i Need persoective on the reinforcements

We'll see next week.

Now, based on how things are now - which is not a given to stay in REF - I'd say few armies will be able to field a pure Core in Reinforcements group. It is just 100pts, after all, even if you have access to 5-model-unit (in. "count-as" models) in your REF AVA. Meaning, they'll have to be under 20pts apiece on average (average, because you'd surely like something more serious, like a SWC gunner, on point).

Another issue is landing your REF. They all have to be within ZoC of the drop-point if I got it correctly. Depending on the table (and situation on it), it might be damn difficult to land them all in Cover, especially once there's 5 models in a team. Might mean they are bunched up, and about to eat a teplate (Direct or Terminal) as soon as they but twitch.

Under these circumstances, I guess a Duo + Haris, or Haris + 2 solo models might be a good enough proposition. Especially given we have access to Bounty Hunters starting at 12pts (SMG version) who can still get some interesting Booty. @Cadwallon gave a good example of such a group in this topic - even managing to fit an Anaconda into it.
...and keep in mind the REF Anaconda has a good chance of being significantly cheaper than the non-REF one.

 

With the little info we have and my little experience un DBS, it's the first time I considered fielded Anaconda. With the set of units in reinforcements we can deploy a expensive piece and complement to reach 5 bodies with cheap ABS and CSU.

We didn't have any clue if we have command link +X troop, which can let US deploy more cheap bodies.

I don't know if the new format Will suit good or not, but at least I start thinking about fielding some units/profiles that i never consider before.

Cheers

 

Whether a Reinforcement core or haris takes up a slot for one of those is not known yet and something I also really want to know.

Another thing is, since the Reinforcement is it’s own thing, this means you can have also the non-Rein troops of the same time. 4 Diggers for example. But the 15-man cap is the killer! Sure you can take more guys in the Reinforcement Group (we need to come up with smaller name), but it’s at the detriment of the first group! However, I’m starting to feel it makes you more vulnerable to them. The RG show up to find the rest of the force is already dead! So I’m starting to think the 250pt group needs to be the more powerful of the group.

 

I think there'll be some tactics involving shuffling Fireteams around too, starting with a strong Core in your main group with Druze and/or Brawler snipers for ARO and long range piece removal, then cancelling it to form a reinforcement Core turn 2/3.

 

If DBS can field Comlink+1/+2/+X.
Which I... doubt. Druze don't seem to have an upper hand in command abilities.

So we have a 10-model primary group, at 250pts - and then secondary Reinforcement group, 5 models at 100pts. Which - in my eyes - seems easier to pull than 10&5 at 300pts. Of course, we're used to 10&5 and 300pts, so we'll have to adapt.
I don't take to the change well, however there's nothing constant in the life but change.

 

I'd suggest changing your perspective for a while: write yourself a few limited insertion (i.e. single group only) lists at 250pts level.
Adding 100pts of Reinforcements on top of that should then be a breeze.

 

I am not a Druze player, but this sounds like you put yourself in a very tight corsett here. As someone rarely playing a list for more than a couple times (sorry, I´m easily getting bored, especially if stuff works) I am in constant adjusting lists and try out how troops work with each other and on their own. I also love tournaments or games with some variation of the base rules. I played torunaments with 275Points 5,5 SWC´s (and that was not a small one for a handful of players), i played "no core link"-games, aswell as Tournaments which missions demanded to play TAG´s in case u want to full score, and so on.
No am I in the privileged position of a) playing nomads and b) having 3 armies (and 8 sectorials) at the ready, and ofc is have my beloved centerpieces i try to fit in in most of my lists, but i love to adjust and vary my game.
I see that DBS are way more limited in their amount of troops to choose from, but still i imagine that there is a lot of different things that can work out. But that´s judgement from an outsider.

edit.: just double checked on ARMY. Soooo druze/braweler is the only sort of Fireteam with more than 2 in DBS there is. This IS kinda limiting... I had in mind that Kaplans are part of this army, but i was wrong. Under this circumstances I may want to revise some of the argument of mine. Even with a solid amount of Wildcards, DBS Core and Harris is always based on Druze/Brawler.

That´s something I like about CB forcing us to do from time to time; be it the new editions (of course) or new ITS rules with Forward deployment MI´s, or focus on TAG´s, or Tachimoto-REM´s. Aswell as regular changes in Point costs (some to the better, some to the worse). Change keeps the players interested. We all say balance is the most important thing there is. I once heared "perfect balance is the death to every game". That there needs to be shifting metas, so people can re-invent the game new, try new playstyles and combinations.
I think the truth is something in between, that a "nearly perfect balance" is a good way to go, with some adjustment here and there.
But that´s way off the rails here, i don´t wan´t to open this pandoras box more.

 

Kaplans and Druze are never working together, they are the two ends of the spectrum "good honorable mercenaries" and "we are bad but we can be worse" mercenaries.

 

Except in QK, where they work together!

Anyway, reinforcements as a whole looks pretty shit. No, proxying is not the answer. 10 orders at 250pts in a faction that needs to leverage it's cheap troop choices is just shitty design. I feel even worse for USARF.

It's an excuse to package more starter sets and sell them for an optional game mode. More profiles that cover the same ground, continuing to bloat an already bloated game.

 

They can’t be blamed for wanting to sell stuff. It’s what they do. But they can be a little critiqued on HOW they sell stuff. This is good marketing by them. Yes, it’s a way to sell box sets. I’d do it too if I were them. However, they have not spread what comes out, and for who, equally. Especially this year. This year Nomads have a lot more new figures than others (last count at 28 and the next faction at 16). I’m sure it’s because they sell well. But it can also make those that don’t play the popular factions feel left out because they don’t get new toys. They do still have a chance though to come out with some. Who knows, maybe there will be some general release Diggers at some point because TAG Raid is finally shipping. Also, they can only do so much at the size they are.

My critique is that they didn’t already start selling some of the new sets or at least have them ready to sell in August. At the rate they are going, it’s going to be halfway through the new season by the time some factions get theirs and they don’t have very good proxies for them. For instance, Aleph has no date set and what the hell are you supposed to use to proxy murder bots? Especially if you are already using things like your Dakinis.

BTW Haqq got kinda screwed yet again as well. They only got two new troops. Haqqislam, even though they were in the Blackwind set, has only received 2 new figures this year and only 14 over the last 2 years! They are at least getting some new figures for existing troops like Sekban.

 

And this is why Infinity is falling out in our area. It's hard to sell a $70 box or whatever when someone only wants 2-3 minis out of it. Add on the stagnation of a lot of factions and lets be honest, lack of community engagement and it's really hard to keep momentum. It's not even a cheap buy in unless you are comparing it to the big GW games.

 

I get it. I can't afford it either. There's a few figures I have not gotten because it's over $20 for a single figure and the sets are not that much cheaper per figure. I never got the Kaldstrom box set because I really only want one or two figures from it. Also there's some good competition now. I really want to get into Shatterpoint. And they might even have competition with themselves. So far, I’m really liking the look of Warcrow figures. But It’s going to be one or the other at a time, not both.

However it's mainly the fact they have not come out with Yu Jing. What little they have come out with I can resist because the rules suck. It's been almost all Nomads and I don't play Nomads and probably never will unless some fall into my lap. I started getting a little Aleph, only because some of the Blackwind set was given to me and I already had Deva Dakini for ISS. But I can count the number of Infinity figures I've bought this year on one hand.

 

That's the worst part, it's not that we aren't spending money. Hell, we just started up an entirely new game. We're going deep on Bushido right now for instance. I'm talking a good dozen people spending a couple hundred+ each, plus tables and accessories and stuff. It's that we don't have any desire to spend it on Infinity. Hell, I play CJC and I am tired of the nomad focus. All I wanted was Wildcat and Evader boxes but not, I got shitty boosters and can't finish off a link of either.

My QK and DBS are even further in the hole for new stuff. Hopefully the new stuff coming to reinforcements also goes into QK and the do something, might revitalize my interest a bit. But the whole sales approach sucks, and with 3d modelling of Infinity "proxies" increasing I sincerely hope that is something they end up having to take into account.

EDIT: I'm going to leave this, but am going to just excuse myself. CB gets me riled.

 

I heard rumors that Reinf profiles were cheaper because they were reinf (arriving late, in a small order pool, etc.) but the NA2 reinf got absolutely no rebates. And the CommLink options is 10Pts/0.5SWC over the base profile (disclaimer: i'm not saying the CommLink is costed at 10Pts, only that the CommLink wardriver is 22Pts).

Anyway, the best Reinf group I can do is only 7 troopers (meaning 8 troopers in Main group). At least the CommLink can switch over to the reinf when they drop in.

 

The Wardriver is terrible commlink implementation in Druze.

My excitement for this Extra is less than mediocre now. Adding a 22 point .5 swc tax to a useless hacker model with only Zero Pain in a sectorial that already struggles with SWC and tight slot limits is a really rough way to start.

I guess I'll reserve final judgement until I have played it, but that's a dumb tax for playing a tournament format. Could have just made it a Brawler Spec Ops and it would have been a lot better.

 

That's pretty bad, definitely appears focused on selling one of their latest NA2 models. Hopefully once I finish reading these posts I'll be able to see where everyone is finding the Reinforcement profiles in the army builder (cause I don't see them yet).

 

When you're building the army, click the settings button/cog and tick reinforcements. I haven't figured how to keep it selected yet.

 

At least Sforza gets NCO and Miranda gets Tactical Awareness. But the wardriver tax hurts. Hopefully a Druze gets Comlink in a future update.