Greetings from Ariadna Comrades! Since I'm busy waiting for TAK, I've recently found myself interested in Druze. I love the look of their models and a brutal looking kit certainly has me interested. So I'm looking to put together a decently priced list composing of a chunk of special editions and mercenary models that I just happen to have. For example a fat yuan yuan is going to be my bashi. Ideally I get a druze box, an old druze box for variety, and I was looking at those fancy new Hakims for the remotes and brawler standins. Druze Starter (no remotes) ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 7 DRUZE HMG, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29) DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt, Panzerfaust / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25) DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (E/M and Nimbus) / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27) DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23) DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23) BRAWLER Doctor (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20) NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) BOUNTY HUNTER Red Fury / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21) GROUP 2 4 2 DRUZE Lieutenant (X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23) DRUZE Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 28) BRAWLER Engineer Rifle + Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20) BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28) HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18) BASHI BAZOUK Submachine Gun, Chain-colt / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12) 4.5 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army The major question I have is that looking here on the forums, it seems that every warcriminal and their grandmother runs a remote heavy list. I get it, the sectoral's remotes are fantastic, I'm a simple country ariadnan and I'm still rather new to these fancy toys and hackers. But I also play USariadna, so I love me some MI links, and it seems a druze 5 man is going to tear into the midfield. For dipping my toe into Druze for a reasonable price, hows this looking guys?
Your play style will be a lot different from mine, so it may be hard for me to give you good advice. Take everything I say with a grain of salt and trust your own instincts because my experience with DBS tends to be with 4-6 REMs and at least one active hacker; usually two. First thing I notice is that you are not fully taking advantage of Druze's deployment shenanigans, without running REMs you still have the Hunzakuts, Saito and Armand that could be excellent options and help address another issue in the list: mobility. Druze are slow, yeah they can get to midfield, but they aren't great at scoring or holding across table zones in area control scenarios. I would at least get a second Hunz, and seriously consider Saito. They will help out with midfield objectives and problems that require mobility like Lt. Hunting, objectives or classifieds. Saito also brings smoke to the table. Bashi are good too, but starting on the map has some merits over limited walk on AD. Hunzakuts are rockstars in DBS. I like to have both a Bashi and 3 or more infiltrators on the table with Bayram. If you are going to run a hacker, I suggest Valerya Gromoz instead of the Druze AHD. Maybe not so much if you are excluding REMS, but still WIP 14 on a hacker is pretty nice, and so is her cost. Personally the Druze AHD is the last hacker I would pick. He's not terrible or anything, WIP 13 and 3 BTS isn't a joke on an assault hacker, but I like the Brawler AHD much better because of the cost and SMG. I also run the killer hacker often, but that's usually to keep hackers away from my repeaters/REMs. I think you are going to need a little more firepower in your fireteam core, specifically for AROs. Normally I would suggest the Clipper SML, but in your case the MSV-2 Sniper should probably be in the 5 man team. You may also want to consider the Druze sniper; he can often attack with more efficiency than the HMG can and is also an ARO nightmare like the Brawler MSV. Even though you aren't used to running REMs I have to suggest that you at least give the Peacemaker HSG a shot. Mech deployment with a shottie and disposable HFT is both great on offense and defense. I consider it a vital unit in most DBS lists. The other REMs are important too, but even if you have chosen to not run them; the Peacemaker is super solid and a great way to get your feet wet with REMs.
Oh I certainly will be looking into REMs in the near future. Just I noticed that they can rack up the cost of a force in real dollars quite quickly. Why I'm looking for primarily infantry to kick things off. My thanks for the advice on the hackers though. My ariadnan inexperience with what hacking device I should take where is probably showing. Quick Edit: Throwing out a starter list 2.0, still kept nice and cheap based on what I have. Druze 300 No Remotes 1.5 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 7 1 DRUZE (CH: Mimetism) MULTI Sniper / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32) DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt, Panzerfaust / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25) DRUZE HMG, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29) DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (E/M and Nimbus) / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27) BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28) VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device UPGRADE: Expel) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21) BOUNTY HUNTER Red Fury / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21) HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18) GROUP 2 3 2 DRUZE Lieutenant (X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23) DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23) BRAWLER Doctor (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20) NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18) BASHI BAZOUK Submachine Gun, Chain-colt / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12) 6 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army I might shuffle around what goes where
You could also start with Scarface. He is a good alternativ to a remote heavy Druze list, a change from Adriana too. With the new proxy rules you can also use any other Tag instead if you don't fancy the aesthetics. ;)
Scarface was probably going to be the purchase leading into a list ready for limited insertion. Scarface is actually one of my favorite TAGS aesthetically, and with the right paintjob he'd just look like a bigger druze. Mostly tossing this list out there to see if I'm not going to kneecap myself beyond the point of practicality by running a druze heavy druze list. As they're the reason why I'm looking at these mercs, I just love how they look, and in my experience I've had great success with a MI 5 man.
I guess if you want to stick to infantry heavy Druze then a Brawler Haris might be a good idea: Druze Bayram Security ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 7 2 DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (E/M and Nimbus) / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27) DRUZE (CH: Mimetism) MULTI Sniper / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32) DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt, Panzerfaust / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25) DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25) DRUZE (X Visor) Shock Marksman Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27) ARSLAN Lieutenant MULTI Rifle, Light Shotgun / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 36) BRAWLER Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17) HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18) BASHI BAZOUK Submachine Gun, Chain-colt / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12) GROUP 2 3 1 BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28) BRAWLER (Fireteam: Haris) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17) BRAWLER Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 18) HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18) 6 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army You can beautifully switch it up the main team and combat groups here. Not sure if two SWC weapons in the Haris isn't a bit overkill, but the Druze still have all they need too! :D It does seem a pretty similar to USAdriana though.
The counter argument is fireteam duo is basically free. While I usually am not a fan of either Harris in DBS, a Brawler harris could be a good idea here because of the general lack of mobility in the core fireteam.
