The Gecko is a very affordable TAG that opens some great game play options. A list centred around this TAG has the hitting power to deal with most threats, if he can get into range with his Gun. This TAG is usually moving midfield with specialists‘ in his Harris, to help with both, objective play and kill pressure. His 24” rage makes him dominate the middle, but if he gets pushed to one edge he will fall to 32” ranged fighters and snipers if they are still active. One of the Gecko’s weaknesses is accuracy. It suffers against targets with any mimitisim as it only has BS 13.
At 56 points the Gecko can be taken without an engineer, but you run the risk of taking an early E/M hit or being hacked into a brick. A Gecko without an Engineer is a really good distraction and it allows you to play mind games with your opponent, as they will not know whether to kill the Gecko or ignore it. Other reasons not to hire an engineer are:
1. At armour 6 he is not difficult to kill with AP rounds.
2. If he gets Immobilised in a scoring area he still counts as points in the zone.
3. With no Remote presence you can not re-roll any repairs to structure.
4. 21 points for a Clockmaker and a Zondbot is quite expensive.
Reasons to take an engineer are:
1. Carlota and Morarity, a great repair unit that doubles as an assassin.
2. You have other REMs in your list that can benefit from repair.
3. You have invested into the Gecko Harris and it is important to your game plan.
The +1 Burst that the Gecko gets from a Harris helps with his accuracy problems. My Harris usually contains a Daktari as a cheap specialist who can restore wounds to nearby units, like Mcmurrough. For me, the third member of the harris varies, good choices include Senor Massacre as a bodyguard or Jazz to help with offensive hacking. Wildcats can also be good in the harris because of their MSV1 (visor), pair this with Lupe Balboas’ smoke and the Haris can then deal with even more threats, however this a lot of points.
CJC units that synergise well with this TAG are morans’ and Jazz as they can remove hacking threats and midfield units that are hard to kill with shooting. They also hand out the targeted state, which helps with the Geckos accuracy problems. Other Synergies include long range fire power such as, a linked Evader Fuerbach or an intruder.
Threats to this stout little TAG include AP ammo, hacking and Close Combat. Enemy TAGs will rip him apart at long range, but if you can play around the midfield terrain the Gecko won’t be taking those fights. Once you are set up in the midfield the threat is skirmishes who will hack or melee the TAG. The best defence against this is the Harris partner’s that I have mentioned.
I hope this Blog has got you interested in cheap TAGs. Other units that fill a similar role are the Azrail, the Unknown Ranger and Eudoros. Remember, these guys don’t have to live forever to win the game.
Sambino Plays 
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