In my review of the Ironhead Squats, I specifically called out the squats and Enforcers as gangs that I didn’t think would change very much between editions because they were the newest. And, oh boy, with the Enforcers, I couldn’t be more correct! Aside from a couple of skill tweaks here and there (because the Enforcer specific skill list went away as did all gang-specific skills), the gang list I was able to build was so close I wondered whether I should even write about it.
In fact, because of the way everything got cheaper between editions, it actually got better. I finally found a gang that got better between editions. I mean, it had to happen eventually. And now it has. If you were an Enforcer player before and liked what they were doing, you’re going to be a very happy N26 player.
Let’s just dive into my gang as it was, Underhive Nine-Nine.
Not the world’s most creative list, I’ll admit. But, unlike the Orlocks, Captain Holt got to keep his plasma pistol. I honestly would have been pissed if they’d just put out the champions and leaders box and then taken away one of the two pistol options that came for the captain. Fortunately, I don’t have to worry about that! Everything is fine! Better even because, since everyone else got cheaper, I was even able to give Holt his own Cyber-Mastiff, naturally named Cheddar.
I was even able to give Holt his own Cyber-Mastiff, naturally named Cheddar
He did lose his Enforcer specific Threat Response skill but I gave him Precision Shot instead as hitting on a natural-six negates any armor save and that’s just a nice bonus with a plasma pistol. Also, unlike my bolt pistols, plasma pistols remain a good choice for close combat, which is nice because with Holt’s three base attacks, I really do want to stick him in and let him beat some suckers to death.
Throwing Cheddar into the mix is just a bonus with his Shock Bite. It’s not as good as it was in the last edition but it’s not too shabby and it is AP -1, so it’s better than nothing.
Sgt. Terry is also almost identical except here he got Two-weapon Fighter instead of Shield Companion. Sadly, I never got to use Shield Companion in a game but it always seemed like a neat idea, a nice way to give a friendly fighter a save bonus. But I think I only ever played them once before the new edition came out. Two-Weapon Fighter, though, offers a second attack for the second weapon, bringing Terry up to four attacks, which ain’t bad! And he’ll need them because, strangely, his Initiative is only three whereas everyone else has an Initiative of 4…
It won’t matter too much if he can get in there on a charge and use his (then) five attacks lethally. But if he’s still engaged in the next round with, say, an average Escher, they’re going to get a hit on him before he whacks them with his power maul. As I saw in my test game, this is a very real and very deadly possibility because of the new initiative order in close combat.
Not a lot to say about the gangers. Diaz, Peralta, and Santiago are all essentially the same but now Peralta and Santiago have Hip-shooting as part of their Gunner speciality and Diaz got the thematic Brawler specialty and the resulting Berserker skill.
Berserker has changed in an interesting way. Essentially, the fighter with this skill is in a permanent state of Frenzy which forces them to charge if they’re within movement-plus-six inches of an enemy. Unlike the old Berserker that only granted an additional attack when charging, Frenzy seems to always grant it. Albeit, you’re playing with a real loose cannon of a character now but, if you built the list, it was clearly written on the box.
I had enough extra money to give Diaz a drop piece, a stub gun, so if she is at range, she can possibly pop off a shot, though with a max-range of twelve inches, it’ll be a rare occurrence since she’s only one inch away from having to charge. But, better to have options and not use them and all that…
Boyle changed slightly in that he lost the Enforcer Shotgun and just got a Shotgun. With the standard ammo, he lost four inches of range on the Rapid Fire setting and a template option. But it’s negligible.
Hitchcock went from a Long Rifle to a Sniper Rifle, essentially the same but without Rending on a wound, and of course I had to give him the Sniper speciality so he gained Precision Shot. This probably makes more sense than giving to Holt but I didn’t really like Holt’s other options. Here it makes perfect sense.
Lastly, I had Scully who got a promotion! Before he was just a juve with an auto-pistol! Now he’s a full fledged ganger so I could give him a skill. In this case, it’s Hip Shooting again because it just made the most sense. But he’s still just a dude with an auto-pistol, so I don’t predict he’ll be the deciding factor in many (if any) games.
All of that and I still had 10cr left over!
Given that they’ve seemingly changed the least, I’m curious if they still play the same
It’s not the most exciting gang. It’s just eight fighters and a pup and they still rank as one of the more expensive gangs in the game considering what else you can get for the same price in other gangs. But I was able to promote a juve to a ganger and add a thematically appropriate dog for Holt. So, even when comparing them to their old selves, it’s evident they’ve gotten cheaper, too.
Given that they’ve seemingly changed the least, I’m curious if they still play the same. I had a great time the one game I did use them and Holt is a one man wrecking crew. So I hope their feel in-game has remained the same.
And, with this gang, that’s all of the gangs that made the transition! Unfortunately, there were no rules for Bad Zone Enforcers, so The Throwaways stay in the box for the time being. They might be able to be rebuilt as a stock Enforcer squad but that’s a question for a different day.
Looking forward, I’m thinking about taking a fresh look at all the gang lists and building a standard, new 1,000cr gang in each. The inspiration for this is that the Escher Wyld-Runner and her bow don’t look nearly so garbage as it used to. And, if she’s become fun, who’s to say what other biases I need to revisit? These lists will be built irrespective of what models I have. If they require entirely new miniatures, it would be interesting to find out what those might be.
