List for a friend

I would be more inclined to play something more like this:

Swiss Cheese
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GROUP 1 10
SWISS GUARD Missile Launcher, Light Shotgun / Pistol, AP CCW. (2 | 69)
HEXA Spitfire / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 30)
CSU (Specialist Operative) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
CSU (Specialist Operative) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
LOCUST Breaker Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, DA CCW, Knife. (0 | 33)
AUXILIA (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle + AUXBOT_1 / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15)
AUXBOT_1 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)

GROUP 2 6 1
FUSILIER Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
FUSILIER Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
FUSILIER Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 15)
FUSILIER Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 18)
FUSILIER Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
GARUDA Tacbot Boarding Shotgun / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)
WARCOR (Aerocam) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)

5.5 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

• The Hexa & Swiss Guard swap roles
• Locust is given D-charges to allow for another hidden objective to be accomplished
• The bulleteer is dropped in favor of the pathfinder (it's a specialist and great for countering camo/mine spam)
• Auxilia upgraded to FO
• Fusilier link has been re configured to help hide the Lt and still offer late game button pushing.
• I would consider moving another active turn piece into group two to use some of the orders generated by the fusilier link.

I would consider this something of a "balanced" list since it can accomplish a good number of missions. There are enough killing pieces in this list to help protect your specialists, but be careful that you don't over commit them without a lot of backup. Some of the weaknesses this list presents: No engineer, no MSV, and weak hacker coverage. Smoke is going to be a real pain for this list so keep that in mind and practice good defense positioning at the end of the turn.

 

I think either approach with the Swiss Guard is fine. I like the Swiss missile, but it requires a lot of comfortable judgement to use and is harder to get the most out of (knowing when to switch from missile to close-up shotgun is tricky.) The Swiss HMG is good for new and experienced people alike, while the Hexa Sniper's doesn't cost you as much if you end up revealing it at a bad time, and is a bit more consistent on the active turn.

Either way, the other units that have been selected are all totally functional. Locust + Garuda is great for aggressive attack fast attack, something that people don't always expect from NCA.

 

I agree. You could drop the warcor to swap the Hexa & Swiss weapons, even drop the Locust to boarding shotgun and add in the tech bee to replace the warcor and gain a generic specialist. It's worth playing both to practice different approaches to the same unit.

 

I think the main strength of the Garuda is that it both has mimetism and is a REM, so it can receive ignore cover. That's +3 BS for you, -3 BS for your opponent. But on a boarding shotgun, you can't really utilise it, you already has +6, so it's just a win more. I'd rather use that on a spitfire.

 

I think they are both good options, but perform different roles. The shotgun can remove the ARM bonus of cover since it's an impact template, and can also choose to AP mode if cover isn't a consideration. The template alone can create opportunities that aren't available to the spitfire, like hitting things outside of line of fire. AP mode is great vs things like TAGs or HI with long range weapons since they are less likely to negate your shots. It's good at hitting a specific area without the need for hacker support and often dies doing it. The Spitfire on the other hand is more methodical in it's piece removal. You are going to want to shoot at as few of models as possible often from cover shooting at things in cover so hacker support makes this thing a beast. It's probably going to stick around longer and be more annoying to deal with but it can cover a large portion of the table. It's only down side is that it requires good hacker support to go from good to great, so dropping this in the back field is going to take a lot more planning and often more orders to remove enemy units.

Both are good, but they just do different things.

 

AD is imho NCA's workaround for a lack of Infiltration.
You can easily clear a spot to walk on the table and sweep that Hacker/Ghazi preventing your Swiss/Bulleteer/... from advancing.

In fact I barely ever leave the house without the Garuda Spitfire anymore. Bulleteers on the other hand are a rare sight in my lists these days.

 

I've also been favoring the Garuda over the Bulleteer lately. The Bulleteer remains amazing, but good opponents will perceive the threat and take appropriate measures. So even though the Garuda isn't the same straight-up gunfighter as the Bulleteer, it's almost always able to approach from an advantageous angle, and can't be harmed or boxed in like the Bulleteer can.

 

Funny thing, template is better AP than actual AP ammo. Up until ARM 6, template ignores the ARM 3 of cover, which is more than AP can achieve, so up until heavy TAGs, you are better of with a template. This is only true, if the enemy is in cover and isn't impetuous, but unless you are shooting a frenzied Joan, that covers most of the cases that matter.
I also think the only thing that makes people feel that Infinity has armor is the +3 ARM of cover.