So this guy is fucking spectacular, but I rarely see a purpose of fielding the Crane in my vanilla Yu Jing, especially since the IA made our HI infantry so much more appealing. Needless to say, I still want this on the board as often as possible, but I struggle to figure out which profile to use him with. I used to field him as Sun Tze because the miniature has quite a regal posture and a rather non-specific weapon set, but now that the Daoying are a thing, I want that sweet Lieutenant L2 in my life. My first idea was to use him as a Hulang, because the big Jian makes for a convincing monofilament weapon. Then again, I probably won't be using the Hulang either. How would you incorporate this guy into your force? Does the Crane have a place in Vanilla Yu Jing or would you rather proxy him as another profile?
Why not ISS? Cranes suffer from the problem of being expensive without any visual MODs, unfortunately, which makes a Crane+CG Fireteam roughly as expensive as a Wu Ming link, and the Wu Ming link over all are better shooters which means you really really have to make the smoke from the mandatory Kuang Shi Control Device do a lot of heavy lifting. Like most non-Marker state melee models, getting into melee is a rarity with this one.
Yeah, I figured the Crane was hard to include at this point. ISS is not an option because I'm lacking some important pieces and I'd rather dabble with vanilla for now. I guess if I put him on a pedestal and paint him in jade marble he would make a nice statue in honor of the emperor :P
The Crane's niche is Sensor, which was true even before the release of IA. He's still one of the most consistent ways to clear massed Camo markers from the midfield, though the value of that utility can vary wildly from game to game. If you somehow know you'll be going up against Ariadna or you expect a lot of camo for whatever reason, he's still a worthy inclusion, but unfortunately that type of advanced knowledge is generally not available. Obviously he has plenty of good uses in Imperial Service, but if you'd like to stick to vanilla for the meantime I'd recommend using him as a stand-in for: HI Sun Tze - as you noted, the pose fits Hulang - who have more or less eclipsed his "CQC specialist HI" niche Shang Ji - since there's still only the one, old-scale model Tai Sheng - because open helmet = character! Making him a statue seems a waste of such an excellent pose.
I say make him work! He's still a great HI. With a Spitfire+X-visor, he's no joke. The AHD isn't too bad with BTS6 and WIP 14. If not a Crane then he's also a good Hsien proxy. Sadly yes, there's better options now in Vanilla. Mowang is cheaper with better ARM and Mimetisim, Shang Ji is a little more but so good! Etc.
I am pretty sure there is some place for her breast under such a big armor! However that would turn her in an asiatic She-Hulk compared to our others females HI.
Sorry, I thought it was you on a spanish podcast in the leadup to third offensive that said it. I could be wrong it's second hand info from me I don't speak spanish.
