Hac Tao Special Intervention Unit (ML)

Be subtle until you are invisible,
Be as mysterious as silence,
And you will be the owner of your enemy’s destiny.
— Sun Tzu

There is something I like about the idea of an invisible, stealthy infantry in heavy armor; partly because most stealthy characters in other works are considered lightly armored, and partly because it reminds me of Predator. The Hac Tao Special Intervention Unit stalks the battlefield unseen with their thermo-optical camouflage, which makes them totally invisible to the enemy. Once the enemy gets into their killing range, they become anything but subtle, unleashing — in this case — a shoulder-launched armor-piercing HE missile, distorted light then traces their silhouette, as if looking through a warped glass, betraying the presence of the Hac Tao, only it is too late.

In the game, Hac Tao does not deploy normally, instead you write down secretly where they will appear on the board before the game begins. On your turn, you can then choose to place the Hac Tao at the location you specified (and usually followed by immediately launching a barrage of missiles or heavy machine-gun fire). Even after the opponent becomes aware of the location of the Hac Tao, enemy soldiers will still suffer a penalty at returning fire due to the Predator-esque cloaking effect. It is best to place the Hac Tao at vintage points overlooking potential corridors and/or staging grounds that the opponent will utilize, letting them underestimate your threat and overestimating the safety of those areas.

Primed to sealing: 11 hours.