Meh. The Wallabies have been down for a while, but the combo of quicks, spinners, and batsmen available there... oh, that’s nasty.
I played a couple of games last week with sample lists, cobbled together from information we know. The experience was immensely fun. It's also surprisingly challenging, just because there's so much good stuff in VIRD. The internal balance seems really strong, and there's a lot of competition between strong profiles.
The sensor/jammer seems like it is going to be my go-to LT. depending on what synergy he has with Patsy is yet to be revealed, but spending a LT. order on sensor or re-camo is never a bad thing. KHD also seems like an obvious choice. These guys synergize with Fugazi/our remotes in general so well it's crazy. Personally I think Zulus will be my utility pieces, I'll always start with 2 and possibly take the third.
Yeah right now I'm leaning towards 1x Sensor/Jammer (LT potentially, depending on final sectorial options) and KHD (assuming there's no competition for the KHD choice on other units.) That being said, I did look at the possibility of a totally Unhackable VIRD list and it's pretty great. Fugazi are amazing... They've been in every PanO list I've made in the last 4 years... But AVA Total Fusiliers that can be linked means we don't need our REM cheerleaders as much as other Sectorials do. And not relying on a Guard-style heavy infantry unit, or Auxbots, or any other Hackable combat mainstays means VIRD may not need Hacking at all.
This may be true, but at an in-depth look, our hacking is pretty decent. from what we know right now, our repeater game is pretty good, with Fugazi and Bulleteers being very solid mobile repeaters. we also have Crocmen FOs which come with deployables. this is also a really good option. it can be super surprising for an opponent who thought his HI or hacker was safe because there were no hackers/repeaters close and one just pops out right next to them. Our hackers aren't the best on the market, but have some tricks that make them decent. Kamau has WIP 13 BTS 6 and possibly SSL2, which is all around pretty decent for a regular hacking device. Fusil is cheap but pretty vulnerable. our KHD comes with a marker state, which is what we love about the hexa with none of the bloat. WIP 13 is pretty standard for it. as far as AHDs go, they're PanO standard, which for everyone else isn't great. WIP 12 on the ORC (can take a tinbot in a link), 12 on the echo bravo, and 13 on the crocman. I'm much more inclined to take the repeaters on the crocman and hack that way instead of directly with the AHD, to be honest.
Let’s talk HRL Kamau. Wonderful profile, SMG for short range coverage and lots of fiery template death. Elephant in the room: 1.5 SWC in a sectorial we already know to be super starved. Worse than the HMG in the active, worse than the MSR in the reactive. As with most HRL troopers my instinct is to link and ARO, then if he survives he can be a competent active turn pointman. But with how cheap the HMG Kamau is and how amazing the MSR is as ARO, why wouldn’t I just bring both of those? Immediate answer is “points” but both options are head and shoulders above his capabilities. Am I right in thinking that he’s going to be left in the case most of the time? It’s a shame because I adore the model.
EB hacker has the usual advantage of being untouchable until on table. Between him and Croc FO we're able to pit together quite surprising hacking setups. AHD doesn't need to be on table on turn one, we can afford to let enemy spread, possibly overextend, then mount an counterattack. Kamau HRL is the Jack-of-all-trades. HMG is better on the offense, Feuerbach ORC - I'm assuming proper linkability here - better in ARO. HRL is a useful compromise if we don't know what we will need, though I might be inclined to go for the Feuerbach anyway.
I really like the KHD profile of the Zulu. Besides the obvious pros of having a KHD he has a breaker combi as a marker. There is nearly nothing in the game you can't reliably damage with breaker ammo. Even more so with surprise shot out of camo.
Compared with a Wildcat its just a total kick in the balls cheap! Like WTF: better move, same BS, plus Mimetism, more link options, what are they smoking!?
I really like the HRL profile, sadly I feel as though it will fall to the wayside for me because it's inferior to the MSR due to MSV2. This is especially the case because of how limited MSV is in Varuna.
not only that, we have a severe lack of direct template, just the Pacemaker and the Montesa (in theory also the Squalo, but he will not go about doing intuitive on camo markers). One fun thing, with the Crocman Mines and the Zulu Jammer we can not only force situations of "choose if you want to eat the mine or the jammer, but one of them will be uncontested", but if it was a camo it cant even go back to marker state without moving because of the sensor.
The Kamau has 4-4 and Mimetism, the Wildcat has full Multi-terrain, V: Courage, Forward Deployment L1 and +1 ARM. Kamau are a little bit better, on the other hand, they cost a little bit more points ;)
@MikeTheScrivener It's nice that VIRD may be able to opt in or opt out of the hacking game. That's a nice way to keep opponents guessing about what they'll actually expect from your Camo tokens and Hidden Deployment.
Hopefully with IA coming out, MO getting revamped, and limited insertion becoming more prevalent in general, we'll see a re-vitalization of heavy infantry. I hope hacking becomes more prevalent in games. I know for me, I rarely take them anymore because my usual opponent plays Haqq (and always takes Leyla Sharif) and CA (and always takes Bit+Kiss). It would be nice to actually compete for once
Oh, just that same mixture of a couple of strong core fireteams and a couple of multirole skirmishers (zulu, croc), cheap irregulars, a multiwound fast-moving murder missile, tactically flexible AD pieces... basically just that same overall vibe of having a bit of everything.
As wonderful and powerful as the Cutter is, I'm more excited about using my favorite TAG aesthetically, the Squalo. A tag protected by jammers and cheap Helots sounds like a lot of fun.
I think the stock on the Squalo is going to go up quite a lot. Zapper is great, and if they have Duo, that could potentially be great with any Wildcard units that Varuna gets. It won't just be for a second Squalo.
