Has anyone had experience usingtusing John Hawkwood profiles that were released with defiance? I was hoping to get some insight and maybe a few list ideas about the profiles.
Well, he's a bit unfortunate. Struggles to be valueable in his own home Sectorial where he has less competition and has linkability to make him better. His kit is that of an active combatant. But with CC bloat. CoC also is a bit expensive and has further antisynergy with a desire to be on the frontlines. In a Vanilla Faction? He got dealt a pretty bad hand. You can still play with it, but most likely better off taking something else.
I don't remember a new sectorial that feature John Hawkwood being announced. Is there any info on this or am I misunderstanding the point being made? Do you mean that Hawkwood was born in PanOceania?
Same here. He is supposed to be the group's head-honcho. It is basically the only major Merc Company left in the lore that hasn't become a playable sectorial yet.
Obligatory reminder that CoC is a Specialist Skill, and often means the unit will have access to an extra order late in the game if ran alongside an aggressive LT or against Impersonators. It's a fairly niche use that you have to plan for, but can work wonders grabbing objectives at the end of games. Since CoC is Hidden Information, sometimes people will even forget you can use them to score! In PanO Johns's got stiff competition though; the Bolt is cheaper and has Drop Bears and a Combi+LSG while the KotHS is more expensive, but also more likely to see practical use with its Holoprojector L2 allowing shenanigans and its real second wound.
He's fantastic. A "second best at everything" profile, of the sort PanO don't usually get. He's a good enough gunfighter: not as good as a Bulleteer but he's got a second wound, melee ability, etc.. Think of him as an aggressive heavy infantry like a Santiago or KOJ spitfire; only unhackable, with mimetism, shock ammo and (currently) forward deployment. And he's reasonably cheap compared to that sort of unit, both on points and SWC. If he's played aggressively his lack of an unconscious state isn't a disadvantage, as you wouldn't get a doctor that far forward anyway (and also denies some classifieds, for occasions when that matters). Bioimmunity giving armour 6 against shock ammo more than makes up for only being armour 3 in my opinion. I think there's even some risk of him becoming overpowered once he gets link options. My preferred profile is the red fury without COC, as he'll probably die and simply having him on the table as a POSSIBLE COC discourages lieutenant assassinations anyway.