Going from N3 > N4 there seems to be some interesting consequences to the changes to Infiltration. It seems the formerly "superior infiltrating" Oniwaban now only roll their flat PH rather than their PH +3 as they are now have Infiltration (PH + 3) which still applies the -3 from using the Infiltration skill, resulting in a net 0 change. At the same time the new equivalent to Inferior infiltration seems to translate to Infiltration (PH = #) where # seems to be 3 less than the PH score. This then means that, for instance, the Daylami infiltration profiles now have the ability to deploy on their own half of the table using the standard Infiltration rule, but when attempting to deploy on the other side of the table (which they are no longer forced to attempt) they are required to roll a 4 or less to succeed. I bring this up because it seems to be odd for the end result for the Oniwaban to see a reduction in it's ability to infiltrate while the overall utility of the infiltrating Daylami profiles have become far more useful while becoming cheaper in the edition change. Was this from a desire to generally reduce the ability for models to start on the opposite side of the board or something that was overlooked?
I think at least the "inferior infiltration" is intended to make the skill more linear and to reign in particularly Grunt Heavy Flamers starting on your doorstep
And if that is the case, I'm alright with it but still find the points discount the Daylami received to be odd. It still seems strange to me to give the option of trying for the PH roll of a 5 or a 4 (something I can never see myself attempting) when you are also granting them a guaranteed chance to deploy up to half the board without the cost normally associated with it or FD (8") and at no risk.
Honestly, I find this outrageous. Previously: - Fidays could deploy anywhere outside the enemy's DZ without any roll, inside enemy DZ on 15s. They get smoke grenades, good CC skills and a good order-soaking protection of IMP-2. Can be really good in CC (+1B) if you get Al-Djabel for 35 points - Oniwabans can deploy anywhere inside owner's half of the table without any roll, inside enemy's half but outside enemy's DZ on 15s. They've got better CC skills than Fidays (+1B), Monofilament weapon that could delete anything sans Total Immunity stuff, and protection of TO Camo marker, better than IMP-2 long-term, worse in terms of being discovered (only needs to be discovered once). No smoke unless you take Kitsune though, which is very significant minus. Fidays price is 29-35 pts range, Oniwabans 37-47 pts, about 8-10 points more expensive. Currently: - Fidays keep everything they had beforehand AND get cheaper, now they're 25-33 pts range. Still can deploy almost anywhere they want easily - Oniwabans get E/M CCW, get cheaper into 34-44 pts instead, BUT they lose massively without +1B on Martial Arts (unless you take Shinobu), and they can not reliably deploy in the enemy's half of the table (they have to roll for 12s or 13s in Shinobu's case). Also, Monofilmament crits do not kill stuff anymore, your opponent can still super annoyingly pass their armour saves. Shinobu's a bit more viable with better BS, Smoke grenades and Climbing Plus, but regular Oniwabans are super sad pandas now that will have a really hard time finding their place in anyone's lists. So, as you see, both units got cheaper - keeping the same balance between them, but Oniwabans got massively worse at assassinating things without no real reason behind this - they've paid plenty of points for having that 15s hidden deployment infiltration roll. Now, they're not quite dedicated killers anymore, and unless I'm taking Shinobu, I won't risk further deployment and am more likely to take Saito who can also deploy in my half of the table, have smoke grenades and EXP CCW, which is more dangerous with his levels of MA and high damage than monofilament is. So, why, CB, why?!
Only with the MonoCCW. If using the EM CCW they get to use +3/-3 and +3 Damage, which is roughly equivalent in odds to Burst 2 without any MODs, and then there’s the extra Saving Rolsl for the EM CCW making the odds even better.
