Yeah... Just because of its original design niche, the Daiyokai will probably be forever restricted to a hybrid choice. That isn't a bad thing... One thing I like about a functional 3 Wounds with high ARM is that it's largely immune to bad dice syndrome, which is actually a pretty big deal in a Sectorial where 40 points for a 1 Wound model seems reasonable, and most of the Heavy Infantry have caveats on what they can and can't do. I'm still not crazy about the Daiyokai as a unit for my own lists, but I recognize the value. The Shikami's a really good point by the way, one I overlooked in my initial brainstorming about our heavy infantry systems. Obviously the tech there is good; great vertical mobility, plenty of bells and whistles with good PH and ODD, and the combination of AP + DA is a superior all-rounder when compared to Mono or DA on their own; nothing in the game wants to take that hit. I would have gladly given something up for superior horizontal mobility, but I can't fault CB for not wanting the Shikami to suddenly replace bikes and the O-Yoroi as the speedy aggression choice of the Sectorial. Since my playstyle for JSA in its NA2 format seems to be focusing more on the clandestine units rather than the samurai units, it's really nice for the ninja to have an offering in the Heavy Infantry category. I also really like the lore concept that a ninja clan has the resource to R&D their own heavy infantry system. That's just cool.
The JSA definitely seems to be retaining the old YJ military sensibility of either you're very lightly equipped for reasons of stealth/speed/cost or you get powered armour. No MI to be seen here. From a Sectoral design standpoint I feel like any more units will probably follow that mould. But they have 5 HI already, so if we do see more JSA troops I doubt they will be further HI development.
Myself I got into JSA for the bikes, not the Samurai. I would love to see a heavy infantry biker. Stick a Domaru profile on a bike. I am not sure how you would load it out, and it would probably overlap with other things in the faction, but with a good sculpt, I would buy it in a heartbeat. Since PanO seems to be supplying JSA with gear, make a Domaru biker with Drop Bears profile. Or maybe MadTraps That sounds like a fun, crazy idea. Fair warning, I haven't thought any of this through, they might be total crap.
Fuck yes! I also started JSA for the bikes, otherwise I'd likely have gone Nomads (Especially now after seeing Tunguska and their Szalamandra, those are some sexy models), so a Domaru(esque) Biker would be amazing! I do like the samurai too of course, just hard to fit them in with a bunch of bikes and required support elements xD
And now I want to see a bike+sidecar with a Domaru manning a pintle-mounted Feuerbach. (Low Tech A, 1 W on the bike profile and a base Domaru as the battle ravaged profile)
