Varuna
Varuna is the sneaky tricksy sectorial that can also just be used like a sledgehammer. Kamau provide inexpensive mimetism gunfighters. while Zulu Cobra, echo bravo, and croc men provide board control. Great TAGS and solid Heavy Infantry compliment the sneaky board control elements with an iron fist. Standouts here are the Kamau, Zulu-Cobra, Croc Men, and the Cutter.
Light Infantry:
Fusiliers: The foundation of any good defensive core fireteam. The missile is the standout profile as 15 points can level a tag. The hacker is also nice as six sense turns off stealth. Great lt option protected by a fireteam.
Trauma doc: Trauma docs have somehow gotten worse since N3. Linked paramedics do it better and cheaper. You can still take the trauma doc as the palbots are helpful and Command token rerolls are pretty reliable if you want to save your swiss guard or something.
Machinist: Cheap engineer option. AVA 2 and the varuna specific profile help fill out Kamau fireteams and help provide much needed dcharges and specialist on top of a bs12 mimetism profile. Auto-include if your list has a Cutter
Fusilier Indigo Bipandra: Expensive doctor that has a nanopulsar. Not terrible in an aggressive core or haris of fusiliers, but fusilier paramedics really make her look disappointing.
Kamau: These guys are awesome. Before the fireteam change the MSV2 Multi sniper Kamau was the much hated “eye of Sauron”. Now that reputation is much diminished but it still provides a really nasty ARO and active piece so don’t underestimate it. Other options include the fearsome 1 SWC HMG on a bs13 Mim-3 frame. The specialists all benefit from wip 13 nad you get a wide array of them, including a hacker, paramedic, and forward observer. The heavy rocket launcher SMG is cute as well. When used in a fireteam do be careful to avoid any kind of template because their armor 1 and one wound frame makes them extremely vulnerable to anything. BTS 6 is nice, and really helps benefit the hacker. These guys rock and are absolutely faction defining.
Warcor: if you have 3 points and an order slot this should fill that gap nicely. Good ARO piece, good discover tool.
Tech bae bee: Cheapest specialist in Varuna and just as ineffective as anybody else is. She’s got a gizmokit so she can throw wrenches at your tags and remotes in a pinch. Don’t forget she has a pistol too.
Echo-Bravo: Qurikey bs13 parachutists. Hacker has a combi rifle and a panzerfaust which makes for an effective specialist. The paramedic as well has a combi rifle light shotgun and wild parrot which can really effectively ambush a heavy infantry team. The red fury and boarding shotgun light rocket launcher profiles exist solely for murder and are quite good at it. These guys are great for under 30 points but all of them cost 0.5 swc except the red fury who costs 1 swc. Not having combat jump can be limiting but these guys really cna solve problems.
Zulu Cobra: Camo, forward deploying bs 13 gunfighters with great guns adn specialist options. The real standouts here are the Combi rifle, Jammer, Asssault pistol profile, the KHD Breaker Combi rifle profile, and the forward observer Breaker combi rifle. Breaker combi rifles are really powerful weapons that combine fantastically with camouflage to find the right target to hit, be it something nasty like a bear to even a Tag which suddenly finds itself at bts 3. These guys help control the board, murder, and push buttons all at once. The jammer profile also has sensor which can really help free up the midfield as required. I would always consider taking one of these guys.
Helots: Yo these guys are obnoxious. The SMG Light rocket for 9 points and half swc can really punch above its weight. The Shock marksman and even the red fury also are serious problems in ARO for your opponent. Neurocinetics is amazing, but remember that these guys are near useless in active turn, so those irregular orders are mostly there to be converted or move them to a new position.
Richard Quinn: The only reason I even utter his name is because he is the only other MSV in the faction. 23 points for msv1 shock marksman rifle at bs13 is fine, but he lacks the mobility of zulu cobras and echo bravos, and lacks the overall face to face skill of a Kamau.
Medium Infantry:
Uma Sorensen: Uma has had a glow up and I think people will forget she exists until they suffer from a camo token dropping e/m mines next to a HI fireteam. She is still quite expensive for a single wound model but can do quite a bit of damage without overpaying for having both a SMG and a breaker combi rifle. She also counts as a kamau or a fusilier for fireteams and is a wildcard. She is cool now!
Heavy Infantry:
Orcs: Boring and dependable and now with stealth. Varuna special orcs get stealth and aquatic/jungle terrain for a small points cost. These guys can make some effective fireteams and can provide a blunt beatstick to compliment the sneaky beakies that comprise the rest of your army.
Montesa Knights: Fast, Durable, Killy, and with the ever important DA CCW. These guys are a great addition to an army that can go on an early rampage, push midfield buttons on the paramedic boarding shotgun profile, and complete anti-material objective destruction. With the current bike season these guys can get cover and enjoy arm 7 in the midfield too. Really nice to have.
Patsy Garnett: Character Orc/ She is a forward observer NCO with stealth, smg=, grenades, dcharges, flash pulse, and a shockingly relevant shock CCW (note it is not relevant it just won John a game so I had to mention it) She is a fine addition to an army for 34 points and is an inexpensive NCO for your fusilier LT to pass its order onto something useful. She can wildcard too which means she can be a close range fighting specialist NCO in any fireteam you want. Nice!
Tags:
Squalos: A very standard tag. Mid 70 points for a multi HMG and a multi pistol. Some versions have a heavy grenade launcher which is whatever. What is interesting is the Varuna special with a zapper. That gives this tag both the pistol for close range and the template. That template can also terrorize HI Link teams. This is a super cool option to have available. Decent LTs here, and the NCO is also rad when you want your LT hiding in some corner somewhere. It’s a solid tag. Dont forget about the ECM hacker -3 because that can really help protect it.
Cutters: This guy FUCKS. Contender for best tag in the game and it shows. Mim -6, Camo., and hidden deployment combined with arm 8 to make this thing durable, hard to hit, and murderous with its bs15 multi HMG. Many tags are vulnerable in ARO, but this thing can strike hard, fall back, and re-camo. You can even take it as a LT. Keeping this guy hidden on your opponents first turn can ensure that you get to take it on a murderous rampage, and with all the off table orders and croc men you can take it is possible (but unlikely) that you can disguise the fact that you have one. This guy does have a significant weakness at short range as he only has a Multi HMG and a CCW. There is no template or pistol for him to fend off a warband like the squalos has.
Remotes:
Bulleteer: These things are an absolute menace. Fast, mim -6, Spitfire (or heavy shotgun), repeater so they can easily get assisted fire, and cheap. Absolutely disgusting solo attack piece or fireteam attack piece. Go on a murder rampage early, post up in cover in the midfield and go into suppressive fire and just really lock down part of the board with this thing.
Peacemaker: Board control at its finest. Heavy shotguns, auxbots, and repeater coverage with forward deploy make these excellent at clearing out the midfield, as well as slowing down your opponents rambo pieces.
Clipper: its a missile bot. Take it with some guided strategy if you want to win want to lose all your friends.
Fugazi: You can take 2 in this sectorial and you should consider it! More of these means the rest of your army can be higher quality overall. The repeater coverage is also quite helpful. They are also better at discovering compared to most of the rest of your army.
Mulebot: if you have a bulleteer, take an evo hacker for marksmanship. Otherwise…these are fatbots.
Palbot: great to make your doctors and engineers more useful. very valuable if you are taking a tag and engineer.
Pathfinder: Sensor is a fantastic skill to help reveal pesky tokens and discover enemies. Additionally it is a 6-4 specialist with a repeater that can have marksmanship dropped on it. Worth considering.
Sierra bot: TR bot. You are likely to spend your SWC on other nasty things but this can be a useful defensive tool, and because you may often have an EVO bot its value goes up a bit. AVA 2 is interesting, but probably overboard. You could play tower defense in this army I guess but that won’t win you many games.
Skirmishers:
Croc men: These guys are sick. Hidden deployment and infiltration is a match made in heaven. There is a minelayer with boarding shotgun and shock mines that can absolutely terrorize the midfield. The hacker and forward observers with combi rifles are probably more useful though. They provide excellent and safe mid field specialists that can really carry you through that aspect of the game and fight well enough after. Important to note that the FO has deployable repeaters in addition to the standard shock mines so it can really help you set up a hacking attack on a tag, or just make the midfield even more unpleasant.
Warbands:
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