@Teslarod I've been using the ORC Fuerbach in every VIRD list I've built, simply because of the active turn lethality and being a decent ARO that isn't susceptible to White Noise. I agree with the assessment of the two Sectorials there. Svalarheima's in a great place, but lacks VIRD's flexible options. If a player is scaling back their use of 1-Wound snake eaters in VIRD anyway, and if they're not hellbent on running a Cutter, then it's very easy to port over to Svalarheima and just run that instead. I think the Karhu Haris is one of the best tools currently in the game, and when you pair it with the Fuerbach in a Fusilier Core, you get a very strong list foundation. At this point for VIRD, I'd settle for Peacemakers being AVA2. I think they put them at AVA1 in N3 to avoid being too generous with VIRD's midfield options. But now, I think two Peacemakers would greatly offset the heavy hits VIRD took to Jammer, Helots, Kamau MSV2, etc. I think we've always viewed the Auxbot as an underexplored option for PanO, and I'd really like every form of PanO to at least be able to put 2 Auxbots on the table.
Here's another question: is anything 'expected' for when Acontecimento drops in... November, right? Or is it kinda all bets are off? They definitely are up there as one of the most interesting PanO sectorials and are probably looking to be my favourite assuming they're largely the same as in N3. Related: most of the basic stuff seems easy to proxy with current minis (knights are knights, orcs are orcs/guardo, kamau for bagh mari, fusiliers for regulars) but what about the TAGs? The Tikbalang in particular which is S6 versus the S7 that most PanO TAGs seem to be.
I would assume similar to N3 - bagh/orc/regular mixed link, I cant really see any PanO units getting an overhaul, possibly some of the characters like singh or lt. stephen rao lt. but im not holding my breath on them. I could see scylla or drakios getting some type of boost or additional profiles. this is a very good question. unfortunately there is no good answer - I would try and find one second hand? or even the Uhlan and use that as a proxy.
It's hard to say, because Acon was in a pretty good place already. Regulars will probably stay, but get cleaned up a bit loadout- and SWC-wise. Bagh-Mari and ORCs will probably still be able to join their fireteam Speaking of ORCs - they'll likely get some Acon-flavoured variants. Terrain (Jungle) and Mimetism or MSV1 seems likely. Bagh-Mari will get unit-wide Haris rule and 4-4 MOV, otherwise - unless CB designers will have some wild idea - will probably stay the same. Agnes and Rao should both be Wildcards, with the latter hopefully getting reworked. Singh should get a rework as well, hopefully with Parachutist (Dep. Zone). I won't be surprised if Rao will take over CoC, but I might be biased - I was calling for this for a long time. I also wouldn't be particularly surprised, if GdA gets a sudden SHI rework, grows bigger, and gets some stuff in the process. Aleph units are a wild guess. Nagas will most likely stay and get their profiles updated in line with their N4 changes. Otherwise? Who knows.
The main thing I always struggled with proxying for the few times I ran Acon was the Aleph stuff, though I suppose you could just use any PanO skirmisher as nagas and such, the named characters can be a bit trickier. Didn't even know the stingray tags got discontinued which is a shame since they were excellent, you could always easily use the Squalos as a Dragos (a model I wish I got before it went extinct) but as for the Tiki I may suggest some heresy and say try to get and convert the new Yu Jing Blue Wolf, its S6 and as long as you remove the pilot arms for remote presence purposes it would fit the role and still looks excellent especially if its painted in the same colours as the rest of your proud PanOceanians. As much as I'd love to see that, and as cool as more orc flavours for Acon and Neoterra would be, I feel like they'll just get the Varuna orc profiles (Hopefully they'd at least rename it) as they already have jungle terrain and stealth is rather appropriate for the jungle fighter. Hope you're right though. CoC Rao would be wicked, I'd also like to see Kirpal get NCO instead of CoC since I've never seen him even use the skill and would make him a spicier sell over a normal Akali (at least for me)
Wet vanilla dreams. Supstituting spit akalis with nco kirpal and bolt coc with rao coc would turn them from ok to epic. This would be sooooo epic for my joan+tag-lists that i heavly doubt cb will give it to pano or if so not to vanilla. Auxilias are a comeback im waiting for but after not getting trinibros in vanilla i fear the door will stay closed on them too. *sadauxbotnoises
Generally auxbots are a really good tool for beginners of pano. They bring automatic win aro without order setup and have a lot of force in active. They force you to avoid lof until you are good to go with both synchd units. Thats a lot of great teachable moments for movement for u and opponent. They best represent the "pano shoots" credo because they can shoot different ppl on the same order without 150pts of link/coord behind them and because in reactive they pretty much always want to shoot for maximum threat. An auxbot unit that has its way to enemy dz cleared by swiss/sniper fire can click the "byebye link"-button in 3-5 orders on most enemys. Bring 2-4 of them and your enemy will stay out of your way > more room for the rest of pano shooty goodness to stay in prefered rangebands.
Just remembered the golden auxbot from last interplanetario. Caused 3 dead and 5 wounds total while the auxilia climbed into a vantage point to go into suppressive to deny my opponent turn3 midfield access. Overall goldenboi tanked 2 jammer and 5 pistol/combis before getting stuck in cc infront of enemy link. Still have to build that littel hellfire bob a halo for overperformance ^^
Auxbots seem solid, wish they weren't attached only to older profiles that aren't in production. At least the Peacemaker is still in the store, sounding like they're going to be an N4 staple.
To keep the tone of this thread being basically just a bunch of random conversation hooks: I've got a 150 point vanilla list I'll be playing in learning games against friends. Mostly it's a pretty bog standard Swiss Guard + Fusilier cheerleaders sort of a deal, but I want to try out two interesting units to spice it up and I'm looking for some guidance: One is the Echo-Bravo with WildParrot. The WildParrot seems immensely powerful, but being a single-use disposable permiter weapon that doesn't hide in camo, I figure to make it worthwhile you REALLY need to make the best of your one attempt. Any tips or quirks that would be great to know for employing it to maximum effect? The other is the Krakot Renegade which is something that seems to find its way into the vast majority of PanO vanilla lists, at least in N3. Still seems like a very strong profile in N4, wondering how people use this guy to get the most out of him. Using the SMG profile. Related question does the +1B on the SMG work in suppressive fire?
My best tip for the Echo-Bravo WildParrot is to establish a "false front" or "facade". Putting up what appears to be a decent ARO, but is in reality disposable, so that your opponent thinks that they have obtained a breakthrough and advances. This will often open a breach in their line through which you can insert your Echo-Bravo.
@NauticalSoup Don't be afraid to bring the Echo Bravo on in your own table half too, if it gives you the opportunity to attack key enemy pieces. Not every game has to feature the EB working alone, looking to crack open the enemy Deployment Zone. It can be a very strong piece for taking out a key enemy threat that's positioning to strike your own table half. As for the Parrot, it's just a monster right now. Look at the tools available near the unit you want to target, and make sure your opponent is confronted with a Lose/Lose scenario no matter which ARO they select. For example, if you're hunting a TAG and you deploy the parrot, don't attack with the EB... No TAG is going to worry about a Combi or a light shotgun, so it'll happily Dodge and take its chances avoiding the parrot. Follow up with a linked Fuerbach, a missile launcher, a MULTI HMG Burst on a BS15 platform, or whatever other big scary threat you can muster.
Finished a game with that list and boy, that WildParrot really scares the pants off people once you explain what it does. I completely mis-deployed the EB and still wreaked havoc with it.
Parrot has the added benefit of being almost guaranteed to be able to target multiple troops at once. Combine that with a 75% chance of success on hit at bricking a HI/TAG or breaking a Link vs BTS6. Bonkers and well worth the Order investment given you'll be able to combine it with a Feuerbach/HMG FTF or B2 Oblivion Normal Rolls. Not like the EB Paramedic is bad even without the Parrot. And combined with the new Baggage rules you can do awful things on defense too. Despite being stuck to walk onto the board he still threatens targets 20" from each table side on the first Order in between Move+8" Parrot Deployment+Template. Not requiring LOF on where the Parrot goes combined with the Parrot himself not triggering any AROs is versatility incarnate.
