1. The Rui Shi, Yu Jing's attack remote
In the fluff and on the table, this bad boy is designed to beat Pan-O's bulleteer. The blue bot has ODD, the red bot has MSV2 to override it. Both have spitfires and BS12 on a 6-4 chassis for a mere 20 points and 1SWC. Amazing value. I prefer the Rui Shi because it dovetails well with all the smoke that Yu Jing bring to the party. This is a great example of a streamlined unit - it is good at attacking. That is all. You don't have to pay points for SWC, armour or random skills that you won't be using. Such streamlining is rare outside of Nomads, and is especially rare in YJ, where you almost always end up paying points for CC, even on units that will never make CC.
2. Cassandra Kusanagi, Bakunin's bad b*tch
Cassie was amazing before HSN3, then she got more shit for free and a spitfire option. Whaaat!? For the basement price of 43 points and 2 SWC you now get BS14, ODD, a spitfire, lt., specialist operative, WIP14, no wound incap., PH13 and 3 armour. Alternatively, you can swap out the spitfire (more of a Bakunin thing than vanilla nomads since the link team support weapon options can make up for the change) for a MULTI-rifle and Cassie gives you +1 SWC and comes packing EM grenades and a light flamer for those pesky Myrmidon links and Avatars! Cassie dies hard and dishes out the pain, while also being able to score objectives and be a functional lieutenant that doesn't die to a stray shotgun from an impersonator (unlike the interventor). Having such quality attack pieces that can also score is extremely rare. In Bakunin she can join a Moira link team and become truly monstrous, with sixth sense lvl2 and BS17. Whaat!? She also has a pimp model. Religious and multi-terrain are just icing on the cake.
3. Makauls, Tohaa's mischievous maniacs
What makes Makaul's insane as opposed to just useful (like the similar but different Corrigidor Jaguars) is the possession of eclipse grenades and having heavy flamers instead of chain rifles. This makes them a 13 point, regular order answer to both Qapu Khalki and Steel Phalanx, two of the most dominant and annoying factions in the game right now. Eclipse grenades shut down Djanbazan MSV2 teams and allow you to push into the midfield where you are stronger than them, and allows you to approach into melee against Janissary teams. Heavy flamers ignore ODDs and burn them off regardless of whether the myrmidons survive their ARM roll. They can smoke dodge, but then your MSV2 Gao Rael's have free reign as soon as sixth sense lvl2 is gone. Martial arts level 2 makes you CC25 with D14, and you're packing either a viral or DA weapon, either of which should make short work of most link teams. Fireteam triad means they even synergise well with the rest of the army.
4. Krakot Renegades, everyone's favourite kamakazi rambos
Krakot's are in almost all of my vanilla lists nowadays because of how good they are at killing link teams for peanuts. 14 points for a regular order is pretty great, but they also have an impetuous move so they provide great economy, especially in factions struggling for orders like Pan-O. Forward deployment let's them take an advantageous position for throwing grenades or get within range of an objective with their chain rifles in order to guard it against cheap specialists on turn 1. Then you've got grenades on PH13 (with a 15% chance for PH16 with metachemistry) or two chain rifles to annoy the buggery out of link teams. You're also a monster in close combat, so if someone manages to get a smoke grenade onto that link (like your shaolin) you can waltz right in and butcher them. On Sunday I managed to take 2 wounds of Ajax in ARO with a Krakot, and slow the bastard down for 3 orders. Against big nasties like Cassandra Kusanagi you can opt for the beszerk approach and look for a crit on a 12+. Morat and Kinematika are just gravy.
5. Myrmidons, The Steel Phalanx's finest
For 24 points you get a boarding shotgun, ODD, B2 smoke dodge on PH13 and a nanopulser, not to mention sublime close combat skills and ARM2. These guys are a massive pain to kill. Unlike most link teams, you cannot cover them in smoke and carve them up in close combat. These guys trained in the Aristeia pits y'all; they will wreck your face with MA lvl3 and CC21. Boarding shotguns and ODD make them very hard to uproot once they are in a mid-field bunker. And smoke dodging on 16 with 2 burst means that chain rifles and other direct templates will struggle to hit, especially when sixth sense lvl2 allows them to dodge at full PH even when you get behind them. Even after you have hit, ARM2 means they often survive your attacks, especially when they are in cover. They aren't an offensive powerhouse, but having such robust off-siders means that the stars of the Steel Phalanx, notably Pheonix, who are offensive beasts, almost always retain their Sixth Sense lvl2 and +1B bonuses deep into the game. This is particularly frustrating for anyone trying to rampage over the team with MSV2 and smoke shooting. Sixth sense says no...
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