AT43 Addict

Toads are the Type * AFV of the UNA in AT-43 and come in four different flavours. Toads are quick with 25 movement, They are deadly, with a wide assortment of weapon loadouts for every situation, and they are cheap. While not having the armour of the Red Blok, Toads are very resilient when in a Mind company. This list gives all AFV’s a repair for free so a unit of 3 toads can repair 3 damage a turn. This is before you even start to throw Steel Trooper Engineers into the mix. The toads are fairly quick and are great for flanking the enemy. read more »

In AT-43 you spend most of your time taking and holding points. getting RP are essential to getting your reinforcements on the board and VP are essential to winning. Enter the point holding unit. Its job is to get to an exposed VP point as fast as possible and hold onto it for dear life. Every faction can field such a unit and it is essential to have one in your force.

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.

following up on the basic 800 point starter lists I covered last week here is a full 2000 point basic UNA list. This keeps in line with the idea of building a good base of miniatures that you will find useful in most of your lists. This is a standard list that all UNA Commanders are familiar with.

U.N.A. – U.N.A. (2000 AP)
- 12 Star Troopers (Sergeant, 2 Volcano MG) / 9 Steel Troopers (Sergeant, 2 laser guns)
- 3 Steel TacArms (Sergeant)
- 9 Steel Troopers (Sergeant, 2 Missile Launcher)
- 2 Fire Toad (+ Sergeant A. Borz)
- Copperhead (+ Colonel G. Stark)

You have some anti Infantry with the star troopers and Copperhead’s Mortar, lots of anti AFV fire with the 3 Fire Toads and 3 Steel Tacs, and the flexibility of changing the Toads to Iron Rain / Lancelots for more anti infantry.

From here there are lots of ways to expand this force. you can look into grabbing some more infantry for a Morningstar list, or perhaps another type 2 afv for M.Ind. No matter what list you find you like you really cant go wrong with the models listed above as they are all staples.

Col. Stark and his Copperhead bring command and control to the UNA. With a leadership of 9 no UNA army will be wanting for LP while he is on the board. His Cobra Snake “Copperhead” gives him some extra protection but also makes him a bigger target.

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.

So you’re thinking of getting into at-43 but don’t want to shell out for a full 2000+ point army? Here are some good places to start if you’re looking at getting into the game. Each of these armies will give you an AFV, a type 1 unit and a battle suit to give you a flavour of each of the unit types. Best of all none of the units will go un used as they are all staples of each army.

UNA

• 1 Fire toad
• 1 steel trooper unit box
• 1 steel trooper attachment
• 1 unit of Steel TacArms

Karmans

• 1 Kaptar unit box
• 1 Wendigo unit box / k-shooter unit box
• 1 easy trike

Red Blok

• Krasnye unit box + attachment Box / RPG Soldaty unit box + attachment box
• Dragomirov Kolossus box
• Sierp

Therians

• Storm Golem unit box
• Bane Goliath unit box
• Hekat

As you can see each of these lists will come out to around 825 points give or take. you will get a feel for how the army will play and will find that all these units will be useful. Each of these armies are from their basic troop pattern so there are no extra rules to complicate matters. From here it is easy to branch out after you get a feel for how the army will play.

A question that gets asked alot by new UNA commanders is which are better, star or steel troopers. There is no clear cut answer but I hope to show the role each play in an army so a new commander can make good tactical decisions.

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.

There is a nice little AT-43 scenario available called Premier weapons. It is for UNA and Red Blok and uses 2 units for each side. Should be a pretty fun game to play if you’re short on time or want to make a little demo for people. You can download it here.

This also sets some back story for Sgt Timofiyeva. I sure hope that more back story of the various AT-43 Heroes and history will be revealed through mini scenarios like this. Especially if they become a frequent occurrence.

Overview

The UNA are the most advanced human faction. They possess powerful technologies and are ideologically opposed to the Red Blok. They use their superior range and technology to their advantage, they annihilate enemy afvs with their missiles without having to expose themselves to retaliatory fire.

Play Style

The UNA are a very versatile force able to deal with most any threat thrown their way. They fight best at longer ranges where their high accuracy really shines. Equipped with laser guns, and missile launchers they are able to put a lot of hurt on enemy. Their TacArms are able to designate targets that can be engaged with indirect fire weapons like mortars, grenade launchers and missiles without requiring any line of sight to the target.

Advantages

• Laser designation with TacArms
• Missiles that hit on a 3+ with unlimited range
• TacArms ungroundable
• high accuracy

Disadvantages

• only 2 special weapons per infantry unit
• lower maximum unit size
• lower afv armour