Hack Tao

I don’t usually edit photos, but this time I could not resist…

The Hac Tao hacker profile finally has a model, after first being described by Bostria around the time N3 hit as a profile who no one used to take who would become a monster in N3. He’s what I’d describe as a jack of all trades, master of a whole bunch. There are few situations he doesn’t have an answer for. His stat block has a scary number of 14s  in it, his MULTI Rifle can threaten anything within 16 inches, his nanopulser can kill things he can’t see, he can complete objectives and can freeze, designate or possess the scariest models in the game through walls. His hacking device, paired with stealth also ensures he’s dealing with enemy hackers on his own terms in the active turn, whilst his ability to assume a marker state, high willpower, high BTS and access to the Carbonite program keep him safe in the enemy’s active turn. Finally, thanks to hidden deployment, a careless opponent might not even know how much trouble they are in until it’s too late.

Model-wise, “super cool” doesn’t even cut it. He is posed with the confidence of someone whose only fear can be summarised as “Intruders”. I love that even though they went with his sword in hand, that the MULTI Rifle is evident on the model.

His hack gear gives him a noticeably different geometry compared to his HMG wielding predecessor (Be sure to check out that article for everything you might want to know about the meaning behind the unit’s name!). That said, once I got painted, he started to feel very familiar, and soon they looked like peas in a pod. Here’s hoping you can take two in White Banner!

Painting him was fairly straight forward, as there were few colours to figure out that were not used on the first one. Notably I did the crossguard on his oversized Jian exactly as I had done it on the Gūijiă, and the blade the same as the servo muscle.

His visor comes from mixing black with a tiny bit of purple and a bit more turquoise, then adding in more white to it as I painted successive layers. That was something of a guess but it worked out all right.

Super cool. Yu Jing really is blessed these days. Now I just have to use him quickly before the new Su-Jian comes out drags me back into the murky world of the Imperial Service.