Well, let's assume Haramaki remain (and that it isn't just a rename and remake into Tanko), what are the odds of them keeping the fireteam (a.k.a. the only thing making people take them)? So, give them smoke (I know I know, easy cop out) and don't let them have Fireteams, but don't move them to Warband (they need to remain hackable)
Id expect invincibles to make a lot of duo teams myself. They're supposed to be highly trained for maneuvers so probably be quite flexible with multiple duo teams of HI supported by lighter troops rather than one large link plus extras. Or lots of special links of mixed units as we've seen with the ikari and starco styles
Maybe IA will have some special rule to get more orders ( like 2 every model) or somethink like immetrons
I don't know why that made me immediately imagine a hwacha rocket-cart-esque REM firing a spread of netrods over the heads of some charging Zuyongs, but it did.
I don't think we'll see anything as drastic as order doubling. That would be the kind of thing that immediately causes us to get side-eye from Combined, Aleph, and Military Orders simultaneously (with an aesthetic not unlike that of the Deathstar powering up). In all honesty, all the IA really needs to be able to run an elite list is access to some kind of cheap order (like Kuang Shi cheap) or a bunch of low-cost specialists to fill in gaps. As incongruous as it sounds, the best "elite" lists are the ones that can spam a bunch of cheap orders to allow them the leeway of taking things like HI links without breaking the bank. This is why, despite employing a horde of zombies, the ISS can feel like a great heavy list because I'm not left bean-counting to get the things I want with a healthy order pool. If the IA is going to fill the gaping hole left by JSA leaving, then it needs to bring with it more than just a bunch of expensive, mutually exclusive HI profiles, it needs to bring us a bunch of low and mid-cost units that can fill vital roles while allowing us to take the fancy toys we want and expect from the IA list itself. I think the best solution for the Invincible Army is still some kind of cheap remote line trooper ala Combined or Aleph. Just something completely bare bones and with a lot of options for special links to make it good filler as well as decent one-off ARO pieces. And when I say bare bones, I mean pretty bare bones. Profiles like the Unidron and Dakini come with a lot of extras on board and you can easily whittle them down to a handful of points with very little coaxing. Strip off V:Dogged, slap a submachine gun or a chain rifle on it and you're looking at a unit that, with the overhead of a single hacker (which I was probably taking anyways), gives you leeway to take a lot of fun toys. And it allows you to have a cheapy order without it feeling like human cannon-fodder which helps with that sleek, modern aesthetic for the faction. And even if it is only AVA 2 in vanilla, such a line trooper option would play well to the strengths of a vanilla list (which usually has a KHD-toting specialist in it somewhere). My ideal target for remote-fodder base profiles would be the 6-8 point range. You don't want them as cheap as Kuang Shi because the overhead is even less onerous (well, assuming there is at least one KHD specialist to be found in the Invincibles), but they need to be cheap and spammable enough to make taking large numbers of HI less painful. This is doubly true if the list contains Tigers and Falling Stars which can start to tax order pools if you take too many of them.
Purely to suck all the money out of your bank account. :D You mean like the dossier and the cover art showing White Banner logos on the Hac Tao? Except that "ninja" is the International Standard Code for "sneaky bastard". I'm reasonably sure that the 'ninjas' that stayed in YJ were Chinese, not Koga/Iga descendents. Yaokong Weibing work for the cheapish model, and why wouldn't you take a 16pt FO+Sensor? I'm hoping that the battlefield engineeers and docs get power armor: Important fluff reason: You can't medevac a model with a higher PH than you. Again, whatever happened to taking one or more of the basic Yaokong remotes? Works just fine in my Nomad boarding party, where not a single model is *without* zero-gee. The First Cavalry Division (Airmobile) would like to have words with you. You know, the guys from the Battle of Ia Drang, in the movie "We Were Soldiers"? Zuyong core, Shang Ji Haris, probably Yan Huo Duo. Maybe AVA2 of Wu Ming. There's also the afore-mentioned Shooting Star AD HI. Not sure about Tigers (lots of competition between the basic Tiger and a cheap AD HI, so if Tigers are in then I expect the Shooting Star to be Daofei-Hac Tao expensive). Probably will have Guijia. All the various REMs. Not sure about anything else.
And with other factions, but all of themhave basic light infantry for 9-14 points... but I still remember how Nomads are counting with the Securitate being redesigned so the Tunguska "basic infantry" doesn't have to pay 22 points there ;) Besides, I'd expect to not have Kuangshi on the Invincible Army. Giving those troops there and then placing everything on the expensive side would be cheesy, and making the kuangshi an even more "must have" troop, something that goes against Infinity's strong point of "the only must have troops are those you feel comfortable playing with".
I haven't seen the movie and I'm not entirely interested in the Korean war in general so it hasn't featured in my self-studies. But let's see... retired their horses permanently in 1943... infantry division... "♪the horse they never rode, the bridge they never crossed♫"... Sure, this illustrates perfectly what I mean. The division was obsoleted early World War 2 and was restructured to be a modern fighting unit, retaining their old honours and insignias. I mean, obviously that song and the reason for its origin is bullshit. That said, I actually work really close to the Swedish cavalry, our military is structured slightly differently than the Anglo-Saxon style* and I think our cavalry got converted to panzer rather than infantry, but just like the First Cavalry Division we've got those ceremonial cavalry left. They're still military so the still get the most psychotic horses among the bunch, leaving the more well behaved to the police, of course (yes, riot police gets the well behaved horses). * None of that 107th Airborne stuff.
It's Vietnam, actually, 14-15 November 1965. And the joke I heard was that their unit patch shows the horse they never rode, the line they never held, and the yellow was self-explanatory (to Americans, since it's the color of cowardice. It's also the branch color of the Cavalry). Wouldn't recommend saying that to the old-timers in the VA hospital, though. You will probably wake up sometime next Tuesday. But I'm a bit biased, Ed 'Too Tall' Freeman lived in my hometown. Wish I'd had a chance to meet the man before he passed. Yeah, you want the 'nice' horses with the police so they *don't* step on people. Our local police horses were retired race-horses for a long time. No chance in hell of outrunning them!
