After tournament

after the tournament,  i took the first place with my imperial army. there were 8 players. here is my analysis.

first game ( imperial army 10 - shasvasti 0 ) win
scenario : biotechvore

i was thinking positive about my biotechvore list. i was right. you can check the list in the previous thread.

there was a qdrone there. with coordianted orders and then sujian, i managed to get rid of it. i found a nice spot for my sujian which he will aro all the game long from there. Crane link marched , used sensor to find out there are shrouded minelayer around. Sujian destroyed the mine in 2 turns. i tried a grenade luncher attack, which not succeeded. i coordinated move my troops to take them out of danger zone. i used a command token to make kuangshis linked. moved them away from danger zone. at the end of first turn, sophotects caught in smokes, but she is nowound inc. everything was alright.

my mate and my opponent Osman caught himself in a difficult position. there were mad traps in the mid table. sujian in combat form was in aro situation.kuansghis was a linked threat. he tried to march the troops as much as possible. he was unlucky and speculo and several troops in camo has to march together which couldnt succeed with infiltrate rolls in deployment part. he has some casualties and some troops couldt pass the danger zone. moreover his destroyer sphinx was caught with a madtrap.

i attacked with kuangshis from the left and game was already finished in second turn. i made my side missions.

second game ( imperial army 2 - haqqislam 2 ) draw
scenario : show of force

my list i was not happy at all. i wrote in previous thread. and minelayer kanren's sniffer never worked since my opponent has no camos around.

i started the game again. i opponed a box with my ninja hoping for a weapon but nothing came from box at all. e/m weapon. there was a tag but i was far away from him already. near the box there was a fiday type so i used firstly smoke coverage of celestial guard. i use zhangying to put madtraps in more advantage position.

celestial guard and kuangshis marched before my lovely major lunah had killed a lonely daylami with panzerfaust. sujian is left with only one order, he marched, killed a daylami and left without cover. that was one of my main mistakes.

my opponent spent orders to kill sujian with hmg duzenbozan and major lunah.

i started second turn using my command tokens to march forward. suntzu and his friends marched forward. i put kuangshis in nice position and attacked the scorpion king with coordinated attacks. i finally killed the maghariba guard, its pilot and 8 points standart rem. my mad traps were in nice position too.

my opponent attacked suntzu with fiday. he is killed before he opened a wound on my suntzu. he killed my ninja too with duzenbozan.

in my last turn, i was holding the main transmision thing. i covered area with mad traps. i was quite sure that i would win the game.

in the last turn of my opponent, duzenbozan hmg came and attacked suntzu and others with everything he has. in his final order, he managed to kill suntzu too.

at the end nobody was holding the transmission thing but i took more things from the boxes. we counted that i have much more casualties. so ... a draw.

third game ( imperial army 10 - yujing vanilla 0 ) win
scenario : deadly dance

my opponent was about to start the game. i realised that he has a tag and he will use order on it to march forward. i put my pieces to give aro nicely. combat form sujian, major lunah and suntzu.

my opponent started to attack with bao msv level 2 sniper. he got several attacks back and died. shinobu was in deployment zone after not succeding in ph roll. tag got some wounds and stayed in the middle of the table. guilang has died after he spent his time killing fake holos.

so he conceeded from the game. after we had left,  enjoyed drinking ice mocha while others finishing their own games.

Pegasus tournament lists

Tournament is on the way. Pegasus summer madness. Missions are  Biotechvore , deadly dance and show of force.

Here are my lists for the tournament. it will be my first time with iss in the tournaments. so i am excited. i like to use sujian and suntze on the table together with "general list" which is below.

lets start with the first list.

I am not %100 happy with this list. still 2 swc that i can not use at all. most of the minis i ordered couldnt come on time, so i will be missing my rems and still have to proxy alot. It will be the list that i will use for deadly dance and show of force.

i dont have a tag for these missions. this is handicap for sure since i wont be getting a few points. idea of the list is coming from army 2. zhangying there has sensors and have madtraps. madtraps will protect the deployment zone heroes in the beginning. if i take the turn, will use my sensor to findout the rats, and start an early attack with my ninja.

i may need to kill the aro threat with notorious major lunah. if there is a msv threat, will kill him first. because i want my kuangshis to march easilly with the smokes celestial guard will provide.


General list
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GROUP 1 10  / 4
 SÙ-JIÀN Spitfire, Light Flamethrower, Panzerfaust / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 59)
 SUN TZE Lieutenant (Advanced Command) Boarding Shotgun, 2 Nanopulsers, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 60)
 NINJA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Tactical Bow / Pistol, DA CCW, Knife. (0 | 29)
 KǍNRÈN Forward Observer Boarding Shotgun, Chain-colt / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 26)
 KǍNRÈN Minelayer Boarding Shotgun, Chain-colt, Sniffer / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 27)
 CELESTIAL GUARD (Kuang Shi Control Device) Combi Rifle + Light Smoke Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 13)
 KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
 KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
 KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
 KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)

GROUP 23
 MAJOR LUNAH Viral Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
 ZHÀNYING (Sensor) Breaker Combi Rifle, Nimbus Grenades, MadTraps / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 28)
 PANGGULING (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

 4 SWC | 299 Points


ok, and this list for biotechvore. there are 2 potential link options, together with killing machine sujian. i am happy with this list. i believe it can succeed in biotechvore.

 sujian biotechvore list
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 10
 SÙ-JIÀN Spitfire, Light Flamethrower, Panzerfaust / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 59)
 CRANE IMPERIAL AGENT (Sensor, X Visor) Boarding Shotgun, 2 Nanopulsers / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 47)
 CELESTIAL GUARD (Kuang Shi Control Device) Combi Rifle + Light Smoke Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 13)
 CELESTIAL GUARD Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 17)
 XI ZHUANG Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, MadTraps / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)
 CELESTIAL GUARD Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
 CELESTIAL GUARD Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
 DAKINI Tacbot MULTI Sniper Rifle / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 21)
 SOPHOTECT Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 31)
 KǍNRÈN Boarding Shotgun, Chain-colt / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 25)

GROUP 25  / 4
 KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
 KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
 KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
 KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
 CELESTIAL GUARD (Kuang Shi Control Device) Combi Rifle + Light Smoke Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 13)

 6 SWC | 300 Points

if there is no msv around, i will start with linked kuanngshis. i will march forward with them. if there is one, i can try to buff my dakini to attack that foe. if it is too powerful, i can try to come closer with sujian. cautious movements will be my friend.

after the tournament, will be here with pictures and raports.

Well, yes we are in holiday season but apart from that i have to travel alot these days. anyways i am not away from infinity, i cant be, can i ?

so here is the suntze from my own hands.

not among best pictures, but giving an idea on my scheme. i will make armors in red. will use some turqoise as nuance. bases will follow up will contrast.

i will prepare a diorama as always, as much as my wife, son and life traffic allows me.

Bases are hand made. i put some plastic things along the base. put some vallejo paste and had waited it till dried.

i then aplied vallejo - sombregrey and wolf grey. i washed it with vallejo turqoise and dry brushed it with white. for the yellow dot notifying the lof, nothing special but white first and vallejo ocre yellow after.

i am becoming better with red. here are the mixtures i am using for red color. i will use the same for all high arm value troops.

shading : %50 black red , %35 purple , %15 ferrari red

main color : %50 black red %50 ferrari red

highlight 1 : ferrari red  till ocre yellow till i am satisfied.

turqouise is vallejo one. i highlighted it with some white later.

look at the green detail on the base. doesnt it give a nice color contrast ? i like it.

i have the new starter, sujian, bao troops, father sforza. will will start painting these later.

i must buy kan ren, find a sophotects, need ninjas and most important at all, i need the kuangshis. they will be on my buying list.

we have a tournament this sunday and on monday i will be back with my lists and pictures from the tournament.

Fireteam duo in iss

This new fireteam options brings extra tactical options and i thought it might be nice to evaluate the options we have.

there are wuming duo, pheasant duo, sujian and the new miranda options. yes . plenty.

wuming duo brings lots of options. there are 2 wumings with this skill on. chain gun option, which can make the main link cheaper and combi-emitter with mines options are the two options here. so you have to take one of these options first and take an other one as a heavy hitter.

wuming hmg + mines option , wuming hrl + chain rifle one could be some options.

pheasant duo gives us mad traps, hacker or chain of command that you can carry with sniper or red furry wielding heavy hitter.

sujian part is the interesting one. yes. you can bring two sujians linked together. one can be taken with spitfire, while the other one has a heavy shotgun brings goods tools to attack your opponents at one time. when you consider how resistant they are, it will be very hard for your opponent to eliminate them. bringing a sophotects with yudbot will help here.

miranda with an authorised bounty hunter duo is called hunting party. miranda is specialist in duo has odd and bring nice weapons. spitfire or sniper bounty hunter will help her to move forward. since authorised bounty hunters have booty skill, you cant forseen how many tactical options that they can bring for you. you will see it after rolling the dices. in anyways this fireteam looks very solid option.

REMS

In iss, we have also rems. well maybe we are not rich in variants of normal hackers. but we have 2 special rems apart from the standart ones given to other armies.

lets check the avaialable variants.

we have the weibing. forward observer with sensor and satlock. it is always nice to have one. ava 2, 16 points. we are short in cheap mission makers. so why dont you take one ?

son bae and husong are standart rems that almost each army has. nothing special here, you can take or not as you prefer. i generallay take a husong.

yaopu pangguling is important. 8 points, minesweeper,repeater, bringing order but has one more important duty. it loads the mad traps again for you with baggage skill. evo variant you can take, if you plan to bring a garuda.

Lu Duan. yes. now we are speaking. holo level 2 and msv level 1 together. it has 2 nice weapons. mk12 and heavyflame thrower. and also a repeater. this rem that you can buff with a hacker is a cheap killing machine indeed. for 21 points it is like a steal.

bs 12 , 6-4 movement, and with interesting bts of 6, he is very interesting choice. if you can manage to throw some smokes with celestial guards, they march, get closer and they are deadly afterwards, if you manage to buff them also.

Yaoxie rui shi is an other cheap remote with very nice skill package. for only 20 points, just have a look at what it is bringing for you.

bs 12,  6-4 movement, nice bts of 6 coming with msv level 2 !. yesss. it is a cheap hsien for you. this time it has spitfire, which is almost acting like a hmg in closer ranges. throw some smokes and enjoy. again there is a repeater on it. so you can buff it any time you like.

if you have also a hiden ninja killer hacker, he becomes more effective with these babies.

i cant have any critics about these rems. they are very effective and cheap. they do the job, cheaper than any units you have. dont forget to bring sophotects and maybe 1-2 yudbots to repair them later.

i have to give our rems 4 out of 5 black dragons. luduan, ruishi, pangguling deserves this point.

Partners coming from Aleph (sophotects-garruda-dakini)

This time, i will evaluate all the friends coming from Aleph side.

Sophotects is a doctor/engineer , dakinis are versatile rems and garruda is our only air droop unit. except garruda spitfire, all the models are ugly at the moment. But garruda spitfire is an art work! she is very beautiful.

We said garuda, so we can continue with her.

nice bs 12 ,very low CC of 8, low ph11 which is an issue for AD troop. Mimetism makes her a problem for the opponent. one thing to consider is she is a REM. so she can be buffed with a hacker. in iss, we dont have pitcher. if there was, it could be awesome. maybe you can use your rems to get closer to where she will land. and give her another ace.

spitfire,hmg, boarding shotgun and combi , she has things to attack. she is reasonable in cost but there is no specialist option. this part important. in iss, we are already short in specialists to reach opponent deployment zone. for me it is crucial. most of the time you will forget that you have such a nice unit when designing your armies.

Sophotects is expensive but good unit. forget about other stats but she has wip of 15! she is an engineer and a doctor at the same time. she can use two yudbots, one for dakini sniper, and one for wuming rocket variant at the same time.

she has nowound inc. which is usual for aleph but not usual for iss. she is a reliable specialist with very nice movement she has. 6-4.

she is the only engineer and doctor for the army which hurts. this makes you have to take most of the time, although she is an expensive unit. spending 31 points, well, this hurts too.

Dakinis are classy, i would wish they had more ava. only paramedic unit in the army is dakinis. you will take dakini paramedic options or sophotects if you want a medic in your army.

bs 12 together with mimetism is strong. if you buff also with hacker, becomes very strong. both dakini sniper and hmg variants are nice units that i like. However there is one problem, which is also you can see in most of the places in iss.

there are many good attacking options for you. but when you invest on these, you are getting short on specialists. imagine that you get a dakini sniper, you will think about getting sophotects and a yudbot which is a wise decision. but only one ava i left, will you get a paramedic also ?

in other armies, you can take many paramedics as you like. but in iss, situation is very hard.

dakinis are moving fast with 6-4 movement, they are one of the best paramedics around. well you will have to think on it.

all these units are useful , nice units that you can take time to time. i will give them 3 out of 5 black dragons, they are efficient troops,they have unique importance for iss but all they have low ava.

Wuming

Another unit that i love. wumings look very cool on the table. look at these beautiful miniatures. Especially the chain rifle unit is maybe one of the best looking units in the infinity range.

The only thing i am not sure are the helmets. maybe i can convert them like the chainrifle variant. they are awesome.

Ok, lets check the stats.

bs 13, ph 13 , wip 13 , cc 16 , arm 3 and bts 4. for a 2 wound trooper , these are fine stats. apart from this stats, there is one thing to notify about wumings is they dont have cubes. this gives a discount on costs, you dont have a chance to revive them back with using a command token to use a medical skill again. but it gives a chance to wumings to not be effected by sepsitorizing attacks.

they have kinematica level 1, and they are linkable.

they can make 5man links in imperial army. if they like , they can take one zhangying unit inside of the link, which is awesome.

you can check that there are many options zhangying provides. hacker, forward observer, sensor, madtraps, missile luncher, cheaper hmg etc. some of these nice abilities coordinate nicely with wuming unit variety.

33 point boarding shotgun wuming has tinbot B. this deflector gives mod of -6 to opponent hackers, furthermore gives bts bonus for extra resistance. this nice bonus makes zhangying hacker very powerful.

39 points grenade luncher wuming is already cool with bs 13 + 3 from link maybe another +3 from possible range etc. if you give this link a zhangying sensor. link becomes a camo killer band. zhangying senses the camos, and you make a shot of bs 19 with grenade luncher. hard to dodge attack is pretty dangerous.

25 points chainrifle guy , you will take most of the time, to make the link cheaper. small but ok synergy is nimbus grenades with chain rifle. zhangying can use a nimbus grenade. chain rifle guy can use the template. hard to dodge attack. dont underestimate smg in close range. armor piercing bs 19 attack with 4 burst is no joke.

Those without name have many different loads. Do you like mines ? they have. which is also the only source of mines in iss army. they have panzerfausts. emitter is also nice for attacking special troops.

forward observer is also a cool option. cheap specialist you can take anywhere. i would prefer chainrifle variant has this skill though.

nimbus light grenade luncher is also nice. 35 points multirifle variant has it. if there is a 5man link you are facing, bs 18 hitting dangerous sniper with 2 burst, now has bs 15 with1 burst only. nimbus grenade lunchers provide nimbus for other units. its not like grenade. so maybe you can use it for your ninja. already to camo ninja now provides -9 mod for her opponent. think about it.

heavyrocket is always fine. cheaper than missile lunchers but sometimes if you are lucky , they create too much damage. 33 points. also you can take this variant solo. put somewhere on top of the building. with cover arm 7, bts 6 can soak many shots. bs 13 is powerful in cover.

there is also fireteam duo option. chain rifle and mines variant has this option for you. using double wuming together gives so many options too.

wumings are very good units. you can rely on them . one thing makes them more strong is the many orders kunagshis provide for them. 5man link using all the 10 orders and there will be still other troops making the missions for you in other army.

i will give them 4 black dragons. they are very effective troops.

Kanren

Kanren is one of the last units coming for iss. Instead of giving an other infiltrator to iss, corvus belli decided to give a forward deployment level 2 unit. for me, more or less same thing. Ok you can not push him to go ahead, but most of the time, 8 inch is enough for this unit to find a good spot to reach the buttons he needs to push.

Lets have a look at them deeply.

Kanren is a nice mini indeed. i am still waiting for an other one. this one with a colt in his hand suitable for all variants available.

kanren has ava 3. and there 2 things very special about him. holoprojector level 2 plus forward deployment level 2.

he basicallys starts the game 8 inch ahead of the normal deployment zone together with 2 fake identities. holo level 2 is working like camo most of the time, so these units are almost like infiltrators for iss army.

on stat base. they are lovely. cc19, ph 10 (meh), bs 12 fine, arm 1 and bts 3.

dont forget that he has also martial arts level 1. so here is one of the strong points of kanren. kanren is like a weak shinobu. let me explain. holo provides suprise attack. together with martial arts level 1, your opponent gets -9 modifier in close combat, while kanren attacks with a monofilament sword. kanren is very dangerous against strong troopers, especially against tags. and low ph is not an issue with this weapon.

all the variants of kanren has chain colt. so he can attack with chaincolt for free hit, if the opponent chooses to attack the fake holo.

you can see that kanren has boarding shotgun and combi weapons on all types.

all the variants are very strong and bringing many things to table. killerhacker cool, assault hacker nice. forward observer is strong and have affordable costs.

madtraps variant can be really useful on the table. 2 mad traps, 3 holos on the table with one unit , extremely defensive turret for the opponent.

one of the most unique units in the game, there is a minelayer kanren without mines. this option starts the game with sniffer which is already put somewhere in zone of control of the kanren unit. this variant is very strong against ariadna like camo infesting armies. starting the game with making camo units loose the camos they have. if you have zhangying lieutenant with sensor. even before using the first order, you can make it with liuet. order instead.

there are other things that kanren make. kanren can use holo level 1. he can show up like an other trooper. how about acting like a hvt figure . you can put 3 hvt model on the table and smile to your opponent. on especially highly classified, it is pretty strong tactic.

i love kanrens very much. in almost every iss list, there has to be one one kanren. i thought too much about giving them 4 or 5 black dragons but if i cant think about a list without kanren, it means they deserve to get 5 black dragons. i rate them 5 out of 5 black dragons. they are one of the most essential units after the famous kuangshis.

Zhangying

Zhangying is an interesting unit that colloborate together with wumings in a 5man link and hsien in haris. even cause of this reason, they deserve some respect. lets start evaluating them, starting from their statline first.

we have only missile luncher miniature variant for the moment coming with the starter. the one, on the left side.

bs 12 is fine, close combat 16 is a bit above average, ph 10 is low and wip 13 is ok. arm 2 and bts 3 is pretty normal in yujing. zhangying becomes more special with sixthsense level 2 and bioimmunity.

sixthsense level 2 makes this troop to react anything without any negative modifier. missile luncher can react to an intruder in smokes. hacker with this ability is safe against hackers. think about this skill. it is strong.

bioimmunity makes zhangying dont care about viral and shock weapons. he can select stronger bts 3 instead of arm value against these weapons. not bad. but as i always complain, bts 6 could be more nicer here. same story, kosuil in tohaa has too.

zhangying has many nice things in his arsenal. mad traps, sensor, nimbus grenades, hacker with a dcharge, hmg, breaker combi ,shotgun and missile luncher as wepaon choices.

haris option is important. nimbus grenades, sensor ability and breaker combi wielding variant will assist mighty prince hsien is his voyage.

any zhangying can get in 5man wuming link. i want to give detailed info on wumings part, but when you consider how many different options zhangying unit has, you can evauate his importance better.

we are missing sensor ability in forward observer variant. this could bring a fantastic option for iss. at the moment,i cant see many choices to be used alone among zhangying. missile luncher is ok, with nice ssense level 2 ability. other than that, looks like we would prefer zhangying in the links.

zhanging options are high in cost. cheapest variant is 23 points. but if you like to use him effectly better you spend between 25-30 points. i dont prefer to spend more than 22-23 points for a 1 wound trooper. it is hard decision. does he worth these costs for what he brings ?

i believe yes. especially in links. for me haris variant deserves to take 4 out of 5 black dragons, since he brings nice things for hsien haris.

anyways i want to rate them with 3 in general way.

Major Lunah

I like this mini. since i had learned that a new sniper was coming for iss, i got excited, because i like tricky characters.

unit came up with interesting abilities, but also mini is looking great.

awesome pose, ready to kill.

major lunah comes with an exciting weapon. viral sniper. damn strong weapon makes the unlucky opponent to make 2 bts saves and even one of the rolls are unsuccesful, unit dies immetiately.

nwound inc. troops, vdogged troops wont like this at all.

lets check the stats first.

close combat 17. what ? this is coming from her background. bs 12. ok fine. wip 14 is cool. arm 1 standart with no bts.

major lunah has camo but for one time usage. limited camo. mimetism is very good on a sniper unit, who oftenly will be under cover most of the time already.

there is marksmanship level x, which is skill criticised most of the time since it doesnt look very fruitful on the table. but i believe on lunah it shines.

when you attack with lunah in limited camo, your opponent suffers -3 (mimetism) -3 (cover) - (suprise) - 3(maybe range ?), so opponent will choose maybe to dodge here. here comes the marksmanship level x. it gives you an extra +6 but leaves you with burst 1.

bs 12 + 6 + 3(possible range mod.) gives you chance for a guarantee hit, bs 21! everybody chooses generally double shots, but dice probabilities show that there are circumtances  that guaranted hit is a better idea. i will revise this part later in the future.

there is one thing very strange about major lunah is she has some weird looking other skills that is very hard for her to use them.

there is stealth. when will i use stealth ? i am trying to imagine a use, but hard to find. in my own turn, will i try to suprise attack a fiday with that ? cc17 is also not bad. but... hard really hard.

multiterrain. well on a sniper unit, we cant say that it is useful skill. not fruitful in my opinion.

religious. well time to time can be useful but not the first thing, i would look for.

they could design major lunah, with martial arts level 1, giving her a better pistol and a real camo. this could mean more and could fit better to her background.

major lunah is an useful unit. she can be used time to time. the thing that makes her more special is in imperial before her, the only camo unit was ninja. so she is most welcomed in our ranks as a new tactical option for the army.

i rate major lunah with 3 black dragon out of five.

Hsien

There are some nice units in the game. but the best is ours.
Hsien. the lord of terror. living god with a weapon in his hand. ok, not that much. :P

i like Hsien very much and he is one of the reasons i play imperial. i will try not to be sensible and write a review that way.

Hsien has fantastic stats line. bs 14, ph 14, close combat of 19 ( martial arts level 1 ), wip 14 , nice arm of 4, and bts of 6.

and a nice skill to co-operate with this fantastic stats. msv level 2!

a 2 wound troop with a hmg in his hand is a killing machine that everybody is afraid of.

martial arts level 1 looks simple but it is not. cc19 troop giving his opponent -3 mod attaching with better damage is a threat. Especially, if he has other troops to accompany him. ap ccw he is wielding not great but similar type units also has this like asura in aleph.

You can use hsien hmg as a solo killer. he is more dangerous in smokes that celestial guards supply. that makes also hsien special. aquila guard has maybe better bs of 15, but he doesnt have smoke supplying units in his army. same situation will be for asura most probably since i dont expect the vedics to have smoke covering units at all.

However one thing makes hsien more dangerous is he can link with zhangyings. this is a haris. so you have to take a haris zhangying with a sensor, breaker combi and nimbus grenades. so, if hsien likes, he can gain nimbus zone trick from zhangying. more important, zhangying can use sensor to make hsien to kill his hiden enemies with ease. hsien is a real camo destroyer.

haris gives hsien chance to get an extra help from one more zhangying apart from haris option. these troops have sixsense level 2  that hsien doesnt. you can take mad traps, a hacker, a forward observer as you prefer. hsien hmg leading zhangyings can accomplish missions by this way. hacker variant has a dcharge too.

there are other warriors in hsien options. hsien multi rifle is a nice unit taking his tinbot B with himself to the link. this is where his friend zhangying hacker shines too. this is a nice couple together. now your opponents are facing -6 on hack rolls. standart wip 13 infiltrator hacker like zeros will hardly do anything against our troops. if you are a zero, would you attack a hsien in aro ? if a zhangying hacker is moving, would you attack her. zhangying hacker becomes like a tocamo unit in hacking wise this way. and she is prettty dangerous.

a zhangying model is on the way and so finally our haris will be done. i am planning to convert missile variant has a hacker as well.

if you take hsien multi rifle and second as a hacker, you have still a third option to select. well depends. many nice options for you there. why not taking a missile luncher who is already ssense level 2 ?

Hsien boarding shotgun unit is cheap, mighty killer that no camo can match in close fight. bs 14 + 6 from range means bs 20 3 shots against a to camo unit. for 52 points only! one of the other troops is already has sensor. and you can choose the third one a hmg zhangying, this trio is extremely dangerous.

we have many orders that kuangshis supply and we can have celestial guards to smoke around. this makes a trio of hsien and 2 zhangyings very powerful.

nothing in this game unstopable. whitezone and albedo becoming popular and these are serious problems for a msv level 2 troop. better keep your hsien in cover in your deployment zone.

i want to give hsien 5 out of 5 black dragons. i believe he deserves this, especially in haris link option. he is a unit, that every imperial army player should use oftenly.

Pheasant rank

Pheasant rank, an other unit with nice statline.

Phesant rank brings on the table ,some important things for imperial , but lets see if they can come as an essential unit or not.

cc22 together with martial arts level 2 is fine. even he cant add +3 from martial arts level 3(since he is level 2 ) still he has critical chances. strangely low ph value is not represent in male model coming with starter. ph is 10. wip 14 is good value for a specialist. arm 2, bts 3, not bad. bs is 12.

Pheasants are free agents with fireteam duo. so they can swap army group without command token and allows to move 2 of them together.

Costs of the units are starting from 29 to 36 points. on specialist base, there are a few chain of command options and a hacker variant.

variant with mad traps is interesting. there are mad traps, chain of command skill. combi+emitter is a nice tactical weapon.

most important variant looks like the red fury option, with the chain of command option for 36 points and 1,5 swc. :( . so even this looks like a good option, in haris it doesnt give you many options. you will take 2 baotroops with her. there will be one or two options for you designing your haris team. haris option and having 5 burst shock weapon is strong but the problem is there is no variety at all.

for using solo, an other idea is boarding shotgun, the cheapest unit with 29 points :( , comes with shotgun and chain of command skill to wait in your deployment zone, when hsien rampage starts. ph 10 with a stun grenade ?

5 man bao link is a strong link. and you can have a pheasant inside. this is nice. you can use hacker variant and any chain of command variant here.

i still have no idea to find a place for sniper variant . maybe inside of a 5man link, he can be a stong unit, but you will spend your points on a specialist most of the time if you design a 5man bao link.

on design base, i believe pheasant rank doenst have the synergy of other troops have. there are many nice units there waiting for you in army list and most of the time you cant find many points to use on them.

if pheasant rank has a killer hacker variant, could be great with that martial arts ability and free agent skill . but no. he could be 29 point unit. he could be a reliable unit, that can be taken time to time.

pheasant rank has skills, abilities, stats that you can not synergy with other troops easilly. units could be designed better with stats they have. nice wip 14 can be used for a flash pulse, a dcharge here could mean something with nice martial arts ability. if there is a ph value of 10, cant understand the meaning of a stun grenade at all.

there are still some nice variants there that you can consider in your lists. but in imperial there are more shiny units to choose among from.

i give pheasant rank a hardly earned 2 black dragons.

Holo Projector level 2

we have holo projectors. many of them. no faction can compete with us on holo thing.

in ISS, there are 3 strong options for us who have holo projector skills.

We have kanren (AVA3) - Father Sforza(AVA 1) and LuDuan(AVA2). totally we can 6 holo units with 18 holos on table. :P , well why not ? we can do that.

after sforza gain regular order type too, now iss has one awesome tactic. you can take a few holo level 2 units, use in coordinated move together and ask your opponent if he has an aro to spend. he can delay, which gives you chance to move in 2nd part of the order too. you can attack with suprise shot as well. its like camos acting together.

opponent can choose to attack directly to one of the echoes around. which is awesome for you. now you can fire if you like, without face to face most of the time then.

you are in profit.

an other idea is taking one master hitter like hsien hmg. he is strong even with 2 burst. taking him as the main troop. others will have only burst 1. but.... father sforza has fantastic 1 burst weapon called adhesive luncher. bs13 + xvisor makes him deadly.

an other idea i like is using fake holos to take attention of aros. move in front of a camo. the opponent will decide to aro or not. if they aro back, now they are discovered with their own decision.

you can use one of the fake holos to distract opponents' koalas, mines as well. it is obligation and they must react. so you dont worry about them anymore.

use a kanren killer hacker, get inside of the moran zone of the control and enjoy. or possible to use the kanren fake holos for your ninja waiting in to camo.

using 3 kanrens are very disturbing for your opponent. he will see 9 holos around and he will have ideas to hit one of them. maybe a nice idea is leaving the original holo infront of your opponent. he will think that it is a fake holo. evil! also try using some fake holos in cover. your opponent will think that the real one is the one in cover.

just one important thing to remind is, if your holo is hit, it is hit. so dangerous when you face template weapons. your fake holo can be hit by grenade and the real one can feel the pain. take care of the real user, when you will face shotguns, mines, grenades, missiles etc.

at the end, holos are like camo markers can be attacked. sometimes they are more useful, sometimes less. anyways, you need to practice a bit on using them.

Authorised Bounty Hunters

Authorised bounty hunters are available for any vanilla army . They have classy booty level 2 skill, that can create unexpected tactical options. the thing is that they are all irregular.

they were !!!

i will come to that part later. authorised bounty hunters dont have many avaiable models since generally they are given as trophies in its packages. motorcycle chick and an ugly combi variant are the only models that you can buy.

there is also miranda. on miranda we have many things to tell about. lets start with her.

miranda ashcroft has odd ! hard to hit unit movement 4-4 with reasonable bs value of 12. when she is irregular you have to spend order pool on her, without coordinated orders it sucks.

she has combi and boarding shotgun variants, which both ok. combi is good when you use suppression fire. shotgun is good when you get close with odd.

she has stealth like other authorised bounty hunters. it makes miranda more sneaky.

ikohl level 1 on an odd troop is awesome. you can sneak , attack and kill with your monofilament weapon. close combat 18 not bad, when you have a potential to kill someone only with one hit. nanopulser is also something nice against low bts value links,or an aro weapon relying on odd.

with wotan campaign, now miranda is regular in iss! well done. now she is also a specialist. awesome! and makes a fireteam duo with other bounty hunters. thats great!

these things bring a nice tactical aproach with her. dont forget that authorised bounty hunters have booty level 2. any bounty hunter can bring smokes, adhesive lunchers, hmg, sniper,grenades etc. which gives this duo a different way on each time they are used.

fireteam duo, brings miranda an impresive close combat attack chance. burst 2 attack with monofilament can be very deadly. if you hit twice to an opponent, it can be enjoyable to look at his face.

being specialist is always a plus. especially in imperial army, where sometimes hard to find space , while designing awesome link options. in imperial, sometimes we dont have many specialists at all after finishing all 300 points.

authorised bounty hunters already have some good weapon options like spitfire, sniper etc, if you are lucky you can get a nice boost with booty skill.

father sforza is an other authorised bounty hunter. he has already holo echo level 2. now he has regular option in iss as well. father is not forseen as before. when you take him irregular, your opponent has the idea when he sees the order tokens you have. now with regular option, you can keep him as a celestial guard or any other troop for late tactical options.

our father now have vdogged ability. holo, vdogged and dangerous weapons together is nice mix of things go well together. he has also heavy pistol for aro.

father has impressive weapons, that can change the game balance suddenly. please dont oversight that he has also xvisor while using these weapons.

adhesive luncher is great weapon. on 16-32 inch range band, normally any troop gets -3. father doesnt. bs 13 on 32 inch attacking range with suprise chance, even with one shot, dangerous.

viral rifle is also classy. bs 13 attacking viral suprise attack something that nobody wants to face. since this attack has also xvisor on it, you can attack till 48 inch with -3 only. imagine you see a troop on the other side of the troop outside of cover, you can try unexpected shots of 3 burst with bs10. 

holo is a state for suprise shots and almost a camo state for your opponent. 

check the weapons he has, once more. he can stand against anything. there is a tag, he has adhesive luncher, low bts enemies, killing them with viral. high bts value opponents, why not heavy pistol and nanopulser.

it is hard to evaulate these units in iss. when they were irregular, it is hard to give them 3 black dragons. and honestly was thinking about 2, before wotan campaign. but after wotan campaign buff, these units become better troops for iss. i can easilly give them 3 black dragons. i can change my mind later with 4 dragons later. must see them practically on the table. i am dyeing to use miranda duo link and father with after new abilities.

Ninja

Ok .lets be honest. the first reason that we get in yujing is cause of the ninjas.

ninjas are sudden death, very dangerous troops for the opponent and waits hiden at shadows, patiently for their time to come.

ninja has incredible closecombat ability. cc23 witha martial arts level 3 together with a suprise chance is lethal against almost any troop in the game. he can kill tags, hi infantries, any unit moving around without template weapons. ( yeah.. this part sensitive. )

ninjas have standart bs 11 and wip 13 values. they have combi or tactical bow options and a sniper variant which is for me little bit too much to spend.

i try to avoid sniper variant. spending 42 points and 1.5 swc seems to me too much when there are order sergeants with bs12 and 33 points only. extra tax coming from martial arts ability is not fruitful on sniper variant.

killer hacker for 29 points and assault hackers for 40 points, where ninjas shine.

since they have infiltration, these variants can make missions, can use hacking abilities and on the way if they like they kill people.

killer hackers have tactical bow, which is kinda meh weapon to attack. maybe better at defending on a tocamo unit then combi. but combi kills things more easy than a 1 burst weapon. 3 burst is cool on tocamo.

also we have close combat monster, so why will i bother myself with shooting 1 burst, checking if i hit or not , then if i damage or not. isnt is better , getting in combat for an easy kill ?

so for me, assault hacker is a more optimised variant. he can kill if the opponent is close, he can hack, he can make missions and he can attack opponent with combi if it is far away. 40 points abit much. but when there is ava 1 and if you are in cheap cheerleaders club, it is ok.

i would like a boarding shotgun variant here, when the bs value is 11 only. most of the time, the opponents you will face have mimetism in mid table. so hard to kill something with max bs 11 with 3 shots.

these things make me confused but one thing is very important. dont forget that they are close combat masters. and this must be the first reason, you are fielding them.

in a sensor club sectorial, which is easy to take opponents out of camos, they become easy targets suddenly for a ninja. ninja will get in close combat and kill with ease.

i could rate them with 3 dragons. but they are important in imperial army. ava is only 1 and there are no any other infiltrator except ninja in our sectorial. kanrens ok, very closer to mid table but infiltrator is an infiltrator.

i rate them 4 out of 5 black dragons. ( except the sniper. sniper is for me 2 )

Unit evaluation system "black dragons"

When ever i evaluate an unit, i am using a black dragon system. As much as an unit gets black dragons from me. it means better. so here i like to also notify clearly what may i mean as below.

one black dragon means my evaluation is not positive for that unit. better to not use this unit if you are playing a competitive match.

two black dragon for an unit is, that unit isnt good or bad at all. For sure , there are better units there to use, and hard to find a place when designing an army list.

This unit is ok to use. You can find place in the lists and there are times that they are useful. maybe they are using a special skill that can be countered. maybe you need to focus on that unit when making your list. Otherwise there is no problem at all and useful.

This unit can help you to win. It has advantages, some serious synergy with other troops. It has some nice skills hard to pass by. they are effective in several lists. they are strong.

This unit rocks. It has really strong skills,stats that can give you advantages in the game. Maybe they have nice skills that co-ordinate well  together. Better you try using her most of the time. Keep in mind that you have an unit like this, before designing your army lists.

Kuangshi

In each army and sectorial, there are some nice units that opponents envy. Sakiel from tohaa, chasseur from ariadna,posthumans from aleph etc. In imperial army, the most important units are the kuangshis.

People dont care at all these old models at all. Some players like to use shiny new miniatures. But if you like to play with imperial army, you have to use the kuangshis.

lets evaluate their strenghts together.

they move 4-4 , have standart bs of 11, ph 12 and wip 13. no arm and bts , nothing special on stats base.

guys, these are regular and only 5 points. they have ava. of 8. so you can take 8 from these and for totally 40 points you have 8 orders. to deploy these units, you need also celestial guard with kuangshi control device which is 13 points. so makes 53 points. now we have 9 orders!

important thing is that the celestial guard must share the same combat group with the kuangshis. furthermore, you can link this celestial guard with kuangshis together.

kuanghsis are impetious. so any kuangshis that are out of the links can mover freely forward which can be disadvantage sometimes. but sometimes can be an advantage!

you have to put your kuangshis somewhere in your deployment to be not effected by first round massacre by the opponent snipers.

when ever you reach midtable with them, they become a serious threat with v:dogged skill, chain rifle and pistols in their hands. you can kill something and die in the same time but in any case, you will be in profit side, since kuangshis are the cheapest units.

you can disturb koalas, get inside of mine fields, make some camo tokens to show themselves without thinking the consequences at all.

ph 12 is also not bad when you need to dodge sniper threats.

although even these abilities could be enough for a player to pick them, kuangshis have more things written on their stat line.

they have explode level 1 skill! an interesting skill. you can blow up your kuangshis. when ever a kuangshi becomes unconscious, you have a chance to use explode skill if the state is on your side. you have to decide if you like to use vdogged skill or becoming unconscious. imagine that you are surrendered by a few troops. you can blow instead. damage 13 , shock ammunition.

Second nice ability is the biolocater skill. even this single ability has nice tactical option which can be lethal for your opponent. with a short skill, a kuangshi becomes unconscious but gains targeted state and your weapons can attack this unit. think about it. :)

moreover this targeted unit acts from now on as a repeater for your army. by using the repeater, you can attack the units, close to this unit. it gives very nice tactical choices. therefore if you bring kuangshis, try to bring hackers, grenade lunchers and smart missile weapons.

kuangshis. wonderful and cheap units. i can easily give them 5 out of 5 black dragons.

Celestial Guards

Celestial guards are the backbone of the imperial army, but in different way, they are not used for mainly as cheerleaders.

With 13 points cost, they can be a side cheerleader but in a sectorial which has 8 kuangshis, they mainly take different roles than being cheerleaders.

Celestial guards have bs 11 and wip 14! wip 14 is something great especially in a link with forward observers. they can react with flash pulses in a strong way. bs11 is a standart value for basic links. Only fusiliers have bs 12.

Celestial guards have a strong smoke and kuangshi leader variant. for 13 points and 0,5 swc, you gain many important features in your army. you have smokes, for many msv level 2 troops, and 8 kuangshi on total allowance.

We will investigate kuangshis later in detail. But shortly we can say they are the most important units in imperial army. so if we need a celestial for that, that simply incresases the value of the trooper too. i will rate celestial guards general later at the end of this thread, however alone celestial guard with kuangshi control device, it is 5 out of 5 black dragon for sure. he is the first selected unit in army most of the lists.

celestial guard hacker is a nice hacker that can find place in many lists. wip 14 value and bts 3 makes her pretty reasonable hacker.

An important variant that is over sight most of the time is the light grenade luncher one, that you can find in many other armies. What makes her special is the synergy with other troops and skills. Cranes have sensor. together with a hacker, she can harm many units that you dont have lof with.

i love also boarding shotgun wielding forward observer variant too.

LT one is with combi. He is quite obvious if you select him, but not spending any swc is good when notifying a lieutenant.

One of the stronger variants xi zhuang who is a forward observer also identified as a celestial guard too. if he is linked with celestial guards, he brings his toys with him. ( mad traps ) so i would rate him only as 4 out of 5 black dragons.

Most of the important thing about celestial guard links is, that they can link with the Crane rank agents. Crane ranks are very solid Hi infantry choices that brings firepower, sensor and a nice assault hacker if you need. this makes the link together very strong with many options together.

Crane + celestial guard links can achieve missions, kill with high bs/nice weapons, with sensor can find the rats, kill the rats with grenade lunchers and enjoy smoke all the way.

I have to be miser again and must rate celestial guards as general 3 out of 5 black dragons.