VIRD Kamau Hacker.

She's a great combatant. If you want to do the Infowar thing, having her linked for 6th Sense L2 is a good way to stop Stealth opponents sneaking past your Repeaters. The tricky thing though is that KHD programs are so strong vs 1 Wound targets, BTS6 just isn't likely to do that much (though it's great vs Standard and Assault Devices.) If you want to use the mini though, go for it. She can definitely be made to work.

 

Kamau is probably my go-to hacker if I wanted to run a remote heavy list in Varuna. That being said Varuna has so many great options its tough to fit in your standard TR/Bulletteer/peacemakers into lists, I find at least.

I like her though. Capable Wildcard specialist, decent gun fighter, well rounded

 

Just as a matter of 'fluff', I wouldn't put any basic Fusiliers into Navy SEALs the Sectorial. All the ZCs, EBs, Kamau, Varuna ORCs, and remotes for me.

Also, it's a WIP13 hacker, which helps. Not a lot better, but the rest of the Kamau statline improves survivability compared to a Fusilier.

 

If you just need a supportware monkey who's just there to put up some Assisted Fires... I'd say Fusilier, he's about 10 points cheaper. T:

Now if you want to go for a core fireteam TinBot buffed hacker, I'd grab the Kamau.

Or if you want a regular Hacking Device that isn't just there to be an order and supportware monkey.

Personally, I'd generally prefer the Kamau, but that's just me and my ''I'm willing to sacrifice orders to pay extra'' mentality. T:

 

Just like the Regular Hacker in Acontecimento the Kamau Hacker is a surprisingly solid solo specialist with a great toolbox.

We tend not to have a lot of units like that in PanOceania, so may PanOceanian commanders don't value them.

But they can be very handy to have around, especially if they can also help to back-fill a Fireteam if it takes casualties.

 

Please explain further, I'm willing to learn.
When I want a solo specialist, I would go for the FO.

 

If it’s the mini you want to use, she makes a great proxy for the Varuna division engineer. She’s got training with Kamau, so it makes sense that she has some Kamau kit.

 

To me, what makes a good solo specialist is all about the toolbox they are bringing to the table. How many different battlefield scenarios are they bringing an answer to?

When we consider the Regular Hacker, this is a Specialist unit, with the option to engage in a wide range of Hacking functions, as well as expanding their own Hacking range using a FastPanda. But it's also bringing an LGL, which offers a Template ARO option (which is damn nice in a pinch with all these aggressive Fireteams marauding around) AND a solid Speculative Fire option (you are looking for 9's within 16" and you are going to be advancing with a Specialist anyway).

REGULAR Hacker (Hacking Device, FastPanda) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 23)

Another unit often written off as too bloated to be useful is the Nisse Hacker, but this likewise brings a whole toolbox of options along. It's got Mimetism which makes it stronger defensively, as well as MSV 2 which is great every time it appears. While the Combi+Light Shotgun combination is much maligned, it is also offering useful options (especially for fighting in the midfield where your specialists often want to be).

NISSE Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 38)

This brings us around to the Kamau, which isn't quite as "toolboxey" as the Regular, but has most of the important stat improvements from the Nisse. Mimetism is the key here, as that's really helping to keep our specialist up, and Light Infantry movement helps when we need to do our objective run.

KAMAU Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 28)

Taking cost into consideration, both the Regular and the Kamau clock in under 30pts, which means you can bring more to help support them "per order". I usually ask myself hard if any unit costing over 30pts will be paying for it'self (because it's costing me more than "an order's worth" to put it on the table) and that would make me think harder about the Nisse (especially as it's not going to get as much use out of much of what it's paying most of those points for a lot of the time... not that midfield MSV 2 can't be awesome).

Of course, it's all about how you use them on the table, but all three of these units have more utility then they usually get credit for.

 

I very much agree with this.

Why?

Limited Insertion means you're running 10 orders. 300pts / 10 orders means 30pts per order, average. Sure, there are some common includes like the Pathfinder REM (or equivalent in other lists) that's only 16pts, but that's almost the exception to the rules. Most of what people want to play is in the 20-40pt range.

 

Or go full madlad and have ~200 points in 3-5 models.

You can fit a surprising amount of stuff in a 100 points. T:

 

I've had good results running the kumau hacker in a Haris with Patsy and a Varuna Machinist. Particularly in Highly Classified, Unmasking, or other missions where specialists in the midfield have strong scoring advantages. That trio can accomplish nearly every card in the deck if supported properly.

 

Yeah, leveraging the order efficiency of the Haris as a Specialist delivery tool rather than trying to pull shooting value out of it (when our shooters are already pretty overwhelmingly strong elsewhere) makes a lot of sense.

 

Exactly, I'll rely on my MSV core and a Zulu charlie or two as main attack pieces. The specialist Haris I've found usually gets treated with more fear/respect from my opponents then it really deserves; which frees it up for some strong scoring runs and maneuvering.

 

she's good when you want the whole package. For example not just a specialist with mid tier combat abillity, but also assisted fire for your REMs or potential buffs for your AD/HI.

In those instances she is cheaper than buying the FO Kamau and a Fusilier Hacker

 

I wish I could upvote this more than once... but alas, I cannot.

If you're sold on the model, but not really on the profile/points, this is an amazing way to use it. I like the Kamau hacker profile, but it doesn't make it into 95% of the Varuna lists that I write because I usually want to spend my points elsewhere.

I would recommend picking up the mini, and trying it out - only way to know if it works for your playstyle. If it doesn't, you then have a fitting VIRD machinist

 

But the Kamau hacker is a solid gunfighter and the crocman FO is an infiltrating top tier gunfighter and a specialist as well.

 

in limited insertion I've always wanted to try this:

Varuna kommando
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 10
PATSY GARNETT Submachine Gun, Nimbus Plus Grenades, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 37)
ORC Lieutenant HMG / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 44)
ORC Feuerbach / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 42)
KAMAU (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)
KAMAU Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 28)
BIPANDRA Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
MACHINIST (Varuna Div.) (CH: Mimetism, Stealth, Aquatic Terrain) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17)
CROC MAN (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 32)
ZULU-COBRA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Breaker Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 28)
BULLETEER Heavy Shotgun / Electric Pulse. (0 | 17)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

a nice fireteam core with everything you would need, you can trap KHD with your own KHD Zulu and good ARO