Campaign Paradiso - Ariadna Impressions 10
I recently had the chance to square off against Century (who will be running our terrain tournament in early July), playing Mission 401 in a duel between my Ariadna forces and the hated Aleph minions.
My primary goal was to get as many expensive units off the board as possible. Only specialists can take the magic elevators, though, so I had to create a list focused on forward observers, engineers, and...yes, even a costly Lieutenant. Since Ariadna can't upgrade their heavies into Hackers (like a number of other factions), I had to be a little judicious with my unit selection - I didn't want to take specialists that would be easily shot to pieces, but I also didn't have as many options as other factions might.
This way of thinking led to a fairly large pool of specialists to interact with objectives and scram off the board as soon as the elevators were active:
Irmandinho (Mono CCW) - because of some careful positioning on my part, my Irmandinho was able to reach the panel on his Impetuous order. He succeeded at interacting with it on his Irregular order (which was so weird to me...I take forever to succeed at interactions!), removing the mono-mesh that protected the objective corridor. This guy later ran into a Spitfire (or HMG...or something...) Suppressive Fire lane, but that's totally ok. Spending the order to keep him put would have cost me speed on my other units, and at least he had a chance to Chain Rifle something as he walked boldly into a hail of bullets. Sadly, he never got to use his ill-gotten Mono CCW on anything.
Dozer Traktor Mul Control Device - the device is free, so I threw it on this Dozer just to psych Century out during deployment. As always, the Dozer pulled his weight during the game: after the Irmandinho dropped the mesh, the Dozer opened the door, blitzed into the central hallway, and parked himself deep in total cover so that he could make a run for the central objective on my next turn. With some supporting fire from the doorway (and a Dog Face on the other side of the hall), Century really had to think twice about chasing this guy down. In the end, this Dozer triggered the central objective, letting me divert power to the elevators with my other models. He didn't make it off himself, but he enabled the rest of my team to do exactly what I wanted them to.
Kaplan Engineer - my Kaplan roared up the flank opposite to the Dozer, hiding until he could take advantage of the elevators. When the Dozer triggered the central objective, the Kaplan was able to evacuate three units (including himself) - meaning I'll have three free units in Mission 402. I didn't win the game (lousy Sophotect and her high WIP!), but I sure got a lot of points because of this guy.
Veteran Kazak AP HMG Lieutenant - taking this lady usually means that the Ariadna player has balls of steel. It's a cheaper AP HMG, sure, but it's an enormous bull's eye for your opponent anyway, and taking it as a Lieutenant is just asking to spend a turn with only two Regular orders. Cue my Intel with Chain of Command: the risk, here, is totally worth the reward because I can't actually be put into LoL, and I also have a chance to get a free 61 point model in Mission 402 (Lieutenants are specialists!). In the end, that's exactly what happened. So what if we can't take Heavy Infantry Hackers? A free Veteran Kazak AP HMG is absolutely nothing to scoff at!
Dog-Face - this guy was a major roadblock for Century's advancing troops. By positioning himself like a giant jerk (in the middle of the room, blocked only by a little bit of total cover on the opposite side of the central objective), he was able to make sure that Century's specialists would take a face full of Chain Rifle. He later died in a massive hail of bullets, but hey...that's what Dogs are for, right?
Here's a diagram of what was going on at the time, more or less:
Among the other chumps in my army was a Highlander Grey with T2 Rifle (who squared off on the right side against a million Aleph threats), an Intel with Chain of Command (who hid like a coward behind a crate way off-camera), and a Briscard Forward Observer who ran up to the left elevator on the very last turn.
In the end, Century won 8-7. We treated each "do one X" as being worth only one VP total, so the only repeatable task was the "toss a Specialist into the elevator". It was a hard-fought game, and even though I cursed my inability to make good WIP rolls (again), I felt like I had gained a solid amount of points and specialists for use in the next game.
My primary goal was to get as many expensive units off the board as possible. Only specialists can take the magic elevators, though, so I had to create a list focused on forward observers, engineers, and...yes, even a costly Lieutenant. Since Ariadna can't upgrade their heavies into Hackers (like a number of other factions), I had to be a little judicious with my unit selection - I didn't want to take specialists that would be easily shot to pieces, but I also didn't have as many options as other factions might.
This way of thinking led to a fairly large pool of specialists to interact with objectives and scram off the board as soon as the elevators were active:
Irmandinho (Mono CCW) - because of some careful positioning on my part, my Irmandinho was able to reach the panel on his Impetuous order. He succeeded at interacting with it on his Irregular order (which was so weird to me...I take forever to succeed at interactions!), removing the mono-mesh that protected the objective corridor. This guy later ran into a Spitfire (or HMG...or something...) Suppressive Fire lane, but that's totally ok. Spending the order to keep him put would have cost me speed on my other units, and at least he had a chance to Chain Rifle something as he walked boldly into a hail of bullets. Sadly, he never got to use his ill-gotten Mono CCW on anything.
Dozer Traktor Mul Control Device - the device is free, so I threw it on this Dozer just to psych Century out during deployment. As always, the Dozer pulled his weight during the game: after the Irmandinho dropped the mesh, the Dozer opened the door, blitzed into the central hallway, and parked himself deep in total cover so that he could make a run for the central objective on my next turn. With some supporting fire from the doorway (and a Dog Face on the other side of the hall), Century really had to think twice about chasing this guy down. In the end, this Dozer triggered the central objective, letting me divert power to the elevators with my other models. He didn't make it off himself, but he enabled the rest of my team to do exactly what I wanted them to.
Kaplan Engineer - my Kaplan roared up the flank opposite to the Dozer, hiding until he could take advantage of the elevators. When the Dozer triggered the central objective, the Kaplan was able to evacuate three units (including himself) - meaning I'll have three free units in Mission 402. I didn't win the game (lousy Sophotect and her high WIP!), but I sure got a lot of points because of this guy.
Veteran Kazak AP HMG Lieutenant - taking this lady usually means that the Ariadna player has balls of steel. It's a cheaper AP HMG, sure, but it's an enormous bull's eye for your opponent anyway, and taking it as a Lieutenant is just asking to spend a turn with only two Regular orders. Cue my Intel with Chain of Command: the risk, here, is totally worth the reward because I can't actually be put into LoL, and I also have a chance to get a free 61 point model in Mission 402 (Lieutenants are specialists!). In the end, that's exactly what happened. So what if we can't take Heavy Infantry Hackers? A free Veteran Kazak AP HMG is absolutely nothing to scoff at!
Dog-Face - this guy was a major roadblock for Century's advancing troops. By positioning himself like a giant jerk (in the middle of the room, blocked only by a little bit of total cover on the opposite side of the central objective), he was able to make sure that Century's specialists would take a face full of Chain Rifle. He later died in a massive hail of bullets, but hey...that's what Dogs are for, right?
Here's a diagram of what was going on at the time, more or less:
Among the other chumps in my army was a Highlander Grey with T2 Rifle (who squared off on the right side against a million Aleph threats), an Intel with Chain of Command (who hid like a coward behind a crate way off-camera), and a Briscard Forward Observer who ran up to the left elevator on the very last turn.
In the end, Century won 8-7. We treated each "do one X" as being worth only one VP total, so the only repeatable task was the "toss a Specialist into the elevator". It was a hard-fought game, and even though I cursed my inability to make good WIP rolls (again), I felt like I had gained a solid amount of points and specialists for use in the next game.
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