Infinity/N4 Tactics/Ariadna

The unit overview and tactica for Ariadna (STILL WIP) Please add to this, as N4 has invalidated much of the N3 tactics.

Why play Ariadna

Ariadnans are the descendants of a lost colony ship to colonize planet Dawn. The wormhole to Earth collapsed after their landing stranding them from the rest of humanity. Thinking they were abandoned by Earth, they had to survive the harsh environments of Dawn and constant Antipode offensives. After many years of isolation and bloodshed, the Hyperpowers of the Human Sphere, PanOceanian and Yu Jing, finally makes contact - to claim the planet for the rich levels of Teseum. Ariadna fought back, seeing them as invaders rather than saviors, and is a nation recognized by O-12.

Though the rest of the Human Sphere went through a burst of technological achievements, Ariadna's tech did not. However, the deadly environments their planet makes them tougher than any Human Sphere trooper. This faction boasts a high level of Physique, and a lot of Camouflage and Infiltration as well as heavy firepower. Ariadna has mainly Cossack, American, French, and Scottish troopers with a splash of werewolves. Play Ariadna if you want tough survivalists who don't take shit from anybody. Play them, because you didn't want friends anyway.

Faction Features

Due to the lower levels of technology, Ariadna has ZERO MSV2 or higher, TO Camo, very little hacking, etc etc. However, they have many ways to compensate for it.

Special Skills

• Camouflage/Infiltration: Ariadna is commonly known as a "Camo Spam" army, because of the higher number of troopers with a level of Camouflage, and Infiltration as well as other skills such as Ambush Camouflage and Minelayer.

• Swole: All troopers in this faction has higher than average PH values allowing them to Dodge and use Throwing Weapons better.

• Transmutation: After taking a wound, a Dog-Warrior can transform into a ferocious werewolf.

Equipment

• AP: Ariadna has plenty of guns with AP ammunition -Rifles, HMGs, Heavy Pistols, etc etc- to deal with heavier armored troopers.

• T2: The planet is rich in Teseum. Teseum is a valuable resource used for spaceship building. Ariadnans use them for ammunition and CCWs. T2 is a very deadly ammo type, and is exclusive to Ariadna (mostly Caledonians)

• Smoke Grenades: There are a LOT of Smoke Grenades in this army. However, zero MSV2 or higher. Use Smoke Grenades to cover your advance or Dodge.

• Hacking (Lack of): Ariadna has very little in the way of hacking, but it's there if you need it. Remember: Hackers are not required to bring Traktor Muls.

Units

Light Infantry

• 112 Emergency Service: The Ariadna Doctor unit comes either on motorcycle or on foot. Either way it’s pretty cheap and with the motorized version getting to wherever you need it to be becomes pretty order-efficient.

• 6th Airborne Rangers Reg.: These are cheap parachutists with a few profiles to pick for a range of uses- including a FO for pressing buttons or tagging a hard to reach target. They also do well in CC, making them great overall for abusing a gap in the opponents defense.

• Caledonian Volunteers: As cheap as line infantry gets. You 'lose' a lot, but get some amazing template access for 6pts. Limited AVA, sadly.
  • Volunteer Intel Isobel McGregor: The Volunteer character is a hacker with a T2 rifle, E/M mines and D-Charges, making her quite the versatile pick.

• Col. Yevgueni Voronin, Cossack Diplomatic Corps: This wildcard makes a great LT with Wip14 and Strategos, but it’s an obvious one. A poor shooter but that doesn’t matter since she’s got Guard with MA L2 and Sixth Sense, letting his doggo CC in ZoC!

• Dozers, Field Engineers: The generic Ariadna engineer, just as the 112 it comes quite affordable and with either D-Charges or an Acrylat-Cannon.

• Dynamo Reg. of Kazak Light Cavalry: Motorized units with mine dispensers, aswell as smoke grenade launchers. These make placingw mines in strategic positions quite a bit more easy, and get an FO and paramedic option for a fast specialist. Also works well as quick gunner with the AP Spitfire.

• Frontoviks, Seperate Assault Bat.: These are somewhat more combat-oriented MIM(-3) LI with a variety of profiles, including a paramedic, engineer and LT. Weapon picks worth highlighting are the AP Spitfire, T2 Rifles and AP Sniper Rifle with MSV1.

• Highlander Caterans: Caterans are irregular MIM (-3) camouflage troops with climbing plus for having a bit more flexibility in deployment. They come with either a Sniper Rifle or a T2 Sniper Rifle, enabling them to do some mean unexpected AROs.

• Kazak Doctors: The second cheap doctor option besides a 112, these get a rifle.

• Kazak Spetsnazs: Parachutists or camo troops with decoy, depending on the loadout. Marksmanshipr and MA L2 making them competent killers in both their roles.

• Line Kazaks: TAKs basic troops, which come with the usual bunch of loadouts.

• Loup-Garous: These guys come with an X-Visor. You got the choice between a BSG, a sniper or the dangerous viral rifle.

• Métros, Troupes Métropolitaines: Are the Merovingian Linetroopers. They‘ve got multiple Infiltration profiles, aswell as LT, paramedic, HMG and a grenade launcher option.
  • Brigadier Jaques Bruant: The character Brigardier gets a X-Visor and an AP Spitfire plus D-Charges on top of being a specialist, making him quite versatile.

• Para-Commandos: Cheap parachutists with MIM (-3) and some solid loadout options, including specialists with D-Charges and an AP Spitfire profile.

• Polaris Team: 32 pts for two regular orders, split up into the Controller, who is just some cheap grunt with a light shotgun, and the king of this sectorial, a fricking Bearpode! The Polaris Bearpode comes with Chainrifles (+1B, +1Dam), extra 2 damage on top of it’s PH16 with either a Trenchhammer or an AP CC weapon, and access to grenades and smoke grenades. You could run a list without a Bearpode, but why would you want to miss out on this?!

• Rokots: Kosmoflots linetroops clock in at 8 pts with a chainrifle at their cheapest, making them great cheerleaders. For one point more you get an SMG, grenades and D-Charges and a 0 SWC LT option, which is pretty sweet! They also have camo-profiles with Infiltration for missions with a strong focus on the midfield.

• Streloks, Reconaissance Unit: Streloks are midfield camo-units with decoy and a minelayer option, running a few of these can dial the Ariadna shellgame up to 11. They also get a profile with a peripheral K9 which is also camoed.

• The Unknown Ranger: USARFs Captain America, now featuring SPAAAACEEEE. This character is a star among the Ariadna roster, bringing Tactical Awareness and an abundance of skills to a statline making him good at any kind of fight. You get the choice between either an AP Spitfire or the MK12.

• Wild Bill, Legendary Gunslinger: He's fast at MOV 6-2, got (+1Dam) and shock on his BS, also he's got marksmanship and NWI. Neither the rifle nor the contender have a nice rangeband, but with the MULTI pistol he's got a positive rangeband from 0-12", which overall makes him an unpleasant close-range fighter.

• Van Zant: This guy is infamous for his Parachutist (Dep. Zone) and a good reason to have your defense cover all directions whenever you'd expect him. MA L2 and an AP Rifle plus Heavy Pistol make him highly competent in killing anything from 12"-0", stealth helps sneaking up his prey. NCO comes in handy if he's in your 2nd group for an extra order to spend.

• Zenith-7 Detachment: These are MIM (-3) Camo troopers with Decoy, adding a lot to the classic Ariadna mindgame. You get either an AP Sniper or an AP Marksman Rifle, just pick the one for the right rangeband and you’re good to go. They also have access to Chain of Command, incentivizing a more offensive LT, or a FO specialist.

• Zouaves: Forward Deplyment (+8“) and Panzerfauts on most loadouts make for dangerous ARO pieces, especially since dogged keeps them from dropping too quick. There’s also a version with Sapper for extra resilience, traing their loadout for either a sniper rifle or an HMG.

Mercenary LI

• Aida Swanson, Submondo Smuggler: As a smuggler Booty is an obvious flavor thing, but still very nice from time to time. Forward deployment, MA L2 and Viral Mines, aswell as her SMG make her role of defending/taking the midfield obvious- she's not the cheapest choice for this role, but a competent one, especially if going first.

• Authorized Bounty Hunters: They've got Booty (ReRoll), also stealth can be quite neat in certain situations, but mostly they are a niche unit who can be nice to have if you want to bring something specific to your list you can't have on another unit for some reason.
  • Miranda Ashcroft: Gets a bit more versatility and a general boost over the regular Bounty Hunter, but for her price she doesn't bring a lot to Ariadna.

• Cube Jäger: Irregular parachutists, both profiles bring Paramedic, which seems to be their whole schtick. With WIP 13 they can do the button pressing quite well though and having a SMG and an e/mitter can be very useful to scare away the opponents units after a button is pushed.

• Knauf, Outlaw Sniper: While MSV1 snipers weren't that attractive in N3 the Outrage poster boy turned a whole lot hotter. BS (+1B) and Shock is nasty, and MIM (-3) makes using him a bit safer. Besides that he's not doing much, but that trait also keeps him at an affordable price.

• Krakot Renegades, Morat Fugitives: It’s weird that Krakot is typed as LI, as they are a straight up Warband unit. His purpose is to get up into the opponents face, kill as much as it can and die heroically, in a true Morat fashion. Worth considering for an Alpha Strike, if you can get one.

• Libertos Freedom Fighters: Are the highly popular irregular roadbump unit, coming with either a SMG or a light shotgun plus shock mines. They also get Camouflage and Forward Deployment (8"), dodge on a 16 and have Dogged!

• Monstruckers: SPAAAACEEE TRUUUCKIIING! Monstruckers are cheap irregular engineers with Climbing Plus and a bunch of nice weapon options. The cheapest loadout comes with an SMG and Drop Bears, making it ideal to push a button and turn their position into a foxhole afterwards. The other two loadouts are also quite useful, just pick the one supplementing your lists loadout the most.

• Oktavia Grimsdóttir, Icebreake's Harpooner: A mercenary character with BS (+1B), Sixth Sense and Dogged. Whith a Missile Launcher and a Contender her role is as an ARO piece, but since she's expensive and barely filling any holes anywhere the main reason to bring her is the cool sculpts she got.

• REM-Racers, Mercenary Hacker-Pilots: These mercenaries bring quite the fun mechanic into the game: With REM-Driver they can buff a remote in the list depending on which loadout you pick! There's also a hacker profile.

• Wardrivers, Mercenary Hackers: The name describes them pretty well. Both profiles are cheap hackers, although you gotta pay 1 SWC and two more points to let the Wardriver have an actual HD.

• Warcors: 3pts for an irregular Flashpulse ARO. Fit them into your list whenever you got the slot and points, they're well worth it.

Medium Infantry

• Briscards, 8éme Régiment d'Infanterie de Montagne: All loadouts get MSV1. You get to pick between marksman rifle, heavy rocket launcher and an AP sniper, awell as a LT, paramedic or FO. These are used best against mimetism or to have some defensive piece shooting through smoke.

• The Scots Guards, 6th Caledonian Infantry Regiment:Tthey’re distinct between 1st and 2nd Battalion, the 2nd Battalion gets Camo. Anyways, there’s a LT and multiple NCO picks on this unit, aswell as an abundance of decent weapon profiles making them a great pick for a specific task depending on which profile you take.

• Marauders, 5307th Ranger Unit: These are more like the typical MI plus Forward Deployment for more midfield-control. They have a bunch of weapon profiles for every occasion.

• Mavericks, 9th Motorized Recon Bat.: These are MSV1 wielding motorcyclists, making for a very fast source of smoke and bullets. There's also a FO for some efficient button pushing.

• TankHunters: Camo‘ed troops wielding- you guessed it- weapons to hunt down armored targets. They also have a CoC and a LT profile.
  • Vassily Plushenko, TankHunters Officer: Gets a Decoy and Dogged for his extra points, and a bunch of different weapons than regular TankHunters.

• USAriadna Grunts: Arm3, 10pts, basic as basic gets, but with more survivability.
  • Grunt Intel "Rosie": Her extra cost pays for Dogged, being a specialist, forward deployment and some sweet weapon options. She's quite the toolbox!

Heavy Infantry

• 3rd Highlander Greys: These squishy HI get Dogged instead of NWI, so be careful when using them! They can be a LT. They also have access to smoke and the T2 boarding shotgun, making them mean close-range fighters. Alternatively they get an HMG or a T2 rifle. Don’t forget their BS (+1Dam)!

• Armata-2 Proyekt 'Ratnik': A S5 HI with two wounds and Dogged, but a degrading statline. You get the choice between two loadouts with a lot of firepower.

• Armata Proyekt-4 „Kosmosoldat“: These guys are beefy gunfighters, packing a mean bunch of weapons. ARM6 let’s them take a punch, but they only get one wound with NWI (but still Shock Immunity)- so don’t get too cocky! There’s two offensive LT options on these guys, and a specialist. But they’re gunmen, so let’s talk Dakka: T2 rifle (+1B) with a heavy flamethrower and a Panzerfaust sounds nice, but what about AP HMG (+1Dam)? If neither of these are your thing you could still take the Portable Autokanon plus MSV1!

• Blackjacks, 10th Heavy Rangers Battalion: These are beefy S5 units with two wounds, but a degrading statline which sucks. As their appearence suggests dodging isn't really their thing, but with either a T2 sniper rifle or an AP HMG they're all about shooting rounds anyways. Depending on the loadout they pack a bunch of pretty sweet dakka besides their main gun which is huge. America, fuck yeah!

• Caledonian Mormaers: Get +2Dam and AP on all their shots, but they’re Dogged with only one wound, so they’re quite squishy for HI. At least they get Immunity (Crit and Shock) to be a bit more resilient. Choose between a T2 with X-Visor or an HMG, both also come as LT.

• Equipe Mirage-5: This duo is the bane of any poorly deployed backfield. Parachutist (Dep.Zone) is mean on a single unit, but Margot brings her Antipode friend Duroc with her! Margot herself doesn’t really feel like a real HI with only one wound, but with a BS 14 (shock) on an AP rifle, a grenade launcher and a light shotgun she definitely hits like one. Her squishy nature is best compromised by dropping Duroc first, who‘s basically a regular Antipode who doesn’t need to cross the table to monch on cheerleaders. If you pair them with a lot of camo the opponent might not expect them dropping, and drop something in his pants when they do hit the table.

• Minutemen: These HI can form a Core, Haris or Duo and one Minuteman can join the Grunts in their link. They are as sturdy as a Grunt, but whith way heftier guns, sideguns, second sideguns, you get the idea.

• Moblots: These HI get only one wound without NWI or Dogged, so they act more like MI. They get shock on all guns, aswell as an array of solid weapon picks, and special loadouts with Infiltration or Sapper. Still probably not a great pick for vanilla due the strong competition in their role.

• Veteran Kazaks: Sixth Sense and Mim (-3) makes them more resilient, and they get access to some very good active turn guns, making them competent gunfighters. They get NWI instead of two wounds.

• Volkolak Assault Troopers: Volkolaks are HI troops with superjump. They only have one wound like most of Ariadnas HI, but make up for it with NWI and total immunity, letting them laugh at every fancy ammunition type out there. CC22 with Natural born warrior makes them both good in a melee and resilient against warbands and other CC shenanigans. All profiles have grenades, a chain-colt (+1B) and an AP CC weapon.

Tactical Armored Gear

Hah. You wish. Unless...

Skirmishers

• 1st Highlanders S.A.S.: Camo Infiltrators with great CC-skills and weapons and either shotguns, chainrifles, or both. These are for close-range only, but they do it really well. Also worth noting are two specialist options.
  • Uxia McNeill, Corporal of 1st Highlander S.A.S.: For not much more pts you get Infiltration (+6) and either MSV1 or a specialist with D-Charges.

• Chasseurs: Camo infiltrators with a rifle and either a light flamethrower or an adhesive launcher. There’s the option of a FO or minelayer as specialist. Note that sixth sense makes for a great threat against stealth units, and they probably won’t see that skill coming on a camo‘ed unit!

• Foxtrot Rangers: Cheap camo infiltrators, and not much more. Come with an FO and a (terribly overpriced at 2SWC) LT choice.

• Hardcases, 2nd Irregular Frontiersmen Battalion: Cheap irregular infiltrators with Decoy, which turns up the mindgame a notch. Tactical Bow is situational, but either the Rifle or the light Shotgun can do some work.

• Pavel Aleksei McMannus, Petsgruppa G: Is a camo'ed specialist character wielding a Ohotnik- an Ariadna exclusive rifle with a very interesting rangeband. T2 CC weapon on top of a collection of CC-improving skills also make him great at lurking behind a corner ready to shank something.

• Scouts: Camo infiltrators with access to the Ohotnik, an Ariadna-exclusive rifle with pretty cool rangebands. All their shots get Shock, making them even more dangerous.

Remotes

• Traktor Mul: The trusty Ariadna REM needs a Dozer to operate one or two of these things- on the battlefield the Dozer and the Muls operate completely autonomous of each other though. The cheapest version comes at 5 pts with only a Deactivator and a Para CC weapon, and there’s two other loadouts: the Uragan MRL acts as total reaction bot with either impact templates or one point of damage more (both modes fire AP+shock ammo), and then there’s the Katyusha MRL, firing DA shots but without total reaction. Worth pointing out is all versions of the Traktor Mul have BS(guided) making them pair well with a FO (or hacker, but Ariadna doesn’t need those).

Warbands

• 2nd Irregular Cameronians Reg.: Caledonian Dog-Warriors, who also share the AVA with regular Dog-Warriors. These lads already start in Dog-Mode and are quite efficient at crossing the board and unleashing carnage if they manage to do so.

• 45th Highlanders Rifles: Dirt-cheap warbands with Dogged, but with William Wallace they become regular!

• 9th Wulver Grenadiers: Premium-priced warbands, these guys field some hefty weapons like an AP Spitfire or the MK12. Alternatively you could pick a heavy shotgun. Their CC stats and skills make them very solid as CC blenders, but they don’t have smoke.

• Antipode Assault Pack: Consists of an Antipode Handler, who brings a smoke grenade launcher and tactical awareness, and three peripheral Antipodes. These can move like a Fireteam, independent from the handler until he‘s not in a null-state. The Antipodes are among the fastest units in the game, letting them zoom over the board very quick to chew on the opponents forces.

• Cadin "FirstStrike" Donn, Point-man of the Grenadiers Reg.: A character who does best chewing off the faces of enemies- Berserk and an improved dodge-range help him with that, but he doesn't have smoke! That's not too important for him though since Climbing Plus let's him use some extra approaches to move around, and he's actually capable of using his gun.

• Carmen Johns, Mercenary Biker: Comes with his peripheral Antipode Bātard. Like a lot of motorized warbands he can spread smoke with both a smoke grenade launcher and smoke grenades. Both Johns and Bātard are quite deadly in CC.

• Desperadoes: Very cheap motorized units with Smoke Grenade Launchers and sixth sense. There's really not a lot more to them, but at 6 pts for their cheapest loadout you really don't need much else.

• Devil Dog Teams, 2nd Assault Bat. of the USAMC: These are Werewolves with a Peripheral K9- that's a S5 wolf with a huge knive on top of his huge teeth! Besides that they are pretty much the regular Dog-Warriors.

• Dog-Warriors: Impetuous, irregular warbands turning into werewolves when they take damage- these guys want to run straight into your opponents cheerleaders and wreak havoc.

• Irmandinhos: The cheap, irregular and impetuous engineers from Ariadna come in handy as both smoke throwers and specialists. Booty can give them a nice boost if you're lucky, but they're solid anyways.

• McMurrough, Mercenary Dog-Warrior: The fast irregular and impetuous McMurrough is a legendary Dog-Warriour, mostly because he's dishing out even more CC-capability than a regular Dog-Warrior!

• Polaris Bearpode: This is basically the same profile as the bear from Polaris Team, but irregular and you basically lose two regular orders for only one point less. It get's a Heavy Shotgun over Chainrifles, and more importantly you can run this profile AND a Polaris Team.

• Varangian Guard: Viking warbands with classic warband traits as they come, but with Dogged for that extra bit of resilience!

• William Wallace: This guy has Inspiring Leadership, making every unit regular and gives them Courage, and if that's not enough he let's you use coordinated orders with the LT order AND never get into Retreat! That and his solid set of skills and equipment make him a very attractive choice in Ariadna- some other highlights are the EXP CC weapon and Immunity (Crit).

• Wolfgang Amadeus Wolff, Wulver Bounty Hunter: He's got a MULTI Rifle (+1B) which is nice, but he really wants to get up close; Berserk (+3), MA L3 and a PARA CC Weapon (-6) are probably among the meanest combination of things you can bring into CC. To finish the enemy unit off for good he's also bringing a DA CC Weapon.

See Also

• Infinity Tactics page