In a full core FT? Marut, Aquila, Djanbazan HMG in a full Core, Veteran Kazak AP HMG in full Core, Rudra in full Yadu Core with a Apsara on it, Achilles (providing he reaches his own positive range), a Triad with a Makaul (you can't ARO against Eclipse and when you're in CC, you're fucked), Raoul Spector if he manages to land nearby without diying because then he can toss Drop Bears, Überfall Kommando... There is a lot of options but they are rare in PanO, except maybe using the nimbus grenade then send a Aquila to solve the problem or use a HI with HMG in a full core FT. The Black Friar could be one if he manages to pass through the midfield to toss some Drop Bears.
Define "reliably". From what I see brute force approach should work reasonably well. Linked Bagh-Mari HMG would be my weapon of choice. edit: Ayadan's suggestions are fitting, too.
Lots of things through Nimbus Grenades. The - 1 B is a massive reduction of capability for the ARO. Kriza Borac does pretty well, can't ignore that Full Auto L2 penalty which means 5 dice on 10s vs 2 dice on 13s, decent odds. Spec fire obviously, especially from a high PH trooper. And finally engaging at the +0 range for the MSR is a big deal too. Hollow Man Spitfire in a link within 16" is getting B5 on 13s vs B2 on 13s. Or just shooting with a link. Grenzer Spitfire core, B5 on 16s vs B2 on 13s. Also DTWs, Mines, Drop Bears...
just realize that you can put a Cutter in there.... You can even do a double Cutter 9/1 orders list or just 9 with a palbot..... WTF is it with this sectorial??!! i´m used to sleep on the floor, not this confy malleable ergonomic bed!!
Yeah the Kamau sniper will go down against most HI HMGs. even harder if they're linked. They're not untouchable by any means. I'm really on the fence if I want the Kamau sniper in my 5 man link or the ORC feuerbach.
I like that the Kamau Sniper is going to challenge Order-heavy lists that don't invest enough in owning the long corridors. The effectiveness of the unit diminishes a bit, the more elite the opponent gets. Units that are high BS, 2 Wounds, supported with Docs/Engineers to pick them back up, etc. are going to fair better at knocking one down. Anyone who can hammer away with Burst 5 until a hit/crit gets through. @Teslarod Good synopsis of the Echo Bravo, of course! I'm also trying to decide between the Red Fury and the LRL/BSG. I'm leaning a bit towards the Red Fury, primarily just because Burst 4 makes such a difference against a unit with no vis mods. But applying that fire template sure has a lot of appeal...
Limited Insertion Cutter lists are certainly going to be easy. The challenge I'm finding is building a two-order list. TAG lists benefit a lot from a second combat group that can perform light support duties, like laying mines, using Sensor, repairing via Machinist, etc. The Cutter's so expensive though, I haven't come up with any formats yet that I like, and that help offset losing 2 Orders on Turn 1. Am going to keep playing around with it.
I jut found out I have a 4 round LI tournament at the end of November/beginning of December. Two of the missions (deadly dance, show of force) are TAG scoring missions. I will most certainly be playing Varuna. Now for List crafting..... I will probably be taking the Cutter for the TAG focused missions instead of the Squalo. in LI the squalo can't leverage his HGL as easily. how do we feel about the Echo Bravo and Helots in LI. I feel as though we have better, more durable ARO pieces for LI and harder hitting Rambo units. They will probably be left at home. I'm thinking I leverage our abundance of visual mods to create a tough-to-hit force. In non-TAG lists I can already see myself taking the montessa.
One advantage of AD in Limited Insertion is that they almost always have a good place to walk on, and their ability to do damage in later turns increases, just because there are so few bodies on the table that it leaves huge gaps in an enemy defense. Similarly, isolating / immobilizing opponents goes up tremendously in value in Limited Insertion, because there are fewer Orders that you can afford to spend on running an Engineer around. Just food for thought. When you have the kind of firepower and durability of a Cutter, and the enemy has very few Orders to spend on Discovering, CC, Hacking and other valuable tools in the anti-TAG arsenal, you can probably just afford to headbutt your way around without worrying too much about surgical backfield strikes.
Got a chance to try out some units - Zulu Cobras are no joke. That sensor/jammer profile is no joke, and so is the FO with breaker combi. So good <3
Evil! Will have to try that one later. Anything with an HRMC will work wonders in active turn. B5 almost always stomps B1 AROs. Dropping a Liu Xing on it might work, depends on Explode LX rules. Could also send an Oniwaban or Ninja after it.
Anything that can engage in the 0-8” band, really. At that point the Kamau AROs with Pistol and hopefully you layered your defense properly and a shotgun or mine takes out the offending model. White Noise doesn’t really help here for stacking the F2F since Sixth Sense will ignore the -6 penalty. It just helps with moving into position without drawing an ARO until you initiate. Kriza HMG might have a shot as long as a Doc stays around for the inevitable splatter when the rolls go south. 5 dice on 10s vs 2 on 13s, all it takes is one roll in the Kamau’s favor and the Kriza is in trouble. Spetsnaz HMG is a no go, 4 dice on 12s vs 2 on 16s is pretty even and maybe even favorable for the Kamau. TAGs have a similar problem, 4 dice on 11-12 vs 2 on 16s. Maybe the Marut can gun it out over a couple orders but you’d better have a Sophotect ready to repair it! I’m pretty sure the “correct” answer is never to engage the fully linked Kamau sniper at range, you have to whittle down the link or engage at bad sniper ranges. Speculative fire, AD troopers, DTWs if you can get close, anything to exploit gaps in defense. Man after doing the math the Kamau sniper is terrifying in a full link.
Say that to my linked ORC hitting on 17s who took a wound and had to make another save against my opponent this weekend :(
45% Spetsnaz kills the Kamau, 30% Kamau at least knocks the Spetsnaz unconscious. In good range and cover for both. Not good for the active player, but not the worst.
Yeah, the magic starts to happen when you can outrange those active turn, high Burst pieces. Best time for a Kamau is after you've already punked those enemy HMGs, or you have a table arrangement where you can keep them all at long distance.
Rui Shi with Marksmanship inside of 24" is probably your best chance of straight muscling your way through. But it's a darn solid choice, and becomes nigh on un-movable once you have taken out key enemy attack pieces.
I really think the boarding shotgun croc could be amazing, having TO boarding shotgun with an Xvisor is going to catch people off guard. Keen to see it used.
I use Croc all the time, is my favorite unit hands down (Zulu is getting close second but never had the pleasure with him yet) and i have never used that option or the MSR one. With AVA 2 it wasn't worth to loose the suppression fire or the extra shot in surprise. Now with the Zulu to share the burden the BSG will be able to adopt new roles..... then again, the Echo Bravo paramedic may do a better job as a template flanker. Will give it a try when we have the complete VIRD picture.
