With Tunguska somewhere off in the distance (hopefully not too far away), I was curious if anyone has had success using Grenzer profiles, and if so in what context. Given that they might become linkable I might have to brush up on some tactics. I've personally never used them in Vanilla.
I'm a huge fan of the FO Sensor profile. He's excellent at hunting down camo in the mid field and protecting from skirmishers trying to come into your DZ. I like to use him to grab and protect objectives close to my DZ.
FO Sensor is popular. A while ago Wartrader had some good games with the Missile Launcher. They are going to be way different linked anyways. I hadn't used them myself, I play Corregidor so I use the Brigada ML or Intruder MSR for a similar role. Obviously the Brigada can be countered more easily without the MSV1 but she can dodge if her BS gets too low and I'm mostly using it to counter WB and other fast short ranged guys where Mimetism usually isn't applying anyways. Although the ability to use a low vis zone to give -3 to even their dodge is awesome. The Intruder goes so much up in cost that it's harder to take as just a WB/speedy counter, although I often do anyways. I like units like the Grenzer because you can get a crazy position for ARO cuz you aren't worrying about positioning to keep it safe cuz need to use it to clear enemy AROs as well.
Yes, the FoO for the sensor, but thats about it. Actually, it wasnt that successful, he has only once done something in the numerous games I have brought him for. And that was a triangulated fire. No, Grenzers are, as with most Nomad MI, too expensive for what they bring at the moment.
I have used the Sniper, Spitfire and FO. I like them all. The Sniper is good because he's cheap compared to an Intruder and for an Active Turn Sniper actually does basically the same job against most targets, the Spitfire is good because he's a BS 13 MSV1 Spitfire and while the Riot Grrl is very good, in Vanilla she's also liable to go mental and lose cover, and the FO is good because he's a solid gunfighter with Sensor (Sensor being awesome ofc)
True, I think my mistakes in the past with it were trying to replace the Intruder as a bully unit intstead of a counter, which is exactly why it didn't work well :(.
I've only really used the MSR from my Icestorm set, but I've used him quite a bit as I always break it out against newer players, particularly now that it scales all the way up to 300 points. He's generally fine, but very scenery/deployment dependent. If he can get a good lane in cover he'll run the board, but if not, he just costs too many orders to get into position and his lack of defensive tech can make investing too much in him costly. I don't think he's bad; he just sits kind of awkwardly in the middle of some great models and I rarely consider the advantages of getting some of what he has to offer for less. That said, at least in terms of the Sniper profile in Vanilla, I think Knauf is largely the better option. I'm sure when we get a box of other options I'll give these guys another go.
The FO in combination with the Transductor Zond is really good. On the other hand Pi-Well is so much better, especially in regards of the chance to use the Triangulated Fire skill of the Sensor due to Pi-Well's "lack" of a MSV (awesomely good against Nikouls). Nevertheless an FO Grenzer is still a decent troop to protect your DZ and to score points. In my few games with Nomads (instead of Bakunin) he was only useless twice - always because of crit hits. The Sniper is absolutely under par since you get Knauf in the faction army for the same price with MSV 1 and Mimetism. With the ML Grenzer you get an unparalleled troop though. An finally the Spitfire Grenzer who has to compete with five similar priced and skilled troops able to do his job (Spitfiring the opponent to pieces) differently, e.g. my personal favourite the Spitfire Prowler who doesn't need to move into the +3 distance and profits big from his camouflage.
I use the FO grenzer in all my nomad lists (only play Tunguskan models though). He almost never gets the chance to use triangulated fire, although its pretty cool when he does. Most of the time he is just sensoring camo in the mid field so something better can shoot it and watching for AD. Have used the ML a few times but its really only because I like grenzers. He did ok but nothing special - If I was playing with the full force of nomads you could have easily replaced him. Overall I love the model and I love the FO layout but he doesnt do much. Could be worse though, he could be a securitate.
They're fine, definitely one of those models you use because you want to rather than because you need to though. Aside from sensor, there are equivalent models elsewhere that are either cheaper or better but that's not to say that a grenzer is crap. They're just fine.
I think that Grenzers do their thing really well it's just that in Vanilla it's easy to think "well for 10pts more that Sniper could be an Intruder." If you use a Grenzer they'll do fine, for sure, it's just when creating a list they're easy to overlook. In Tunguska I think they'll be very popular, and rightly so.
They are... meh. Too much competition, really. If you want BS13 spitfires, wildcats are cheaper and have loadouts that are close. If you want the msv1 too, a few points more gets you a Riot Grrl - while they do have frenzy it usually not that big of a deal since they are disposable pieces. For a Sniper, you get Knauf at the same cost. The only really unique option is Sensor + FO. I think they are in a bad position right now in vanilla, paying points for ARM, BTS and a breaker pistol that are hardly ever useful. In tunguska things might be different.