In addition to the JF lot, I also scored a bit Bannson's Raiders lot on ebay, so it looks like those two clans are going to be seeing some conflict soon.

The BR strategy thread is pretty short... Are there no BR fans on this thread? Contrast that to my JF dudes, and I've got a lot of homework to do for them...

But let's cut to the chase. I'll be playing faction pure (and only JF and BR for now), and to start off with, won't be using any cards since I don't want to scare off my opponents (yet!). It seems for BR some good units to have are ones with repair. It looks like there's just the JI Recovery vehicle for that (aside from Basil, but he's unique, and perhaps hard to find?). I also see there's a 3-capacity VTOL, so tank drops are a possibility.

Are there any (non-unique, preferrably, so I can actually go find 'em!) really important infantry or vehicles that make a good solid backbone to your armies? I see the Solitaire is a really popular 'mech, and I have one of those... Maybe another is in order?

Discuss.

BR has lots of fans. For the DA they got shafted on units becuase they got absorbed into House Liao. They the broke up (the Raiders) and left House Liao (screwed them over). Banson himself was kidnapped and half the BR was doing thier own thing (OEJ being a Gunslinger the last set). BR wasn't set to come back until the Outlaws set and then only the splinter of what they were.

Of course the game died just before then so no one knows what was going to happen or the fate of BR. They were one of the most popular factions in the Dark Age set.

Even at the end they were starting to get some good units (BR Soli anyone?) but the few sets they were bairly featured in was a hamper to the BR fans.

The BR soli is very solid, and I've seen builds of just 4 of them with pilots and gear. It's actually pretty effective if your aggressive enough.
BR has no, or almost no repair markers on all units. Otherwise they are pretty average stats with somewhat shorter dials. The repair marker thing is a double edged sword. It's great in that if a unit takes a hit, you can run them back and repair them. It's not great in the fact that you really need to make room for repair units to be as effective as possible. The other downside is that in standard rules your game is only 50 minutes. It takes a couple moves to get into heavy combat, a round or two after that before you really need repairs, then another two rounds to get your guy back and repaired. Then you need to get him back into combat...basically, in 50 minutes it's actually somewhat difficult to utilize the repair effectively.

As for units, deffinately get more Soli's. I'd suggest you have at least 2 minimum. These guys can make it back and forth from the front for repairs.
The JI100 from DA is a must. DFA has a unique repair vehicle too that is good.
The Scmitt and Marksman are great tanks.
The Agro mod is a nice cheap mech.
Bart, Tenclay, and OEJ from DA are great uniques/LEs
The hauberk battle armor is weak by itself, but is a great support unit for formations since it has a 14 range.
FFE Kelly, Bo, and Ehli, are great uniques/LEs
Barry Segal from DFA is good
The Regulator from LI is solid for it's cost. The Joust is nice too.
The sprint copter is a nice VC3 unit.
The Glory fire is nice.
Joyna from LI is nice.
The scout ATV from CA is a nice baser.
The Behemoth from CA is a nice tank.
The Raider Mk2 is surprisingly good. I always liked the sun cobra from CA too.
Cita from CA is a solid LE.
Bannson's Cygnus from AOD is nice, although has no color on the dial.
They get another solid Glory Fire in Fire Power. The Zues is good too.
The Chizin from AN is nice.

They only have 2 tank droppers. The LE repair unit I talked about earlier and a VTOL from CA. They don't have many 2 cap transports for that matter, but the ones they have a pretty good.

BR has a decent amount of units with infiltrate too, so be creative and find ways to use that to your advantage.

The only infantry with bypass are the shock troopers from fire power, and the salamanders from AOD.

Bannson's Raiders have a healing Strategy with BR Faction pride that is top tier. The only caveat is that Basil Ordnance LE repair vehicle is VHTF, rarely pops up for sale and is $30 on average.

Bannson's also have a LE infantry with command for only 12 points

Hammerfall Atlas is/was a popular mech for the strategy especially in a stricter rules environment however as most venues/playgroups now allow mechs from dark age to use gears/pilots unique mechs like BR Black Knight Barry BR Shadowcat II Bo and Original One Eyed Jack Jupiter have also become popular to field.

Jack Jupiter actually performs better than Hammerfall Atlas but much of the previous discussion on these boards is from the days when most playgroups still played a a stricter AOD ruleset.

Been a long time and I only played Dark Age. Kenneth Medchelke, M1 Marksman, JI100 Recovery Vehicle, Raiden Battle Armor, Kage Battle Armor. Bumper necks was a thing them, so a pair of fast mechs to take turns charging and running to the repair vehicle. Think one was Mavis Morgan, good for getting across field and tying up opposing artillery. A pair of Marksman tanks were better than a pair of mechs at that time.