Kremmet

To be fair, there are a few slip ups here. 1) Single-combat-group lists are only immune to the strategic use that reduces the order pool and not the one that cuts Coordinated Orders. 2) TAGs get Fatality1 which is pretty important as that much Fatality2 would likely ruin the game.

I doubt we'll be seeing many Soldiers of Fortune events given how powerful certain mercs are in the wrong hands .

Tamiya.

They also make Clear Red in a spray now that I've seen good results for using the same tint technique you're using.

Love the shades on that dude. He's ready to play some beach volleyball with his best bro! You know you could always buy the Avatar to make it your new Ordo avatar. Just sayin'....

That is interesting. To be fair, I've only used Berserk with Domaru for the purpose of cutting down immobilized targets so I don't think it's come up.

Basically, paint is made of three things: pigment, medium, and vehicle. By messing with the latter two you create washes which can be used for a variety of purposes (shading and tinting being the primary uses for miniatures). Water is one vehicle you can use, and the most commonly used one for acrylics, but it isn't the only one. Personally, I tend to just use water unless I'm trying to get a specific effect or need to up my game. To do that, I use a mixture of various matte mediums, mixing mediums, retarders, and thinners to get the desired outcome. It's not particularly hard after some practice, but it is definitely arduous if not done with a specific purpose in mind.

Hmm, that is pretty interesting. Mine definitely don't have a gloss finish so I dunno what to tell you. Still, if you're thinking about using controlled washes, you should start making your own anyway. Dunno how much you know about paints so I won't go into how to make them. @Rudra: Yeah, inks are pretty useful, but I'd avoid them if your issue is ever about gloss as they are super glossy.

Yep, it's a common misconception.

If I may, I can give you a little advice. First let's breakdown what you actually have and then we can go to suggestions after that. Zhanshix3 (CR) These are solid line troop that I don't find myself fielding too often. This isn't a statement about how strong they are, because Zhanshi are actually pretty decent for their cost, but instead a statement for how unbelievably strong Kuang Shi and Celestial Guard are for your line troops in Yu Jing. That said, Kuang Shi in particular take some getting used to for them to really shine and I'd recommend having a strong grasp of the basic functions of Infinity before trying them out. Verdict: A solid vanilla choice that is overlooked given other options for their primary role (that of giving you orders to spend elsewhere) Tiger Soldier (BS) In contrast with Zhanshi, Tiger Soldiers are pretty much what I play vanilla YJ for. These babies have it all: high BS, high WIP, decent armor, a great defensive skill, high initial mobility, great weapon load outs/specialist options. They're not an auto include as you do need to do some list gymnastics to run them, but I've never felt bad about throwing a tiger into one of my lists. The only problem I see is that the Boarding Shotgun is the weakest of the available options IMO. While it is very cheap, it doesn't fully utilize the power that BS13+Mimetism brings in the same way as the Spitfire profile nor is it really keeping up with the ever-popular Paramedic option—especially given that they have a Light Flamethrower to go with. Still, the Boarding Shotgun is a fine profile and is actually the model I run to differentiate between two Paramedics when I bring multiple tigers (which is more often than you'd think). Verdict: A great flavor choice for vanilla. The main thing to be wary about with a tiger is that it will be one of your major killers/specialists in your list so plan accordingly. What I mean by this is that drop troops tend to wreak havoc as killers, but are quickly put down while, as specialists, they're super late game pieces that will rarely help outside of the final turn. Both of these states mean that the tiger won't be around for long so make sure to make them count. Ninja (AHD) Ninjas are a solid piece even for vanilla YJ and tend to be better as hackers than as killers. This is mainly because their BS is pretty bad given their cost/role and it's easier to shell out a few more points for the far-superior Oniwaban/Kitsune if you want a dedicated melee killer. Like the Tiger Soldier before, ninjas are aggressive pieces that leverage their TO, hidden deployment, and board placement to introduce new vectors of interdiction after the game has started. While the Killer Hacking Device (KHD) ninja sees more play than its Assault Hacking Device (AHD) version, the AHD is still a helpful piece if you're expecting a lot of TAGs/combat REMs as the KHD ninja isn't particularly helpful against either of those targets beyond a tarpitting/annoyance role. Speaking of tarpitting, this is commonly what I do with my ninjas (and infiltrators in general) after they accomplish whatever specialist goal I had for them if applicable. Ninjas in particular are great at this given their 4-4 movement, high CC+MA, and TO. Infinity, at its heart, is a resource management game so it behooves you to make you opponent waste orders doing things it doesn't want to. Even if their TAG swats the ninja down in one order (which is unlikely), you've still forced them to do what you want rather than what they want which is a valuable asset in games. Verdict: A solid piece if not a little overshadowed by the KHD profile. Yan Huo (HRMC) The Yan Huo is another reason a lot of people look to play vanilla YJ rather than one of their, frankly, amazing sectorials and it's east to see why. Between it's no-frills chassis, high BS/ARM, and deadly arsenal, the Yan Huo is the dream of anybody who loves heavy infantry. There isn't much else to say here besides a warning about bringing too many toys and not enough "boys" to the field. If you're running the Yan Huo, try to keep your other HI choices to a minimum and I'd avoid pairing him with other elite options such as your Hac Tao. Verdict: A great ARO piece that doesn't become less deadly in the active turn. If you want a particular fire lane secured, look no further. Domaru (BS) Generally speaking, I don't bring a lot of Domaru while playing vanilla YJ. It's not because they're weak (far from it, actually), but that they're competing with choices like the Tiger Soldier, Daofei, and ninjas for their role as premiere midfield skirmishers. Domaru do have a few things over their competition though in that their CC ability is truly insane with a possibility for CC 32 with a -3 modifier for their opponent to boot along with the fantastic E/M grenades and high PH they pack to go along with it. They're pretty cheap for HI while still retaining that ever-important second wound. I don't think any veteran players would find a Domaru an odd choice, but it would preclude other models that you also own from making the list. Just can't fit everything in all the time! Verdict: The Domaru is a great midfield piece, but most of what makes it so strong is tied up in more advanced rules such as spec fire and Assault/Berserk. Given the other choices you have for the midfield, I'd leave the Domaru at home for a bit until you have a stronger grasp on how to use him. Hac Tao (HMG) Oh, the Hac Tao: Yu Jing's very own bogeyman and the fear for every TR bot the sphere wide! The Hac Tao is one of the best balanced pieces in the game as far as elite pieces go. They have excellent defense in both TO and ARM 5/BTS 6, strong offensive capabilities in the Nanopulser and the HMG, and an excellent body combining highlights like BS 14 with CC 19 all for a steal as far as high-end model pricing goes. The HMG is definitely my favorite profile to use withe the Hac Tao, but the KHD is also worth a look given how deadly Surprise Attack+WIP 14 is along with the KHD allowing you to use your opponent's repeater network to help offset the movement issue of having no pregame movement. Verdict: An excellent profile that is only slowed down through other excellent ranged choices you already own such as the Yan Huo. Guilang (MSR) This is bit of a weird one. On the one hand, I never play vanilla YJ without at least one Guilang, but on the other the MSR profile is near useless for them (seriously, please stop only sculpting all the infiltrators with their sniper profiles CB). If you're willing to adjust the weapon, or don't particularly care what a model that will mainly be camo'ed is carrying, then I highly recommend running the Guilang as the Foward Observer (FO) profile. For only 27 points, you get a WIP 14 camo+infiltrating specialist that has both mines and Deployable Repeaters and MSV1. That is crazy good. Mainly they'll just hit buttons and maybe lay some mines/repeaters down to annoy your opponent, but with MSV1 and camo you can still get some decent shots off with them when the need arises. Verdict: If you're running one of the specialist options, preferably the FO, then I'd strongly recommend running one or even two if you can as they're excellent at actually winning games without losing out on the potential for killing. Shang Ji (CR+LFT) Unfortunately, I don't think the Shang Ji is currently good for much. For its price, there are just so many better choices available to YJ and I wouldn't suggest running one besides for the narrative to anyone. Verdict: A victim of the swap over and CB never being able to redefine the unit's role. The Shang Ji just doesn't have much of a place in YJ as it stands. Celestial Guard (CR) Celestial Guard (CG) are one of the units that make YJ go 'round. While the Combi Rifle profile isn't super important given that they're AVA 2 in vanilla, it is still useful as a stand-in for most of the specialist options that the CG have access to and, with WIP 14, that's not nothing. As for the profile as a whole, there are two that rise above the rest: the hacker and the Kuang Shi Control Device (KSCD). The hacker is just a standard piece that is a strong body on which to put a hacker on with its WIP 14 and BTS 3. For a line troop, that's pretty solid. When coupled with a Rui Shi, one of the best combat REMs in the game, this CG profile is a force to be reckoned with. The second important profile, the KSCD, is probably the defining model in YJ in terms of what makes the faction do what it does. While it is a pretty good piece with its Smoke Grenade Launcher and standard CG statline, the important thing is that it allows for Kuang Shi to be taken. If you're unaware of what Kuang Shi are, here's their stats: The important things to keep in mind there are that they are Regular troopers, meaning they provide regular orders, and that they're five points. Five points for an order is a crazy good deal especially as they're AVA 4. Sure, they also have Biolocator, which allows for Smart Missile/hacking shenanigans, the blowup, they're Dogged, and they come with Chain Rifles (because nobody's gonna be bringing a shotgun with these guys), but even if they didn't do any of that they'd still be great. I mean, ALEPH and CA pay 4 points for an order that has to combat jump onto the table and then can't do anything after that. Kuang Shi blow beacons out of the water when it comes to being cheerleaders and pretty much everything else in the game as well. And all that is available because of a CG profile that already comes with a solid tech piece in the Smoke Grenade Launcher. Crazy. Verdict: For your eventual climb to more competitive play, the Celestial Guard are essential, but mostly for the KSCD. Overall I'd say the major issue with your collection right now is that it's missing the structure pieces you need for top end play. You have a pretty good selection of toys so I'd start focusing on the less glamorous pieces such as the Chaiyi/Weibing remotes, enginners/doctors (I prefer the Japanese versions for their leaner profiles), and line troops such as Kuang Shi. You'd also do well picking up the attack REM box as the Rui Shi is an excellent disposable killer who is also relatively cheap (also you're a little light on MSV). In purchasing order, I'd recommend: 40mm REM box Kuang Shi box Celestial Guard Support Box Attack REM box As for a list using your available models, I don't think you really have a coherent enough collection to be playing full games (300 pts) yet. Pick up a few boxes first and then see what you think. Good luck and I'm sure you'll love playing the glorious jade empire!

Seven Rodoks? Jeeze.... interesting that you think the Secret Weapon washes are glossy as I haven't found that to be true, but GW's actual sepia wash is also pretty good. It's not as versatile as the SW one, but it works as an easier shade if that's all you're looking for. Well, at least better than Agrax/Devlin would as those are pretty heavy browns .

Cultists: Yeah, they're still the best at camping an objective and, unless you're running World Eaters, they're necessary. If you are running WE, then just bring 'zerkers as the recent FAQ made them Troops again. Princes: Claws or axe are the mathematically superior items. I personally prefer just double claws, but I also bring my armor busting elsewhere and leave the Prince to deal 3+-save-or-worse targets. Ann'grath: Not a fan of LoW or FW so I won't comment here. 'zerkers: Chainaxe is excellent, but remember that they can also throw away their pistol for it. Chainaxe+Chainsword is pretty sexy on 'zerkers. Plasma Pistols are also similarly great, especially if you're keeping them in range of anything that lets them reroll those ones. Too cheap to skip IMO. The champ can pretty much be armed however you want as most of his options are pretty solid. I personally like to throw in a Power Sword over the fist because the 'zerkers are best at taking down piles of guys rather than elite ones. Cool combo: Take Alpha Legion as your Legion trait and infiltrate those 'zerkers into a first-turn charge. Devastating.

That looks alright from what I can tell, but the ambient yellow light is really murdering those pictures.

For Deadly Dance, it's actually pretty simple. There are four quadrants with a console in the center of each quadrant. At the beginning of the game, you roll randomly to determine the quadrants each side is trying to control. This roll is pretty [big bad swear word]ty as you can end up with super lopsided games, but I digress. At the beginning of each turn after the first, each player with a Specialist in B2B contact with a console makes a WIP roll (Hackers get +3) with the roll being F2F if both players meet this condition. The winner of this roll determines where their opponent's zone moves to by flipping a card (seriously, why isn't this just roll a die?) from their Objective Deck with even moving the zone clockwise and odd pushing it counterclockwise. Dominating your zone at the end of each round is worth 1 OP or 2 OP if you have a friendly TAG in your dominated zone. There are some extra OP for killing more of your opponent's army along with dominating more zones and a Classified Objective as well. It's a pretty simple mission with some [big bad swear word]y rules that don't add to much to the experience. As for your lists, I don't personally see anything egregious that needs tweaking. Also keep in mind for central objective room missions that mines and hackers are excellent along with shotguns. Thankfully, Rodoks have all of those things!

Part 2: Ayyar: Strengths: Good weaponry Solid defensive stats Surprise Shot L2 Soooo much Shock Weaknesses: Competes with Fidays Low defense outside of a holo state Poor weapon variety The Ayyar is likely the most talked about HI release I've ever seen and that's saying something. It seems everyone wants to compare their troops to them and with good reason: holo2 and SS2 are incredibly effective. I do find the lack of viable profiles to be slightly off-putting, but considering how good a Shock Marksmanship Rifle is, I'll let it slide. As for how the Ayyar performed in my one heuristic testing, this is definitely a piece worth fielding. I wouldn't call the Ayyar an autoinclude, but never did I feel I had wasted my points when I put it on the table. However I did have some problems with its survivability once I had popped out of holo and even sometimes when I was in it. I've taken to treating the Ayyar like an aggressive MI piece with a little extra wiggle room due to the extra wound and have found it to be a useful way of thinking about it. Side note: A SMR Ayyar costs the exact same as 3xFO Ghulam which can be a helpful thing to remember when you're deploying one. Al-Djabel: Strengths: Excellent melee Fair ranged capabilities Excellent field presence Slightly busted in 20x20's idea of a mission Weaknesses: Expensive Fragile High risk/high reward My thoughts on Al-Djabel are pretty standard with my thoughts on Fidays as a whole: they're excellent corral pieces. This is one of the few weirder tricks in Haqq that I have some experience with using considering my experience with Speculo Killers, limited though it may be, so I wasn't completely lost on how to use Hussein. Mainly I'd just infiltrate near stuff my opponent obviously didn't want me to kill and either Rambo turn one to remove as much of their force as possible or just leave him there as an omnipresent threat that is very expensive to root out. While Al-Djabel offers enhanced CC abilities over a normal Fiday, he does compound an issue that all of them have in that they're rather squishy and one crit away from being a complete waste considering how deep in enemy territory they operate. Still, while I likely wouldn't bring Al-Djabel in a normal 200 pts game, I felt justified in my selection of him over a normal Fiday in LI. Nothing says "...and the horse you rode in on" more than slapping someone with a CC23 MA4 PH13 Viral pimp glove to the face. In fact, I prefer it to the Monofilament sword of the Speculo, but that's a question of what each model is trying to accomplish. Where the Speculo is there to remove any threat large enough to play ball with an EI Aspect, Al-Djabel and crew are there to terrorize the backfield and remove the support from my opponent's army. Note: Don't forget about his rifle. He's mainly a CC killer, but you can still get out of ZoC/LoF shots on people pretty easily with him especially as the game progresses. Muttawi'ah: Strengths: Excellent weapon selection No fat on the model Low cost Impetuousness works in their favor Completely busted in 20x20's idea of a mission Weaknesses: No long-range weapons Not particularly good in CC ...don't come with free lollipops? (it's honestly hard coming up weaknesses for these guys) The Muttawi'ah are really the only models in the game that make me look at the Proxies and think maybe they're not the most broken things in the game. Honestly, there's very little reason not to take a few of these at every chance you get and I can't imagine a sane person advocating against them. At OFCC, due to LI restrictions, I was stuck only bringing one, but had this been a normal event I probably would've slapped down at least three. The combination of Jammer (which isn't even Comms Equipment so can't be shut down), Smoke, E/Marat, and Chain Rifle along with an excellent WIP of 15 just makes these guys a complete terror on the playing field. I consistently felt like I was messing up or at least underutilizing the mutts in all of my games and they were still punching far above their weight in those games. There's just no way around it: mutts are too good not to field.

My favorites were the Scared Hitless table and I believe the Rodina table (the one that was very obviously DIY). Andrew's table was executed the best IMO design wise while Rodina had a certain charm about it given its base parts along with being a surprisingly good table to play on.

I plan to do a write-up about the other units once I have some time this week.

I do find I prefer the doctor outside of the link due to how good they are with a Nasmat, but otherwise I agree with your assessment.

As I mentioned before, I have thought a fair amount about Hassassins and Haqq as a whole after my first outing with them. These are those thoughts and I know thoughts; these are the best thoughts: First off, Haqq's strengths as a faction are pretty well known. They have excellent light infantry, their Lt. options make me sad to play Combined, and their access to doctors along with high WIP feels fantastic. These were all things I found to be true, but what really surprised me was the strength of their HI and just how many sneaky tricks they had up their sleeve with Bahram being particularly good at that last one (and the Ayyar something to call out in particular). While I still have a lot to learn about the faction, I think I can speak somewhat knowledgeably about the models I ended up dropping into my list. Ghulam: First off is the humble Ghulam, the mainstay of many Haqq lists. In Bahram in particular, I think they're pretty much a must-have due to the solid strengths they bring along with the low cost. Strengths: Low cost Fair weapon options Excellent Lt. options Excellent specialist options Weaknesses: No MULTI access No special Fireteam access (i.e. no added HI or other nonsense) Normal grunt stats beyond WIP Slightly expensive if you're not using aforementioned WIP The weaknesses to Ghulam as they appear in Bahram aren't many, but they are felt on the table. The pricing and WIP "problems" in particular are easily mitigated through list selection (i.e. giving them a plan at the beginning) while the weapon access was just something to deal with. While I did miss having MULTI next to my Sniper, I didn't miss the extra SWC cost so I'd call it a wash. As for the strengths, they're mainly expressed through keeping these bad boys and girls as a defensive backfield link. While adding Leila and keeping her in the backfield feels bad at first, this can quickly be alleviated through the use of the many Repeater/Pitcher options available to Bahram and her Shock Marksmanship Rifle and BS 12 are truly excellent additions to an otherwise BS-starved and long-range focused Fireteam. Note: the Doctor+ option feels like an always include to me. WIP 17 with a Nasmat for coverage at 19 pts is just too good to pass up. Sure she can't be in the link, but even in Limited Insertion I didn't feel like my doctor was taking away a slot better suited for a different model. An excellent addition to any force (plus, I recommend any backfield piece that comes with a rifle and a shotgun). Lasiq: Man, I had a love/hate relationship with this model the whole weekend. While on paper it seemed like a good pick and I was never disappointed with my strategy, the performance kept biting me in the butt until the bitter end. I definitely need to work more on my execution in the future regarding the Lasiq. Strengths: Good weapon options Fair cost Fair stat line Fair special rules Weaknesses: Limited weapon options Viral sniper in particular feels "win more" rather than helpful Weak defensively Low versatility It seems weird to write that the Lasiq both has good and limited weapon options, but that's the truth of it. Both the Viral Rifle and the Viral Sniper are excellent weapons, but they are lacking in versatility (although the rifle variant does also come with a Light Shotgun to help out). In the brave new world of the Ayyar the Lasiq might end up being a piece taken mostly for its pricing rather than a deep need to me. Note: I'm fully aware that the Viral Rifle variant plays much more aggressively and is definitely something I'm looking forward to in the future. As it stood in a Limited Insertion format, I just wanted the sniper as something to spend SWC on rather than the Daylami I would probably normally buy with that 1.5. To be continued....

It was not, but now I'm more worried . I even remember you saying Scots Guard now. Silly me! I'd also love to do it again some time, preferably within an ITS to really see the carnage!

With the grinder in the position it is in this picture, I'm almost tempted to try and make this some sort of vehicle for an ork.

The problem with the three-story buildings wasn't just that there were sniper roosts, but that those positions could also see too much of the table. It's hard to adjust your play to eating 3+ superior-range shots a round if you try to anything but sit in your DZ. This also wasn't the only issue I saw in the tables as a few allowed for massive advantage when viewed from left to right rather than top to bottom. While you personally might not have a problem with the roosts, they did have a massive impact on the games I played and watched on said tables. This is something I think I missed in my short write-up on table setup and is well worth consideration (poor Maggie).

Correct.

This was the best before it was corrected. Spitting that red hot fire!

Yeah, six specialists is pretty alright although none of them being Infiltrators is a little on the weak side for an average list. That said, it's just something Onyx has to deal with in the same way that they have to deal with the very real possibility of being in LoL forever. That new list looks great! I have yet to run my Overdron just yet, but that's a pretty solid murder list by my reckoning. The only thing I'd do is fiddle with the weapon load out on the Overdron as you could get a lot of minor changes through a weapon swap. Again, not something I think you need as the HMC is pretty useful given the lack of burst in the list, but it is something to think about.