Infinity Unit Review: Maakrep Trackers Unit

After last week’s article on the Fraacta, I couldn’t resist covering the Maakrep next. On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be much to talk about, they’re often seen as a typical MSV2 unit, able to deploy defensively as an ARO piece, or hit the offense with the HMG, but after playing around a while, I think there may be another profile well worth investigating…

Stats and Special Rules

Their base stats are pretty standard for MI units, BS12, ARM2 BTS3, nothing really jumps out as remarkable there. As far as special skills and gear go, the AutoMediKit gives them a slightly better than 50% chance to come back when knocked unconscious, while MSV2 pretty well locks them into a role of hunting down enemy camouflage troops, and shooting through smoke. Sixth Sense L1 can be a handy skill, and when you can take advantage of it, can really be incredible. If someone tries taking out your MSV troop with an attack from behind, you’ll be able to react even without LOF, if they’re in your Zone of Control, that can be great to foil an assassination attempt, especially if your’e in suppressive fire. While Courage is a very common skill, don’t forget you have it, if you do survive any enemy attacks, you won’t be forced prone.

Profiles

Combi Rifle + Light Shotgun. If you’re low on SWC, and want a good mid-to-short ranged camouflage hunter, then this is a pretty solid choice. When combined with shooting through smoke, the shotgun can force some really bad options, either shooting back at -6, or dodging at -3 (thanks to Dodging a template out of LOF). The combi can be fun too, letting this profile enter suppressive fire, especially if your opponent relies on smoke to advance up the field.

HMG. Sometimes, you just need a big gun, and well this is it. No frills really, a MSV2 HMG does what a MSV2 HMG does. Combine with some of the various sources of smoke available to the Combined, and you’ll be splattering all manner of enemies.

Boarding Shotgun, Grenades. Here’s a different set up, both weapons are short ranged and use templates, so really it comes down to what shape template you want, or if you want to speculative fire. When used for hunting camo, discovering in the +3 range, while ignoring penalties for camouflaged, backed up by an attack at +6 can really put the hurt on camo. The versatility of the boarding shotgun is fun too, but it will come to preference between this and the combi + light shotgun. Since the Maakrep is only PH 11, speculative fire with the grenades can be pretty risky, and order consuming, but sometimes, it’s the exact tool you need.

MULTI Sniper Rifle. This is the profile most people are familiar with, likely because it’s the one that comes in the box. Like the HMG, MSV2 MULTI snipers are fairly ubiquitous, so there’s not necessarily a whole ton to say. When set up as an ARO piece, you’ll want to put it deep in your deployment zone, to maximize it’s range bonuses, and in the active turn, it can put out a pair of punishing DA rounds into your opponents troops.

Boarding Shotgun, Grenades (EI Hacking Device). If there is any profile that warrants extra consideration, this is the one. Clearly, a short ranged fighter with the shotgun and grenades combo, what really makes this unit shine is the EI Hacking Device. At first, I totally dismissed this profile, after all, Combined has MANY good hackers, so why bother with the Maakrep, with it’s middling WIP 13 and BTS 3? It’s thanks to Sixth Sense L1, hackers with access to Sixth Sense have become a recent obsession of mine.

Combined are able to put a lot of repeaters on the table, between Bit dropping them, Kerr-Nau pitching them, R-Drones, M-Drones, and Ikadrons cruising around the board, you can have an amazing repeater net. When you have access to a Sixth Sense hacking device, or assault hacking device, you ignore hackable enemies creeping past your repeaters with stealth. If they reset thanks to your hacker detecting them, then EVERY other hacker in your army will be able to ARO against them as well, giving them really no chance of avoiding getting shut down.

In sectorials, it’s much easier to get a sixth sense hacker, but the downside is that now your link is vulnerable to hacking, killer hackers in particular. In the entire game, there are three hackers which natively have Sixth Sense: Zhanying, Wardrivers, and Maakrep. That right there is an incredible reason to consider this profile.

On The Table

While you can definitely take a Maakrep to fill the role of a standard MSV2 unit, either with HMG or MULTI Sniper, it’s worth trying some of the other profiles. Combined can be notoriously SWC strained, and both of their SWC-free options can be decent at taking out camouflage troops, especially with smoke backing them up. The hacker on the other hand can really go a long way to enhance your hacking on the defensive turn, thanks to SSL1. Regardless of which profile you take, don’t forget that you have a 55% chance to bring yourself back to life after dropping unconscious, it’s risky, but it’s one order which can turn the tide of a game.