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A Recon squad has one unique ability that can be very impactful. The Recon squad can once per turn decide to put a just revealed initiative card on the bottom of the deck forcing the players to draw another. This can let you influence the tempo of the game. Sometime going first is great other times you don't want to go first. They are used in tournament play for sure. [It just occurred to me that @CAVBOSS worked on an newer initiative system. I can't recall if he ever made it official so take the above with a grain of salt.] Fyi, the effect of APA is force wide so long as the models are in it's range. Recon units are rarely powerful enough to get into the middle of the fight but they are good at sniping wounded models and making indirect fire units unhappy. I picked 3 Duelists because they are expensive in bulk. That squad is a little over 2000 points and has some flaws - see the CONs section. Tournament games are 4500 - 5000 points normally. Casual games whatever you want to play but rarely much more than the tournament games in my experience. About having the largest squads... Having more squads allows you more opportunities in the initiative system so sometimes volume is good. One of my favorite things about CAV is that there are a lot of ways to build and play a force. The Haunt is a great looking model and perfectly fine in a force with a plan to use it. That said indirect fire (IDF) models are, imo, hard to build a force around. They are great supplements but their flaws are exploitable. You'll want a good screening force for sure. Problem with me giving this kind of advice is that the scenarios you'll find yourself in are all over the place. When it comes to IDF the very best have both SA: Chain Fire Pod and SA: Fire Control System - the cream of the crop also include SA: Counter-Battery. 🙂 Take a look at the Outlaw an IDF tank and work your way through what it's Special Abilities do. Happy to help!

That is great The Red Baron, such a great amount of info to use, thank you. Recon style units seem to be very popular, but I cannot see a reason to place them all in one unit due to the fact that their sharing abilities are only squad based and not army wide. But, the Active Phase Array is very good. Good enough to boost a full recon squad? Not so sure, but I am only going on paper stats for the moment. Do you field full recon units? Only 3 Duelists? Is it not best to have the largest squads as possible to activate and maximize options? Also, I am a sucker for a good quad and love the look of the Haunt. The non-coloured stat card lists it at just under 600 points. Do you feel this is a good unit for the points? There are quite a few rockets mounted on it. 🙂

Let's make an attack squad. You'll want 1 Recon unit with the SA: EST. This can be the Spartan or the Shadow. I'd take the Shadow but either will work. Role: move, hide and give your squad mates EST or APA2 as needed. Pros APA2 makes squad mates hit extra hard. EST allows them to TARGET LOCK for free SA: Chameleon makes you harder to hit at LONG+ ranges SA Superior Mobility lets you get to those hiding spots faster Cons You are a high priority target! Your weapons have a huge minimum range. No SA: ECM to fight against enemy ECM. After that you'll take anywhere from 3-5 models with the attack role depending on how many points you want to spend - we'll go fewer points. Personally, I'd take 3 Duelists. Role: Shoot stuff early and often, roll crits, do so from cover if possible. Pros They are very versatile - with their 6 light MACs they can customize their fire to suit the target. Take 6 separate shots when facing a model with low/damaged armor. SALVO them together when you need to punch through armor or hit something buried in cover. They crit on an 11 or 12 rather than the standard 12. You have 6 shots to fish for crits. 🙂 Cons Their defenses are very 'mid' and they will go down after a few hard hits. Their offense is very dice dependent. If your dice are even a little above average they are great below and they are a little impotent. They CANNOT damage soft targets at all in anyway. Their weapons have an 8" min range. This squad is a bit of a glass cannon. They want to go first and they don't like being shot at. Use terrain to limit your enemies ability to shoot you and enhance your ability to shoot them. They do not like enemy models that can 'rush' them and do damage. They hate soft targets - aircraft are their bane. The really advanced player will use the Shadow as bait to feed enemy models to the Duelists. It is very high risk so caveat emptor. 🙂 Happy to answer questions if you have any.