Editing Infinity/N3 Tactics/Varuna (section)

===Light Infantry===

*'''Echo Bravo, Ready Action Unit:''' The Navy SeALs to the Sikh’s 101st Airborne, they are definitely sneaking in from a board edge. On the plus side this means if you have 2 groups (or 9 orders for some reason) your opponent will be freaking out about the flanks. Also means they know where he’d be coming from. But hey: you get an AD troop, be happy! The actual guy had no mod support and only packs SWC weapons but they’re all pretty decent and you get 2 specialist profiles. AHD on a WIP 12 is pretty pathetic truth be told, but can give some solid board control where your opponent might not have the tools to counter, and are bonused on many missions, and a DEP makes people have to think twice or face AP+EXP BS 13. The paramedic option is probably more interesting. Gains a light shotgun and the first appearance of the Wild Parrot, basically an EM Fast Panda you can use to force people to split ARO & which can shut down both fireteams of little guys and the big guns of most (or, really, any)  army lists. Problem is it’s disposable so one shot for 0.5 precious SWC. The LRL + BSG and Red Fury are more straightforward, use to taste. RF can be considered a discount Spitfire in some ways but... inevitably it’ll pale in most close comparison. 
*'''Fusiliers:''' The PanOceanian basic line infantry, 10pts for a base one, with BS 12. Just like everywhere else, in PanO they get all the basic heavy weaponry and specialist options as well as a non-SWC Lieutenant. These guys will be your most likely cheerleaders and BS 12 makes them for a decent ARO piece (especially with a Missile Launcher), if you’re willing to spend 1.5 SWC on a Fusilier, which in Varuna is even more of a concern. BUT it can help take the pressure off your expensive active turn pieces and force them to spend time/orders hunting something else. 
**It's also worth noting that this is the only sectorial with UNLIMITED AVA for Fusiliers. This is HUGE as it means your 10 point order monkeys can reform their own core links once the ORCs/Kamau is shot out, and gives you a reason to pay a couple points over the repeater/baggage bot. Underestimate a BS 15 B4 combi-rifle at your own peril, especially later in the game when the good stuff is dead. It's 100% worth taking the extra Fusilier for when your missile bot dies so you go second you can still take over active turn with a 5 man link and go around critting with your BSG.
**If going mixed fireteam, read the fine print, ‘up to 3 Fusiliers and up to 2 ORCs.’ Now initially this sounds restrictive until you remember for 3 points you can take a bot over a Fusilier ML and Kamau have wildcard. 
**'''Kamau''' adding Kamau give you 2 options: high WIP Specialists and a better gunfighter. For double the points. Which, in Varuna where points are cheap and SWC is king, can be worth it. Your 1 SWC HMG gets near ORC levels of BS 16/B 5, but looses that second wound you’d really want in an active turn piece for your big link. Militiamen is great for helping win firefights though. Probably better off in the Haris or wild carding in after the ORC goes down. though. That MSV2 MSR ARO will pretty much never hit on worse than a 13. With 2 shots. WIth mimetism, think about that when mod stacking. B3 even makes it viable for active turn hunting. The hacker is interesting as well and the stand out from the specialist front, BTS6 helps vs hacking attempts (it was probably one of 2 that along w the HMG saw play to begin with) the rest are quite a bit of premium for 1 more point of WIP and some mild mods. 
**'''ORCs:''' adding ORCs gives the Fusiliers a few options, the first is a ridiculously potent offensive gunfighter, a BS 17 Fuerbach or HMG will do mean things in active turn. Note that this is only the Varuna ORCs though, which is pretty decent except they all cost SWC except the multirifle. The multi-rifle and BSG give you pretty hard room-clearing and midfield gunfighting options whilst the fusiliers watch the back and maybe carry a repeater for the KHD. The BSG can do the old Knight Hospitaler trick of critting its way to a win with 3 AP shots hitting on 23s vs enemies in the open within 8." Note, this fire team is Up to 2 ORCs and up to 3 fusiliers, so have a plan to fill the gap when an ORC goes down or when you cant afford it. The Missile bot is the answer most of the time, speaking of which
**'''Clipper Dronbot:'''  lose the smart missiles, the ability to go prone, and pay 3 more points so you can get your link up on the cheap and take supportware. Vs the Fusilier missile launcher these are extremely viable. 
**'''Fusilier Indigo Bipandra:''' A WIP13 Doctor, making her the tied for best doctor in the faction.  Has a Nanopulser and WIP13, AND you're now playing a faction that can get a LOT of work out of those 2 wound HIs. The link will also move her up the field to keep pase with an aggressive ORC. It's not like you're doing much else w your command tokens right? Feel free to re-roll to your heart's content!

*'''Helot Militia:''' Neurocinetic and SWC weaponry except for one profile, come admirably cheap and kitted for bear. Unfortunately, the rest of the stats are a touch on the 'meh' side. 'Only' BS 11, but you're ARO-ing anyway so you get the extra shots to offset that. The big potential for game changing ∆ comes from the synergy of Zulu Cobra and Helots where their decoys form extra targets, and make your opponent have to consdider whether your were willing to spend 1/4 of your SWC on an MSR helot that they can ignore or try to deal with that guy standing up on overwatch. Realistically in Varuna, you're probably taking at least one if not more of the marksmanrifle profiles, which are far from bad, still can leave your opponent guessing which is which and which is the ZC, and do a good job providing SWC free total reaction. 

*'''Kamau, Amphibious Intervention Teams:''' Kamau are an elite Light Infantry choice, geared for long range fighting. BS13, WIP 13 and Mimetism drive up the price on such a squishy unit, but BTS6 might be useful for a hacker or against Tohaa and the HMG gets an 0.5 SWC discount over the Nisse. Speaking of, there’s an MSV2 MULTI Sniper option too, because clearly every PanO sectorial needs one. What is more interesting is the HRL + SMG profile, both extremely rare weapons for PanO. But in general Kamau will be a lot better in Varuna than they are for generic armies. If you want to take a core of them, go wild, but it’ll probably be worse than dropping one or 2 in other fireteams. As wildcards they can actually drop the cost of an ORC link and give better specialists as well. If you’re taking a Combi Rifle guy in a fireteam, note the free Lt option, which is an extra point of WIP over a fusilier. Also means you only need one no frills of each to keep them guessing. (So feel free to take the medic AND the FO fusilier for the wonky specialist hat trick. 
**'''Haris:''' this is where they shine, can wither nuclear themselves with 0.5 SWC or just wildcard into both of Patsy’s Haris slots (which is pretty cheap and buys you your specialist as well). Here they can add a cheap long range HMG mimitism. The reason you’d take their own Haris is because they can bring a Machinist along which is a low WIP specialist but a very useful one/very rare in PanO and worth it if you have a Cutter or even missile bot on the board or for when your ORC runs afoul of a hacker or glue gun. It’s also cheaper, but accordingly worse. If you can squeeze in a Tech Bee definitely consider it, but sadly in limited insertion you’re running with the worst engineer basically in the game (which is pretty crazy when you think about Irmandino fluff).  

*'''Machinist :''' Basically a non-linkable Fusilier with Engineer and higher BTS. Not very good, but it's the only Engineer in entire PanOceania, so if you're heavy on Remotes or taking a TAG, you'll be taking him anyway and his Varuna profile buys it’s place into the Haris with a few extra rules for a few extra points. 

*'''Tech-Bees, Maintenance Battalions:''' An odd Irregular trooper, the Tech-Bee is a 5pts specialist (WIP12, but for that cost it's still a bargain) armed with a pistol and a Flash Pulse. But the more interesting part is Remote Assistant Level 1: Tech-Bee gives a +1 WIP bonus to all your Engineers and Remote Pilots, a.k.a Machinist and Crabbot (and in TAGline, Cordelia). Very much worth considering given Varuna' special Machinists, TAGs, and the fact that a lot of the non-killy ways to deal w ORCs leave them IMM. 

*'''Trauma-Doc:''' The cheap Doctor option. Much like Machinist she's not very good, but she's also dirt-cheap.

*'''WarCor:'''Flash Pulse and Aerocam are nice for an annoying ARO... that's it. 

*'''Zulu Cobra, Special Recon and Intervention Group:''' lots of guns and what not, but you're here for 2 profiles. The jammer assault pistol combo is mean on a camo troop, as it can do work with surprise shot at zero range and just shut down big chunks of the board. The KHD is a specialist with no SWC, good willpower, and can help you hunt the major threats to your armored assault. The Lt profile on that Jammer is kind of fun as it gives you a WIP 13 camo Lt, who can feed the order to Patsy via NCO and do a good job of holding a corner for a TAG/ORC team to fall back to or do some turn 3 hunting when it doesn't matter. Also fun, the shock marksman rifle and X-visor profile for sniping out annoying characters; did we mention it also clocks in at 0 SWC?