New Tohaa here!

Anytime both models are attempting to affect the other, there is a FtF roll, so yes.

For example: A Knight of Justice walks around a corner where a hacker is hiding. The hacker elects to throw "Oblivion" as their ARO. The Knight responds by shooting the hacker.

The roll is a Face to Face roll, as both are attempting to affect the other.

Dodge and Reset have special rules that make them a Face to Face roll even though they do not affect the enemy model. As do Smoke and Eclipse grenades.

 

Any news from battlefield?

 

Havent played in over a year and having finally a game on monday this thread was surprisingly helpful for me... On the other side I cant decide what list to take... So many great units

 

I want to comment on how "hard" it is to acquire models to play Tohaa (it really isn't)

Nearly everything is still produced because of Spiral
The only key pieces we're really missing are...

• Makaul
• Sakiel
• Sukeul
• Taqeul (Except not really)

Makaul - I bought 4 Igaos. I use 3 for Makauls and I weapon swapped the 4th one that I use as a Igao. To make sure they're different, I inverted their paint scheme. So the Red ones are Makauls, the Black one with weapon swap is a Igao. (This also lets me play that model more and it's gorgeous)

Sukeul - Neema makes a really good proxy

Taqeul - The new Hatail Spec ops is a Taqeul that they renamed just before release because they discontinued Tohaa and wanted to make sure it sells (my speculation, but otherwise it makes absolutely no sense as a Hatail, they dont even have Symbiont lol) I like the outstretched arm for the "hacker" feels. For my second Taqeul, I use the female Rasail boarding team. She has the same pose as the Hatail Spec Ops with outstretched arm, and she also is a nearly full body Symbiont. Side by side, they really look like they're the same profile. It's pretty nice because the Rasail box comes with 2 Rasail and 2 Chaksa (I'd never field 2 Rasail) and it gives me the Chaksa I want (2 is the sweet spot for them).

Sakiel - There is a lot of options. I'm going to be using the male Rasail and the male Draal from Spiral Corps. They're both very similar (both male, both have a jacket, both have symbiont modelled on). My friend is using Fraactas for his.

- - - - -

The proxy rule in Infinity are very flexible and all these options look much better than their original counterparts imo. I wouldn't let the fact that Tohaa is discontinued be an obstacle to starting the faction. They're the most fun faction to play imo and I highly recommend them.

 

Supposedly Tohaa will still be playable in the future, even if they don't receive new models. So far, the only discontinued models that stopped being playable are the Caskuda (one of the alien races from the Combined Army), the Raiden from the JSA (they were replaced by different profiles and units when JSA became an independent Faction) and maybe a few other models here and there, but Corvus Belli has never stopped a full Faction from being playable.

Regarding the 300points box... which one?
This one?
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/415or0WOLQL._AC_.jpg


It contains the Starter box, the Makaul box, the Kaeltar box and a couple of blisters (Kotail and Nikoul), and most of those models are discontinued. Its original price was probably around 80€.
You just need to complement it with a few other models (Chaksa, Sukeul, Gao Rael...) and then you'll have enought models to make many different lists.

 

Don't forget Gao-Tarsos and Gorgos.

I use the Fraacta to proxy the Gao-Tarsos and the Anaconda to proxy the Gorgos.

 

Great breakdown!

I finally got to play with my army in the last couple of weeks. The games went well, but my opponent is still learning.

 

My 2 cents on the profiles picked and what I would consider as swaps. Do test out your list though, and comment back on it after the game!

SUKEUL Heavy Machine Gun
Amazing, very well priced.

KUMOTAIL Combi Rifle
Very underwhelming, there is basically nothing with structure in the faction and very little HI, so there isn't much benefit to being an engineer. So that part is superfluous. I would highly suggest a Sakiel Paramedic for that slot. Not only do you get 1 extra wound and gain E/M grenades, you also save 2 points.

MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower
Makauls are crazy good, Viral is the go-to by default, but don't sleep on DA if the mission requires you to destroy consoles or if the enemy plays a faction with high BTS.

TAQEUL (Chain of Command)
I'm not a big fan of having such a small gun on such a big platform. I'm really fond of the Spitfire for that trooper, makes it a great backup gunner. (Viral is also really good)

KAELTAR Light Shotgun
Arguably the most auto-include trooper in the faction (if not the game). I wouldn't play any of the other profiles of Kaeltars though, 15 points for an order, a bomb and a mate is amazing. Paying 6 extra points for Chain of Command is rarely worth it imo, lots of more cost-efficient way to shuffle LT / CoC around and get more bang for your bucks.

GAO-RAEL Spitfire
I'll admit I have very little experience using those, but it's a solid loadout. I find it hard to use though since it contest the same slot as impersonators (which is imo the strongest rule in the game, by far. And we have the best impersonator in the game in Jaan Staar)

KERAIL PRECEPTOR Combi Rifle
I personally prefer the 32 points version. Mutan are pretty poor BS, and for 1 extra point you get an extra body (which are the best part about this model imo, big fat bodies that dodge on 18 and are very order intensive to remove from the table)

KAAURI Sentinel Submachine Gun
Kaauri are great. I often substitute them with Chaksa depending on if the mission benefits from having baggage (Quadrant Control and co) or if I want to save 2 points.

DIPLOMATIC (CC Attack [-3], Specialist Operative])
This is cheating

KAMAEL (Lieutenant) Combi Rifle
I feel like you really need to be strapped for points to want to run a Kamael LT with our other high quality LT options (Taqeul, Sukeul FO, Sakiel Viral). Not a really big fan of this one.

TAAGMA Breaker Combi Rifle
Hard to justify over a Sakiel. It's a tad better for your order economy if you go first (because of counterintelligence), but otherwise you're basically losing 1W and E/M grenades to save only 1 point.

ECTROS (NCO) Heavy Machine Gun
NCO is cute for order efficiency, but 47 points for a HMG with no vis mod when we have access to 34 points Sukeul makes that order efficiency moot unless we hit our 15 orders and have no use for our LT order. (You could easily have a Sukeul + Chaksa + 3 extra points torward another order for example)

- - - - -

For grouping / fireteams, I would highly suggest having 1 Makaul in each offensive fireteam, they're a massive fireteam force multiplier. I usually go Taqeul-Sakiel-Makaul or Sakeul-Sakiel-Makaul.

Sakiels are easy to overlook, but they're arguably one of the best line-troop in the game. (2W for so cheap, with insanely good loadouts)

I would try to make sure you reach your 15 trooper slots, orders are the biggest force multiplier and it's extremely hard to justify cutting an order.

 

In adition to everything that has been said...

If you are bringing a Gao-Rael (I love it, both the profiles and the models, it's the miniature that made me start playing Infinity), you can combo it with the Kerail's Smoke Grenades. Not only it's a cheaper profile (8 points less) than the one you chose, but you get an aditional source of smoke. With some point-juggling around, those extra points allow you to upgrade some profiles or bring another trooper.

 

Glad you're enjoying Tohaa!

Just a few pointers for you:

1: Work on getting rid of the Kamael LT. Kamaels are... not good, to put it mildly, and we have much better LTs in the faction (Taquels, for example).

2: The Kerail w/ the Ranged Beast is... not great. You lose smoke and the Beast is kinda terrible at shooting. If you want to use him, take the cheap 24 point option. Makes for a fun assault piece w/ a mean melee buddy and is our ONLY source of smoke. Combos well with the Gao-Rael.

3: If you want to try the Ectros NCO, you NEED to have an Engineer in the link with him. You have no firewalls or hackers to defend him, so he WILL get himself hacked. One of the many reasons I still prefer the Sukeul, but that's not to say the Ectros is bad; 3 wounds and NCO make him a pretty awesome piece... if he doesn't get hacked. You can also swap him for Spitfire Neema if you find you don't need 2 HMGs in your list.

4: Gao-Rael spitfire is a lot of fun, but you really should only be running him if you have smoke in the list. See #2.

5: Filler Taagmas are good, but Makauls are way better. If you have 3 extra points, "upgrading" a Taagma into a fake Makaul to get Counterintelligence isn't terrible, but in general you want to take Makauls instead. Eclipse/Flamethrower/CC Monster is just too good a combo to pass up for 13 points.

Here's how I would change your list around while keeping most of what you wanted to take intact:

Test 1
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 8 1
SUKEUL Heavy Machine Gun, D-Charges / Pistol, Breaker Pistol(+1B), CC Weapon. (1.5 | 34)
KAELTAR (Chain of Command) Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse, SymbioBomb ( | SymbioMate) / Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0.5 | 21)
MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Contender, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, Viral CC Weapon. (0 | 13)
GAO-RAEL Spitfire / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 35)
TAQEUL (Chain of Command) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Pheroware Tactics: Endgame, Pheroware Tactics: Mirrorball / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 36)
KAELTAR Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse, SymbioBomb ( | SymbioMate) / Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 15)
CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Sensor, Baggage) Heavy Flamethrower(+1 Dam) ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 10)
CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Sensor, Baggage) Heavy Flamethrower(+1 Dam) ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 10)

GROUP 2 6 1 1
NEEMA (Lieutenant [+1 Command Token]) Spitfire, Nanopulser / Viral Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (1.5 | 42)
KUMOTAIL Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 21)
MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Contender, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, Viral CC Weapon. (0 | 13)
KERAIL PRECEPTOR Submachine Gun, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 24)
SURDA SYMBIOBEAST Pulzar / Viral CC Weapon. (- | 8)
CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Sensor, Baggage) Heavy Flamethrower(+1 Dam) ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 10)
CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Sensor, Baggage) Heavy Flamethrower(+1 Dam) ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 10)
DIPLOMATIC (CC Attack [-3], Specialist Operative]) Nanopulser, Flash Pulse, Pheroware Tactics: Eraser / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 5)

5 SWC | 299 Points

Open in Infinity Army

You've now got 15 orders, the Kumotail is with Neema to engineer her/doctor her (and you now have D-charges in both triads!), the Kerail has Smoke for the Gao-Rael, and Neema now has Eclipse support if she needs to push up.

 

The Kerail throws smoke in such a way that it blocks an opponent's LoF to the Gao-Rael, then the Gao-Rael shoots the opponent, forcing them to dodge at (-3) or shoot back at (-6).

This is usually accomplished by simply throwing Smoke on top of the Gao-Rael (or where the Gao-Rael is going to be when he shoots).

Note that this trick does not work against fireteams with 4 or 5 members, as Sixth Sense will let them shoot back without the (-6) penalty, but it's a handy trick to get through TR bots or models sitting in Suppressive Fire.

And by all means test everything out! Of the 5 things I listed though, I feel like #3 is the only one I absolutely think you should never break.

When you do run your list, I strongly recommend swapping your Kumotail and CoC Kaeltar. This puts D-charges in both Triads and gives your Ectros an Engineer buddy to un-hack him. Keep the rest the same if you want, but this is one change I really do think you should make.

 

Always fun to see PanO players learn the magic of smoke

But to answer your questions: If you have Sixth Sense, and someone shoots at you through smoke, you ignore the (-6) penalty for shooting back. Or the (-3) for dodging. This also makes for a weird situation if you have MSV1 and Sixth Sense: if you shoot at someone through smoke, and they shoot back, you ignore the (-6) penalty, but if they choose to dodge instead then you take the (-6) penalty. It's a bit weird.

As for avoiding shots: Yup! If someone shoots at you, you can throw smoke (or eclipse) between them and you and you'll get a FtF roll; make sure you're throwing within 8" for a +3 range mod.

This is part of what makes Makauls so good; when in a Triad they get to throw Eclipse at Burst 2 on 16's (within 8"). That's a 96% chance to succeed if you're trying to block a firelane in active turn, and a much better ARO option than anything else they can do outside HFT range (unless you REALLY need to kill them, in which case you have the Contender. Not great, but hey).

Eclipse Grenades are one of the big, BIG advantages of Tohaa; Why try and out-shoot a sniper if you can just plop down some Eclipse and ignore it? Atalanta is an incredibly scary ARO piece, but in the face of Eclipse grenades she's 44 wasted points. The fact that some of our troops now carry Mirrorball, thereby letting them place Eclipse even outside LoF (but with just B1 and WIP 13-14) let's us spam more Eclipse than ever before, letting our troops move around as they please provided you have the orders to spare.

Once you get the hang of Makauls, your opponents will learn to HATE the little buggers. No other unit in our army opens as many doors as the humble Makaul, and the fact that he does it at only 13 points is one of our strongest advantages.