Full Core and Extra HMG in Shock and Varuna

The HMG trooper is there to entirely call an audible – this is something you may not immediately get the hang of.

• I never expect to go first. But if I do get that chance or if I'm forced to, the linked HMG is a pretty killer option for a turn 1 bloody nose strike.

• He also makes a pretty decent Xenotech baby sitter.

• I also re-link him turn 2 if my ARO piece goes down, as you said. although, that doesn't always happen. If it doesn't, I'll try and assess if my opponent will even be returning to the section of the board my ARO piece is even covering, if not I can relink with the HMG and go on a rampage elsewhere leaving my sniper behind because he's mostly irrelevant at this point any way.

• If I do plan on using him as a solo piece because the linked ARO is too important, I'll usually use him as a back-up attack piece. Coming out of total cover in turn 2 or 3 when the opponent is already bruised and something like a mimetism HMG by itself is dangerous to them.

• They also make decent Datatrackers for late game objective runs. they can usually reliably clear out any enemy stragglers with ease.

 

You are right and you are wrong

In Varuna it normally replaces the Sniper when he is dead if he is not in a haris link with Patsy and the mechanic.

In Acon he is usually a solo attack and hunting peace with his mimetism and MSV1.

But nothing is written in stone and it depends on the situation if you use the HMG in the sectorials this way.

 

The Kamau HMG is a pretty fast budget solo attack piece even in Vanilla, 2 (EDIT: I meant 1!) SWC for a BS13 Mimetic HMG is a steal

 

I know what you meant there, and I agree.

Generally speaking,
yes, you use that added HMG in a flexible fashion. If your opponent lines up against you, you use the Burst 5 to brute force things down.

But if you get that perfect elevated catwalk that your opponent didn't protect, or if the opponent hides from your MSV2 sniper but is vulnerable from different angles, you let the HMG run solo.

A huge strength of Wildcard Kamau is that you have the flexibility to mix up your links and deployment, changing things from game-to-game based on the table layout and how your opponent sets up. My Patsy Haris list from Las Vegas Open had three different Kamau... HMG, Sniper, HRL. Being able to use either the HRL or the HMG in that Haris has a huge impact on its capability.

 

Yeah, SOMETIMES you might start both the HMG and the Sniper in the Fireteam due to the specifics of the tactical situation and terrain at the beginning of the game.

And other times you'll obviously want multiple attack vectors, so you'll start them across the table from one another.

But often you won't know, in initial deployment, if you want that HMG as an independent gunfighter or a Core fire dominance unit. In these cases you will start the HMG near, but not necessarily IN the Fireteam.

It's all about flexibility.

 

Agreed, having the option do put the HMG in the Link or to deploy it in a different location is what makes it so nice.

Going second you might want to set the fireteam up for AROs most of the time, but you might be up against an opponent that can easily deal with it where the HMG Prone on a roof ready for your turn's counterattack is better.
Going first you might want to have to drop the HMG as a reserve piece with the Link or without it to clear a corridor the PanO way.

Easy access to 7 or more troops that can form a Core is what makes Acon and Varuna pretty flexible even with a single list.

 

Dart and Double Bagh-Mari──────────────────────────────────────────────────
GROUP 1 10
BAGH-MARI HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 26)
REGULAR (Sapper) MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 22)
REGULAR (Minelayer, Sensor) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 14)
REGULAR (Minelayer, Sensor) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 14)
REGULAR Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
REGULAR Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
MULEBOT (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
DART Submachine Gun, Viral Tactical Bow, E/M Grenades / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 34)
NAGA (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 28)
TRAUMA-DOC Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

GROUP 2 7 1
BAGH-MARI HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 26)
NAGA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 30)
MACHINIST Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
WARCOR (Aerocam) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)
5.5 SWC | 300 Points
Open in Infinity Army

I’ve run this list a handful of times and it usually does very we’ll, as long as my opponent doesn’t get super aggressive with a tag. Even then, it’s not terrible. The bagh mari in the second combat group is intended to operate on his own. The bagh mari in the first combat group can go either way. If my opponent gives me the opportunity to pick off targets from his starting position, I will absolutely take advantage of it. If I activate second, I’ll stick him in the link to help protect him if someone makes it into my deployment zone. He’s also a sixth body for the link if I need it.

The way I see it, very little outshoots a solo bagh mari hmg. Even a linked, BS 13 model will usually be shooting 2 dice at 13 to my 4 dice at 12. That’s pretty solid for 26 points. Usually, with forward deployment, I’ll put the hmgs on opposite sides of the table to create opportunities for cross fire. I almost never leave them out to ARO because I want them hunting on my turn. If their coming from opposite sides, it is really hard for my opponent to hold ground in the middle of the table without leaving something open to being gunned down.

I don’t like dragging a link along with one if I can help it, because in the middle of the table there are mines, chain rifles, and all kinds of things that eat light infantry regardless of link bonuses. If my team is in my deployment zone, it usually takes my opponent the better part of a turn to get my link in his sights, and then I’ve come out on top because he’s usually just wasted a bunch of orders.

 

The lists I keep writing for Varuna seem to look like this as a base:

Varuna Immediate Reaction Division
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

9
PATSY GARNETT Submachine Gun, Nimbus Plus Grenades, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 37)
KAMAU HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 28)
MACHINIST (Varuna Div.) (CH: Mimetism, Stealth, Aquatic Terrain) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17)

ORC (Varuna Div.) (Multiterrain: Aquatic/Jungle, Stealth) HMG / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 45)
KAMAU (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)
FUSILIER Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 14)
FUSILIER Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 18)
FUSILIER (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)

TRAUMA-DOC Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)

6 SWC | 217 Points

Open in Infinity Army

Patsy Haris with a Kamau HMG or HRL, Core with an ORC HMG and Kamau MSR (plus an LGL a lot of the time).

 

You didn't consider swapping one of the Nagas for a BM Haris and an upgraded Machinist to link with the group 2 HMG?
('cus the only thing better than a B4 HMG is B5!)

 

I don"t think that the +1 burst justifies the loss of the Naga. They are to valuable to make this change.
In Varuna the Harris of Patsy/Kamau/Machinist is there much more viable.

 

Taking Dart really makes the second Naga superfluous IMO; you're bringing the midfield, anti-camo game in the form of Dart, a Naga KHD, a pair of MSV HMGs and a MSV CR+LSG, your minelayers and Fugazi net are covering your DZ and you're bringing a specialist along for the ride with the Haris team. About the only thing the list misses is a full 2W trooper for tanking a crit and keeping up the pressure.

 

I have. I’ve dropped a palbot or Warcore to upgrade the engineer, which is a good option. A bs12 specialist with mimetism is fantastic.

I’ve played with the haris. I’d rather have a more maneuverable bagh mari and a free reward deployed camo specialist with mines than a haris guy. Burst 5 is great, it’s rately worth dropping a naga though.

As for Dart, she is there for a very different purpose than the Nagas. Nagas are specialists with mines. They are around to push buttons, protect objectives, and set up road blocks.

Especially without an assault hacker, Dart is is hunter killer. She has e/m grenades because I use her to tear down hard targets. Her ability to get into back arcs, shrug off mines, and punch with AP means that she goes for attack pieces and kills everything else along the way. Nagas can’t get killing done like she can. Stuff that’s out in the open, or can get caught in the crossfire will get murdered by the Bagh-Mari. Dart takes care of everything else.

 

My Current SAA list. Any Tip or suggestions?
Shock-Works
GROUP 1 10
TIKBALANG HMG, Heavy Flamethrower, Antipersonnel Mines / AP CCW. (2 | 85)
CRABBOT Flash Pulse / Knife. ()
SCYLLA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device UPGRADE: Maestro) Boarding Shotgun, Nanopulser + 2 Devabots Charybdis / Pistol, E/M CC Weapon. (0.5 | 34)
DEVABOT CHARYBDIS Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (7)
DART Submachine Gun, Viral Tactical Bow, E/M Grenades / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 34)
BAGH-MARI HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 26)
REGULAR Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) REGULAR Hacker (Hacking Device, FastPanda) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 23)
REGULAR (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 11)
REGULAR Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) REGULAR (Minelayer, Sensor) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 14)
MACHINIST (SAA) (CH: Mimetism, Multiterrain) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

GROUP 2 2 1
REGULAR Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
BULLETEER Heavy Shotgun / Electric Pulse. (0 | 17)
TECH-BEE (Remote Assistant Level 1, Specialist Operative) Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
6 SWC | 300 PointsOpen in Infinity Army

 

I see a lot of blaring issues right off the bat:

- You have no ARO game.

How do you plan on halting the enemy on their turn? protecting your TAG? You're taking a 5 man link with no Regular sniper or Bagh sniper, why? These make really nice, tough to deal with ARO pieces. You have the Tik and Bagh HMG which essentially accomplish the same task.

- You're extremely light on orders

Either tighten this up to a single combat group, so you're immune to losing 2 orders to a command token, or cut a regular, tech bee, a devabot and the bulleteer and get some Fugazi to fluff out those groups. Logically – what is the point of that second group right now. 2 orders for a bot that wont get close enough to use it's shotgun? 3 orders for an irregular throw away ARO?

- you're taking the Regular Forward Observer

why?

If I were to clean up this list a bit it would look something like:
Shock Army of Acontecimento
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 10
TIKBALANG HMG, Heavy Flamethrower, Antipersonnel Mines / AP CCW. (2 | 85)
CRABBOT Flash Pulse / Knife. ()
REGULAR Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
REGULAR Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
REGULAR Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
REGULAR (Minelayer, Sensor) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 14)
BAGH-MARI (Minelayer) MULTI Sniper Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
BAGH-MARI HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 26)
SCYLLA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device UPGRADE: Maestro) Boarding Shotgun, Nanopulser + 1 Devabot Charybdis / Pistol, E/M CC Weapon. (0.5 | 27)
DEVABOT CHARYBDIS Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (7)
MACHINIST Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15)
PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
TRAUMA-DOC Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)

GROUP 2 4
DART Submachine Gun, Viral Tactical Bow, E/M Grenades / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 34)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

I've tried to retain your corner-stone pieces. This list has a great repeater network for Scylla to punk enemy hackers so that Tik has free range of the board. You have excellent anti-camo in the form of 6-6 mov sniffers and a sensor in the main group. Dart can be reserved for turn 2 or 3 and then get to work and switch either to the main group or play defensively with her 4 orders. You have a tough-as-nails ARO piece to stall enemies and can relink at 5 with the HMG to put the pain on in the active turn down lanes/areas the Tik is either too big to get through or where you need an unhackable gunfighter.

 

@MikeTheScrivener
So a more Defensive fireteam?
What would a list a 10 orders including my Scylla, Tik and Dart look like?

 

Thats the glory of having both the sniper and the HMG + that extra man. The team has flexibility to be a 5 man sniper ARO platform AND a 5 man HMG active turn powerhouse. You'll quickly find that you need to find a nice balance between leaving too many pieces out and having a dedicated ARO game. Hiding everything can be effective, but if you opponent takes something like Cameronians they're just going to walk all over you.

If I were to make a list it would look like:

Shock Army of Acontecimento
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

10
TIKBALANG HMG, Heavy Flamethrower, Antipersonnel Mines / AP CCW. (2 | 85)
CRABBOT Flash Pulse / Knife. ()
DART Submachine Gun, Viral Tactical Bow, E/M Grenades / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 34)
SCYLLA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device UPGRADE: Maestro) Boarding Shotgun, Nanopulser + 1 Devabot Charybdis / Pistol, E/M CC Weapon. (0.5 | 27)
DEVABOT CHARYBDIS Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (7)
REGULAR (Minelayer, Sensor) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 14)
REGULAR Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
REGULAR Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
ORC Lieutenant MULTI Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 40)
BAGH-MARI (Minelayer) MULTI Sniper Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
BAGH-MARI HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 26)
MACHINIST (SAA) (CH: Mimetism, Multiterrain) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

You're still retaining that 6 man team for flexibility in the ARO department and the active turn. The LT is upgraded to from a regular to an ORC for extra durability and a late-game gunfighter. He also brings various ammo types for fighting Warband, TAGs, blowing open doors, ect ect. increasing your toolkit. I would play the TAG a lot more defensively because by opting for a single combat group you hamstring your repeater network, which is fine, but just something to keep in mind as you advance up the board. Your anti-camo game is still pretty strong with a plethora of MSV1 and sensor. You also have plenty of specialists.

*EDIT – just as a personal aside – this is what I love about Acon and what it has over Varuna. The pure link team flexibility. There's so many more combinations for min-maxing with the Regular team versus the Fusilier team in Varuna.

I would consider this an "all-comers" list, something I would take to Saturday night at the game store – but would probably tweak if I knew the missions before-hand.

 

@MikeTheScrivener
I like Limited Insertion better... One of the reasons I struggled with my Haqq Force I've played and you know 25 games with Haqq and a Proxy Shasvastii and this is the force building towards now with Pano until I get all the models built
I'm not going to field proxies or anything like that so I'm kind of trying to feel my way through my first Pano Force... I got all these models plus another 200 plus points worth..
I'll try it. Thanks for the advice

 

than you're certainly in the right place.

You should open yourself to proxying – it's always nice to try before you buy. Acon is a nice starting place, they have some really great LI options

 

Oh I am. my Haqqislam Army was a Shasvastii Army for a while...

But when I decided to play Shock and I knew that they were coming off the shelves I just bought everything I needed. I have an overabundance of Bagh Mari and I just ordered the last fiddly bits that I needed from Shae Konit