Probably asked before, but I can't find any good tactica or advice. I generally like to field him, especially when accompanied by 4 Streloks (2 SMGs, 2 Minelayers) and one or two Scouts (generally Minelayer or Boarding), as he provides a good CaC threat, another Chain Colt, more mines for Coordinated and huge mobility thanks to FD2, Assault and Multi-terrain. What's the general consensus on Pavel though? Do you know any tip to make him work even better? And what about a good model/conversion for him?
I think he's pretty threatening. He blends in really nicely with the other Camo tokens on the field, but represents a very different threat, and that's always a nice thing when you're flooding the board with Camo. The CC threat of something like Antipodes is painfully obvious... 4/5 times I see Antipode attack runs just fall flat because it's actually hard to maneuver all those big-base units b2b with a worthwhile target. Pavel doesn't have that problem though, which makes him a really nice missile if you find the right target, as well as being enough of a generalist to fit into most scenarios or battle plans pretty comfortably. I don't know if you want him in every list, but I think he has useful applications in pretty much any mission, vs pretty much any opponent.
Thanks man! What should I use for representing him on the battlefield? In the last games, I've used a Dogface, a pretty cool mini, but I would like to convert a model for my beloved Pavel.
Van Zant makes a good temporary proxy with his axe. You could fill in his jacket logo, sculpt on some long hair, and swap the heavy pistol for a chain colt if you want something closer to the art.
Good question, I know it's in the RPG somewhere as there's a group shot of Pavel, Le Muet, and all the other characters from the original game Infinity was based on, I've seen it a few other places but can't seem to find it right now. The general gist of Pavel is that he's a scruffy looking white dude with long brown hair, a beard, and an axe.
Compared to other games, Infinity has fairly generous proxy rules - so really Pavel can be (within reason) any "rugged-looking skirmisher dude with a rifle/close combat weapon" that you choose to pick/convert. I use the Wulver Molotok as my Pavel because when Pavel's profile was first released (before his fluff and my late revelation he was actually this bearded white dude), I actually thought he was a Wulver. Like a Wulver, he has Natural Born Warrior, a rare skill that before its relative proliferation now, was only shared by a few. He has a Scottish name, and Caledonia is known for its large Wulver population. My head canon for him was that Pavel was one of those rare Wulver's that actually made it to old age. For every tens of Wulvers that die to the enemies' guns, there are a few like Pavel who survive through all the suicidal berserker charges that his genus are known for. But his age shows. He's slower now. Less tough. Less agile. He doesn't have Climbing Plus. His hybrid metabolism isn't as robust as it once was - he only has 1 wound. In short, he's old. But what Pavel has lost in vigor, he has gained in painful experience. The reckless fury of youth has been honed by a predator's patience and cunning. He has learned the value of concealment, of choosing the right time to strike. He has learned the importance of taking objectives, and how bloodshed is not the only means by which to gain victory. Where he once charged, heedless of danger through the battlefield, he now stalks - hidden and concealed amongst his fellow skirmisher compatriots. But, this old wolf still has sharp fangs. And sometimes, there are problems that Ojotniks and mines cannot solve...
In gameplay terms, Pavel is an opportunist / specialist. If you're in to pushing buttons (ITS) then he's good for that. He's also really good at killing people. What I mean by "opportunist" is that he's not a brute force gunfighter. His B2 Ojotnik is pretty much useless against a strong defensive link's primary ARO piece. As an ARO piece himself, he's not great at all...he can fall back on mines or his chain colt up close but either of these will probably mean he's going to die. Instead, you use him to take out lone targets opportunistically. The Ojotnik has the most forgiving range band in the entire game. He can stack surprise shot mods and camo for a net -9 before factoring in range. You can easily pop that lazy dork poking his head out across the table, and that BS reduction to the 5 man defensive link can be a big deal (note if it's a 5 man link you aren't getting surprise, so -6 + 3 without range). He's also good at Daviding enemy Goliaths. Decent CC and NBW + a T2 CCW means he's critting TAGs fairly reliably and dropping 2 STR off of them. You have to be sneaky about it, but he can do a number on these heavy units. I wouldn't rely on it as a primary play, because he's kind of fragile, but in terms of opportunity he can carve up a TAG fairly well if he can pull of a crit. With NBW he actually does OK against low CC enemies with MA. Against Achilles, with surprise, he pulls of better than 50/50 odds of knocking off 2 wounds. Of course, that's worst case scenario (3 W enemy that is very good at CC). He has 2:1 odds to kill a Ninja. In short, he's a button pusher and opportunist.
I use William Wallace as my Pavel. His T2 CCW is anti material, so it can chop up the AC2, heaters in frostbyte, or the antennas in the grid. He is a really fun profile to use.
Aha, I found the art on the Kickstarter website. Also features earlier versions of Vassily and Cuervo Goldstein.
They were characters from a long running pen and paper RPG that eventually became Infinity, I'm sure there are lots of stories but I don't know if any were written down
This is my WIP Pavel conversion. I need to enlarge his arms' muscles, close some gaps and probably go for a scarf around the neck, then I may call it done.