as the closest thing we can ever get to a multiwound model with some kind of camo it is possibly one of the most difficult to kill models we have. with high bs, two wounds and the amazing tricks you can do with holoechos I just can't ever seem to leave him out of a list.
In truth, the most single troop you can have in Haqquislam is the humbre hafza. Hidden Lt, hidden surprise, linkable everyhwere in KQ (an extra), bodyguard to Saladin... Of course, if you want to charge at the enemy, the Ayyar has more value, but I find it limited in scope. And Haqquislam is a "shenanigans faction" like nomads, after all!
There are many very good troops in Haqqislam, but maybe the most important thing is the great cooperation of some of them. We don't have pure RAMBO units that can win most of the games IMO. And it's simply impossible to choose one of our soldiers to be the best - and even though I like Ayyar and think he's good, he still definitely isn't the best. Holoechos are great, but give him almost no help in ARO, he has nice BS and ARM, but not the highest. For me, if we're looking for subjecitve types, the 3 named characters are the symbols of Haqqislam: 1. Salah Ad Din (et cetera ;) ) - one of the best Lieutenants in the game, reasonably priced, with nice statistics, my most trusted boss in 250/300pts games. He creates great combos with other units, for example... 2. Hassassin Fiday Hussein Al-Djabel - the Death of Haqqislams foes, the Terror planted in their hearts. He can cripple enemy's order pool, he can cut off their head with brutal execution of LT. He can destroy their plans with simply being close to them. Works great with Saladin and is one of the most important symbols of Haqqislam. 3. Kasym Beg - maybe a weird choice for some of you, but the boss of motorcyclists is ALWAYS in my armies. No matter the missions, the points. He can be the definition of Havoc and - what's more interesting - the tactical edge of impetuousness ;) He can simply ride for the kill, taking enemies down, using his skills to pay his cost back in many times (the asymmetric trades were made for him, I think, as he can cut down much more expensive guys with EXP CCW or blow away some others with Panzerfaust!). Or he can play more reasonable and let other units take advantage of smoke screens (like Djan or specialists in the path for objectives). He almost always pays off for me. PozdRawiam / Greetings
How can you forget our bro tarik? Honestly I'm not a big fan of the ayyar, holo and surprise shot level 2 only work in the active, and only one time, while his arm 3 isnt enough to go toe to toe in a multi order gunfight. I think our best is the hunzakut. It is practically impossible to not trade up with them, and in a faction about asymetric trading that is king
If we are not talking about mutts, its the Boarding shotgun fiday for me. Difficult for opponent's to play around and consistently does what you need him to do.
Yeah, I am on the side that if we are talking about awesome named characters, how Tarik gets left out of the list. Every time, I have used him, has delivered. He's Haqqislam's version of Captain America for goodness sakes! He is Captain Haqqislam and he is a beast on the table. Singular best troop? Leila Sharif. She has the best multi-uses of any other troop that we have to offer. She can kill, she can press buttons, and she can complete multiple classifieds. She can enter a marker state with Cybermask. She does a lot for 20 points and no SWC. She has made every single one of my lists since her release. From vanilla Haqqislam, to QK to Hassassins, I have used her across the board and will continue to use her because she is a Ghulam and they will always be present in all Haqqislam armies. To me, that is the definition of the best single troop. The rest are good but they are far from omni-present like Leila is.
Muttas play in another leage entirely. It's the one titled "The Army needs an option to include this troops automatically if I open the faction with them in it" XD
I don't understand why you guys pick tarik. I mean I love the guy but they BOTH have ARM 3 but tarik has zero way to put negative mods onto people, is too big to hide, and is a lot more expensive. the hanzakut gets my vote as a secondary choice for sure :) this is great! I love hearing other people's view on things. for me in my meta, anyone with a spitfire has simply lost all ground. it can't chew through dogged and NWI, it can't reliably break good armour... my meta is big time on heavy hitters, negative modifiers, and multi wounders and none of my spitfire models get any work done in it. what's a mutt?
The Hunzakut. Insane toolbox for his cost. An infiltrating cammo guy with rifle -and- shotgun that is either a foward observer specialist or has a light grenade launcher, and always comes with mines and deployable repeaters, for -18- points. He's so insanely useful that I'd often include him even in Limited Insertion lists, even though he's irregular. There's simply no way you wouldn't wanna spend an order on him every turn anyhow. The Hunzakut is a cornerstone in any Haqqislam hacking game, or any attempt to control the midfield.
I'm not so fond of the Ayyar. I mean, he's good, but I often find it hard to squeeze him into my lists, because I often want my main assault piece to have 2 Wounds (or Cammo/ODD) and a Burst 4 weapon, and the Ayyar wants to spend time in the second command group so he can take advantage of Free Agent. The lack of button pushing in Season 9 ITS might actually have hurt him more than perhaps any other piece in Haqqislam. Still, he's good, and amazingly fun to play, so I do try to field him every now and then.
yep, no one is as good at him at digging out suppressive fire jerks holding down lanes. hit them outside of 16 and surprise shot them for -12 to hit. add in shock to make sure they don't get back up. no other heavy infantry can clear mines, and pandas, and other traps like he can. using his ability to go into suppression safely around a corner and then be the new holoecho that is looking around the corner is bonkers good too. there is never a situation where he is the wrong heavy infantry frankly.
I wouldn't have thought of it too, considering rule's wording. But it seems that there is at least something going for pro side and almost nothing for contra.
I am still saying Leila. I can take Leila in every single army available to Haqqislam. I can't take an Ayyar in QK or Ramah Taskforce or the Khanate once it drops. Leila, I can and she offers the same amount of deadliness with utility the Ayyar does, even more so in some cases. Leila out hacked an Interventer and made his head explode. Surprise hack from Cybermask with a KHD program means dead hackers, she is lethal in so many ways.
I'm a big fan of the Ahl Fassed, due to it's weapon versatility. The LGL version is pretty much an auto-include in all my vanilla lists.