Yeah, they are going to play pretty differently from my perspective too. So, what is new with VIRD? Here's what we didn't already know: Varuna Division Machinist pays 2 points for Mimetism, Stealth and Aquatic terrain. Kamau picked up Shock Immunity and Stealth, because it seems that they are just badass (as Bostria would say). Varuna Division ORC troops pay 1 point for Stealth and either Jungle or Aquatic terrain. The base Varuna ORC Feuerbach costs 42 points and 2 SWC (it is in NCA and Acon as well). Patsy Garnett has Duo and Haris native on her profile and does NOT appear in Acon or NCA. She's going to be a pretty sweet SWC-free Haris option and KHD-proof specialist. Varuna Division Squalos have the Zapper on the profiles without the HGL and also pick up Duo and Aquatic terrain, paying a point for the privilege. Varuna Division Clipper with Wildcard (up to one in any Fireteam) is only the Missile Launcher profile not the Smart Missile Launcher for 18 pts and 1.5 SWC. It looks like everything else was spoiled. One thing we hoped for but didn't get was any SWC break on existing "exotic" LT options (like the Cutter or Croc Man) in Varuna. I guess we'll all just have to use the Jammer Zulu Cobra!
Kinda wishing the Varuna division ORCs got a seperate entry in Army, that giant list is hard to read. @toadchild maybe do it that way in mayanet?
Thats because you are looking at the Zulu in the wrong way. It is NOT a dedicated objective grabber or a skirmisher. Its for zone control (jammer), utility (KHD), and cheap camo attack unit (Shock Marksman Rifle). All of which it preforms quite well.
I'm shocked hardly anyone has mentioned linkable engineers. We finally gotten what we've asked for for so long and they even gain mimetism. Why are people not more excited about this?
Because Varuna is jam packed with lovely things and everyone has lost their shit over literally everything about this sectorial in a good way.
too many things to talk about at once, i can't say two words at the same time also Kammie links are pricey and not how I'm starting, so the Machinist doesnt get linked as often. :V
After my first game I have to say I’m optimistic. Some awful rolling aside, everything seemed to do what I wanted it to do. VIRD──────────────────────────────────────────────────GROUP 1 10 PATSY GARNETT Submachine Gun, Nimbus Plus Grenades, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 37) KAMAU HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 28) KAMAU Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 28) ORC Feuerbach / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 42) KAMAU (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32) FUSILIER (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) FUSILIER Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) FUSILIER Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) ZULU-COBRA (X Visor) Shock Marksman Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25) ZULU-COBRA (Sensor) Combi Rifle, Jammer / Assault Pistol, Knife. (0 | 29)GROUP 2 2 2 HELOT MILITIAMAN Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 9) HELOT MILITIAMAN Shock Marksman Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) TRAUMA-DOC Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) 5.5 SWC | 300 PointsOpen in Infinity Army Mission was The Armory, against Corregidor. I won the roll off and took first turn, as there wasn’t a clearly advantaged DZ for the defensive link from hell. My opponent deployed in near total cover so I moved Patsy’s Haris team up to the Armory, unlocked it and camped inside. Patsy pulled an ADHL and ODD out of the Panoplies (!) and I moved my Jammer ZC up into the Armory as well. SMG Helot came up to cover one side and the defensive link covered the other. My opponent took a Wildcat Haris and wiped the objective room clean with LFTs then set up in suppressive fire. It took all of my turn 2 to clean out the room but I couldn’t put anyone into it. His turn 2 was all about maneuvering around my feuerbach and MSR lanes to try and reinforce the room, and during my turn 3 the Fusilier FO took the defensive team on offense. With full link bonuses he gunned down everyone in the objective room and with the whole link in the room, my opponent couldn’t dislodge enough of them to win. 7-2 VIRD wins! Overall: defensive link never got to ARO defensively. No conclusions other than “my opponent thought it was so scary he didn’t want to engage it at all”. Helots: no data. I had an LRL ARO onto a non-leader member of a link team that caught the whole link out of cover, but I whiffed both shots. Otherwise, Decoy is really good for mind games. ZCs: Excellent! Jammer jammed things maneuvering around the objective room from safely inside. Passed a save against an LFT and gunned him down with an Asspistol ARO. SMR guy successfully outranged and killed a couple of suppressive fire models inside 24” by stacking them mods! Patsy: well it’s hard to be disappointed when she rolls ODD from a Panoply. I like her all-Wildcard Haris team, it’s a great little module I see myself playing a lot. As for herself I never got a chance to abuse Nimbus+ but the rest of her package is great. NCO is also fantastic for turning a back line Fusilier or ZC Jammer Lt order into something useful. Hopefully some more games this weekend!
I think your missing the big aspect of AROs. They are not just meant to kill units. AROs are all about messing with your opponents plans and making them waste orders either killing them or moving around them. Your defensive link was a great success if your opponent was too scared to engage it. "Helots: no data. I had an LRL ARO onto a non-leader member of a link team that caught the whole link out of cover, but I whiffed both shots. Otherwise, Decoy is really good for mind games." Again, thats not no data. Decoy being great for mind games is far more important than if you manage to roll well enough to kill anything with the Helots. Some units are far more valuable for the threat they pose more than their actual chance of killing anything. Helots are one of those units. If you roll low with a unit it doesn't necessarily mean the unit was bad, it just means you had bad luck.
I cannot agree more, last Sunday I was in a tournament my Interventor LT needed 3 orders to grab an Antenna with +3 Scenario bonus, She is great for the task in my opinion HD+ got her there safely my inability to roll 18 or under for two orders does not make her an inefficient objective grabber.
Got a couple of games in last night. Frostbyte vs ISS Helot: When you're facing max-order Kuang Shi, Helots are worth their weight in gold. Happily trading away a 9 point Irregular unit that your opponent can't really engage or anticipate thanks to Decoy is amazing. Dogged? No worries, there's Fire and Shock on the cheapest profile for that. You'll happily trade shots with a Kuang Shi if it stops that Chain Rifle from reaching your Fusilier backline. Kamau MSV2: Every bit as good as she's cracked up to be. Rui Shi Spitfire, a TR bot and a pile of Kuang Shi all trying to break out of their DZ? Not with the Kamau MSV2 covering their corner. Zulu Cobra Jammer: I have no idea how often these guys will actually jam something. The odds on it are never good. But damn does it make your opponent stop and think. A very good use of First Turn orders, especially when your opponent is bunkered hard, is to get one or two of these guys on top of a building in the midfield. Generates a ton of stress, and pairs really well with Helot, Fuerbach or MULTI Sniper AROs to make an opponent nervous. Fuerbach ORC: I needed to protect him as Datatracker, but he held his corner wonderfully for 2 turns, until I climbed him onto a building in the midfield so my opponent had to play 3-4 Orders of smoke just to get past him. Had a good ARO shootout that he won, BS17 EXP will make anyone afraid. The Durability is the big thing... Knowing you can stand him up and that he'll probably survive and be able to Fail Guts as necessary is not a thing that most Snake Eaters have. If you like to have your force anchored, an ORC will do it. Fusiliers. Coming from NCA, it's funny to have these guys and gals not actually fire their weapons. I'm going to start using the Light Grenade Launcher more on them... It's a profile that Kamau, ORCs, etc. can't replicate, and it's also very cheap in points. I think it's going to be a staple addition for my VIRD Fusiliers. Croc FO: Push those buttons, accept no substitutes. Cobras look like the new hotness, but Crocs are the ones that get the mission done. They are different units with different roles. Trans Matrix vs TJC: Interesting one. ORCs really help with anchoring and dominating zones, as well as serving as your aggressive Datatracker, but you really don't want them in Transmission Matrix. VIRD can outshoot anyone, so it's really important to have the midfield tools to capitalize on that advantage once you achieve it. Similarly, the Kamau + Fusilier link is a fantastic staple, but it's clunky and doesn't belong in the midfield unless it's Turn 3. This is a good time for the Kamau Haris to shine. VIRD's general lack of dependence on Hackable troops is refreshing for Trans Matrix. My NCA fears this mission like the plague. Jammer is great, but remember that it doesn't help much vs Veteran troops. They're very happy to go head-to-head vs your Cobra Jammers. Outshooting Kriza Borac HMGs in ARO is hilarious. Use that Helot Irregular Order to always be thinking ahead with your defense. Once their Decoys are revealed, start redeploying them so that they can provide the most benefit for you and the greatest challenge for your opponent. Thinking of them as purely a static defense unit is a mistake. Especially since your Kamau Sniper can't be everywhere at once, being creative and mobile with your Helots can really help project some threat in vulnerable areas, especially when your opponent is looking for ways to detour and avoid your Kamau Sniper. Croc Minelayer is amazing for f*cking with people. Deploy that mine behind the Croc, in Forward Deployment L1 territory, and your opponent will freak out trying to determine if it's a Jammer, a Shock Marksman ARO, etc.
Best part of all, my opponent even suspected the Croc and sensor swept for it, but missed detecting it by half an inch. I deployed the Croc laterally away from the mine, rather than linearly up the table. My opponent naturally assumed I'd want the Croc to infiltrate as far up the table as it could be, so he started searching for it right around the mid-table line. But when his Sensor Sweep didn't find anything, he thought "damn, that might be a jammer, better not get too close." So he maneuvered to get LoF, lined up a whole order to Discover+Shoot, revealed the mine, then couldn't shoot because the mine was behind a linear obstacle and was too short to be seen. It was like 4 Orders spent to Discover a mine that couldn't be shot. Damn I love this game
Had a LI Biotechvoere game against IA today, we were both so exited to try the new stuff that we forgot about the classified objectives and just did a slugfest. Saw a game of firefight before with IA. Things learned today: - IA gets to play a 14 orders link full of heavy's with swc weapons and a camo Lt. its CRAZY - LiuXing with BSG is a thing of beauty and absolute destruction, we are going to suffer that guy a lot, game breaking in some missions (firefight, not biotech obviously) - Linked sniper kamau on a roof.... just amazing, had to restart the game after 4 orders of him in ARO because he killed all my oponent long range weapons and want able to come out of his dz with the big link anymore (a 3 men core with a spitfire at that point), that good. - The linked HMG Varuna ORC is better that how he looks on paper - There is a serious Lt. problem in VIRD if you dont want to take a fusilier - Loved Ms. Garnett, but not worth it if its only for the NCO extra order, she needs a plan of her own - Montesa BSG is a murder machine, just wow, didnt expected to work this good
