I'm getting ready to start painting up some Sval. Do any of you see any reason to take a Vargar haris over a Karhu Haris? I can see that Albedo is situationally interesting, but it seems like I'm trading in both mobility and firepower if I don't take the Karhu. What did I miss?
Vargs have access to more exotic equipment with Wild Parrots, Albedo and K1 ammunition, but Karhu bring such a rock solid gunfighting package that is impossible to ignore. I'd probably go for a Varg Haris (WinterFor Alpha) and wildcard the Karhu Feuerbach in to get the best of both worlds. Keeping the composition bonus is not crucial for haris teams, especially if you get the sensor Varg anyway.
Higher ARM, higher WIP, Sensor, Albedo, template weapons, guns with 8-24" range bands, WildParrot for ARO shenanigans... Plus you can always wildcard in a Karhu if you want one for the gunfighting or Specialist options. Karhu are generically better, sure, but the Vargar have their places.
Why not both? You can have two Haris. The Karhu is a wildcard and is optimized for direct shooting. You can slot it into any haris. The Varg is a different beast entirely meant for tricksy actions: Varg Haris ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 3 VARG (Triangulated Fire, Sensor) Combi Rifle, Heavy Flamethrower, WildParrot / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 28) VARG (Minelayer) K1 Marksman Rifle, Shock Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 30) VARG (Forward Observer) Heavy Rocket Launcher, Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 25) 2 SWC | 83 Points Open in Infinity Army It is meant to ignore MVS units on ARO on the first turn and can use superjump to get weird angles. The value of Albedo vastly depends on your Meta (like superjump). It also has a huge toolkit of capability. They work well as a dedicated team and give some unorthodox options. Is it worth the price? It is if you like it. The Karhu is really really good at killing. Do you need a full Haris of them? EDIT: I type way too slow :)
Vargar Haris and Gunnar + Karhu Haris, defensive Fusilier Core. Go hunting MSV with the Vargar, hunt everything else with the Karhu. Get under and into good positions versus MSV while Albedo lasts, able to pin enemies between the K1/HRL and the Feuerbach.
If you are planing to play vargars as a haris, don't forget that Karhus are wildcards, so, you could have 2 vargars + 1 karhu, for example :)
Pretty much everyone who has given their two cents here on this question has very valid points. I myself do particularly like the use of a vargar haris and Gunnar and karhu haris as mentioned by @A Mão Esquerda and used for pretty much the purposes mentioned here. @Knauf and @Delta57Dash mentioned the use of more exotic toys and higher armour for the Varg so this is definitely a consideration as to why to take them. As @Urobros mentioned though (and certainly if you need the spare points for other stuff) you can slot a karhu in with the varg… the feuerbach one is usually my choice if you want some nice shooty thing to go with the albedo bearing troops. An alternative reason to put them in would just be rule of cool. (Not an intended svalarheima pun don’t crucify me). They’re lovely minis and go really well with the new karhu minis coming out. But that’s just me and my Pokémon syndrome talking.
Because sometimes opponents are heavy on MSV in their ARO tech, look at the new Steel Phalanx. Atalanta and Agema are all packing visors. If you have Albedo in your army, sometimes you'll walk into easy matchups where said unit even if it's a 1X in your list can go on a really painful suicide run.
Because you can take a Varg Haris and run them up to an UKR core and shoot all of his core link buddies around him and then engage him without his Sixth Sense to impose a -6 against him with his MSV1. Because you can run a K1 MMR duo with Shona and go Marut hunting, and the opponent needs to either pick between defending against the Varg or Shona either way. Marut in reactive is gonna be in a world of hurt.
