To See the Truth: Panoceania Black Friar

Disclaimer: This is not an advanced strategy guide, this is me as a new player going over the model, giving me thoughts on it; let me know if you've got additional thoughts on the model I haven't thought of!

Imperial Guard Black Friar, reporting for duty!

The Panoceania Black Friar is, as of writing this, a pretty new piece for Pano, and of course for the Military Orders. On top of being quite possibility my favorite sculpt available to the sectorial, the Black Friar brings some phenomenal tools that will make your local Haqqislam player cry violently for hours... well, maybe not that bad, but he's a great toolbox piece that I've just loved working into most lists.

Let's look at what the Black Friar brings to the table, eh?

Black Friars only bring two loadouts to the table. They both have a very clear purpose in your list design. All Black Friars bring Multi-Spectral Visor L2, which is always a fantastic tool to have, especially on such a cheap piece. They are also Religious Troops, but then again so is everything else in the Sectorial. From there you have two choices: a 30 point, 1.5 SWC MULTI Sniper with a nanopulser, or a 28 point, 0 SWC Combi Rifle/nanopulser option with a Biometric Visor L1, Albedo, and Drop Bears.

The MULTI Sniper version is the much more straightforward of the two as far as what he's doing: he's a discount Nisse Sniper with no Mimetism but available to Panoceania. What's not to love about an MSV2 MULTI Sniper with Pano Ballistic Skill? I'm talking about him specifically from my point of view as a Military Orders play, so let's compare him to our other snipers. To me, the Black Friar version is more targeted at matchups; you'll want him if you're handling a ton of smoke and camouflage, which has made me start thinking of reaching for him more since I fight a lot of very camouflage heavy Nomad lists, but I haven't put him on the table yet. The TO Camo Infiltration Spec. Order Sergeant is pricey on your SWC but is more of a trisky defensive piece, and the regular Order Sergeant MULTI Sniper is really about being a part of a defensive fireteam in my eyes. All three of our MULTI Snipers are great options, and the Black Friar just brings a tool in MSV2 that you may need.

Now lets talk about the one I'm really here for: the BioVisor/Albedo version. I call this guy the Anti-Shenanigan Black Friar, and that's exactly what he does for you. Combi Rifles are unimpressive but functional enough, but he's really about the tech he brings: a Biometric Visor is going to be the best answer to Fidays or Cyber-Mask Hackers available to the sectorial. Playing against Haqqislam? Hold your Black Friar back as your last deployment and see where those Fidays are dropping. Further, he has Albedo, which means for the first two turns of the game he's considered to be in a White Noise Zone, but without any negative effect to him. This in combination with his MSV2 is what I really love him for. Fighting so many Nomads, I've been knocked around a time or two by Intruder snipers and with his White Noise Zone, this guy is completely invisible to anyone running a Multi Spectral Visor for the early stages of the game. This makes him a great early-activation sniper hunter, popping out to stare down MSV snipers with impunity as he punches a few combi rifle rounds to their face. Then, on top of it all, he has Drop Bears, which gives him a great area denial option that, early on, can't be stopped by defensive MSV troops. On top of just being a gorgeous sculpt, this loadout is the reason I bring a Black Friar in a list. EDIT: I made a mistake, the Black Friar does not have a combi rifle, but is running a MULTI Rifle! I've been using it as a combi, apparently he's even better than I thought.

So... what are the downsides? Well, particularly the anti-shenanigan Black Friar is a little bit targeted in his matchups. The biometric visor in plenty of games will be completely useless, and some lists won't run MSV troops really so the albedo can be a bit hit and miss... but really, most people bring *something* with an MSV so it will at least be a little bit useful. Not every list brings a bunch of camouflage and smoke... but most lists do bring some, so his MSV will almost always be a little bit useful. So if you're fighting someone with no impersonation, MSV, or smoke... I guess he's not really that interesting, but how many builds are really running none of those things? Maybe a Military Orders Joan of Arc pain train build that's tight on points...

That's our humble Black Friar, in my experience. I can't wait to get him on the table more in some very anti-shenanigan lists I've been working on soon.