I mean, considering who run things in PanO, the question of "who is more of an outsider merc here" is a bit more complicated that it could seem. There is a reason some of these units are operatives authorized to access important things in zone of operation, while others are escort and muscle. It's understandable if people expect some lines to be blurred further nowdays, consdiering it's time of wonders like, for example, Haqq, of all factions, effectively getting linkable tougher and faster Nisses and heavy Bagh Maris (albeit with only very limited loadouts available to them). Besides, a lot of players consider that specific example (Hsien Haris) not very playable because of said Haris being considered bloated and also because of serious competition in its Army. And that is despite being in a faction with smoke. People suspect that CB is on its way towards optimizing things and not drawing the line they will not cross at things that are not widely played. While my post is probably too sensationalist, I feel like a lot of things can happen these days despite never having happened before.
On the other hand we allready have mixed Orc with LI in Varuna AND Aco..... But not here??!! Whats up with that?!
What? Why? How is that even an argument. Since when are Warbands assumed to be all dug in in corners when you're moving your Link across the table in your Active turn. Why would more than one model get hit by the template in your Active Turn? Who ever claimed it was a good idea to leave a MODless Multirifle out for long range AROs? How are the Warbands, that are literally Impetuous and have to Move a bit out of their favourite corner tucked away, while the Aquila who can actually hide behind a screen of Fugazi, Limk members, TO AROs and warm bodies is standing there out in the open to be put down by a Sniper. Everyone has to kill the 3-10 point dudes. That's what they're good at. You lose as soon as you have to spend an Order on them. The Aquila can at least split Burst without worrying about losing the FTF to a Smoke Cloud. On top of that he has Shock Ammo which makes him twice as deadly against Dogged and the Unhackable Backup to deal with Hackers. The scenario you describe is oddly specific and not very realistic to assume as default. BS18 base ignoring all Camo MODs is great and really makes it worth to run the Aquila for once. Especially since you get Linked Shotgun levels of accuracy at B4 with twice the positive rangeband. The thing with very high BS is that most things crit at somewhere in between 11 and 15 depending on Cover and Rangebands. Being able to get a success in the range of 15 to 18 in a shootout is the 2nd best thing after Crits. Almost nothing in the game can beat that without a crit in return.
Honestly, the 18 point DB filler profile (19 point Haris!) is just so good I don't care about the lack of Orc love. The anti-Ariadna fireteam of an Aquila (to kill camo), a Bolt Haris (to litter their route with Drop Bears) and a Machinist (to fix the Aquila when it gets E/M'd) is just lovely.
I was a little disappointed the em grenades went away. But getting the direct template and a ton of drop bears healed that wound pretty quick.
Slight correction - E/Maulers are the E/M Mines. Which means you can pick your poison in beween Bears and Maulers or mix and match as you seem fit. However the Blackfriar's or Bipandra's Nanopulser still allow you to get a DTW in there if you want.
I see I am miles behind the news here, so... Can someone throw me a quick recap of what new stuff NCA might be getting?
Multirifle FTO Aquila that is wildcard option. CSUs can be added to fusilier fireteams. Albido black friar is wildcard. Bipandra is wildcard. Bolts got cheaper and gained a Harris profile, as well as some specialists. Sniper gains MSV1. More profiles get drop bears, all profiles lose E/M grenades, some profiles get E/Maulers.
My thoughts on the changes: I'll get the rather unimportant stuff out of the way first - CSU in Fusilier link. That's pretty neat. I can see myself always taking one. The best part about this change is we're now able to run that flexible 6-man team with a Sniper for ARO and an HMG for aggressive active turn plays. That alone increase the usability of this sectorial tenfold. I only call this change "unimportant" because it's a no-brainer and a very surface level power increase. The bolt changes are really, really nice. Having this total area denial with various mines and drop bears feels like something they always wanted to do. The Haris is listed as 0 SWC, same for the Lasiqs, and the Foreign Company characters, this would be a really interesting direction CB is moving in if this is the case and not an error. As for options, there are a lot here. Bipandra seems like she wants to fit into a core of these guys should you choose to run it. I can see the Harris being taken annually, maybe with the black friar in it, he seems to mesh really well with bolts. The cheap CoC seems like an auto-include for me and increases the viability of actually taking the Aquila guard or ORC HMG LT. The true victor is Vanila though. The Aquila FTO option is neat.... I guess. I can see myself taking him in a secondary list if I know im going to play against Ariadna at a tournament. I just don't see the linked MR being all that much better than the unlinked HMG. His problem is still his cost and his need to get close to things he probably doesn't want to get that close to. I don't hate him, I just struggle to find a place he fits in really nicely. His best spot is probably in a Fusi core.
... Y E S except still a tiny bit sad about the nade loss but Y E S I really like the sound of that. Always up for some <Insert LI Core link with a beefy HI at the front of it> links! Yay. Also a yay.
I always mix up my e/muhwhatevers. I actually might like this more though than the DT as it gives us a brand new weapon for PanO and KHD with some defense.
OMG.........THE DREAM IS REAL. Bolts are now similar in cost to wildcats, which they should have always been. E/M grenades dropped for E-maulers is a great trade IMO, I'd rather not make PH throws with a flimsy 11. Of note is the MSV 1 on the multi-sniper, it gives extra incentive to bring such a long range weapon to an otherwise short range link. Also, the profile shown was the generic army one because its AVA 3. Which means that GENERIC PANO NOW HAS A CHEAP COC. Prepare to see a lot more aggressive LTs from generic Pano. Joan LT just found her BFF. ;) The extra link options are nice, the best is clearly the CSU which provide a cheap specialist and shotguns/DTW to a Fusilier link. PS: OMG, E-maulers in Pano. Hahahahhaha
DID YOU SAY CHEAP PANO COC?! THAT CAN BE USED WITH JOAN, DE FERSEN AND ALL THE OTHER HI LIEUTENANTS?! As if PanO and Nomads weren't already appealing enough to grab Icestorm for.
Actually NCA got a lot of nice small things. Updated CSU, new Deva (especially AHD), Ayda Swanson (she's not Dart, but she's something NCA has nothing of).
Now there should be a new feature in Army, whenever someone takes KotHS CoC there should be a <sad trombone> sound played ;P
