Are you talking about this? Because A) that's a worker drone and B) that's Yu Jing for some reason while Varuna is on screen
Even if we don't get a model for Patsy, I really hope we at least get a dossier or concept art in the book.
Helots will be some type of camo – so probably not yet. unless they will be getting more flexible profiles I hope so too. Hopefully we can move away from blue armor blonde hair girl.
Seriously? You can't understand why I would think that CB might be doing an overhaul of the Orc troops with this? Yeah. Maybe I'm being negative and letting cynicism run wild--but it's bizarre that they'd add a Feuerbach now while they're talking about VIRD and how it benefits mostly from mixed links. I can't see why a starter set they released within the past 5 years would be discontinued, yet here we are with Shock Army.
@Judge Dredd , it looks like the other side of the waterfall from second 38, so apparently Varuna has a Yu Jing rush to go with the Liberto headache
I mean, THIS is how they overhaul them. this is how they overhaul all old units. this is how they breath new life into subpar units. mixed links is how they make something like an ORC show up in most lists without having to totally redo their profile. once again, profiles aren't going anywhere.
Regarding ORCS: Not sure this topic bears discussing in detail, but here it is. With ORCs, we certainly would have seen a box issued for them ages ago if anyone bothered using them. I get the sense that the Haris options in both Acon and NCA were an attempt to make ORCs more playable and relevant to PanOceania. Since they only sort of worked out in terms of popularity, we had the ORC blister, but not the full box. We also know that the Varuna Skull Mask concept art for ORCs has been around a long time... Over a year... So after CB decided to hold off on the initial box set, they firmly set their sights on releasing a new ORC box in tandem with Varuna, to benefit from the positive crowd response of the ORC Skull motif. No mysteries here. If things sell, they get support. CB has now hit the magic formula for ORCs selling (mixed links) and so we're finally going to see them get full attention. Regarding the video: Yu Jing on Varuna sounds fun. Been fighting JSA vs Yu Jing games all year. Won't mind Varuna vs Yu Jing now too. Throw in some aliens, and it almost sounds like grounds for a narrative campaign. Regarding the Libertos/Helot: It makes sense, given how PanO centric the rest of the year will be, to give a slight merc lift to all the other factions. This can only be a positive thing too... Building the CAD for a unit is really the magic key for speeding up its release schedule and letting CB roll out tons of related units and unit options. So even if the sniper shots we've seen are for the Libertos and not the PanO Helot, it means our Helots are going to be quick and easy to make.
While the label on the image might be Varuna, I would imagine it has more bearing on the 3ro Offensive part, rather than the Varuna part.
The "skull mask concept art for Orcs" has been around for a decent chunk of time, but the first few mentions of Orcs not getting a box until Varuna were possibly as early as Icestorm's immediate follow-up. I feel like it's also worth pointing out that prior to N3, Shock and NCA didn't even have access to Orcs. Saying that the introduction of the Haris was "an attempt to make Orcs more playable and relevant to PanOceania" is a bit of a misnomer--there was a long period of time where only Vanilla could even make use of the darned things.
That's the point. Noone wanted to use ORCs unlinked, so they put them in Sectorials and gave them Haris in order to see if it upped their popularity. It probably helped, but not to the degree that CB wanted to hurry out a new box for them.
Your point in no way invalidates the bold statement. The orc haris was certainly added in N3 to try to make them more relevant since before then they were a bit of a joke and rarely taken. The unit itself isn't bad but theres just so many better HI options in Vanilla.
Art also implies that the ORC is the team leader for the Helots! I'd be surprised if the Libertos freedom fighter/terrorist would be usable in any PanO army. The things with wings on the upper level aren't drones, those are the Azure Dragon dropships from Antenociti! Not sure what the things on the lower level are, but sizewise they're actual aircraft.
if there is a IA base in Varuna, like the one in the pictures with all those Zencha, i expect them to be also in IA a la Aida in NCA
The ORC and Helots picture reminds me in some sort the Antipodes Assault Pack. Maybe we could have a more permissive rule to field Helots and an ORC and make them move together.
So a G:sync-style team with an ORC controller, but instead of CC monsters all the 'followers' carry LRL, MSR, shock MMR and/or Red Fury? I like it. Can I has for 0SWC ?
