A system in Chrysies - Scenario 1 Enemy Identified - Freeborn 750

Last time we took a look at the Concord force in the Enemy Identified scenario, the first narrative scenario in the new Chryseis supplement. 

We touched on the new drone auxiliary unit, the Iso-Drone with its protective shield and also fleetingly the new Concord Drone Commander.  We tried to match the force to the background by having lots of fast moving and drone based units.

This time we’ll look at the defenders in the scenario, the Freeborn.

Scenario

As the defenders in Enemy Identified our Freeborn have some restrictions on their set up. Half the force is deployed during set-up, with one unit placed within 5”of the table centre.  The other half of the force arrives starting on turn 3.

There will be a Chryseis Drone at the table centre, which means that one of our units will be at risk of corruption when given an order. We could use a cheap throwaway unit to put in the centre and if it gets destroyed, then so be it.  We could try and support that unit with a unit capable of shooting the Chrysis Drone quickly, which would then allow the unit to move without risk.  We could protect the unit with an Iso-Drone (Freeborn can take these too).  Or we would take the Freeborn Special Character Batu Delhren, who is remarkable effective against the Locus Shard.

Would be useful to have a quick moving unit, either on the table to begin with or to hopefully appear on the third turn.  I guess the risk of holding off table is failing the Command Test to enter play.  Maybe it is not worth the risk.

Force Selector

Force size	Points Value	Tactical (t)	Support (s)	Strategic (g)	Auxiliary (a)
Skirmish Force	750	4-7	0-3	0	0-1

We must take 4 tactical option, other than that we can take what we want.  There’s a maximum of 11 units, which may be pushing it a bit at 750 in this scenario.  We can have up to three support units, the Striker with MoD 2 is looking like a must at the moment.

Selecting the army

As Freeborn, we ideally want to outnumber the enemy.  Our units are cheaper and we have more choices available.  We lack the armour and firepower of basic Concord troops, so we would benefit from having multiple units dropping multiple pins on isolated Concord units to slow them down, and hope the Locus takes them.

I’m going to veer away from taking Batu for now.  He’s quite expensive in points and would severely limit our order dice count.

A Striker with a MoD2 Plasma Light Support would be nice to squeeze in though.  The Concord won’t have a MoD2 unit.

I am usually inclined to take command squads, they appeal to me and feel part of the aesthetic when playing.  But it will be a cheap one, as we have to have enough units to drive the Concord away while protecting ourselves from the Chryseis Drones.

(t) Command Squad (111) = 111
(t) Vardanari (126) = 126
(t) Domari Squad (97), Micro-X (+0), SlingNet (+5), Spotter (+10) = 112
(t) Domari Squad (97), Micro-X (+0), SlingNet (+5), Spotter (+10) = 112
(t) Feral Squad(73), Mag gun (+3) = 76
(t) Feral Squad(73), Mag gun (+3) = 76
(s) Support Team (34), Mag LS (+0) = 34
(s) Support Team (34), Mag LS (+0) = 34
(s) Striker Skimmer (148) = 148
(a) Iso-Drone (25) = 25
854 points.  11 Order dice.

Tinker-time. 104 points over, but healthy number of order dice.

The most straight forward approach would be to drop either the Command Squad (with their plasma carbines and useful abilities) or a Domari Squad (with a Micro-X dropping an extra pin on Concord Units each turn).

We could drop both Feral units, they’re not Soma boosted so perhaps not a great loss.  That would give us 48 points left, which could be used to boost the units we already have.  Leaves 9 order dice, 5 on table and 4 in reserve. 
The Ferals make such good ‘leave in reserve units’ though.

Perhaps drop a Feral and a Mag LS unit.  That would take us to 744, allowing us to take a 5 point Army Option.

What 5 order dice to start with and what to place in the middle. 
I figure the Iso-Drone would be best to place in the middle of the table.  It cannot be affected by the Chrysies Drones and is reasonably cheap.  After soaking the “start in the centre” rule, it can then run (okay, perhaps lumber) to provide a refuge for other units.
The Striker would be great to take at the start.  But it costs 2 order dice. 
That would leave the Vardanari and a unit of Domari.

We could exchange the Striker for the Mag LS and the second Domari.  But perhaps the MoD 2 Plasma LS toting vehicle would be best.

(t) Command Squad (111) = 111
(t) Vardanari (126) = 126
(t) Domari Squad (97), Micro-X (+0), SlingNet (+5), Spotter (+10) = 112
(t) Domari Squad (97), Micro-X (+0), SlingNet (+5), Spotter (+10) = 112
(t) Feral Squad(73), Mag gun (+3) = 76
(s) Support Team (34), Mag LS (+0) = 34
(s) Striker Skimmer (148) = 148
(a) Iso-Drone (25) = 25
744 points.  9 Order dice.

Until next time!

A system in Chrysies - Scenario 1 Enemy Identified - Concord 750

What an absolute exciting time there is around Antares right now.

Weekly gaming club (Primeris Shard) for the folks in and around Notts. Open Signal anthology of short stories available now and Dimensional Gates coming soon.
and of course continued podcasts by both The Freeborn Shard and Noise Sector, which are as excellent as ever.

There was one other thing…  Something about the 1 July…  Not the exciting Warlord Antares Day with the tournament and a selection of talks by the one and only Rick Priestly…  Oh that was it…

The Chryseis Shard!

A brand new awesome expansion including SIX new narrative scenarios, rules for cool new minis and also rules for fighting in hazardous environments along with much more without mentioning the sinister Locus. 
But I know what you all want.  More lists!!

As much as I would love to do twelve lists all in one post, I fear for our sanity.  Let’s handle the lists one scenario at a time.  Starting from the first scenario sounds like a reasonable idea.  

Time to pop kettle on, find a sharpener and prepare the old HB.

Scenario

The first Scenario is Enemy Identified.  Concord are attacking, so we’ll do their list first.  They’ll be facing a Freeborn force, which usually has numerous units so we’ll have to make certain we’re not outnumbered with regards to order dice.
Half our force enters from turn 1 and then the second half enter from turn 2 with command tests as usual, but on random edges. 
All we have to do is drive off the opposing force by removing half of the enemy’s order dice, although they are also trying to achieve this objective – another reason to keep the order dice count high.

There is perhaps one other thing to note. 
Chryseis Drones are closing, this rogue intelligence can corrupt IMTel reasonably easily.  Unless the IMTel is able to protect itself with the new Iso-Drones.

Force Selector

Force size	Points Value	Tactical (t)	Support (s)	Strategic (g)	Auxiliary (a)
Skirmish Force	750	4-6	0-2	0	0-1

Selecting the army

Our aim is to have a reasonable order dice count, take units that are reasonably resilient but can also hand out a good kicking (would that be “foot” out a good kicking?) in return. 
I’d personally quite like Drop Troops, as the flavour of the situation builds them in nicely; but we’ll see how we get on.
Finally, we can’t take a Subverter Matrix in this scenario.  Don’t ask why, just don’t take one.  Probes are also a bad idea.

(t) Drop Command Squad (141), SlingNet (+5), Spotter (+10)  = 156
(t) Drop Squad (176), extra Lance (+3), SlingNet (+5), Spotter (+10) = 194
(t) Strike Squad (112), Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
(t) Strike Squad (112), Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
(s) C3D1 Light Support Drone (59), 1 extra Light Support Drones (+59), Spotter (+10) = 128
(a) Iso-Drone (25) = 25
753 points.  6 Order dice.

Tinker-time.
We’re not far off the points value here.  The C3D1 is a RoF 3 weapon, so perhaps the Spotter Drone can be repurposed for something else.  Also splitting the C3D1 unit into two separate Support choices would give a 7^th order dice.

Should we drop a C3D1 for a X-Launcher?  Or a C3D2 with plasma cannon.

I guess with the random deployment and a max of 4 units to be deployed in the first turn that an X-Launcher may find itself lonely.  To fire OH effectively the X-Launcher will want to be still, and Chryseis Drones love that slow moving crunchy IMTel.  Mmmm, tasty. 

The C3D2 with Plasma Cannon is perhaps too specialised, firing once a turn against a lightly armoured enemy.  The C3D1 has a good RoF and SV for this battle.

(t) Drop Command Squad (141), SlingNet (+5), Spotter (+10)  = 156
(t) Drop Squad (176), extra Lance (+3), SlingNet (+5), Spotter (+10) = 194
(t) Strike Squad (112), Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
(t) Strike Squad (112), Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
(s) C3D1 Light Support Drone (59) = 59
(s) C3D1 Light Support Drone (59) = 59
(a) Iso-Drone (25) = 25
(o) Well Prepared (55) = 5
748 points.  7 Order dice.

Deploy 4 units on table = Strike Squads, Iso-Drone and one C3D1.
Second Turn the Drop Command, Drop and Second C3D2 appear.
All randomly, but you can’t have everything your own way.

This force fits nicely with the background, suggesting that Drop Troops and Drones were dispatched to attack the Freeborn in a counter strike.

We could really push this to the limit by dropping a Strike Squad and taking a Concord Drone Commander, which is a tactical choice.  We would need an eighth unit to permit this second Limited Choice, which would probably be a third C3D1.

(t) Drone Commander (48), Batter (+20) = 68
(t) Drop Command Squad (141), SlingNet (+5), Spotter (+10)  = 156
(t) Drop Squad (176), extra Lance (+3), SlingNet (+5), Spotter (+10) = 194
(t) Strike Squad (112), Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
(s) C3D1 Light Support Drone (59) = 59
(s) C3D1 Light Support Drone (59) = 59
(s) C3D1 Light Support Drone (59) = 59
(a) Iso-Drone (25) = 25
(o) Well Prepared (5) = 5
750 points.  8 Order dice.

Deploy 4 units on table = Strike Squad, Iso-Drone and two C3D1.

Again the above is quite pleasingly fitted to the background.  Wonder how it would get on.

Cunning deployment tactic.
In this scenario the opponent MUST deploy a single Freeborn unit within 5” of the table centre.  During table set up, a Chryseis Drone must be deployed in the direct centre of the table.
This means that the Freeborn have a unit that must pass a test before it can be used.
Make it harder for a second unit to assist the first Freeborn unit by placing your three Chryseis drones as close to the table centre as possible.
Additionally, you enter play from the table edges; therefore it is in your best interest to NOT allow the enemy to destroy a Drone in the first turn or two; they’ll be hot on your heels otherwise.  The other drones you can’t do much about. 

Until next time!