Another Wolf Bites the Dust (Gamma Wolves / DUST)

[Chief Lackey Rich]

Thanks guys, glad you like them and so many of you know Gamma Wolves!

Out of curiosity, have you managed to find a way to put more than three frames on the table as Ronin and still have their "extra aces" perk mean anything?  Seems like they're always stuck at three to me.  Admittedly, the norm is only four, and there's only one faction that can get to six (North Star all-rookie force, and then their perk does nothing) so Ronin aren't really badly outnumbered.

[Warboss Nick]

Rich, I think that is on purpose. They would even be hard pressed to field three in campaign games without the exception for pilots as long as there are no more than three frames.

What’s more you will probably rather start with five pilots in a campaign.

[Manchu]

Here is my Ronin list, with two aces.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

Rich, I think that is on purpose. They would even be hard pressed to field three in campaign games without the exception for pilots as long as there are no more than three frames.

What’s more you will probably rather start with five pilots in a campaign.

Sure, it's not likely an accident, just a quirk.  You could get to four starting frames if you stuck to one ace, but that kind of defeats the purpose of being Ronin.  Campaign-wise, they need to think carefully about what backup pilots you bring to cover losses and injuries while still staying as close to 12 points as you can, and without having to go back to base for replacements.  Five does seem likely - 2 vets and a rookie with two of them aces in the "starting lineup" and probably a trained another rookie with one ace in the fallbacks.  Not really many other options for a starting mix other than maybe leaving out an ace somewhere.

Which ones you make aces is the real question in campaign.  Vets will be absolute murder but take a long time to earn advances, while rookie aces aren't so hot but grow fast if they survive.  Trained ace is usually good in other crews (whatever you advance will be at 3+ so immediate access to its best skill on your first advance) but it doesn't fit great with vet aces.

Here is my Ronin list, with two aces.

Unless I'm reading something wrong, that's 13 points worth of pilots there.  Planning on a veteran ace to make 18 in campaign or something?

[Manchu]

Unless I'm reading something wrong, that's 13 points worth of pilots there.

My bad, the Vet should also be trained.

EDIT: Oh, the Ronin list is 2+ veteran ... the list was illegal anyway. WELL, looks like a rule I will be breaking . My background for that list is that the survivors of a Bloschev/North-Star skirmish defected together.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

EDIT: Oh, the Ronin list is 2+ veteran ... the list was illegal anyway. WELL, looks like a rule I will be breaking . My background for that list is that the survivors of a Bloschev/North-Star skirmish defected together.

Yeah, it's the 2+ vet requirement that has me struggling with builds.  You really can't get more than two aces in a 12 point force, although three or even four in a campaign roster isn't impossible.  They're pretty limited by RAW, although that's true of most factions.  Better than the Ghosts, who aren't really doing anything in a campaign except choosing their frame weights and fielding four trained pilots every single fight.

[Warboss Nick]

I like how “little” things make a difference in how factions play and force you to make choices.

The way my group understands the campaign rules your base crew must meet faction requirements. For mission requirements must be met while pilot requirements not. So ronin might play campaign games with less than two vets, e.g. due to injuries or casualties.

That said my plan is to go with four medium and two light frames (as long as I don’t have a model for a heavy). For pilots I’ll go into the wastelands with a Veteran Ace, a Veteran, a Trained Ace, a Rookie Ace and a normal Rookie. That gives me three aces and enough pilots with room for improvement.