I'm sort of bummed that there was no render of the Vet. Kazak. That concept art has been floating around forever and I wanted to see how he was going to turn out. The vet Kazaks tend to be MVP's of my games, and it'll be nice to have a new and shiny n3 standard model for him.
If your wondering what the vet kazak will look like. take a closer look at the mormaer or at least the two dossiers side by side. They are very similar. The Vet Kazak has a different chest/back plates, but the same underarmor structure. What looks to be the same helmet at the Tank Hunter but the same gas mask as mormaer. The kazak style backpack and then two bags beneath that like the Tank Hunter and Spetznaz (also the air tank the spetznaz has on top) The leg plates are the same as the mormaer too, just with added thigh plates, shoulder and arm plates are the same too, but the mormaer has elbow guards and the one big arm shield. And obviously drop the tartan/tabard on the front of the mormaer Hope that gives you a good idea of what to expect. I'm super pumped https://human-sphere.com/images/thumb/e/ec/Veteran_kazak.jpg/800px-Veteran_kazak.jpg https://human-sphere.com/images/8/8e/Tankhuner_1.png https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f5/d3/4c/f5d34c6f64ed255d5a38da314a1af296.jpg
I'm well aware of the similarity in the designs, as I follow CB dossiers as they're really neat artwork. I'm excited to see the final product as the posing can make a good dossier look fantastic. When the new Mormers were showing up, I was tempted to pick one up or a second box of ohio to turn into vet kazaks. But since we're in an era of lurking around the corner (fingers crossed) I guess I can hold off on a bunch of conversion mini's. Why I'm excited to see a render, like I said the vet kazak is a favorite to run.
So I'm currently thinking the GenCon release will probably be an Ariadna/Aleph 'Operation' box, with the Ariadna starter doubling as a TAK starter (ditto the Aleph for Vedic). We know Shasvastii and Tohaa aren't coming until next year, Tunguska are next, and YJ, Pan O and Haqq are already in 2 player sets. And we know there's three sectorials and only 2 'N's on the timeline, so two of them are coming together, so they're about the only combination that works with the info we have.
I'm hoping all this evidence does end up pointing that direction chaos11. I want Kazaks so much. Even if most of my gaming group is pretty opposed to kazaks getting a sectoral. Mostly due to fear that high ava Spetznaz and Vet Kazak link teams will be op. And that it will largely kill off basic Ariadnas as it is basically played to get access to those kazak units. And one other player thinks French should be redone before another sectoral is done. But for being the core force of ariadna most kazak models are very outdated. Especially core ones like Line and Vet Kazaks.
I'm with you here. I don't play Ariadna, but since Ramah seems to be SOL this year, TAK is the only sectorial I'm curious about. To be fair, TAK will likely miss Uxia and will not have Chasseurs, SAS and maybe some other units that, along with Kazak firebase units, see play in Ariadna. I'm not entirely sure that getting links is definitely better than having those, as well as budget variants of what Kazaks have (paras, CR volunteers, if only AVA2 etc.).
So Given current information this makes the most sense. However, as stated in a couple other threads I personally see the Ariadna vs. Aleph operations box wont match up right. TO/ODD wont mesh against TAK (unless we get some cool non-WB version of Antipode with sensor) and all the tricks and goodies for TAK as we know it right now don't provide a counter to ALEPH. Not to mention ALEPH hacking being completely irrelevant to Ariadna in general and probably TAK especially. That said I really really want this to be a box becuase I want both TAK and Vedic so getting both at the same time would be amazing. Spetznaz would be a pain to deal with and Vet Kazaks are just relaible all around shooters which in link teams would be amazing but they are not cheap at all so you probably wont be able to do both high order count Ariadna style and Vet Kazak AND Spetz. Pick one, maybe two of those. I dunno. I think in the short term because so many people will want to play the long awaited TAK. But I think with Ariadna more than other factions, there seems to be a desire to play Vanilla because there is access to combinations of units that work well together in lower AVA numbers. For example, high ordercount camo spam with a large variety of possible units hiding under that camo and therefore causing your opponent to panic like: "is that a Chasseur, or a Scout? OH GOD ITS UXIA" I tend to agree. Links will of course be good, but you are right there will be the budget options missing. Then again, higher AVA scouts? Vet and Line Kazak link combinations? Higher AVA Tank Hunters?
I mean, of course. But all that Kazak goodness comes at a price. Aforementioned Scouts lack important Chasseur tricks and cost almost 1.5 times more, for example; tankhunters may end up with extra linkability restrictions and again, they aren't cheap; AD profiles are 30 something points and no specialists (so far) versus 21 pts FO that shoots almost as well; etc. Links are likely to be those. But again, Grey+vols, for example, is more optimized, and nobody seems to mind. Then you consider that Vet+line link will have to approach to do something special, and line infantry doesn't reliably cope with that. There are downsides, IMO. I know that Vanilla is basically Kazaks + support. The thing is, I believe said support does take a non-negligible hit by losing non-kazak units.
Oh, re-reading my post I didn't mean to be disagreeing with you as much as it sounded like I was. I just got excited about the higher AVA. Its hard to draw conclusions about how TAK will effect attractiveness of Vanilla before we see any profile changes and AVA allowances.
This... this makes too much sense, and now I am heartbroken. I made a realization so I'm doubling down on the hope, call it denial. If the TAK starter did get something similar to a kazak flavored blackjack, or a alternate MUL remote, or potentially the rumored tag, then the kazaks would have something hackable. Is it just me, or is that a nice way to not overwhelm a new player with the hacking mechanics? On top of that, steel phalanx seems to be the one with ODD everywhere, but what about a potential Vedic sectoral, would that also be true?
Hope is never a bad thing. Just don't delude yourself into believing it MUST happen So it would be great for a new ALEPH player but TERRIBLE for the TAK player because his only counter to hacking right now is just stay away from the hacker. Now that doesnt mean we wont see a defensive hacker profile or something but then again we would need some sort of repeater device. Not impossible but doesnt seem likely to me. Ok yes, Steel Phalanx has a fair bit of ODD. However, Vedic has Dasyus and Post-Humans with TO, Nagas with regular camo and all those are Infiltrating with lots of loadout options and will likely have higher AVA in Vedic. This in conjunction with the Asuras and Danavas Hacking Device Plus they can generate white noise zones which will nullify any MSV that TAK might get. This isnt counting all the mimetism on the Post-Humans and all the Bot options. I mean it doesnt REALLY count as camo but it definitely contributes to all the negative visual mods that Vedic will get. And now I have talked myself out of the vague hope I was holding onto that Vedic and TAK could be boxed together...
If i have more time i will enhance the presentation I would like to make and vote the RM100 profile at the ariadna campaign facebook page. And just one gift more ... Art by Judith Ballester https://s31.postimg.org/gtxhjqitn/30007689_10212776786506906_1576297110_n.jpg
@MATRAKA14 For a moment I thought we're having another announcement. Anyway, we should tell BoW that it's "Татарское" rather than "Татарский", even if CB says otherwise :)
@MATRAKA14 Ava 2 antipode assault packs? You glorious madman. I guess my local group would be screaming in terror at the thought of ava 3 spetznaz.
