I hope they're a 6-2 movement, light infantry ad troop. For some reason 6-2 is my favorite move value even if it gets hosed by movement restriction rules. Thinking about Ramah over the years I always liked the idea of fast light infantry with close-to-mid range weapons, and I'm happy we're actually getting it
I'm sad that Saladin isn't in RTF. I really hoped he'd be the head of my new sectorial. But there are also nice things - all of the new units are really interesting, and two of them have mimetism! :) The cheaper Hortlak Janissaire is good, with interesting weapons loadout, rules and not bad option for CoC. Mukhtar can be a beast, I really like the movement of new supertroops. The option with Viral Rifle plays with my imagination ;) Red fury isn't cheap in points, but very tempting. ARM 1 is rather weird, still he's nice. And Namurr - I think less intriguing than the two above, but also not bad. The thing I really dislike is the art work for Mukhtar, not my style. Namurr also doesn't fit Haqqislam theme IMO - I thought both of them were from different armies. About the rest of stuff - my first reaction was that Zhayedan and Khawarij are rather screwed. But now I think that Zhayedan can be interesting option, especially Sniper hitting normal targets on 18 - nice road blocker for some ARO duty ;) Breaker Rifle also looks not bad, especially linked. They definitely need some time to think about using them and some tests. So, maybe only Khawarijs are screwed :P That's it for now. Give me the option to link Naffatuns with Tarik and it will be funny :D Or maybe SPECIAL means that they can link with each other? Al Fasid supported by few Naffatuns? ;) Time will tell, there are few intriguing things to wait for. Just like Nahab, Monstrukkers... I hope we'll se some really interesting profiles for them - not owerpowered, but intriguing and fresh. PozdRawiam / Greetings
Do we know what Monstruckers are yet from the Tohaa videos? They seem like they’ll be slower motorcycle troops, Like an atv guy. Which would mean all of our warband is motorcycles, and that seems like a lot of fun
I'm very excited for this sectorial. Kinda surprised people aren't more enthused over the Namurr... She's an amazing option for flanking and killing TAGs and LI fireteams...she can even laugh off an exp MultiHMG or ML shot with Total Immunity. Not auto include per se but a solid flanker Specialist that can kill TAGs...basically the types of things Tarik doesn't do well blasting off the table with his questionably balanced CRIT CANNON. If Alfie can link, I might find a reason to take him. He might be our only source of smoke unless I'm missing something.
I am genuinely worried that linked Tarik will be too oppressive an offensive link option. Fat 2 on five dice is wild. For the curious, rough translations on the new units: Mukhtar: Chosen. Refers to a tribal position traditionally selected by or elected by the tribe. Hortlak Janissary: Refers to a sort of Turkish undead. Namurr: Probably Tiger or Jaguar? Seems to have an extra R though, so I may be wrong. Fits the skill loadout and tells us that Haqq has decided that the operative definition of Catgirl is 'reflexes and agility of a cat' rather than 'Nomad animal ears'. Nahab: Depending on specific lettering, either Mourners/Lamenters or Marauders. I suspect that the correct pronunciation is 'Nahaab' and it is Marauders, just because it seems more likely. The Mukhtar is a cool cultural reference and none are quite the historical landmine that Khawarij is. Good stuff all around tho. Mukhtar MSV2 and DocPlus are probably making their way into my Vanilla lists. Peeking a corner, tanking an ARO to double nanopulser, and DocPlusing back to full seems pretty rad.
Carmen has smoke grenades and a launcher. My guess is Monstruckers will have one or the other or both as well, but that’s not confirmed. Still not nearly as cheap as our options elsewhere, but it’s better than nothing
Back in the day (i.e years ago, when the name was first mentioned), Bostria translated it as "Panther". Also, geographical frame of reference: Jaguars are cats of the New World. Traditional Arabic territories knew lions, tigers and panthers / leopards, besides cheetachs and various lesser wild cats. Also, a panthera pardus (panther / leopard) can climb a tree while carrying prey at least equal to its own weight, maybe more (I'm not sure), and can attack off that tree jumping several meters down. Sounds like a role model for our supersoldier :P That'd be my guess at least ;)
Honestly 41% crit chance on Core/Haris Tarik seems too oppressive in the active turn, I feel like it might be best for the game if he was limited to Duos.
1) The Mukhbar are especially Nomadic (Bandits, anyone?), but I think the Numarr is fine. The hi-tech body suit kind of works for an experimental g-mod supersoldier. 2) A Zhayedan Sniper would work for me if it can be added to the Naffatun SPECIAL link. Otherwise it just seems to lose out to the New Hortlak Jan sniper. Less durable, no mimetism, and less useful link support. I suspect that they'll sell largely as proxies for the Mukhbar. Lack of MA can really hurt our little battle angel. I think she's interesting and I will absolutely try her out, but that seems like a unfortunate weakness when she has such a cool E/M CCW. Thanks for this! That was very cool to see. This is going to ring a lot of alarm bells, but I don't want to panic until we see it in action. That's a pretty hefty point investment and, as good as he is in active turn, Tarik is still squishy. He's also a lot weaker in the reactive turn, can be shut down by smoke etc... I don't deny that he's scary, just dunno if he's truly OP. Honestly, I like the idea of a Tarik+Numarr DUO running with some sort of ranged CORE and a Khawarij or Mukhbar HARIS more than just popping Tarik into the big links. Three separate attack pieces seems scary.
Hortlak Yeñiçerlari... Spoiler: Just a little bit of ethnology In Turkic mythology, Hortdan (Azerbaijani: Xortdan, Turkish: Hortlak, Tuvan: Хортан) is the troubled soul of the dead rising from the grave.[1] Some Hortdan can be living people with certain magical properties. Some of the properties of the Hortdan include: the ability to transform into an animal, invisibility, and the propensity to drain the vitality of victims via blood loss. Hortdans are also known as immortal vampires. The Hortdans are creatures of Azerbaijani mythology, as a representation of evil spirits, the spirits of the dead. As these stories were transmitted only by oral tradition, legend has lost its original substance, and Azerbaijani people have transformed Xortdan into bloodthirsty creatures. Hortdans are fictional undead creatures regularly encountered in horror and fantasy themed narratives. They are typically depicted as mindless, reanimated corpses with a hunger for human flesh in some depictions. The name Hortdan (or Hortlak) is related to the Turkic verb hortlamak,[2] which in Turkish means get out and especially get out of the grave. Different types of Hortdan Hortlak is the name of this creature in Turkish (Anatolian) culture. And refers to a Zombi-like entity. Xortdan is in Azerbaijani folklore same of vampire. Hortan (sometimes Аза-Хортан "Aza-Hortan") is a poltergeist like an evil spirit in Tuva tradition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hortdan nice name, I like it (no joke). Usual Janissaires are cubeless but these ones... And their name... Hope for a really grim but juicy backstory for them.
I suck at the game so I do not have much to add on the new profiles. I will wait for other people do the work on that. I can hot take on the designs. Namurr seems pretty bland and I can't see her design being interesting on the table. She strikes me as the Haqq Daoying but more boring. Look for her to be mirror of the Daoying. Mukhtar takes everything I found unappealing about Raol Specter and made it beige and green. I think this design is going to be a miss once it goes to pewter. I wonder if battle jammies are going to be 2019's tactical rock. Hortlak seems alright. They strike me has the Haqq Haidao. How the model looks on the table and in what poses they put it in (probably mirrors of the Haidao) will make or break them. I am happy Janissaries are in the sectorial. Fingers crossed the Maggie is in a meaningful link. I hope the Fasid gets to be in a fun link. Hope Zhayedan gets some new love.
The extra burst really isn't contributing that much. it's only about a 6% difference to get a Fat2 crit on 5 dice instead of 4. I think that's why most people suggest the problem is more with fat2 than anything else.
I'm not sure it's "to surpass the other great powers" so much as it is just to keep up with the other great powers. Remember, PanO and YJ own multiple whole planets, plus big chunks of Earth. Haqq only has the one planet, plus the monopoly on Silk. Exactly. So "better adapted to the environment" sells, not "making something other than human". Try using a warpanther from a fantasy game. The Outrage manga had Knauf guarding 'sakht taqdeer', which are big cat-looking critters bordering on lion-size. I think it's still really high stats and especially high ARM that are too expensive. A second W/STR is very valuable in-game. ARM3 or 4 isn't worth anywhere near as much. That's certainly my reaction to the name! Yup. "Always Crits on a 1" is not a good rule, breaks too many other standing design statements.