T-T-T-Tunguska!!!!!!!

2018-06-30 Adam

Observations on a Nomad Sectorial which makes my heart sing

Today we have a special guest article by one of the best players I know, Nate (ITS: Natetehaggresar). He is a ruthless general, who most people consider nearly incapable of making a mistake on the battlefield. He really knows his stuff, and he LOVES Nomads, so naturally when Tunguska hit, it made sense to get him to chime in about them!

Tunguska is what drew me to Infinity and Nomads, I’m super excited for this sectorial’s release. To say I’ve been looking forward to it for years in an understatement. I’m not disappointed (quite the opposite in fact), Tunguska is full of nice things, and that’s how I like to play my games.

Tunguska is a lot like other recent sectorials (looking at you Druze). In my opinion the heart of the sectorial is a very flexible LI link, the Securitate, which can be built to fulfill a wide range of battlefield needs. This is then augmented with a number of interesting Duo and Haris options, and other nice solo pieces.

In some ways it also reminds me a lot of Onyx. Both are relatively high tech, with access to white noise, lots of nice things, and excellent hackers. They are inverted though, as Onyx has Visor 2, and no smoke, whereas Tunguska has smoke, but no Visor 2.

Without further ado, let us discuss some…

CORE links

Securitate: This link is one of the primary selling points for playing Tunguska. The Securitate profile has been revamped, losing an underslung light shotgun, sixth sense level 2, and repeaters on all profiles. This is a GOOD thing, as sixth sense is duplicative with link bonuses, and the light shotgun drive up prices significantly while adding niche use cases improving performance over a combi. The base profile has gone from 23 points, to 13, which is much easier to justify for a one wound line infantry. Did I mention they gained veteran level 1? This a good thing too, Tunguska has a lot of LTs that want to spend their order, veteran is a reasonably priced insurance policy against LoL. The repeaters are not totally gone, two profiles retain them for a modest price of 15 points, these profiles are pretty key for the utility of this link, allowing cheap filler to deny areas to hackabe pieces, serve as beacons for white noise, and to extend your support ware.

So what’s so interesting about this link? Well, Grenzers count as Securitate for the link, you can mix 4 Grenzers, and 1 Securitate, and it’s a Securitate link. Grenzers add a lot of capability with a Visor 1, BS 13, and different weapon options. A very formidable defensive link of 2 Grenzer MLs, 2 Securitate repeaters, and 1 LT/LT decoy clocks in at 101/3. It costs more than a dual ML Keisotsu llink, but you certainly get what you pay for with 2 elite MLs, and repeater coverage.

Raoul Spector also counts as a Securitate. Do you want CC ability? A multi Rifle? DROP BEARS? He can fix a number of problems, and he can get CORE link bonuses.

PERSEUS ROGUE MYRMIDON also counts as a Securitate. What is a Perseus and why is he so great? Well, he is a pretty standard character Myrmidon, with standard bells and whistles, CC 22, MA 3, Phys 13, DA CCW, Smoke Grenades, NWI, ODD, but he’s CORE linkable. (He is also a non standard BS 13, with a breaker rifle!). B2 smoke on 19s within 8 inches, or 13s within 16 inches? Are you facing MSV? You’re in luck, because you have Securitate with repeaters in tow, and an HD+ Interventor in your deployment zone. Not only is he a great problem solver, but he is nearly the only way Tunguska has to damage an AC 2. (the others being d-charges on Clockmakers and Lunkoholds) A powerful offensive link of Perseus, 2 repeaters, an HMG Securitate, and Securitate paramedic comes in at a reasonable 99/1

Grenzers: Grenzers gain a few new profiles, a Haris, and a Biovisor. They are welcome additions but not as revolutionary as the Securitate changes. I don’t think the Grenzer link is terribly appealing on its own merits, with less flexible link options. Raoul, but not Perseus can sub into Grenzer links. As mentioned before, Grenzer’s can sub into Securitate links, but the opposite is not true, the result is less flexibility in link composition.

Grenzer’s advantage as a CORE is that they can sub in a single Interventor. This opens up a very powerful hacker with sixth sense level 2. As a reminder, stealth cannot be used against models with sixth sense level 2. The hacking device plus on an Interventor is a much more powerful deterrent, with claw 2 programs, over the regular hacking device on the Securitate hacker. Also worth noting, reset is not a short movement skill, if an enemy declares reset to oppose your sixth sense hacker, it breaks stealth, and all your other hackers can pile on too.

If you’re not planning on including an Interventor, you’re probably better off using a Securitate CORE, and picking the Grenzer profiles you like to shave points.

Hollowmen: This is an intriguing link, the comparison to Onyx Rodoks is pretty obvious, as they are both assault units with super jump in a nice things faction. In general the Rodok are plainly better in face to face gun duals due to their mimitism. I think that direct comparison sells the Hollowmen short; the power of super jump is getting unexpected angles along the Z axis, with the impressive move of 6-2 Hollowmen have the capacity to get angles Rodoks can only dream of. Oh, did I mention they’re also HI, with 2 wounds? Also of note, all their profiles, except the boarding shotgun, have a chain colt standard as a sidearm. Having 2 wounds and a burst 2 DTW is a good way to make the hurting stop when you accidentally find yourself out maneuvered.

The link also gets an interesting mixed option. A lone Stemplar Zond may join the link (and Tunguska gets a super jumping variant). It’s a good way to slightly decrease the link cost, but adds a great deal of versatility. A Stemplar with assisted fire and CORE link bonuses has an effective B4 BS 17 shot, with shock ammo, that not to bad for 18 points. You also have a FO, Sensor, and Repeater in tow.

Specialists

One other initial observation, which should not surprise anyone, is how reliant this sectorial is on hackers to perform specialist roles. By my count Tunguska has 17 hacking profiles, 6 FOs, 1 Dr, 1 Engineer, 1 Paramedic, and 3 Specialist Operatives.

Interventor – Hackers 7*
Dak – Dr 1
Clockmaker – Engineer 1
Salamander – Hacker 1*
Stemplar – FO 2*
Meteor – FO 1*
Salyut – Hacker 1*
Securitate Hacker 1*, Paramedic 1
Grenzer – FO 1
Heckler – Hacker 1*
Zondnautica – Hacker 1*
Hollow Men – Hacker 1*, Specialist Operative 1*
Puppet Master – Hacker 1*
Puppet Bot – FO 1*
Mary Problems – Hacker 1*
Spektr – Hacker 2*, FO 1
Raoul Spector – Specialist Operative 2
Miranda Ashcroft Hunting Party – Specialist Operative 2

*Denotes hackable

Five of the non-hacker specialists, are themselves hackable. Asserting hacking dominance is critical for Tunguska because so many of their unit choices (specialist or otherwise) are hackable.

Well thank you for taking the time to read some of my early observations on Tunguska, and for visiting Adam, The Dice Abide’s site. If you ever want to talk shop please feel free to drop me a PM on the CB forum.

-Natetehaggresar