Infinity Unit Review: Yáoxiè Remotes
Attack remotes are fantastically flexible units. Able to be backed up by hackers to improve their capabilities, they bring effective firepower on a reasonable budget. The attack remotes of the Ikari Company, JSA, and Yu Jing are the Yáoxiè Lù Duān and Rui Shi.
Stats and Special Rules
With identical base profiles, the Yaoxie have a very respectable BS12, which being attack remotes, is clearly the most important stat on their profile. MOV 6-4 makes them pretty speedy, able to get into position easily, and carrying repeaters means they’re always in range of your hackers for supportware. Despite lacking any armor, they do have robust BTS6 to defend them from enemy hackers.
Profiles
Lù Duān. Supported by a Holoprojector L2, MSV1, and wielding a MK12 and heavy flamethrower, the Lù Duān brings a pretty big kit of gear for a remote. Holoprojector is especially helpful for moving into position. By using Holoprojector L2, your opponent is likely to delay their ARO, giving you a second move, and covering 10” of ground in a single order. You can instead use Holoprojector L1, to disguise itself as a Rui Shi, which can be clever for preventing warbands from moving up the table. MSV1 doesn’t allow it to shoot through smoke, but it does make it an effective ranged fighter for taking on enemy camo/mimetism/ODD troopers. Combining a MK12 and heavy flamethrower is a particularly interesting combo, which lets the remote do some piece trading if necessary. If you want to force an ARO from your opponent, be sure to drop out of Holo2 before exposing yourself to the enemy, otherwise they can delay. Getting out of Holo2 forces them to pick between shooting and dodging, then you can pick which weapon to use accordingly.
An interesting gimmick of the Lù Duān is how suppressive fire works with the Holoprojector L2. At the beginning of your reactive turn, if the Lù Duān is out of LOF of the enemy, you can automatically re-enter the Holoecho state, placing two Holoecho’s in base contact. The “actual” model can be any of the 3 Holoechos, including either of the two you just placed, in effect letting you move about 2”, which could now be in LOF of the enemy. This lets you safely go into suppressive in your own turn, then shift position to where you can see the enemy.
Rui Shi. There’s a reason the Rui Shi has the reputation it does, the combination of MSV2, and a Spitfire, means you’re firing through smoke, with a good BS, and high burst. Add supportware to the mix and the Rui Shi is only affected by range modifiers to it’s attack, so will usually hit on 15’s. In JSA and YJ they are only AVA1, but in the Ikari Company, they are a disgusting AVA2. There isn’t a ton more to say about the Rui Shi, it’s an amazing beat-stick, welcome in any army that can take them, and hated by anyone they’re used against.
During the Reactive turn, you could potentially put the Rui Shi into suppressive fire, and when something walks by, have another model ARO to throw smoke on it. If the Rui Shi survives the order, it will now be in smoke, and suppressing everything around it. Somewhat tricky to pull off, but disgusting when you do.
On the Table
Despite both being attack remotes, their roles on the table are pretty different. The Rui Shi wants to team up with cheap smoke generating models (Shaolin Monks, Yuan Yuan, etc), to provide it cover while it chews up the enemy through smoke. The Lù Duān is less popular, takes a bit more finesse, but if you can deliver it to the midfield, it can be a terror. Regardless of which you go with, they’re both ideal in the midfield, and can both go into suppressive fire, with supportware, to make an ugly roadblock.
In Ikari Company, it is extremely tempting to go with a pair of Rui Shi, backed up by Desperados, Yuan Yuan, or even an Al Fasid HMG, to just cover the field in smoke, then blast the enemy to pieces. On the otherhand though, I’d really like to become more proficient with the Lù Duān, which I think with some more practice, could really be awesome.