I was recently looking at rainbow six Kickstarter models and I noticed many had tactical shield. And I was wondering why we don't have more infinity models with tactical shield. They would look great on police Trooper like the loup garou or some Ariadna trooper for exemple. Rule wise they could be just armor or a nanoshield. Juste throwing an idea @Bostria :p
We do have two already. Captain Ariadna/Unknown Ranger, and the Mormaer. Though an interesting idea. Outside of on TAG's and Super Heavy Infantry who could carry that weight of shield. Tactical Shields wouldn't be very effective or need to be made of pure Tesium. Though an interesting thing you could do on that idea, is give nano screen to some bulky CC unit like a dog warrior and give it frenzy. So it's only useful until frenzy kicks in and they discard the shield and go wild.
Jotum has also a shield, a arm shield. And some tinbots have shields ;-) But I have to say I am not a fan of shields in Sci Fi. Something like stormshilds in 40K or the siege shields look too bulky. Mormears shield is okay, but URs looks too big for me.
Valkyrie’s artwork appears to show a shield where all but the central boss area is an energy screen of some kind. Not sure what’s up with that, but at least from an artistic perspective there’s some precedent for energy shields on human sphere troops…
her model(s) have it too, the hand axe is carrying it and the shotgun has it on her back EDIT: Hector has a shield on his hip
I'd love some tactical shields, or even just to be able to buy the Unknown Ranger that was limited edition. Can't have power armor? Shield it is!
I like the idea and see a lot of possibilities for rebalancing weaker units, which do not compete with similar units of other factions (For example the orc hacker :). Fluff wise it could go as an nano or energy field. So it could go as an aditional equipment option which creates partial cover or adds modifiers as mimitism… At the same time it increase complexity of mechanics and rules and can make balancing even more complex - as i said: great idea! :)
With unknown ranger, his shield is such a prominent part of the miniature I was shocked it wasn't reflected in his statline. His armor isn't necessarily standout among the thicker armor values of the sectoral and memetism is a standard feature of most ace gunfighters. Same with Vaklyrie, even when it's on her back it stands out. Fluff wise, while them being featured on frontline army units is a bit out of whack, Infinity is a game that isn't purely frontline forces. There's several factions that have a more militarized law enforcement/ctu theme to them. I'm looking at you O-12, ISS, or a possible FRRM redo. In these cases a ballistic shield/riot gear wouldn't feel too out of place. Hell a MO knight rocking sword and board wouldn't be too crazy would it? Nanoscreen would be a good way to represent it, and it's uncommon enough to stand out among a sectoral. Just make a mention in the fluff that human nanoscreens are sometimes shield mounted and are more of a shield with tessium tech or nanotech to help keep them going under prolonged gunfire.
Pretty sure the UKR is the only ARM 4 LI in the game, having HI level ARM without the E/M vulnerability is pretty standout. You could also consider it his T2 CCW, though the rifle version has a sheathed machete too. Likewise Valkyrie is especially durable. ARM3 isn't unheard of for a WB but still very high for the troop type, and total immunity is very powerful. Either could be as a result of the shield alongside her top of the line Lhost.
