In addition to being one of the most iconic factions in the game for their slick aesthetics and iconoclast attitude, Nomads have consistently been regarded as a competitive faction. Their schtick of having multi-use specialists (especially a good breadth of quality hackers) and weird toolbox units is valuable, especially since their firepower units aren’t really any worse than average. The generic army and the Sectorials all had a good variety of units which could cover any situation. At the end of N4, there were some design issues. Bakunin was agreed to be the strongest Sectorial in the faction (and one of the very strongest in the game); Tunguska was a bit weird but very solid after receiving some critical units in late N4; Corregidor had some tricks but had fallen behind the curve, partly due to Fireteam changes. But generic Nomads was the problematic bit. In the competitive meta, its extremely varied options had been boiled down to the most efficient builds and that sort of list was centred around Guided Missile play, with support from efficient warbands, a strong firepower TAG, and a network of repeaters and pitchers. So a shake up was much appreciated – if well played, it was quite obnoxious. 

Let’s see how much that late N4 consensus has changed. We will mention some commonly shared units, then discuss each Sectorial, and do generic Nomads at the end. Throughout, the aim is to highlight where units have changed (winners and losers) and give some initial ideas on what role they will play in lists. We will try to estimate what builds and features will be popular in each Sectorial. But this is an exploratory phase of the new edition, so it’s not a competitive guide – we can’t say with authority what has actually proven successful in competitive play.

The standard caveat, N5 is brand new and often small changes are made to the Army builder as simple errors are caught and/or things are picked up by the community as needing immediate balance. For example, at the start of N4, Moran Masai could be camouflaged and repeaters. A blissful state which was not at all toxic for the game and shouldn’t have been changed. Honest. 

Common Units

Nomads have a fairly typical spread of units (mainly Remotes and Support Troops) which are included in all Sectorials and generic Nomads:

Utility Remotes

The bottom line here is that these all have their uses and at least some will be present in a lot of Nomad lists. At least one box of Zond Remotes will still be an advised starting purchase for all Nomads players. 

Transductor Zonds (flash bots) are still great – 7pts for a Regular Order (the cheapest in any Nomad faction) and a repeater – despite their flash pulse getting less punchy, so they will continue to be common.

Vertigo Zonds (missile bots) are unchanged and likely to remain a staple. Guided got a tiny bit nerfed but pitcher strikes are still easy and reliable for Nomads, so this is great if you can spare the SWC.

Stempler Zonds (FO Sensor bots) have an unchanged version and a TacAware one. Still a useful pocket specialist for missions that want one. Tunguska gets a super-jump FTO which is handy.

Reaktion Zonds (TR bots) were a staple for all Nomads, except maybe Bakunin, in N4. More than most Nomad Remotes, Climbing Plus has always made them great mobile firepower at a budget price. Now there is an alternative profile for a B3 Thunderbolt at 19pts/0SWC. That SWC is a big difference. Lower Burst (and PS) means it can’t be used as effectively in the Active turn. But it will still hold back warband pushes, guard the back of your DZ and generally give value. We can’t guess which profile will be more popular, but expect this to still feature often. 

Salyut Zonds (EVO Baggage bots) were very rare in any Nomads lists, since 8pts unarmed is vulnerable and EVO is expensive, especially in SWC, for what it brought to most builds. New Baggage rules make them way more tempting and we are keen to experiment. There are various pitchers, koalas, mine dispensers and turrets in the factions which can benefit from auto-reloading. 

Combat Remotes

Vostok Sputniks were unquestionably the best special Nomad Remote in N4, and they got better in line with similar priced units. The basic 35pt option is a steal and we don’t expect to see the 40pt one with repeater much – there are a lot of other ways to spread hacking area at better value, in all the Nomad sub-factions.

Tsyklon Sputniks are still overshadowed by the Vostok; their thing is still repeaters and pitchers combined with SWC guns, but they just aren’t great firepower for their cost. 

Lunokhod Sputniks have been terrible for more than a decade. They got a real glow-up and might just be mediocre now. The speed upgrade, FD+4” and adjusted weapons are all fine, but ultimately they’re too expensive for a purely defensive trooper which is going to rely on B1 AROs and template trades. 

Support Troops

Daktaris are unchanged and are still fine. Expect to see them in Nomads, Corregidor and Tunguska if there are squishy DZ-based firepower units that need medical support. They can still be useful in Fireteams in Corregidor. They will never be seen in Bakunin, which has options for much better Doctors. 

Clockmakers are still excellent support engineers, and players might want to try the new turret option. But there are more exciting, fighty engineers in all sub-factions, for exciting tasks like Duo-ing with TAGs. Clockmakers will still be taken to hang around the back and repair via Zondbots.

New Unit: TAG-Treiber Pilots

10-12 points gets you a scrub Specialist who buffs your TAGs (+3 to Dodge and +1 to Gizmokit). Maybe worth it if your TAG is really key? The problem is that if played well, your TAG never wants to Dodge or be Gizmokitted! But the enemy does get a vote so we will experiment with these. The pilots are all themed to the available TAGs, so only Bakunin can take the most interesting one, the Lizard Pilot – even on a scrub line infantry type, a Specialist with an E/Mitter for 10pts is a steal. Generic and Tunguska might also consider the 12pt Szalamandra Pilot, that’s a cheap KHD even if she’s not actually any good. These can all join the standard Core Fireteam category for the Sectorials, so might see some use.

“Not Available in Corregidor” Units

To my intense vexation, there are a few interesting units which are available to literally every brand of Nomads except Corregidor. End this injustice CB! They even took one of these, Wolfgang, away from Corregidor in the edition change.

Rounders are an excellent little unit for their efficient hacker and light firepower (the red fury). They didn’t change in cost, gained a direct template (boarding pistols) and will still be good despite the rise of Albedo and other alternative gunfighting skills. 

Wolfgang is a close combat and rifle range brawler, who got a big glow-up, while remaining relatively expensive (34pts). He was always a favourite of mine for room-control missions and now he might be a competitive pick in Tunguska, maybe Bakunin, despite strong competition. He needs their Fireteam options to buff him up; in generic Nomads the best he can do is a Duo without bonuses.

Meteor Zonds got cheaper and benefit from Super-Jump (Jet Propulsion) like most combat jumpers. It’s still a useful piece that needs a bit of finesse and synergies with hackers to get full value. It gained a light shotgun/EM Carbine profile which definitely seems worth the price over the basic boarding shotgun.

Fiddler was a fearsome assault piece and specialist in N4, but her Jackbots got hit hard by the shotgun change. She is still far from useless, Synchronised is great for disposable attacks, but probably the FTO version will get more common, at least where it fits well, like in Bakunin. Not just because it has Super-Jump, which got vastly better while Climbing Plus suffered. Because her Contender+1B got a lot better (they are now base B2, 24” guns with T2 ammo) she is a sort of budget gunfighter as well as a Specialist and melee model – that’s a lot of roles to bring to a Fireteam, and the Contender benefits a lot from +1SD, as do her Drop Bears.

New Unit: Go-Pods

The new Aerial Vehicles are extremely aggressive units and expected to shake up the meta. The Go-Pod seriously might be the best one in the game; it’s certainly up there. Most expert opinion is saying take the HRL/AP SMG. It can get those long-range shots or close in tight. I was actually really tempted by the multi rifle/E/Mitter version, because I see a lot of scope for drawing shots in that 8-16” range band. Both are strong, but the HRL is the safer bet. We expect these to become a premier attack unit in all the sub-factions that can take them. Corregidor players steaming with envy. 

Bakunin Jurisdictional Command (BJC)

Bakunin were a contender for strongest Sectorial in the game at the end of N4. That was partly due to their breadth of options, typically great Nomad spread of hackers, repeaters/pitchers, Warbands and Specialists, and two powerful unique units in the Uberfallkommando and Stigmaton. But it was also because their Fireteams were busted as hell, with two options (Riot Grrls and Observance) for strong and flexible unit combinations to hit the maximum Core bonuses. In N5, those lost a lot of bonuses like +2BS and +1B on their templates, but they are one of very few factions that might still want to throw Level 5 Fireteams around the table. And they still have all those other strengths! Thematically they still have almost two Sectorials in one, with one group of Observancy religious maniacs, and one group of crazy anarchists, so they just have more options than the other Nomad Sectorials (and more than almost any Sectorial in the game).

New and Lost Units

Bakunin lost access to Chaksa Longarms. Maybe the worst unit in the game, they will not be missed. They gained the new TAG Pilots (possibly usable) and the Go-Pods (terrifyingly good).  

Sectorial Unique Units

Everything Observance related except the Sin Eater (which dropped in points, but still has all the problems of a 1VITA, purely Reactive unit with no visor) is locked to Bakunin, so there really is a certain aesthetic you can only access in this Sectorial. 

TAGs

The Stigmaton continues being unique as a hacker TAG. Still a great, weird, multi-role piece, it dropped 2pts, otherwise unchanged. Truly one of the scariest bits of BJC in the right hands. The Lizard has gotten both better and cheaper. How can a full main battle TAG with Multi HMG be available from 64pts? Well, by getting an onboard Repeater apparently. This is just excellent meat and potatoes firepower for an excellent price. Given the Duo engineers available in Bakunin (Marspiders, Orphans) the Sectorial really can consider 2-TAG lists as valid options, this isn’t meme territory, it’s real and could happen to you next time you play a tournament.

Reverends

Let’s talk Nuns here. In N4 the real show stealers were the Cenobites. Those lost the N4 Impetuous/Fireteam exploit, so they just changed to Frenzy. It’s difficult to say how big a problem that will actually be to using them in Fireteams, but it means they stayed very cheap, and while they don’t get as big a BS bonus from Fireteams as before, they are now native 12BS. Moiras lost Frenzy and picked up Sixth Sense, so are still expensive 1VITA units. But that Sixth Sense means Observance can still do an N4-style Core team ARO piece even with just 4 models. Custodiers got cheaper and bring the same pitchers and HD+ as ever – their weakness is that BJC has a better non-Observance unit for that (Uhahu). Reverend Healers are still very expensive, and weirdly Agatha is barely more expensive. This is because she lost NWI – almost the only time I can think of a character being made significantly weaker in a rework. Her melee skills make her a much better deal than the stock Reverends, as does Doctor (2W). This change means she’s better supporting the Cenobites or Penitent than plain Moiras. Note the cheaper Reverend Healer profile does get an E/Mitter which is a nice capability to have in a long-range team, probably backing up a Moira sniper as the primary gun. Kusanagi got an AP spitfire and dropped a ridiculous amount of points. With her BS14 she will be one candidate for active turn spearhead for most Observance teams.

The other is the Penitent Observant, which is limited to a special Haris team (Kusanagi can join either). This got Continuous Damage, an incredible threat upgrade, and Warhorse (great on any HI and now a situational gunfighting skill). And they dropped massively in cost. Players’ choice if they want a red fury and some type of E/M (which doesn’t get Continuous) or an AP spitfire. We would advise the latter, it makes the most of that sweet fire damage and you can get EM on other pieces. Also in that Haris team category are Orphans. These all gained boarding pistols for direct templates and can either be cheap as chips, an engineer, and engineer/repeater, or pay a bit more and be an MSV2 backup gun. We just have to call out that this is insanely good Fireteam design. You can have a great gunfighter as the spearhead, a cheap model, and a model which either allows hacking support (e.g. White Noise) or can shoot through the smoke your cheap warbands can provide. Absolutely peak. 

(Not that I’m a bitter Corregidor aficionado, but the Penitent is cheaper than a Mobile Brigada HMG. Oof.)

Outside of Fireteam-type reverends we have the Initiated Observants, who are good, cheap utility troops. We don’t see much role for the Parachutists, with their short range kit, but the Camo infiltrator with deployable repeater minelayer will remain a common sight – Turn 0 repeater coverage is clutch for a lot of BJC lists. 

There’s also the Daemonist Observant, who remains 36pts for the Lt. It’s just too much. Counterintelligence and +1 Order are nice, she’s not that vulnerable with Decoy(1) and ECM Hacker-3, but even if she can be protected from assassination, it’s just better to take a cheap Lt and an Order-providing decoy. 

Anarchist Types

Riot Grrls were the other dominant big team in N4 BJC, and the even better one, absolute world-beaters. They got board pistols for direct templates, removing one of their only weaknesses. Hurrah! Frenzy will now actually have to be considered for them, but it does keep them cheap and they gained Combat Instinct. So a Riot Grrl missile launcher bolted onto a team of 4 Moderators is still mostly an N4 fireteam ARO. Its only real weaknesses are White Noise (unavailable to most factions) and Albedo. Learn when to expect those Albedo shooters, and you can still play the Grrls the same way. Note the Spec Op model gained an E/Mitter, making it a sustained threat in the Active turn at long range. 

Avicenna remains a superb doctor; she actually got more expensive, but gained Immunity (ARM), which is a good thing on an NWI model. 

Robin Hook is fantastic now. Very cheap for a 2STR model with Immunity (Enhanced), she is a repeater that is going to be very awkward for opponents to remove. She’s not great at fighting, but with an E/Mitter added, she’s one good Booty roll away from being a thorn in the enemy’s side. 

Uhahu is just a criminally efficient Hacking Device Plus on an NWI model. Truly excellent hacking pick, and a good pairing for a Riot Grrl Tinbot (Firewall-6).

Prowlers are still too damn expensive. Hidden Specialists are a nice capability, but you could take two Zeroes for the price. Immunity(ARM) is a trap on 1VITA models, because it’s expensive and they still can’t take risks or try and tank a direct template.

Bran do Castro got a proper (DA) close combat weapon back! He can now usefully try to slap HI again. He’s gone down in price and is solidly good, great if you are playing first.

Zellenkriegers (and Extreme Zellenkriegers) are overshadowed by Morlocks in Bakunin. The difference is close, they’re worth it if you have the extra 2pts spare to ‘upgrade’ a Morlock, just be aware it’s a situational upgrade. The Extreme is now less of a trap – its PH15 looks nice in a world with +0 range smoke grenades) but it will still rarely get taken. 

Denma Connolly is still damn good, and should go into your list before any other type of Zellenkrieger. Maybe before any Morlocks, which is high praise indeed.

Shared with Generic Nomads

The Taskmaster still lives up to his name and can control Morlocks or Zellenkriegers as a Fireteam Master. That’s a Haris option here, so more attractive than in generic Nomads. The standout profile change is a Strategic Deployment option on the red fury. But this remains quite high cost, for utility rather than pure firepower – comparing it to the Penitent is just painful.

Morlocks didn’t change, and suffered from the smoke grenade nerf, but are still one of the best values in the game, and only get better with a Taskmaster.

Zoe is the most defensive of the Nomad ‘hacker girl’ characters, and still good for meshing your engineer and a hacker into one slot. Unfortunately she stayed expensive due to picking up Immunity (BTS), which sounds great for a hacker until you realise it doesn’t affect Comms Attacks. Pi-Well’s FTO version is flat better than a standard FO bot, but his Peripheral form might be even better. It can fire B2 pitchers in the Active turn, and Reactively it’s an E/Marat, Jammer, Repeater speedbump which doesn’t cost an Order when it dies. 

Moderators are unchanged, still the natural Lt option for Bakunin. Beyond that they will mostly be used as Fireteam glue, with the paramedic and pitcher options adding good value there. The boarding shotgun profile for an EM Carbine, which is fun but not good on a BS10 model.

Zeroes are the budget infiltrators they have always been. Like most skirmishers they stayed the same price, but the Minelayer profile did switch to a boarding shotgun and so went down 2pts. That or the cheap Specialist profiles (FO, KHD) will still see play in the right missions. 

The mighty Uberfallkommando, one of the very best Warbands of N4. The Chimera lost Martial Arts altogether; coupled with how powerful MA3+ has become, this means that it can’t solo most melee specialists in the game anymore, it should stick to bullying non-close combat targets. But Pupniks are unchanged (you have to take all 3) and those can still be used in multiples to force normal melee rolls. Together with the Eclipse smoke now being on a flat 13, the UFK is still a very good warband but not quite the death missile of N4. 

Marspiders are still cool, unchanged like most reinforcement-wave units. They’ll most likely be used when Bakunin players want to support a TAG (competing with the cheaper Orphans) or otherwise want an aggressive assault/specialist hybrid. As pure close assault troops they will probably be neglected for Morlocks or Zellenkriegers. They are more deadly with that great fork (trident?) of B2 heavy flamethrower, B2 melee, or B4 assault pistol. But it’s hard to argue with much cheaper, Impetuous models who bring smoke.

Fireteam Options

Core Teams

Bakunin still has good options for big Core teams with level 4-5 bonuses. We may still see Level 5 Reverend Fireteams with a Moira (and/or Kusanagi) firepower piece, Cenobites for close assault, Custodier hacking and Healer or Agatha medical support. Just as in N4, the raw combat power of 5 Riot Grrls (with or without Avicenna and/or Fiddler) could be even stronger. Both these compositions suffered in N4, but are still powerhouses. 

Haris Teams

The Penitent Observant is a game changer here, and we expect the default Haris for nun-enjoyers to include it alongside an Orphan. The standard Reverends are also a fine Haris; Kusanagi and Custodiers can really shine there. Taskmasters will likely be popular mostly for the Order and points efficiency of Regular Morlocks, but for capability we think they lag behind Riot Grrls or Observance units. We should also mention the option of Wildcarding Wolfgang in there – a unit which likes Strategic Deployment if ever there was one. 

Duo Teams

The standout here is Riot Grrls. Yeah, they can Duo. We mentioned earlier that with MSV1 and Combat Instinct, Grrls enjoy most of the security of an N4 Core team, provided opponents lack Albedo and White Noise. Well, a lot of that team strength exists at 2 members, and it means much less commitment of slots and points. At a guess, highly capable Duos like this could be the preferred way to build ARO pieces in N5. The same logic applies to Active turn teams: a Riot Grrl spitfire and Spec Ops is just the right size to smash into your opponent’s face.

The TAG Duos for Bakunin are great. You can only pure-Duo 2 Stigmatons, which is genuinely scary, although too big a commitment of SWC to allow for really functional lists. More seriously, they can support either type of TAG with a Marspider or Orphan engineer – the former is great for dealing with threats at close quarters, the latter is cheaper – or Robin Hook. Robin won’t be able to use her Super-Jump to full effect supporting a TAG, but at 6-2 she will keep up no problem, and she’s primarily a positioning piece. Using the TAG’s Orders can get her up the field for free, even if you don’t want them to stick together throughout the game. 

Overall Faction Impressions

Bakunin were the strongest of the bunch going in (arguably on par with generic Nomads, which played very differently). They are probably the strongest coming out the gate too. Yes, their signature big pure teams got weaker in terms of direct bonuses, but they are still capable. Ultimately Bakunin has better gunfighters (Moiras, Riot Grrls) and cheaper filler (Moderators) available to their Core teams than the other Nomads. Their pitcher access is great, especially for models which can easily help Fireteams gain +1SD, so Guided is well supported. They have probably the most efficient Warbands, and their TAGs are so cheap and Duo-able that we expect them to feature heavily in competitive lists. It’s just a very strong complete package, and like the others (sorry Corregidor) they will benefit immensely from the Go-Pod. Especially because of the breadth of options for Fireteams of all sizes, we’re excited to see the next generation of competitive Bakunin lists. Estimated Rating: A

Corregidor Jurisdictional Command (CJC)

Times are hard for Corregidor. Once the best-established Nomad Sectorial, they have been a long time without major rules updates. Their thing used to be incredibly flexible Fireteams, in an era where bonuses were big and most factions were strictly limited in choice. In late N4, they were considered average at best. The issue was they had a lot of tactical options, but with the exceptions of Jazz, Moran Masai, McMurrough and the Gator, all their standby units were considered solid, not spectacular. Let’s see if times have changed.

New and Lost Units

Corregidor lost access to Wolfgang, just as he got his glow-up. He was a Wildcard in the faction and a door-kicker par excellence, so this stings a bit. They also lost their AVA1 Digger, but realistically that died the moment it got kicked out of their Fireteams in mid-N4, this was just laying the ghost to rest. The only new unit they received was the TAG pilots. No Go-Pod. Sigh.

Sectorial Unique Units

Bandits got more expensive, on account of gaining Bangbombs (lol) and BS Attack (+1B). Not a fan of the former, but the latter has a chance to really pop off if you can roll the right Booty result. So practice that. They got a board pistol, which with the +1B means they can lay templates just as in N4. Their old role, disposable CQB attacker and cheap mission specialist, seems silly at their current points cost. Players may need to find the right opportunity before throwing them away. A new minelayer profile (shock mines and deployable repeaters) is interesting at least. 

Jaguars are unchanged, as with most warbands, but the previously excellent light shotgun profile now looks worse than the chain rifle, while the ADHL/Panzerfaust gains smoke grenades so is now at least usable. These guys can Duo and under the N5 Fireteam rules will likely be a pillar of the Sectorials. Senor Massacre remains a (Jaguar) for Fireteams which is convenient, and also really wants to be in a Duo with them to get that reliable Eclipse smoke. He’s still mid. Excellent melee skills, but no longer decisively advantaged against other good martial artists. His weapons make him great against hard targets, but he’s pushing the points limit for a 1VITA close-range brawler. Picked up shock immunity, which might help his Regeneration work sometimes, and a boarding pistol.

McMurrough is still good, but didn’t change in points, dropped a level of Martial Arts (to below the key breakpoint of MA3), his Immunity got much worse and even his smoke isn’t as reliable. Even his melee punch got a pip weaker, although that’s in line with other very high damage combatants. Tough times for what was admittedly an infamously powerful Warband. Still worth including, but maybe no longer an auto-take.

The Iguana Squadron was considered a truly awful TAG and is now maybe OK, at a push, but probably not as good as competing options. It’s cheaper, gained AP on its main gun and +1B on its flamethrower. It keeps its useful Repeater and ECM. Sounds a good kit right? Well it still only has 6ARM, and after taking 2 Wounds, it transmutes into its budget-HI Operator form. It’s just not tough compared to similarly priced and sized TAGs. Yes it’s technically 4VITA, it’s no Anaconda, but after 2 wounds, the Operator is only BS12. I’d rather have a 3STR TAG. It sits right between the Gecko and Gator in price so I guess it could be tried out, but we expect the Iguana to remain decorating the shelf.

Valerya Gromoz got a couple points cheaper, so she’s still a very good pitcher hacker for the price, but likely to be taken after Jazz, who has some critical programs (White Noise and Trinity) over her.

Tomcats, somewhat surprisingly cut out from vanilla, are exactly the same except for a 1pt drop on the worse engineer profile. This is acceptable, they still provide necessary Specialists appearing where you need them and also having a cheeky shot at someone’s backside. But disappointing. They also lost the profile which had an E/Mitter, presumably because CB couldn’t bear to make it good. Carlota Kowalsky dropped 1pt, similarly, we will go on taking her in missions like Mindwipe, or occasionally just to remind opponents to respect the threat. But both these units look a little expensive for 1VITA airborne troopers compared to some others in the game.

Wildcats gained Combat Instinct and a small points drop. This still leaves them very inefficient outside of the SWC profiles. Maybe the hackers will have some use due to BTS6 and ignoring Stealth. Solid, but unexceptional.

Lupe Balboa actually got more expensive, so will continue as a rare pick. She is an (Alguacil) and now has an E/Mitter, so she’s not unusable. She can do a lot for a Fireteam: Specialist, throws smoke, can take some fights with Mimetism-3, potential annoying ARO or desperate push piece with Dogged. We’re just not sure she does any one thing well enough to bet on.

Sombras dropped a little in price but remain very expensive midfielders. Still just ok. You’re paying a fair price for survivability but it also means they feel quite under gunned for their cost.

Lobos got the glow-up of the Sectorial, which is good since they were dog-doo before. They went up 1BS, got a melee rework/nerf, dropped in points. But the important bit is they got Discoballer and Fireteam Master (Diablos). Diablos went Irregular/No Cover and as a result are incredibly cheap for 2STR models. They have a decent close assault fork (BS11 light shotgun or SMG, or a boarding pistol template) and can bully things in close combat. Suddenly a Duo or Haris looks like a very useful unit. They can Berserk together; neither unit is that good at fighting compared to real Martial Arts users, but together they can do reliable damage, or the Lobo’s Para CCW (-9) will let them fight on equal terms with most. It’s a resilient and points efficient combo for close assault, but the team does have some limits (see the Fireteams section). We do think a Lobo and at least 1-2 Diablos will be common in CJC lists in N5. 

The O-12 exchange student, the Raveneye Officer is unchanged; still excellent value as a minelayer and specialist. Unfortunately still doesn’t join any CJC Fireteams.

Units Shared with Generic Nomads

Alguaciles are still the most standard of standard line infantry, losing their sniper option (who cares) but the real change is the Lt going to a slightly less punishing 0.5 SWC. Slightly less crap, we guess. These will continue to appear as Lts and to link with better units and give them +1SD. 

EVAders are surprisingly unchanged in an edition where most HI dropped in price. Their shotgun profiles got cheaper, but no direct templates were added. They’re still relatively cheap and Spec Ops, but Climbing Plus got a lot worse and these are looking less attractive compared to other factions’ HI. 

Mobile Brigada are the most disappointing unit rework of the edition for me. They gained a bit of cc, Jump 8” and 360 visors. Two completely useless things and one situational benefit. This means they only saw a very small point drop. They did swap flamethrowers on some profiles for boarding pistols (+1B) on all, which is a slight upgrade. But comparing the SWC profiles cross-faction to other HI in the game is now rather depressing. The one ray of hope is one Lt profile is also a Tinbot Firewall-6. This opens up some Fireteam synergy and introduces a Lt option that isn’t 100% obvious, just 90% obvious. 

Jazz remains arguably the most efficient hacker in the game, in fact she gained a boarding pistol for no cost increase and Billie got a heavy pistol. Hilarious. The FTO profile might genuinely prove popular though, with Tinbots a little more accessible. Number 2 is a lovely skill to add to a team, the prospect of saving a Command Token is so valuable.

Moran Masai also escaped without any sort of nerf. In fact the shotgun profiles got 2pts cheaper! This makes them even more infuriatingly efficient as midfield defence. Personally I will continue taking the combi rifles whenever possible. They give a lot of utility in setting up suppressive fire late game, and are better at triggering their own koalas in Active turn forks.

Intruder HMGs and snipers did drop in price by a few points; with all the heavier units they’ve struggled to compete with dropping by similar amounts, this may not be enough. The meta will determine whether smoke-shooting is valuable enough (in a game with fewer Sixth Sense AROs) to make them popular. But the lack of high-burst AP is still a big limiter. They did replace the anaemic shock marksman rifle with a close-range, Infiltration KHD profile. The problem is that it’s the ultimate glass cannon at 32pts. It wants to get within 8” of enemies to work, and anything with a template will just trade for it happily. Certainly cool and something we will experiment with, but this still doesn’t seem like a unit which will thrive in N5. 

Hellcats got cheaper and benefit a lot from Super-Jump (Jet Propulsion). Their profiles also got consolidated. The shotgun/adhesive profile is the cheapest but seems a false economy, since it can’t lethally back-shoot outside of ZoC. The hacker got much cheaper thanks to carrying a shotgun, so it remains a top class objective scorer. The paramedic now carries a deployable repeater as well, without costing SWC, and a combi rifle is actually a great weapon for a combat jumper – we think this is the standout profile. The spitfire is potentially the best use of their deployment and mobility rules, but ultimately it’s a hefty SWC investment in a unit that’s only BS12, with no mods or resilience.

The mighty Gator is likely to remain the default primary gun for CJC. It dropped 2pts while becoming a mandatory NCO (rather than having an NCO profile you always took). It doesn’t look as secure against enemy melee now as in N4, its combat stats changed a bit but the wider Martial Arts changes mean there are now plenty of things which can reliably beat it in melee. But close combat ‘hardening’ is still useful on a TAG, to stop random cheap Warbands having a go. It’s probably not as good a unit as the new Lizard or the Szalamandra. But like most heavy TAGs it’s solidly excellent. 

Geckoes weren’t considered very good compared to proper heavy TAGs in N4. They are probably still a bit limited, but they did get BS Attack (+1B) on both profiles. This basically evens out the difference between the two profiles, so it’s a close choice between a main gun that’s PS3, and one that’s PS5 with AP or Shock. Our opinion is the choice depends on whether your list has anything else good at pressuring TAGs at range. The +1B also really helps the Geckoes’ chain rifles and Disposable weapons in the Active turn. Are these cheap enough to be competitive with bigger TAGs, or good enough to take in a pure Duo?

Fireteam Options

Core Teams

For the ‘ordinary’ CJC teams, none of them are very attractive for trying to build level 4-5 bonuses. Alguaciles are just boring and the only unit which gets any Wildcards with purity tags. In the same way as Moderators with a Riot Grrl ARO piece, 4 Alguaciles or counts-as Wildcards, with 1 Wildcat HRL, has most of the security of an N4 team, provided no White Noise or Albedo comes into the frame. But these units aren’t as efficient, so we doubt that will be a common composition. There may still be some lists that build 4-5 model teams, with only a Level 2 bonus. E.G. if you take a pair of EVAders or Mobile Brigada, say a tinbot model and a SWC gun, then it becomes very efficient to add a hacker, and maybe a pair of Alguaciles as Lt options, and/or a paramedic. We’re not sure if this sort of efficiency will make such big bunker teams popular in N5, without big bonuses.

Correctional Core teams are an all-in tactic, but can actually be good if the mission pushes you to bring a lot of models forward into the midfield. The real question with one of these is one or two Lobos? Mixing in smoke from Jagaurs is tempting, but it might be better to leave that in Duos elsewhere in the list, to preserve the Correctional team’s bonuses as they inevitably take casualties.

Haris Teams

Hey look, it’s the same two categories. No fun unique compositions for you, Corregidor! Haris (and 3-model Core) teams are something we’re more keen on for N5 CJC. It’s the natural size for a Lobos/Diablos team. It also works well for 2 Brigada (or 2 EVAders) and some sort of Wildcard with a different capability. We’re also looking at 2 Alguaciles plus a better model with a gun – it’s the cheapest way to get +1SD. 

CJC do get Geckoes as Duo or Haris teams. First, this means that if you’re all in on heavy metal and take 2 Geckoes, you can staple a (Wildcat) engineer to them, or a hacker, or a model with smoke (Massacre or Lupe Balboa), or even a Tsyklon to spread some pitchers about. That’s too expensive a team to be particularly great. There’s also one way to get +1SD on your Gecko for a bit less: you can take a ‘Gecko Haris’ with a Daktari and Lupe Balboa. These two Wildcards have (Alguacil) so technically they get the Level 2 bonus. We think that may be unintended and FAQ’d. 

Duo Teams

It’s all TAGs and convicts down here. Corregidor cannot Duo any of its HI, or Wildcats. I am fuming about this. BJC can Duo Riot Grrls. TJC can Duo Hollowmen. Hell, generic Nomads can Duo Brigada. Can CJC? Can they ****. 

Lobos/Diablos are a perfectly fine Duo, you can get the +1SD on a Discoballer and make a Diablo Regular at the same time. So that’s an option if you’re using your Haris and Core slots on something else. A more natural fit is Duos of 2 Jaguars. This makes them more resilient in Reactive and helps smoke go down more reliably. Massacre’s best fit is in such a Duo. 

TAG Duos are ironically not as good for CJC as the same TAGs’ options in Generic Nomads. The only engineer is the mediocre Wildcat. There are some OK synergies, but nothing which jumps out at us. CB could at least let Iguanas and Gators pure-Duo with each other. 

Overall Faction Impressions

CJC profited a lot less from the N5 profile tweaks than the other Nomad sub-factions, and their Fireteam options don’t produce as much efficiency either. They just don’t have the same caliber of gunfighters to fold into their Fireteams, or the same support available to their TAGs. In some ways they were a Climbing Plus faction, and that skill took a hard knock in the N5 ruleset.  So much of their best capability is present in Generic Nomads as well, with better synergies and list building options. Not getting access to the spectacularly strong and fun looking GoPod is a real sting in the tail. There are few incentives to play CJC when some of their best units are usable and just as well meshed into desirable Fireteams in Generic. 

I don’t want to get too down on Corregidor here. They still have many perfectly good units. Their TAGs are strong, Tomcats/Carlota are a great capability, the Correctional units might not be strictly stronger than, say, Morlocks, but they’re different and still very good. Maybe I’m missing some key Fireteam formats which will become apparent. But the only elements of Corregidor which leap out as ‘man that’s great’ are still Morans and Jazz. Which is not as exciting as the faction could be. Estimated Rating: B

Tunguska Jurisdictional Command (TJC)

Tunguska got something of a boost in late N4 with Reinforcements troops, and most importantly with the release of Zellenkriegers, which added a very important archetype – cheap Irregular Warbands with smoke – to the faction. They were in a pretty good place, but still had a lot of expensive units to choose from, needing careful list construction. They have done very well out of N5, with a big focus on mobility added to their reputation as ‘red PanO’, ie a very shooting-capable Nomad force, which I personally think was a bit of a simplification. If CJC are a Climbing Plus faction, then Tunguska are a Super-Jump one, and that’s a promising state of affairs right now. They are also a sort of mercenary faction – they have their normal Nomad aligned units, then a collection of bounty hunter themed units and characters, and there’s some good potential there from profile reworks.

New and Lost Units

Tunguska gained the Switchers Gruppe, Triggermen, and the slightly reworked Anaconda TAG. They lost the Extreme Zellenkrieger, which was never taken over the regular ones anyway.

New Unit: Switchers Gruppe

These dudes are weird, requiring a WIP roll to transmute into the profile you’re actually paying for. The risk is if you fail your roll before the dice fly, you’re stuck using the lesser profile. At least both profiles have Dogged – this wasn’t the case in preview info, which made everyone immediately nervous of the prospect of being caught standing and sent Unconscious without being able to use that key skill. We can sort of quantify this – you’ve a 65% chance to unlock the better profile each time you activate, so even in the worst case you will usually be OK. In practice, you should often have multiple chances to upgrade before you throw dice (from moving up in your own Active turn or enemies without Stealth approaching you in the Reactive). But there will be times you’ve got to spend an Order on these guys without knowing if they will be at full capacity. Fair enough, as their better profile would be considered a very good points value if it didn’t have any caveats. 

There are two close-quarters profiles, one Forward Observer, and one MadTraps carrier who will never get used in TJC because it isn’t Fireteam-able. These are both pretty useful in TJC Fireteams to add a melee threat and use a Dogged doorkicker. The other two profiles have better, if more expensive, ranged weapons. There are better units to carry a combi rifle and E/Mitter in TJC (we will get to those) but the Thunderbolt and E/M Carbine profile with BS Attack (+1B) slots very well into many Fireteams. He gives a decent ranged option for when they’re moving up, and he’s terrifying to heavy targets at medium range. 

We predict these will see play sometimes (as the FO or +1B profiles) but they’re just not a major enough unit to be Sectorial-defining. More of a fun utility model to back up your main attack pieces. 

New Unit: Triggermen

This is a strong but expensive HI which is inexplicably S4. That Silhouette is usually given to models with Guard (more as tradition and fluff than any rules or balance reason) but the Triggerman doesn’t have that rule. It seems to be a similar background concept, a guy with a robot backing him up, but that is expressed as Regeneration and 360 visor (medical support and watching his back) rather than a melee rule? We will have to wait and see the model, but it’s an odd one. 

The prices are decent for a model with HI stats and Mimetism-3, and because it’s paying for those most players will discount the Multi rifle profile. The neurocinectics profile is cool, but I am not sure how wise it is to invest in a purely defensive piece that doesn’t have a visor, Sixth Sense or Combat Instinct. The increased variety of shooting mods in N5 seems to favour the Active player over expensive AROs which kind of have to be prepared to fight all comers to justify their cost. To me the choice is between the multi sniper and K1 combi with FD+4”, both seem worthwhile but not overpowered.

I come down on the side of the latter. A B+1 sniper is a new niche in Tunguska, and fills a similar role to Knauf in N4 generic Nomads (RIP). But I can’t say it’s strictly better than the Sectorial’s existing firepower from the Kriza Boracs or Szalamandra. The K1 combi is more unique and provides an aggressive shooter who is suited to taking out hard targets. The combo of K1 and a B2 E/Marat is a great fork to stick hard units with. 

Sectorial Unique Units

Hollow Men got very cheap for what they are. They’ve always shaved points by having poor CC and PH stats, now, as HI get cheaper, they can be a ridiculously tanky team for the points investment, if you have an engineer to repair them. They are also more mobile than ever thanks to Super-Jump changes – pulling them back at the end of a turn has always been critical for big Hollowmen teams, and that got more efficient. Besides an engineer, their profiles let them do anything you’d want a Fireteam to do. Excellent units. 

TJC get a surprising amount of mileage from Bounty Hunters, which are really just line infantry that most despised type of unit, unless they roll well on the Booty table. This is because they can Wildcard some excellent characters in Duos and Haris teams with them. Miranda Ashcroft is now a beastly efficient 0SWC gunfighter with an E/Mitter, ready to cripple any hard target at long range. We can’t overstate how transformational she is – for a modest price, TJC can force every  Wolfgang is a wrecking ball, fast, tough and shooty once he’s within 16”. Sforza is a bit more of a niche piece, but as well as using him for viral ammo against key targets, consider leveraging his Holomask. Scare opponents by deploying two Mirandas in different Duos. His FD+4” profile has a niche clearing deployable weapons.

Motorised Bounty Hunters (MBH) changed like most motorcycles, getting Limited Cover, so the red fury isn’t the hyper efficient budget gunner it was in N4. It’s still not bad, but the best profile here is probably the 9pt SMG/chain-colt assault piece. Even that competes with Zellenkriegers, who bring smoke. 

Raoul Spector still comes as a shotgun drop trooper or a multi rifle Regular who can Fireteam. I prefer the drop trooper, simply because there are other TJC models which do similar things in Fireteams (he’s weirdly close to Perseus). Raoul is a specialist on both profiles, which is neat.

Zellenkriegers and Denma Connolly are here, as in Bakunin. In a vacuum we can say they’re worse (no Fireteam Master option), but here they don’t compete with Morlocks and are basically auto-takes for Impetuous smoke and disposable templates. 

The Anaconda Squadron is one of the most insulting possible additions to an existing Sectorial. N5 only confirmed its place as the worst TAG in the game, and it should never see play in Tunguska. 3STR, but transforming into a budget infantry model once you’ve lost 2 wounds, is clearly rubbish, leaving aside its deficiencies of armament. Yes it’s cheap, but wow does a proper TAG justify its cost over this.

Cheerkillers still mystify me. Their more short range profiles are still crap Warbands, relatively pricey, not Impetuous and not really good in melee. Their more expensive, longer range ones are just standard BS12 light infantry. Even the MSV2 profile isn’t heavily armed enough to do well. The most you can say is they’re fast moving now, thanks to Super-Jump changes. Maybe the specialist could be useful as a fast objective scorer. But there are other fast specialists in TJC who are more useful once you get there. 

Units Shared with Generic Nomads

Securitate are still the expensive line infantry, an inherently bad mix, but we guess Warhorse got better, and their profiles can at least me useful Fireteam filler – shout out to the shotgun repeater version. Jelena Kovacs is just a near double priced Securitate most of the time, which isn’t worth it for TacAware. Then you’ll have one game where either Sensor or Triangulated Fire save your backside. 

Grenzers are still comically overpriced on every profile except the sniper marksman. Warhorse is a nice addition to that model specifically. On the rest it just solidifies their role as troopers who pay for gunfighting stats and skills, but don’t have the weapons for it. 

Kulaks basically make other 1VITA, non warband units look bad, it’s their job. These guys are blazingly good deals for their capability. The HRL is cheaper than it should be in points and SWC. the hacker/Discoballer beings reliable, flexible Eclipse. Even the Chain of Command model, while a bit expensive, has a role supporting cool things like Kriza Boracs Lts. We expect the HRL especially to be a common sight in TJC; Kulaks’ only issue is they are restricted to 1 per Fireteam, they can’t base them on themselves. 

The Szalamandra was definitely TJC’s (and Nomads’) most efficient fire platform in N4, and it probably still is. It dropped 4pts and lost TacAware for NCO, which is fair enough. Those are often the same thing in TJC, although Rounders are also good NCOs, so there’s some competition. This TAG will continue to be important for the Sectorial.

Kriza Boracs were completely overshadowed by the Szally throughout N4. They have now been restored to their old BS Attack (-3) roots and with a hefty price drop, look almost competitive again. We’re not sure, but think the AP of the Szalamandra might make it the more popular sweeper. Kriza can’t get Fireteam bonuses except from Hollowmen, which is expensive and not very efficient, since chaining Super-Jumpers to footsloggers means losing their mobility a lot of the time in N5. Basically they look best as a solo HMG (but see the Fireteam section) to act as a sweeper, when you can’t afford or don’t want a Szalamandra.

Hecklers actually stayed the same cost or went up a point on the KHD profile. The shotgun gained +1B and still has an E/Marat for a direct template so might be quite good at close assault now, and I like the hacker for certain missions. But the star is still the Jammer/Fast Panda profile, now unique to TJC. That seems certain to remain a staple. 

Spektrs remain very expensive, so will still probably only be seen in missions where Hidden Specialists are highly desirable. They got a nifty EM Minelayer profile but it’s costly and the opportunities to disguise the mine as anything else are very limited in TJC – maybe better in Generic. TJC does get a unique KHD profile, which is usable, but it competes with things like an Interventor KHD which is near half the cost.

Perseus was always my favourite and is actually damn good now, more than justifying his slight points increase. It’s not just Super-Jump movement, he gained BS Attack (+1B). That applies to his smoke grenades. He also has nice options for Duos and larger Fireteams. Just keep him away from Shock ammo.

Mary Problems is still weirdly the least competitive of the Nomad hacker girls. She’s a terrific hacker in the Active turn, but she really wants to go first. She gained 12BS and dropped 1pt in cost, but what she really wanted was just to be cheaper. 

Interventors dropped a few points (shotgun profiles benefited enormously from the points drops) and will still get taken for HD+ and to be Lts. Their KHD profile is also an excellent value and maybe the best hacker-killing-hacker in the game, short of the Anathematic.

The Puppetactica stayed as competitive as ever, in fact the Puppetmaster dropped 1pt (and his minelayer option is now 0SWC, in line with other DZ-bound minelayers) and the FO shotgun bot dropped 3pts. The loss of the templates does limit them as assault pieces now. But that price is a steal for a 2STR speedbump trooper that can go do Specialist things and doesn’t cost an Order when it dies. 

The Zondnautica stays truly unique as the only motorcycle in the game which can dismount. The shotgun is terrible now, the spitfire usable but compares poorly with the GoBot or the nearly-as-mobile infantry superjumpers. Limited Cover really hurts its capability as a gunfighter. So the hacker will remain the dominant option, and no doubt popular for missions which want fast Specialists.

Fireteam Options

Tunguska has an elaborate set of Fireteams for different troop types, but it’s well worth getting to grips with, there are some neat combos here.

Core Teams

The Securitate team seems best suited to taking a couple ‘tates to hide at the back, then stapling on Wildcards who can benefit from the +1SD. Grenzer sniper, Kulak HRL, Rounder red fury and Miranda are all the kind of firepower which would appreciate that. We’re not sure, in N5, that the bonuses will be defensively strong enough for other troopers like Interventors to go in the team, as they would have done in N4. It might be better to just try and deploy in safer positions and not present a clumped up, obvious target. But some utility profiles, like the Kulak hacker/Discoballer or an Interventor with Fast Panda, might really benefit from activating with a Core. You can even form a team with 2 Interventors in it and use them for the level bonus, forming a kind of hacking firebase. Trying for higher levels of bonuses by taking just Securitate (and maybe Jelena) doesn’t seem attractive in N5. The bonuses still don’t make a Securitate as effective as the slightly more expensive models which are effective gunfighters. 

Taking a Spetskorp Core team would be advisable if you find the game too easy and want to really challenge yourself, or if you have bad taste and like the Cheerkiller models.

The Hollowman Core is one of the joys of playing Tunguska. It lost the stacked bonuses of N4, but with Super-Jump so much better, it still rules. Our only caveat is there will be many situations where a 3-model team and a separate Duo is going to be more efficient and just as effective as a 5-model team. Perseus fits well here, but consider whether he would be better off in a Duo (with a Hollowman or as a Nayemnik) or when you should split him off to hunt solo. Stempler Zonds don’t contribute to Fireteam level for Hollowmen, but there may be times bringing along a cheaper (and much more fragile) Specialist is desirable, and situationally Sensor will help the team enormously.

Haris (and 3-model Core) Teams 

Securitate teams seem really solid as either 2 Securitate or 1 and Jelena Kovacs, accompanied by some active turn piece. 

Hollowmen are just a fantastic Haris team, their abilities work well at any size. 

The bounty hunter and Nayemnik teams are both potentially lean, aggressive teams, but the N5 question is always going to be ‘would this be better as just a Duo’. 

MBH can join a Bounty Hunter team, which is clearly not that useful for Irregular/Impetuous units. But if you are using a Bounty Hunter/Wildcard Duo, and not using your Haris team slot, you could attach a MBH, getting the +1SD when playing second, and possibly using Fireteam Orders rather than Impetuous to move up safely, before splitting the MBH off.  

Similarly, a Hollowman Haris featuring a Kriza Boracs is rather expensive and un-synergistic, the Kriza can’t keep up. But a Kriza can use the +1SD in the first Orders of the game, while a pair of Hollowmen work their way forward and prepare to go operate as a Duo.

Duo Teams

As stated above, this is our preferred way to play the Bounty Hunter characters or Perseus/Raoul as Nayemniks. These will all make great attacking units and add a little bit of reliability to shooting AROs to make opponents think twice. 

The Spetskorp team doesn’t interest us as a Duo, the only real pure options are a Cheerkiller/Fiddler or a Grenzer/Raoul, and those units aren’t terrible but don’t seem the best way to use them. Taking 2 Cheerkillers is just silly. A pair of Grenzers, say the Marksman sniper and the NCO, isn’t useless, but it’s probably better to give the sniper +1SD by including it in a Securitate Core/Haris team.

Hollowmen are great in Duos as elsewhere. The Vatra Fireteam seems to mainly be useful for any madmen who wish to run a pure Kriza Duo. Fun, if not competitive. There are synergies for impure Duos there, pairing a Kriza with a close quarters character or a Kulak/Grenzer specialist, but frankly that doesn’t seem any good compared to the numerous Duo options that get the sweet +1SD bonus.

Overall Faction Impressions

Frankly, TJC look great in N5. Not sure they’re stronger than Bakunin, but they are vastly improved. The points above might gloss over the fact they still have a wonderful TAG in the Szally. It may not Duo or be TacAware, but as pure firepower from your DZ it is without peer. This complements the GoPod, a more mobile attacker, very nicely. TJC has a mix of cheap Irregular troops for close assault (Zellens and MBH) with some scary, mobile characters. Models like Wolfgang, Perseus and Miranda in small teams look both fun and effective, while Hollowmen are the heavier mobile team. TJC have probably the deepest roster of strong hackers (though all the Nomads are fine here) but their midfield repeater projection is through Fast Pandas more than Pitchers – more reliable, but limited in range and number of uses. They can still easily build for Guided and other hacking-centric plays. The only weakness of the faction is their midfield presence. Spektrs are the only option with more than FD+4” and they’re too expensive to take more than one. That and the mobility of so many models make TJC a natural fit for Exclusion Zone missions. But in any missions, TJC has a nice distinct style from Generic Nomads. Estimated Rating: A-

Generic Nomads

By the end of N4, Nomads was in danger of being a completely solved faction. They did have a breadth of good units, but there was a shortlist of auto-takes that was frequently moulded into a specific kind of list. This list was heavy on repeaters and hacking projection, to enable Guided Missiles, with the Szalamandra providing direct firepower and cheap Warbands the close assault. All those auto-take units looked like being pulled through to N5, which caused some griping online. Players asked, what was the point of cutting down vanilla factions if they kept all the good units?

Well, there were some subtle changes made to rein in the N4 meta Nomads list. Most notably, Moran Masai are AVA1 in Generic, and the Heckler’s Fast Panda profile is not available. This markedly cuts down their repeater net, but if players still want to emphasize those strengths, we think they will start to work with alternatives like the Zero or Hellcat with deployable repeaters. The other shake-ups are new units and new Fireteam formats (see below) which will lure at least some players into building around new synergies.

New and Lost Units

Like all vanilla armies, Generic Nomads lost a slew of units. Some of the mercenaries (Libertos, Knauf, Monstruckers) will be missed, as will Tomcats and Carlota. The Stigmaton was a genuinely interesting unit – we can see why it was kept Sectorial-exclusive. TAGs in general are a good example of how silly it was to get worked up over previewed faction rosters – no one mourned the Lizard being removed from Generic, but now we see the new profiles, it seems like it would have been a very strong choice. Nomads did keep the Zondnautica, which was claimed to be removed in the previews. 

For new units, the Switchers aren’t exactly faction-defining, more useful weirdos. Triggermen are a nice new individual HI option with unique loadouts. But it’s the GoPod which steals the show. In an edition where the Uberfallkommando got a bit more limited (less reliable Eclipse, can’t beat dedicated melee units the same way) it is likely to be the mobile attack piece of choice. 

What Looks Good

What else might we see in Generic Nomads competitive lists? Moderator Lt and decoy will probably still be the norm. There is a 23pt CoC option in Kulaks, and Interventors are cheaper, while a few hackable WIP13 models that can be decoyed are valid Lts. But none of them look as efficient as the good old pair of Moderators. 

Hacking in general will still be a focus. Jazz is still the leanest all-round hacking capability, while Zoe has a niche for engineering and Pi-Well, the best pitcher in-faction. Mary will still be a flex piece, since she’s all offense, but we may see more of the non-Lt-valid Interventors, since they’re down to 18pts. All that means Guided will often still be built in. While the Heckler is a great loss to offensive hacking, the Zero or Hellcat may appear more often, or Nomad players may just use pitchers like everyone else. That will make them less the premier Guided faction, because many others (including their own Sectorials) have better options to make pitchers reliable, usually via Fireteams.

Puppetactica and Uberfallkommando are still great, despite the latter getting a situational nerf, so are Morlocks. These units are all lean for what they can achieve, and as in N4, that should save points for the apex gunfighting piece, which is likely to still be the Szalamandra. The Gator is still good and we could see players exploring other sweepers like the Kriza. As much as I love them, I don’t think Intruders are really back in the running. Their cost is just too high when so many 2-wound models got so much cheaper. Many Nomad players will seek to fit the GoPod in.

Being limited to one Moran has an unexpected consolation in keeping SWC down. Nomad players can now try to squeeze in another direct gun alongside a Guided Missile. The Reaktion Zond was previously popular, partly for its low SWC, so we may now see its new Thunderbolt profile get popular, to allow for a 1.5SWC model like that GoPod.

The last big list building change will be if any of the Fireteam builds look good enough to win place in competitive lists…

Fireteam Options

The new Haris and Duos for a generic army are very welcome changes to list building for Nomads, because their N4 meta was so keen on individual support units, with the striking force coming from a TAG, Warbands and Guided. Small teams are a good way to give some extra punch and efficiency to the combat infantry models. 

Haris Teams

What jumps out immediately here is that if you want a bonus for your Haris team, it has to include 2 Kulaks or 2-3 Mobile Brigada. No (counts as) tags for Generic armies! Now these both have advantages. Kulaks have a hyper-efficient HRL profile, and a CoC profile which would be useful in some lists, and in Fireteams that intend to stay back in the DZ. Alternatively, they have a very useful hacker/Discoballer which will be popular in teams that want to manoeuvre to Objectives. For Brigada, the stars are definitely the Tinbot Firewall-6 profiles. There are a couple decent hackers available to Haris teams (the Rounders Kulak and the Brigada themselves) and you could even consider doubling up. 

Marspiders seem like a nice team piece both for revival as a paramedic/engineer, and as close assault. But the army app lists their FTO profile as valid for the Haris team, and there’s no such thing. Presumably will be caught in bug fixes. The Rounder red fury, Grenzer sniper, and Wolfgang all seem usable. Perseus would be an odd choice, since he can’t Super-Jump while other team models Move – he’s probably better off solo, or just starting in the team for security before splitting off.

Duo Teams

Here, the only pure options are Securitates, Brigada, Kulaks, Morlocks(!) or Geckos. ‘Tates just don’t have enough going on. At best you can add +1SD to their SWC options, paired to a paramedic or repeater. But we see nothing you can build from 2 Securitate that you couldn’t get from single models elsewhere in the faction. Brigada have some options for pairing an SWC weapon with a Tinbot, who could also usefully be a Lt (or a decoy) or a hacker. Kulaks are probably the best pure Duo available. They can combo the HRL, which is an insane value, with a hacker/Discoballer or a CoC profile. A pair of Morlocks isn’t a ‘real’ Duo, you’d really want to split them up before a single turn was up, just to use their Irregular Orders, if you didn’t just cancel the team by using their Impetuous activations. But if you’re not using your Duo allowance for anything else, and have 2 Morlocks in your list (as many of us do) then you can always consider deploying them as a Duo for the benefits of +1SD smoke in your first Reactive turn. Geckos as a Duo are not as meme-list an idea as they were in N4. We don’t recommend this, you are doubling down on vulnerabilities to hacking and close combat. But it does pump up their threat in the Active and Reactive, and in certain missions where you want to move points up the board and score, it’s a madness with some level of method.

Impure Duos have a lot more combinations available. Spitting out some of the more obviously neat: 

• Taskmaster with a Morlock. It’s an extra Regular Order!
• Taskmaster Firewall/Strategic Deployment with a hacker. Get that pitcher in range, or move towards an Objective. 
• Rounder with anything aggressive, make use of that NCO Order. Rounders can be efficient hackers, see the option immediately above. 
• Grenzers can be NCO Sensors. They’re overpriced, but moving them up is less of a waste when they’re linked to a decent gun.
• Kulak Discoballer is useful to get any combat unit into close range, or to get towards an objective. 
• EVAders are resilient Specialists, so can pair well with any firepower piece.
• An EVAder with a long range gun can help fight Wolfgang up the field as well. Both have Climbing Plus, keeping it at least situationally useful. 
• The Securitate repeater or paramedic are reasonably coated support for almost anything on the list.
• EVAder engineers are solid support for either TAG option.
• Either TAG option is good for dragging a close combat escort (anything from Wolfgang to a Morlock) up the field to create further problems for your opponent.

Basically there’s a lot you can do there. It’s certainly better than N4 Nomads’ notoriously terrible Duo options. But it’s easy to get Fireteam-itis, being carried away by the appearance of synergy. You should always stop and ask yourself, what is this Duo vulnerable to, and whether there are single models in the faction that could accomplish the same thing.

Overall Faction Impressions 

Generic Nomads still look very strong. They lost repeater coverage and Guided is inherently a bit more limited, but the troopers which were strong before are still strong now. The TAGs and the GoPod, which look like highlights of Generic, have exactly the right units available to support them and cover their weaknesses. Generic still has better overall hacking access than any of its Sectorials (if not always the best pitcher/repeater set-ups). In a way, Nomads’ success and popularity (for good or ill) in N5 will be a verdict on whether they were only about their meta list playstyle, because that indisputably took a knock relative to their Sectorials. There are other things can do, but it isn’t really clear to us, at this stage, how disadvantaged Generic factions will be by their more restricted Fireteams, in an edition where the traditional quid pro quo (unrestricted access to all Sectorial units) no longer exists. Estimated Rating: A-

Conclusion

We shouldn’t really commit to a tier list type evaluation, but that’s how everyone tends to think, so we are doing it and simply preparing to be wrong. But on initial impressions, Bakunin and Tunguska both look very capable. They have access to extremely efficient small Fireteams. Bakunin especially can build very good gunfighting units into larger teams effectively, and has two uniquely capable TAGs to incorporate. Tunguska has more options for high-mobility teams, and the traditionally ‘best’ Nomad TAG at doing the things you really need a TAG to do. Corregidor seems to have less immediate ‘wow’ factor. But it does have some solid units and is still able to spread Specialists across the board. Everyone but Corregidor gets a GoPod which really is one of our top new units to watch. Generic shares a lot of the strengths of both Tunguska and Corregidor; it’s missing some of the best Bakunin units, but gets their Warbands. It will be interesting to see if an adaptation of the N4 meta list becomes popular, or if new configurations will grow.

In the wider game, we think Nomads look in a good place. All the sub-factions have decent to excellent size and unit variety. All have strong TAGs available. All are fully equipped with smoke, Eclipse and White Noise to control visibility. All have top notch hacking and repeater access. Some elements of firepower, like access to Albedo, may be lacking. But, to the extent any Infinity faction has a different playstyle, the Nomad one of asymmetric warfare and board control should be alive and well in N5. 

Good luck out there – start building some lists and getting the games in!

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