Friday 10 October 2014

List of the Week - Hunting Bounties

" A lot of people won't change a plan, that's how they end up not winning." - Dog the Bounty Hunter

I'm trying out something new for the blog, a bit of an experiment I guess as I have no idea if this is something that people would be interested in. Each week (or two, or three...) I'll cook up an interesting looking list and talk about it in the context of the current ITS system.

Sometimes it'll be pure theory-crafting, sometimes it'll come with a battle report, either way I hope that these lists will cause some discussion.

This first list spawned in a car journey on the way back from a tournament in Exeter when Robin (i0003), Matt (Drastic), Stuart (Fathi Amirmoez) and I were plotting lists for an upcoming tournament. Frankly it's just too much fun not to share.

How could you say no? - Image from Corvus Belli

One thing you may have noticed is the sheer amount of Bounty Hunter models that Corvus Belli are putting out as limited editions. So what is a person to do with them all? After all they are both unreliable (with Booty) and don't work well together (Irregular). Furthermore you can only have them in non-sectorial human armies.

If only there was a way to turn them all Regular instead? Oh wait, there is! 

Joan of Arc will convert all of your surly Hunters into well drilled troops, which makes them excellent value for their points. As a bonus, she'll be getting a limited edition model soon too if the rumours I've heard are anything to go by. The only question now is can we turn this shell into a workable list?

First, a quick word on the Booty skill. Yes, it's random. Yes, random is bad. However, 14 points for a BS12 Combi Rifle with reasonable WP and some ARM/BTS is okay value and anything you get from Booty is just gravy. It doesn't hurt that over half the table gives really good results either. Every time you roll up a Sniper Rifle, Heavy Machine Gun, Motorbike or ODD you'll be laughing.

Don't forget that you can steal stuff from unconscious models too.

 Joan of Arc 2.0 Lieutenant (57|1)
 Miranda Ashcroft Combi (21|0)
 Bounty Hunter Combi (14|0)
 Bounty Hunter Combi (14|0)
 Bounty Hunter Combi (14|0)
________________________________________________________

120/300 points | 1/6 swc

I've opted for Mobility Armour Joan as she has a better gun and only loses 2 ARM in exchange for extra PH, faster movement and a points reduction. The Bounty hunters all come with Combis but that may change come N3 and the shotgun buffs which may see one of them receiving a Boarding shotgun instead.

Be very careful with Joan as she has Frenzy so once she has caused a wound your entire army becomes Impetuous!

Another Limited Edition to add to the collection.

The biggest downside of this list (much like Wallace-lead Glaswegians) is that your Lieutenant is obvious and once dead your army crumbles. Good thing that she's got two wounds, NWI and 3 armour then.

The first thing that I want to add to this list is a suite of specialists. Kamau are excellent defensive hackers and will open up PanOs extensive suite of Remotes for us. We also have access to some decent Forward Observers in the Auxilia and Order Sergeant so we'll take one of those. Lastly we'll have a Machinist with Palbot to round out our selection

 Kamau Hacker (28|0.5)
 Auxilia FO (20|0)
 Auxbot Observer
 Machinist Engineer (15|0)
 Palbot (3|0)
________________________________________________________

66/300 points | 0.5/6 swc

If playing Spec Ops then you can take an Acon Regular with Chain of Command, Doctor and Engineer with a second Palbot in place of the Machinist. 

This leaves us with 115/4.5 left to spend on cool stuff and, given that we already have Hacking and Engineer support, plus the fact that we can't hide our Lt anyway, means we may as well take some Remotes!

 Bulleteer Spitfire (29|1)
 Bulleteer Spitfire (29|1)
 Sierra Dronbot HMG (28|1)
 Sierra Dronbot HMG (28|1)
________________________________________________________

114/300 points | 4/6 swc

Oh yeah, now we're talking! The two Sierras can be in their own combat group quite happily pooping out mines all game and they will help defend Joan on the crucial first turn. The Bulleteers will punish any army that didn't bring a healthy dose of MSV. It might be correct to have one with a Heavy Shotgun to do damage to bunched up troops though but Spitfires are generally more reliable.

Yes, this list is light on specialists. I wouldn't really use it outside of Frontline/Quadrant Control/Annihilation as it stands. If you fancy trying it out for some of the other missions than an Order Sergeant FO replaces one of the Bulleteers and you could swap out Miranda Ashcroft for a second FO Auxilia.

I'll have to proxy this army up and take it out for a spin soon. Although, now that I have the Operation Icestorm PanO painted up maybe I could do with picking up a few remotes....

 Panoceania | 12 models
________________________________________________________

Combat Group #1
 Joan of Arc 2.0 Lieutenant (57|1)
 Miranda Ashcroft Combi (21|0)
 Bounty Hunter Combi (14|0)
 Bounty Hunter Combi (14|0)
 Bounty Hunter Combi (14|0)
 Kamau Hacker (28|0.5)
 Auxilia FO (20|0)
 Auxbot Observer
 Machinist Engineer (15|0)
 Palbot (3|0)
 Bulleteer Spitfire (29|1)
 Bulleteer Spitfire (29|1)
Combat Group #2
 Sierra Dronbot HMG (28|1)
 Sierra Dronbot HMG (28|1)
________________________________________________________

300/300 points | 5.5/6 swc
open with Aleph Toolbox  : http://goo.gl/fm85Bf

4 comments:

  1. With Joan as Lieutenant you can use Warcors as cheap Order Monkeys....as long as she is alive, of course.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In a Campaign tournament (or in Paradiso) that's definitely the way forwards. 3pt Regular models are amazing - even Yu Jing players start getting jealous then!

      Delete
  2. This list looks like blast to use! It's cool to see the thought process behind a very creative list.

    Personally I have had good success with Bounty Hunters simply hanging out next to my Sin Eater with HMG, ready to pick their gun up and get some revenge should they fall!:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can't wait to try it out in some proper missions. I also hadn't thought of them picking up weapons form their own side. A shame you can't steal equipment from remotes though, being able to pick up a HMG or ODD would be handy...

      Delete