I asked this on the old forums, and never got a straight solid answer. In the Druze Sectoral, Can Valaerya Gromoz join Scarface in a Fireteam duo? Gromoz can join join any fireteam & there exists a special Fireteam duo between Scarface & Cordelia. I'm asking to see if I can have gromoz duo with Scarface, leaving Cordelia alone to have Nasmats.
I don't see any printed material that would indicate this to not be valid, but I have a gut feeling it wasn't intended.
You have to meet the actual fireteam requirements before you can take advantage of her "may join any fireteam" wording. For example: You could not make a fireteam of 1 druze, 3 bruisers, and gromoz, you MUST take 2 druze and at least 1 bruiser to satisfy the requirements of that special link first. This has always been the case, and was why for the longest time Kusanagi couldn't join a Custodier Haris at the same time as a Reverend Healer, the language on these things is very specific. Gromoz is not a universal replacement for anything, she just can take the place of any model where there is no specific requirement outlined, she cannot form a Duo with either Scarface or Cordelia as both those models are required for the Duo to form and once that takes place there's no room for a third member.
It has alreaedy been discused in another thread, I think in the NA2 one subforum. The asnwer, I think, was "any fireteam" means ANY. And since the profiles PDF gives the DĂșo to Scarface AND to Cordelia, Valerya could duo with Cordelia, or with Scarface, legally.
Confirmed by IJW (extensively) that Valerya will not only be able to join any link team, but she also count as any one model of a special link team's limitations. That is to say, it also means you can have 1 Druze + Valerya + 1 to 3 Brawlers (note: She's not a Druze, but she will validate as one to make that Core legal).
On a side note, wording that characters like Leila use is a lot less confusing: "Counts as *unit* for the purpose of joining Fireteams" or something. But that hardly changes anything in this case.
I'd say it's relevant, since it shows a precedence on how they can define things other ways. Also, the Druze character specifies he counts as a druze for fireteam composition...
Yes, 'any Fireteam' means 'any Fireteam', confirmed for me directly by Interruptor. A Fireteam: Duo will still need a trooper with the Duo Special Skill and a Fireteam: Haris will still need a trooper with the Haris Special Skill, but other than that she can take the place of anyone in the Fireteam.
I did explore as extensively as I could, but I do not think that this is currently something that's an issue in any of the other armies. The only other place I found and can remember where a similar notation as Valerya was used (as opposed to similar to Leila) was with Hafza and there it didn't matter since QK doesn't contain fireteams with the same kind of complexity/specificity as Druze does. That said, it's an important thing to remember since it might show up in upcoming sectorials.
P.S. The 'counts as an X' wording used for Arslan, Dire Foes and some other characters wouldn't be nearly as simple for Valerya, William Wallace or Hafzas because there's no single unit that they count as, or even two units in the case of Leila.
@Mahtamori If you think about it, "Fireteam Duo of Sekban" is basically as complex as "Fireteam Duo of Scarface, Cordelia" if you decipher the former as "...Duo of Sekban, Sekban". @ijw Well, we can always say "Counts as anything". It's just that there isn't really a problem once you read into the rules, kinda like in the previous example, so it was decided not to bother with less natural phrasing, perhaps.