Fellow commanders, Last Saturday I played my first game with Ikari and thought I share my thoughts since I figured that we’re a close knit underdog (player-base wise) subfaction, so any information is valuable. So I faced the ISS in a game of Tic Tac Toe, getting first turn and having my opponent deploy first which certainly always helps imo. I brought 2 Links (Tanko ML, Brawler Lt, 3 Keisotsu) & (Tanko Haris, Brawler, Brawler MSV2), an Al Fasid HMG, a Desperado with Assault Pistols, a Bashi Special Operative, a Doctor, a Panguling and the obligatory Ninja KHD. It was my first time playing with a bike, so that was pretty cool. Without going into too much detail how the game itself went (I ran out of time in turn 3, and my opponent had to go, so it was a draw), I was very pleasantly surprised by Ikari. - The Tanko link did as expected, blowing up a Rui Shi in active and the linked Hsien in ARO. - The Haris was a threat all game, never taking a shot but covering the whole central table. - The Ninja was good, picking up 2 antennas, although a FO would’ve served me better as he was revealed by a Haris Sensor and then hacked to death by the opposing Ninja KHD. - The doctor managed to make a dash to take 3 antennas in a row which was nice. - The Desperado threatened a Kanren, then killed the opposing Ninja and finally threatened the enemy’s Sophotect. I really like the high speed, free order, smoke, template and B5 Assault Pistols (opted for those vs the Ninja when he decided to shoot with the bow. - MVP was probably my Al Fasid. I wasn’t sure how he’d perform, being kinda slow and quite expensive imo. However what you get here is a sturdy and very versatile toolbox that you can spend your orders on and they’ll be well spent. He only took out the Kanren, but did a big part in locking down the midfield by taking cover behind a car and dropping mines left and right. I am sure going forward he’ll be the centerpiece in many lists for me. - The Bashi was pretty good too. I originally wanted to use him as a backup specialist to grab undefended antennas, but ended up not needing him in that role. I brought him in close to the enemy DZ as a flanker to threaten his Core Kuang Shi link and the remains of his Hsien haris (too bad the… whatever they’re called have SS2 built in -.-). Again he only killed a Kuang Shi and a Haris member, but slowed down the enemy advance and proved to be quite annoying. It was my first time playing with a holo unit and having your opponent guess wrong time after time and getting unopposed shots off was pretty cool. Definitely a keeper. As you can see there was nothing that performed badly, just my inexperience with the different units and unit combinations that stopped me to get a nice win here I think. What I like most about Ikari so far is that it never felt like I have no tool for the job required. There were always several options how to solve a problem, something I am not necessarily used to from playing Combined/Onyx (even though Combined vanilla has a TON of stuff). It seems like a well rounded army, and there’s lots of units that I still want to try. For me it is always a good sign when I have a hard time writing a list, and can’t fit everything in that I want to bring. There’s a very solid ARO presence, some very good attack pieces, fast units, tough units, plenty of smoke and 2 very good MSVs to make use of it. Even the lack of fast specialists didn’t feel so bad. The Ninja is a great unit, and when you have orders to go around even a simple doctor can grab your objectives because no enemy unit dares show their face in your turn. And if they do and survive you still have smoke launchers to cover your advance. Thanks for reading! BC
Glad you liked them and great write-up. So far I've been having so much fun with Ikari. A lot more than I've had with others in a long time. Just the rolling on Booty is fun!
