This is the Wartrader, focusing a little too much on one Sectorial...

If you've not watched the Sectorial Armies Video yet, go and do so now!

So, Human Sphere N3. new units, updated old units, revised Fireteam rules etc. etc.

Today I'm going to look at an existing unit and how it's changed in it's full third edition glory:

Riot Grrls

Added in the Campaign: Paradiso book, Riot Grrls are relatively plain 'light' Heavy Infantry, or at least as plain as you get in the anarchy of Bakunin.

With an MSV1 they make reasonable Camo hunters and are unusual in the Nomad faction on that they've got 2W making them more resilient to the occasional critical hit or failed ARM Roll, while Hyperdynamics Level1 gives them PH16 to Dodge. However with no Specialist options (Hackers, Engineers, Forward Observers etc.) they have limited use in objective-based missions as 'all' they can do is shoot people.

So what does Human Sphere N3 bring them? Well for starters there's twice as many options!

Unit-level Changes

First off, both CC and BS Attributes get bumped up by one. Although it won't make much difference for CC (if the Grrls are in CC something's already gone wrong), that extra BS makes a substantial difference.

Next, their points cost has generally fallen by 1pt. It's not a lot, but the extra five points or so across a Fireteam of five troopers can mean a telepresence Zondbot drone for your Engineer or Doctor so they can stay safe at the backÉ

Next, their Flash Grenades have been replaced by Stun Grenades. This is a fairly universal change in HS-N3, with Stun ammo causing the target to make BTS saves or enter Stunned state for the rest of that turn - suffering a -3 MOD on all their Rolls and also being unable to make any Attacks. Substantially better than the Flash Grenades that they replace!

New Options

Oh my, let's just look at them in sequence.

TinBots. TinBots are effectively Equipment markers that are moved around with their trooper. In this case, the Riot Grrl's TinBot contains a Deflector Level 2, imposing a -6 MOD on any Hacking Attacks against the Riot Grrl or anyone in her Fireteam. If you then have one of your Hackers running the Fairy Dust Program that gives all your Heavy Infantry the Firewall benefits (another -3 to the attacking Hacker's WIP and +3 to the HI's BTS) this makes the Riot Grrls semi-invulnerable to Hacking.

Missile Launcher. Maximum property destruction. This gives a Riot Grrl Fireteam much longer-ranged punch that they were lacking before, and with MSV1 gives them a decent role as a robust reactive trooper in generic Nomad armies. Although several of the options have Blitzens (basically an EMP Panzerfaust) those only have two shots each before you need to reload from a Salyut Baggage Remote.

Fireteam: Haris. As expected, Fireteam: Haris is seeing much wider use and is no longer restricted to the Qapu Khalqi and USAriadna Sectorials. A trooper with this skill can form a secondary Fireteam in the Sectorial, but limited to three troopers. So you could have a main Fireteam: Core of Moderators and then a Fireteam: Haris of Riot Grrls.

Specialist Operative. This lets the trooper interact with ITS mission objectives as if they were a Specialist, but without any of the other abilities of those Specialists. So it's purely a mission-driven option, but a very handy one.

Options for the Haris are going to be interesting...

On the defensive end a really nasty version would be Haris, Missile Launcher and Missile Launcher, albeit for 4.5 of your normal 6 Support Weapon Cost.

On the offensive objective-grabbing end, Haris, Specialist Operative and a Spitfire is going to be good at pushing up the table led by the Spitfire, with the Specialist Operative then pushing buttons.

If you've got lots of smoke cover (and this is Bakunin who can take three berfallkommandos and as many Morlocks as you've got points for, so lots of smoke cover is easy), then Haris, Specialist Operative and either the MULTI Rifle or Boarding Shotgun + TinBot options are going to be tasty. Burst 3 BS13 Boarding Shotguns are freaking terrifying up-close, with exceptional Hacking resilience as icing on the cake.

For a bargain-basement option, taking just the Haris and Specialist Operative options is also effective, with BS13 they don't really need the Burst bonus given by a three-member Fireteam.

Summary

Although the unit itself hasn't changed much (but don't underestimate the extra power of the 'magic' BS13), the extra unit options have added a huge amount of utility and flexibility to the unit and to it's battlefield roles - both in Bakunin and in vanilla.

As an example, in generic Nomad lists I really like the Grenzer with Missile Launcher as a defensive unit, and also as an offensive unit against bunched up Fireteams etc. The Riot Grrl Missile Launcher is only slightly more expensive (but 2SWC instead of 1.5SWC), has the same MSV1, BS13 and ARM3 but also has two Wounds, is faster and has Hyperdynamics to Dodge on PH16 instead of PH11.

The downside is Frenzy, so the turn after she's wounded anyone she stops being able to claim cover and can run Impetuously towards the enemy - but she's got BS13 and two Wounds, so I'm quite happy for her to be doing that!

Warning - don't expect this level of change to apply to all units in Human Sphere N3, though - to take another Bakunin example, Moderators are essentially unchanged with the Marker option (not called a Pitcher) dropping a point and the Lieutenant option now being 0SWC instead of 0.5.

Don't forget, Human Sphere N3 is available from my Wargaming Trader Webstore in the UK, direct from Corvus Belli and from your regular FLGS.

Ian Wood aka @wartrader

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