The Pen of Penemue

Ariadna Impressions 201 This mission was over in a flash. In fact, it was over so quickly that it's honestly not worth giving highlights or unit achievement summaries, except for maybe presenting the order in which my troops died to an order-fueled Marut. I don't think that this will really help the matter, though... Endalyon opted to go first, and proceeded to jam his Lieutenant Marut down my army's throat. I managed to slow it down with multiple AROs and some careful advance positioning, but it kept doing its thing and I kept losing troops. By the end of the rampage, I was done to around 5 orders (out of a whopping 17, including 2 Irregulars), and there was very little I could do when my turn rolled around. There were a few bright shining moments in this turn/game, though. I managed to hit and wound the Marut with my Briscard, as the Aleph war machine rolled something like 18, 18, 19, 20. We later realized that it was in a harsh environment and that i...

Here is ALEPH's Ajax the Great, in pieces and "assembled", courtesy of Baiyuan over on the Infinity forums.  Check out his progress thread here !

Here is the Nomads' Sin Eater with brutal and nasty HMG, courtesy of reddragon76 over on the Infinity forums!

Here is the Nomads' Sin Eater with Multi Sniper Rifle, courtesy of reddragon76 over on the Infinity forums.

Here is the Nomads' Spektr, carrying a Multi Sniper Rifle, courtesy of reddragon76 over on the Infinity forums.

Ariadna Impressions 103 I threw down with Endalyon the other day to play Campaign: Paradiso's Missions 103 and 201. Endalyon usually plays JSA, but he's chosen to run his chiefly-vedic Aleph army for our current campaign. As you might have gathered from my posts so far, I actually fear playing Aleph, so I went into these two games with a bit of trepidation. In the end, I managed to squeak out a 1-0 win for 103. We got stuck with opposite corner deployment, and while Endalyon struggled to put together a 250 Aleph list, I found it difficult to split my orders in such a way that the destruction of one group wouldn't outright screw me. On top of that, I put together a list that breaks one of my fundamental rules of campaign play: I didn't take more than one actual multi-wound ARO weapon. Normally I find this to be really useful, but it seems like a necessity against Aleph (with their fast “2 wound” specialists), but for some reason I decided to take a d...

Here is the Combined Army's Malignos Hacker, front and back, courtesy of Phototropic over on the Infinity forums!

Here are the Combined Army's remote drones, front and back, courtesy of Phototropic over on the Infinity forums!

Following a very good suggestion, I've gone through and attached faction tags to all the relevant posts in this blog.  Mostly, this will let you filter through unpacks you don't want to see, but it'll also let you pick out my Ariadna and Yu Jing articles at a glance. Happy holidays to everyone, and stay safe!

Property of Corvus Belli.  From Campaign: Paradiso . With Paradiso's arrival, Ariadna has finally received a weapon that might start replacing our beloved HMG.  The Molotok (meaning hammer in a bajilion Eastern European languages) is Ariadna's version of the Spitfire, and I have to admit that despite my initial excitement at hearing about a new weapon...I was a bit underwhelmed when I first saw it. I mean, one of the main draws of the Spitfire is that it is at +3 from 0-24", covering that blind spot that the HMG sometimes gets into (especially on units that start or blitz up the board).  The Molotok doesn't have that blind spot covered.  In fact, it's just like an HMG but with a shorter/smaller +3 range, and nothing to make up for it. Nothing except the cost, that is.  HMGs are expensive buggers, and Molotoks seem cheap like nobody's business.  As Corvus Belli has requested players not to reveal the formula they use to design units, I won't be too ...

Here are Yu Jing's Wu Ming in a boxed set, including all the old (and new) loadouts besides the Boarding Shotgun. Straight from the box! Bag opened! Closeup of firearms!

Here is Ariadna's Uxia McNeill, Paradiso style!

Here are Ariadna's Traktor Mul remotes!  It took me a little while to actually get them because of Paradiso's release (our local supplier has apparently been flooded with requests for specialists and Baggage remotes), but here they are for your perusal!

Alright.  Mission 102 down, and I'm still convinced that Irmandinhos are Corvus Belli's gift to Ariadna players everywhere.  I'm also convinced that Ariadna does really well with two combat groups. This time I played Aleph, my least favourite faction to play against because of all those ODDs, not to mention the MSV3 (almost ubiquitous among Aleph players in our group).  I knew that I was coming up against them, though, so I made sure to be ready.  Here's what I took. Task Force Blue Chasseur (Minelayer) Cateran (T2 Sniper) Kazak Doktor Irmandinhos (Chain Rifle) Caledonian Volunteer (Chain Rifle) Intel (Holoprojector 1, Minelayer) Line Kazak (Rifle) Task Force Red Chasseur (Rifle, Light Flamethrower) Father Lucien Sforza (pretending to be a Metro Rifle) Dozer (Control Device) Tankhunter (Autocannon) Traktor Mul (Minesweeper) Traktor Mul (Minesweeper) Irmandinhos (Chain Rifle) Warcor Line Kazak (Lieutenant) Loup Garou (Viral Rifle, Flash LGL)...

Here is Ariadna's Mirage-5 team (Margot and Duroc), both front and back!

Here is the lethal mercenary Miyamoto Musashi, front and back!

Here is Ariadna's box of Loup Garou, courtesy of Sepsitorizedmook over on the Infinity forums!

Here is Ariadna's Antipodes Assault Pack, courtesy of Sepsitorizedmook over on the Infinity forums!

Here are Ariadna's Tankhunters in a double-blister (ADHL/AP Rifle and AP HMG), courtesy of Sepsitorizedmook over on the Infinity forums!

Here is Ariadna's mighty Veteran Kazak with AP HMG, courtesy of Sepsitorizedmook over on the Infinity forums!

Here is the Combined Army's scary-as-hell Cadmus-Naish Sheskiin - both front and back - courtesy of Fenrir on the Infinity forums!

Here is PanOceania's Trauma Doc, courtesy of Harlekin over on the Infinity forums!

Here are PanOceania's Palbots, courtesy of Harlekin over on the Infinity forums!

Here is PanOceania's Nisse with HMG, courtesy of Harlekin over on the Infinity forums!

Here are PanOceania's Mulebots, courtesy of Harlekin over on the Infinity forums!

Here is PanOceania's valiant Machinist, courtesy of Harlekin over on the Infinity forums!

Here is PanOceania's Knight of Montesa with Combi Rifle, courtesy of Harlekin over on the Infinity forums!

Here are PanOceania's Dronbot Remotes, courtesy of Harlekin over on the Infinity forums!

Here is PanOceania's Father de Fersen, courtesy of Harlekin over on the Infinity forums!

Here is PanOceania's Croc Man with Multi Sniper Rifle, courtesy of Harlekin over on the Infinity forums!

Here is PanOceania's Armbot Bulleteer, courtesy of Harlekin over on the Infinity forums!

Here is PanOceania's Bagh Mari with Combi Rifle, courtesy of Harlekin over on the Infinity forums!

Here is PanOceania's Akalis Sikh Commandos with Combi-Rifle and HMG, courtesy of Harlekin over on the Infinity forums!