@Reservup Just to clarify, Irmandinhos don't have the dogged ability. You probably didn't mean it that way, but this game is complex as it is. No need to muddy the waters. IMHO extremely impetuous models take way tactical options. They probably need the best place in the deployment zone to hide during 1st turn. You need to use regular orders to keep them safe. Any model with a rifle can easily kill them because they can never benefit from partial cover. They can be baited to trigger mines, which affect multiple models etc. In missions, where scenario points are awarded from killing enemy models (read: hiding your own models in your backfield), they are effectively free points for the enemy. I have to admit that Chain rifle can be awesome against clustered light infantry. But does Irmandinho survive long enough to reach enemy backfield?
Oops, you're right about them not being dogged. That's my mistake. But I stand by opinion about their usefulness. Irmandhinos are about as close to an auto-include as you can get in TAK. I can see you're set against extremely impetuous profiles however, so I won't waste anymore effort trying to convince you. Everyone plays differently.
Don't get me wrong, if Irmandinhos had dogged (like similarly costed Pretas have) they would be insanely good. Everyone with multiple wounds is very good in Infinity even with Extremely impetuous (like Dog-Warriors). It's the single wound model doing single die f2f rolls that bothers me.
@Reservup I think your points are good. I think you're correct that Irmandinhos provide tools, and let TAK have some tactical options that are really valuable. Both Irmandinhos and Antipodes bring some really unique capability for scenarios. Irmandinhos: Chain Rifle. This is obvious enough. 8 points for a 1-wound Chain Rifle is just cheap enough. Specialist. Smoke, Impetuous and Engineer makes for a very good button pusher. You don't always need to throw Camo Infiltrators at every problem. Being able to work up the table and simply throw smoke for a button push is easy. A mobile, smoke-throwing source of anti-materiel can be critically important too. Booty. You don't know what this is going to generate, but sometimes it'll turn up something brilliant. E/M grenades? Yeah. And even with the Irmandinho's appallingly bad BS, something light a shotgun is still a good opposed option to the Chain Rifle. Smoke. Probably the big one. Free smoke where you want it is important to planning any turn. Emergency Orders. Hey, if you really need another Regular Order, spend a command token. If your second pool has 6 Regular Orders and 3 Irmandinhos, that can be 9 Orders if you want it to be. It's all about doing what the mission requires. The big thing for keeping them alive, of course, is planning. Keeping them more than 4 inches from any corner where the opponent will have LoF is the easiest way, then using their Irregular Order to readjust their positioning or advance to another "safe place" for future turns. You can also pair them with the lanes that your Spetsnaz or Vet Kazak HMG is watching, so that if an enemy is staying out to overwatch your Impetuous units,t they'll be eating HMG shots too. I think the role of an Irmandinho is more broadly applicable than that of Antipodes. To be clear, I use both Irms and Antipodes in my lists, but I don't use double Antipodes. Antipodes: The types of targets they're good against are a fairly narrow range. Anything with good CC ability, or anything with Sixth Sense, is going to have a decent chance of surviving Antipodes. You really need your opposing unit to be vulnerable to Surprise Attack, and be a valuable enough target to justify launching the Antipode Missile at them. Units like Heavy Infantry/TAGs that overextend, or key unit hiding on a rooftop, are choice targets But you don't want to lead with the Antipode rush. They're best as the game unfolds, and your opponent's defense starts to fray. I've had folks send Antipodes at a Kamau Sniper, and that didn't end well. You have to manage your expectations with their offensive output. Sensor. Probably the most obvious application here. Antipodes are the best Sensor unit out there. Discover wide swathes of the table with Impunity. But they're also very good "Discover Turrets" if you're trying to stop something from creeping somewhere important. They're cheap, they're not going to be tempted to Hold their ARO to shoot, so they're useful for peeking around a corner if you really want to stop a hostile Camo token from leap-frogging its way into your DZ. Speed. There are a lot of missions where being blisteringly fast, hiding in Marker state, able to move over buildings, is very useful. Recover Supplies, Recover Beacons, score a last-minute Classified, these are all really great scenario-specific tools for the speed of Antipodes. Playing with both of these units is pretty fun. Irmandinhos aren't exactly unique, but it is very rare to have an Impetuous smoke tosser who is also a Specialist. That's phenomenal. And Antipodes are one of the most unique units in the game. And while they're limited in terms of combat, there's always something they can be doing that makes huge contributions to any game or Scenario.
You're getting tripped up on all the draw backs of the Irmandinhos while forgetting that they're a mere 8 points. Barakiel's break down is spot on but what makes them really really attractive to me is the simple cost to profit ratio.
Yeah, I can't emphasize heavily enough that an Impetuous smoke-tossing specialist is a really big deal. Scoring objectives without spending any Regular Orders is really nice. I like the Irmandinho as a Specialist more and more too, just because Specialist Scouts are very expensive, while the Specialist Strelok loses out on some very important pieces of kit in order to become a Forward Observer. I'll use the Scout for some scenarios, and certainly I use Streloks all the time, but it's nice not having to use valuable points and AVA buying too many Strelok Forward Observers, when I'd much rather have Minelayer instead. Irmandinhos can help pick up the slack there, and ensure you still have enough Specialists in your list.
6th sense isn't a problem for antipodes. A single pack of antipodes can usually take out any single model in the game without taking any casulties. The trick is getting into melee without dicerolling. Once the target is in melee you can bring another model (non-antipodes are preferred) to get additional close combat attack dice.
Oh the Irmandinhos... always mispelled but I forgot about these chaps. Simple to use, 8 points can fit in most lists, and smoke. Smoke is our friend. It's the trick that we get for cheap and between that and your dog pack's smoke lgl you'll be able to carpet bomb the map in smoke and free things up to move into more favorable rangebands or avoid some nasty stuff without MSV. 2 to 4 in ever list isn't quite the level that I run, if only because I enjoy limited insertions. Regardless their new minis are great, their profiles are wonder, and like everyone says. 8 points for smoke, chainrifle, and many many tax free cherries on top. These little angry smugglers always seem to get into some sort of trouble that helps bring victory. The entire time they're tossing smoke which helps our bigger hitters into position as long as MSV2 isn't around. Which is why their solid profile tends to shine for their price. Sometimes they'll engineer an objective on the way screaming across the table. Sometimes you roll the automekit and they become a spectacularly annoying speed bump that won't stay dead. The one time I rolled EM grenades they became a warcrime for 8 points as everyone was disconnected, immobilized and in general having a bad day. I agree with the others, you have TAK's many deadly trimmings, but your list can use some meat to it. The line kazak box is pretty great as the medic also moonlights as a 112 for me.
