So this may be an unpopular opinion and it is also only about in O-12 but we do not need NCO. I feel faction that need this rule are those that do not have a lot of Strategos models or cheep chain of command such as Nomads. How I see the 3 purpose of NCO: 1. to give armies with expensive strategos (those over 50) 2. it is to give factions that suffer from loosing there LT a rambo model that can use the LT order. 3. it is to allow fire teams to allow the LT order and in doing so making heavy infantry cores and haris more useful Strategos In vanilla we have 3 options for Strategos L 1: Alpha, Saladin and Hector I am not going to say you should always run one of them but it is hard not to justify at least an Alpha gives you 2 orders, a 5th command token and an extra reserve model. So it is effectively 2 Kappa in cost and slightly more then 2 bodies in army efficiency. Saladin is more resilient then the Alpha but less killy then Hector forming a nice in-between if you want that as well as being a repeater, can we say white noise. Hector gets you 3 orders for being on the board and he can kill decently well. Chain of Command (CoC) Alpha, gives up Strategos L 1 for CoC. Ensign Cho has CoC and Halomask so you can hide her as a doctor, engineer or a prone model you do not want to have fight. I once had her look like a Epsilon SMR and my enemy lost a smoke thrower to her shooting and him failing to dodge in my active turn as he thought smoke would not save him. For a CoC model Cho is cheep. NCO Raptor and Zeta: this is not about if these guys are fun, because they are. The first reason for NCO is countered as is if you take an Alpha or Saladin then there LT order can be used on them already so NCO is not needed. Cho is cheep, may be the cheapest CoC in the game and with being able to hide you can hopefully make it so she does not die. Finally neither can be in fire teams so the 3rd reason does not come into play. Fringe cases Gamma Aggressive Strike If you wanted to do a massive armor list which focus on brutal beat face ness you may want to take NCO and just ram at your enemy and then your killer LT walks out near the end of the game to play clean up. g+kEby0xMhdHYW1tYSBBZ2dyZXNzaXZlIFN0cmlrZYEsAQELAIWxAQQAAIWyAQIAAIX9AQQAAIX9AQUAAIW7AQEAAIW7AQEAAIW2AQEAAIDAAQEAAIWnAQYAAIWnAQEAAIW3AQEA Please do not judge the list to hard it was a quick one I put together to make use of NCO
I use Cho/Omega and raptors together. I like having the extra NCO order as i rarely bring my lietenant into the fight unless I have cho as coc.
I usually use cho, but ppl may start wiseing up to that, I use cho simply because she is cheap allowing me to bring more guns/models to the table. Using holomask I disguise her as any target I think my opponent will not want to attack - for now that is usually the omega or a beta trooper and usually inside a building. sometimes Instead of cho I use an omega but for no particular reason other than I fancy a change, plus it keeps my circle on their feet is it cho this time or the real omega. I’m pretty new to infinity though, this is just what I am finding useful for now. In summary though I bring her for her hollow mask whether I bring her as coc or lietenant. As coc I am less afraid to use my actual lieutenant in battle.
Thanks. I normally bring an Alpha or now Saladin because have the extra order for any one is a lot of power. I have also done the 2 Saladin (one is Cho and one is the real one). Hector can be a monster, he was my standard LT in Steel Phalanx.
Cho is our best LT, arguably NCO is great, it lets Cho generate two orders and at 15pts that's a steal
I mean, yes, i get it, but i'm also reluctant to leave important and somewhat defenseless solo models hiding in my backline when almost all my stuff is pushing forwards into the midfield - id much rather the security of hiding my LT in a fireteam.