I still see Druze as the only one that gets "Merc faction" right. No cannon fodder/conscript/standard military troops, the Brawlers look like ex-military with some experience under their belt, as do Druze themselves. But without stable government funding they cannot afford to field expensive materiel like power armour or TAGs other than the cheap decommissioned ones. PanO rems work well with PanO weaponry in a lot of their hands, as the weapons commercially available to everyone. Ikari, StarCo, and Dashat don't really get that, StarCo just looks like Corregidor+, Ikari uses a lot of things that were supposed to be hard to get for Japan and Dashat is just another Haqq sectorial, with QK looking more like NA2 than it. One could argue for foreign, with Securitate and CSU as stand ins for private security services and ORC armour being widely available for private citizens, but then they have Kriza Boracs and Zeros for some reason.
I was reading up on StarCo, and they are a revenue for the corregidor army/nation. We already knew that corregidor perform mercenary work for other, not always doing mission for their benefit (i don't mean monetary benefit, but tech advances for example). It looks like when they do so, rather than sending their own military, they are using various company such as the StarCo company (that employs some military personnel but without access to all of the units). So StarCo is definitely mercenary but not much in the sense of non-aligned independent contractors roaming the stars for mission contracts. edit: bottom-line, yes StarCo is just Corregidor+
Well I’ve only played Ikari so far, so I guess I have to say they are my favorite. I’m going to branch out into Druze, Dahshat, and maybe QK. In Ikari, I really love Yuan Yuans and Bounty Hunters, there’s just something fun about rolling on the Booty Charts! Even more fun in a mission with Panoplies!
That's a really good thing to have happen! So, you going to play the A-Team TV theme when you put the army on the table, like I play 'Ride of the Valkyries' for my Vietnam Air Cav army? Very little is out there, other than being on Hassassin's shit list. They're not mentioned in the PanO RPG book, either. @Solodice do you have anything else on Magna-Obra?
I dont get to play much, but I've been digging Ikari. I love the whole JSA aesthetic without all that annoying bushido honor getting in the way. It's just always a battle of I like Tanko or Wu Ming more, two of my favorite model lines in the game. I did start out initially liking Druze and still do, so they are probably second and Starco third. None of the rest interest me much.
For me, JSA. None of the others offers me anything I actually want in a force that I don't already have in abundance. (It's really just a pick'n'mix assortment outside of JSA).
Nope, Magna-Obra isn't really detailed that much in the RPG or the games fluff as a whole. The Corporations splat book for the RPG might reveal more when it comes out.
Yeah, in the RPG corebook they are mentioned only like two times. It is stated that they hired Druze to commit war crimes on Ariadna, and that they are funding Equinox (a Praxis Black Lab that got expelled because of their memetic manipulation experiments).
They also hired Ikari to put down Corregidor mining labour action, which got StarCo and the CJC involved to resolve the situation and is the main reason why StarCo and Corregidoreans in general say hello to any Ikari with a the barrel of a gun..
I play for conversion/hobby potential. So I love Druze and use Druze themed models for everything, I've had to move into Ikari/Dashat just to feed my conversion/new model obsession. Looking forward to Foreign Company though! Would love to do a generic "Low tech" Merc army of Druze/Ikari/Dashat. And a generic High tech N2 of Foreign Co models.
Out of the ones in existance ATM... I must say Ikari interests me the most, if only because I feel like they are the most proficient of all the NA2s at making use of Heavy Infantry ( Wu Ming + Clipper Core, 0 SWC Wu-Ming Haris, access to the walking toolbox Al Fasid, access to the walking sharp stabbing brick the Daiyokai, even got some Tanko to throw in a defensive link, and just add in some ludicrously durable buttom pushing Karakuri for good measure. ).
I bought into JSA on the grounds that I could also get into Ikari with my Yu Jing. And, I bought into Druze on the grounds that I already had most of the ancillary stuff. I'm currently playing them, but Dahshat or Qapu will most likely feature next. Can't say I've disliked any of these factions, but Ikari and Druze are different beasts. I'm loving the breadth of play in Druze tho...
I was more keen for Dashat before seeing the actual army list. Just looks like a lesser QK with some YJ and US Ariadna units I'm never gonna buy. Brawlers + Fishmen might be an interesting twist, especially to see it with a Maggie. But still, somewhat let down by it. Right now Druze seems to me to be the most distinct, personality having NA2 army (not counting JSA because they had years of developing it as a sectorial). Playstyle also seems more interesting as well with its flexible fireteams.
Equinox is mentioned in the Govad Background as "a scientific terrorist organization with the goal of provoking a violent technological revolution from which they expected to benefit." As I like the fluff and miniature style of Haqqislam and Nomads, I really want to see the complete rules for Dahshat (I will proxy Ariadnan and YJ troops with Nomad miniatures). As of now, I play my Haqq/Nomads mercenaries with Ikari rules. StarCo is very interesting regarding Background and Miniatures, but I do not seem to be able to come up with an army list I would like to play.
