Hello! I've been playing around in the army builder and came up with the following list: Ghost in the Shell ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 9 1 1 YOJIMBO Contender, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 21) KEISOTSU Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 9) KEISOTSU Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17) KEMPEI (Multispectral Visor L2) Shock Marksman Rifle / Pistol, CCW, Electric Pulse. (1 | 25) RYŪKEN (Forward Deployment L2, ODD) Submachine Gun, Antipersonnel Mines, D-Charges / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 24) RYŪKEN (Forward Deployment L2, ODD) Submachine Gun, Antipersonnel Mines, D-Charges / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 24) RYŪKEN (Forward Deployment L2, ODD) Submachine Gun, Antipersonnel Mines, D-Charges / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 24) HÙSÒNG Yaókòng HMG / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 25) LÙ DUĀN Mk12, Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21) RUI SHI Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 20) GROUP 2 4 1 KUROSHI RIDER Lieutenant Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower / Breaker Pistol, AP + Shock CCW. (0 | 33) CHAĪYÌ Yaókòng Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) TOKUSETSU KOHEI Engineer Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) NINJA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Tactical Bow / Pistol, DA CCW, Knife. (0 | 29) 6 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army The list incorporates most of my favourite pieces of JSA. Yojimbo is self-explanatory. And I will not leave home without Asuka Kisaragi, either. A small core fireteam to abuse the MSV2 Kempei, the Keisotsu hacker (quick question: hacking ARO is B1 and not B2 in spite of being a 3-man fireteam member, right?) and... well... an order monkey. The HD can boost the REMs and hunt down enemy repeaters with blackout. 3 Ryukens. Forward deployment is almost infiltration, has ODD to win gunfights and I can spend a command token to put all three of them (and someone else) in SF mode. Pretty good roadblocks I presume. Three REMs to do some additional killing. I like them all three. I take them all three. The Major is in G2 but as soon as G1 takes casualities (loaded with ARO pieces: it is but a question of time...) I can move her in G1 to do some late-game rampage or button pushing. Chaiyi has mimetism and flash pulse. I understand it's a viable order monkey. Plus it has repeater. The engineer and two servants to keep the REMs going. All REMs has remote presence so I believe it will well worth the investment. And last but not least the Ninja. TO camo specialists are nice. The upside is the KHD is pretty ace against enemy hackers. (Blackout first on the enemy repeater then Redrum on the enemy hacker.) The downside is he lacks a weapon to put him in SF mode. With all these Ryukens I hope this is not a big deal. I understand the list is pretty lowish on specialists as it currently is, but I can sacrifice one of the Yaozao to upgrade the vanilla Keisotsu and the Chaiyi to FO Keisotsus (perhaps upgrade the vanilla Keisotsu to a Paramedic). So, what do you guys think? Am I missing something obvious? Glaring holes? Refinements? (I plan to come up with a viable list before I start shopping...) Thank you in advance! PS Any idea how to squeeze the full 3-robot (111 points 0.5 SWC) Karakuri Haris in the list?
At risk of violating the "it's not your list it's you" principle, I don't think you are playing the right army if you want to play lots of REMs. The SWC tax on the Rui Shi and the Husong means you're paying a full 1SWC above what you used to. It just feels sub-par to a REM-focused ISS or Nomads list.
If you really want to do Ghost in the Shell, I hate to say that JSA is probably the worst Infinity army to do it in. This is particularly sad when there are 4 models in the JSA Army box that are obvious GitS expys: Both Ryuken and two of the Keisotsu. The Husong and Rui Shi really eat up too much SWC to put both of them into a list. I'm assuming that the Ninja KHD is a KHD because you're out of SWC? I almost always make the Major a Ninja AHD. As to your PS, I don't see any convenient way to stuff the full Karakuri Haris in that list. It'd cost you all 3 gun REMs, and two Ryuken.
Did you mean REM heavy for JSA? As others have said, the SWC tax JSA pay makes it hard to field a truly remote heavy list but I would certainly count this as a good example and about as far as JSA can go down this road. The list looks perfectly fine to my eyes in terms of an all-purpose list. You've got your bases covers and a plan for how to get up the table and do what you want. I would perhaps tinker with the combat groups (moving the Husong into the small one and the Chaiyi or engineer into the larger one) but I don't feel strongly about it and would want table experience to guide me on what needs to be where. Since you state that Yojimbo and Kuroshi/Asuka are non-negotiable inclusions then the karakuri haris won't fit without a major rework that likely replaces the remotes and/or the Ryuken9 plus something else. Karakuri are marvellous and you can make some great heavy infantry lists with them but there's no simple way to swap them into the type of list you've presented us in the first post.
Thank you for the feedback, it is well appreciated. Interestingly I did not find the SWC tax hindering me in list building. Every time I try to build a JSA list it is the high points cost (and not SWC) I have problem with. For example Oniwabans look great but spending 40 points on one of this beauty... Looks a pretty high price to me. (Hey, that's the pricetag for one HMG Spetsnaz!...) All three REMs are AVA 1 so I took the most I can. Having more SWC will not help me in this case. Regarding the remark on the Ninja KHD I included him for three reasons. First of all, accompanied by a HD Keisotsu they deliver a nice one-two punch in case an enemy hacker threatens the REMs which I consider the heavy hitters of the list. I think they are a pretty versatile package when it comes to infowar. Secound the KHD gives access to Cybermask. The ability to walk a specialist to a button to push or a capable CC fighter into BtB with a juicy target relatively unmolested is pretty ace. And last but not least I find the extra cost of roughly 10 points to get a weapon (rifle) I have no plan using (in SF mode) is a waste of points. Hey, that's the reason I spent 72 points (and 1.5 SWC) on the Ryukens that do exactly this job! Reshuffling the grouping is a great idea. This way I can put four bikes on the table!!! Wroom! Wroom! If I am lucky my opponent will not realize the three Aragotos are one Lu Duan until it's too late! Both bikers are non-negotiable. Playing Ariadna and SP I was on the recieving end of this beating stick awesomness (only back then the girly was named Asuka and not even a specialist) and there is no way I would leave them home. If you can't beat them, lead them! Regarding the PS I had high hopes you guys can come up with a solution but I understand there is no easy way out... Perhaps I can sack the Ryukens and the Ninja to get the Haris, but I am not sure I am willing to make the trade... PS Ghost in the Shell takes place in Japan. I insist making the GitS list as a JSA list for fluff reasons primarily. Thank you again for the feedback!
The deception of having 3 "Aragoto" on the table only lasts till the Impetuous Phase of your first turn. As soon as you don't place that Impetuous marker down next to the "Aragoto", well, it's obvious that they aren't what the models claim they are.
If I was going to do a JSA Ghost in the Shell list, I'd run something like this: Japanese Secessionist Army ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 9 1 1 Major NINJA Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Shock CCW, Knife. (0.5 | 40) Togusa KEISOTSU Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 9) Batou RYŪKEN (CH: Limited Camouflage) Heavy Rocket Launcher, Antipersonnel Mines / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 23) Saito KEMPEI (Multispectral Visor L2) Shock Marksman Rifle / Pistol, CCW, Electric Pulse. (1 | 25) Pazu YOJIMBO Contender, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 21) Boma TOKUSETSU KOHEI Engineer Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) Ishikawa KEISOTSU Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17) Tachikoma WÈIBĪNG Yaókòng Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16) Batou's Tachikoma SON-BAE Yaókòng Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18) Tachikoma CHAĪYÌ Yaókòng Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) GROUP 2 3 Tachikoma PANGGULING (Total Reaction, Repeater) Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21) Tachikoma PANGGULING (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) Tachikoma LÙ DUĀN Mk12, Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21) 6 SWC | 241 Points Open in Infinity Army This is way under points, because JSA is a rough army list to work from. I usually make Batou and Boma 2W HI (and ignore that Boma is the team's demolitions expert). I could scare up a few more points by making Batou's Tachikoma a Husong or Rui Shi.
It's not a bad shell game, however. Sometimes the thing you need is for your opponent to counter-deploy or counter-move wrong in just one turn. Is it 3x Spitfire Aragoto (not an unlikely setup, if a bit hard on the SWC side of things) aiming to gun down the table on the left side of the table or is it a Lu Duan and 2x Killer Hacker Ninjas spread out across the other side of the table? Even the simple trick of disguising the Lu Duan as a Rui Shi is valuable against an opponent with large number of ODD LI/MI, relying on smoke, or just an opponent with an unreasonable fear of them.
True enough, especially in Limited Insertion. Not enough orders to redeploy if you've messed up there.
