Infinity: Analysis of July Releases
It’s time to take a closer look at how recent releases for PanO, Aleph, Nomads and more handle themselves on the battlefield.
USAriadna has been hogging the spotlight a lot lately, but they’re not the only new releases. We’ll start with these lovely folks from Aleph. With two characters in the pack, there’s a lot to discuss.
Let’s start with Scylla. As a Steel Phalanx Hacker, she offers some interesting choices to sectorial players who lack the options of Vanilla Aleph. She’s one of only two hackers who can take a regular, as in not an Assault variety, Hacking Device. Her Willpower is not as high as Thamyris (the other Steel Phalanx Hacker) but she’s a teensy bit tougher to kill with one more point of armor. She’s more expensive, but she brings along one of those Devabots you see above, which of course will be synched to her. This is kind of cool in and of itself, since these robots pack Heavy Flamethrowers. But Scylla’s Devabots also pack Repeaters to extend her hacking range. They do have to stay in her ZoC, what with them being g-synched and all, so they are more limited that other models with Repeaters. For an extra 7 points you can giver her a second Devabot to further increase the area over which she can hack. This will often be more useful in ARO than in your active turn. Finally you can take a version of Scyllah with an Assault Hacking Device. You’ll lose out on some helpful programs, but it will allow her to try to take over TAGs.
Drakios is more straightforward. He comes with Martial Arts L2, as you might expect from a big beefy dude like him. He also has V:No Wound Incapacitation making him a little tougher to kill. What really makes him interesting is that like Scylla, he can link with up to two Devabots. And since he has a Heavy Flamethrower himself, this will allow you to lay down up to three of those huge templates with a single order. He also packs a Blitzen. It’s not a great weapon with disposable 2 and a measly burst of 1, but its EM2 Ammo does give you a way to potentially hurt tags without expending any SWCs.
The Naffatun are also really into Flamethrowers. The four models in the Naffatun box can be assembled into two sets of two types. You have your Heavy Flamethower and Rifle armed version. Then you have your Light Flamethrower and Rifle armed version – with Grenades. Both versions have their uses, but there is something nice about the Speculative Fire ability you can use with the Grenades. But the big template on the Heavy Flamethrower can hit more models… Both versions are cheap enough that you can play agressively with them. Just make sure there aren’t too many models that can see them when they activate or they won’t last long. Really they probably won’t last long regardless, so send them after camo models who you want to Burn badly enough that you’re willing to sacrifice these guys.
Let’s follow up with this new Umbra Legate. This is the first one you can pick up outside the army box. Umbra Legates are some scary dudes. There are lots of models in this game that come with CC weapons, but few of them have Martial Arts L4 like this guy. L4 is where the ability really starts to shine. You get a bonus to your score to hit and damage, an extra burst, and your opponent gets a -6 penalty to their rolls. Additionally, the model has CH Mimetism, forward deployment, V:No Wound, and Kinematica to help him get close enough to get into CC. Since he has a Spitfire there are a lot of situations where you might prefer to just shoot with him. Although against tougher targets, this guy will always prefer to get up close and personal.
The Croc Men are literally the only SK available to Pan O players. Perhaps because of the short supply, they are quite expensive. Still, the effectiveness of TO Camo combined with a MULTI Sniper rifle, and an X Visor can never be understated. Infiltration always feels a little pointless on Sniper Rifle models, but the flexibility it offers in deployment is just as important as getting you closer to the enemy, and the X Visor will ensure being closer isn’t inherently bad. My only misgiving with this guy, other than his mediocre (for Pan-o) BS, is that you’ll probably never use his mines. The mines are great with the other Croc men but Snipers like this guy usually prefer to stay in that perfect starting spot. I can’t complain too much about that though. He’s only 6 points more than a similarly armed and statted Hexa who lacks not only the mines but also the Infiltration and X-Visor. The mines seem to just be a bonus.
Last up it’s this guy. Like our last model this guy has a visor and camo. Only it’s a different kind of visor and a different kind of camo. His visor, which is of the Multi-Spectral variety, will help you blast other annoying Camo models. You can never have too many multi-spectral visors. You don’t want to find yourself on the wrong side of a Cutter or a Swiss Guard without one. Additionally this guy has an HMG to make the most of that visor… or maybe it’s the visor that makes the most of the HMG. His BS is almost as high as it gets for Nomads so that’s good too. Getting back to that Camo, its CH mimetism for this Intruder. Nowhere near as good as the TO, but it’s saved my life plenty of times. If things look so hairy that you still just don’t want to risk putting him in the line of fire, this guy has grenades to throw. His last ability, Multiterrain, is the least exciting to me. Of course that’s only because we only use urban style terrain in my area. If those in your neck of the woods prefer to get more creative with the battlefield, this could be a very useful ability.
~What do you guys think about this batch? Did I leave anything out you think is worth mentioning?
