Cliffnotes for my thoughts; Existing profiles; Rodoks don't look like they'll see play in MAF - in Onyx, the strat deployment gives Ko Dali more shenanigans tho Kurgats are still way too pricey for what they deliver Sogarats are basically DOA with no linkability beyond Duo - Kaitok just does basically the same thing, cheaper, and with full linkability Yaogats and Suryats are basically limited to their respective SWC options - there's essentially no reason to take the small arms profiles New profiles; Tyrok losing Berserk for herself and her dog was a bit rude given it was in the graphic shown a day prior Dartok also lost a shown profile - granted that profile didn't make a lot of sense, but there were 3 loadouts - otherwise unit is good Kyosot not being a "Morat" is hampering my ideas for it much more than I thought it would Rindak is conceptually cool, but possibly too expensive - especially given it's a 1w, NWI Heavy Infantry, I would have expected the Haidao/Evader discounts to kick in Kaitok is probably one of the bigger winners - versatile, tough, and linkable Bultrak puts a bunch of pressure on the Raicho for decision making around what tag to take Zabuk - lack of Morat keyword means it might see play in some Duos, maybe a Haris Biggest overall wins - 5 core link that brings smoke and MSV with full benefits The Morat keyword for fireteams Hungry Haris teams
From what I can understand when this unit dodges it gets a +3 bonus to its dodge and inflicts a -3 Penalty to its opponents face to face roll.
Number 2 is nice to have. It'd be nice if NCO was a unit wide skill, but MAF still got a major buff over other sectorials in regards to fireteam flexibility. Now, in regards to your previous points: Rodoks I actually like. Spitfire + SMG + Paramedic and ML+ SMG + Paramedic are two particular Haris configs I'd like to try out. Kurgats are fine in my opinion, and able to bring some anti-armor weaponry at all ranges. AP Combi with E/Mitter looks pretty interesting. Sogarats I'm torn about. They're squeezed from below by Kaitok, and from above by TAGs. I think I could still find a spot for them in my playstyle, though. They do pay premium over Kaitoks, but are more flexible when it comes to their weapon combination. And I really like their models, too. Yaogats I can definitely see use for, both SWC and non-SWC loadouts. The latter probably in a Haris team with a different long-range pointman. Suryats similarly, both Vulkan and Multi loadouts might be useful, when I'm facing AP weaponry. But I'd also probably lead with HRL or HMG here. Tyrok is still good, despite the nerf. I'm looking forward to trying out MAF midfield. Kyosot is something I'd put in a Haris, so it not being Morat doesn't change much for me. I still see no real use for plain SMG loadout, though. And it having Shock CCW is laughable. Rindak might prove pretty useful, given Morat decent PH values, it's Forward Deployment, and immunity to crits combined with its Dodge modifiers might give it more survivability its light HI status might otherwise indicate. It's also another unit helping in contesting midfield; new MAF is definitely more in-your-face kind of army. Kaitok is definitely nice, will see play. Funnily enough, I see least use for Feuerbach, at least for now. Bultrak - yeah, it might be a tough choice between it and Raicho. The latter is better protected, though. Zabuk might be a surprising unit if your opponent likes to play otherwise tough fireteams, especially HI ones, and TAGs. Immobilizing them and finishing off with another part of that Duo or Haris might work well. On a side note, I've noticed I'm on the fence in regards to which Morat look I like more, old one or new one. Older models are more military, less quirky (I really fear for that Bultrak model). Newer still have their high points - Kaitok, Kyosot and Dartok are my favourites.
Stopping by to say F to my unassembled Rodoks, who are likely to stay that way forever. On the flip side, snagging yaogats before they went OOP probably best decision of my morat life.
The Kyosot SMG could be pretty threatening in the 8-16 range band if you can find a decent place to put it in cover on suppressive fire. Those stacked mods and the potential consequences of getting hit with an AP-T2 round could provide credible area denial.
Yeah, it's really solid with the BSG profile, the rindak is a midfield hunter. I can see holding him in reserve to absolutely ruin some upfield camo.
As per the answer above its a -3 to face to face rolls when the model that has the dodge -3 dodges, not a -3 to enemy dodges.
I think the Kaitok really changes the maths on MAF reactive turn. Cheap and wastes a few orders with the flammenspear, assuming it cannot be placed (or dodge) to use its chain rifles. Those few orders can be a big fucking deal. Between that and a Tyrok (RIP berserk) we can chuck a spanner in the works for a lot of alpha strikes in a way that old Morats simply could not. The MORAT team also works a little magic here. Because castle links have become less effective, the types of attack pieces that struggled with them will become more prominent. Since we retain a full power castle, a MORAT defensive castle will be more likely to pull value. There is also the absolute big dick move of suicide datz to toss ARO smoke on a fully linked Yaogat. But these are less of an effect than the Kaitok and Tyrok.
I was toying with dropping an order for much of the OOP Morats before the new stuff was shown, the idea was to use the TAG Raid stuff to fill out a small collection. My indecision had me narrow down the models to buy so much so that I ended up grabbing just the Raicho and Pilot. Instead I grabbed a collection of Shasvastii. My Raicho and future Dravots will now want those new Morats.. it will be an expensive year.
IDK. Those new Yaogats are really generic, and pretty ugly too. They seem intent on removing as much of the Morat design aesthetic from Morats as possible. I think I like most of the new models as their own thing, but the new Yagats, Rasyat, Kyosot and Raktorak look about as much like Morats as I do. Nice models, but nearly everything I loved about Morats is missing from them. I'm really curious why thet decided to change the design so much. On the other hand, the new Anyat, Tyrok and Zabuk feel very Morat to me, and the Vanguard are just fine. The Bultrak is like an April Fools gag, I assume.
To be honest I prefer the more military look of the previous designs, and the anatomical changes + my own neuroses will prevent me from mixing them, so I will stick to the old ones. I just found it out of character for CB to give people the exact only two yaogats anyone would ever take rather than opening with the gag profiles first.
it is certainly nice to get those two profiles. I have mixed feelings about this kind of release. on one hand, I means we get a nice variety of miniatures. Its mostly better to have 2 of one thing and 1 of another than 4 of one thing. it gives a wider variety in list building. But... I feel like it also means that we're probably not going to see those other models. At least not anytime soon. Stuff like Suryat Multififle and Yaogat Combi might take years to show up now. of course, thats always been an Infinity problem, but when you're starting over from scratch after a mostly complete line it feels even more egregious. I actually liked the Combi Yaogat a lot. It may just be habit, but I used him as my Lt quite a bit. I mean, for years he was the only good Morat Lt, so I got really used to him.
I think this is a bit of an experiment to try a new release method for models that expect to be fielded in mixed fireteams. As the game grew away from single-unit teams, it made less and less sense to do 5 models (box + blister) for every different possible group. The next year's release schedule that they showed will result in pretty broad coverage for a diverse MAF list in an overall pretty short amount of time, while using fewer SKUs than they removed old units. There were always people complaining about having to buy a whole box when all they wanted was the one profile, so it's good to see them giving some thought to the particular profiles that are most likely to be fielded. If this works out for them, I wouldn't be surprised to see more large scale army releases using this same format.
I agree, thats almost certainly the reason. And I think that will work out fine in that context. But as I said, its easy to imagine that we'll have to wait a LONG time for some profiles that under the old release style might have shown up much sooner. I guess its a mixed bag either way. How much do you want to bet that when we see new Daturazi it will just be one model mixed into one of these boxes, and a generic one at that? As someone who regularly takes 3+ Daturazi thats pretty frustrating. Similarly, I was REALLY hoping for a Zerat box that would actually cover all the options. But maybe this release style will be better overall? Its not as if more traditional releases wouldn't have had problems too.
