Infinity/N4 Tactics/Morat Aggression Force

An overview for the Morat Aggression Force in N4.

Why Play Morats?

MAF is a sledgehammer. You don't do anything fancy. You don't have any camouflage game. Your link options aren't too crazy. You have okay specialists and few unique tactics to combat. People compare Morats to Military Orders and say Morats is more aggressive and straightforward.

But you sally forth from the deployment zone, bringing to bear good weapons in potent link teams. Armor trembles at your access to K1, explosive, and AP. People curse your warbands while you crack some heads with your Lieutenant, safe in the knowledge that your army won't falter just because your LT's life expectancy is measured in seconds. Your LTs themselves fight with valor and die with glory.

You're even more straightforward than Military Orders, but have the upside of more disposable and flexible units. It is incredibly hard to out-punch a well-built Morats force, and opponents will find themselves having to work around the weight of fire you bring to the table.

To put it simply, you don't sword fight with a sledgehammer. You smash until nothing's left.

Faction Features

• High-Octane Aggression: Perhaps the most aggressive army in existence, Morats offers little subtlety in play and are even more straightforward than Military Orders while providing more specialists. Morats are not as durable, but will crack power armor and TAGs like eggs.
• Big Guns, Anti-Armor: Morats' access to K1, AP+DA, EXP, and E/M weaponry is great for cracking TAGs and heavy infantry. Some weapons are heinously potent - for example, Yaogats can take a burst 3 (burst 4 in a Haris!) multisniper and Kurgats can pack a burst 3 autocannon for some powerful ammo types, while a failed Face to Face with a Sogarat's Feuerbach can wipe anything off the board.
• Great PH: Morats have an unusually high PH. You do pay for this, but your standard dodge is on at least PH12. This comes in handy more often than you think.

Special Skills

• Veteran and Religious: On 95% of your troops - the only troops lacking Religious (or an equivalent) are the Hungries and Dr. Worm. They, plus remotes, are the only ones lacking Veteran, and so Morats largely does not care about Loss of Lieutenant, nor do they care about E/M (though heavy infantry, TAGs, and remotes can still be Immobilized by E/M).
• Lieutenant: Good lieutenants - which is important, as you are the army that literally does not care if your lieutenant dies. Veteran on everything apeish in nature means you don't give half a damn if your lieutenant goes down. At worst, Dr. Worm goes irregular.
• Camouflage, or the lack thereof: Zero. Zilch. Not even your one skirmisher has it. You do possess good mimetism options like Daturazi and Zerats, but you have absolutely zero marker states that don't come from a KHD.

Weapons and Equipment

• K1 Ammunition: The good: Completely ignores a unit's base armor. The bad: Damage 13. A straight upgrade to the Combi Rifle, but your K1 Sniper Rifle will still only do Combi-Rifle damage. The break-even point for the sniper rifle is versus ARM 2 (compared to a normal sniper or HMG), but after that it's all benefit. Both of these guns are on fairly cheap infantry, and the K1 combi is on a trooper with smoke.
• Special Weapons: Aside from your specialists, your troops mostly have heavy-hitting weapons or special ammunition options. Missiles, grenade launchers, AP HMGs, the best feuerbach in the game, panzerfausts on an MSV2 troop. Even the Portable Autocannon has its place. You have SWC options that hit hard and hit good. You are perhaps the most damaging army in the game. Go big or go home.
• Heavy Pistols: Not a huge upside, but it's there. If you don't have a dedicated CC option, you probably have a heavy pistol. Remember this the next time someone tries to get in close in your reactive turn. Damage 14 Shock means people should be afraid of failing that FTF, and that in some cases this might be preferable to shooting with your primary.

Units Overview

• Great Weapons: Learn to love your heavy hitters. Build your list around a good lieutenant and strong weapon platforms. You're not here for trickery or trades. Smash your opponent into pulp with overwhelming firepower.
• Good Airborne Troops: Rasyats can walk in from the enemy deployment zone, and Taryots have Explosive Combat Jump. They're not the backbone of a list, but shake things up a bit.
• Decent Midfield: You have a good selection of mid-field units and even some ways of getting there. You can punch out of your deployment zone pretty hard, as long as you avoid stacking Mimetism modifiers against yourself. Zerats are better in N4 (Mimetism -6!), Daturazi provide good smoke cover and aggression, and all your medium infantry are 4-4 and all have strong weapon options.

Unit Identifier Morats

Light Infantry

• Morat Vanguard Infantry: Basic AF. Incredibly expensive for what you get, but they still generate orders when in Loss of Lieutenant. Strongly consider dodging in ARO, as you're rarely going to do worse than shooting. Their weapon options are fine - everyone packs a Heavy Pistol for slightly more dangerous close range AROs and the K1 Sniper is Damage 13. The paramedic makes the check on their patient's PH-0 in the best PH-having army in the game (thanks N4!), the missile launcher is a missile launcher. Despite their relatively high cost compared to other line troops, they are the core of the Morats being the cheapest filler for your best Core and Haris fireteams. With the Fireteam update making "Morat" fireteams incredibly versatile and easy to get composition bonuses, basic filler Vanguards or Paramedics are very useful.
  • Treitak Anyat: The Vanguard named character SpecOps from Dire Foes: Slave Trophy. Specialist operative, climbing plus, shock immunity. The K1 Combi Rifle is a bane of everything armored, E/M grenades terrify HI and TAGs, chain colt keeps skirmishers at bay, and the smoke grenades let you move you (and your fireteam) up-field to threaten with all three weapons. Not a wildcard - Vanguards, Suryats, Sogarats, or Raichos only - but still a decent option. (CB wasn't going to let you fireteam smoke with MSV2 anyways).YES A WILDCARD WITH SMOKE AND MSV! The fireteam and Morat update didn't just make her a real Wildcard, but also completely revamped your options for fireteams. Stick her in a core fireteam with a Yaogat MSV with full composition bonuses and bully almost anyone from a map away. She's incredibly versatile for fireteam composition, only hindered by her price. She isn't very expensive at 24 points, but it's still a lot for a Morat Vanguard with a batman utility belt.
  • Dartok Cybercombat Team: The Artist Formerly Known As Vanguard Hacker. When the Morat update came out, they sent the Vanguard Hacker to DEF CON and he picked up some nasty hacking tricks and an edgier name. The Morat standard of Veteran in addition to his fancy new cybernetics giving him BTS 6 and Dogged makes him extremely resistant to enemy hacking. Not only that, but he can also get the Suryat's tinbot bonus for Firewall (-3), just in case enemy hackers thought they could hack you back. He also now brings a pitcher and a hacking device with Trinity (+1 Damage) for blowing the brains of enemy hackers or marking missile targets from a distance. An absolute monster of a hacker who is decently priced and core-linkable for that sweet, sweet sixth sense and pitcher shooting. Always bring the SMG one, it's cheaper and you have other dorks in your Core Fireteam to do the shooting. Who even likes Cybermines?
• Krakot Renegades: Weirdly not listed as a warband. Decent but they don't fit into any fireteams aside from their own Haris. They compete with your other warband options. Forward Deployment, bonus to dodge, and a very possible mobility option on MetaChem makes them really aggressive. Judge for yourself, they are competing with Daturazi, and those boys bring smoke grenades.
• Kurgat Reg. of Assault Engineers: Surprisingly 'eh' but they hit hard and can link with "Morat" fireteams. They're useful, BS12 engineers that bring a toolbelt of options to support your Vanguards. There are 5 profiles available, each bringing some nifty tools. The cheapest two profiles bring a BSG, D-Charges, and AP mines or Drop Bears. A pretty nifty kit for putting in a Vanguard link, AP mines can really hurt HI and drop bears allowing you to do the mine-shoot trick with anyone in the link. The next profile replaces the mines or drop bears with a Panzerfaust (+1 Damage) which is alright but isn't as universally useful as AP mines/throwing mines. The fourth profile has (BS Attack (+1)), an AP Combi Rifle, E/Mitter, and AP Mines in case you need someone to disable or destroy a TAG on a budget. The last profile brings the Meme-tastic Portable Autocannon. It's expensive, it's fragile, and it has no way to deal with modifiers; but it is a core-linkable Autocannon that gets full bonuses. Your opponent will quake at a Burst 3 Autocannon hitting on 18s doing AP+EXP damage... Until, like, a Tuareg or Trinitarian outshoots it because he has no MSV or Mimetism. Good for a laugh or surprise pick, but a Yaogat MULTI Sniper does a mostly better job. If you need an engineer, they're more aggressive than Dr. Worm, but not necessarily better.
• Zabuk, Morat Enslavers: In typical Morat fashion, the HVT figure from their new Dire Foes box also has a combat profile. She's like if a Morat Vanguard had a kid with an O-12 Gluecoat or Odalisque. 15 points is one more point than the basic Vanguard, and she trades her combi rifle for a SMG, Heavy Riotstopper, Flashpulse, and Para CC weapon. Her Para CC (-9) and CC18 means that no one will be able to mess with her in melee without potentially getting immobilized; but her 1 wound, low BS, and low armor mean they probably are going to just shoot her instead. She is also one of the few units that doesn't get the (Morat) keyword, making her weird for fireteams. Maybe an interesting filler for a Haris that doesn't need the composition bonus and wants that Riotstopper for defense, but you could also get a Vanguard FO or Paramedic for similar points. Probably not great.
• Tyrok Hunters: The Morats have gotten really into Final Fantasy 14 since the Dartoks started hacking into MayaNet, and they decided they needed a Dragoon. She's the equivalent to the Beast Hunter that the humans get, but she's a completely different beast. CC23, Martial Arts Level 1, Dogged, a +1 Damage Trench Hammer, and +1 Burst Heavy Pistol lets her kill practically anything she can touch. Only 4-4 movement, no berserk, and no smoke means she might have some trouble bringing her halberd to bear against anything without some help. Forward deployment (+8) helps, but she still would appreciate someone like Anyat/Oznat/Daturazi throwing her a smoke grenade to avoid AROs. While she isn't good at shooting, she does pack a T2 rifle which is neat. Her other profiles give her Minelayer for mid field defenses, or a Skurgot pet. The Skurgot's profile is like a mini Tyrok to use as a meat shield, but with 6-4 movement and a DA CC weapon. The Tyrok has a very good price at 21-25 points, if you can leverage it.

• Med-Tech Obsidon Medchanoid: AKA 'Doctor Worm', but don't let the name fool you: they're also your second engineer option. They're your only doctor model, and their price point makes them a pretty efficient specialist through a peripheral. Honestly a good choice if you want a dedicated engineer and doctor that has no reason to expose themselves. They won't be breaking any faces in, but they will be fixing them. Remember, they aren't Morats, and do care when the Lt eats a bullet. With the changes to Vanguard Paramedics and Kurgats in fireteams, the new Kurgat profiles, and the addition of the Rindak Paramedic, he's looking less important in the grand scheme of things. He's still versatile, but not your only option.

Medium Infantry

• Kornak Gazarot: Decent melee options, MK12. His value isn't from his statline though. Strategos L1 is good, Strategos L1+1 Order is great. He's still 45pts in an army that incentivizes heavy hitting elite pieces. This does effectively compete with NCO profiles
• Raktorak, Morat Sergeant Major: One of your few wildcards, and a specialist to boot. Packs a Vulkan shotgun on an NCO profile, but otherwise a Combi Rifle or Red Fury profile. Expensive for what you get, but Number 2 means you can play risky with a fireteam, while NCO means a fireteam gets more order efficiency via LT orders. Okay filler for expensive teams, or adding a longer-ranged gun to a Daturazi band.
• Rasyat Diplomatic Division: Decent melee options, okay weapons, eclipse grenades. They have enough board presence and pressure to be a real threat. Did I mention they can walk in from the enemy's deployment zone in N4? Overall an expensive but useful option - play a few games with them just to remind your meta that they exist, then watch with amusement as players start treating you like you always have one. Not actually auto-take though.
• Rodok, Morat Armed Imposition Detachment: Downgraded from N3, Rodoks can be taken in Duo or Haris teams. Although superjump gives them handy mobility, their main purpose is to escort a wildcard 4" up the board with their Strategic Deployment profile. They don't link with other Morat units but do have fair profile variety and stats. No longer as 'must-take' in N4, but pretty strong.
• Yaogat Strike Infantry: A haris of Yaogat Strike Infantry can prove annoying if paired with either Daturazi, Oznat, or Treitak Anyat, owing to smoke coverage. They have some interesting profiles but might be a little bit lackluster in terms of profile. The most interesting part about them is the Burst 4 Multisniper in a haris, or the fact that their 'budget' options all pack panzerfausts. If you need to kill mimetism troops or lean on smoke+MSV2, they hit hard. If you don't plan to do either, skip them entirely. Keep in mind that you can discover markers through Smoke without providing LOF for an ARO (or even provoking at all, if you're out of LOF).
• Kyosot Killing Platoon: These guys get T2 on every BS attack they make, not because of Tesseum, but because they're just 'so' good at killing things. Sadly they do not count as "morats" for Fireteam (Morat) or Fireateam (Tarlok), which really holds them back against their competitor options. The marksman rifle option doesn't eat ass anywhere near as ferociously as the Yaogat sniper, but does provide (rare for morats) longer range fire without dipping into SWC. The SMG+MSV1 profile is the real standout option.

Heavy Infantry

Remember that your heavy infantry and TAGs don't care about Isolated, but will still be immobilized by E/M grenades. Just remember this before running them into an E/Marat, but feel free to completely ignore Jammers.

• Sogarat Tempest Regiment: Iconic S5 Heavy Weapons platform. 2W+NWI. They received a pretty big facelift from N3, having lost Bioimmunity (but gained BTS6). They lost Automedkit (aka Regeneration in N4) but gained +1 Damage on BS and CC attacks. NCO and Lieutenant options are both great, don't forget that Pulzars have huge templates. +1B Feuerbach will explode just about anything if it connects in active turn (and most things in reactive), and the AP HMG shreds armor like no tomorrow.
• Suryats: Notably resilient with their AP-immune Armor 4 and uncommonly high BTS 6 (with access to firewall tinbots too). They lack the movement speed and profile variety of other heavy infantry, making them best implemented as part of a vanguard fireteam.
• Kaitok: The new S5 Heavy Weapons platform. Although not as powerful (or cool-looking) as the Sogarat, they're much cheaper, faster, and linkable (or frenziable, if on their own). The Feuerbach option comes with MSV1, while the basic Chain Rifle profile belts out 3 large templates. There is also the breaker combi rifle option, which notably packs an E/Marat. It's worth noting that all profiles also come with +1B heavy pistols
• Rindak: The Rindak makes up for his hideous model by providing a fast, solid HI that pulls triple duty as a solid gunfighter, best-in-faction Paramedic, with serious Classified objective coverage. Dude is an all-star both in a fireteam and as a midfield specialist + Attack piece. Remember that Dodge-3 is a mod on your opponent's rolls when the Rindak dodges, and also that he has STR so you'll need a Kurgat if you want to fix him.

Tactical Armor Gear

• Raicho Armored Brigade: Your choice of heavy rocket launcher, heavy shotgun + mine dispenser, or heavy flamethrower+NCO. There's a lot to pick apart here. Do note that your NCO is a full two SWC over the other two options, and that you have no Lieutenant option here. Immunity to crits, cannot be isolated, ECM versus Hacker and Guided. ARM 8, pretty beefy, and dangerous, everything a Morat loves. Consider a Raicho if you're not taking a Sogarat.
  • Raicho Pilot: As an extra consideration, your Raicho pilot has a B5 assault pistol and is a specialist operative. This isn't amazing value, but do remember if you need to pop her out and press a button.

Remotes

• Dropsuit Taryot:
• Ikadron Batroids: 9pts for a 6-2 MOV, baggage-having, repeater-carrying drone with double flamethrowers. Honestly extremely good, and you get two of them. If you absolutely don't want to take Vanguards, consider these for deployment zone defense and cheap orders. Remember they can Prone now.
• Remotes: Honestly the standard Combined Army remotes aren't too noteworthy here. They're decent (or even good). Flash pulse R-Drones are your cheapest order (though AVA1), and the rest of your non-Ikadron remotes are extremely standard. Though your Q-drone has Mimetism-3 which puts it well above its counterparts in other factions.

Warband

• Daturazi Witch-Soldiers: A staple and an excellent choice for warband. High damage, throws smoke, comes with mimetism, can core-link, and is even regular! Their value cannot be overstated. Don't get carried away with them though.
• Hungries: Your basic 'cheap warband CC specialist'. Climbing Plus means they are barely hindered by walls. Forever overshadowed by Taighas in the Shas army, they're nonetheless important as warband screen and link filler for Oznat for one of the cheaper fireteams in the game. You won't be capping them out, given how you're limited to 15 orders in ITS12, but they're still worth consideration.
  • Ghakis: They run, (maybe) bite things, and explode. Cheap filler to swamp the board with angry, exploding impetuous troops. At 4pts a pop, use them to counteract midfield pushes, mines, possibly camouflage, and hope they trade up. They're the cheapest filler for your Oznat fireteam, but they lack any gun whatsoever. Don't forget Berserk for guaranteed trades.
  • Pretas: The chain rifle option. At 7pts, they fill the traditional 'cheap chain rifle glued to a melee specialist'. They trade the Ghaki's berserk and explode skills for Dogged, proving tenacious jerks capable of trading with line infantry and skirmishers. They don't feel great in N4 when compared to other warbands, but they're still okay.
• Kendrat, Krakot Renegade: Named character krakot. Weirdly labeled as 'warband' when krakots aren't. Hits much harder, is a bit more tenacious. She plays even more aggressive than Krakots and loves breaking into CC. She might be useful as a monkey missile you send racing up the board to explode a target.
• Oznat: Either smoke grenades or a smoke launcher. Combi-rifle for a budget option (or a decent range option in your Oznat link) or need to maximize the distance you can lob smoke. The Vulkan Shotgun + Sync Preta is a real winner, though. Sensor got more rare in N4, and having a smoke-throwing shotgun+chain rifle means you can force unfavorable trades and remove Hidden Deployment troops from objectives. Oznats have teeth.

Skirmishers

• Zerat Special Missions Regiment: Zerats received an upgrade in N4. They're Mim-6 troopers for sub-30pts, with infiltration and a few decent specialist profiles. Alongside mines, d-charges, and templates, they're a decent multi-role skirmisher, but lack the staying power that camouflage would provide. They're good for Turn 1 button pushers, board control, assassination runs, and just forcing unfavorable fights at -9. They get their best value when going first by pressing buttons, going into suppressive fire, and/or picking off an overextended chump. Honestly hit or miss, and you should expect them to die in turns 1 or 2. If you do take them, know what you want to use them for.

Building Your Army

• Pick your Lieutenant: Honestly, Veteran means you don't care as much (if at all) about loss of lieutenant. The real question is whether you want to kill with your lieutenant (thus, the Suryat or Sogarat); or if you want other troops to use the lieutenant order (Suryat again, Vanguard, or Kornak. The former two pair well with NCO profiles). In the case of Kornak you might skip NCO entirely. No matter what, you should strongly consider using your Lieutenant's order for something, as you sacrifice very little for revealing them.
• Stealth or Rage?: Daturazi are good. You're likely taking them. If you're not taking them, consider why (and consider Zerats for those situations why not - or mix them both). Heavily assess your warband (and skirmisher) options, as they're going to be what gives you mobility under cover of smoke.
• Smash with Skill: Morats is an unsubtle army. You hit hard, do not care about armor, are hard to template, and have some of the best direct-aggression profiles in the game. This isn't the army for clever play or mind games. The saying 'they can't press buttons if you shoot off their fingers' applies here, but it's less 'shooting fingers' and more 'amputating their arms at the shoulder'. That being said, don't be too reckless. There's nothing you can't kill, but you still shouldn't leave your expensive troops out to die in reactive turn. Make sure you maximize your smashing force, it's the best tool you have.
• Full Monkey or Honorary Simians?: Dr. Worm and the assorted remotes are valuable in certain situations, but they're still affected by Loss of Lieutenant if the rest of your army isn't. For some reason, Doctoring School didn't cover what to do when your freshly-promoted commanding officer dies every ten seconds. If you plan around recklessly using your Lieutenant, don't take too many remotes, as you'll lose those orders to LoL.
• Paramedic. No, really: Thanks to N4's Paramedic buff, Morats throw a minimum of PH12 on paramedic checks, often times more. At PH13, it's basically the same as a standard doctor in other armies. At PH14, it rivals Dr. Worm. Do not be afraid to Paramedic your own troops, this is one advantage of paying so much for high PH. Also, remember it can be used at range.

Tactics

• Smash Fingers: You have okay specialist options, but better killing tools. Spontaneous limb amputation is a common phenomena in non-Morat armies, which means less pressure on your specialists to do their jobs.
• Use your Lieutenant: Your lieutenants are the best at murder, they get a free order and zero downside to using it.
• Remember Veteran: Some armies rely on their enemies respecting E/M or Jammers for defense. Those armies aren't prepared for a gorilla to stroll up mid field and pull their arms off, blinky lights be damned.
• Play the Objective: Don't get too carried away smashing fingers and exploding targets. It's extremely easy to put a foe into retreat or spend too much time laying waste to the enemy's orders. Make sure to protect your specialists,