Without further ado, Picken's Bakunin guide!
As I enjoy reading unit summaries such as MuRm's for vanilla Nomads and Penemues for generic Ariadna, i think we could enjoy reading a Thread full of experiences about my until now mostly played Nomads Sectorial .
As others also think, i am the opinion that there is not the one style to play, and articles like this are best served with discussion to illustrate our opinions, i think you should see this thread as my personal opinions and experiences with this Nomads sectorial. I have other experiences than you, Meta will differ, and we play on diofferent terrain. So some options i take more often than others may be because of that, and as Infinity is such a variable game, feel free to suggest things i missed, and to state your opinion about mine. We all will have some insights, i think .
As already said, i think i will never have all insights, as noone of us ever will know; there will be things to discover anew each game. So i do not state that this Thread has the complete information about Bakunin, and i am happy if anyone suggests some other thoughts . Also MuRm [ and Duelist] have done a great job of displaying hte units in vanilla Nomads, and i think i will agree on much what they said already .
So, without further ado, i will present my thoughts on the first parts.
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Bakunin in General
I think playing a sectorial is verya interesting, and Bakunin has some of the strangest and most interesting units in Infinity, i think. As the nature of Bakunin are the differences between the different people and how strange it is that they live together, controlled by the moderator police corps, you have many different models, from the very aggressive Überfallkommando to the slow and steady, yet highly reactive Sin Eaters. So Bakunin offers a lot of options, and i try to list some of them.
I struggle with my thoughts about general strenghts and weaknesses in Bakunin, because the models have so variable and different abilities and equipments that i am glad if anyone can flesh this out a bit. In my personal opinion Bakunin has got the tools and the possibilities to cover everything you can do, some things are harder to achieve, but all in all you have got plenty of options.
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So, what does Bakunin have ?
- ODDs en masse
- Some very strong Religious Troops
- Very effective Camo Infiltrators
- Strong Hacking coverage because of Markers
- Two very strange and strong CC/CloseQuarters units
- Some of the best Doctors and Engineers
What does Bakunin not have ?
- We have no TO Camo
- Only one, but very special AD unit
- Really heavy armed models. Even our TAG is just the "normal" ARM8 [yes, i know, that should be enogh ]
- No MSV2+
- any cheap SWC - free Lt.
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Units that are linkable:
- Moderators [5]
- Reverend Moiras [4; 5 with Kassandra Kusanagi]
- Reverend Custodiers [3]
- Riot Grrls [5]
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Which Lt. should i take ?
Yeah. THe Lt. question is interesting, because Bakunin has got only one SWC free Lt., which can be obvious, and you usually want to spend the SWC on heavy weapons and not on Lt.s . Which options does Bakunin have ? As i recently got asked to answer this question my way, here i write .
Moderators are the cheapest Lt. option point-wise. That a Moderator is Lt. is pretty obvious because of his WIP of 12, but on the other hand side you can hid eyour Lt. in a 3 to 5 Moderators Link Team, ans even wothout proxying you have 3 Moderators from which one can be the Lt. That is mostly too much possinbility to kill the wrong guy for the opponent, if he wants to assassinate your Lt. If i am in tourneys, i usually try to leave half an SWC spare to have a possivle Moderator Lt., even when i am playing two Link Team options like a Custodier Link and a Moderator Link. That is my own way of being flexible in my options . The Moderator Lt. also has Shock Immunits, is [if he is in a Link Team] easy to defend with probalby SS2, and Moderators have Shock Immunity. In addition to that Moderaor Lts. have an Electric Pulse, so noone except Berserks wants to be in CC with them.That leads to a promising Lt. Choice, and i take him very often.
Moiras on the other hand side are rather expensive points- and SWC wise. But: They have an ODD, so they are really durable in shooting fights, and with their MULTI Rifle they are able to defend them in shootings well. Also in CC with their Shick CCW they are better tan a Moderator; i know that this does not shy away Ninjas with MA3 and such, but normal targets do not want to come into close range to them. I did not use her very often until now, but being able to hide your Lts under 2 Moiras or even a Custodier is great, and also since this is a shooting game, ODDs are very powerful. The Mora Lt. also can use ther Lt. order really well by fighting.
Custodiers are my favourite Bakunin unit, so i personally use her very often. You do not waste your Lt. order with them. Protectet by an ODD they can easily advance midfileds against most targets, and if you do not want to risk your Lt.s life, you can let her hack AD or some other juicy targets, and with her you also have the Marker which lets you expand your Hacking Range . If playing a Custodier Link Team, you can also hide her in the Link Team.
Zeros are rather pricey; i think almost all Camo Lts are 2 SWC in most factions. But that has also its advantages. Because so many SWC are not obvious on the table, yxour opponent might fear a Prowler with Spirfire under one of your Camo Markers. And a Lt. which is Camoed is invulnerable to most surprizing attacks since his Camo protects him from being shot at. His Lt. order is easily used by shooting some targets from Combat Camo and he can protect his and the other miniatures lifes with his AP Mines. Also he can infiltrate, so you can choose from various locations where to deploy him. You can choose a rather safe place if you do not have the first turn, or you go full risk and start being a huge threat for your opponent pretty early in the game with him. Your decision. His weaknesses are the steep SWC cost which leads to less good and effectiev weapons/loadouts in the rest of your army, and his weakness if he is discovered; when he gets hit, he almost everytime dies because of his ARM 0. I almost never use him, but when i use him, he is performing great.
Morlocks are Bakunins Irreglar Lt. option whcih leads to be never used, since i never used an all-Irregular army until now. Playing an all Warband army could be fun, especially in smaller games, but it also has great downsides. If you use thiy Lt. you have no regular model in your army which could be Lt. so you are very limited in your options of how to play. You only have 2 orders fpr everyone, but the Lt. has three. So make great use of this vast flexibility compared to your other troops . If someone has experience with him, please drop me some info .
Last but not least Rev. Superior Kusanagi is a very interesting Lt. choice. She has all advantages of a Moira Lt., has got better weapons and also V:No Wound Incap. So she is much more durable than a normal Lt. bakunin can offer. She does not cost SWC and also gives you an additional SWC to spend, so you finally can put allt he shiny toys into your list easily. But be aware, and protect her well, since then she will be an obvious Lt. and NWI does not protect ehr from being shot down in many salvos of HMG fire.