September>December 2023 - Winter is coming with some reinforcements

Why does it matter?

 

What really matters is where do we go from here. However we view the attention Nomads get, I think there's little left to do for them by now. So which factions will get some attention next?

 

The next potential big faction release is in March at Adepticon?

If we assume it's not going to be PanO, Nomads, or CombArmy as they've already had significant expansions on late N3/N4 we could be looking at:

Ariadna: FRRM/CHA, both unlikely IMO as they'd have to rotate out USARF, though USARF has seen a few less popular SKUs go away. Adepticon is also likely before we'll see the Argent Mirage box which I think will be a bellweather for how a full FRRM redo would do. Left field suggestion: USARF redo.

Yu Jing: ISS or Korean sectorial would both be really cool and likely popular. My gut says that Koreans would be more popular with ISS rotated out of catalogue for them.

Haqq: Khanate is the obvious one, or maybe a QK redo, but the Reinforcement box won't have been out very long by March. Theoretically either could be added without OOPing another sectorial as they only have two currently, but catalogue space is always a concern.

O-12: A second sectorial hoovering up all the Vanilla pieces without a home like the Gamma, Omega, Gangbuster, and so on. Can also bring in some interesting out-of-faction units. Starmada looks to be in a pretty good place in the game now, but the concern would be catalogue space.

Aleph: Unlikely IMO, two solid sectorials that are on their way to having modern sculpts for pretty much everything. Aleph feel pretty complete even

 

My 2c:

Nomads, Aleph, and CA I agree about. It's not very likely to see any new major rework for them anytime soon.

PanO: I actually could see them getting something, maybe Acon being rolled back out, and Varuna getting shelved for now. MO rework is pretty much done, and with five sectorials to the faction CB might want to look at them a little more requently. Use them as villains in the next storyline, I don't care, just refresh something that isn't a damn knight.

YJ: Could definitely use reworking the ISS. I'm not sure where CB will go with reinforcements, but I don't see them getting expanded into full-fledged sectorials just yet.

Ariadna: I have a feeling CHA will might get some love next, switching on the shelf with USARF. Though the idea of the latter getting a rework instead isn't wiithout merit, so it's probably down to which one CB will view as more prospective.

Haqq: I think QK rework will happen before we'll see Khanate, the latter have three units and two characters available, not that much of a base to build upon.

O12: Second sectorial is obvious, the question is how and when.

Tohaa: Now I'm just sad.

NA2: I'd love to see some wild things here, like Tohaa/Sygmaa defectors, or non-CA Shasvastii, but, sadly, I don't see it happening :P

 

PanO got Varuna, WinterFor, and MO in pretty quick succession, lots of new sculpts and attention even without the Knights. I think they can sit down for a little bit, even as a PanO player myself.

 

I am hoping for QK or ISS next. A QK update would work wonderfully with the lore changes in Endsong.

 

As far as PanOceania goes, I do hope we see some of the models still missing from the existing sectorials, though I do hope we see more bolts soon, as odd as it may sound I still need more Bolt models...

 

I don't really know but they way they make me feel is that's going to be Onyx. Just because CA sells.

I would like ISS instead a Korean sectoral. It reminds me too much of JSA. Due to being a single culture sectoral. I want YJ to be mixed.

I want ISS, but I think it's going to be Haqqislam of some flavor. Like Nomads, CJC got a soft re-work, to a hard Bakunin. Last year was Hasassisn soft re-work, so next year QK hard re-work. Haqq was also a bit screwed this year with only 2 figures coming out all year and not much before that. I think they are due. Sorry I forgot next month they get as new set of 4. But they are still going to be last for new figures this year.

 

Refreshing is a good thing. Indeed. But to talk about villians, Observance fits this role much better.

Withnthe others... Yes. I agree. Sounds like an option. But of course there are things what we want, and there things what CB is thinking.

And one more moment

I feel, that CB is going to make active NA2 list shorter instead. But I would be happy to see na2 morats)

I hope, it would be more also something vietnamese thematic one day.
To be honest, I thought, that YJ would get ISS rework after some time after PanO got new MO, may be next year or so. It doesnt happen, and now I am looking with sorrow on them getting OOP.
There is a chance that we would really get them back reworked. Only a chance, and not a big one. I feel sometime, like CB don't know what they are going to do next.

 

The trick with NA2 is - they take very little catalogue space on their own. Look at them;

• Druze Bayram: nothing is exclusive to DBS. Even the Druze and their character, Arslan, are available elsewhere (in Qapu Khalqi, among others). True, a number of entries are widely available to other NA2, though not necessarily to other "mainline" armies.
• Japanese Secessionist Army is a fluke here - they have a lot of entires specific to them (for a historical reason), though they still share some of them with Ikari Company.
• Ikari Company - as far as I can see - has nothing exclusive ot them, though they share a lot of models with JSA.
• StarCo - only Emily Handelman (Uhahu too, but she'll soon proliferate), and the Outrage character box is long out of productiion.
• Foreign Company - Hannibal, Valkyrie & Lakshmee.
• Dahshat Company - they have nothing unique solely to them.
• WhiteCo - maybe John Hawkwood, though I think I've seen him somewhere else recently.

I'm skipping over Spiral Corps, as they are out of catalog already, sharing most of their catalog space with OOC Tohaa.

So, save for the Japanese, there's not much catalog space to be gained by retiring any of the NA2. I guess they'll have a rollercoaster ride of ups and down as individual units are pulled form catalog - as part of the armies / sectorials they belong to outside of the NA2. But the Spiral Corps isn't, IMO, going to be an indicative to how CB plan to treat NA2.
In fact, adding some more NA2 is always a very easy job - just kitbash a "sectroial" out of various units already in the game.

 

Ah, ok, that is true. But after CB signed Kaplans and Hawkwood as oop... But true. Lots of sectorials would live. Good.

 

My wish would be an O12 sectorial with lots and lots of stuff from all other factions. A Dogface and Wulver in O12 uniform next to a dolphin hacker and Chimera from Nomads to Ninja-catgirls from JSA, Knights from PanO, etc. mixed with some of the native O12 units like Bronze, Bluecoats or Lynx.
If O12 is supposed to come from the different factions, I would love to have it that feeling. It should really feel like a melting pot. Profiles should be different of course: Chimera without the pupnicks, no viral, but with riot stopper. Everyone has riot stoppers, just because that is a thing O12 does.

 

They got the Bokhtar and the Sunduqubut in the box sets maybe another one, I am not sure. So Aleph got two or so more. Style wise some Aleph Resculpts look a but flat with less flavour.

That's what the thread is about since a couple of pages.

Bostria said once, that three is a good number of sectorials. So at the moment it looks good. I doubt that the Koreans will see a sectorial so soon. CB will wait and see how RF will go. They already said you can threat RF as mini sectorials. This makes me think that RF is a refresh for the given "sectorials".

I also have my doubts about new sectorials apart from O-12.

I personally would like to see a refresh of ISS.

 

O-12 recruits from other nations, but assimilates them to itself not allowing them to be "their nation inside O-12", I guess you could see a modified individual, but a chimera officer would be the exception.

 

it’s an interesting take but maybe just a wish.

A sectorial leaning toward SpecOps style of play (infiltration, Camo, mimetism) with the units currently not available for Starmada would probably be more likely. Thinking about:

- Lynx (hidden dep / Camo)
- Sirius (mim)
- Gangbuster (infiltration/mim)
- Omega (mim)
- Razor (hidden dep / infiltration / Camo)
- Hippolyta (mim / eclipse)

With 2 Harris, but less likelihood to make pure cores than in Starmada

 

Meaning, it's all Nomads releases unending (not only of models, which would be frustrating, but of more and more profiles), which is the point of everyone else. A point even Corvus "supports" with the N4 models repacked in Code1 boxes that are 1 bakunin model, 1 tunguska model and 1 corregidor model (booster pack beta). Meanwhile, whole factions (and their sectorials) face a dry spell, or take years to finish release.

I disagree here... If at the end Onyx get canned, we could be seeing next some sort of UR/CA+humans sectorial... and the human + CA sectorial may show up as an NA2 because of Endsong and would fit quite good with a CA sectorial released with new Unidrons (since there has been a new Ikadron + Imetron x2 box close to release).
I would imagine a box of 2-3 Unidrons, 1-2 Nexus, possibly Kerr-nau, one Umbra, the Pneumarch as civilian and extra model gift, and a couple of new models, phasing out the Fraactas and Maakrep.

I disagree OSS is "solid", but the main problems I see there are the Yadus, fireteam compositions, the Apsaras' nerf, Trisha & Sophotects cost/use Vs Parvati, its lack of a repeater network (believe it or not, ASS has more repeater network thanks to 2 linkable pitcher throwers), and the most important part, the lack of Dasyus (and now sophotects) models.

I think now would be the best time for a new CA-UR sectorial, remove Onyx, release a box in a Bakunin-style with "ur" units (see above), and then use it as a core for a NA2 combined ops faction.

They are being shown quite like that as of late, with their wanting a sepsitor for their own use and ignoring how they have been more penetrated by the Shasvastii than the British Intelligence by the Russians at one point of the Cold War... XD

He's a non-used Aleph (vanilla) character, and is on Last Chance... tomorrow he vanishes from CB's production, which is a shame because he could be repurposed for a more deniable O12/Aleph sectorial.

Nope, O12 does not "come" from other factions, not "anymore". Concilium has its own nationality, and while it's true that it gets donations from the other main factions, most of its income has been officially (CB's) been from the Circulars and Aleph's extra services, but the Human Sphere's economy has always been kinda fuzzy, with Silk and Tesseum being the most obvious goods, and the secondary sector (industrial, transformative) being described as mostly automated with microtechnology requiring minimal oversight for its output.

Anyways, O12 uses a few, selected units from other factions, but in truth its military organization is minimal. The name comes after the 12 bureaus composing O12, and of them only 2-3 are not 90% or more scientifics/bureaucreats, those being the Bureau Noir (spies, so to speak, coming from all factions and acting in a mixed environment, they are the old "Emerald Magistrates" setting for the RPG) and Aegis (military), which contains Section Statera (law: lawyers, aides, bureaucrats, accountants, and other experts; it also liases with all other O12 sections, so it's the largest section of the biggest O12's Bureaus), Section Spatha (military and police agents) and Starmada (fleet, not only the units in the sectorial); Psi units are the Intelligence department.
Note that Aleph goes inside of Bureau Toth, and as such all of its units, no matter the sectorial, would be within O12 XD.

 

Code One boxes supports Code One army lists, I am not sure why you would bring sectorials in a product that has none of them and most of the releases we get are not for it.

 

As far as I was aware of it, the C1 Battle Boxes & Beyond serve a double role. Labeled as C1 they also brought new and refreshed stuff to N4 sectorials. Crimson Stone - CJC and Kosmo, Coldstöm WB and SWF and so on. Later releases used for repacks of some stuff to fill the C1 gabs.

 

I'd say he's an adapted RPG character - and as such, doesn't work in the wargame. 40+ pts with a lot of costly add-ons that don't make an officer model that'd make sense. A lot of fighting ability, but little leadership ability for the cost.

But - we digress.

 

Code One initially was used as launching point for the entire faction, including miniatures from all sectorials, one can see Icestorm for this, but from a point onwards the Code One dual box switched to become a double product, a self contained Code One starter and a sectorial launching point for Infinity at the same time, hence why the dual starter and the beyond are sectorial focused while the booster packs are more varied in the units they include.