc seems like a nice addition to the Haris with the Kamau Hacker. Another close range weapon is not great, however, so I'm not sure whether a Kamau HMG would be better here.
I miss the link option too. I always take a Doc for VIRD, so I find that fitting both a Doc and a Machinist adds up to a lot of points. As a result, I tend to scale back how many combat REMs I use, since I don't necessarily have the Machinist to fully repair and support them. Having Patsy's Haris made that a lot easier, especially with the Peacemaker, since both the REM and the Haris team could operate upfield and work in tandem with one another. All good though... It's still great to have VIRD Machinist available, though typically she only sees the light of day in my Cutter lists.
I mean, I think you can. Though it would be a tough sell since you are paying 20+ points for a specialist. Patsy does have a nice toolbox though so I might have to put this to the test.
So the Haris in the OP of: KAMAU (Fireteam: Haris) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21) MACHINIST (Varuna Div.) (CH: Mimetism, Stealth, Aquatic Terrain) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17) PATSY GARNETT Submachine Gun, Nimbus Plus Grenades, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 37) 0.5 SWC | 75 Points is therefore perfectly legal.
It is legal, but without a main gun like a HMG it's lacking any power. Sent from my moto g(6) play using Tapatalk
I mean, if I am forming a haris most of the time I would want to take some kind of heavy-hitting gun (preferably with high burst) to push up the field with. It is good for completing a lot of different classifieds but I view it as a definite weakness to this kind of set-up.
Generally speaking VIRD is going to have the overwhelming long range firepower to either eliminate everything with its head sticking up, or keep the opposition down. And once you are in close you don't want a HMG or HRL in any case.
I guess that is particularly true, but I find it still something to consider for the long-to-medium range engagement if the bulleteer is locked down or have no good lanes to bring the EB in. There is definitely the Sniper in a core link, but even then it is burst 3 which I find can be a risk.
Interesting. Generally, I wouldn't consider running a Haris with only rifle rangebands. VIRD's firepower is great, but had the bad habit of being tied very heavily to it's core link, and obviously it's foolish for an enemy to line up against that. As a result, I find the Haris team had to be ready to engage and fight threats that the Core link can't see, so I definitely suggest bringing a heavy weapon. But yes, Kamau Haris + VIRD Machinist is legal, with Patsy using Wildcard to join up. It's short range, but the Peacemaker could definitely help with that. So I think the Peacemaker (or Zulu Cobra Spitfire) provided the role of medium-range support shooter for a rifle-range Haris.
Cutter. Kamau HMG in Fusilier Core. ORC HMG in Fusilier Core. Kamau Sniper in Fusilier Core. Squalo. Kamau HMG solo. ORC HMG solo. Varuna has many options perfectly capable of wiping the floor with anything other than a very top tier ARO piece. I've certainly not seen many opponents leaving much out to ARO against the guy running them locally.
I do know that those are options of course, but I am referring to using the haris in that role. I f we are talking about those though, the Tags you'd need to build around them. The others of course are viable but I'd be reluctant to run an ORC HMG solo since he has no visual mods at all. And if they have their stuff hiding, I feel like there are much better options to deal with medium-to-close range than that specific haris you mention. Specifically since they don't start outside the deployment zone nor have any kind of smoke to cover their advance.
If your opponent doesn't have any long range AROs up why are you worried about anything other than the short range engagements you'll have with midfielders once you arrive? ... I mean, don't get me wrong here I think I'd usually run an SWC weapon in my Haris too, but this does seem like a great tool for exploiting the common responses to VIRD.
So the first point is fair, but I'd worry about the 'footprint' that the haris has being exploited if they manage to have a lucky shot one is not expecting to kill off one of the haris members. Though it is definitely something to consider. As for the second point...it can be a good experiment, but with no smoke/eclipse to cover their advance from long-range aros (or something hidden like a noctifer) it is hard to take in most cases. Then again, this does come back to clearing out anything they have standing up with something else.
I find I only use the Haris under certain circumstances, dictated by the mission. I tried using it for general combat early on, and didn't like it. Echoing points above, it felt generally easy to counterattack. Since then, I've moved to maxxing solo Snake Eaters. Max AVA Zulu Cobra, a Croc and / or an Echo Bravo are pretty common for me. I've had better results with a more distributed, Camo-intensive force. But with the requirements of this particular season, Patsy allows for mission options that the 1 Wound Snake Eaters don't.
@barakiel I agree. I feel there are some good solo pieces in VIRD you can use. Have yet to try the ZC Spitfire though, but that is me biting my tongue at the 1.5 SWC price point. :P