I'm starting to buy and paint my Pano army (second to last needed to own all armies) and I'm wondering wich minis I should not buy because they the sculpt are too old and likely to be replace. With the new release of support pack and drones, I have put all the drones/support boxes on hold for now but what else who you advice me not to buy (or at least put "on hold") ?
What's your timeline looking like? I'd not expect a new machinist/trauma doc pack and all of the remotes to be replaced for at least a year or two, and possibly much longer--the PanO remotes are the best looking of the older ones imo. That said, who knows? I'd expect new ORCs to come down the pipe with varuna, along with a new Cutter as a big splashy release. Auxilia are old but I wouldn't expect a resculpt anytime soon. Knight of the Holy Sepulchre is old but still holds up just fine. Teutonic/Santiago knights are also older but perfectly serviceable so I wouldn't expect any changes there either. I feel like they've been pretty aggressive with modernizing PanO sculpts and unlike some factions the vast majority of the models are new.
I'm playing one new army per season and this year it's Nomad vanilla (so no need for a new army before Sept. 2019 So I will buy Pano in the next month until I have the mini I want then wait for the resculpt of the others
Starting November we will see the focus shifting to releasing Varuna troops, and this should last for at least half a year. ASA goes oop in November, it will probably get some farewell gift in form of some new model or a resculpt, after that it'll be safe to get - while stock lasts, of course. MO had a lot of attention and is mostly new (I'd steer clear of Teutons, they might get a resculpt if CB decides to finally rework them). This means that NCA will probably be the next in line, with starter and Auxilia being the obvious choices for resculpts. Remotes are a question mark. They might or might not get a resculpt soon, and it might or might not be good (I'm not impressed with the new Rebots, for example). Support pack is showing its age, but again, a question mark.
What about MO starter ? Is he new enough to buy or can we hope for a resculpt ? Any advice on these references (all old based on the store), buy, not buy or keep on hold for a few month ? - Jotum (Svalarheima) - Nisse (Svalarheima) - Guarda de Assalto (SAA) - Knight of Montesa (SAA/MO) - Auxilia (NCA)
Jotum is great. Nisse sniper in Icestorm/vanilla starter, Nisse HMG and Nisse Hacker (why CB) are all new and gorgeous. GdA is a no, it’s not aged well. Scale is wrong and the helmet has a bad case of the bug eyes. Knight of Montesa in the new Acon starter is fantastic but the old one is pretty bad. Auxilia are old and pretty ugly, but they also won’t likely be resculpted anytime soon. If you have spare Fusiliers from multiple Icestorms, it’s an easy conversion to Auxilia.
In the end it will be up to you, old and new sculpts will still be playable, I would suggest to you buy what looks good to you.
Ok ya so you might as well wait and see with the support pack/remotes and buy them later if there's no resculpt. I'd do the same with the cutter personally, but everything else is pretty much fair game. The Guarda de assaulto/Montessa were part of SAA and are getting discontinued so they'll get new sculpts in the distant future but if you want them anytime soon I'd get them now before they're out of stock.
Can this please be a Guarda sculpt? The current version is ugly af and the Guarda sees enough vanilla play to justify it.
You should specifically buy one of every Joan model ever produced. And match those up with one of every Uxia McNeill.
I'm guessing that it is going to be another Akalis Hacker. That's my bet. Remember that when the Ariadna starter was retired, they pulled the Chasseur out to sell separately. None of the Akalis Sikh stuff has shown up on the list of stuff being retired--it'd go greeeeeeat with the Spitfire Sikh.
Little Dude, it's a sock puppet. I know not for whom -- an embittered Tohaa player maybe ( There are so many of those.) Put it on ignore and move on. Skip the support pack. It'll get a resculpt along with the new Varuna releases. You can skip the ORCs too, for now. They'll be getting a box for Varuna. I would very much like either a Montesa Combi/LGL or the Guarda as a parting "gift", much like the Chasseur was for Ariadna. The Guarda over the Montesa, since I can always convert the CCW Hospitaller to be a generic Montesa. (Basically I'd paint it green and white and blue. That was a tough *conversion*). Either way, as noted, you can skip getting these two. They are nice minis, but very dated looking. And tiny compared to the new stuff.
