Vanilla Nomads: A breakdown

[csjarrat]

Righto, as we've had a break in continuity on the forum scene, i thought i'd step up and write a new up-to-date breakdown of the nomad selection of troops.
I'll update this with the operation: icestorm profiles in the coming weeks.

The Nomads
We have an excellent and well rounded force, having multiple strong options in all classes of combatant, with the only notable weak(ish) point being in our Heavy Infantry department. Not many of our choices are super-powered compared to other Human armies, but they all come with decent profiles + equipment and tend to be priced affordably to compensate.
Nomad's strongest point is in the hacking game. Multiple strong hacking options are present throughout the army breakdown and wide access to repeaters, markers and EVO support make infowar a big part of Nomad's strategy when taking on high tech nations.
Vanilla Nomads looses the raw power and flexibility of a link team, but gains access to a broad spectrum of TAGs, TO camo and great hackers in the process. read on below for my unit-by-unit breakdown, please leave comments as I'd love to hear your feedback.

*******Disclaimer********
I'm not saying that any profile listed as "avoidable" is crap/below par/terrible/etc
I'm merely saying that these are rarely seen, are duplicated in better form on other profiles or are only situationally useful.
"avoidable" is only a colloquial term and is not meant to offend your favourite model or quirky choice.
My meta is not your meta and these are only general overviews :-)

Light infantry:

Alguaciles:
Fairly solid light infantry with a good spread of specialists and weapons.
These guys really shine in a corregidor sectoral where they can link to boost their BS and Burst, but that option is sadly not available for a vanilla force.
So, why use them?
First of all, many profiles have had significant price reductions, eliminating problems with many of the N2 profiles. Second of all, we're due new sculpts which means sexy new models!!

Stand out profiles:
Combi rifle/pistol/knife 10pts
Forward observer, deployable repeater x3/combi rifle/pistol/knife 12pts
Paramedic, combi rifle/pistol/knife 12pts
These three profiles for me are where these guys shine in a vanilla force, the combi rifle profile is a cheap and capable cheerleader. Average WIP, Average BS, Standard ARM 1 and 4-4 MOV but all at a reasonable price.
The forward observer expands on this decent bit of pricing by converting your cheerleader into a super useful bargain-basement specialist.
This specialist can capture objectives, achieve secondary objectives, deploy a repeater net for you to hack through and also gains access to the veritable flash pulse ARO by means of being a forward observer.
All in all, this guy is where it is at! (side not: the comm-tech civvie makes a great stand-in for this profile)
The paramedic appears to be ITS class specialist, is cheap and can now heal at range, helping you get your classified objective and taking less orders to heal than in N2, and at considerably less risk.

Avoidable profiles:
MULTI sniper rifle/pistol/knife 18pts/1.5swc
HMG/pistol/knife 18pts/1swc
Combi rifle/LGL/pistol/knife 14pts/1swc
Missile launcher/pistol/knife 15pts/1swc

Hacker; combi rifle/pistol/knife 18pts/0.5swc
Lieutenant; combi rifle/pistol/knife 10 pts/1swc

All of the special weapons really shine in a link team as the basic profile of the alguacile doesn't really allow for greatness with any of them; The missile launcher is deadly, but at B1 and BS11, one bad dice roll will see you go down to an ARO. It is now vastly cheaper, so if you need some EXP on a budget (blowing up scenery/objectives?) its not going to break the bank any more.
The grenade launcher is a nice idea, but the negative modifiers for speculative fire combined with a low BS means that you're unlikely to hit much, and loss of scatter means you're not got to hit even if you miss by 1 or 2 now.
The sniper rifle is now less expensive but is still low burst and doesn't come recommended outside of a link team.
The HMG is probably the best of the bunch as the higher burst and long range can offset the low BS and low survivability, benefiting a bit from the changes to suppression fire too.

The hacker is in theory an interesting one. I've taken it to a tournament as a backup hacker for my interventor and it worked ok (she actually got two kills with anti-hacker protocols!!!) and is pretty much the cheapest option for paying the "hacker tax" to unlock the use of remotes.
The lack of BTS and average WIP means she makes for a poor offensive hacker though, and I'd personally advocate paying the moderate upgrade cost to buy an interventor's services. Cheap access to drones and support-ware plus a reduction in cost means that mine will def see some table time in low points games or as a support for my interventor, but she won't be leading the digital charge on her own.
The fact that the lieutenant costs SWC means I struggle to recommend that option, you've got better things to spend your SWC on tbh.
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Securitate:

Ok, these guys are pretty Elite LI and unfortunately they pay through the nose for that status. I personally think they are too pricey for their status and would not advocate using them under the current ruleset.
That said, if you have the models and want to use them; they all come as standard with a repeater, so your hackers can work through their zone of control and they also have the sixth sense level 2 skill to help them resist combat camo/impersonator attacks, aerial deployment shenanigans, smoke + MSV2 spam, guided missiles and speculative fire so i would say that given that skillset and their slightly better BS of 12 and WIP of 14, they make for a passable unit if your regular opponents tend to field lots of the aforementioned tactics. With the increase of usefulness of hacking and shotguns in N3 (as well as an upcoming tunguska sectoral; they should be the link team of choice), these guys should become a little bit more useful in the future.
3rd ed update.
Small points reductions across their profiles do go some way to helping the plight of the lowly securitate, as do the changes to shotguns. However, these guys are still outcompeted by cheaper options and still struggle from being too expensive for their survivability.

Stand out profiles:
Lieutenant; combi rifle/light shotgun/pistol/knife
SSL2 helps keep him alive against all the types of attacks that would otherwise deny him a survival roll and as a bonus he doesn't cost any SWC

Avoidable profiles:
All the others, unfortunately
The hacker costs more than an interventor, has worse WIP, no BTS and is no more survivable.
The heavy weapons troopers are still outcosted by the vastly cheaper LI and MI options and really, you'd still be ahead if you took an alguacile and a transductor zond as you'd be an order up + spare points compared to the basic profile.
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Moderators from Bakunin:
Cheap as chips, with low stats to match. Like the alguaciles, much of their options are built around their ability to link into a fireteam in a sectoral army for the much needed boost to BS and Burst. that isn't applicable in a "vanilla" force, and makes them much less viable as a platform for expensive special weapons.
They are clearly not great for offensive use, but there are a couple of useful profiles and they are the embodiment of a cheap rifle + regular order for the nomad nation.
Their base statline gives them shock immunity, 0ARM, 12WIP and 10BS; so nothing special here at all, but at 9pts, it's the cheapest rifle you can get.

Stand out profiles:
Combi rifle/pistol/knife 9pts
Cheap, cheerful and great for guarding your deployment zone against aerial deployment troopers

Marker/combi rifle/pistol/knife 11pts/0.5swc
A fairly unique profile, the marker is a great enabler for those wanting to make good use of hacking or guided missiles. This lollipop sucking beauty has x2 deployable repeaters that she can fire from her under-slung launcher, landing on 13's within 16" (if in line of sight). Once in position, hack away.

Hacker; Combi rifle/pistol/knife 17pts/0.5swc
I know this will raise eyebrows, but at 17pts it makes for a reasonable choice for a low points army that wants to use REMs. The biggest bonus for this profile compared to its alguacile competitor is the fact that its possesses BTS3, this means you can helpfully defend your repeater equipped drones and have some protection from enemy hacking actions. Cheap supportware is nice to chuck on drones, vastly improving their capabilities with Marksman L2 and B2 in ARO.
I still believe the cheap upgrade to an interventor is the best choice, but this would get a consideration in escalation style events for me.

Avoidable profiles:
All the others unfortunately
potentially putting the spitfire aside, the opportunity cost is too high and the base statline too weak to justify the investment for sniper rifles and such.
2 SWC for a 12 WIP lieutenant is laughable and the daktari again outshines the paramedic.

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Tomcats:
Where to start with these guys?
A bevy of good quality profiles and weapon options at an affordable price make these guys a great investment.
They all have AD:2, allowing them to walk on the sides of the boards if they wish, saving the usual issue of having to waste many orders on mov-mov to get to downed victims or objectives. for a small premium over their daktari/clockmaker equivalents, they can save you many orders which can be vastly more precious in-game than a few points here and there.
In addition to AD:2, they also come standard with climbing plus and zero-G terrain skills. climbing plus is clearly the big winner here, allowing them to scale buildings with ease before torching the sniper nest that was oh-so-troubling previously with its flamethrower. The two specialist profiles also come with the option of taking a zondcat, a vectored thrust mechanical servant shaped like a manga-cat to work through. These are occasionally handy, but make the investment much greater for not a vast amount of benefit. Servant bots work better with the cheaper, ground based daktari/clockmaker as I'll get to later.

Stand out profiles:
Doctor; combi rile/light flamethrower/pistol/knife 22pts
Fast enough to get to downed patients or objectives, the tomcat doc is a serious contender for "best doc in faction" awards.
Flamethrower makes short work of bad guys and gives a great option to deal with mass camo/ODD forces.

Engineer; combi rile/light flamethrower/D-charges/pistol/knife 22pts
Not only can this guy mend broken drones and TAGs, he can also disable enemy mines, unglue ADHL'd figures, clear monofilament fields, repair EM damaged equipment/d-charge crates in "lifeblood" but he can also capture objectives and achieve the "sabotage" secondary objective with relative impunity. fantastic!

Combi rifle/E-mitter/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 19pts
This guy can create havoc in the opponent's backfield. Cheap, he can pop on the board and lay mines exactly where your opponent doesn't want them. The E-mitter isn't fantastic, often you're better off killing stuff than turning it off, but with the ability to turn up behind the enemy, the tomcat is best equipped to make use of its situational benefits. You're buying this guy for the mines though.

Combi rifle/Deployable repeater x3/pistol/knife 19pts/0.5swc
Not quite as versatile as the other options, he gives another way of enabling the nomad's signature hacking to work efficiently.
Drop him in behind a TAG, drop a repeater and let your interventor go to work.

Avoidable profiles:
Combi rifle/light flamethrower/DEP 19pts/0.5swc
Not necessarily a terrible choice once on the table, the DEP just isn't worth spending SWC on.

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Interventors:
So, the aforementioned hackers extraordinaire!
With an impressive WIP of 15, BTS9 and a maximum cost of 27/0.5swc these guys are a must-have, their beautiful new models only serve as a greater draw as well. With the changes to hacking under N3, i suspect any vanilla nomad force will contain a minimum of 1 of these guys/gals as the hacking device+ brings a huge amount of utility to the army.
Hacking is a wiki all of its own, but needless to say, the changes make inclusion of one of these a real consideration due to its wide access to programs to augment so many of your model's capabilities on the field. They are clearly best supported with wide access to repeaters so they can work their hacky-goodness as much as possible, and if you've got two points spare, its worth considering and upgrade to take a fast panda. The fast panda acts as a single use deployable repeater, thus extending the range of the interventor's hacking zone.

Stand-out profiles:
Lieutenant; combi rifle/pistol/knife 25pts/0.5swc
cheap, cheerful, capable and obvious. If your opponents are known for lieutenant hunting, make sure this guy gets protected well.

Avoidable profiles:
Boarding shotgun/pistol/knife. 24pts/0.5swc
The weapon doesn't really help too much, to use properly, you need to be really close. ideally, an interventor should be hacking from the safety of the backfield through a repeater. she isn't really tough enough to survive long on the frontlines of combat. This has become better with the ability to cloak as an impersonation marker, but it is quite an order intensive process potentially and is debatable as to whether she'd get access to stealth from the program.

A note on this profile from IJW:

You might want to mention Shotgun changes for the Interventor BS loadout, she's pretty obviously designed for N3. Even if Flash Pulse doesn't see any range changes, a BS17 Boarding Shotgun compares favourably with a WIP18 Flash Pulse for close-up AROs against drop troops and fast flankers.

And yes, the boarding shotgun has had some nice changes. Its not a bad option for a skulky interventor, as a +6 shooting ARO to anyone coming hunting her as she sits in a corner of a building is a nice threat, though i think i'd rather spend an lt special order on suppressive fire with a combi to up the ante. They know she's your lt anyways, so what do you lose?

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Clockmakers + Daktaris:

The clockmaker is an excellent engineer, his WIP of 15 making him exceedingly capable of carrying out his battlefield role.
He can defuse mines, d-charge "lifeblood" crates, repair EM damage, clear monofilament fields, repair TAGs + REMs, capture objectives and yes, he can also achieve the "sabotage" secret objective too.
I would personally treat the 3pt zondbot as a mandatory upgrade, allowing him to effectively be in two places at once.

The daktari is a little less awesome, with only a WIP of 13 and much less battlefield niches to fill. she is however, only 14 pts and can capture objectives (in most mission types, though not all of them) as well as achieving the "experimental drug" secret objective. Again, the 3pt zondbot should be seen as a mandatory upgrade, allowing her to be in two places at once or perform risky manuevers to reach downed patients without getting herself killed.
Changes in N3 allowing command tokens to be spent to grant re-rolls to heal/repair on cubed models/remote presence REMs+TAGs mean these guys have just got a lot more useful, as a failed roll now doesn't mean death/incapacitation of their patient or damaged vehicle.

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[csjarrat]

Hellcats:

A relatively slow (4-2) aerial deployment option, these guys come with courage to keep them in the fight as well as a slight increase in armour over the light infantry class at ARM2.
The obvious comparison choice for Hellcats are the excellent Tomcats and Hellcats fill a slightly different niche (albeit with a little crossover)
The biggest difference is that the Hellcats come with AD3, allowing them to jump onto almost anywhere on the board. This is potentially awesome if you land in their backfield with a Spitfire and mop up, but brings with it some inherent risks:
A savvy and well equipped opponent can hack your aerial deployment, dumping you to the ground early and out of position
You can end up with a deviation and die to an ARO shot if you fail your PH roll (this has actually happened to me a few times, Hellcats are only PH12).
Hellcats do not contribute an order to the pool whilst off the board, so don't take too many of them.
I advise that if you are looking to make use of their AD:3, bring an EVO repeater or a hacker for trajectory guidance, otherwise, plan for using the lower level of AD:2 and treat them like an up-armed Tomcat

Standout profiles:
Spitfire/pistol/knife 28pts/1.5swc
Deadly, cheap. Land this sucker in the enemy's backfield and watch him weep as you cut his order pool down to size.
He takes the position of the old go-to HMG profile, supplanting its long-range bands with something more geared to terrorising the enemies backlines.

Boarding shotgun/pistol/knife 21pts
Super-cheap, he can really cause some issues for heavy infantry and TAGs due to his DAM15 + AP shotgun slugs. The flechette ammo can be troubling for bunched up cheerleaders and shotguns got a huge boost in N3. He's a risky choice, but a deadly one if the situation is right.

Combi rifle/light shotgun/ADHL/pistol/knife 23/0.5swc
Now even cheaper, he packs an impressive armoury, including the oft-useful glue-gun. walk on behind a TAG, stick it to the floor and run off laughing!

Avoidable profiles:
Everything else; the Tomcats do it better and cheaper

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Grenzers:
Another new entry for N3, these guys are Tunguska's MI option and are priced quite high.
Unfortunately, they suffer very much from MI syndrome, in vanilla there just isn't that much to recommend them on over their cheaper LI equivalents or Riot Grrl competitors.
That said, they do come with MSV1 and a shiny new model, so if you have particular problems with ariadna camo spam, these guys should help.

Stand out profiles:
Forward observer, Sensor/Combi rifle+LFT/pistol/breaker pistol/knife 27pts
Sensor has gotten hugely better under the new rules and a nice combo of courage, MSV1, BS13 and ARM 3 should see them being useful, though always at the cost of 4-2.

Avoidable profiles:
Everything else unfortunately.
Sniper; take the intruder sniper as MSV2 is vastly better than MSV1.
Missile launcher; find a solitary point out of your list and take two alguacile missile launchers for the price.
Lieutenant; take the wildcat, he's cheaper and just as durable.
Spitfire; possibly decent, though I'd still take intruder HMG for MSV2 unless on a tight board with no long range firelanes.
Combi/LFT; take the sensor option, its a specialist and can capture objectives + secret objectives.
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Intruders:
The game's premium medium infantry, this unit has ruined many an opponent's day.
Coming standard with multispectoral visor 2, camouflage and multiterrain across all profiles, they're well equipped for survivability and damage dealing.
An impressive stat-line sees them rocking a BS of 13, ARM 3 and WIP 14 and only a lack of BTS and a slow 4-2MOV provides any real drawback to this unit entry, points reductions on many profiles going a long way to helping these guys see even more table-time.

Stand out profiles:
HMG/grenades/pistol/CCW 42pts/1.5swc
The big daddy, responsible probably for the majority of the nomad nation's reputation. many a game has been won on this guy's shoulders. Long range high damage firepower from camo at a high ballistic skill. Range band changes mean you'll want him near your own lines, but he's a slow mover anyway, so its not a drama.

Lieutenant; Combi rifle/Light flamethrower/grenades/pistol/CCW 35pts
A brilliant 0swc LT option, made safe by a decent ARM rating, MSV2 to prevent smoke/camo attacks and good offensive capabilities make him a great all rounder. Beware the price of failure though, make sure you use him early in your turn so you still have orders left to elect a new LT in case of a stray critical in ARO.

Combi rifle/Light flamethrower/grenades/pistol/CCW 35pts
A fantastic mid-field attack piece. He'll suck orders to get into place with the 4-2MOV but once there he can really dominate.
The increased range bands for rifles and grenades under N3 will only serve to improve this guy.

MULTI sniper rifle/X-Visor/pistol/CCW 43pts/1.5swc
This guy is super deadly in theory, being able to pick off camo/mimetism/ODD/TO from the longest range on the board with relative impunity. He's been the subject of a huge decrease in points and is now a pretty decent option, providing of course that you've got firelanes long enough for him to profit off.

Avoidable profiles:

Hacker; Combi rifle/Light flamethrower/pistol/CCW 43pt/ 0.5swc
Slow, no infiltration and no BTS means that you're strictly better off with a zero/spektr as a forward operating hacker or an interventor for a backfield hacker

Combi rifle/Light flamethrower/ADHL/pistol/CCW 36pts/1swc
Again; slow, too slow to really make good use of the very short range on the ADHL and pays the full 1 swc for the pleasure. Hellcat ADHL does the role better thanks to his aerial deployment skill.
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Reverend Moiras:
These scantily clad girls were oft-mocked for being over priced and slow, being outshone as a link team option in their native Bakunin by riot grrls and moderators. Vanilla removes the link team competition issue, leaving a couple of viable profiles.
All moiras are religious which is a nice but situational bonus, but really we're taking them because of their ODD (optical disruptor device). This shimmering distortion field applies a -6 modifier to hit them, increasing to -9 when in cover, combining with their ARM3 (ARM6 when in cover!) to make them a resilient gunfighting option. WIP 14 and BS12 round out a decent statline, but they pay for close combat weapons they'll rarely use (with a miserable CC 16 and no MA levels) though the once disappointing MULTI rifle is now a lot better. 4-2MOV means you'll need to plan your deployment of these girls neatly to avoid wasting orders, but huge points drops have given them a decent chance of getting on-table.

Stand out profiles:
MULTI sniper rifle/pistol/shock CCW 34pts/1.5swc
Able to sit in a sniper perch and make very long range ARO's with DA rounds whilst taking return fire at -9 to hit (before range modifiers) makes this girl an (expensive) expert firelane controller and a huge points drop (10points!!)helps here too. Watch out for MSV2-3 gunners as they'll easily negate your advantage. Faces internal competition from the similarly priced Spektr sniper, but contributes a precious order unlike the Spektr in hidden deployment.

HMG/pistol/shock CCW 34pts/1.5 swc
On par with the sniper, she is more suited to medium-long range engagements, relying on the ODD and Burst 4 to wreak havoc. I tend to hold her as my reserve deployment, sticking her nearest the firelane she'll contest to offset some of that 4-2MOV problem. Faces competition from Intruder HMG due to camo + MSV2 but is a lot cheaper and more durable.

Avoidable profiles:
Everything else:
The other profiles really shine in a link team now, with sizeable point reductions across the board, however, the spektrs offer more flexibility in deployment for lighter armaments and riot grrls offer greater resilience and speed at a similar price for multirifle profiles.
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Reverend Healers:
New to N3, these girls have a lovely model from the icestorm box and mix a fairly strong close combat profile with reasonable resilience (mimetism + ARM 3) with a specialist profile for completing objectives and patching up wounded troopers.
The biggest problem i see she has is that she's 32 points minimum which is.. not cheap. Especially on a 4-2 MOV trooper. She could be ok with a zondbot or two to act through, but realistically, outside of a Bakunin link, she's too expensive for the opportunity cost.

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Reverend Custodiers:
The other "auto-include" hacker lieutenant choice, they have seen reasonable point cost reductions across the profiles. With the boost to hacking in N3, they're definitely worth seriously considering for your force.
The custodier gains an ODD, religious, ARM3 and BS 12 over the interventor at the cost of -1WIP, 4-2MOV and +6-9pts cost
Its up to you which way you go between the two, as they are both excellent hacker choices in their own right, the custodier obviously being the more durable in a firefight but more expensive and slower to boot. All custodiers carry the famed hacking device plus gaining access to a huge array of programs.

Stand out profiles:
Combi rifle/marker/pistol/knife 34pts/0.5swc
Lieutenant; Combi rifle/marker/pistol/knife 34pts/0.5swc
Solid hacker, coming equipped with her own markers allows for great use of her orders (and a great use of the lieutenant special order too). The ODD and ARM3 brings great survivability in the same way as the moira, making the custodier a viable gunfighter as well as specialist, though 4-2MOV is the price she pays for this durability.

Avoidable profiles:
Boarding shotgun/pistol/knife 31pts/0.5swc
The short effective range and loss of markers hurt more than the weapon's abilities bring.
This profile would be welcome for a 3 strong link in Bakunin, but simply doesn't work well in vanilla

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Sin-Eater Observants
Oft-compared to total reaction REMs, these guys have some serious bonuses and major drawbacks compared to their competition.
Mimetism and ARM3 make them vastly more durable than their flimsily constructed robot equivalents, but neurocinetics makes them drastically less useful on the active turn than their total reaction counterparts. Most commonly seen in small combat groups (or on their own), they tend to park up high with a good view of the action and dare the opponent to come into view. MSV equipped camouflaged troopers and impersonators tend to be their downfall though, so make sure you watch out for those.
(note, for added hilarity, equip your daktari with a zondbot and park the zondbot behind the sin eater for when the inevitable happens)

Standout profiles:
HMG/pistol/CCW 33pts/2swc
The big daddy-o; Capable of dominating firelanes and ruining your opponents plans. keep him as your reserve deployment and put him wherever he will frustrate your opponent most.

MK12/pistol/CCW 30pts
The bargain basement version, usable even in escalation events. totally free in terms of SWC and cheaper than the HMG, it suffers a reduction in range and burst, but retains DAM15. Worth considering on tight boards with no long firelanes.

Spitfire/pistol/CCW 31pts/1.5swc
Great for covering boards where there are no huge firelanes to dominate, this guy is well worth his points and is more effective at closer ranges than the HMG whilst gaining higher burst than the MK12 can provide.

Avoidable profiles:
MULTI sniper rifle/pistol/CCW 33pts/1.5swc
Provides nasty ARO's at very long range but requires very long firelanes to work any better than the HMG. It can be easily suppressed by higher burst weapons and retains a fair cost.

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Prowlers:
Camouflage, infiltration and great weapons make these guys the premier choice for midfield fighting, 4-2MOV being literally their only drawback and a minor one at that given their infiltrator status. Well armoured for a skirmsher and upgraded BS from their Zero cousins makes them a strong choice.

Standout profiles:
All of them!

Combi-rifle/Light Flamethrower/ADHL/Pistol/CCW 32pts/0.5swc
Infiltration + cheaper cost makes this far better than the intruder's equivalent loadout (MSV2 not withstanding)
Great for glueing stuff down and torching enemy camo markers.

Spitfire/D-charges/pistol/CCW 36/2swc
The premium choice, he costs a lot, but brings a great package of destructive power to boot. A spitfire coming from camo can really ruin anyone short of an Avatar's day and as an added bonus, he can complete the "sabotage" secondary objective and destroy "lifeblood" crates.

Boarding shotgun/D-charges/Grenades/Pistol/CCW 31pts
Free in terms of SWC, he packs DAM15 AP slugs, grenades for speculative fire and has the d-charge bonuses as mentioned above.
Oft-overlooked, this guy has only gotten better in N3 with changes to the boarding shotgun, pistol and grenade ranges
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Wildcats:
Awash with great specialist profiles, they make for a reasonable link team in Corregidor but when stripped of that bonus in Vanilla, they become much less easy to recommend. Slow with 4-2MOV and capped by medium range weaponry or very expensive long range weaponry, their bonuses are most easily summed up by their relatively low cost of entry, BTS 6, courage, ubiquitous flamethrowers and D-charges

Standout profiles:

Lieutenant; Combi rifle/light flamethrower/D-charges/pistol/knife 19pts
A cheap and cheerful 0swc LT option, he can achieve the aforementioned "sabotage" secret objective and torch grouped enemies. He is pretty obvious to the trained eye however, so bring a decoy.

Avoidable profiles:
Everything else:

Combi rifle/light flamethrower/D-charges/pistol/knife 19 pts; good as a decoy LT, too slow for anything else.
Engineer; vastly outperformed by the Tomcat and Clockmaker
Spitfire; Slow and lacks tricks
Deployable repeater; Slow, short ranged weaponry. Alguacile forward observer vastly outcompetes it for cheaper
HRL; expensive in terms of pts and SWC and doesn't bring enough destructive capability to justify its cost.
Hacker; outgunned by the far superior Custodiers and Interventors
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[csjarrat]

HEAVY INFANTRY
Not really the Nomad's strong point, both of our choices appear to work better in their respective sectorals as link teams, but points reductions and tweaks to HI overall now make these well worth considering.
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Mobile Brigada:
These guys received a needed points tweak and benefit from the boost for HI to MOV 4-4, gaining a little from the tweak to MULTI rifles in the process.
As it stands, these guys are pretty generic heavy infantry and bring little to the fight other than a second wound and a bit more armour.
Courage keeps them in the fight, but 4-2MOV (currently), high cost and a lack of tricks sees them take a back seat in most peoples lists. For their current cost and poor model range, I much prefer an intruder thanks to the enormous benefit of camouflage and lack of vulnerability to hacking

Standout profiles:
HMG/Pistol/Knife 42/2swc
relatively tough to silence, he can take a stray critical and keep delivering the firepower you bought him for. Find a nice long firelane and have him cover it as the HMG range bands are now punitive for having him advance too much.
(side note, the iguana pilot makes a great stand in for this profile)

Lieutenant; MULTI rifle/light flamethrower/pistol/knife 39pts
I can think of worse lieutenant options, he's relatively tough and 0swc, plus the new model is gorgeous. The multirifle points reduction helps here with a tasty 4pt price cut. The underslung flamethrower makes for a great ARO when not on supressive fire too. 2W keeps him in the fight and the updated 4-4MOV ups his utility somewhat

Avoidable profiles:
MULTI rifle/light flamethrower/pistol/knife 39pts
Its pretty vanilla as HI goes, alright as a dummy LT but not exactly awesome.

Boarding shotgun/pistol/knife 33pts
Useful in a "pain train" Corregidor link team and little else. the shotgun is just too short range for such a (currently) slow model.

Combi rifle/pistol/knife 34
Combi rifle/tinbot/pistol/knife 37 0.5SWC
Not really into paying this many points for a combi rifle personally and the tinbot is nifty but not worth the SWC.

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Riot Grrls
Bakunin's offering of crazy cybered up females, they all get the bonuses of Multispectoral visor L1 and hyperdynamics L1 as well as a healthy points reduction, with their cheapest profile failing below the 30pt mark.
Dodging on 16's and reduced modifiers to hit mimetism and camo models give these girls a leg-up over their brethren though they trade 1 pip of ARM and BS for the privilege.

Standout profiles:
Spitfire/pistol/knife 35pts/2swc
This profile brings durability, MSV1 and a solid firearm with which to get stuck in up to 24" away.
Its a great little gunfighter and comes recommended

Avoidable profiles:
Everything else unfortunately.

Combi rifle/blitzen/flash grenades/pistol/knife 30
Combi rifles are a bit lackluster on expensive models such as these and serve as link team members much better than a stand-alone gaming piece IMHO. The blitzen offers an interesting ARO piece, but the most dangerous units usually have pretty good BTS anyway.

MULTI rifle/flash grenades/pistol/knife 33pts
Boarding shotgun/flash grenades/pistol/knife 28pts
Both profiles make interesting additions to a link team, but MULTI rifles are only "decent" and not "amazing", even with the points drop. Boarding shotguns are too short ranged to come highly recommended outside of a link.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Special Characters:
We have a fairly decent spread of characters to choose from in Nomads, though few of them are cheap.

Zoe + Pi-Well:
A premium rate hacker + engineer, she provides all the benefits of a clockmaker, plus she gets the benefit of a hacking device with an extra program thrown in too. A lack of BTS is the major issue stopping her from being your go-to hacker, but with WIP 15 she's more than capable of burning through orders to augment and repair your drone fleet.
She comes with her own excellent version of a Stempler Zond (Pi-well) who is not only a forward observer+repeater+sensor, but also brings an ODD to the party too, protecting himself with -6 to hit which is great for getting upfield to cap objectives and gunfighting.
All these amazing benefits come with a price tag though of course, and 47 pts is the cost of entry after a decent N3 discount.

Carlota Kowalski:
Carlota has a sergeant rank within the Tomcats and brings with her all the benefits of being an elite Tomcat Engineer whilst also packing the ever useful ADHL + D-charge combination. for a 4pt upgrade, she can also bring along her own Zondcat "Moriarty" but he doesn't bring too much to the party so don't feel compelled to do so.
30pts is the entrance price for her and she is a more than capable AD:2 engineer with WIP 14 and BS13 for firefights, plus being a specialist for ITS missions along with all the benefits of her engineer status; like mine clearance, EM repair and such.

Cassandra Kusanagi:
She heads up the Reverend Moiras and is a premium rate gunfighter with an unfortunately lacklustre weapon for her price.
As with all rev. moiras, she sports the protective ODD + ARM3 combination, setting her up for great things with her BS14, only to be let down again by being lumbered with a MULTI rifle and 4-2MOV. The underslung light flamethrower and EM grenades bring some interesting tactical uses, but even at 44 points she's still a bit of a tough sell. She'd make a great LT in bakunin heading up a link of moiras, but i can't find myself slotting her in in a vanilla list very often. On the plus side, the LT option does pop a free SWC back into your allowance, giving you a whacking 7 SWC to play with at 300pts so that can be useful if you have a penchant for big guns.

Bran Do Castro:
Aside from having an awesome model, this one guy probably represents the most fun I've had playing wargames condensed into one model. He's just sooo agile, possessing both the excellent climbing plus + super jump special skills via his "meta-agility" rule on top of his incredibly useful superior infiltration skill.
He can literally scale buildings, vault gaps and backflip into combat, smacking down his foes with a DA CCW and Martial arts L3, though you're often better using his mobility to utilise his combi rifle to destroy cheerleaders from angles where they cannot retaliate. The e/mitter is situational, but a nice-to-have.
At 35 points, he's the fastest, most deadly, camo trooper we have access to, but he can be a real order hog and as such, doesn't play nice with TAGs, Uberfall and other such rambo units.
He's benefited a lot from the massive improvements to close combat in N3 and gains stealth from his MA now, letting him sneak up on baddies without them turning to face.

Vortex: Lupe Balboa
Lupe is the named spec-ops character for the Nomad Nation, bringing a new level of awesome to the alguacile link team in a Corregidor force.
She still brings a lot of benefits to a vanilla faction too though; with a moderate BS12, ARM2,BTS3, mimetism and WIP13 she's reasonably survivable for 4-4 infantry but her toolkit and status as a "specialist troop" is what makes her special.
She can capture objectives and she brings a veritable arsenal along with her curvy figure and flowing blonde hair.
The panzerfaust makes for deadly long range ARO's and her nanopulser is deadly at short range on clumped up models like preta links.
The smoke grenades strapped to her belt are the best bit though, allowing her to cover an objective in smoke and move up to grab it whilst safe from enemy fire. The exploit of smoke + MSV2 has been tamed a little, but its still a nifty tactic to force people to dodge prone or otherwise get out of the way.
for a modest 23pt investment, you get a great package in return.

[csjarrat]

Tech stuff
The nomad nation has access to some seriously good REMs and TAGs, usually at a decent cost.
Given that most are equipped as repeaters too, i'd go as far as saying that they represent one of the nomad's greater strengths.
_______________________________________
REMs

Tsyklon
A solid combat drone; BS12, ARM3 and BTS6 combine with a 6-4MOV, climbing plus and a 360 visor to make for an especially capable gun-platform. able to attack from odd angles and assist in the nomad hacking shenanigans.

Spitfire/marker/Epulse 37/1swc
Fast, with a high burst weapon, this guy can menace the midfield and lay down a hacker-net with its marker system.
it represents great value and is one of my favourite models (as you can no doubt tell lol)

Feuerbach/Epulse 38/1.5swc
Still as fast and even more deadly, this profile looses the safety of the high burst weapon and the utility of the marker to gain the raw power of the feuerbach. It requires a lot more finesse to use well, swingy dice can see this guy go down so make sure to use its high speed and climbing plus to pick unfair fights that favour its AP+DA ammo.
(side note; this ammo type is damn useful in "lifeblood")
______________________________________________________________________
Lunukhod Sputnik
This little sucker is generally used as a great piece of area denial and sees a great deal of regular usage.
It retains much of the Tsyklon's great statline but swaps the 360 visor for the incredibly useful "minesweeper" skill.
The minesweeper isn't just a really bad way to get drunk, but also an excellent way of turning the opponent's crazy koalas and mines against him. Watching your opponents face as you ruin his carefully laid minefield into his worst nightmare is hilarious and comes highly recommended.

Boarding shotgun/heavy flamethrower/crazy koalas(2) 29pts
This profile is all about dominating the midfield. with the speed and mobility you need, you can remove your opponents speed bumps, turn them into your speedbumps and then add your own with your crazy koalas. should he slip through, you can then immolate him with a heavy flamethrower or punch holes in it with DAM15 AP slugs. 0 swc just sweetens the deal, great model.

Boarding shotgun/Akrylat kanone/d-charges 26pts
More of a nice option to be honest, the d-charges are a nice touch for helping achieve secondary objectives and the speed of the REM allows for great positioning to make use of the long range glue gun. I prefer option 1, but option 2 allows for the hilarity of the old glue-gun/d-charge/boom/laugh combination
__________________________________________________________________________
Stempler/Meteor Zond
Both of these excellent drones combine 6-4MOV, sensor, forward observer and repeater with a basic combat loadout to become a very fast and useful specialist drone. As forward observers, not only can they capture objectives, but they can also mark targets utilising their sensor ability for guided missile/speculative fire usage and the secret objective "telemetry."
Sensor is a great little utility for those facing camo heavy opponents, its a fact that your intruders can't be everywhere and these sensor bots can even reveal hidden TO units (great for flushing out TO camo models from sniper nests).
They differ in their mobility, the meteor zond paying a slight premium for is aerial deployment ability whereas the stempler is slightly cheaper but has to rely on climbing plus instead.
Neither carries any armour and only totes a combi rifle, so keep them out of the thick of the fighting and utilise their high mobility to strike from behind to minimise reprisals if you must commit them to combat.

Stempler Combi rifle/Epulse 22pts (climbing plus)
Meteor Combi rifle/Epulse 29pts/1swc (AD:3)
__________________________________________________________________________

Zonds:
Reaktion Zond
The nomad's total reaction drone. Stick in view of an objective or contested zone and wait for people to deal with it or die.
Climbing plus and 6-4MOV assures great mobility and both loadouts come with mines as standard for self defense and more "assertive" usage. total reaction, 360 visor and a heavy machine gun mean that its only real vulnerabilities come from camo/impersonators and speculative fire. Watch out for these and you'll be golden.

Avoidable profile:
E/M light grenade launcher/HMG/Mines 35pts/1swc
Nice piece, but it requires pretty aggressive use to make the most of its short range band. When supported by forward observers it provides a niche tool for dealing with high-tech nations, just watch out for those models with high BTS. It can be pretty order intensive but is useful in some niche circumstances

Vertigo Zond
This guy is brutal, but you have to build around him and its returns diminish greatly once the enemy turns up with even the cheapest, crappest hacker.
Guided missile launchers (GML) are a game strategy in and of themselves, requiring multiple forward observers or a fleet of repeaters/markers and a hacking device+. thankfully, our interventors and custodiers are the best in the biz at this, given the vast number of markers and cheap repeater options in the army.
Note:Although this looks incredibly powerful on paper, be aware that it is very order intensive and is easily defended against by a savvy opponent. It is also very unlikely to make you many friends if you use this on new players; you have been warned!
34 pts and 1swc get you into the club, but beware it's fragile frame you'll need to defend it well.


Transductor Zond
Simply put, a cheap regular order at 8 pts.
It is unarmed, though a fast repeater with only mimetism to keep it safe.
Its primary use is to support your hackers.

Salyut Zond
This guy is a must-have for any Nomad force intent on doing well in the hacking game, the bevy of EVO support options really enhancing our hacker's ability to achieve their goals. Baggage is a useful feature for ITS games too, boosting the value of the REM in games like "Quadrant control" and "Frontline" and is a near necessity for some Paradiso missions. The standard feature of being a repeater also doesn't need bigging up for its usefulness to a hacking centric army.
4-4MOV and a lack of climbing plus means this is more a back-field support bot, but ARM2 separates it from the flimsy ARM0 REM class.

Stand out profiles:
All of them!

EVO repeater/Epulse 13pts/0.5wc
Capable of halving an enemy TAGs BTS defenses and boosting your Hellcats' aerial deployment, these guys are a must for any serious hacking list. Baggage merely sweetens the deal

Minesweeper/Epulse 8 pts
A super cheap and useful baggage drone, this guy can clear minefields/koalas and turn them against the enemy, bringing his baggage benefits for certain ITS missions for the bargain price of 8pts. It's unarmed, but hey, its cheap.

Total reaction; combi rifle/Epulse 21 points
This guy is a great deployment zone defender, able to hold off AD troopers and other sneaky types from raiding your backfield uncontested. As always, look out for combat camo attacks as they can take it down before it fires (under N2 rules)
ARM2 and cover means it's more survivable than the premium reaktion zond but obviously packs less of a punch, which is helpfully represented in the pricing.

____________________________________________________________
TAGs

Nomad TAGs tend to be cheaper than their other human compatriots but offer greater flexibility in list building because of it.
They tend to be armoured and armed more lightly, but generally serve the purpose of bullet hose and bullet magnet just as well, and at a bargain basement level. Don't expect miracles however, a prepared opponent won't struggle too much to deal with them.
Lizard:
Sporting ARM8, BTS 6 and STR3, its a pretty generic and durable TAG.

MULTI HMG/HGL 96pts/2swc
Lacking any close quarters weaponry, this guy is an artillery piece and needs to be treated that way.
N3's changes to the HMG will only serve to re-enforce this role so make sure he's screened with infantry to deal with CQC threats. He can spec fire unguided within 32" and still hit on 11's and this can really punish those closely packed cheerleaders and models prone on rooftops.
Forward observers can reduce this penalty and turn him into a killing machine (hitting on 17's with no reprisals), but it is unlikely to gain many friends and is easily prevented by a savvy opponent as they can just stick to indoor sections and shadow zones.

MULTI HMG/Heavy Flamethrower 88pts/2swc
This trades off the artillery in favour of some CQC capabilities. Its also much cheaper and to me is a good all rounder, though not outstanding in any field.

Iguana:
A lighter and cheaper version of the Lizard, trading down in its statline and weaponry to reduce the cost.
It gains a repeater and an ejecting HI with HMG however, so presents a good cheap choice of TAG at bargain basement price

HMG/Heavy flamethrower 73pts/2swc

Gecko:
Although classified as TAGs, both these profiles are really more like up-armoured heavy infantry and provide the main source of competition for the current Mobile Brigada profiles. Coming with STR3, solid primary weapons, interesting secondary weapons and a light point-defence weapon, they bring a whole bunch of useful tools to the fight.

2 combi rifles/panzerfaust/chain-colt 54pts/1swc
Great for bullying lighter threats in the midfield and threatening dangerous AP+EXP ARO's at range.
Easily outranged by HMG/snipers though so make sure to find total cover before the reactive turn begins

MK12/blitzen/chain colt 55/1swc
Gains range and damage at the cost of 1Burst and a less useful secondary weapon. My go-to profile!

Szalamandra:
The premium battle TAG of the nomad nation, hampered only by EVO repeater supported hackers and its average WIP 13 for dealing with camo markers (oh and its model too, yeah, that hasn't aged well!)
ARM8, BTS9, STR3 makes it durable and its weaponry hits hard at range.

HRMC/heavy flamethrower 90pts/2swc
The Hyper Rapid Magnetic Cannon is quite the beast. B5 DAM15 AP rounds are a threat to pretty much every model in the game and as soon as this guy gets a resculpt, i'll be getting one.
It does lack the tricks of the Iguana and it lacks the variable weaponry of the Geckos, but it can sure as hell dominate a firelane
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[csjarrat]

Skirmishers:
The nomad nation is home to a few skirmishers and both see points drops and other boosts, making them an even stronger choice than they wee previously!

Zeroes:
These guys are the objective capturing workhorse of the nomad nation, seeing battle in pretty much all of my games.
I love these guys and heartily recommend them despite their on-paper "averageness"; their low price, camouflage and infiltration more than offsets for that.

Stand out profiles:
Forward Observer; combi rifle/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 19 pts
Pure gold! mines combined with an infiltrating specialist profile means you can deploy practically on top of an objective and mine it then capture it. 2 pts cheaper!
Combat camo's removal will make them less of a miss-and-die unit, under "suprise attack" rules now, i suspect many opponents will elect to dodge rather than shoot you back if they survive.
Forward observer is a useful skill to have for completing "telemetry" secret objective, and such a cheap infiltrating camo specialist is absolute gold in ITS scenarios.

Minelayer; combi rifle/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 19pts/0.5swc
For those games where you don't need zeroes as objective takers, this profile allows him to deploy a mine within his zone of control when he deploys. Great for shutting down lanes of advance and slowing your enemy down, especially if you don't get turn 1

Hacker; combi rifle/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 24pts/0.5swc
Although a really sub-par offensive hacker on its own, this profile has had a massive decrease in cost and comes armed with an Assault hacking device. If you're not into taking dedicated hackers to skulk in your backfield and want REMs, this guy is well worth considering given his specialist status, camo and infiltration means he's in a great position to move forwards and cap objectives for you. He doesn't get the support-ware programs and lacks BTS, but this is tempered by his bargain basement pricing.

Avoidable profiles:
Combi rifle/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 18pts
Boarding shotgun/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 17pts
Both of these are decent in and of their own right (the +6 to shotguns in 8" is tasty!!), but for such a small price upgrade, the minelayer and forward observer profiles offer so much more utility to ITS players.

MULTI sniper rifle/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 26pts/1.5swc
Its not a terrible choice per-se, making a fairly reasonable budget sniper (even moreso now its had a big price cut) but its distinctly average BS hampers its utility. Infiltration tends not to synergise too well with long range weaponry either, so stick him somewhere in your DZ with a decent view of the battlefield. I find this guy tends to get outcompeted by the minelayer/FO profiles due to the AVA2 limitation. Those with a bigger budget would be better served by a moira sniper, intruder sniper or spektr sniper.

combi rifle/deployable repeater x3/emauler x3/pistol/knife 19pts
He's cheaper, costs no SWC and emaulers have taken a bit of a boost in N3. The deployable repeaters are a great addition to any nomad hacking force. The problem with this guy is that he is as expensive as the FO profile, loses his mines and isn't a specialist. Also for a small upgrade cost, you can get the hacker, who is a specialist and also has mines and brings utility to your hacking game without having to necessarily pay out for another hacker.

Spektrs:
The Zero's big brother! Now cheaper too!
These guys have the better statline, featuring 1 higher WIP, BS and ARM and upgrade their camouflage system to thermoptic camouflage. This allows the unique ability in nomads for 'hidden deployment'; at the cost of their order whilst hidden, they can be deployed in a location by writing down their position only, there is no marker or miniature to represent it. you reveal it when you wish to cause havoc. these guys are great, but obviously pay a premium over their Zero cousins for their abilities.
It should also be mentioned that they come with an underslung shotgun on most profiles, whilst seen as a "tax" in N2, significant benefits have been brought to the shotgun in N3, giving them potent close range defence against stabby folk who want to stab them to avoid taking the -6BS modifer to shooting.

Standout profiles:
Forward observer; combi rifle/light shotgun/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 32pts
An upgraded version of the zero workhorse, he is the premium choice of the two in points cost. TO can really catch an opponent out if you get the right angle on them though and can often be worth the investment. The higher WIP also helps with objectives. He makes a really good forward operator, as embedded in cover on suppressive fire, enemies are at -9 to hit him prior to range modifiers.

MULTI sniper rifle/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 39pts/1.5swc
A deadly TO sniper, he's caught many an opponent out. As the opponent moves his troops up, he can often leave them in a position of being "out of cover" from certain angles and this is the Spektr snipers favoured prey. His TO camo means your opponent never knows if he is straying into his LOF and the DA ammo is deadly. He also takes any return fire at -9 when in cover so can be used relatively aggressively against those unequipped with MSV2-3. He also retains mines so brings some defense against those who would flush him out of a snipers nest at close range. In addition to all these awesome points, he's now below the 40pt mark, meaning he's a lot easier to fit into a list.

Hacker; combi rifle/light shotgun/assault hacking device/pistol/knife 36pts/0.5swc
He's forgotten his mines, but managed to pick up an assualt hacking device and grab a hefty discount on his old profile. He makes for a great forward operator and a solid WIP and BTS3 means he can get up and make good use of his hacking device.

Avoidable profiles:
combi rifle/light shotgun/anti-personnel mines/pistol/knife 31pts
As an ITS player, I'd always pay the upgrade to have him as a specialist. nothing "wrong" with this guy though.

combi rifle/light shotgun/e-mauler x3/deployable repeater x3/pistol/knife 32pts
same as the zero really, slightly more expensive than the FO but not a specialist. Mines are still better than emaulers.

Moran, Maasai Hunter:
Hated by spellcheckers everywhere, this guy is an excellent bit of area denial, given that all profiles come as standard with 2 crazy koalas and a repeater in his backpack. His notable difference over his competition is his mimetism status rather than camo/TO camo.
This makes his application slightly different, putting him more in line with a minelayer. Troops do not want to walk into koalas and HI/TAGs/REMs will try not to blunder into his repeater range lest they receive a hacking ARO from your interventor in the backfield. Deploy him with his infiltration skill somewhere in the midfield and watch as your opponent bleeds orders on dealing with him or walking the long way round. He always was a golden choice in N2 and now takes a slight reduction in cost to further sweeten the deal.

Standout profiles:
Forward observer; combi rifle/pistol/knife 22pts/0.5swc
The default setting for an ITS player. he's an infiltrating specialist that can cause mayhem with his area denial tools. 2 pts cheaper to boot!

Avoidable profiles:
combi rifle/pistol/knife 21pts/0.5swc
boarding shotgun/pistol/knife 20pts/0.5swc
Nothing wrong with either of these guys if you're not playing an objectives based game, but if you are, try to find the points for the FO upgrade.

Corregidor Bandits:
A new entrant for N3, these guys are a nice addition for a corregidor force, finally giving them a forward operating specialist (with camo). starting out with MA L2, scavenger, BS12, PH13 and CC21 (as well as sporting a DA CCW), these guys are clearly meant to be getting stuck in and shanking your enemies, but at BS12 with a mix of shotguns, rifles and ADHL's, they're no slouches in a gunfight either with their camo for surprise attacks.

Standout profiles:
Forward observer, shotgun/ADHL/Pistol/DA CCW 23points.
A pretty cheap upgrade from a zero FO buys you a hefty increase in hitting power, at the cost of a pip of WIP and mines. He therefore makes a better attacker than a zero but its not a no-brainer of a choice in ITS games.

Hacker, shotgun/Assault hacking device/ADHL/Pistol/DA CCW 28points 0.5SWC
Again, a bit of an upgrade cost to pay from a zero equivalent profile, but gains BTS3 and a much stronger attacking profile at the cost of a pip of WIP

Combi rifle/Dep repeaters/Antipersonnel Mines/Pistol/DA CCW 28 points
A good quality skirmisher, he can bully light opponents, choke off routes of advance with mines and pick up gear off dead enemies. Nothing says "lol" quite like picking up a missile launcher off a dead morat vanguard and using it to blow up the raicho with a surprise attack from camo. Oh, and he can lay a hacking web of repeaters down for your interventors too!

Avoidable Profiles:
None of the shotgun profiles grab me to be honest. None of them are "bad" per se, but from an ITS perspective, I find it hard to overlook the suppressive fire and mines of the basic loadout or the specialist profiles.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Warbands:
A few very interesting choices here for the nomads and both bring access to smoke at the cost of irregular/impetuous.
These sometimes used to be lamented for being close combat oriented in a shooting oriented game, but I think they still have something to offer in N3, even with the changes to impetuous:

Der Morlock Gruppen:
Irregular, extremely impetuous and possessing 1 random boon per model, these guys are very hard to control. Metachemistry is the source of the random boon and confers an ability off a D20 chart to them at the beginning of the game. They are situational in many cases, though the extra movement and extra PH boons can be quite helpful!! Martial arts L2 as standard is nice, becoming much more useful under expanded CC rules in N3. All profiles come standard with smoke grenades.
The core of their operation is really to throw down a smokescreen to let you advance without being shot to ribbons and the cheaper profiles also come with chain rifles for area defense/taking out clustered models/dealing with markers + ODD. Changes to impetuous and chain rifles mean they're not as useful as before, but they are now a touch cheaper and boast a hefty CC22 with MA L2 if they do make it into combat, though now they can't take cover bonuses, they'll have a much harder time of making it there.

Standout profiles:
Chain rifle/pistol/shock CCW 6pts
Cheap and good for laying down smoke, the chain rifle is a nice weapon to have access to, especially on tight + cramped CQC game boards, but extreme impetuousness is likely to either bleed you orders or get you killed early.

Chain rifle/assault pistol/AP CCW 8pts
For a small upgrade you get access to the assault pistol, gaining you a great CQC weapon that grants you the safety of a B4 ftf roll rather than the more easily dodged chain rifle template. The AP CCW rarely gets dusted off, but comes in situationally handy against TAGs and HI that overstretch themselves

Avoidable profiles:
All the rest!
Nothing inherently wrong with these guys, they just come at the cost of more than doubling the base profile.
Changes to impetuous hurt these guys and their role as an in-your-face gunfighter is made harder because of it. I'd take the new corregidor guys instead.

Bakunin's Uberfallkommando:
Ok, so these guys are crazy deadly in close combat, cheap but cause a real headache for new players to get their heads around their fiddly G:synch rules.
The unit essentially works around the chimera, a cybernetically enhanced close combat monster, toting natural born warrior, ikohl 1, CC21 and a viral CCW. Each one of her that you buy can take up to three pupniks, who mirror the orders that she performs. This means that if she dodges; they all dodge and if she shoots; only she shoots because she's the only one with a gun. This would leave the pupniks vulnerable to ARO's so make sure you've got your head around the rules before they hit the table.
Other notable qualities of this interesting unit are climbing plus, zero-v smoke grenades, hyperdynamics L3 (pupniks) and total immunity.
The essence of the unit's playstyle is to waltz up the board under 6-4MOV, popping zero-V grenades to prevent their untimely death until they can rip something to shreds in close combat. The fact they are irregular and extremely impetuous only serves to heighten that modus operandi and you will find that they can be a bit of an order hog, so plan their assaults well and don't run out of orders prematurely.

Corregidor Jaguars:
A new entrant in N3, I think these guys offer a lot to corregidor sectoral armies but not so much under Vanilla. Their weapon load-out is very short range, but they lack infiltration and are dependent on smoke to advance. Without the "free" impetuous order of their morlock cousins, these guys work better in your own midfield or DZ, providing a solid counter threat to advancing troopers with their high CC, MA l2 and short ranged guns.
At 13 points and 0.5 SWC for the most expensive option, any of these profiles are worth a pop.

[Harlekin]

Thanks for sharing.
Thing is, I don't agree with your "avoidable profiles". Even out of links I made almost every single unit Nomad work. For example, your opponent will probably underestimate your MSR Alguacil only once. And this doesn't take into account any links.
Most of the time, you'll of course find better ways to spend your precious points and SWC but calling those profiles "aviodable" is imho plainly wrong. I'd call it "situational" instead.

[IJW Wartrader]

I've recently had some good luck in games with a Securitate Sniper. Sixth Sense 2 really helps against camo-heavy troops and she's not paying for a Light Shotgun.

On a more serious note, as much as I appreciate the effort (and I do know how much work it is!), I don't think the timing is too good as it's going to be out of date as soon as N3 lands. In some cases dramatically so.

[Scorch]

Thanks for your work! I'll apply some ADHL on it!

[csjarrat]

Thanks for sharing.
Thing is, I don't agree with your "avoidable profiles". Even out of links I made almost every single unit Nomad work. For example, your opponent will probably underestimate your MSR Alguacil only once. And this doesn't take into account any links.
Most of the time, you'll of course find better ways to spend your precious points and SWC but calling those profiles "aviodable" is imho plainly wrong. I'd call it "situational" instead.

Good point mate, i'm not trying to slag them off as "useless", merely more situational or that they have elements that are done better elesewhere.
I've added a disclaimer to the OP to clarify my point and will address it with the N3 update.

I've recently had some good luck in games with a Securitate Sniper. Sixth Sense 2 really helps against camo-heavy troops and she's not paying for a Light Shotgun.

On a more serious note, as much as I appreciate the effort (and I do know how much work it is!), I don't think the timing is too good as it's going to be out of date as soon as N3 lands. In some cases dramatically so.

Yeah, securitate's SSL2 is a cool ability, they're just expensive for what you get.
This will be ongoing and will be updated with N3, i just wanted to get the framework up and in place ready

[IJW Wartrader]

Yeah, that's why the Securitate MSR is OK, the only 'extra' she's paying for is the Repeater.

You might want to mention Shotgun changes for the Interventor BS loadout, she's pretty obviously designed for N3. Even if Flash Pulse doesn't see any range changes, a BS17 Boarding Shotgun compares favourably with a WIP18 Flash Pulse for close-up AROs against drop troops and fast flankers.

[csjarrat]

Yeah, that's why the Securitate MSR is OK, the only 'extra' she's paying for is the Repeater.

You might want to mention Shotgun changes for the Interventor BS loadout, she's pretty obviously designed for N3. Even if Flash Pulse doesn't see any range changes, a BS17 Boarding Shotgun compares favourably with a WIP18 Flash Pulse for close-up AROs against drop troops and fast flankers.

good call, will do

EDIT:
Quoted your idea into the post

[IJW Wartrader]

By the way, you forgot Carlota Kowalsky.

[csjarrat]

By the way, you forgot Carlota Kowalsky.

Named characters will be addressed seperately, Lupe snuck in because i love her!

[IJW Wartrader]

Ah, that makes sense.

[Ben Lehman]

Really good thus far. Looking forward to the rest, and I will save my quibbles 'til then.

I am glad to have the glory of Moderator + Marker spelled out clearly, though. She is my big-haired treasure.

yrs--
--Ben

[Harlekin]

Avoidable profile:
E/M light grenade launcher/HMG/Mines 35pts/1swc
Nice piece, but rarely does the EM LGL make it worth the investment. spec fire is too inaccurate for a BS11 model and usually anything dangerous enough to warrant EM has a decent BTS rating anyways.

So very wrong. E/M LGL on a fast and mobile platform which comes with a Repeater combined with Hacking+ will wreck your opponent's day. As long as you don't face Ariadna or a low tech Haqqislam list that is.
You frag even Combi Rifles - and will probably disable HI, REMs, TAGs, ODD, TO, MSV, MSR, Spitfires, Mines...
E/M LGL on Reaktion Zond is one of the best units in the game period as you'll most probably field a Hacker+ anyways, when you get to action with Nomads.

This thing saved my poor ass so many times - be it versus Yaogat links, Aragotos, Myrmidon Storm, Dakini Swarm, Croc Men, Hac Tao, SuJian, Intruder, cheap LI link teams...
As soon as their precious equipement is out those are quite easy to be finished of.
I even froze a Marut with it once - it took 4 orders but was absolutely worth the effort.

A lot to learn you have still

[csjarrat]

Avoidable profile:
E/M light grenade launcher/HMG/Mines 35pts/1swc
Nice piece, but rarely does the EM LGL make it worth the investment. spec fire is too inaccurate for a BS11 model and usually anything dangerous enough to warrant EM has a decent BTS rating anyways.

So very wrong. E/M LGL on a fast and mobile platform which comes with a Repeater combined with Hacking+ will wreck your opponent's day. As long as you don't face Ariadna or a low tech Haqqislam list that is.
You frag even Combi Rifles - and will probably disable HI, REMs, TAGs, ODD, TO, MSV, MSR, Spitfires, Mines...
E/M LGL on Reaktion Zond is one of the best units in the game period as you'll most probably field a Hacker+ anyways, when you get to action with Nomads.

This thing saved my poor ass so many times - be it versus Yaogat links, Aragotos, Myrmidon Storm, Dakini Swarm, Croc Men, Hac Tao, SuJian, Intruder, cheap LI link teams...
As soon as their precious equipement is out those are quite easy to be finished of.
I even froze a Marut with it once - it took 4 orders but was absolutely worth the effort.

A lot to learn you have still

never really made it work for me but have updated the profile

[Ben Lehman]

As a note, πwell is a Stempler Zond (+ODF), not a Zondbot. Zoe can't engineer through him, he provides his own order, he's G: Remote Presence rather than G: Sych etc.

[WiseKensai]

E/M LGL on a fast and mobile platform which comes with a Repeater combined with Hacking+ will wreck your opponent's day. As long as you don't face Ariadna or a low tech Haqqislam list that is.
You frag even Combi Rifles - and will probably disable HI, REMs, TAGs, ODD, TO, MSV, MSR, Spitfires, Mines...
E/M LGL on Reaktion Zond is one of the best units in the game period as you'll most probably field a Hacker+ anyways, when you get to action with Nomads.)

I have yet to try this particular profile, in part because my usual opponent is Ariadna. What's the general tactic you use? The TR zond is pretty squishy and I find it usually hides behind a hail of HMG rounds to keep it safe. Are you marking through it as a Repeater with Hacking Device+ and then shooting without the -6 to speculative fire? Being 8 inches away and in total cover seems like there'd be some obnoxious shadow zone in the way...or are you taking direct shots at something with the LGL and hoping to roll well?

It's also asking a lot from one unit (drop mines, ARO with an HMG, be a repeater for marking targets, and E/M grenade spam). I really want it to work, especially because Pan-O Military Orders and Aleph are in my meta. Any advice in addition to your glowing review would be most helpful.

[Harlekin]

I have yet to try this particular profile, in part because my usual opponent is Ariadna. What's the general tactic you use? The TR zond is pretty squishy and I find it usually hides behind a hail of HMG rounds to keep it safe.

The Reaktion Zond is often my number one offensive model. MOV6-4, Climbing+ and the highly versatile HMG. When going against Ariadna,I usually try to provoke AROs from Camo Markers. And if those Markers don't reveal themself, I just go for the models hiding in the backyard. Or place Mines in critical spots on the table.

Are you marking through it as a Repeater with Hacking Device+ and then shooting without the -6 to speculative fire? Being 8 inches away and in total cover seems like there'd be some obnoxious shadow zone in the way...or are you taking direct shots at something with the LGL and hoping to roll well?

Yes. Marking via Repeater and Hacking+. I find some targets in most games.

It's also asking a lot from one unit (drop mines, ARO with an HMG, be a repeater for marking targets, and E/M grenade spam). I really want it to work, especially because Pan-O Military Orders and Aleph are in my meta. Any advice in addition to your glowing review would be most helpful.

Especially versus MO and Aleph, the E/M LGL is really awesome. So many targets and so many shiny toys to destroy.
If you post a few pics of your games, me (and others) should probably able to give more practical advices.
Plus the mines are a real PITA for Aleph's NWI.
And there is never anything wrong with TotReakt HMG and mobile Repeaters.

[csjarrat]

As a note, πwell is a Stempler Zond (+ODF), not a Zondbot. Zoe can't engineer through him, he provides his own order, he's G: Remote Presence rather than G: Sych etc.

good catch, will rectify!

[Ghost80]

Nice post, really, it gives an amazing view of all the units of this army.

I've started just recently to play Infinity and I was planning to start Aleph, but then, after having read both Human Sphere and Campaing: Paradiso, I've fell in love with the Nomads and their rich background...not to mention their tactical flexibility.
So right now I'm using this topic to plan my future buyings: right now I've received, for my birthday, the vanilla Nomads starter set and I plan to use everyting of it. I was not so convinced about the Grenzer, but since my enemy will be my brother with Ariadna, I plan to use it.