I'm looking to grab a smallish IA force and see a few profiles don't have models. What are the prefered Proxies for them?
Here is with what I proxy (or the ones I will use) the 4 troops IA without a model at the moment: Mowang : Su-Jian or Yan Huo, those are S5 HI. Zencha : I use the old Hsien model, because his mantle is the closest thing we have to a poncho, but the last Daofeï from Beyond Red Veil looks like a good proxy too. We know the first Zencha mini is on the way however. Hulang : Daofeï, Hsien, Shikami, even Domaru I would say, at long as it is a S2 HI with a sword... Tai Sheng : I have been playing her with the Zuyhong combi-rifle from IA starter until now, but if I had the YJ starter I'll take the Multi-rifle one, he stands out as a team leader. Shang-Ji : the one from the previous YJ starter, if not the Zuyhong can be his proxy (but it would be problematic if the two units on the table have the same model). IMO I will chose the Wu-Ming, they looks differents from the first mentionned and their statline is closer. Rest the Haidao for who we have two minis, but we are waiting for more profiles to be sculpted. I hope I am clear enough :)
The Wu Ming BSG fits the bill for a Haidao KHD for me. For Hulang/Zhencha y mostly use Daofei (old and new models) and the Mowang is portrayed by the Su Jian S5 model. For the Daoying HD or plain BSG I use the Zhanying HD or Zhanying Red Veil model respectively. The hard one is the Haidao MSR, I use it a lot but I don't own any MSR HI, so I'm using the Zhanshi MSR (because the model looks cool and he is kinda buff compared to some other LI dudes really).
You could use the HacTao Hacker as a proxy for Haidao Hacker...weapon is wrong, but close enough. A bit confusing since IA allows both but if you are not using the HacTao as himself you could proxy the Haidao. I personally made a conversion with a HacTao hacker right arm and a WuMing BSG welded onto an extra Haidao combi I have. He is not dynamic, but he works.
Here is what I'm thinking of getting YJ & IA Starter Zhencha: Ayyar w/shock marksman (Haqq) (I already have a spare) Tai Sheng : YJ hsien from YJ Starter Yan Huo (already have) and Maybe Blister of Hack Tao Shangji Blister I'll use my haqq Al Fasid for a Mowang until a real model is released. I already have enough YJ remotes I can use from my NA2 force. Are there any essential models I'm missing?
Until the Haidao sniper arrives, if you have Knauf I can recommend him. Big chunky boy will make a sufficiently heavy infantry stand-in.
I know he is the faction only non-remote MSV2, but I was not planning on using him. There are so many SWC heavy models in the faction that i can't really fit it. I do want at least 1 Haidao for the wildcard ability, but that is in the starter.
Depends on your build. If for example you're running a KHD Hac Tao, there's a huge chunk of your army that uses exactly 0 SWC. Yu Jing has access to many HI that are cheap on SWC as well as ones that are costly.
I've got some models from other armies, so my Zhencha are usually Haqq's Ayyar. I've got an LE Crane from Angel's painting book, so I use that for a Hulang, and my Haidao MSR is the old Pheasant MSR. If I want a Mowang I've got a Kriza Boracs ready to go too; he fits the bill clearly enough without much confusion.
I think I'll use that, I started painting my force and too many of the models look the same to my opponent. I started with a deep red for for all the armor and was using paint on the shoulder pads to differentiate them. But they still look too similar to my opponent to keep track of which is which. The revealed head differentiates it a lot more.
If you can find the old Invincibles (or have them, like I do), those will also help. They're long, long OOP, but you may luck out and find some (Amazon, maybe?). One warning, those fins are 4 individual pieces with no attachment peg, not the easier dual-fins from Hsien or whatever.