These guys are best used from reserves or brought in through a drop point. They don’t have the speed to be able to move easily from cover to cover but they are very difficult to kill. Some strategies employ KK5 to medic them as they move towards the enemy, some like to use med tec units to keep bringing them back into the game. You must keep them in cover at all times with “take cover” since as soon as they are vulnerable to fire, you can be sure every AT weapon in your opponents arsenal will come bearing down on them.

When adding Lt Dragomira to the squad they gain fire at will, increasing the effective range of their weapons and making them very hard to kill when combined with Med Tec. Lt Dragomira has a combat double and she can only be killed if an attack causes more than one wound to her giving you an extra hit for free if she is the only one left in the unit.

The best way to deal with these guys is with long range anti tank fire, and grounding. Dont think of sending your type 1 AFV’s after them as they will surely be turned into scrap metal.

Mixed VP – RP

This is the most common approach, send your point holding unit towards a VP location while your smaller support units take some RP locations and give covering fire from there. This is not a bad strategy at all and requires you to design your reinforcements in such a way that you can bring one unit on in the second turn and then the rest the following turn. In this strategy you get a slow build up of forces over time to make up for the firepower of troops that have been killed or grounded in their turns.

RP Blitz

By focusing more on RP points you can have all your reinforcements come onto the board on turn 2. This type of strategy lends itself to a massive turn 2 assault on the enemy positions taking advantage of your newly reinforced firepower. An opponent that does not recognize this and hasn’t dug in properly will be in for a world of hurt as all those extra guns come blazing down on them turn 2.

You could potentially be behind in the VP count if your opponent managed to take some VP locations early. For this reason it is a good idea to put any of your grounding forces on the table turn 1 in order to try and stop this from happening.

VP Blitz

If you see your opponent is light on grounding weapons the VP blitz can often pay off. The idea is to go straight for the VP points on the map and hold onto them for dear life. The idea is to get a point lead and hold onto it, even if it means you suffer heavy losses. You will still want to be generating some RP but only with one long ranged unit. Red Blok’s Frontline list excels at this sort of strat as they can park a sierp on a RP location and still be able to bring in reinforcements. The rest of their army rushes forward to pick up VP locations and fight off the advancing enemy. Having a good point holding unit is key for this strat to work.

You will generate a first turn VP lead and force the enemy to come to you. If they want to win they must take points from you (flamers anyone?), being behind in VP means you have to go on the offensive.

There are two variants of trike armour, one granting 3 frame points and the other only 2. This is the only faction so far that has a variance in their type 1 AFV frame points so its worth mentioning that you will have a weaker or stronger trike depending on which one you take.

Easy Trike

The Easy Trike is equipped with jammers and each one can put down 4 shots each. This gives a unit of 2 of them a great chance at taking out an enemy afv in a single salvo. Combine this with Jindo’s ability to take control of AFVs destroyed by jammer fire and you’ve got a very potent unit.

Dirt Trike

The Dirt Trike comes in the weaker armour with only 2 frame points. It is armed with dual drum guns which makes it very adept at taking out hordes of infantry. Due to its speed it can easily rush up on an opponents position, negate their cover and unload a large volley of fire right into their face. This is how the dirt trike is best used, the quick assault with guns and BBQ attack.

Jungle Trike

The long range anti tank trike varient the jungle trike comes with ZZ Guns. They are able to put 4 shots on target each and a unit of these guys is able to rip most afvs and battlesuits into tiny pieces. It is also one of the weaker armoured trikes at only 2 frame points so be careful with these guys, or rush them in from reserves and annhiliate an entire unit of battlesuits at point blank range. They work just as well in both capacities.

Thunder Trike

The Thunder trike is a blend between the dirt and jungle trike sporting one drum gun and one zz gun. This makes the unit more flexible, able to engage a wider variety of targets. They also have 3 frame points which will let them survive a direct hit from a missile.

The key to fighting trikes is to put lots of fire on them early. They are very fragile and will drop like flies to concentrated fire. If left on the board for more than a turn they will cause a large ammount of damage, so they should become a high priority for any commander that wants to survive.

The second, and far more tactical use is that it lets you go from being completely hidden to all guns blazing, without triggering overwatch. I’ll let that point sink in for a second, blowing up your terrain does not trigger overwatch. This gives way to the following tactic:

From full hidden cover when the enemy is overwatching your position blow up your cover. Shoot at the enemy with all your guns. Move back into full cover, hidden from the enemy. Without the combat engineer this sequence is impossible as revealing even one model leaves you open to overwatch fire.

Using this tactic you increase the number of units bringing all their weapons to bear on the enemy while ensuring that the unit with combat engineers is protected 100%. Having a unit that can fire every turn without the fear of return fire is very attractive, but you need to have sufficient terrain density in order for this tactic to work. AT-43 is a game meant to be played with lots of terrain if you aren’t using a lot, you’re removing most of the tactical fun from the game entirely. Combat engineers are available to Red Blok RPG Soldaty, Red Blok Spetsnatz Kommandos  and UNA Star Troopers.

Tiamat is right at home charging towards the enemy, summoning hekats as she goes. Her opponents have a difficult decision to make. Do they take out the hekats she summons or do they focus their fire on her? If they focus on her and she is destroyed she can simply reappear, replacing one of her other units afresh ready to press the assault some more. For this reason many armies with tiamat will take a small unit for her to transfer into when she does get destroyed. If they don’t manage to destroy her, she and her 2-3 summoned friends will shred all the units in their path.

It is often more beneficial to target the summoned Hekats while Tiamat is still moving to engage. If you let the Therian commander swarm you with melee AFVs you are in big trouble. She can swarm very quickly too, by dashing she covers 50cm a turn, more than enough to engage most enemies turn 2. If you haven’t been focusing on the summons she’ll have 2 hekats in tow when she reaches you. Not a pleasant thought.

In addition to being a monster on the battlefield she also provides the largest number of LP when she is commanding the therian army. This gives them more than enough points to spend on Hekats, rerolling damage, and lowly combat drills.

Tiamat is a great company commander choice for a therian strategy that  rushes towards the enemy and she is perfectly complemented by Grim Golems.  If sitting back and shooting is more your style you should check out Babylon Zero.

Wendigos

The Wendigos strength comes from their indirect fire. They all have access to maser strike which trades strength and attack rate for the ability to fire indirectly. This strength is further accentuated by the grenade launchers available as special weapons. This creates the ideal point holding unit for the Karmans giving them the ability to fire from cover with a large amount of indirect fire.  This is where you want to be with karmans as every casualty is exceedingly costly.

Yetis

The Yetis are very costly point wise compared to the Wendigos. They are equipped with jet packs which lets them move towards the enemy rapidly. To use this unit effectively they need to stay in cover for as long as possible advancing towards the enemy. When they are in position they reveal themselves and with a hail of fire leave smoldering wreckage in their wake. They have access to rocket launchers which are the only karman weapons to cause more than 1 damage, and flamers which give them powerful anti infantry tools. Due to their specialist nature and high cost they really shine in larger point value armies as a flanking unit.

Conclusions

While the wendigos are useful in great many situations, the Yetis in the right situation have a much larger damage potential due to their rocket launchers. Given the focus on point holding in at-43 the wendigos are the better choice to fill a single type ** slot. When playing at larger point values where the yetis high cost doesn’t eat into a large portion of the total army value, they are extremely deadly.

The sierp is arguably the best anti-infantry afv in the game. With a cost of only 200 points, high armour, and a 4cm blast radius, these guys are able to take out even the most entrenched enemy. Since they get 2 dice to throw the chances of hitting go up compared to the Cobra snake dramatically, especially with more than 1 Sierp in a unit.These are the ideal tool for taking out a point holding unit and should be used to control infantry movement on the board.

When multiple Sierps are involved, they only need 3 hits to push into double damage as their blast radius is 12cm, greater than 10. This pretty much guarantees they will not only ground, but kill the unit they are firing on.

If you are facing Sierps they should become your number one priority as they will very quickly shred your infantry, making it hard for you to capture victory points. Read the errata on indirect fire and overwatch as there have been some changes on how it these both work with blast weapons.

The Sierp is a fantastic unit and if there is any AFV you get for Red Blok the sierp should be it.

Krasnye Soldaty

The Krasnye Soldaty are the longer ranged of the two infantry types. Their standard special weapon is the grenade launcher which lets them attack from cover without exposing themselves, or hit the enemy in cover while pressing the charge. Their standard weapons have poor range but gain a reroll which increases their effective range by 20cm.

The Kransye have access to mechanic specialists which let them repair AFVs. They are the only infantry type that can do this so if you are looking for some vehicle support, the Krasnye are it.

The Krasnye can also be led by Captain Vrachov who is himself a medic. This increases the total number of medics available to the Krasnye to 3. A full unit of these guys with grenade launchers and Captain Vrachov sitting in cover is extremely difficult to dislodge. This makes them the Red Blok’s point holding unit.

RPG Soldaty

The RPG soldaty are built for close quarters combat.

Their weapons have a range of 0 but get two shots each. They also have access to the very tactical combat engineer. Their standard special weapon is the SM Gauss which can put down an extreme volume of strength 7 fire. For an additional cost they can be upgraded to carry Rocket launchers.

The combat engineer lets the RPG soldaty destroy terrain elements which when used at the right time, can expose the enemy unit or spring an ambush. This lets the RPGs also reveal all of their soldiers without triggering overwatch. They may destroy their cover, shoot with all their members, then move to another area of cover.

The RPG Soldaty can be led by Sgt Tymofiyeva who can give them fire at will to increase the effective range of their weapons.

Conclusion

Both units are great choices in a Red Blok army. The Krasnye grenade launchers are capable of hitting units in cover and attacking from cover while the RPG soldaty are able to advance on the enemy firing the whole way. RPGS can fire with their entire unit without having to worry about return fire if they can use their combat engineer properly. Its a matter of play style as to which infantry you prefer. Want to hunker down on an objective or keep your type 2 AFVs running in top shape? The Krasnye are the ones for the job. Want to flank the enemy and eliminate them with a colossal amount of firepower, the RPG’s are up for the task.

Kaptars

The Kaptars are the multipurpose type 1 infantry. They have zz rifles which with a strength of 6 are able to inflict damage on targets up to armour 11. This means that even some lightly armoured AFV’s have to be careful of this unit. They have a high rate of fire at 4 shots each and can be equipped with sniper rifles or ZZ guns as special weapons.

Anakongas

The Anakongas are the highly mobile shock troop of the karman army. They are equipped with jetpacks which lets them fly over terrain without penalty. They are also armed with drum pistols which have a very short range but an extremely high rate of fire. Unfortunately the weapon strength is only 5 so it it is less effective vs battlesuits and AFV’s. This makes them well suited for battles with other infantry at close range. Their special weapon options reinforce this role as they get flamers. If you need to clear an entrenched enemy position, or take and hold a contested point the anakongas are a decent choice.

Comparison

Of the two, the Kaptars are more versatile unit. Their decent range, access to snipers and anti-AFV ZZ Guns makes them a better all around choice. The anakongas can be used in specal weapons teams though, and a 2 model flamer team can wreak havoc on enemy lines. If you have a specific strategy in mind like capturing a drop point, rushing the enemy position with flamers and a hail of bullets the anakongas are the tool for the job, but for a unit that can adapt to most any situation, attack up close and from far with access to snipers or anti afv firepower, then the Kaptars are the better choice.

Fire Toad

armed with 2 laser guns the Fire Toad is the jack of all trades. It can take out everything from afv’s to infantry. This is the most common variant of toad used in many lists because of this fact.

Light Prince

A hybrid between the Iron Rain and the Fire Toad, the light prince packs a MG and a laser gun. It is able to throw 3 mg shots and 1 lasergun shot at its target. It still retains the ability to engage AFVs while being able to put out enough fire to have a hope of killing infantry that are in cover.

Iron Rain

This guy is a battlesuit killing machine. A full unit of Iron Rain’s put out 18 MG shots a turn. When shooting at a type *** infantry unit in full cover you’re bound to score a few wounds due to the sheer number of dice. The Lancelot is better suited to killing more lightly armoured units and grounding those suits that don’t have stability (Red Blok and Therians). if you’re taking these guys, its to neutralize your opponents ungroundable battlesuits. Otherwise you’re better off with Lancelots.

Lancelot

The Lancelot is an infantry killing monster. with 2 grenade launchers it puts out a lot of indirect fire. Note that the card is a misprint and each grenade launcher only gets 1 shot instead of the printed 3. Even still, a unit of 2 of these guys can get the all important double damage template. This weapon grounds units and ignores cover so it is a better choice if you are facing Red Blok or Therians as their type *** infantry can still be grounded.

Armed with 2 Nucleus Guns each, a unit is capable of putting 6 accurate shots on target each turn. On top of this, as every Therian commander knows, failing to wound isn’t such a big deal. For 2 LP they simply use Hyper Nanonucleus and re roll all their failed damage tests.

The Bane Goliath has one downfall though. It is easily grounded and you should expect them to become grounded the turn after they come onto the board. For this reason they are best used from reserves, coupled with a double activation. This will ensure that whatever you are shooting at willl be a smouldering pile of wreckage. Using the board terrain is important because these guys die easily to direct fire without “take cover”.

If you can manage to eliminate the enemy’s area of effect weapons, the banes will become a wrecking ball of fury, slicing anything with armor into little bits.

For extra added smashing power, try adding Nina Zero to the unit as the leader. This gives you access to overseer routines (you don’t have to rely on the Company Commander for Hyper Nanonucleus for example) and Nina has those ever deadly move and fire sniper shots.

The Banes are one of the Therian’s most useful units and there are very few lists where forgoing them is a good idea. They simply melt face.

platoon 1 – 16 LP total

• 1 Sierp 200 AP
• Urod 570 AP
• 8 Krasnye Soldaty 1 grenade Launcher 2 Mechanics 150 AP
• 9 Dragonov Kommandos 3 AT-Gauss Sergeant 310 AP
• 3 Dragonov Groupa S 125 AP

Platoon 2

• 1 Sierp 200 AP
• 1 Hussar (sargeant) 445 AP

This list is very easy to split and given Frontline’s ability to take RP points very quickly, you can leave UROD off the board in reinforcements and grab enough RP points to bring him on in  turn 2 (Scenario depending). This really leads to a stunned look on your opponents face when he realizes you’re putting 6 units on the board turn 1 with 3 AT-Gauss guns, 2 sierps, a hussar, a repair unit, and if that wasn’t enough, sniper support.

I’ll see how this list stacks up against Karmans and UNA later but so far I’m really enjoying it.

The grims have three primary roles. Taking points from the enemy, holding points from the enemy, and taking out high threat infantry units. With Atis in the unit the Grim Golems are ideally suited to teleporting right into a highly contested point, eliminating many of the opposing figures and taking control of it.

Similarly, Atis can teleport her unit deep into your opponents lines in order to remove a high threat unit. Make no mistake the reaper blades are more than capable of removing even the toughest Red Blok kolossi from the table. With 2 attacks each and Hyper Nanonucleus, rolling 3 sixes on 18 dice isn’t a particularly difficult thing to do.

Even without Atis the grim golems become a formidable defensive unit. Armed with 3 flamers and invisible to most units, any player will think twice before sending their units into a position held by a grim golem unit.

Many green commanders often cry out about the imbalance of these guys, especially when there are more than one unit on the board. The Grims are easily countered, even without stealth detection.

Red Blok has it the easiest, by fielding a Zviezda you not only get some stealth detection but you also get a mortar. Additionally the dragonov kommandos can also see stealthed units and their snipers can deal with the flamer threats. Next up is UNA with their triple lens helmets, many of their men can see stealthed units. The Karmans do not have any stealth detection units but they do have very fast Trikes. These need to be used to get close to the grim golems and unload a barrage of fire. This is the one time when I actually like dirt trikes as they can kill far more Grim golems than a jungle trike can.

Grim Golems are a fantastic unit and I think that they should be included in most Therian lists. If you plan on going up against a therian commander, be prepared to deal with this unit as you undoubtedly will run into it.

The Hussar fills this gap in the Red Blok’s arsenal while still staying true to the Red Blok’s style. With a missile launcher that fires 2 missiles that hit on a 4+ with a strength of 14 that ignores cover, this AFV has a damage potential of 4 from anywhere on the board. Its Medium Rocket Launcher must still get in close to be effective though. This keeps the Hussar in line with red blok’s style of rush the enemy and overwhelm them with firepower.

More importantly the Missiles are capable of damaging type 3 AFV’s, something the strength 12 Medium Rockets need 6′s to achieve. If you are facing an opponent that keeps their afv’s at long range the hussar gives the Red Blok the ability to hit key threats like UNA Snakes and Karman Jungle buggies before they lay waste to your expensive armour.

This AFV isn’t going to replace the Hetman or even the Kossak, but covers a large hole in the Red Blok’s armour; long range AT firepower.

These guys take indirect fire weapons so they don’t all have to be exposed to enemy fire, and can help slow the enemy’s advance. They also should have a large number of troops as they will be holding onto those VP points that will be highly contested and WILL take some nasty indirect fire in an attempt to dislodge them.

Examples of point holders are:

• UNA: 12 Star troopers with flamers and medics
• Therians: Grim golems with flamers
• Red Blok: Krasnye Soldaty with grenade launchers and medics (Captain Vrachov optional)
• Karmans: Anakongas with flamers (Guru Lucius optional) or Wendigos with grenade launchers (Lucius optional)

These units will be extremely tough to dislodge either due to large numbers and/or stealth and will also be very difficult to advance on due to their indirect weapons. The Point holder will need to be backed up with an anti AFV unit as these pose the greatest threat to dislodging them.

The point holder is a key role in any AT-43 army, sure lists that let AFV’s control points are great for grabbing RP points quickly, but when it comes to holding onto a fiercely conteded point, nothing beats the combo of a large unit with medics/stealth and indirect weapons.

For  Red Blok you will find that Fire at Will is a tremendous benefit as you can engage units sooner and you’ll have more of those 2 damage rockets hitting home. For UNA it means you can add a reroll to your missiles. Therians can engage with their sonic guns from father out and karmans don’t have to worry about their rocket launchers or drum pistols missing as much.

This will help to remove some of the disadvantages some of your units have, while still being balanced. A hero is easily sniped for instance. They have the same armour profiles as regular troops so there is nothing godly about them. This also creates incentive to bring lower ranking heroes as they easily become well worth the additional cost.

Heroes are a tactical choice, not a necessity, they can be point sinks if your opponent has snipers, but can give a unit the edge it needs to perform above and beyond its standard level.

Imagine a game of rock paper scissors, that’s how AT-43 plays out. Have too much rock, your opponents paper will kill you every time. Infantry are only vulnerable to rapid fire  and blast AFV weapons. In order to counter the rapid fire AFV weapons you can use your own AFV’s and even infantry against them, from full cover. remember an opponent can only kill the models that he can see which gives you the ability to medic those models that are killed. Activation order also plays heavily in taking this type of threat out as well. “Take cover!” reduces the number of impacts you take by 2/3, that should minimize a lot of the damage too.

Blast weapons are the biggest threat, you must deal with these quickly, perhaps double activating to ensure that they will be eliminated before they can do too much damage. If you are to hold onto a point you will want to remove your opponents indirect weapons asap. Likewise if you want to take a position from an enemy you need to make sure your own indirect/flame weapons survive.

Once these threats are off the table, infantry can move more freely around the battlefield, but they must keep their heads down until this time. They can soak up a far greater number of  shots than an afv before its specialists are endangered, they can get 3+ cover as well. Ensuring some of your infantry survive the onslaught of indirect AFV fire is essential in AT-43. Its hard to ignore that Juicy Urod for the unit of sierps, but those sierps are in fact the greatest threat to you.

If your opponent has too many blast weapon AFV’s he will not be able to deal damage to the biggest threat to them, AT AFV’s. In this situation just keep your infantry in cover and hidden until the big guns have left craters where the enemy afv’s used to be. Most scenarios have VP and RP points that will let you do just this, stay hidden from the enemy and gain points. Remember you will have to at some point make a charge for your enemy in order to tip point generation in your favour so dont hunker down too  long.

The dynamics of the game are a bit different than many other games, but once figured out AT-43 provides great strategic depth. Infantry are the backbone of any army, and in AT-43 this is no exception.

K-Fighters

They are the jammer equipped variant of the K’s. With  4 shots per model they are able to put out a lot of jammer fire. Jammers don’t have the range that ZZ-guns do though so you’ll have to be a little closer to your target than normal. Coupled with Jindo-Un this unit can easily capture enemy afv’s with one salvo.

K-Warriors

They are equipped with mortars making them the long range anti infantry choice. Again with 4 shots a piece they are easily able to create a max sized template that hits for 2 impacts, or able to engage at least 2 units of infantry when they fire strength 7 is also able to hurt all battle suits. This puts them a notch above the Wendigo Grenade launchers in terms of indirect effectiveness as they can actually dent red blok kolossus.

K-Shooters

They are armed with ZZ-Guns what sets them apart from a kaptar unit’s heavy weapons is they get an additional shot each and also are able to use concentrate fire in order to re roll their failed damage tests.  This damage re-roll is extremely valuable as it ups their damage potential by about 50%.  Throw karmic warrior on these guys and the chance of not doing damage becomes virtually 0.  They are also the cheapest K unit which opens up space in the other slots in your army.

K-Burners

They are highly specialized flamer equipped battle suits. They are very mission specific as they need to be within 25 cm in order to unleash their flames. They do not pack any more punch than the Anakonga or Yeti flamer teams but they also give you increased armour and the Super power grips for close combat action. This comes at a higher point cost than the Yeti or Anakonga teams but can pay off if used against units that have low strength weapons.

All of the K units have their uses though the K-warriors and K-Shooters are the most versatile.  If you want to run a small wendigo unit, taking K-Warriors will give you some great additional grounding power. Similarly if you want to beef up your anti afv capabilities the K-Shooters are really the way to go. K-Fighters are great but you must be using Saint Anuman / Jindo Un with them. This goes for pretty much any Jammer unit in the Karman force. Don’t take jammers without him.

The next thing to do is back them up with Urod and min sized krasnye with engineers. This armoured column should constantly move towards the enemy as fast as possible. You force your opponent to focus on the Molot’s or Urod. If they focus on the Molots, Urod will be able to repair them, and if they focus on Urod the molots wont be taking any fire. Always force your opponent to make this type of choice, it will help guarantee that some of the units arrive in one piece.

If Urod leads the charge be sure to use shield formation. He has higher armour than the molots so you will take fewer damage over all if the lighter armoured units are benefiting from cover.

Have a goal in mind, usually this involves torching a key point holding infantry unit, If you are running Frontline once your afv’s destroy this unit they will be able to hold the point themselves. If you aren’t running frontline make sure to have an infantry unit that is backing up this armoured column.

Molots are a great asset to many red blok lists, they are feared by all and a well played unit of them can take away your opponents ability to gain Victory Points.

It is not his weaponry that makes him useful though. His special abilities permit any unit that can see him to automatically become valiant. This is especially useful when using Special weapons teams / MedTec as they must roll to activate every turn since they have 3 or fewer models even at full strength.

Stark is also a must have in a Morningstar List as their disadvantage limits the maximum rank officer they have access to (heroes being the exception to this).

Another Special ability is that for 1 LP he can look at which card his opponent will activate next on his own activation. This gives a UNA player a heads up as to what their opponent is planning and therefore room to make adjustments to counter.

He does come with a downside though. He must deploy first on the battlefield. This makes him a big target at the start of the game. It is best to deploy him in cover somewhere initially since he will have to endure an entire round of fire otherwise.

Stark must also be careful of the Red Blok’s Sgt. Timofiyeva as she can move any card in her opponents activation. If the Red Blok win authority on the first turn this can mean she can move Stark to the very end of the activation sequence. Since he must deploy first, the other UNA units may not enter the battle field until the second turn.

In order to avoid this problem you may place Stark somewhere else in your activation order (perhaps second) and then use 1 lp to move the first card so Stark can deploy as normal. This makes sgt timofiyeva a little less dangerous but still a threat, so watch out.

Stark brings some great abilities to the UNA and some great leadership. Whether in Copperhead or on foot Stark is a great asset to a UNA list.

For the cost of 4 LP you may take a type * AFV model that is not currently a part of your army and place it next to the Company Commander where it will be able to activate on your next turn. Only the Company Commander can use this routine so it is not possible to spawn multiple Type * AFVs in a single turn.

The spawned Type * AFVs are not alphas so they do not have any access to routines themselves. if you want to be able to use the rush routine with them the Company Commander must be the one to do it. Similarly, these summoned Type * cannot repair themselves, instead relying on the Company Commander’s routines. Remember the Company Commander is the only one that can use routines on other units in the army.

Another thing to note. If you are going to be summoning type *’s, having Sigma Urash around is extremely useful. Sigma Urash is the only Therian capable of using fusion on 2 afvs of different units. This means having him around will let you fuse those 2 half dead Hekats into a Type ** AFV of your choice.

Star Troopers are the type * infantry of the UNA. They have a higher unit size than the Steel troopers, their guns are one less strength as well as their armor. They do get a reroll on their weapons though which is a big advantage in addition to having access to the all powerful flamer. This unit is really at home putting a large volume of fire on the enemy as it advances on or holds a position. Dude to their high numbers they are ideally suited to holding points especially in a morningstar list which gives them 3 medics. They can sustain 7 casualties before you are forced to remove specialists. this gives them a greater effective staying power than their steel trooper counterparts. The star troopers are also the only UNA unit with access to combat engineers which let them destroy terrain elements in order to advance quickly under fire.

Steel troopers have longer range, one more strength and armour but 3 fewer numbers. They are best used to back up an assault, firing from range with missile launchers/Laser guns. Because they have fewer numbers they can’t take as many casualties before you have to start removing medics/engineers/heavy weapons. In fact in a max sized unit with special weapons, medics/engineers and an officer there are only 4 standard fighters that can die before you are forced to cut into your specialists. The big advantage they do have is Engineers which are there to repair AFV’s. It makes sense that they are set up to fight from range where the majority of UNA’s AFV’s are going to be.

So there you have it. One troop type is not better than the other, when used for the purpose they are inteded they will shine, but dont expect a unit of steels to be on the front line, or a unit of stars to do well at the back of the field.

Urod for the Red Blok is quite a power house. The Hetman is quite a capable Type 2 AFV, but give it 2 repairs and it becomes very hard to take down. This, in a nutshell describes Urod. With high leadership, high armour and the long range AT-Cannon it is best used to pick off battle suits initally as it charges towards the enemy. The Medium Rocket Launchers have limited range so in order to get full use out of this AFV, it needs to keep moving towards the enemy.

The activation of Urod becomes very important as using his repairs at the right time is essential. Make no mistake, your opponent will throw everything they have at this guy and he will go down eventually, but this will buy you enough time to move the rest of your forces into position.

Backing up Urod with a min sized squad of krasnye with mechanics will increase his survivability, giving him 4 repairs a turn. This becomes even more feasable with Urod being given shield formation in order to protect the delicate repair unit.

Urod with his range and repairs makes for a highly survivable AFV commander, in a frontline list he becomes almost a must have and there is hardly a time when taking urod is a poor tactical decision.

This becomes extremely useful for dislodging units from cover and removing infantry that pose an immediate threat to your other forces.The ability is not cheap though, it costs 3 LP, so don’t expect to be creating hekats, teleporting and giving all your units combat drills at the same time.

The downside to this is that if some of your models cannot be placed in contact with the enemy and maintain cohesion, they are immediately eliminated. This gives an interesting defense against this very powerful ability.

By grouping your infantry together and against some sort of cover, you will ensure there is as little space as possible for Atis to teleport into. Therians do not have any long range indirect fire weapons so there is little to fear from using a tight grouping.

Atis is a powerful hero for the Therian army and the benefits far outweigh the costs of taking her.

Edit: Thanks to Blue Dane for clarifying an error, the post has been updated to reflect the proper rules.

First up the standard stealth detection units. These units can hit stealthed units as normal. They include Red blok Dragonov Kommandos, Red Blok Zviezda and UNA with triple lens helmets.

The important thing to realize though is that ALL units can “see” stealth, they just can’t see them well enough to hit them. This makes any unit with a template weapon capable of inflicting damage on a stealthed unit. The two types of weapons are indirect fire weapons (grenades, grenade launchers, mortars etc…)  and flamers.

We’ll cover the non flamer weapons first. If shooting at a unit that has stealth that is outside range 1, all your shots are counted as missing. This means that the blast deviates a minimum of 10 cm and scatters as normal. If the opponent’s unit is sufficiently large and/or your blast template is sufficiently large you will still hit the stealthed unit. This makes the 7 cm blast weapons from the Cobra Snake and the 10 cm blast from Dotch Yaga especially dangerous.

Flamers are unique as they do not require a shooting test to hit. They may be fired at their full range of 25 cm even though this distance is outside the range 1 band for being able to shoot a stealthed target without missing.

As a side note. You can still teleport with Atis into a stealthed unit, you can see them just not very well.

So there you have it, even the armies without stealth detection can still deal with stealthed units. mortars, flamers, grenade launchers are all effective at hitting stealthed units outside the range 1 band.

King Buggy

Weighing in at 400 points this is the cheapest option available to the Karmans. Don’t let its lower point cost fool you though it is a very capable unit. Armed with twin ZZ Cannons and Twin Flamers this unit is used best when pushing towards the enemy. The nice thing is that this guy tends to attract fire away from your other units. No one wants those twin flamers to hit their troops.

Pros:

• Low Point Cost
• Flamers for dislodging infantry

Cons:

• Must get in close for maximum efficiency, otherwise it is simply a jungle trike with more Frame points

Jungle Buggy

The Jungle buggy is an AFVs worst nightmare. with 4 zz cannons putting out 8 shots, this is enough to ruin most anyone’s day. Those extra ZZ-cannons dont come cheap though, weighing in at 525 points its more than half the cost of a jungle trike over the king buggy. This guy does best sitting at the back of the field laying down a lot of accurate anti afv fire. It will become a very high priority early on as it will completely dominate firing lanes, making any afv or battle suit wary to poke its head out.

Pros:

• 8 ZZ Cannons will melt anything that gets in its way

Cons:

• High Cost

Thunder Buggy

The Thunder Buggy is a blend of both king buggy and Jungle Buggy. With 2 ZZ cannons and 2 Drum Guns it can deal with infantry, battle suits and lightly armoured afv’s. Weighing in at 425, I find this buggy excels at dealing with UNA. The drum guns can wound toads on a 5+ tacarms on a 4+. if you are hoping to hurt anything with armour greater than 11, consider paying the points to take the Jungle Buggy or save yourself 25 points and take the flamers on the King buggy and get in close.

Pros:

• Drum guns are great against UNA
• only 25 points more than the King buggy
• Can be effective from medium-long range

Cons:

• Drum guns ineffective on targets with moret than 11 armour (need 6 to wound)

There you have it. All of the buggies are useful in different situations. Depending on what sort of army list you build you may want the overwhelming power of the Jungle Buggy, The Infantry Routing of the King buggy, or the hail of drum gun rounds from the Thunder Buggy. The most important thing is that you have a plan for how you are going to use your buggy to its maximum effectiveness. If you dont then the points are simply wasted.

The UNA TacArms units can be equiped with laser designators which tag enemy units. Once tagged, any indirect fire weapons and missile launchers may be fired at that unit without requiring line of sight. Snakes, Lancelots, and squads with missile launchers need not reveal themselves at all to the enemy in order to fire. Couple that with the very heavy weapon loadout of the TacArms and the fact they cannot be grounded you see that they are the backbone of the UNA army.

You can see how the UNA like to play. While the majority of the army is hiding from view, the tacarms designate a few targets and the rest of the army unloads their arsenal at them. This makes TacArms extremely high priority targets as once they’re dead it forces the UNA player into the open. With the TacArms down, UNA becomes a much easier nut to crack.

I’ve been playing some games with the available tier 3 units and this week it was the Baal Golgoth. I set up a 2000 point list for either side, the Therians using the Baal golgoth plus some min sized grim golem units and a unit of assault goliaths. On the Red Blok side I ran a standard list Urod, Krasnye soldaty, some RPG kolossus Dragonovs and molots.

The Red Blok list had tremendous trouble inflicting enough damage to defeat the Baal. With 16 armor even the Dragonov at-gauss need 5+ to wound. Atis was very quick in recognizing that the dragonovs were going to be the largest threat and quickly engaged and dispatched them. Urod wounded the baal on a 3+ but for a maximum of 2 damage. The Soldaty took rockets and needed to be in range of the deadly heavy flamer in order to engage so they weren’t much use.

I tried out some bacterial grenades to no avail. Essentially Atis gives the Therians the ability to remove enough strong AT firepower (dragonovs) to make killing the baal extremely difficult. When Dotch Yaga comes along it will be a different story, but I don’t think that Tier 3 should be the only way to deal with the Baal.

Some Quick math came up with the following. assuming that the Baal has no cover and a range of 3.

• RPG kolossus 1 impact (2 damage)
• Dragonov AT-Gauss .83 impact
• Urod .88 impact (1 damage) + .25 impacts (2 damage)
• Kossack .5 impacts (2 damage)
• Dotch Yaga 1.25 impacts (2 damage)
• Soldaty .33 impacts (2 damage)
• Bacteriological Grenades .33 impacts (2 damage)

As you can see nothing comes near the effectiveness of Dotch Yaga in defeating the Baal, there is nothing in the Red Blok arsenal that for equivalent point cost can effectively deal with a tier 3 threat. Which basically forces Red Blok to take a tier three unit because they never know if they will be facing one or not themselves. Even 4 units of min sized krasnye with grenades can potentially put out the same damage as dotch Yaga, but they have to get so close to the baal that its heavy flamer will just melt them.

I recently picked up a Karman army and have been having a ton of fun with Guru Lucius leading a unit of 4 Kaptars. Lucius gives the unit he is leading stealth when they are in cover and given the take cover drill. This gives the usually fragile kaptars a lot more room to step out and fire all their weapons. The other benefit is that Lucius comes with 2 drum guns listed separately on his profile. This gives his unit the possibility of firing at 3 different targets with the split fire combat drill. This is extremely helpful when dealing with a UNA morningstar list as they are able to field a large number of smaller sized infantry units and if you’re lucky they’ll have left the triple lens helmets at home.

I am not totally sold on using diamond over a king buggy though. The flamers seem to be much more useful at clearing out infantry and for AFV killing, nothing beats the jungle buggy. Then again I usually run a Nova list so having a hero in an afv seems like a bit of a waste if they are anything less than a Saint.