The new mixed fireteam rules obviously make the sectorial more competitive but I find myself hating them more and more.
Fair about XO. I just wish Haqqislam had more aggressive LT profiles that were not Tarik. Barids and Muyibs use their LT orders, but only in a support role.
That sounds way like as if you had a bee in your bourqa, effendi. Please, calm down and help yourself with some mint tea. Yes, I think the Camo Infiltrator role does not give the Farzan fluff justice. Yes, I don't think the Farzan would work as a Sniper. However, where did I say I see them as Inspiring Leadership Chain of Command? I can't recall such a moment. I can't say I do know how to make Farzan fit his fluff. In N3, Chain of Command was the skill that reflected this nature well, but I'm not sold on combining it with Camo Infiltration. And making Farzan simply a flat CoC would mean making him dull, wouldn't it? Back in the days of the old forum there was an idea - could've been mine, could've been not, with me simply following it - of making the Farzans a slightly limited versions of more traditonal Hassassin troops. Following the concept the Farzans were veteran Hassassins from various units of the Bahram, who have advanced to the position of instructors - while retaining some of the skills and equipment of their original units. I honestly can't recall the details, as I think it was back in the 2ed days. Now, while you are, obviously, entitled to your own ideas and your own image of the faction, I have mixed feelings about hordes of ill-trained, cheap Irregular troops being inseparable part of the Bahram's identity. In my eyes, Hassassin Bahram - being the Haqqislam Military Intelligence Service - is a very professional organization. In fact, the current news of new skirmisher-type Hassassin troops ("camo infiltrator theme", if I may use such a shorthand) goes exactly that way. Yes, I admit, I have played with a horde of Ghazi and Daylami in N3 - because it was the only way I have found to reliably protect my "glass hammer" Hassassins from getting cut down on the enemy first turn. But it still was leaving a sour aftertaste: what are untrained tribal yourgs doing on an Intelligence's op...? It is not even disagreeing with you here, @emperorsaistone - I merely mark that I have a different feeling about that matter. Not claiming that mine is better, or even good at all. Not claiming that yours is wrong in any way. Simply different....
That was solely my (crazy) idea;) Ahh, you mean like if the Farzan were special profiles of already existing troops? Like a Govad and a Muyib Farzan? I could see that. Yes, gameplay wise the irreggulars were priceless for not getting alpha'd in the first turn. But I also saw them fitting with HB in general, because lets be real, a game of Infinity is a Spec- or BlackOps Game in name only, with TAGs, HMGs and Missile Launchers. Its more of a 40K game on a smaller scale and thats why I have no problems with tribesman in HBs Ops in my headcanon.But of course, if you envision it in another way in your headcanon, I definitely agree with you, that they feel misplaced with HB...or in the game in general. I guess thats just one of the few limitations, that Haqq still has. Id rather have more Lts with command skills, than straight gunfighters.
This is a very good point. Daylami and Mutts felt fundamental to how HB played in N3, but they don't really fit the theme.
Hmm i feel daylami fit the theme well. Why wouldnt a CIA esq special force employ loyal and expendible militia men to serve as distraction, and fodder/ evac defense during an op. Like arming and funding insurgents/revolutionaries/militant organizations. Plus arent particularly skilled daylami picked for training and induction to the bahram?
But that is exactly the point: loyal and expendable militiamen are a locally sourced asset. It is always about local insurgents / revolutionaries / militants. Not your own ones. Forgive me for calling out a RL example, but CIA in Afghanistan did used local tribal forces - they did not import their own back from the US. And along the same logic, Daylami would be making sense - in territories of the Shahate. Anywhere else - these shouldn't have been Daylami, but local revolutionaries. Sure, making it fit simply can't be done without some crazy complicated rules, I guess (how to determine where in the Human Sphere is the game happening, so the HB player could put the right "local assets" in his list? - IMO that's way more trouble than it is worth!). But that's one of the points where representing a RL situation with rather generic wargaming rules becomes problematic. Yeah, it could've been averted by swapping the Daylami and Ghazi for generic "local volunteers" and "local fanatics" respectively, and arming them with generic weapons like Chain Rifles, SMGs and Shotguns (making sure to use mixed origin, preferably non-Haqq weapons on the actual models). But that ship has sailed umpteen years ago - because Daylami and Ghazi are part of the Haqq fluff since at least 1ed, and I guess way back into CB's original in-house roleplaying game. And have been described in the fluff as Haqq irregulars, not generic irregulars. So there's that...
In N3 fluff, they are. In 1/2ed, they were zealots. Or fanatics, if you prefer - willing to die for the Haqq cause to be shortlisted for resleeving.
Mucking about with draft lists based on what we know and what already exists and just trying to fit a little bit of everything. Obviously this won't translate to N4 directly, points will be different, we don't know what N4 Muyib profiles look like etc etc, but it's an interesting experiment. Basically no cheerleaders (even the Fanous is there to be a group two repeater if needed). GROUP 1 10 ASAWIRA Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, Shock CCW. (2 | 43) GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) BARID Hacker (Killer Hacking Device UPGRADE: Lightning) Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) MUYIB (X Visor) Heavy Rocket Launcher, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 22) YARA HADDAD, Intel Ops Mutafawiq Officer (Strategic Deployment) AP Marksman Rifle, MSV L2/ Heavy Pistol (+1B), Knife. (0 | 28) MUYIB Lieutenant Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (Normal and Smoke Ammo.) / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 23) SHUJAE AP Rifle + Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27) BARID Hacker (Assault Hacking Device UPGRADE: Icebreaker) Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 19) FARZAN (Minelayer) Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23) FIDAY Boarding Shotgun, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW, Knife. (0 | 29) GROUP 2 2 3 3 NADHIR (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Panzerfaust / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 26) FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) MUTTAWI'AH Chain Rifle, Jammer / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 6) MUTTAWI'AH Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) MUTTAWI'AH Boarding Shotgun, E/Marat, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 9) 5 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army
Another interesting thought, the shujae is what i wanted the non linking, non sniper hortlak to be. Now that we have the shujae, i doubt they will fix...or at least change the hortlak. Maybe it getting 6-2 mov will make me feel better, but for now i feel its not reaching its potential.
I would really like to know if there are any significant changes to Daylami profiles in N4. I used Daylamis (the infiltrating PFs mostly) more often than Mutts - so changes there will affect me more than the changes to the Muttawiah.
I don't expect Daylamis to get changed much other than maybe becoming a point more expensive. They're pretty harmless, at least compared to what Ghazis brought.
Oh, the Ghazi were absolutely stealing the spotlight. Daylami - next to Ghazi - were easy to overlook completely. Then again, I'd love to see some change that'll bring them up to speed in N4, and make them a reasonable option in a Tactical Window writeup. In N3, I have found that the Limited Camo Inferior Infiltration option is defintiely not for me, given the roll needed to put them anywhere useful. And making a screening / picket force out of 4 Ghazi nad 5 Daylami (2 PFs, 3 LSGs) - while effective - just doesn't feel right to me.
I managed to get a game in with that list I posted above this evening. Really enjoyed it. Went toe to toe with an Acontecimento limited insertion list running a Dragao and the Shujae and Haddad went up against it really effectively for multiple rounds. Having access to AP small arms let me gunfight in a way that felt very Haqq-y. Triple-nerfed mutts (jammers/new profiles/tac window) are not their former selves as might be expected but still useful profiles and I didn't regret taking three. Will be very cool to have a full picture once everything drops on the 25th.
I really want to see the whole picture and find how new hassasin should work in N4. For the moment it looks like I could play my old list and of course, new ones :) II find the new profiles quite well.
Yeah, I am really glad, that we get AP MRs now and a AP Rifle on a Skirmisher is very welcome too. Just realized, that Yara will be the answer to a Cutter now, if he really gets a DTW. On a side note, I also feel it would have fit the fluff more, if we got Molotoks instead of Red Furys in RTF and Haqq in general, to show the cooperation with Ariadna better. Concerning Mutts, I guess I will rarely use more than one now, if any at all. Depends on how everythings turns out, which profile it will be. But now, I gravitate towards the BSG, E-Marat one or just the one with Smoke for a second source. How did the Nadhir do? Which Links were you running? And why the BSG Fiday? The Mine profile is so much better imho.
The Nadhir was ok; it dropped a panzerfaust into the enemy machinist as they were making a run to heal up a Peacemaker (which would also have brought the Auxbot back online) then died immediately to the Dragao HRMC. It was still overall a worthwhile trade since it kept the peacemaker down. The starting link I ran was: Yara Haddad, Asawira, Ghulam Doctor, Muyib LGL, Muyib HRL. The HRL was just there to take a couple orders to die though so I could form up properly with the Barid KHD for linked pitchers. Strategic deployment can be a bit of a hit and miss skill but this game it was worthwhile; it got the HRL into a good elevated position and let my link start well positioned to put fire downrange with the 24" guns without risking an out-of-range engagement. The Fiday was the BSG profile because I had to cut two points to make everything fit (I wanted to try basically every other profile I squeezed into the list) so downgraded from the mines profile. Although as it happened, it was the best tool for the job - it suicided into the Bagh+Regulars core link firing direct template mode to secure multiple kills. But with BSGs rising in cost in N4 I wouldn't be surprised if this is among the last times I take the BSG Fiday. I need to experiment with mutt loadouts a bit. This setup worked fine for a low-investment group two, with the smoke mutt running cover for the jammer mutt while the shotgun mutt ran solo. But I can see just taking a pair of the 9pt or 10pt ones being an easier break point.
