I have run 2 Rokus myself and without a good damage multiplier they will never be competitive in 450. I do foresee the possibility as a Harraser Mech in 600.

Anyone having good ideas for the Worlds ?

I wanted to post a good Unrestricted army that I used recently, just to get some feedback:

DF Maxim
> DF SM1 Tank Destroyer
DF Maxim
> 3 DF Kanas
DF Maxim
> SH Galleon
Gunsho Hiroshi Kato
> 2 SH TGRs
DF Mobile HQ
BR Command Infantry
SS Arrow IV Tank
5 BR Infiltrator Mk I

Comes to 448 if I recall correctly.

It worked really well in the tournament I ran it in. I am cocerned by the lack of first-strike and BR Sprints - I'm just so used to running them in every game now!

Also, I took the Infiltrators for only 1 reason - everyone runs either Caustic or Subzero now. I hate losing my basers to those cards! Any alternate ideas would help.

Thanks in advance!

Meh, it's just a slightly-cheaper variant of will63's Dairy Queen army, ditching ATVs for Infiltrator MkIs (a mistake, IMO), and the Schmitt for an SM1. Dont' get me wrong, it's a great army... but still, meh. I also think the game is moving beyond this kind of army.

@Kotch...

This army was built counter to my local metagame, which tends to favor fatties and tankdrop almost exclusively. And I actually don't see True Grit run hardly ever (I've only faced it in two rounds since AoD came out, if memory serves). Anyways, the Rokus are great just in their flexibility. 12 speed (which no one sees coming) means they can dual-charge to kill a M or LI Zahn in one turn, or a SC/SH R10, if you can do one other damage to it before it all goes down. That's pretty big.

When facing a fatty, I'll typically put my Roku in harm's way to do damage to an artillery piece or other key figure for my opponent's army; I'll then let my opponent do his 5-6 damage shot, putting that Roku into his 3-dmg primary with 12/13 attack, and then charge. The 5-6 damage I do back to him is usually none too favorable, especially with my Oni drops in position to follow up the next turn.

Are the Rokus highly competitive? Nah, I don't think so. But I DO like that they serve as great platforms for the damage-multiplying Light gear, since their other stats are so good for the point value.

I'm looking to play one of these two armies for the storyline, which would you suggest ( and any comments and criticisms are welcomed):

Army #1
All Units are CJF ( or recruited)
Jaguar - 137
-> Selene Petros (+2/+1/+1) 16pts
-> Double Rate 23 pts

Goshawk - 161
->Goshen Pilot (+1/-/+1) 14pts.
->Mech. repair 17pts.

"Blitz" Jade Hawk -176 pts.
-> Frankie -(+2/+1/+1) 26 pts.

Shamash recon vehicle -22pts

MHI Amphibious APC - 44pts
->Fenrir BA -19pts
->Salamander BA -25pts.

Raiden BA - 15pts.
___________________________
600 pts. even
- - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Army #2 DF Faction Pure
Faction Pride: +2 to max range 20pts.

Bounty Hunter - 326

Nyx - 158
-> Milhew (+2/+2/+1) 26 pts.
->Double Rate 23 pts.

ShockTroopers- 14 pts.
2x Raiden BA -30 pts.

2x Oni BA -36pts.
Path Finders -14pts.
_______________________________
598 pts. (578 VC2)

I don't own any ATVs, and I own one DF Track bike(The Only Cap3 Transport I have is a Garrot,but no VTOLS allowed). I'm thinking of replacing the formation of Oni and Pathfinders with a Zibler Strike Tank (50 pts.) The Oni and Pathfinders have an 8 speed, w/o JJ. The Zibler has 12 speed hover.So it would be more of use as a harasser. But then I'd be putting minefield clicks into the other infantry. Thanks for your comments ! :grin:

DZ

You cant really compare them to each other as they are so different. But I am hardly competent enough to supply advice. :cool:

The first army has 3 mechs, but lacks a good ranged attack. You can swamp enemy mechs and kill them that way. But you are vulnerable to a dastardly fella with 2 TDs.

Speed helps staggering attacks and swamping your opponents is it's key to victory.

The 2nd army is 2 Mechs the BH and a Nyx it lacks support as the 1st army would eat this one alive because of the lack of support. 2 Inf formations that cannot keep up with the Mechs will prove inaquate put in some infiltrators and use them to base stuff so you can move in and attack it.

Whatever you choose good luck with it.

Regards
E130 "He who knows nothing"

Since I'm a bit better at JF than DF, I'll tackle this one.

First up, the Raiden's a 16 point unit, IIRC. Other than that, it's solid enough. I'd drop the Mechanical Repair on the Goshawk; most JF units have fairly low repairability.

The Jaguar is earing the nickname 'Swiss Army Mech' for a lot of JF players; unfortunately, the Double Rate isn't too great on it. Unless you can give an opponent lots of other things to worry about, the inability to Assault with it is kind of a loss. Generally you'll get your butt kicked before you can fire it off. Since you already have a crippling SE lacking Assault with TSEMP, maybe something else might work better. You can't equip the Light Evade on it either (curses!). Anti-Personnel is generally pretty kicking. Sure, you don't see lots of infantry swarms, but you can maim ATV formations and the occasional drop formation pretty well.

The Goshawk is, well, the Goshawk. The Sakhara Grad might be good here as well, for a -/+1/+1. You lose an inch of DFA range for +1 DV. Depending on how you set up your DFAs that may or may not be a deal breaker. Lose the Repair regardless (unless you're certain the click or two of repair may be the difference between a long, fruitful life and a long, agonzing death from hypothermia).

Blitz. Oh, how I love thee. Let me DFA the ways. You've got a reliable pilot in there for relatively cheap, you've got a fast, nasty DFA expert and some ballistic damage. Oh, and the heat dial. Yeah, I likey. If you have a Heavy Command gear, see if you can save enough somewhere else to equip here.

The Shamash is the Shamash. Just remember that there are Peasant Companies out there with more clicks of life and you'll be fine. Don't be afraid to go out in a blaze of glory in a Ram; anything hits the Shamash and it's dead anyway, so why not a chance to go with a smile?

The MHI might be better swapped for a JF Cardinal. It doesn't have the Infiltrate, but it does have much better movement. Generally, unless there's a mission specific reason (like the B6 VC3 or a pair of TTLs ready to pog), the Infiltrate isn't so great.

Infantry are fine, though the Fenrir would force the Cardinal to drop low. Also, you don't have any ballistic infantry and this could cause problems if you need to terminate an annoying HK Oni or H TGR.

Enjoy!

I like Highdancer's analysis. I totally agree in most respects. Do note, though Highdancer, that the Cardinal is a VTOL. Not much good in a Storyline where VTOLs are banned.

I would add that CJF DFA armies get ripped to shreds by Shiros. I did that very thing last night. You need electronic camo. I know assault EC is cheaper than medium EC but against a piece like Yami or something with Streaks you'll be owned. 18" range (23" assault) is just obscene.

Remember when buying enhancements to damage SE that they were costed with the best in mind in terms of damage and range. So equipping an 8" range with Anti-P is a costly way to go about it (but effective as Puke Turkeys go).

Yes I wrote some CJF fiction. But they're Puke Turkeys on pogo sticks nevertheless.

The JF army is definitely your stronger option, IMO. So, let's focus on that one, okey?

Without knowing what you have, I can't tweak the build perfectly for you, but we can play with some things...

I like the JF Jaguar with the JF Star Commander better. 12 attack on your little charge-buddy is a great option to have. I agree that AnP or Pulse would be better options than Double Rate.

I like the Tamar Grad better on the Goshawk. For a dedicated DFA-bot, speed and attack are where you want your points going. You might also consider just ditching the Gear entirely... none of the available M-class gear is terribly stellar, and would probably be better spent on support.

Frankie (or Fran-KAY, as I've taken to calling her) is fine, but if you have Celina, I'd prolly go with that, since two 11-speed DFA guys are better than one. :) Command rocks.

Beg, borrow, or steal some JF TrackBikes. Especially in Storylines, where PC cards are set, they're simply invaluable for sucking up Mine Field damage, basing duties, and the occasional Zellbrigen-enhanced ArP shot against an unsuspecting opponent. Saxon-Fenrir drops are also fantastic when Sylphs and arty aren't available.

You know, for having played the darn thing, I'm still clueless as to the dang scenario. I ran dual Goshawks with ECM and tank drop... and promptly faced nothing that could Streak. Sigh...

In that case, consider a pair of Saxons. You could formation with the Shamash, still drop everything and then get a pair of basers in the bargain.

Thanks for the input everyone. I's still debating on the pilots in general. Speed is most important to CJF in general. But I keep going back and forth on Selene vs. Star Commander.

+2 speed is nothing to sneeze at. I can threaten nearly the whole board with a 13 speed. However, +2 attack.... is well a +2 attack and invaluable against any RHDM. I had tweaked my build to to have 30 pts. (losing the double rate for AnP and repair, downgrading the Saliie to a Merc Gnome). And then I thought: "My kingdom to use a sylph!" :p .

Kotch I agree with you about the e-camo, and I think I'll try to borrow one for tomorrow...I'll see if I can dig up some trackbikes.

I'm doing some major playtesting tonight.

DZ

It depends on your local environment, DeathZorro. If your opponent doesn't play Cheeky (my pet name for Chikako) or Yami then EC is points wasted. But if they do then you'll have a hard time cracking them.

I played Yami with a Roku sidekick and 6 infantry. Basically blocking gets placed early and you ain't getting inside 4". EC is very handy in that instance because you are immune to targeting by Yami.

But like I said, no Yami, EC is wasted points so it depends on your local environment.

A rough rework at home, with a spreadsheet...

Jaguar
-Star Commander

13 move is nice, 12 AV is just scary. Basing, VC3, charging, opportunity sniping, it can do it all. Plus, even with that 11 move, it can charge from outside a Shiro's assault range (22 move, 1 inch base on the Shiro, 1+ on the Jaguar). Drop casual hints during set up about the DV of the opposition (such as, hey, that Shiro's only got a 22? That means I only need a 10 to hit on a charge! Huh). Actually following up on this is optional, but watching them respond can be amusing.

Goshawk
-ECM
-Tamar

Fast, agressive and handy for blocking. Even if you're not facing a Shiro or Streak-bot, ECM can help against tank drop, the other problem likely to pop up in this scenario. If you have Blocking out there, you can run the Goshawk out and just camp behind it, giving your entire army DFA cover. Oh, and it can also charge from outside a Shiro's assault range. :)

Blitz
-Santos
-Command

Santos is tough to get, but an 11/10/21 death machine is nothing to sneeze at. And charge a Shiro. That's a trend I'm trying to start.

Saxon
-Sniper Team
Saxon
-EBA
Saxon
-Fenrir

Swiss Army drops. You can also put an Undine in there. The Sniper Team is an excellent, well, sniper. The EBA lasts forever and has AP for those times when you need to punch through some armor. The Fenrir is a pulsing problem, especially dropped from a Saxon. All of them together can formation for a 12 AV, which could be handy against something fat.

I think (think) that's legal too. :)

The Rokus are nasty, I do like the idea of whacking on the HK light pilot (+1 attack +2 def for 13 points) and evade, which gets rid of the annoyance of a to lower defense (19 I think becomes the lowest which is acceptable late game.)

Add in HK FP and some other goodies and it becomes deadly. BUT costing FP to 30 points is dangerous, especially if they run True Grit. There goes 30 points down the gurgler...

@Highdancer...

Looks pretty #####in', from where I'm sittin'. Stupid fast, balanced, able to take on a lot of things... yer gonna give people problems with that build. Now just watch out for the tankdrops. A tip: Use your Saxons the same way you would ATVs against TD -- when your opponent declares that his Zahn is 23" away from your 'Mech (M Zahn + M Kelswa max range), move the Saxon into the physical location that he would have to drop his tank, and cool your 'Mech. The Saxons can do little things like that that will save your 'Mechs from certain doom. Good luck.

I ran a slight modification to the JF army I posted for the storyline. I ended up going 3-0 with 11 VCs. You can check out the final army and a battle summary on this thread