For rules? Yay! The nerfage of artillery cheese and chargemonkeyism, and some new fun-with-'Mechs is good. An updated SEC and rulebook are icing on the rules cake.

For units? Booooo! They managed to shaft all 3 of my factions (HL got serious ####, Mercs didn't get anything too good, and RotS got squat, literally!)

I'm not going to comment on what my faction got (we've heard plenty!), but as a whole this set gives me great hope for the future. Without the charge change this set would have probably irretrievably broken the game, but with it CA adds a lot of depth to play.

I'm looking forawrd to the next release with better HL units that perhaps take into account some of the Faction's weaknesses.

I want to point out to a lot of folks that the vast majority of pieces that most factions have are less than optimal. Sorry, it's true. Nature of the game. They may seem OK in design, but actual play weeds them out.

As to SC getting bad Ballistic units, well, that's your design paradigm. However, if you didn't get ANY ballistic units we'd all play nothing but Reflective Armor against you and you'd be seriously hosed!

I actually am very happy even though my HL faction only got 8 units but I am happy with the units. Both Marauders are cool as is the Longbow no matter what people say.

Not one of the best expansions but some pretty cool units!

As a Liao player, I've got nothing to complain about. Even the unplayable units (Garrot VTOL springs to mind) are at least nice to have from a collection standpoint. Filler infantry is nice, too. Combat engineers may not be worth much, but at least I've got a piece to play when I've only got 11 points left.

In short, sweet set.

i'm happy with the set. lots of liao to find and some of it is good(cheap infintry for one)

I think this set is a failure.

Defence of units in general was eviscerated in favour of higher attack values which is just wrong. The average chance to hit just took a big tilt towards too easy.

Consider the Rifleman units. All of them without exception should have had a starting defence of 21. Period. You can go on about how great it is that heavier mechs got non-unique status except all of them are short-ranged with low defence. Its unfathomable. Similar arguements can be made for the Shockwave. 18 defence on the 193 point Elite Merc Variant? I was pissing and moaning about how shafted the Highlanders got with their Shockwave but somehow they managed to make the Merc Variant worse.

A starting attack of 11 is something that should only be seen on Unique units. It is simply too high for a generic unit. Combined with some very high mech speeds, chargemonkeyism will dominate in spite of the recent charge nerf.

The Arrow IV systems are horribly designed. The Tank versions should be 60 - 70 points, the towed versions should be 40 - 50 points.

I suppose I could live with some re-hashed units but they re-hashed the JESII and Behemoths, two of the most unusable tanks in the game and didn't even bother to improve them in anyway. They also forgot that the Behemoths are supposed to have high defence yet only the Highlander has it and even that unit is still incorrectly designed.

The only thing that I am really happy with in this expansion is the AA. While the SH Aesir is a little overpowered it was a necessary addition that had been neglected for far too long.

As mentioned earlier, it's a matter of quality over quantity, and I'm happy to note that my preferred faction was blessed significantly by this set.
A concern I had with Liao Incursion was that one of the dominant SE's in our design paradigm, improved targeting, had all but disappeared, and high attack values simply aren't as effective as high attack values that come with IT computers. My fears have been put to rest with CA -- IT is back in force and I can reliably hit my targets again. :)
Also too good not to mention are a couple of units that neatly rounded out what we were lacking as a faction - 1) the ability to stave off VTOLs, and 2) relatively fast units that could get across the board quickly for artillery-basing and VC3. The first deficiency was remedied by the wonderful Aesir, the closest thing to a "perfect" SH unit I have ever seen. For its point cost, I can't think of anything to complain about. The second gap in our forces was filled by the nifty Scout ATV Squads, which infiltrate up to 20" beyond the DZ and move quickly enough that they help tie down enemy forces while we shell them with our superior artillery, and are incredibly CHEAP for their cost.

As to the rest of the set, I'm glad for the higher attack values overall, which contribute to making the game more pro-active, faster mechs, gap-filling infantry, and more interesting designs for quite a number of the uniques that make them fun to play, if not outright deadly additions to a battleforce. Since I believe in emphasizing the good (too much bad in the world already), this is my impression of what each of the factions got:

SC: Holy 16" range on those mech weapons, and a solid bunch of mechs they are, too. Decent infantry as well.
DF: Bounty Hunter. Also, more speedy units that provide more options for a typical "fast and furious" DF army assault.
BR: Sun Cobra's nice; also, interesting to see that a lot of BR vehicles don't have salvage.
HL: Nice infantry, all things considered. 32" AA range on the Aesir is all right, too.
SS: Mechs with better heat dials (still need water for that lousy vent rating), sheer AP and other SE power goodness, and the hefty might of the Arrow IV.
SW: 24 defense on a huge, nasty mech, and some high-impact units that give the Wolves more of what they're used to. Nice artillery.
LI: Altogether too much, in my opinion. Great mechs, vehicles and even infantry with some high attack values and hardened armor to complement those house abilities. Personally hoping LI gets royally screwed in the next set. :)
ROTS: Well... if you can't say anything good, then...

I'm inclined to believe that the lower defenses overall in CA are a balancing mechanism, to make sure that units from past sets aren't rendered obsolete by this latest expansion (and may even force some older units with less-than-stellar attacks out of their storage boxes).

Very impressed. Together with the recent changes to the game I'd say Wizkids is on the right track, and I'm glad I've hung on.

I've been collecting and playing faction-pure SW and DF since the very beginning. CA did not offer many units to either faction, but those that were offered will be helpful, especially for DF.

The scout ATVs complement the trikes nicely and the new artillery is a vast improvement over the last DI towed AA (Homeresque shudder). The Mjolnir is an interesting, specialized mech. I'll be having fun experimenting with it..

I like the SW rifleman. Its dial is screwy and its speed is low but sw have never been about speed. Most of its infantry is slow and hindered by berserker dials so that formations are rarely able to take advantage of top speeds. Geoff takes names..'nuf said. The AA is sweet. The Pegasus might not be as worthless as people keep on saying. I'm reserving judgement until I give it a test drive.

The mortars are broken, IMO. They drop arty that can damage anyone regardless of defense rating, they can't be charged, rammed, or DFA'd, so you can't base them & damage them in the same turn, they all have cammo, so they will most likely be camped out in hindering where only JJ-equipped pieces will be able to base them in less than 2 orders, and they only take 1 click of damage from energy weapons. Completely overpowering for 20-ish points.

why is no one complaining about the SS Arrow IV tank!
WHY!
You guys complained about Kenneth (the BR sniper) having 2dmg AP with 2 pogs for 63 points. Now the SS have the -same- thing, only it has 2damage AP for a whole lot more clicks and it's only 53 points!
So what it has repair markers on every click? THANK GOD it does ._.
It can push and still keep 2dmg AP. It can push again and still do 2 dmg AP. And its pog has something like what, a 20 to hit? 17-19drift ? 8 attack?
And you thought the SS AA DI towed was bad.

Well actually I did complain about it. That combined with thier defensive mortar squads (With antipersonnel) are going to make getting in under the arty guns pure suicide. Naw most people won't push em they will take 4 surround them with mortar squads and then bring in a decent mech with command. Look 3/4 of the figs in my army have artillery beware of my pog dropping mayhem.
________
List of bellhousing patterns

I also forgot the single click of heavy armor, making them immune to most first-turn infiltrating infantry tactics (Oh great! I infiltrate my infantry and shoot at you! I deal you 1 damage! (SS player) "Ok, sure.")

I'm satisfied with the units that DF received. However, I do wonder about the method of distribution of those units per case.

I split a case with a friend, and there was a total of nine DF units. Now don't get me wrong, those nine units did include the Marauder, Locust, three Mjolnirs, and two ATV squads, so I'm not complaining about the quality of the units ... but you'd think that there would be two or three of those green Mortar Squads in a case.

Oh well, they shouldn't be that hard to come by, and I only need three more (got one in a trade).



Wolverine

I havent picked up any counter assault yet, but i am looking forward to the new DF Units to add to my favorite army, especially the Marader 2. Im also happy that the Dragons got some more arty, hopefully it will make up for our losing the effectiveness of a good percentage of our mechs because of the charge rule change. Can anyone give me the range on the DF arrow 4? I thinking it gonna be especially useful for taking care of those mortar squads if it out ranges them cuz of the antipersonnel(thats its SE right?) even if antipersonel arty does sound a little messy. Tank drops might also do the trick to take down the mortars, now that we have aircraft capable of porting the DI`s, they should present a uniqe tactical advantage over the mortar squads.

Problem with mortar squads? Run a transport up and drop out some SS Fenrir BA or the new Merc Gray Death Legion BA, or whatever multi-target Antipersonel infantry you favor... the mortar squads have low defences and short dials... you might lose the infantry and the transport, but you'll take out the mortar squads... and while he deals with your infantry, move up the rest of your forces under his other artillery, or base it, etc....

And if you play Wolves, it sounds like its time to bring out Kendrick to hunt down some mortar squads, doesn't it? ;-)

And to whoever mentioned Antipersonel artillery, I don't believe it works with Artillery strikes, because it isn't actually targetting anything, where as AP says affected units or something along those lines...

edit: Oh, yeah, back on topic... I like the set, and with the new rules it's everything I hope for, especially the riflemen... whoever said they should have higher defences should take a look at the CBT stats, riflemen were on the small side for heavies, and they had paperthin armor for the weightclass, so I think its around right on the ones I have, Merc (20 heavy), Wolf (18 Decoy becomes 20 hardened), SH (20)...