Going to preface this by saying that I am not against the 15 order limit, this is not to complain about it but to look at what changes are needed to Ikari to work with it. Both from personal experience and based on the statistics thread Ikari Company are one the armies most negatively effected by the 15 order limit. So what need to change in Ikari to make them competitive with less than 15 orders? Personally I think the most important change would be Lt options. The fact that the only available options are cheap line troopers severely limits our ability to build more elite lists. When you have such obvious and weak Lt you also need some decoys which means you are already on your way toward a more spamy list. So what other Lt options could be added? The Druze Lt profile that is already in Druze is an easy one. Perhaps a Wu Ming Lt profile or if they want to make it a bit more spicy and unique how about an Al Fasid and Daiyokai Lt profile? What other changes are needed? While not directly related to 15 order limit I think making the fire teams a bit less rigid will encourage us to use them more. I'm not talking about giving everything wild card, it's the inability to reform a fire team if the leader goes down that I want to address. It's not like it's difficult to change either, for example instead of writing Wu Ming as 4 wu ming + 1 clipper write it as 0-4 wu ming + 0-1 clipper. The 5 man team will stay the same but the team can now be recreated if it loses one member.
@Mcgreag ’s solutions are really good ones. Minimal interference with current design, while addressing the situation which makes 15 or less troopers really difficult to arrange for Ikari.
I've routinely done under 15 due to just not having minis! lol. Ikari is still one of the few that can have a full HI core and still get to 15 orders easily. the same can't be said for others where you make a HI link and pretty much are obligated to Limited insertion. Can't agree more about the Lt. our options have always sucked. Unfortunately I don't see them changing it. They would almost need to give us a whole new troop. They don't seem to give us options unique to Ikari. If it's not in other armies, it's not available to Ikari. :( I'd really like a character that's unique to Ikari. Like a Wu Ming character. BTW it would be 1-4 Wu Ming. Showing there' needs to be a minimum of 1 Wu Ming in the core.
With ARM becoming a little more effective, and reportedly a little cheaper too, I can't help but look a some of Ikari's big boys. Daiyokai brings near TAG levels of survivability, a couple of good guns, and NCO to improve order efficiency. The multi MMR brings a useful rangeband with AP ammo and +1 Damage to handle enemy heavies. The HMG Fasid is an interesting toolbox, bringing Minelayer for DZ defense, smoke, Spec Fire, and a half decent attack piece, it can fill the role of 2-3 cheaper troopers in a single combat group slot. With Oblivion on normal hacking devices the stock of the Veteran skill goes up too.
I like the idea of a Wu Ming LT. A drugged up serial killer in power armor would be the perfect LT for a bunch of murdering space pirates.
We don't know N4 unit points , so it's impossible to predict how much Ikari will be affected with the new standard tournament rules .
I'm not sure I see the necessity when it's an AVA 1 trooper and the current sculpt can represent either profile.
My fav HI in Ikari is the Karakuri. A great combination of durability, specialist, and some firepower with Mk12 and DEP.
It's not necessary, but I suppose some people would appreciate it. They did it for the Kiel-Saan as well.
Im not too worried about ikari being unplayable at 15 orders. Theres a lot of cool stuff in the faction, the keisotsu and the yuan yuans might well be less optimal but if the shotgun changes work out I could be using the brawlers a lot more or choosing some of the more expensive profiles on options. Wardriver in particular is ultra niche in N3 (optimal play once in 9 TTS games) but in N4 shotgun and hacker changes could conspire to make this guy a great pick, it might not work out that way of course.. sixth sense if probably due some changes too.
And please keep in mind that Tactical window is just for ITS Tournaments (and I think I read somewhere that there is an option in ITS to allow unlimited Modells/orders in a tournament). New stuff/rules for Ikari is always great and will probably change the way my lists are written - but as I do not play tournaments I will not be affected by a 15 order limit at all.
The 15 order limit is supposedly in the rulebook, not the ITS document. The option to run more is an ITS option. You can of course do as you want in a casual game even with the rule being in the rulebook.
My usual ikari list was 10 models in main battlegroup, with 2 additional cheap remotes with 4 yuan yuan. The lose of 1 yuan yuan isn't the end of the world. I also expect that yuan yuans to get more expensive with the fact that they go from extremely imp to just impetuous.
I usually run both a Keisotsu link with Tanko and Brawler plus a Wu-ming haris. this makes tactical window easily attainable. I would like to see a character with the ability to be Lt. that would be welcome in IC. I find the Daiyokai a really good addition since our Lt's are so weak the NCO skill makes sure we don't waste the Lt order.
I do more Druze in Ikari than I do in Druze. They help to get up to 15 no problem and more likely do use them more now.
