Vanilla Nomads: A breakdown (N3)

The Nomads

We have an excellent and well rounded force, having multiple strong options in all classes of combatant, with the only notable weak(ish) point being in our Heavy Infantry department. Not many of our choices are super-powered compared to other Human armies, but they all come with decent profiles + equipment and tend to be priced affordably to compensate.
Nomad's strongest point is in the hacking game. Multiple strong hacking options are present throughout the army breakdown and wide access to repeaters, markers and EVO support make infowar a big part of Nomad's strategy when taking on high tech nations. Many of our REMs and units carry repeaters which synergise fantastically with our extremely good hackers to deny areas to HI, TAGs and REMs and also allows use of white noise for taking out MSV equipped opponents. HSN3 has been kind to Nomads, receiving several boosts to underloved profiles and seriously good tweaks to already strong unit choices.
Vanilla Nomads looses the raw power and flexibility of a link team, but gains access to a broad spectrum of TAGs, camo and great hackers in the process. read on below for my unit-by-unit breakdown, please leave comments as I'd love to hear your feedback.

*******Disclaimer********
I'm not saying that any profile listed as "avoidable" is crap/below par/terrible/etc
I'm merely saying that these are rarely seen, are duplicated in better form on other profiles or are only situationally useful.
"avoidable" is only a colloquial term and is not meant to offend your favourite model or quirky choice.
My meta is not your meta and these are only general overviews :-)

Light infantry:

Alguaciles:
Fairly solid light infantry with a good spread of specialists and weapons.
These guys really shine in a corregidor sectoral where they can link to boost their and Burst, but that option is sadly not available for a vanilla force.
So, why use them?
First of all, many profiles have had significant price reductions, eliminating problems with many of the N2 profiles. Second of all, we're due new sculpts which means sexy new models!!

Stand out profiles:
Combi rifle/pistol/knife 10pts
Forward observer, deployable repeater x3/combi rifle/pistol/knife 12pts
Paramedic, combi rifle/pistol/knife 12pts

Hacker; combi rifle/pistol/knife 18pts/0.5swc

These four profiles for me are where these guys shine in a vanilla force, the combi rifle profile is a cheap and capable cheerleader. Average , Average , Standard 1 and 4-4 but all at a reasonable price.
The forward observer expands on this decent bit of pricing by converting your cheerleader into a super useful bargain-basement specialist.
This specialist can capture objectives, achieve secondary objectives, deploy a repeater net for you to hack through and also gains access to the veritable flash pulse by means of being a forward observer.
All in all, this guy is where it is at! (side note: the comm-tech civvie makes a great stand-in for this profile)
The paramedic is a handy ITS specialist, is cheap and can now heal at range, helping you get your classified objective and taking less orders to heal than in N2, and at considerably less risk. The hacker represents such a cheap investment to unlock some excellent remotes and really make them shine with supportware. I don't have to tell you how awesome marksmanship on a total reaction bot is do I? They're also great at stacking up supporting AROs alongside your interventors and such and don't make terrible hackers in and of themselves, given the repeater support in the faction and that they can achieve up-to 4 secondary objectives on their own (data scan, hvt:espionage, telemetry, HVT: designation). Taking one in a second group allows you to feed combat REMs in group 1 with supportware without draining their order pool.


Avoidable profiles:
MULTI sniper rifle/pistol/knife 18pts/1.5swc
HMG/pistol/knife 18pts/1swc
Combi rifle/LGL/pistol/knife 14pts/1swc
Missile launcher/pistol/knife 15pts/1swc
Lieutenant; combi rifle/pistol/knife 10 pts/1swc

All of the special weapons really shine in a link team as the basic profile of the alguacile doesn't really allow for greatness with any of them; The missile launcher is deadly, but at B1 and BS11, one bad dice roll will see you go down to an . It is now vastly cheaper, so if you need some EXP on a budget (blowing up scenery/objectives?) its not going to break the bank any more.
The grenade launcher is a nice idea, but the negative modifiers for speculative fire combined with a low means that you're unlikely to hit much though they do make a useful backup for dealing with ODD/TO when your MSV guys go down.
The sniper rifle is now less expensive but is still low burst and doesn't come recommended outside of a link team.
The HMG is probably the best of the bunch as the higher burst and long range can offset the low and low survivability, benefiting a bit from the changes to suppression fire too.
The fact that the lieutenant costs means I struggle to recommend that option, you've got better things to spend your on tbh.

For me, the biggest threat i see to alguaciles in vanilla lists are jaguars. Not only are they dogged, have chain rifles for DZ defense, but also bring smoke to feed Intruders with, generally making them the "better" cheerleader. That said, no jaguar can run around pushing buttons, and you can't supressive fire with chain rifles, so the humble alguacile still has a solid role in Vanilla.
_____________________________________________________________________
Securitate:

Ok, these guys are pretty Elite and unfortunately they pay through the nose for that status. I personally think they are too pricey for their status and would not advocate using them under the current ruleset.
That said, if you have the models and want to use them; they all come as standard with a repeater, so your hackers can work through their zone of control and they also have the sixth sense level 2 skill to help them resist combat camo/impersonator attacks, aerial deployment shenanigans, smoke + MSV2 spam, guided missiles and speculative fire so i would say that given that skillset and their slightly better of 12 and of 14, they make for a passable unit if your regular opponents tend to field lots of the aforementioned tactics. With the increase of usefulness of hacking and shotguns in N3 (as well as an upcoming tunguska sectoral; they should be the link team of choice), these guys should become a little bit more useful in the future.
3rd ed update.
Small points reductions across their profiles do go some way to helping the plight of the lowly securitate, as do the changes to shotguns. However, these guys are still outcompeted by cheaper options and still struggle from being too expensive for their survivability.

Stand out profiles:
Lieutenant; combi rifle/light shotgun/pistol/knife
SSL2 helps keep him alive against all the types of attacks that would otherwise deny him a survival roll and as a bonus he doesn't cost any

Avoidable profiles:
All the others, unfortunately
The hacker costs more than an interventor, has worse , no and is no more survivable.
The heavy weapons troopers are still outcosted by the vastly cheaper and options and really, you'd still be ahead if you took an alguacile and a transductor zond as you'd be an order up + spare points compared to the basic profile.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Moderators from Bakunin:
Cheap as chips, with low stats to match. Like the alguaciles, much of their options are built around their ability to link into a fireteam in a sectoral army for the much needed boost to and Burst. that isn't applicable in a "vanilla" force, and makes them much less viable as a platform for expensive special weapons.
They are clearly not great for offensive use, but there are a couple of useful profiles and they are the embodiment of a cheap rifle + regular order for the nomad nation.
Their base statline gives them shock immunity, 0ARM, 12WIP and 10BS; so nothing special here at all, but at 9pts, it's the cheapest rifle you can get.

Stand out profiles:
Marker/combi rifle/pistol/knife 11pts/0.5swc
A fairly unique profile, the marker is a great enabler for those wanting to make good use of hacking or guided missiles. This lollipop sucking beauty has x2 deployable repeaters that she can fire from her under-slung launcher, landing on 13's within 16" (if in line of sight). Once in position, hack away.

Hacker; Combi rifle/pistol/knife 17pts/0.5swc
I know this will raise eyebrows, but at 17pts it makes for a reasonable choice for a low points army that wants to use REMs. The biggest bonus for this profile compared to its alguacile competitor is the fact that its possesses BTS3, this means you can helpfully defend your repeater equipped drones and have some protection from enemy hacking actions. Cheap supportware is nice to chuck on drones, vastly improving their capabilities with Marksman L2 and B2 in .
I still believe the cheap upgrade to an interventor is the best choice, but this would get a consideration in escalation style events for me.

Avoidable profiles:
All the others unfortunately
potentially putting the spitfire aside, the opportunity cost is too high and the base statline too weak to justify the investment for sniper rifles and such. The spitfire isn't a bad use of 0.5 if you've got it spare; the high burst compensates somewhat for it's low .
2 for a 12 lieutenant is laughable and the daktari again outshines the paramedic, though at 11pts, is a super super cheap backup specialist and is fine for escalation style play utilising ITS missions.

______________________________________________________________________________________
Tomcats:
Where to start with these guys?
A bevy of good quality profiles and weapon options at an affordable price make these guys a great investment.
They all have AD:2, allowing them to walk on the sides of the boards if they wish, saving the usual issue of having to waste many orders on - to get to downed victims or objectives. for a small premium over their daktari/clockmaker equivalents, they can save you many orders which can be vastly more precious in-game than a few points here and there.
In addition to AD:2, they also come standard with climbing plus and zero-G terrain skills. climbing plus is clearly the big winner here, allowing them to scale buildings with ease before torching the sniper nest that was oh-so-troubling previously with its flamethrower. The two specialist profiles also come with the option of taking a zondcat, a vectored thrust mechanical servant shaped like a manga-cat to work through. These are occasionally handy, but make the investment much greater for not a vast amount of benefit. Servant bots work better with the cheaper, ground based daktari/clockmaker as I'll get to later.

Stand out profiles:
Doctor; combi rile/light flamethrower/pistol/knife 22pts
Fast enough to get to downed patients or objectives, the tomcat doc is a serious contender for "best doc in faction" awards.
Flamethrower makes short work of bad guys and gives a great option to deal with mass camo/ODD forces.

Engineer; combi rile/light flamethrower/D-charges/pistol/knife 22pts
Not only can this guy mend broken drones and TAGs, he can also disable enemy mines, unglue ADHL'd figures, repair EM damaged equipment/d-charge crates in "lifeblood" but he can also capture objectives and achieve the "sabotage" secondary objective with relative impunity. fantastic!

Combi rifle/E-mitter/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 19pts
This guy can create havoc in the opponent's backfield. Cheap, he can pop on the board and lay mines exactly where your opponent doesn't want them. The E-mitter isn't fantastic, often you're better off killing stuff than turning it off, but with the ability to turn up behind the enemy, the tomcat is best equipped to make use of its situational benefits. You're buying this guy for the mines though.

Combi rifle/Deployable repeater x3/pistol/knife 19pts/0.5swc
Not quite as versatile as the other options, he gives another way of enabling the nomad's signature hacking to work efficiently.
Drop him in behind a , drop a repeater and let your interventor go to work.

Avoidable profiles:
Combi rifle/light flamethrower/DEP 19pts/0.5swc
Not necessarily a terrible choice once on the table, the DEP just isn't worth spending on.

________________________________________________________________________
Interventors:
So, the aforementioned hackers extraordinaire!
With an impressive of 15, BTS9 and a maximum cost of 27/0.5swc these guys are a must-have, their beautiful new models only serve as a greater draw as well. With the changes to hacking under N3, i suspect any vanilla nomad force will contain a minimum of 1 of these guys/gals as the hacking device+ brings a huge amount of utility to the army.
Hacking is a wiki all of its own, but needless to say, the changes make inclusion of one of these a real consideration due to its wide access to programs to augment so many of your model's capabilities on the field. They are clearly best supported with wide access to repeaters so they can work their hacky-goodness as much as possible, and if you've got two points spare, its worth considering and upgrade to take a fast panda. The fast panda acts as a single use deployable repeater, thus extending the range of the interventor's hacking zone. HSN3 brings with it the Killer hacking device and needless to say, a BTS9 WIP15 killer hacker is something to be reckoned with, especially given our wide access to repeaters. The interventors are probably one of the nearest things to an autotake in our army alongside Intruders. Which ever flavour you go for, they'll give you huge threat potential for infowar.

Downside is that she can't take a hit at all, so if you've got to cross a firelane, make sure to do it as an IMP 2 marker!

Stand-out profiles:
Lieutenant; Combi rifle/pistol/knife 25pts/0.5swc
cheap, cheerful, capable and obvious. If your opponents are known for lieutenant hunting, make sure this guy gets protected well.

Killer Hacker; Boarding shotgun/1 fast panda/pistol/knife 20pts
Hugely deadly to enemy hackers, this profile also brings a one-time use repeater along as well as the ability to go into marker state and gain surprise shot. the utility here is amazing and when you add it onto a platform that costs 0SWC and a mere 20pts that can do primary and secondary objectives, you're seriously getting a return on investment. Think of using these guys to screen your iguana and tsyklons or pummeling opposing hackers through them.

Avoidable profiles:
The rest all work ok to be honest, though the boarding shotgun variants are more order intensive to use as run and gun specialists given their short range and reliance on Cybermask, thus making them better backfield support for hacking via repeaters and using the +6band to deter LT hunters.


_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Clockmakers + Daktaris:

The clockmaker is an excellent engineer, his of 15 making him exceedingly capable of carrying out his battlefield role.
He can defuse mines, d-charge "lifeblood" crates, repair EM damage, clear mine fields, repair TAGs + REMs, capture objectives and yes, he can also achieve the "sabotage" secret objective too.
I would personally treat the 3pt zondbot as a mandatory upgrade, allowing him to effectively be in two places at once. Given our wide access to cheap TAGs and REMs, you stand a very good chance of achieving "Test Run" and is probably some of the safest engineering points spent in infinity because of that. Worth having on board for sneakily getting that TR zond back up and running or keeping the geckos up.

The daktari is a little less awesome, with only a of 13 and much less battlefield niches to fill. she is however, only 14 pts and can capture objectives (in most mission types, though not all of them) as well as achieving the "experimental drug" secret objective. Again, the 3pt zondbot should be seen as a mandatory upgrade, allowing her to be in two places at once or perform risky manuevers to reach downed patients without getting herself killed.
Changes in N3 allowing command tokens to be spent to grant re-rolls to heal/repair on cubed models/remote presence REMs+TAGs mean these guys have just got a lot more useful, as a failed roll now doesn't mean death/incapacitation of their patient or damaged vehicle. The healing gun of awesome is kinda neat for the dak, but pretty situational as she's not the best of shots to begin with.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

MEDIUM INFANTRY

A solid bevvy of options here for the nomad forces, HSN3 rectified a few N3 changes that boosted the viability of and dropped the cost of specialists which put these guys in a bit of a quandary. A suite of new specialist options, recosting and new synergies has helped our MI choices compete.




Hellcats:

A relatively slow (4-2) aerial deployment option, these guys come with courage to keep them in the fight as well as a slight increase in armour over the light infantry class at ARM2. Loss of underbarrel shotguns (I didn't even notice at first ) is a bit of a bummer, but i'd be using the spitfire most of the time anyway.
The obvious comparison choice for Hellcats are the excellent Tomcats and Hellcats fill a slightly different niche (albeit with a little crossover)
The biggest difference is that the Hellcats come with AD; Superior Combat jump, allowing them to jump onto almost anywhere on the board. This is potentially awesome if you land in their backfield with a Spitfire and mop up, but brings with it some inherent risks:
You can end up with a deviation and die to an shot if you fail your roll (this has actually happened to me a few times, Hellcats are only PH12). Do bear in mind though, that should you fail, you choose your landing spot in your deployment zone, making them vastly safer than comparable faction's AD troopers.
Hellcats do not contribute an order to the pool whilst off the board, so don't take too many of them.
I advise that if you are looking to make use of their AD; bring a (newly upgraded) EVO repeater or a hacker for trajectory guidance, otherwise, plan for using the lower level of AD:2 and treat them like an up-armed Tomcat

Standout profiles:
Spitfire/pistol/knife 28pts/1.5swc
Deadly, cheap. Land this sucker in the enemy's backfield and watch him weep as you cut his order pool down to size.
He takes the position of the old go-to HMG profile, supplanting its long-range bands with something more geared to terrorising the enemies backlines.

Boarding shotgun/pistol/knife 21pts
Super-cheap, he can really cause some issues for heavy infantry and TAGs due to his DAM15 + AP shotgun slugs. The flechette ammo can be troubling for bunched up cheerleaders and shotguns got a huge boost in N3. He's a risky choice, but a deadly one if the situation is right.

Combi rifle/ADHL/pistol/knife 23/0.5swc
Now even cheaper, he packs an impressive armoury, including the oft-useful glue-gun. walk on behind a , stick it to the floor and run off laughing!

Hacker, Combi rifle/Pistol/Knife 28pts/0.5swc

Not a bad way of getting a specialist upfield at all and it comes with an assault hacking device too.

Great for dealing with , REMs and TAGs alike, it fits the budget and still brings a BS12 rifle to the party.




Avoidable profiles:
Aside from the HMG/Spitfire; the Tomcats do it better and cheaper. Changes to the range banding of the HMG now make it much less of a CQC weapon, and though it is still one of the deadliest weapons in the game, this weapon profile really suits longer firelanes. If you can utilise AD2 with this guy and terrorise a long lateral corridor from a flank, he'll be great. If not, I'd stick to the spitfire.

_________________________________________________________________________________
Grenzers:
Another new entry for N3, these guys are Tunguska's option and are priced quite high.
Unfortunately, they suffer very much from syndrome, in vanilla there just isn't that much to recommend them on over their cheaper equivalents or Riot Grrl competitors.
That said, they do come with MSV1 and a shiny new model in the Icestorm starter, so if you have particular problems with ariadna camo spam, these guys should help. They will no doubt come into their own as a link team in Tunguska however, so will be keeping my eye out for new models as the next expansion arrives!

Stand out profiles:
Forward observer, Sensor/Combi rifle+LFT/pistol/breaker pistol/knife 27pts
Sensor has gotten hugely better under the new rules and a nice combo of courage, MSV1, BS13 and 3 should see them being useful, though always at the cost of 4-2. Triangulated fire, bonuses to discover and synergy with sniffer carrying bots make this an extremely useful profile for those dealing with camo spam opponents.

Avoidable profiles:
Everything else unfortunately.
Sniper; take the intruder sniper as MSV2 is vastly better than MSV1.
Missile launcher; find a solitary point out of your list and take two alguacile missile launchers for the price.
Lieutenant; take the wildcat, he's cheaper and just as durable.
Spitfire; possibly decent, though I'd still take intruder HMG for MSV2 unless on a tight board with no long range firelanes.
Combi/LFT; take the sensor option, its a specialist and can capture objectives + secret objectives.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Intruders:
The game's premium medium infantry, this unit has ruined many an opponent's day.
Coming standard with multispectoral visor 2, camouflage and multiterrain across all profiles, they're well equipped for survivability and damage dealing.
An impressive stat-line sees them rocking a of 13, 3 and 14 and only a lack of and a slow 4-2MOV provides any real drawback to this unit entry, points reductions on many profiles going a long way to helping these guys see even more table-time. Beautiful synergies exist within the army, especially with cheap jaguar cheerleaders for providing smoke coverage. Between range modifiers, camo, suprise shot, cover and smoke modifiers, you can easily hit the -12 cap for your enemies, forcing them to dodge with no option to shoot back. be aware of other MSV2 troopers's LOF before doing it though, as they'll be gunning for an unopposed ARO on you if at all possible

Stand out profiles:
HMG/grenades/pistol/CCW 42pts/1.5swc
The big daddy, responsible probably for the majority of the nomad nation's reputation. many a game has been won on this guy's shoulders. Long range high damage firepower from camo at a high ballistic skill. Range band changes mean you'll want him near your own lines, but he's a slow mover anyway, so its not a drama.

Lieutenant; Combi rifle/Light flamethrower/grenades/pistol/CCW 35pts
A brilliant 0swc LT option, made safe by a decent rating, MSV2 to prevent smoke/camo attacks and good offensive capabilities make him a great all rounder. Beware the price of failure though, loss of LT isn't as harsh as it once was, but it will still ruin your turn.

Combi rifle/Light flamethrower/grenades/pistol/CCW 35pts
A fantastic mid-field attack piece. He'll suck orders to get into place with the 4-2MOV but once there he can really dominate.
The increased range bands for rifles and grenades under N3 will only serve to improve this guy.

MULTI sniper rifle/X-Visor/pistol/CCW 43pts/1.5swc
This guy is super deadly in theory, being able to pick off camo/mimetism/ODD/ from the longest range on the board with relative impunity. He's been the subject of a huge decrease in points and is now a pretty decent option, providing of course that you've got firelanes long enough for him to profit off.

Avoidable profiles:

Hacker; Combi rifle/Light flamethrower/pistol/CCW 43pt/ 0.5swc
Slow, no infiltration and no means that you're strictly better off with a zero/spektr as a forward operating hacker or an interventor for a backfield hacker

Combi rifle/Light flamethrower/ADHL/pistol/CCW 36pts/1swc
Again; slow, too slow to really make good use of the very short range on the ADHL and pays the full 1 for the pleasure. Hellcat ADHL does the role better thanks to his aerial deployment skill.
___________________________________________________________________________
Reverend Moiras:
These scantily clad girls were oft-mocked for being over priced and slow, being outshone as a link team option in their native Bakunin by riot grrls and moderators. Vanilla removes the link team competition issue, leaving a couple of pretty viable profiles.
All moiras are religious which is a nice but situational bonus, but really we're taking them because of their ODD (optical disruptor device). This shimmering distortion field applies a -6 modifier to hit them, increasing to -9 when in cover, combining with their ARM3 (ARM6 when in cover!) to make them a resilient gunfighting option. 14 and BS12 round out a decent statline, but they pay for close combat weapons they'll rarely use (with a miserable 16 and no MA levels) though the once disappointing MULTI rifle is now a lot better. 4-2MOV means you'll need to plan your deployment of these girls neatly to avoid wasting orders, but huge points drops have given them a decent chance of getting on-table.

Stand out profiles:
MULTI sniper rifle/pistol/shock CCW 34pts/1.5swc
Able to sit in a sniper perch and make very long range 's with DA rounds whilst taking return fire at -9 to hit (before range modifiers) makes this girl an (expensive) expert firelane controller and a huge points drop (10points!!)helps here too. Watch out for MSV2-3 gunners as they'll easily negate your advantage. Faces internal competition from the similarly priced Spektr sniper, but contributes a precious order unlike the Spektr in hidden deployment.

HMG/pistol/shock CCW 34pts/1.5
On par with the sniper, she is more suited to medium-long range engagements, relying on the ODD and Burst 4 to wreak havoc. I tend to hold her as my reserve deployment, sticking her nearest the firelane she'll contest to offset some of that 4-2MOV problem. Faces competition from Intruder HMG due to camo + MSV2 but is a lot cheaper and more durable, able to combine ODD with supp fire and cover for -12 modifiers before range!!

Avoidable profiles:
Everything else:
The other profiles really shine in a link team now, with sizeable point reductions across the board, however, the spektrs offer more flexibility in deployment for lighter armaments and riot grrls offer greater resilience (W2) and speed ( 4-4) at a similar price for multirifle profiles.
___________________________________________________________________________
Reverend Healers:
New in N3, these girls have a lovely model from the icestorm box and a glorious new shotgun sculpt, mixing a fairly strong close combat profile with reasonable resilience (mimetism + 3) with a specialist profile for completing objectives and patching up wounded troopers.
I've given them a bit of a hard time in Vanilla, namely because you could go double daktari with a zondbot for pure healing coverage. That said, she makes for a very solid combat specialist, with decent armour, decent weapon and decent BS(combined with mimetism) and WIP to win firefights and cap objectives (especially on missions where docs get a +3 bonus).

The multi rifle is my pick in vanilla. The extra ammo options give her more punch and ARO threat and the range and burst benefit over the shotgun are useful without a link team covering your advance.

___________________________________________________________________________
Reverend Custodiers:
The other "auto-include" hacker lieutenant choice, they have seen reasonable point cost reductions across the profiles. With the boost to hacking in N3, they're definitely worth seriously considering for your force.
The custodier gains an ODD, religious, ARM3 and 12 over the interventor at the cost of -1WIP, 4-2MOV and +6-9pts cost
Its up to you which way you go between the two, as they are both excellent hacker choices in their own right, the custodier obviously being the more durable in a firefight but more expensive and slower to boot. All custodiers used to carry the famed hacking device plus gaining access to a huge array of programs, including the ever-awesome "White noise" for easing opponents with MSV into an early grave, but HSN3 gave the boarding shotgun and rifle/pitcher profiles an upgraded Assault hacking device option; equipped with the ICEBREAKER software, it effectively gives you K1 hacking ammo for immobilising opponents. Nifty in mirror matches against those BTS9 interventors!!

Stand out profiles:
Combi rifle/Pitcher/pistol/knife 34pts/0.5swc
Lieutenant; Combi rifle/marker/pistol/knife 34pts/0.5swc
Solid hacker, coming equipped with her own markers allows for great use of her orders (and a great use of the lieutenant special order too). The ODD and ARM3 brings great survivability in the same way as the moira, making the custodier a viable gunfighter as well as specialist, though 4-2MOV is the price she pays for this durability. Though both hacking devices have their uses, The overall synergies in the force work best with the HD+ unless you're also bringing an interventor to cover that role.

Avoidable profiles:
Boarding shotgun/pistol/knife 31pts/0.5swc
The short effective range and loss of markers hurt more than the weapon's abilities bring.
This profile would be welcome for a 3 strong link in Bakunin, but simply doesn't work well in vanilla

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sin-Eater Observants
Oft-compared to total reaction REMs, these guys have some serious bonuses and major drawbacks compared to their competition.
Mimetism and ARM3 make them vastly more durable than their flimsily constructed robot equivalents, but neurocinetics makes them drastically less useful on the active turn than their total reaction counterparts. Most commonly seen in small combat groups (or on their own), they tend to park up high with a good view of the action and dare the opponent to come into view. MSV equipped camouflaged troopers and impersonators tend to be their downfall though, so make sure you watch out for those.
(note, for added hilarity, equip your daktari with a zondbot and park the zondbot behind the sin eater for when the inevitable happens)

Standout profiles:
HMG/pistol/CCW 33pts/2swc
The big daddy-o; Capable of dominating firelanes and ruining your opponents plans. keep him as your reserve deployment and put him wherever he will frustrate your opponent most.

MK12/pistol/CCW 30pts
The bargain basement version, usable even in escalation events. totally free in terms of and cheaper than the HMG, it suffers a reduction in range and burst, but retains DAM15. Worth considering on tight boards with no long firelanes.

Spitfire/pistol/CCW 31pts/1.5swc
Great for covering boards where there are no huge firelanes to dominate, this guy is well worth his points and is more effective at closer ranges than the HMG whilst gaining higher burst than the MK12 can provide.

Avoidable profiles:
MULTI sniper rifle/pistol/CCW 33pts/1.5swc
Provides nasty 's at very long range but requires very long firelanes to work any better than the HMG. It can be easily suppressed by higher burst weapons and retains a fair cost.

_______________________________________________________________________________
Prowlers:

Camouflage, infiltration and great weapons make these guys the premier choice for midfield fighting, 4-2MOV being literally their only drawback and a minor one at that given their infiltrator status. Well armoured for a skirmsher and the upgraded and WIP from their Zero cousins makes them a strong choice.

Standout profiles:
All of them!

Combi-rifle/Light Flamethrower/ADHL/Pistol/CCW 32pts/0swc
Infiltration + cheaper cost makes this far better than the intruder's equivalent loadout (MSV2 not withstanding)
Great for glueing stuff down and torching enemy camo markers or bunched up teams.


Specialist operative Combi-rifle/Light Flamethrower/ADHL/Pistol/CCW 33pts/0.5swc
As above but able to capture objectives, bringing a veritable toolbox of abilities to aid their role in the midfield. This new profile is basically everything that the prowler needed to gain in HSN3 and I'm damn happy that our prayers were answered :-)


Spitfire/D-charges/pistol/CCW 36/2swc
The premium choice, he costs a lot, but brings a great package of destructive power to boot. A spitfire coming from camo can really ruin anyone short of an Avatar's day and as an added bonus, he can complete the "sabotage" secondary objective and destroy "lifeblood" crates.

Boarding shotgun/D-charges/Grenades/Pistol/CCW 31pts
Free in terms of , he packs DAM14 AP slugs, grenades for speculative fire and has the d-charge bonuses as mentioned above.
Oft-overlooked, this guy has only gotten better in N3 with changes to the boarding shotgun, pistol and grenade ranges
______________________________________________________________________________________
Wildcats:
Awash with great specialist profiles, they make for a reasonable link team in Corregidor but when stripped of that bonus in Vanilla, they become much less easy to recommend. Slow with 4-2MOV and capped by medium range weaponry or very expensive long range weaponry, their bonuses are most easily summed up by their relatively low cost of entry, 6, courage, ubiquitous flamethrowers and D-charges.

Standout profiles:

Lieutenant; Combi rifle/light flamethrower/D-charges/pistol/knife 19pts
A cheap and cheerful 0swc LT option, he can achieve the aforementioned "sabotage" secret objective and torch grouped enemies. He is pretty obvious to the trained eye however, so bring a decoy.

Avoidable profiles:
Everything else:

Combi rifle/light flamethrower/D-charges/pistol/knife 19 pts; good as a decoy LT, too slow for anything else.
Engineer; vastly outperformed by the more flexible Tomcat and more reliable Clockmaker
Spitfire; Slow and lacks tricks
Deployable repeater; Slow, short ranged weaponry. Alguacile forward observer vastly outcompetes it for cheaper
HRL; expensive in terms of pts and and doesn't bring enough destructive capability to justify its cost.
Hacker; outgunned by the far superior Custodiers and Interventors
___________________________________________________________________________________




HEAVY INFANTRY
Never historically the Nomad's strong point, both of our older choices appeared to work better in their respective sectorals as link teams, but points reductions and tweaks to overall now make these well worth considering, plus the addition of the Taskmaster has revamped our selection of HI.
______________________________________

Mobile Brigada:
These guys received a needed points tweak and benefit from the boost for to 4-4, gaining a little from the tweak to MULTI rifles in the process.
As it stands, these guys are pretty generic heavy infantry but they're not expensive and have a couple of good profiles.
Courage keeps them in the fight and MULTI rifle buffs help make them a good option.

Standout profiles:
HMG/Pistol/Knife 42/2swc
relatively tough to silence, he can take a stray critical and keep delivering the firepower you bought him for. Find a nice long firelane and have him cover it as the HMG range bands are now punitive for having him advance too much.
(side note, the iguana pilot makes a great stand in for this profile)

Lieutenant; MULTI rifle/light flamethrower/pistol/knife 39pts
I can think of worse lieutenant options, he's relatively tough and 0swc, plus the new model is gorgeous. The multirifle points reduction helps here with a tasty 4pt price cut. The underslung flamethrower makes for a great when not on suppressive fire too. 2W keeps him in the fight and the updated 4-4MOV ups his utility somewhat

Hacker; Combi rifle/Pistol/knife 43pts 0.5swc

Yes there are cheaper hackers, yes there are better hackers. But a specialist that has 2 wounds, BS13, Courage and ARM4 is one that is worth having, especially when its a hacker that can be backed up by a large number of repeaters for it to hack/ through. A lot of synergy can come out of the hacking sub-game and if you're playing it, you can do a lot worse than taking this guy. Also worth noting that he can achieve up to 4 classified objectives all on his own as well, making him a good candidate for missions like highly classified.


Avoidable profiles:
MULTI rifle/light flamethrower/pistol/knife 39pts
Its pretty vanilla as goes, alright as a dummy LT but not exactly awesome. Riot grrl spitfire is cheaper but brings more punch and utility with MSV1 and an equivalent Moira with MULTI rifle is better in FTF rolls, at the loss of W2.

Boarding shotgun/pistol/knife 33pts
Useful in a "pain train" Corregidor link team and little else. the shotgun is just too short range and means a lot of orders spent to get into its useful range.

Combi rifle/pistol/knife 34
Combi rifle/tinbot/pistol/knife 37 0.5SWC
Not really into paying this many points for a combi rifle personally and the tinbot is nifty but not worth the .

________________________________________________________________________________________
Riot Grrls
Bakunin's offering of crazy cybered up females, they all get the bonuses of Multispectoral visor L1 and hyperdynamics L1 as well as a smattering of new profiles that round out their abilities as a link in bakunin. Stun grenades are swapped in for flash now, which is marginally more useful as an ARO or spec shot if you're flush with orders. A slight point reduction and a new specialist profile have really given them a lick of paint now.

Standout profiles:
Spitfire/pistol/knife 34pts/2swc
This profile brings durability, MSV1 and a solid firearm with which to get stuck in up to 24" away.
Its a great little gunfighter and comes recommended

Specialist operative combi rifle/blitzen/stun grenades/pistol/knife 30pts
A specialist with decent armour, decent MOV, decent BS, decent long range ARO, MSV1, 2 wounds and dodges on 16's? sign me up. A cracking new addition in HSN3, giving the humble riot grrl a great chance to be seen on the tables once more in Vanilla.


Avoidable profiles:
Everything else unfortunately.

Combi rifle/blitzen/stun grenades/pistol/knife 29
Take the 1pt and upgrade it to a specialist for those missions where you need them

MULTI rifle/stun grenades/pistol/knife 32pts
Boarding shotgun/stun grenades/pistol/knife 27pts
Both profiles make interesting additions to a link team, but lack the "WOW" factor in vanilla. The MULTI rifle profile makes for a reasonable gunfighter, but the trade off for the blitzen hurts, a long range really helps keep her safe outside of her 16" sweet spot.

Taskmasters

A totally new profile for HSN3; These guys really bring the heavy and have a smattering of the new rules brought in. Fireteam:DUO and Free agent make them very versatile, order efficient and durable, they can jump between order groups allowing you to easily hide AD or TO troopers in other groups without having to spend tons of command tokens to rearrange them or wait for casualties. Fireteam;DUO deserves a special mention as the new EVO hacking rules allow this to be utilised within Vanilla forces as well, giving you a small and order efficient pairing to go push forards with. They are also well defended with ARM5, BTS6, CC19 and MA L1 to cover them off against most mid-level opponents.

Standout profiles:

HMG, Heavy pistol, DA CCW 49pts/2 SWC
Packs a lot of punch on this platform; resilience and BS13 make for an excellent hunter-killer, the Heavy pistol and Martial arts covering off the HMG's poor close range band. Supression fire on one of these guys over an objectve is going to bleed the enemy several orders to shift, making it a great territory holding piece.

Boarding shotgun, Pulzar, Crazy Koalas, DA CCW 43pts
A great 2nd member of a DUO team, this guy covers off all the poor range areas of the HMG and synergises beautifully whilst bringing some board control with the koalas.

Heavy rocket launcher, light shotgun, crazy koalas, 47pts/2SWC
Also a great 2nd member of a DUO team, this guy brings deadly long range FIRE templates/hit mode plus a shotgun for covering off close range bands. SWC is going to get tight with both of the big guns in a DUO team and an EVO hacker though, so they'll def be the focus of your force.

Red Fury, Pulzar, Crazy Koalas, Tinbot A, DA CCW 53pts/1SWC
The red fury covers a lovely mid range band with a healthy B4, though DAM13 relegates it to hunting lighter targets like light infantry where its shock ammo will be most useful. The tinbot and any fairy dust running will make hacking these guys a seriosuly difficult affair for most adversaries. He also makes for a cracking liuetenant as well, well armoured, well defended, resilient and well armed.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Special Characters:
We have a fairly decent spread of characters to choose from in Nomads, though few of them are cheap.

Zoe + Pi-Well:
A premium rate hacker + engineer, she provides all the benefits of a clockmaker, plus she gets the benefit of a hacking device with an extra program thrown in too. A lack of is the major issue stopping her from being your go-to hacker, but with 15 she's more than capable of burning through orders to augment and repair your drone fleet.
She comes with her own excellent version of a Stempler Zond (Pi-well) who is not only a forward observer+repeater+sensor, but also brings an ODD to the party too, protecting himself with -6 to hit which is great for getting upfield to cap objectives and gunfighting.
All these amazing benefits come with a price tag though of course, and 47 pts is the cost of entry after a decent N3 discount.

Carlota Kowalski:
Carlota has a sergeant rank within the Tomcats and brings with her all the benefits of being an elite Tomcat Engineer whilst also packing the ever useful ADHL + D-charge combination. for a 4pt upgrade, she can also bring along her own Zondcat "Moriarty" but he doesn't bring too much to the party so don't feel compelled to do so.
30pts is the entrance price for her and she is a more than capable AD:2 engineer with 14 and BS13 for firefights, plus being a specialist for ITS missions along with all the benefits of her engineer status; like mine clearance, EM repair and such.

Cassandra Kusanagi:
Recipient of a nice lick of paint with the new book, Kusanagi is now a specialist under any of her profile choices, which between her NWI, ODD, ARM3 and choice of either spitfire or MULTI rifle/LFT +E/M grenades makes her a vastly more attractive option for inclusion into a vanilla force. Well armed specialist lieutenants are as rare as rocking horse shit in infinity and Kusanagi is rocking horse shit polished to a fine buff. Probably gets HSN3's "most improved profile" nomination!

Bran Do Castro:
Aside from having an awesome model, this one guy probably represents the most fun I've had playing wargames condensed into one model. He's just sooo agile, possessing both the excellent climbing plus + super jump special skills via his "meta-agility" rule on top of his incredibly useful superior infiltration skill.
He can literally scale buildings, vault gaps and backflip into combat, smacking down his foes with a DA CCW and Martial arts L3, though you're often better using his mobility to utilise his combi rifle to destroy cheerleaders from angles where they cannot retaliate. The e/mitter is situational, but a nice-to-have.
At 35 points, he's the fastest, most deadly, camo trooper we have access to, but he can be a real order hog and as such, doesn't play nice with TAGs, Uberfall and other such rambo units.
He's benefited a lot from the massive improvements to close combat in N3 and gains stealth from his MA now, letting him sneak up on baddies without them turning to face. He makes an excellent LT hunter and should be strongly considered for missions like decapitation. HSN3 also gave him new profiles. The original Combi rifle/E-mitter profile is now a specialist operative, lending him huge utility and justifiying the 37pt investment now he can cap objectives as well as break skulls. He also gained a cheap boarding shotgun profile, allowing for some seriously good gunfighting options given his extreme mobility, camo and surprise shot.

Vortex: Lupe Balboa
Lupe is the named spec-ops character for the Nomad Nation, bringing a new level of awesome to the alguacile link team in a Corregidor force.
She still brings a lot of benefits to a vanilla faction too though; with a moderate BS12, ARM2,BTS3, mimetism and WIP13 she's reasonably survivable for 4-4 infantry but her toolkit and status as a "specialist troop" is what makes her special.
She can capture objectives and she brings a veritable arsenal along with her curvy figure and flowing blonde hair.
The panzerfaust makes for deadly long range 's and her nanopulser is deadly at short range on clumped up models like preta links.
The smoke grenades strapped to her belt are the best bit though, allowing her to cover an objective in smoke and move up to grab it whilst safe from enemy fire. The exploit of smoke + MSV2 has been tamed a little, but its still a nifty tactic to force people to dodge prone or otherwise get out of the way.
for a modest 23pt investment, you get a great package in return, though if you're just purely after smoke, take the new corregidor Jaguar option as it is cheaper.

_____________________________________________________________

Skirmishers:
The nomad nation is home to a few skirmishers and both see points drops and other boosts, making them an even stronger choice than they wee previously!

Zeroes:
These guys are the objective capturing workhorse of the nomad nation, seeing battle in pretty much all of my games.
I love these guys and heartily recommend them despite their on-paper "averageness"; their low price, camouflage and infiltration more than offsets for that.

Stand out profiles:
Forward Observer; combi rifle/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 19 pts
Pure gold! mines combined with an infiltrating specialist profile means you can deploy practically on top of an objective and mine it then capture it. 2 pts cheaper!
Combat camo's removal will make them less of a miss-and-die unit, under "suprise attack" rules now, i suspect many opponents will elect to dodge rather than shoot you back if they survive.
Forward observer is a useful skill to have for completing "telemetry" secret objective, and such a cheap infiltrating camo specialist is absolute gold in ITS scenarios.

Minelayer; combi rifle/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 19pts/0.5swc
For those games where you don't need zeroes as objective takers, this profile allows him to deploy a mine within his zone of control when he deploys. Great for shutting down lanes of advance and slowing your enemy down, especially if you don't get turn 1

Hacker; combi rifle/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 24pts/0.5swc
Although a really sub-par offensive hacker on its own, this profile has had a massive decrease in cost and comes armed with an Assault hacking device. If you're not into taking dedicated hackers to skulk in your backfield and want REMs, this guy is well worth considering given his specialist status, camo and infiltration means he's in a great position to move forwards and cap objectives for you. He doesn't get the support-ware programs and lacks , but this is tempered by his bargain basement pricing.

Avoidable profiles:
Combi rifle/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 18pts
Boarding shotgun/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 17pts
Both of these are decent in and of their own right (the +6 to shotguns in 8" is tasty!!), but for such a small price upgrade, the minelayer and forward observer profiles offer so much more utility to ITS players.

MULTI sniper rifle/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 26pts/1.5swc
Its not a terrible choice per-se, making a fairly reasonable budget sniper (even moreso now its had a big price cut) but its distinctly average hampers its utility. Infiltration tends not to synergise too well with long range weaponry either, so stick him somewhere in your DZ with a decent view of the battlefield. I find this guy tends to get outcompeted by the minelayer/FO profiles due to the AVA2 limitation. Those with a bigger budget would be better served by a moira sniper, intruder sniper or spektr sniper.

Combi rifle/deployable repeater x3/emauler x3/pistol/knife 19pts
He's cheaper, costs no and emaulers have taken a bit of a boost in N3. The deployable repeaters are a great addition to any nomad hacking force. The problem with this guy is that he is as expensive as the FO profile, loses his mines and isn't a specialist. Also for a small upgrade cost, you can get the hacker, who is a specialist and also has mines and brings utility to your hacking game without having to necessarily pay out for another hacker.

Spektrs:
The Zero's big brother! Now cheaper too!
These guys have the better statline, featuring 1 higher , and and upgrade their camouflage system to thermoptic camouflage. This allows the unique ability in nomads for 'hidden deployment'; at the cost of their order whilst hidden, they can be deployed in a location by writing down their position only, there is no marker or miniature to represent it. you reveal it when you wish to cause havoc. these guys are great, but obviously pay a premium over their Zero cousins for their abilities.
It should also be mentioned that they lost their underslung shotguns which goes some way to explaining the price reductions.

Standout profiles:
Forward observer; combi rifle/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 32pts
An upgraded version of the zero workhorse, he is the premium choice of the two in points cost. can really catch an opponent out if you get the right angle on them though and can often be worth the investment. The higher also helps with objectives. He makes a really good forward operator, as embedded in cover on suppressive fire, enemies are at -9 to hit him prior to range modifiers.

MULTI sniper rifle/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 39pts/1.5swc
A deadly sniper, he's caught many an opponent out. As the opponent moves his troops up, he can often leave them in a position of being "out of cover" from certain angles and this is the Spektr snipers favoured prey. His camo means your opponent never knows if he is straying into his and the DA ammo is deadly. He also takes any return fire at -9 when in cover so can be used relatively aggressively against those unequipped with MSV2-3. He also retains mines so brings some defense against those who would flush him out of a snipers nest at close range. In addition to all these awesome points, he's now below the 40pt mark, meaning he's a lot easier to fit into a list.

Hacker; combi rifle/assault hacking device/pistol/knife 36pts/0.5swc
He's forgotten his mines, but managed to pick up an assault hacking device and grab a hefty discount on his old profile. He makes for a great forward operator and a solid and BTS3 means he can get up and make good use of his hacking device.

Avoidable profiles:
combi rifle/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 31pts
As an ITS player, I'd always pay the upgrade to have him as a specialist. nothing "wrong" with this guy though.

combi rifle/e-mauler x3/deployable repeater x3/pistol/knife 32pts
same as the zero really, slightly more expensive than the FO but not a specialist. Mines are still better than emaulers.

Moran, Maasai Hunter:
Hated by spell-checkers everywhere, this guy is an excellent bit of area denial, given that all profiles come as standard with 2 crazy koalas and a repeater in his backpack. His notable difference over his competition is his mimetism status rather than camo/ camo.
This makes his application slightly different, putting him more in line with a minelayer. Troops do not want to walk into koalas and /TAGs/REMs will try not to blunder into his repeater range lest they receive a hacking from your interventor in the backfield. Deploy him with his infiltration skill somewhere in the midfield and watch as your opponent bleeds orders on dealing with him or walking the long way round. He always was a golden choice in N2 and now takes a slight reduction in cost to further sweeten the deal.

Standout profiles:
Forward observer; combi rifle/pistol/knife 22pts/0.5swc
The default setting for an ITS player. he's an infiltrating specialist that can cause mayhem with his area denial tools. 2 pts cheaper to boot!

Avoidable profiles:
combi rifle/pistol/knife 21pts/0.5swc
boarding shotgun/pistol/knife 20pts/0.5swc
Nothing wrong with either of these guys if you're not playing an objectives based game, but if you are, try to find the points for the FO upgrade.

Corregidor Bandits:
A new entrant for N3, these guys are a nice addition for a Corregidor force, finally giving them a forward operating specialist (with camo). starting out with MA L2, scavenger, BS12, PH13 and CC21 (as well as sporting a DA CCW), these guys are clearly meant to be getting stuck in and shanking your enemies, but at BS12 with a mix of shotguns, rifles and ADHL's, they're no slouches in a gunfight either with their camo for surprise attacks.

I see these as a killier, more aggressive version of a zero where you'd rather have the aggression over budget objective takers.

Standout profiles:
Forward observer, Shotgun/ADHL/Pistol/DA CCW 23points.
A pretty cheap upgrade from a zero FO buys you a hefty increase in hitting power, at the cost of a pip of and mines. He therefore makes a better attacker than a zero but its not a no-brainer of a choice in ITS games.

Hacker, Shotgun/Assault hacking device/ADHL/Pistol/DA CCW 28points 0.5SWC
Again, a bit of an upgrade cost to pay from a zero equivalent profile, but gains BTS3 and a much stronger attacking profile at the cost of a pip of

Combi rifle/Dep repeaters/Antipersonnel Mines/Pistol/DA CCW 28 points
A good quality skirmisher, he can bully light opponents, choke off routes of advance with mines and pick up gear off dead enemies. Nothing says "" quite like picking up a missile launcher off a dead morat vanguard and using it to blow up the raicho with a surprise attack from camo. Oh, and he can lay a hacking web of repeaters down for your interventors too!

Avoidable Profiles:
None of the shotgun profiles grab me to be honest. None of them are "bad" per se, but from an ITS perspective, I find it hard to overlook the suppressive fire and mines of the basic loadout or the specialist profiles. That said, these guys make for good LT hunters, so for decapitation, you could easily make a good argument for taking max of these and going hunting.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Warbands:
A few very interesting choices here for the nomads and both bring access to smoke at the cost of irregular/impetuous.
These sometimes used to be lamented for being close combat oriented in a shooting oriented game, but I think they still have something to offer in N3, even with the changes to impetuous:

Der Morlock Gruppen:
Irregular, extremely impetuous and possessing 1 random boon per model, these guys are very hard to control. Metachemistry is the source of the random boon and confers an ability off a D20 chart to them at the beginning of the game. They are situational in many cases, though the extra movement and extra boons can be quite helpful!! Martial arts L2 as standard is nice, becoming much more useful under expanded rules in N3. All profiles come standard with smoke grenades.
The core of their operation is really to throw down a smokescreen to let you advance without being shot to ribbons and the cheaper profiles also come with chain rifles for area defense/taking out clustered models/dealing with markers + ODD. Changes to impetuous and chain rifles mean they're not as useful as before, but they are now a touch cheaper and boast a hefty CC22 with MA L2 if they do make it into combat, though now they can't take cover bonuses, they'll have a much harder time of making it there.

Standout profiles:
Chain rifle/pistol/EM CCW 6pts
Cheap and good for laying down smoke, the chain rifle is a nice weapon to have access to, especially on tight + cramped CQC game boards, but extreme impetuousness is likely to either bleed you orders or get you killed early.

Chain rifle/assault pistol/AP CCW 8pts
For a small upgrade you get access to the assault pistol, gaining you a great CQC weapon that grants you the safety of a B4 ftf roll rather than the more easily dodged chain rifle template. The AP CCW rarely gets dusted off, but comes in situationally handy against TAGs and that overstretch themselves

Avoidable profiles:
All the rest!
Nothing inherently wrong with these guys, they just come at the cost of more than doubling the base profile.
Changes to impetuous hurt these guys and their role as an in-your-face gunfighter is made harder because of it. I'd take the new corregidor guys instead.

Bakunin's Uberfallkommando:
Ok, so these guys are crazy deadly in close combat, cheap but cause a real headache for new players to get their heads around their fiddly G:synch rules.
The unit essentially works around the chimera, a cybernetically enhanced close combat monster, toting natural born warrior, ikohl 1, CC21 and a viral CCW. Each one of her that you buy can take up to three pupniks, who mirror the orders that she performs. This means that if she dodges; they all dodge and if she shoots; only she shoots because she's the only one with a gun. This would leave the pupniks vulnerable to 's so make sure you've got your head around the rules before they hit the table.
Other notable qualities of this interesting unit are climbing plus, zero-v smoke grenades, hyperdynamics L3 (pupniks) and total immunity.
The essence of the unit's playstyle is to waltz up the board under 6-4MOV, popping zero-V grenades to prevent their untimely death until they can rip something to shreds in close combat. The fact they are irregular and extremely impetuous only serves to heighten that modus operandi and you will find that they can be a bit of an order hog, so plan their assaults well and don't run out of orders prematurely.

Corregidor Jaguars:
A new entrant in N3, I think these guys offer a lot to corregidor sectoral armies but not so much under Vanilla. Their weapon load-out is very short range, but they lack infiltration and are dependent on smoke to advance. Without the "free" impetuous order of their morlock cousins, these guys work better in your own midfield or DZ, providing a solid counter threat to advancing troopers with their high , MA l2 and short ranged guns.
At 13 points and 0.5 for the most expensive option, any of these profiles are worth a pop for a cheerleader profile.

My pick would be the 10pt chain rifle/smoke grenade option. Keep it near your intruder or objectives and blanket it with smoke grenades.




___________________________________________________________________________

Tech stuff
The nomad nation has access to some seriously good REMs and TAGs, usually at a decent cost.
Given that most are equipped as repeaters too, i'd go as far as saying that they represent one of the nomad's greater strengths.

REMs:

Tsyklon
A solid combat drone; BS12, ARM3 and BTS6 combine with a 6-4MOV, climbing plus and a 360 visor to make for an especially capable gun-platform. able to attack from odd angles and assist in the nomad hacking shenanigans.

Supportware and a healthy points reduction makes these guys a very solid option now.

Spitfire/marker/Epulse 33/1swc
Fast, with a high burst weapon, this guy can menace the midfield and lay down a hacker-net with its marker system.
it represents great value and is one of my favourite models (as you can no doubt tell ). It became even better with N3's hacking boosts. Your interventor can now give this guy Marksman L2, and he can do suppressive fire with a 360 visor with shock ammo that ignores cover. Come at me bro!! It also makes for a superb MSV2 sniper hunter, given that its built in repeater allows you to create "white noise" zones right on top of it. Pop that on and then gun that Djanbazan down!

Feuerbach/Epulse 31/1swc
Still as fast and even more deadly, this profile looses the safety of the high burst weapon and the utility of the marker to gain the raw power of the feuerbach. It requires a lot more finesse to use well, swingy dice can see this guy go down so make sure to use its high speed and climbing plus to pick unfair fights that favour its AP+DA ammo. The supportware mentioned above can really help this profile out too, making the most of the firepower in by boosting to B2 and helping with low burst by removing the cover modifiers.
(side note; this ammo type is damn useful in "lifeblood")
______________________________________________________________________
Lunukhod Sputnik
This little sucker is generally used as a great piece of area denial and sees a great deal of regular usage.
It retains much of the Tsyklon's great statline but swaps the 360 visor for the incredibly useful "minesweeper" skill.
The minesweeper isn't just a really bad way to get drunk, but also an excellent way of turning the opponent's crazy koalas and mines against him. Watching your opponents face as you ruin his carefully laid minefield into his worst nightmare is hilarious and comes highly recommended. It takes a drop in price and loses the boarding shotguns in favour of Heavy shotguns in N3. Supportware goes a long way to boost this profile, both Marksman and B2 's make this a lot stronger in attack and defence, the bonus being that it brings its own repeater so can benefit very easily from your interventor's HD+.

Heavy shotgun/heavy flamethrower/crazy koalas(2) 26pts
This profile is all about dominating the midfield. with the speed and mobility you need, you can remove your opponents speed bumps, turn them into your speedbumps and then add your own with your crazy koalas. should he slip through, you can then immolate him with a heavy flamethrower or punch holes in it with DAM15 slugs. 0 just sweetens the deal, great model.

Heavy shotgun/Akrylat kanone/d-charges 23pts
More of a niche option to be honest, the d-charges are a nice touch for helping achieve secondary objectives and the speed of the allows for great positioning to make use of the long range glue gun. I prefer option 1, but option 2 allows for the hilarity of the old glue-gun/d-charge/boom/laugh combination
__________________________________________________________________________
Stempler/Meteor Zond:
Both of these excellent drones combine 6-4MOV, sensor, forward observer, sat-lock and repeater with a basic combat loadout to become a very fast and useful specialist drone. As forward observers, not only can they capture objectives, but they can also mark targets utilising their sensor ability for guided missile/speculative fire usage and the secret objective "telemetry."
Sensor is a great little utility for those facing camo heavy opponents and received a massive boost in N3; its a fact that your intruders can't be everywhere and these sensor bots can even reveal hidden units (great for flushing out camo models from sniper nests).
They differ in their mobility, the meteor zond paying a slight premium for is aerial deployment ability (this is my pick) whereas the stempler is slightly cheaper but has to rely on climbing plus instead.
Neither carries any armour and only totes a combi rifle, so keep them out of the thick of the fighting and utilise their high mobility to strike from behind to minimise reprisals if you must commit them to combat.

A tidy points reductions means these guys will see a lot of table time in N3

Stempler Combi rifle/Sniffer/Epulse 17pts (climbing plus)
Meteor Combi rifle/Epulse 21pts/1swc (AD:3)
__________________________________________________________________________

Zonds:

Reaktion Zond
The nomad's total reaction drone. Stick in view of an objective or contested zone and wait for people to deal with it or die.
Climbing plus and 6-4MOV assures great mobility. Total reaction, 360 visor and a heavy machine gun mean that its only real vulnerabilities come from camo/impersonators and speculative fire, though changes to HMG mean that it can be outgunned in its close range band. It's lost its mines and EM LGL profile in the transition to N3 but has gained from the addition of supportware, in particular, being made a Marksman L2 turns this guy into a partcularly deadly defensive piece. It needs a hacker nearby or a repeater nearby to benefit from it, but the investment is well worthwhile.




Vertigo Zond
This guy used to be brutal, but you had to build around him and his returns diminish greatly once the enemy turned up with even the cheapest, crappest hacker. This old tactic was great for stomping n00bs and it has rightly seen a massive nerf, taking far more orders than previous editions to utilise and granting vastly more defensive rolls in the process
I'd honestly skip over this now; you need to spend orders to mark targets (which can reset if done by repeater + spotlight), they can u-turn against the guided shot and then dodge against the shot once the template gets placed.

Transductor Zond
Simply put, a cheap regular order at 8 pts.
It sees a bit of a buff for N3, being fitted with a flash pulse and a sniffer to enhance its utility and to gain a viable . It's still cheap, still regular and still fast. can't moan!!

Salyut Zond
I'm not sold on the N3 changes for EVO and i suspect further rules may come out to supersede the PDF we've been given. They're still a nice pick, but far from mandatory. Baggage is a useful feature for reloading your trooper's disposable weapons (mines, panzerfausts etc) and is a near necessity for some Paradiso missions. The standard feature of being a repeater also doesn't need bigging up for its usefulness to a hacking centric army.
4-4MOV and a lack of climbing plus means this is more a back-field support bot, but ARM2 separates it from the flimsy ARM0 class and the baggage rule is handy for zone-scoring missions.

Stand out profiles:

Minesweeper/Epulse 8 pts
A super cheap and useful baggage drone, this guy can clear minefields/koalas and turn them against the enemy, bringing his baggage benefits for certain ITS missions for the bargain price of 8pts. It's unarmed, but hey, its cheap.

Total reaction; combi rifle/Epulse 21 points
This guy is a great deployment zone defender, able to hold off AD troopers and other sneaky types from raiding your backfield uncontested.
ARM2 and cover means it's more survivable than the premium reaktion zond but obviously packs less of a punch, which is helpfully represented in the pricing. It does shine for zone scoring missions however, able to sit in cover and hold an area with a total cost of 46pts (more than a couple of skirmishers for most armies) and helpfully gun AD fools down with full burst in and marksmanship from supportware.




Avoidable profiles:




EVO repeater/Epulse 13pts/0.5wc
I feel these guys have got a bit of a short-change from the new rules. They're a useful pick now, but are far from necessary as they were for hacking lists in N2. If you're taking multiple hellcats/meteors and dont want to burn orders on hackers, this becomes a stand-out option.

____________________________________________________________
TAGs

Nomad TAGs tend to be cheaper than their other human compatriots but offer greater flexibility in list building because of it.
They tend to be armoured and armed more lightly, but generally serve the purpose of bullet hose and bullet magnet just as well, and at a bargain basement level. Don't expect miracles however, a prepared opponent won't struggle too much to deal with them, given their greater vulnerability up-close thanks to the HMG changes and vast increase in utility of hacking.




Lizard:
Sporting ARM8, 6 and STR3, its a pretty generic and durable .

MULTI HMG/HGL 87pts/2.5swc
Lacking any close quarters weaponry, this guy is an artillery piece and needs to be treated that way.
N3's changes to the HMG only serve to re-enforce this role so make sure he's screened with infantry to deal with CQC threats. He can spec fire unguided within 32" and still hit on 8's and this can really punish those closely packed cheerleaders and models lying prone on rooftops. Boosts to our plentiful FO's (and ubiquitous hackers with spotlight) will help with reducing the -ve mods but dodge is now allowed so the effectiveness of this strategy is somewhat reduced. He has seen a 9pt point reduction to compensate however. Great for Decapitation, shelling those LTs stupid enough to lay prone on rooftops without drawing any retaliation.

MULTI HMG/Heavy Flamethrower 87pts/2swc
This trades off the artillery in favour of some CQC capabilities. Its pretty vanilla as TAGs go and isn't a standout option.

Iguana:
A lighter and cheaper version of the Lizard, trading down in its statline and weaponry to reduce the cost.
It gains a repeater and an ejecting with HMG however, so presents a good cheap choice of at bargain basement price and the built-in repeater allows your hackers to defend him from digital assault as well as launch their own attacks through him. Works well as an anti-MSV2 sniper piece as well, utilising "white noise" and his repeater to pick out djanbazan and agema stupid enough to stick their heads out for AROs.

HMG/Heavy flamethrower 71pts/2swc

Gecko:
Although classified as TAGs, both these profiles are really more like up-armoured heavy infantry and used to be the main source of competition for the current Mobile Brigada profiles. Coming with STR3, solid primary weapons, interesting secondary weapons and a light point-defence weapon, they bring a whole bunch of useful tools to the fight and are more than affordable too.

2 combi rifles/panzerfaust/chain-colt 54pts/1swc
Great for bullying lighter threats in the midfield and threatening dangerous AP+EXP 's at range.
Easily outranged by HMG/snipers though so make sure to find total cover before the reactive turn begins

MK12/blitzen/chain colt 55/1swc
Gains range and damage at the cost of 1Burst and a less useful secondary weapon. My go-to profile!

Szalamandra:
The premium battle of the nomad nation, hampered only by well supported hackers and its average 13 for dealing with camo markers (oh and its model too, yeah, that hasn't aged well!)
ARM8, BTS9, STR3 makes it durable and its weaponry hits hard at range.

HRMC/heavy flamethrower 90pts/2swc
The Hyper Rapid Magnetic Cannon is quite the beast. B5 DAM15 AP rounds are a threat to pretty much every model in the game and as soon as this guy gets a resculpt, i'll be getting one.
It does lack the tricks of the Iguana and it lacks the variable weaponry of the Geckos, but it can sure as hell dominate a firelane. That is also its weak point however, heavy weapons are now not "good everywhere, all the time" like they where in N2. If you're playing on a close and tight board, this guy will struggle to get in his sweet spot and is likely to be taken out by a close combat specialist.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mercs:

Authorised Bounty Hunters

12 and irregular combines to make these cheap and capable weapons platforms. Booty L2 is fickle, but cant gift great utility kit for these guys as well.

Standout profiles:

• Sniper rifle/2 breaker pistols/knife 19pts/0.5swc
  
  
• Spitfire/pistol/knife 20pts/1swc
  

These guys benefit heavily from the discount you get for being irregular and represent light special weapons on a capable platform. Booty L2 gives a bevvy of options that increase their utility, solid mid range weapons for the sniper like a breaker rifle or ODD to make her a budget Moira, or smoke grenades for the spitfire to help cross firelanes. Unfortunately you can't guarantee what you'll get but nearly all the options are good.

I like the sniper the most, able to sit up high and provide cheap 's from a second group or remain prone in reactive and be utilised as an active turn gunner. The pair of breaker pistols means he's got good options should he need to advance to the midfield or deal with flankers too.

Avoidable profiles:

• ombi rifle/pistol/knife 14pts
  
  
• Boarding shotgun/pistol/knife 13pts
  

You're really relying on a good booty roll with these two to make them useful and you might as well just pay the price and get a known quantity instead, the bandit being the best choice.




Miranda Ashcroft

A named bounty hunter, she's available to all factions though the model is as rare as rocking horse shit nowadays. Irregular as the standard hunters are, she brings a bit more power with a monofil and i-kohl but is reliant on her ODD to get her up the board unscathed to utilise it. At 19pts for the combi rifle version, she's not bad. Able to get up the board reasonably swiftly, she can then sit in cover on suppressive fire and hold a zone whilst giving -12BS mods to troopers trying to clear her out and is more than capable of dealing with light TAGs and line troopers in where her light skills, stealth and i-kohl combine to make her a passable threat. Just stay away from dedicated units and chain rifle warbands!

The boarding shotgun version doesn't come recommended as she loses suppression fire which is her greatest asset in combination with the ODD.

Le Muet

This guy is pretty much a bastard love child of a Moira sniper and a Riot Grrl, gaining the best bits of both models and chucking mines in on top for the icing on the cake on one of the profiles. 2 effective wounds and MSV1 comes from the Riot Grrl side of the family and the ODD and multi sniper come from the Moira side of the family. Cheap, he is not, however.

42 points is the asking price for the minelayer profile, forward deployment giving him access to those buildings the tournament organiser didn't want you to deploy in and being able to cover the doorway or rooftop off to those pesky flanking units that try to root him out or to help protect a skulking linetrooper LT. My personal pick though would be the MSV1, giving him the ability to hunt camo and mimetism units and reduce mods which is usually much more relevant in a sniping/ role.

The biggest problem in recommending Le Muet as a profile is the internal competition he faces from the Intruder sniper, Spektr sniper and Moira sniper. Neither are as durable without the symbiont armour, but they're all significantly cheaper and feature either greater offensive power (Spektr, and surprise shot in active turn, plus has mines), have better gear (Intruder has MSV2, opening up smoke tricks and preventing them being used by enemy) or can be done nearly as well on a budget (moira sniper is 90% functionally as powerful in active turn and the difference easily pays for a moderator paramedic which is a specialist and contributes an extra regular order).

If you've got the ltd ed model, you can certainly pick worse profiles to match it up with, but if you're watching every single point you're spending, i'd rather take the moira and the paramedic myself for most ITS games

 

this is due for an update over xmas to bring it up to date