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.