Aleph got pruned hard with N5, its vanilla has like, what? 10+ less profiles than the other factions?, it's the only "traditional" faction that doesn't have 3 Sectorials and also the only one (along with CA, which got an entire Team Achilles instead) without a vehicle. You don't need to be a genius to see the writing on the wall. The very fact they don't have stuff that would belong in a established sectorial suggest they are gonna get a full release of new things to compensate the N5 massacre.
Not bad overall, although I find the designs of the miniatures for the flying motorbikes extremely boring.
I know this is an "mmm achstually" attempt, but: Ariadna got the tank, Tohaa is not even a faction anymore so no new releases and JSA has been a faction for 3 months (see how I wrote traditional factions?)
The transition from siocast to "plastic resin"* is very welcome, in terms of miniature quality, and also slightly concerning, due to this no longer being an in-house production. The new miniatures range from puzzling to awesome, with the majority being really solid. ISS an TAK both look really good, apart from that vyistrel, which looks dated even from the point of view of modern UGVs. Scarface and Cordelia are probably the best part of the update and not only because they are loved characters. Nomad vehicle looks better than its 2D art. O-12 looks worse than its 2D art. JSA starts showing repetitiveness. Do we need a whole council of yamabushi? This one already looks unwieldy for the battlefield with all the pokey parts and the "get off my lawn" stick definitely doesn't help for transportation and storage. HVTs are repeating too. Another girl in a catsuit? True, you can't have too much girls in catsuits, but hey... there's also a bootleg line revival opportunity, if we're going to see them pop up every 2-3 months. Speaking of the bootleg line, Krakot renegade eyo?! Why does he look like he's getting head?! It's not like many people need krakot renegades, now that they were removed from most armies, and it's not like mixed materials are anyone's favourite thing, but who came with this scene?! Kingdom Death is furiously taking notes.... _______ *from material science pov this term doesn't give any information, but eh...
I expect a change or addition in the profiles, giving them something for that HUGE backpack they carry around...
Regarding the releases: First, Scarface and Cordelia: I don't dig her hair, otherwise ok. Scarface, in my opinion, should not have an axe, I'm tired of seeing gun platforms using melee weapons; as an alternative, I think a wrecked enemy big gun in a similar pose would have been better, as if Scarface had taken the weapon from the enemy TAG and bashed the machine to scrap with it, this would keep his "berserker" inclinations and the gun first idea. Second, Wu Ming: just no. They are Those Without Name. The old box had just one without the helmet, now all come that way and look like nomads at best. I'm tracking the old box for that specific reason... The Shurayuki Onna (she-snowblood? Am I getting that right?) seems the carry-model for her box. Dire Foes: nice update for Bipandra and Yuriko, I don't dig the masks. Seeing the pinup HVT with the dome open and some sort of transparent mouthmask further remarks how nicer the models with the full face could have been. I just realized those are low-rim glasses, so I can only say that the sculptor had a bad day with the lips... let's call her Karen, the HVT that needs not be Rescued, and forget xD. In a way, yes. The CA starter is the Onyx one and is more than 10 yeas old, it would be a good opportunity to resculp Dr Worm, who I think may be the oldest non-TAG model in production. That said, an Onyx resculpt is not a great endeavour, since the sectorial has a bunch of shasvastii and Morat troops. Considering how complete Vanilla CA is, we can assume there will be few changes at the core of the sectorial, and may get new troops and that's it. In the past a FAQ every 2-3 months was promised, too, and said promise lasted less than six months. I shall believe once I see it, not before. We got a profile review, however, but I'm not sure the timeframe has improved from the past. There is a hole, yes, but the theme is quite hard to push, since OSS got all the human-synthetic vibes. Choosing a myth would be the easiest part, but serious commitment would be needed. Personally I think a heavily mechanized-robotic sectorial could fit, and you may remember that I was, back in the day, pushing for OSS to have a heavy Posthuman presence and to depart from common fireteam options, going hard into peripherals. As it is now, the concept could be recovered, and the only real need would be moving the posthumans from OSS to ROSS (Robotic Operations SubSection), ex-sgt now painter not included. They already have MetaChemistry, giving them Booty would be, I think, unnecessariky overcomplicated. I prefer to think it's a "diorama-model", possibly even an ITS prize (again).
The problem with JSA is there is a limited amount of design space there when all you have going is "samurai and ninja in space". They shouldn't have become a full faction, but weebs spend so they did, now we have the same ideas repeated over and over, a classic example of "too much of a good thing"
So, we are more-or-less in agreement here (a bit toward the less side of it, because I believe "everyone else has 3 sectorials, therefore Aleph has to as well" to be an argument not worth its salt, so to speak. But in agreement nevertheless): al the existing Aleph models have "a home" in one of the two existing sectorials, and it is kind-of difficult to imagine what theme / design space the 3rd one should cover. It is - for comparison - similar with my position towards Haqq Gabqar Khanate. While it was mused about since N2, and there are actually troops that ought to belong to it (Kum Bikers & Kum characters, actual number of these characters ranging on the point on the timeline, Hunzakut, and now-defunct Halqa), only the Kum / Kum characters no longer have a sectorial to belong to (unless one considers Dahshat Company to be Haqq-by-extension. There's Kum Bikers there). Halqa are long out-of-play anyway. Also, the theme / design space once seemingly valid - howling army of irregular bikers - has totally no place in the environemnt of N5, where the majority of games are in the Tactical Window or Limited Insertion mode. So, all fine and dandy, I'd love to see the Gabqar Khanate force I've been waiting for since N2, but there really isn't the design space for one (and that's totally apart from the fact Haqq has 3 Sectorial slots filled already).
The tank is a remote and JSA could receive a vehicle in the desinging process of the new one. i really dont get your point. Why you tell that because Aleph doesnt get a vehicle, it is clear that they are gonna get a new sectorial? Because they received less love than the other factions?
Yuriko is nice, but i prefer the old one. Scarface is awesome in the pinup, not so awesome in the figure. From hero to zero. Vystrels looks too small for that base. For the rest, meh, i dont care. Also, i dont get why, after getting a second siocast machine, they are gonna produce more Unicool plastic instead of more siocast PS: In the Q&A, Bostria seem to tease a new CA sectorial arriving. Someone asked if Exrah sectorial will arrive and Bostria answered "that especific sectorial, that one especifically, no"
Well, my point of a hole is more in the "Vanilla feels really incomplete to me", but I wouldn't lose sleep if Aleph were to remain with 2 sectorials; it could become a problem if other factions got a fourth for each "limited to 2 sectorials in production" factions. Also, Dasyus have been without model since the beginning months of N4, so I would find hard to understand a new Aleph sectorial with this glaring hole... unless the Dasyus were to be a troop available to both (that wouldn't make it ok, just understandable) I think his point is that Ariadna got the tank in place of the flyer because they have barely the techbase for a TAG (which could also be the "tank" he refers too, and you just talked past each other, I dunno here), while Aleph is top-tech and has no flyer (said flyer could be in the third sectorial most of us bet would be coming sometime). Frankly speaking, from a fluff point of view, I wouldn't understand Ariadna getting a flyer, just because it would feel right only if before that other glaring tech deficiencies were compensated (true HI, hackers, etc...), something that would remove entirely the "low tech" part of Ariadna, I think. I think the difference is the torso position, too inclined back in the model, it feels like the axe will topple him back and goes from "hard hit" to "goofy, cartoonish hard hit". My bets would be UR (unlikely) or a Tohaa-conquered sectorial (possible, an attempt to grab back Tohaa players, reintroduce the faction in a way, and be lore-coherent). The only problem I see with a new CA sectorial is Vanilla CA, would we see a removal of profiles from vCA to make space for the new troops, or a sectorial without presence in the Vanilla? Or, something lazy and I think worst than any of those options, will be see a new bloat of the vanillas?
If CA gets a 4th sectorial, one has to dissapear. Onyx is promised to get reesculpted, and morat is the more recent one to get updated, so shasvastii... I would kill myself if i lose another playable sectorial (i only have them becasue of Defiance, but i had fun playing with them a couple of times), also, shasvastii is still pretty important to the CA. So, CA will have 4 sectorials, because they are CA and fuck with the autoimposed rules, or, after CA signing "peace" with the human sphere, Morats see that as a weakness and abandon the CA going NA2
I gave several more reasons besides this and yes, the tank is technically a REM, but it's obviously what they got instead of the flier, same as CA got the wholeass Achilles team. I'm not even gonna bother with your "argument" about JSA, a new faction that needs to get stuff to just get to the basic level of viability.
I was gonna include them in some kinda "anime" part but there are not many more units than those there, although at this point I'd rather have more silly anime tropes than the 252563585th slightly different samurai variant.
