Infinity Unit Review: Raktorak, Morat Sergeant Major

Jungle fighting officers of the Morat Aggression Force, the Raktorak has an interesting mix of equipment and stats to allow them to perform a lot of tasks on the table. In Morat Aggression Force sectorial armies, they take this to a whole other level, joining any fireteam, and adding a ton of utility.

 

Stats and Special Rules

Their profile is really solid, solid BS 12, high PH 12, decent WIP, their ARM 2 and BTS 6 provides respectable survivability… perhaps the most interesting part though is that they’re 4-4 medium infantry. They get the bonus Forward Deployment and don’t suffer the usual MI movement penalty, and combined with Jungle Terrain they can be surprisingly maneuverable. Finally, all Raktorak are Specialist Operatives, which adds a bit of much needed utility to the profile. Being a Veteran Troop is also nice, since it means there are some Classified Objectives they can help with, and they’ll get that important Adhesive Launcher in Hunting Party.

Since they are Wildcard Troopers in Morats, this means you can add a specialist to any link you want, which is HUGE. Before the update, you couldn’t take a specialist in Daturazi or Hungry links… but now. If you are so inclined (and I am, in nearly every MAF list), you can get an amazing fireteam, with Raktorak, Oznat, and 3 Pretas. You have dogged chain rifles, smoke, a fire ammo shotgun, and B5 BS15 red fury, generating 5 orders, for a mere 67/1. This has to be my favorite fireteam in all of MAF.

 

Profiles

Combi Rifle + Heavy Flamethrower. Giving a unit a large direct template weapon is always a good thing in my book. As far as utility goes, this Raktorak starts an extra 4” up the field, is decently fast with 4-4, and carries a potentially brutal heavy flamethrower, really not a bad choice. The flamethrower is something which can be easily underestimated, but with it’s fairly high damage and fire ammo, it can be deadly to pretty much anything in the game.

Vulkan Shotgun (NCO). The vulkan shotgun is one of my favorite weapons in the game, it combines my favorite aspects of the boarding shotgun, with the fire ammo of a rocket launcher… you really don’t want to get hit by this thing. The range can be a real issue though, without any back up weapon, you’re going to suffer at anything but close range. Normally, I would always go for the combi profile instead, but if you take the NCO option, this profile can be a bit more interesting, even in vanilla lists. If you’re taking a lieutenant which isn’t going to get much use out of it’s order, like a Morat Vanguard or Nexus Operative, then having an extra order on a solid specialist which is moving up the board can be very helpful. I haven’t had a chance to give it a shot, but it seems like it’s worth a try.

Red Fury. Finally the Raktorak get to carry a bigger gun! On it’s own, this Raktorak starts in +3 range to the enemy deployment zone, thanks to Forward Deployment (from being MI), and Burst 4 can be helpful to make up for the lack of visibility mods. The Red Fury only costing 1 SWC is also nice in a faction which can be starved of extra SWC for other weapons and hackers. This is generally my go-to Raktorak for adding to Daturazi and Hungries, not only giving them a specialist, but a B5 weapon to mow down the enemy on their way up.

 

On the Table

In vanilla Combined armies, the Raktorak may struggle to find a place, but I’m beginning to think the NCO may be helpful here. As I mentioned above, having a model which can take advantage of the Lieutenant order can be helpful in lists where you are taking a Lieutenant which is either hiding in a camo state (like a Noctifer or Aswang), or one which you may not want to reveal the identity of (like a Morat Vanguard or Nexus).

In Morat Aggression Force

Totally opposite to vanilla here, I have a hard time NOT justifying them! Adding the Red Fury to a link of Daturazi, Hungries, or really anything else, gives the link a good gun and ton of extra utility. They provide a less expensive specialist option to Yaogat and other links, as well as a very powerful direct template weapon. Really, when you take any Core or Haris link in MAF (maybe not Rodoks), it’s well worth adding a Raktorak.