Hello. There was thread about Squalo in vanilla army, but now I want to ask about using it's HGL option in NCA. The main con is +0.5swc. I want to use 1.5(or even 3) swc on defencive link(or other ARO) because of the first turn rush. And as a result I have only 0.5swc left for...HD in link, but it don't give much because I can't take Bulleteer and it weakens it's bearer due to KHD. If not HGL, I can take TRbot, HMG options, Belleteer and etc. Pros are: +1. I can kill designated target easily. ~2. I can kill enemy lieutenant in first turn, but easytokill LT option is obvious only in PanO, Ariadna, YuJing and Nomads (with exceptions, of course). ~3. I can destroy large groups of units, but opponents almost always separate them. And dice calculator says that it is inly 24.90% chance to kill 1W 11PH model(line kazak as example). So is it worth it? p.s. And sorry for my english(
If you deploy your Squalo as your Reserve troop, your opponent won't know you're playing a Squalo unless he/she is calculating all your points and you have no HD in it. And even with this, if you have 4 unused points, you can still lure him/her with the Uhlan. In my eyes, if you don't take the HGL, your running just a standard TAG like a Guijia with BS 15 instead of 14 that has a AP Heavy Pistol instead of the HFT. If you're good with that, go with it. If not, take the HGL or take the Ulhan.
HD can still be ocasionally usefull. Having U-Turn in case enemy brings Guided missles or Hack transport for AD is nice. Also being ocasionally problematic for hackable enemies as suddenly all your fugazi are an additional headache for HI/TAG enemies have as they cannot move as freely in proximity of your drones. And you can still use HSG on Peacemaker/Buleteer (yes I know it's not as sexy as Spitfire Buleteer but it's not bad). HGL is really usefull in all kill DHVT due to rather poor option in NCA to dig out some bunkered units/profiles.
Squalo has multi HMG, which better than Feuerbach+simple hmg. And also low range weapon. And +2 armour. And cheaper. Uhlan has only camo.
Solid opportunity weapon. If you drop Squalo as last mini you might really surprise opponent. HGL is not something you should "relay on". Its a good opportunity weapon to knock smaller things out of SF (for example this annoying Garuda AD bot which just went to flank and is in SF mode), be annoying for any kind of defensive LI link or to "discover" camo by shooting other nearby trooper. It's good 32" range also allows it to not need any special repositioning to be able to shoot most of the targets. It's good option to burn last 1-2 orders in a turn if you really dont have anything better to do with them (as it can sometimes happen).
Camo (or more, Marker State) is best defense skill this game has. Srsly it trumps armor, ODD, etc. hard. 99% of time it at least forces your opponent to spend another order to shoot your guy. More often than not it makes enemy plans really complicated/risky. Camo state on TAG is 10x better than SF if your enemy is not yet decimated/plays anything but PanO.
I’d almost always go with the HGL. It gives you a. Answer to the problem of bad guys that cost too many orders to get into your LOF and can let you absolutely ruin the day of remote heavy lists or order spam. It also lets you remove missile launchers in fire teams safely.
Camo makes the Uhlan a better straight-up gunfighter, and provides attack and Hacking immunity. The best thing about it is that it forces opponents to make that Discover attempt before they can target you, which can easily result in an opponent squandering a huge amount of Orders to attempt the Discover, only to fail and get picked off by your support ARO units. It's also really, really nice to be unhackable, forcing potential hackers to gain LoF to discover the Uhlan before they can discover. The rangebands on the Feurbach also let you use the weapon like a big MULTI sniper rifle, hanging outside of HMG range with some punishing AROs. But to get back on topic, I do use the HGL Squalo for exactly the reasons you mentioned: strong data tracker, great HVT killer, plus a good LT hunter. I find this approach can have diminishing returns. While the HVT is always going to be vulnerable, all it takes is a camo LT or a decent PH 2-Wound Heavy Infantry LT to make the Squalo a lot less effective for LT-hunting missions. But since there are a lot of missions out there where you can score 3-5 points for knocking over the HVT with your Datatracker, the Squalo HGL is perfect for that role. If I'm not specifically taking the HGL though, I'll just take a Swiss or the Uhlan instead.
@Foxbringer The HGL Squalo is better in reality than on paper. There are a couple things it does for you that don't translate well into numbers and statistics. The HGL will do a couple things for you by merely existing: 1. Spec Fire on 9s up to 32" - that is a lot of coverage from your DZ without even ever moving once. For a 6-4 TAG that is pretty much the entire table from turn 1 on. Other than Infiltrators, Impersonators or AD you can affect your opponents entire DZ after a bit of maneuvering. A HGL on a 6-4 TAG chassis can easily cover triple the area of a regular LGL. 2. Spec Fire allows you to place the Template in any way that ends up touching the target, so unlike a Missile Launcher or similar Impact Template Weapon a Spec Fire HGL has an effective blast radius of 5" (for 2 targets). Thanks to that you can also hit 2 targets around a corner where one target would have Total Cover against a regular Impact template. 3. To prevent multiple targets from getting hit each shot, your opponent has to spend Orders and take inferior positions, pretty much a win win for you. 4. Positioning to "accidentially" hit Camo Markers and hard to hit/reach or simply spec firing some other dude within 5" is often more effective than a Discover attempt or even trying to maneuver a Sensor in range. 5. The HGL is a pretty lackluster Active Turn weapon, but on a TAG that can easily risk to take a single Combi, Spitfire or HMG ARO to the face it might well be worth it to try going for a FTF Roll with LOF on a 12 or 15 to catch a secondary model around the corner. This forces Link teams to opt for Dodge or eat the hit with the secodary targets outside of LOF. The HGL is a pretty good deal for 2points and 0.5 SWC. He does a lot even if you never fire a single shot with it, opens up easy success in Missions where Datatracker need to kill specific stuff and - still is a Panoceanian Rem Pres TAG with a BS15 Multi HMG. I don't like the model and would rather have a HFT than a Heavy Pistol for him, but he is pretty great if you use him right. Can't stress enough how huge it is to have access to a 32" kill zone for Fusilier Lts and Camo Markers standing too close toother things. What I do have to point out is that a Squalo list has to spam Orders. If you want to go for a small effective elite force take a Dragao, Jotum or Cutter and kick the front door in. When you bring a Squalo bring 2 Combat groups and settle for something smal, like Nisses or Bulleteers in the second group to supplement the Squalo. There is nothing wrong with spending 8 Orders using Spec Fire on crucial Targets in turn 1 if you have another 6-8 Orders to kill stuff in plain sight and push buttons.
Feuerbach has the same range as HMG. Yes, of course. Elite lists is much less effective than lists with ~15-17 orders. I love them, but they are not in NCA(
Exactly. So the Fuerbach can hit targets in cover at very long range on 12s. With the Uhlan's negative mods and durability, you can leave it out as an ARO sniper that performs better than a MULTI HMG's EXP shot. It's better at this role than standard TAGs.
I'd like to play with master of elite lists, but I don't know anyone in Moscow, who won nonLI tournament with 10 order lists only. Like HRMC, but have EXP instead of DA. Now I need to try it.
easly doable, I havent played elite lists in about a year, but its a better time than ever to run massed armour with the limitation on order stripping and TAGs getting Fat1 and scoring pilots.
The main problem of elite list is it's sensitivity to any minor casualtiy. Opponent can kill 5 models in my 15-18 order list and I will still have more orders than he. If first turn is mine...I shouldn't forget about Retreat! because I can lose if I get carried away.
It really depends on which 5 orders you remove from the 15-18 order list. If those 5 models lncuded the only ones that can handle a high armor TAG in suppression fire then those extra orders still remaining will have issues being useful.
