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Why do people love the Al Hawwa'?

Discussion in 'Haqqislam' started by Natsymir, Feb 14, 2021.

  1. Natsymir

    Natsymir Well-Known Member

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    It seems to me that many vanilla players run the Al Hawwa'. This has always puzzled me, I don't see the value of this unit.

    Al Hawaa' Forward Observer - the Hunzakut is 4-5 points cheaper, and has a better toolkit, with shock mines and a rifle with better range band.

    Al Hawaa' Hacker - I've always felt that a Hunzakut with deployable repeaters, paired up with a good hacker in my deployment zone (or even an airdrop or hidden deployment) ought to perform better than this. The Hunzakut is not only immune to killer hackers, but again comes with mines as well as repeaters, plus he has a rifle -and- a light shotgun, which is more flexible than the Al Hawwa's boarding shotgun.

    For me, the Hawwa just seems outshone by the Hunzakut. The irregular status of the Hunzakt is seldom a problem, because I wanna use him every turn anyway.
     
  2. M0rk4

    M0rk4 Member

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    Hello,

    I share your opinion on that topic. Each time I ended up using the al’hawwa hacker I thought he misses something. The absence of mines is a trouble far more annoying than the boarding shotgun.

    Lately I have played way more the Tuareg hacker than the hunzakut. In N3 it was the opposite, but the 15 orders limitation make me count irregular orders.
     
  3. Papa Bey

    Papa Bey Clueless Wonder. Still.

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    Hacking devices and d-charges can score more classifieds than repeaters can.

    Yes, you can get d-charges on a hunzakut too.

    Generally speaking, the Farzan forward observer is my go-to camo guy currently.

    So I'm going to guess the real answer is that they look boss. :D
     
    #3 Papa Bey, Feb 15, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2021
  4. RobertShepherd

    RobertShepherd Antipodean midwit

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    I never take a hunzakut. There's a hard upper limit to how many irregular troops you can fit in a list before your tactical options each turn are compromised, even with Saladin picking up the slack. Other irregular pieces in Haqq are of such high quality (daylami, libertos, zulekya, kum, etc) that they'll always get included before I ever reach for a hunzakut.

    So basically the Hawwa gets some play occasionally just by dint of being regular. Also worth noting that a deployable repeater, while nice, is just hacking with extra steps, and is no good in ARO. A hunzakut needs to see the enemy to place a repeater that won't be good until subsequent orders; a Hawwa on a rooftop can put out possession or spotlight etc AROs as soon as something moves near it.

    (That said, I don't take the Hawwa hacker a ton. But I take it more than a Hunzakut.)
     
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  5. kesharq

    kesharq Lucky Dice-Roller

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    In StarCo and QK the Al'Hawwa Sniper is an auto-include for me. Minelayer and a Surprise Shot SniperRifle count for at least 2 KIA enemies everytime I used him.
     
  6. WiT?

    WiT? Well-Known Member

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    I used to take an Al'hawwa when the Farzan did not have mines, because I was a fan of a shotgun specialist and didn't want to risk my CoC specialist on attack duties.

    Now that he does, Al'Hawwa mostly sees table time when I want to allow a CoC Farzan to lurk around protecting my LT. It lacks mines, but it can attack with the shotgun in ways that typical rifle or combi skirmishers cannot.

    Hunzakut I never use. Yes, if I was going to use my skirmisher every turn it would be a solid unit. But I feel the meta has shifted to the point where skirmishers cannot solo the game any more, so often he will be a wasted order. And as RobertShepherd pointed out, its really hard to justify inflexible irregular orders in the army when you have daylami and ghazi already generating a bunch of them.
     
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  7. WWHSD

    WWHSD Well-Known Member

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    If we ever get a model with Inspired Leadership, I’ve sure I’ll hit the AVA limit on Hunzakuts in every list. 18-21 points is a lot to pay for an Irregular order, especially when you’ve probably got 3-5 irregular troops that don’t have a slightly more expensive regular option available like the Hunzakut has with the Al’Hawwa.
     
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  8. Triumph

    Triumph Well-Known Member

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    Al Hawwa can go in any list. The model is always good. They're a relatively cheap regular camo specialist infiltrator, these kinds of units are rarely without value in a game.

    Hunzakuts are good, but they can't go in any list. You need to make a decision on whether you want them over a variety of other irregular troops.

    There's also the consideration of you don't always want to be very active with your camo infiltrators, sometimes their mission objective is just don't die. Supremacy is a good example of this. You want them to press a button then go prone on a roof somewhere. Hunzakuts drain orders every turn because of being irregular, the Al Hawwa contributes his order to the pool. Hunzakuts are more geared towards playing them very aggressively from the get go. Live fast, die fast, hopefully trade up in value or facilitate a trade up with a repeater.
     
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  9. RobertShepherd

    RobertShepherd Antipodean midwit

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    One day we will get a resurrected Kaysm Beg inspiring leadership lieutenant profile, as god and nature intend. :P
     
  10. Papa Bey

    Papa Bey Clueless Wonder. Still.

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    How did this go from hating the Al Hawwa' to hating on the Hunzakut? :D
     
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  11. Natsymir

    Natsymir Well-Known Member

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    You've convinced me, guys. The Hunzakut being irregular is indeed a much larger disadvantage than I thought. Indeed, now that I look back on it, (s)he has seen less play in my lists than in N4, and the reasons is indeed, that our irregulars are so awesome that something's gotta be left out.
     
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  12. Papa Bey

    Papa Bey Clueless Wonder. Still.

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    I try not to grade on a pass/fail basis.
     
  13. Brokenwolf

    Brokenwolf Well-Known Member

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    The Al-hawwa is a good troop. The only weakness it has in vanilla (like the Farzan) is AVA 1. I usually use one of each. I also use the Hunzakut, but like people have mentioned you have to limit your irregular orders.
     
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  14. KedzioR_vo

    KedzioR_vo Well-Known Member
    Warcor

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    In the "clicking" missions in N3 I usually took all the 3 infiltrators - Hawwa, Farzan and Hunzakut.

    Al'Hawwa was one of my go-to units in N3 simply because he could get so much classifieds done - infiltrating FO with D-Charges was great. Hacker was an interesting choice also, and still is IMHO, because he can surprise some advancing enemy with a hacking attack.
    Still, now in the FO role I'd propably take Farzan, as he also has D-Charges, but better BS, mines et cetera. The important thing is availability - if you need some more specialists in the middle, you'll end up propably with both of them.
    And I also really like Hunza, because he's cheap and expendable. Now with the 15 man limit it's harder to squeeze so much irregulars, but Hunza is still a valid choice IMO.


    PozdRawiam / Greetings
     
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  15. HotFreshTofu

    HotFreshTofu Well-Known Member

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    I typically run the Al Hawwa Hacker as my only hacker / button pusher in missions that get the hacking bonus.

    I will run a Tuareg Hacker a lot of the time too, in which case the al hawwa will be downgraded to a FO. I choose the Hawwa over the Hunzakut for the reasons R Shep pointed out. I have 2 Dayalami and Zuleyka in every Vanilla list so it becomes troublesome if there are too many irregular orders. Not to mention the Nadhir is IMO an auto include unit who you want to keep in HD to spring at the best possible moment. Tuareg's also seeing more play in N4 so... further strain on the order pool.

    In most games, the Al Hawwa will do nothing turn 1, then push a single button turn 2 or 3. So the regular order is worth the small points cost upgrade.

    Furthermore, the Boarding Shotgun is very good for dismantling link teams or putting that last wound on a tag or something with the AP ammo in hit mode. He can reliably trade up in many cases where the hunzakut is slightly disadvantaged in a similar trade. I don't think I ever need to shoot something with the Hunzakut's rifle.


    Unfortunately, as the hunzakut is as wonderful model. it is just getting sidelined a bit in N4. I don't ever use her now, but It's nothing against her. Just prefer a hacker specialist a lot of the time and have too many irregular orders / HD in the list.
     
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  16. CalamarRojo

    CalamarRojo je veux être calife à la place du calife

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    what do you think about 3 hawwas (QK) to tag and use a guided missile remote?
     
  17. xagroth

    xagroth Mournful Echo

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    Being in the middle of the table without a marker state plainly sucks... So I try to bring both Farzan and Hawwa, then the Hunzakut if I have slots available. I prefer the Hawwa, because of how cheap is this troop, and how similar to a Bakunin's Zero is: -1CC, -1PH, +1 WILL, +1ARM... Sure, he loses options against the zero (no mines, no suppresive fire...) and the FO is 3 points more expensive than the BSG zero, while the hacker is 2 points more expensive than the red one...

    Yeah, subpar Zero that at least has D-Charges to score some more objectives -.-U

    Considering the current model seems to me is going to be discontinued soon... (not the khum nor the Nazarovas, however)

    The way to use the guided missile strategy is to set up repeaters in the advancing zones of the enemy, where they can't be easily destroyed, so your hackers can multi-ARO against enemies. Considering the only Pitchers in QK are the 30-28pts Druze hacker... At least they can surpass the middle of the table with no penalty, thanks to their X-Visors. But you can do the same thing in vanilla, frankly, and with more tools.
    In Qapu, the hackers for this ARO duty would be the 2 druze (either 2 hackers, 2 KHD, or one of each) and 0-2 Ghulam hackers outside of a link that would remain back (for example in a 2nd group with the remote and other 2 regular cheerleaders)
     
    #17 xagroth, Feb 21, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2021
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