Hello my Panofellow players, I hope you are doing well and dices are being kind with you, mine are in a strange phase... I will buy new ones asap. However, I´m wondering, after the success of Kestrel in CanCon (Australian Satellite), and to have the opportunity to see the winner´s lists, what is happening with the new fancy Panoceanic sectorial and some of his profiles. I din´t see a lot of KFC players in tournaments lately. I was talking with some other players and most said that most likely it is too soon. Not many people having the miniatures, less say painted... but this looks to me like a poorly excuse since Shindenbutai is there in tournament, at least in my local meta and beyond (some Satellite already played in N5) we had Shinden but no KFC, both armies are in the same point. So... Why do we have so low presence in Tournament for KFC? Is the same around you? In your local meta? Or is the same, pretty much no to many KFC players? In my case the funny thing is I don´t stop to hear several players around me saying KFC is "too powerful or broken" but I don´t know how they take this conclusion if they aren´t facing it too much, and when they did they won to KFC... Even, I remember a lot of people going crazy about Neourokinetics Black AIR when first was showed to us... I have shared and being shared a lot of KFC list from a few Panoceanian players I know in the last weeks, no one include that profile... Are you seeing it around you? Having issues to deal with it in the case of have it in front? I have the feeling that the "too powerful Black AIR" it was more the an idea, created before we even know what changes will have N5, than a reality, but however, the rumors are there and people is listening, like a kind of "fairy tale" or a boogeyman story"... So people keep saying is "a broken profile" but the real thing is otherwise... A kind of same feeling I have (Yoda mode activated) about the Hetkari, he was introduced to Infinity community when Prime´s shadow was still too large, but in the end wasn´t the same, not even close, because once more I pretty much didn´t see many list with Hetkaris... It has presence in the list, but is not a "always picked". I saw a lot more the griffin, HMG or Feuerbach, or the Crux. Once again, what is the current status in the places you play... KFC has or not the Hetkari as a must?? Please, share your experiences. I´m really curious about. Thanks.
I play PanO and SWC, but not Krestel. Vanilla has several Krestel tools, and I still think that killing three sectorials to create a new one was an ugly move.
I haven't played KCF nor played against them for exactly the reasons you mention. But saying KCF is broken doesn't seem to make much sense in my opinion. Black AIR SR isn't more broken than the Sin Eater, yet they don't have the exceptional warbands of Bakunin, can't spam low priced units to gain ground control, are nowhere close in terms of hacking, nor in terms of smokes. Do they shoot better than Bakunin? Thanks God they do. But Bakunin has some very solid shooters too. Kusanagi is an incredible active piece, the Vostok is... A Vostok, and the Lizard is far from being bad, even moreso if backed by a solid warband Frontline (which they absolutely don't lack of) nor by a solid repeater network (which they absolutely don't lack of) I really fail to see, on paper at least, how can KCF be considered more "broken" than Bakunin
I too am waiting for key elements to be released before playing them, I do not see them broken as some people say, but I think there is a correlation between their recent performance and really good players testing them/ bringing them to tournaments.
I'm just sad that there is no S7 TAG in the faction; Huge missed opportunity to field the Minescorp TAG from TAG Raid as a proxy in a miners-themed army.
There were 6 Kestrels from 56 players in Attack on Atlanta (https://infinityuniverse.com/games/infinity/its/tournament/31403a028-attack-on-atlanta-2025). Maybe local meta problem? I’m playing vPanO but trying Kestrel new units. Magistrate is awesome. I can’t leave home without one or two Fennecs. Crux team cut crane rank in single order, pressed button, and killed Designated target. Blink and Banshee did their job with relatively cheap cost. Neuro black air did 3 wounds against Xeodron duo. HRMC Drummer with marksmanship spent only one or to be critted by contender and removed from the table, but it is the thing sometimes happens. I am going to try some others this week, but new profiles added with Kestrel feels so good. I have no idea how good they are in their own sectorial.
KFC feels powerful. I have the Sandtrap and I have a fully painted SWF. I also own some ex NT stuff and a whole primed Varuna army With new stuff for ISS in spring I decided to sell KFC. The sectorial itself feels boring fluffwise. I would like to try out some of the units, but then - despite I don´t like proxing - I will prox them with my Varuna stuff. So I will not invest in KFC any further. In my Meta(s) I think there is one, that will play Kestrel and two more that want to do so. One is pissed beyond about the changes and will play only V-Pan for a while. The other is a very casual gamer but needs time to build them up. So far no KFC in acitve for a while. First tournament last week has only MO on the Pan O side, but that 2 times.
Thanks you all for the answers, they were interesting to read. I haven´t think about the "Acontecimento-Neoterra-Varuna Crisis" as a reason to not play Kestrel, since I had the perception people wasn´t too angry about that to my surprise. Maybe it was some kind of going angry but quiet... So, it could be the reason, or a good one. I strongely agree about the comparison between Sineater and BlackAIR. It amazes me a lot how many Pano players are waiting for miniatures to play KFC but JSA players aren´t doing the same with Shinden. Maybe to become a Vainilla suddenly in N5 is the difference. I totally missed this Satellite, thanks for pointing me to that. I will check. Maybe is what you said, something more located in Spain and close countries, since I took for the Swedish Satellite and didn´t remember to see many KFC.
To be honest I still maintain that you can mostly play the three retired sectorials by just play Generic list, sure some specific units and combinations may be missing, but the overall theme and functionality is there.
