Fais Attention: Ariadna Tactica

[Penemue]

2nd Irregular Cameronians Reg. (WB)

Strengths: cheaper than the Dog-Warrior; tough; Super-Jump.
Weaknesses: less durable than the Dog-Warrior.

More Dog-Warriors! These guys are just as ferocious as their Russian cousins, and every bit as dangerous. There are a few subtle differences, but it’s up to you to decide which kind of Dog-Warrior you want on the field. The AVA on the two types isn't exclusive, though, so if you want one Cameronian, you can only take up to one Dog Warrior. If you want two Cameronians, Dog Warriors are no longer an option*.

Cameronians and Dog-Warriors are very similar, with a few subtle differences. First, the Cameronians have one less WIP and one less Wound than their cousins. In exchange, you're getting a very cheap model that starts the game with the benefits of the beast form - higher PH, higher CC, higher Mov, and higher ARM. It's up to you if you prefer the extra Wound or the ability to start moving faster on turn one.

Also note that Dog-Faces can die to one large burst, because their ARM boost doesn't kick in until the order is finished. Cameronians don't suffer from this disadvantage, because they always have an ARM of 3.

*As a brief note, the Cameronians have a higher AVA in the Caledonian sectorial list. This doesn’t matter for a regular Ariadna list, but I thought I’d put it here for the sake of completion.

User Feedback

Ursuschristos says
I never leave home without 2 of these, and prefer to take 3 and McMurrough for 99 points and 0 SWC (only in the sectorial). With their unparallelled mobility (6--4 and super jump) and durability (2 wounds, 3 armour, Total immunity) it's not difficult to get them into your opponents deployment zone on your first turn. They're even good at surviving AROs by throwing smoke within 4" on 19s! Be warned though - they will be dead by your second turn, but when they die it will be on top of a pile of their enemies corpses.

A few things to note: They need at least 4 extra orders to draw on to do their thing properly, and preferably 6 or more. Send them hunting mooks, not elite things - the idea is to cripple your opponents order pool, and their chain rifles are only 13 damage so anything with decent armour and multiple wounds will shrug them off. You want to use them for their chain rifles and grenades, only reserve close combat for things your chain rifles can't hurt easily.

Abydog says
cameronians are a perfect for getting ridd of crazy koalas since they move up fast, dodge against 16 and if everything goes wrong have a good chance surviving the blast due to total immunity and arm 3

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Assault Packs (WB)

Strengths: Incredible speed; very high CC; light smoke launcher; hard to stop before they reach enemy lines.
Weaknesses: No ranged attack; Frenzy means no re-Camo; very easy to kill when not in Camo.

The Antipodes Assault Pack is one of the few 6-6 MOV units in the entire game. The wolves aren't armed with ranged weapons, but their fast movement combined with their Camo* and Super Jump ability lets them reliably reach CC. In a game of ranged combat, the ability to confidently get into melee is actually quite special.

The Assault Pack can cause some serious damage in CC. They have CC 18, AP CCWs, and PH14 on top of that. The most important thing to remember, though, is that your wolves get an extra +3 to their CC score for each other wolf that's ganging up on their shared target. This translates to a 16+ chance to get a critical hit per wolf, which lets them take down even the hardest targets with relative ease.

The Pack's Controller is an interesting model, because it is both a huge perk and a massive hindrance. The perk is that the Controller herself is a Regular model, and counts as part of the unit for purposes of your Retreat threshold. The hindrance is that if the Controller dies, the Pack has to pass a WIP roll or chase after the closest unit, be it friend or foe. Fortunately, the Controller doesn't have to be anywhere near the rest of the Pack, so you can hide her safely away if necessary.

*Remember that the Assault Pack has Frenzy, so once they cause a wound, they cannot go back into Camo.

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9th Wulver Grenadiers Reg. (WB)

Strengths: Climbing Plus; tough; good weapons for no SWC; durable in CC.
Weaknesses: Frenzy; lower BS than comparable "heavies".

The Wulver is an interesting unit. It resembles the faster Heavy Infantry from other factions, but trades a point of BS for a lot more mobility and a very good defence-oriented CC ability. It has no true heavy weapon options, but each loadout comes with something much more powerful than a regular Rifle for absolutely 0 SWC.

The Wulver has a bunch of abilities regardless of loadout. It has Berserk and Natural Born Warrior to put up a solid CC defence, and Climbing Plus to enhance its mobility. Natural Born Warrior nullifies any Martial Arts your opponent might have (and gives the Wulver V: Courage), and Berserk gives you the option to basically inflict an automatic hit because of the Wulver's high CC score. Climbing Plus, on the other hand, lets the Wulver play Spiderman, which lets him get into position with all those interesting weapons he's carrying. Each Wulver loadout also carries Grenades, so Climbing Plus might let you pull off some interesting Speculative Shot.s

These weapons include the T2 Rifle, the Heavy Shotgun, and the Mk12. The T2 Rifle excels at killing off low-to-medium-ARM models with more than one wound, and it really thwarts lists that rely on doctors to get these models back up. It also makes models with more than one wound think twice about provoking AROs unless they have the clear advantage, because one good shot from the Wulver will put them down. The Mk12 has superior range brackets (+3 at 8-32") and damage, but it only fires regular ammunition. The Heavy Shotgun, on the other hand, is very close-ranged, but it's as powerful as the Mk12 and loads AP ammo or the usual small shotgun burst, giving it some flexibility on the fly. Your choice of weaponry decides how you're going to use the Wulver, so make sure you choose carefully!


Loadouts

• Mk12, Grenades: a rare weapon with an 8-24" threat and Climbing Plus on top, and it doesn't cost you any SWC. Great all-around choice.
• T2 Rifle, Grenades: T2 weaponry is brutal against HI and all kinds of lhosts, but this loadout is only middle-ranged. Climbing Plus and 4-4 MOV helps get around this problem, though.
• Heavy Shotgun, Grenades: another rare weapon, very useful in boarding actions and when you want to get your Wulver very close to objectives, but suffers tremendously at long range.

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William Wallace (WB)

Strengths: versatile equipment/weapons; tough; good anti-Camo; very fast.
Weaknesses: Cube; no heavy ranged weapons.

William Wallace comes alive in Infinity as an incredibly versatile - and incredibly durable - close-quarters unit. He's got a variety of weapons and equipment, V: No Wound Incapacitation, and a speed that can put him anywhere he's needed. He's also priced comparably to our Wulvers, making him a bargain for all he can do on the tabletop.

Wallace is our only model with a Combi-Rifle. He's got BS 13 to make good use of it, but he also carries a Light Flamethrower in case Camo/TO/ODD threatens to get the better of him. His high WIP of 15 adds to his ability to hunt Camo units, and his 6-4 Mov - combined with Smoke Grenades - really lets him choose his targets. If one of these targets proves too hard to crack using Wallace's ranged weaponry, you can always engage it in CC: Wallace has a CC of 19, Berserk, and an Explosive CCW to destroy whatever he swings at in melee.

Wallace has only three real downsides. First, he has no options for hard-hitting long-ranged weapons, but that's all part of the balance. If you want heavy ranged weapons in his points bracket, take Tankhunters or Wulvers. Second, he has a Cube, so the dreaded Sepsitor can affect him. This won't happen often, but just keep an eye out for it when you're playing against the Combined Army. Last, Wallace has Frenzy, so he will go out of control as soon as he inflicts a wound. With some practice, though, you can use this extra order to your advantage and make Wallace even more terrifying for the sheer amount of distance he can cover.

User Feedback

Ursuschristos says
He may be worth taking if he's not your lieutenant. He has 6--4 movement, a flame thrower, NWI, 3 armour, 19CC, 14PH, smoke grenades all for 38 points... but if you're taking him for these reasons why not take a Cameronian for 22 points?

[Penemue]

Traktor Mul, Artillery and Support Regiment (REM)

Strengths: guided ammunition; Ariadna's only source of DA ammo.
Weaknesses: slow; requires another model to field; vulnerable to E/M and hacking.

Human Sphere introduced a series of new remotes for almost all factions, and the Traktor Mul what Ariadna got. They're fragile as hell and totally unsuited for direct combat, but they make up for that with unique weapons, unhackable guided missiles, and even a Minesweeper option. They are also Ariadna's Baggage option, so they are tremendously important in Campaign: Paradiso.

The Traktor Mul carry weapons systems that no other model has. The remotes themselves may be especially slow, but that doesn't really matter because both weapon options have a guided mode (which is completely unhackable) that lets you fire them from far away and from out of Line of Fire.

The Katyusha devastates clustered troops, as you get to place three templates side-by-side in a chain for each shot. This weapon loads Damage 13 DA ammunition, making it the only DA option available to our faction. I know that this doesn't sound fantastic for a guided missile launcher, but don't underestimate the power of three DA-ammo templates per shot, especially since you can first Forward Observe the target of your choice to maximize the number of models caught in the templates.

While the Katyusha wants to target groups of models, the Uragan's AP ammo means that it wants to go to town on armoured targets. Instead of templates, the Uragan fires three times with each order, whether it's a regular shot, an ARO, or a guided attack. This means that once you've marked your target, each order you spend guarantees 3 AP rounds that automatically hit. These three hits effectively make the Uragan a weaker, but much cheaper, Guided Missile Launcher.

Loadouts

• Minesweeper : a very cheap Regular order with Baggage. Minesweeper is just icing on the cake.
• Katyusha MRL: great against link teams and groups of soft targets. Just make sure your marking model isn't potentially under one of the blasts, or the shot is cancelled.
• Uragan MRL : great against hard targets. Low damage is compensated by Guided ammo avoiding all Cover, and AP just makes it stronger against anything ARM2+.

[Penemue]

Équipe Mirage-5 ( HI/WB )

Strengths: versatile; AD2; Margot - highest BS in faction.
Weaknesses: expensive in points and SWC; order-intensive.

Mirage-5 is our only AD2 unit, and they are capable of dealing a lot of damage at both close quarters and at range. The lovely Margot is a fantastic shot with her AP Rifle and Light Grenade Launcher, and the mean Duroc is a tough multi-wound model with two Chain Rifles and a nasty CC punch. Together, they are a nightmare for your opponent to react to.

Because the Mirage-5 team consists of two separate models, I'll discuss them both briefly. Margot has the highest BS in our faction, weighing in at a mighty 14. This lets her fire Speculative Shots with a total BS of 11 within her +3 range, meaning that there's very little that can hide from her. It also lets her use her AP Rifle to great effect, even if your opponent is within her 0-8 blind spot. On top of this high BS, she has a slightly-higher-than-Para-Commando PH of 12 and a slightly lower WIP of 13, on top of one better ARM than her AD cousins. Lastly, she also has Multiterrain, which mitigates the effect of terrain on her HI status.

Duroc, on the other hand, doesn't change very much from the standard Dog Warrior. He's got one better CC and Martial Arts 2 to make him a bit tougher in melee (since it's pretty likely that he'll pass his CC roll), and he starts beasted out with only 2 wounds. He's Impetuous, though, so he will want to come onto the field as quickly as possible, dragging Margot along with him. You can spend his order to keep him from dropping, but they drop as a pair, so you're then stuck wasting another order to bring him down later that turn if you want Margot on the field*.

*The rules specifically say that she can drop in normally during your regular turn as long as she does it on Duroc’s side of the table.

User Feedback

sepsitorizedmook says
Here's a little trick I picked up with Mirage 5. You may not be able to co-ordinate an order between these two but Duroc is so large that you can use him to physically block line of fire to Margot to let her come on safely. If your opponent has a model staring down the board edge waiting for your team to drop in you can deploy Duroc pretty much in front of him. Duroc will trigger an ARO but if it's not adhesive the worst that's happens is he'll lose a wound. Then if you've got the angles right Margot can deploy directly behind Duroc without triggering an ARO since Duroc is larger and blocks line of fire. Margot then pops out, takes out the defending model with her rifle and you're away.

You can also use it if Duroc has gone on a bit of a rampage but is up against something he can't reach. Draw a line between the target model and Duroc, if it extends to the board section where he came on it's safe to drop Margot there. Getting the angles right to pull this off can be a bit tricky and if there are multiple defending models it won't really work, but it's worth bearing in mind.

[Scorch]

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