How is everyone feeling about them so far? We've had some time with N4, tournaments have been running, and a lot of places are back to in person gaming. I still feel hobbled by the faction. I love my models, but I just don't feel confident with them going up against things like CA or Nomads. Has anyone had any positive competitive experience with them?
My friend uses Druze in QK. Not in DBS. Hunzie is great but Al Hawwa are better. He does the hacking/missile bots quite well with it.
Yea. Exactly. I can do that a lot better than Druze in a LOT of factions, and it seems to be their number 1 thing right now.
I feel like DBS and QK are almost the same as long as you have Druze. I thought a while ago that they were going to do a JSA to Haqq by having QK split off. But I feel both are great.
QK is pretty great. Has some nice link options, has HI selection, has remotes, has smoke hijinks, etc. QK has a ton of flexibility. I'm planning to run QK as "Druze" tbh, just because it is a stronger faction. Druze has...less. And that reminds me I need to get some of those spare Druze heads onto my Azra'il.
I haven't done them in N4 but I'm looking forward to using Druze in my Ikari too. Sadly only a Haris now but that makes sense. I think DBS is still great but I think some think too much about NOT taking Druze themselves. I keep seeing Brawlers, ABH, and a token Druze. However I think DBS could be helped a bit by having some of the things QK has like HI.
The big changes I would make to DBS would be that Druze get Shock Immune, it's not massive but it means your super expensive infantry can be picked back up. I would also add in a linkable gunfighter (partially solved if Arslan gets Shock Immune, would kill for SWC weapon too) and an HI option (would love a Druze HI using some sort of off the shelf armor, or Azra'il). Also, while Jethro is deceased, I would toss him into the faction as well. Ikari looks really solid right now, though not so much because of the Druze.
I really love the Druze models, but I find DBS a very difficult army to play due to limited LT options, lack of durability (HI, shock immunity, NWI, etc.), and lackluster skirmishers/forward deployment options. I can occasionally squeeze a solo Druze into a QK list, but I always feel hamstrung by the lack of Haris and the DBS-exclusive multi sniper rifle profile. If you gave me both of those things, I would run a sniper/hmg or sniper/GL Haris in QK all the time. I also wish that Azra'il or Mobile Brigada could link with Druze and Kaplans, but that's just me dreaming.
Sadly I don't see them getting HI any time soon. It would make them more like QK. However, I've said before that I think The Veteran Kazaks would be a perfect fit for them. They have Veteran skill like Druze and only a little more expensive. They even have one guy with an X-Visor! Also an Azra'il or Al Faseed would make them to much like existing forces. Ratnik maybe? Different enough I think.
Yea...it's pretty much the opposite of a good looking model to me. But whatever. You can't make a hoverboard look good. Still hoping we get some real releases at some point. At this point I would settle for some combi rifle armed Druze models, because unless you already have them, good luck finding the old Druze box. Nothing like more random models to fill in NA2s... EDIT: Give Druze Jujaks, those models are hot.
Druze didn't really need more characters, let alone an expensive one. But we're so bereft of options I'll be taking her in some lists
Those linked shotguns are very tasty for area denial or area sweeping. Nice fast specialist too. I like her, think that's a really cool profile
I would like to see CSU in DBS with AVA 2, perhaps same Link options as ABH (or limited to 1 per Link). They bring cheap Specialists, new weapon profiles and have quite a good chance to get Dogged, Regeneration or NWI.
Considering DBS already has ABH and Brawlers to fill the Druze link out, I'm not convinced CSU would do that much to help the faction. I mean sure they'd make it better, but you still don't have a good linkable long-range attack piece like an HMG or Feuerbach (BS12 Druze with 1 wound and no vis mods does not a good HMG make), and everything outside the main Druze link is still pretty meh. Not counting characters or the standard remotes, DBS has EIGHT models. EIGHT. And one of those is a WarCor. DBS is absolutely STARVED for options right now, and it makes list building feel awful. Druze has one fairly awesome core link but absolutely nothing to support it. Maybe an extra Haris, but then what? Kunai ninjas? Bashi Bazouks? And yeah, I get it, you're supposed to take Druze in the Druze faction. But Druze aren't designed to be something you take 4-5 of. They have a lot of extra equipment and rules which are cool on the first ~2 but after that you're just paying for things you'll never use. So you end up taking 2-3, stuffing the fireteams with the cheap filler options/standard Merc characters, and then hope your knock-off Ninjas can do enough damage that your links can handle what's left. You've also got ONE source of Smoke, ONE guy with MSV2, and no access to Albedo/White Noise/Eclipse, so even one linked Sniper or Missile Launcher can completely shut you out of a firelane. Honestly, there's a lot of problems with Druze. One interesting change I'd like to get opinions on would be taking the Druze's Combis away and giving them Rifles instead. They've still got Chain Colts and Viral Pistols for fighting within 8", and it'd drop those profiles' costs by about 3 points each.
DBS is 3 letters, QK is 2 letters. 3 > 2. Checkmate (also they can't make a Druze Haris and don't have cheap link filler for them but they've got so much other good stuff it doesn't really matter).
