I’m diving into playing Combined Army and am looking at how for N4 the 15 order limit and it brings me to looking at the possibilities of playing the Avatar and Anathematic in the same list? For those who have how’s it playing and are there certain missions that seem easier/harder with this combo? Also, is it necessary to run the mentor in the list to help preserve first turn order counts?
I wouldn't say the Mentor is a must have. The Avatar gives you more orders anyway. Nice to have sure. Avatar and Ana in same list might leave you pretty lean elsewhere if you want 15 troopers tho.
Haven't played Avatar + Anathematic together, but have done well in events with either one solo. At first glance it does not seem like a good idea as neither are really offering what the other wants, or at least doing it at a reasonable price point. With regards to supporting the Avatar, the Anathematic is just a strong hacker, and you can get that for a lot cheaper and often with complimentary abilities like pitchers or infiltrating onto objectives. You also don't want to invest a ton of points in a slow, deployment zone unit if you are wanting to aggressively use an Avatar. With regards to the Avatar supporting the Anathematic, it doesn't offer much. It could sweep an ARO I guess, but the Anathematic doesn't really need threats swept. It can't come and clear out hackers etc. It can deter alpha units from coming after the Anathematic I guess via being a turret. Paying 120 points for a turret and some orders is something I frequently do, but its not something that directly benefits the Anathematic in particular. Definitely feel that taking just one and fleshing out its support is a ton better than taking both. You also certainly don't need to take 15 orders, especially with an Avatar list. I feel a strong 10 is more important, and in group two you could have nothing, or some ARO pieces or random taigas, or a few models to transfer over to refill the ten. But don't make 15 orders an important benchmark because it honestly isn't.
So with the Avatar, play-wise in N4 do you feel susceptible to being hacked especially with factions like Nomads with Jazz? If so is the solution to bring an E-drone or M-drone tagging along? Or is it just better to go in on the offensive and run him around the board removing obstacles?
Haven't played her in N4, but if it's still anything like N3 you don't really run her around at all. She has a HMG and great visual mods, so you mainly want to be popping enemy ARO pieces from a safe distance. You're gonna really struggle if someone gets within 0-8", let alone actual base-to-base.
I don't fear hacking overly with her. She's immune to possession obviously, and pretty resistant to spotlight / guided, and IMM is more an unlikley potential annoyance. Which leaves Oblivion, which is a definite thing to watch out for if not fear. She has great BTS and WIP tho, and good KHDs to protect her.. Play her carefully, don't go blundering mindlessly into hacking nets and remove the threats to her as a priority. I'm a lot more scared of CC threats (especially cubeless ones) like Bearpodes or Big dogs tbh. Screen her from those for sure.
Whenever I've played the Avatar, I've found it hangs back, generates orders, generates ARO, and threatens to move up if an opportunity arises. There has been tons of times where I have used the 120 point Avatar to fuel a 10 point Liberto to go do the close in work and its been the right call. Then when an opening arises (or is created) it can move up and wreck face. But moving up before that will get it killed stone dead. Thats whats cool about Infinity. Combat wise, Avatar is the same as many other big HMG. Kill targets of opportunity and targets that are in the way of more mobile and expendible units. I also think the Sepsitor is total garbage, as it leaves the Avatar highly vulnerable to many of the units that will want to come engage it in CC and kick its ass. It's best to think of it as having zero close range capability when you move and deploy it. I've even seen that HMG lose to designated target civilians firing a fucking stun pistol or dodging around a corner, and I've seen that multiple times. Re; hacking, I'm a little out of date now as I haven't played it since extremely early N4. My concession to hacking is to take a Caliban CoC instead of a Caliban Engineer, which makes me sad but its still a solid profile. Otherwise Bit&Kiss can hunt hackers and Dr Worm can clear many states along with put the Avatar together after ARO duty, and those profiles are generally going to be taken anyway. Between that and playing it as a support piece rather than your solution to all problems I've found that hacking doesn't really matter and you'll get huge mileage from the army as a whole. That said, hacking and missiles have only gone up in quantity so YMMV
What about on the flip side and running the Anathematic as the central piece instead of the Avatar especially in button pushing heavy missions?
