Port of Call - Kar'a Nine - Concord Builder

Once again we’re taking a break from sailing, as we enjoy shore leave upon Kar’a Nine during this Port of Call.

Kar’a Nine is the new introductory set for Antares, featuring Algoryn and Concord.  We looked at Algoryn last time growing from what is in the box to a fully-fledged 1,000 point force.  Predictably, we’ll do this for the Concord to.

Starting Force

In the box you get two frames of plastic Concord troopers, which can be made into 2 Concord Strike Squads accompanied by 2 C3D1 Light Support Drones. 

There aren’t that many options on the Concord sprues to cause difficult decision making.  Squad leader gets an X-Sling as standard and you could upgrade a basic Plasma Carbine with a Plasma Lance, but as there’s only one Lance per frame you can’t go far wrong.  The Light Support Drone could be given a Plasma Light Support weapon or a Subverter Matrix, I’d suggest a maximum of one being given a Subverter though. 

The basic un-upgraded Concord Strike Squad is 112 points.  The squad size can be increased to a total of 8, but as you only get two sprues of Concord in the set you’ll be left with two units of 5.  I’m going to presume most folks are going to use the Plasma Lance option too.

The Leader can be upgraded to be given Slingnet ammo in their X-Sling and promoted to Leader 2.  The whole squad can be given Plasma Grenades and accompanied by a Spotter Drone. 

Each squad will therefore cost:
C3 Strike Squad (112), Plasma Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125

These will be accompanied by a pair of Plasma Light Support Drones at 59 points, upgraded with spotters.

So in total, my base cost of the four units will be:
C3 Strike Squad (112), Plasma Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
C3 Strike Squad (112), Plasma Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
C3D1 Light Support Drone (59), Spotter (+10) = 69
C3D1 Light Support Drone (59), Spotter (+10) = 69

A total of 388 points.

Force Selector

Force size	Points Value	Tactical (t)	Support (s)	Strategic (g)	Auxiliary (a)
Scouting Force	500	3-4	0-1	0	0-1
Skirmish Force	750	4-6	0-2	0	0-1
Combat Force	1,000	4-8	1-4	0-1	0-2

From the table above, if we’re looking at turning these four units into a 500 point army, we will have the minimum number of three tactical choices.  We would be able to take a fourth tactical choice, a single support choice and a single Auxiliary choice.
If we’re planning on going higher than 500 points we’ll need a fourth tactical option.

Selecting the 500 point army

With a 500 point list we’ve already got 2 Tactical Choices and 2 Support Choices.  This is the first hurdle, reducing the Support Choices.  This is not a problem as both C3D1 Light Support Drones can be fielded as a single unit.  So that leaves us needing one tactical choice.  As we’ve already got 2 Strike Squads, I’m going to pop for the Command Squad.  This is a Limited Choice meaning we need three other units (1 in 4 units being the 25% maximum for Limited Choice units), of which we have.

The list could be:
(t) C3 Strike Squad (112), Plasma Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
(t) C3 Strike Squad (112), Plasma Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
(t) C3 Command Squad (110), Spotter (+10) = 120
(s) C3D1 Light Support Drone (59), Extra Light Support Drone (+59), Spotter (+10) = 128
Total = 498 Points & 4 Order dice.

Three infantry units supported by a single unit of Light Support Drones, which pack a nasty punch.  Not too many order dice, so may feel outnumbered, but keeping the opponent at range and supporting the infantry with the drones may offset this – especially if using the Command Squad’s ‘Follow’ ability.

Another list could be:
(t) C3 Strike Squad (112), Plasma Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
(t) C3 Strike Squad (112), Plasma Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
(t) C3 Command Squad (110), Spotter (+10) = 120
(s) C3D1 Light Support Drone (59), Spotter (+10) = 69
(a) C3D1GP General Purpose Drone (20), Subverter Matrix (+20) = 40
Total = 479 Points & 5 Order dice

If we choose to build a drone as a GP Subverter Matrix, we reduce the firepower of the Light Support Unit, but potentially gain order dice superiority, even more so if Superior Shard is taken as an upgrade. 

Overall, it doesn’t matter too much how your Light Drones are assembled, much of it is personal preference.

Taking it up to 750

The next 250 chunk is mainly going to be absorbed by a fourth tactical option. 

There will not be enough Limited Choice options available to take a Nuhu or Command Squad.  The Drop Troops are prohibited by requiring a Drop Command Squad, again a Limited Choice.  Kind of forced to take a Strike Squad.  We’ll upgrade this to match the earlier units, nice and symmetrical.

As there’s a Light Support Drone on the plastic sprue (presuming you’ve not bought a metal box of Strike Troopers) we’ll build this as either the Subverter Matrix (if we had 2 Plasma Light Supports) or as a Plasma Light Support (if our first build had a Subverter Matrix).

(t) C3 Strike Squad (112), Plasma Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
(t) C3 Strike Squad (112), Plasma Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
(t) C3 Strike Squad (112), Plasma Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
(t) C3 Command Squad (110), Spotter (+10) = 120
(s) C3D1 Light Support Drone (59), Extra Light Support Drone (+59), Spotter (+10) = 128
(s) C3 Support Team (40), All Ammo (+15), Spotter (+10) = 65
(a) C3D1GP General Purpose Drone (20), Subverter Matrix (+20), Batter Drone (+20) = 60
Total = 748 Points & 7 Order dice

The two lists at the 500 point level have now merged together.  A pair of Light Support Drones providing a bit of punch, lots of infantry and an X-Launcher all working together.  Every unit has a spotter (well, maybe not the GP Drone) to allow patch sighting for the X-Launcher.

The push to 1,000

Once we reach 1,000 points we unlock the Strategic options to add to the units above. 

We could pop for just a single Strategic option for about 250 points and take a C3M4 Combat Drone.  That’s 249 points as it is and would take our total up to 998 (and 9 Order dice).

We may get some more mileage from taking advantage of the 2 additional Support options and the extra Auxiliary option.

(t) C3 Strike Squad (112), Plasma Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
(t) C3 Strike Squad (112), Plasma Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
(t) C3 Strike Squad (112), Plasma Lance (+3), Spotter (+10) = 125
(t) C3 Command Squad (110), Spotter (+10) = 120
(s) C3D1 Light Support Drone (59), Extra Light Support Drone (+59), Spotter (+10) = 128
(s) C3 Support Team (40), All Ammo (+15), Spotter (+10) = 65
(s) C3 Interceptor Squad (136) = 136
(s) C3D2 Medium Support Drone (93), Plasma Cannon (+5), Spotter (+10) = 108
(a) C3D1GP General Purpose Drone (20), Subverter Matrix (+20) = 40
(a) Targeter Probes (20) = 20
Total = 992 Points & 10 Order dice

There’s plenty of mileage for the Concord force when starting with the Kar’a Nine set.  Moving from the basic 388 from the intro set through to a 1,000 list.  A 1,000 point list that can be refined further by personal choice for both aesthetics and tactics.

Obviously the above are all suggestions.  I personally have my other lists, elsewhere on this blog, and tend to chop and change constantly.  I could do with making a big list of every options available and allocate to all these options the units that I’d take.  Then chop the list down to fit point’s values.  We’ll see what the future holds for now though.

Until next time!

Port of Call - Kar'a Nine - Algoryn Builder

On our journey around Antares we find ourselves at a Port of Call, a waypoint on our travels.  This happens to be Kar’a Nine.  Which by now avid fans will have started receiving.

So either if you’re starting with this set and look to continue collecting or if you’ve got a few factions already but this is a really great way of starting Algoryn, then hopefully there will be something for you here.

There are many reviews of the set, which I’m not going to repeat.  I’m going to look at how you could load out the squads provided in the set and then suggestions of boosting them to 500 point forces.

We’ll look at the Algoryn first, because “alphabets”.

Starting Force

In the box you get three frames of plastic Algoryn AI troopers, which can be made into 3 AI Squads.

It doesn’t matter too much how you’ve assembled your Algoryn weapons wise as there’s always a bit of wiggle room to be had for such things.  The sprues are put together to include EVERYTHING you could possibly take in a basic AI Squad.

Firstly, an un-upgraded 5 trooper AI Squad is 94 points.  The squad size can be increased to a total of 8 troopers per unit, but I feel that the majority of folks will be assembling their Kar’a Nine Algoryn into 3 squads, so we’ll ignore this for now.  The plastic sprue comes with a Spotter Drone, these guys can help re-roll misses once each turn and help call in Overhead fire once we get adding to the list.  At 10 points they are reasonably cheap and if your dice rolling is as bad as mine, can almost count as an extra man in the unit when shooting.
The unit is always* equipped with at least one micro-X launcher.  This has the ability to fire Overhead, potentially hitting targets it cannot see if able to patch sight with the unit’s Spotter Drone.  There is the option to upgrade a second trooper to have a second micro-X launcher, or a Mag Repeater.  (*There is the option to give the micro X-launcher armed AI trooper a Mag Gun, but I don’t see why many people would want to, as the micro-X can function as a short ranged Mag Gun most of the time when not on Overhead fire duties).
The unit leader is usually equipped with a Mag Pistol, but can take a Mag Repeater or Mag Gun for just +3 point.  The leader is also equipped with a X-sling, which is a versatile little thing.  Can be used as a blast D3 weapon, or given special ammo.  It is also a hand weapon so gives the leader +1 Str in hand to hand fighting. 
Speaking of special ammo, the micro-X launchers can also be given this exotic equipment.
Note that when taking special ammo, the cost is for every weapon that has the option.  We’ll see shortly that a unit with 2 micro-X launchers and an X-sling that chooses to take Overload is a total cost of 15 points (5 point per model and all three are eligible to be upgraded if chosen).  We couldn’t give Overload to just the Leader with the X-sling, we are compelled and obliged to give the upgrade to all three models.
Overload gives the weapon a better SV, but has a chance of running out if rolling a 10 to hit.
Slingnet (the other special ammo) causes no damage, but will cause a single additional pin if any Slingnet shot hits the enemy unit.  Unlike Overload, Slingnet can be fired Overhead if using micro-X launcher (but not overhead if using an X-sling).
Finally, the unit can be given plasma grenades at 2 points each.

I’ll be assembling my squads all with 2 micro-X launchers, with spotters and Slingnet.

Each squad will therefore cost:
AI Squad (94), Extra micro-X (+0), Slingnet (+15), Spotter (+10) = 119

So in total, my base cost of the three units will be 357.

But what can we then add to this….

Force Selector

Force size	Points Value	Tactical (t)	Support (s)	Strategic (g)	Auxiliary (a)
Scouting Force	500	3-4	0-1	0	0-1
Skirmish Force	750	4-7	0-3	0	0-1
Combat Force	1,000	4-8	1-5	0-1	0-2

From the table above, if we’re looking at turning these three squads into a 500 point army, we will have the minimum number of three tactical choices.  We would be able to take a fourth tactical choice, a single support choice and a single Auxiliary choice.
If we’re planning on going higher than 500 points we’ll need a fourth tactical option,

Selecting the 500 point army

So our 3 AI Squads have already taken up 357 of our 500 point limit, leaving 143 points remaining.
So far our list is entirely infantry, equipped with many micro-X launchers with Slingnet, all of which are supported with Spotter Drones.

Our Support option is going to be quite important.  We could either go for a Weapon Team (either with Mag Light Support for some long range fire support, or an X-Launcher) or go for something like the Intruder squad.  The Intruders are reasonably fast and armed with twin Mag Repeaters (12 shots at best).  

At the 500 point level it is often worth taking a cheap unit of targeter probes.  They’ll reduce the scatter of the overhead misses, which is always useful – and they’ll add an extra order dice into the dice bag.

One list could be:
(t) AI Squad (94), Extra micro-X (+0), Slingnet (+15), Spotter (+10) = 119
(t) AI Squad (94), Extra micro-X (+0), Slingnet (+15), Spotter (+10) = 119
(t) AI Squad (94), Extra micro-X (+0), Slingnet (+15), Spotter (+10) = 119
(s) Support Team with X-Launcher (38), Net ammo (+5), Spotter (+10) =53
(a) Targeter Probes (20) = 20
Total = 430 Points & 5 Order dice.

This would leave 70 points to play with to get to 500, but not quite enough to take a fourth and final tactical unit.  Perhaps 45 points on Slingnet could be released to give 115 points to use.  Not quite enough for an Assault or Infiltrator squad, but enough for a Command Squad with a spotter, giving a maximum number of 6 order dice.
Although I quite like the Slingnet, especially if the micro-X launchers can all gang up on a single enemy squad for a single turn.

Another list could be:
(t) AI Squad (94), Extra micro-X (+0), Slingnet (+15), Spotter (+10) = 119
(t) AI Squad (94), Extra micro-X (+0), Slingnet (+15), Spotter (+10) = 119
(t) AI Squad (94), Extra micro-X (+0), Slingnet (+15), Spotter (+10) = 119
(s) Intruder Skimmer Squad (106), Compactor Drone with Mag LS (+15)  = 121
(a) Targeter Probes (20) = 20
Total = 498 Points & 5 Order dice.

This list give the Algoryn infantry a mobile fire team, either staying in their Intruders and using 12 shots (SV0) or to switch to the compacted Mag LS for 3 (SV2) shots.

It is obviously personal preference, but with the core of the force being the same, two slightly different feeling armies are already growing. 

Taking it up to 750

The next 250 chunk is mainly going to be absorbed by a fourth tactical option.  We’ll keep away from yet another AI Squad and consider the Command, Assault or Infiltrators.  All of which come to around 125/130 points depending on how they are powered up.
We can’t select another Auxiliary option, so either more Troops or more Support (more support I’d wager).

(t) AI Squad (94), Extra micro-X (+0), Slingnet (+15), Spotter (+10) = 119
(t) AI Squad (94), Extra micro-X (+0), Slingnet (+15), Spotter (+10) = 119
(t) AI Squad (94), Extra micro-X (+0), Slingnet (+15), Spotter (+10) = 119
(t) AI Command Squad (104), Spotter (+10) = 114
(s) Intruder Skimmer Squad (106), Compactor Drone with Mag LS (+15)  = 121
(s) Support Team with X-Launcher (38), Net ammo (+5), Spotter (+10) =53
(s) Specialist Support Team with Plasma Cannon (68+5), Spotter (+10) =83
(a) Targeter Probes (20) = 20
Total = 748 points & 8 Order dice.

This combines the two 500 lists above, taking the X-launcher and the Infiltrators and blending them with the hinted at AI Command Squad (with SV2 carbines) and a Plasma Cannon for the devastating SV value.  We could have gone for a much cheaper Mag LS and saved 45 points (basic Mag LS = 38) but as we have one of those attached to the Infiltrators already, seems not too much point.  

The push to 1,000

Once we reach 1,000 points we unlock the Strategic options to add to the units above. 

We could pop for just a single Strategic option for about 250 points and take a Liberator     X10 Plasma Special with a plasma cannon upgrade.  That’s 249 points as it is.  Perhaps drop some Slingnet to add some more upgrades to this.

But given we’ve got lots of X-weapons, I really want to go for the Mag Mortar.  I love the Mag Mortar, especially with Net ammo.  Feel this would really compliment the whole force.  Also, it would leave enough points left over to take an Avenger skimmer.  This would provide heavier support to the Intruders.

(t) AI Squad (94), Extra micro-X (+0), Slingnet (+15), Spotter (+10) = 119
(t) AI Squad (94), Extra micro-X (+0), Slingnet (+15), Spotter (+10) = 119
(t) AI Squad (94), Extra micro-X (+0), Slingnet (+15), Spotter (+10) = 119
(t) AI Command Squad (104), Spotter (+10) = 114
(s) Intruder Skimmer Squad (106), Compactor Drone with Mag LS (+15)  = 121
(s) Support Team with X-Launcher (38), Net ammo (+5), Spotter (+10) =53
(s) Specialist Support Team with Plasma Cannon (68+5), Spotter (+10) =83
(s) Avenger Attack Skimmer (118) = 118
(g) Heavy Support Team (97), Mag Mortar (+10), Net Ammo (+5), Spotter (+10) = 122
(a) Targeter Probes (20) = 20
Total = 988 points & 11 Order dice.

10 points left to play with.  Could tinker with the AI Squads maybe and free up some points to give the Avenger a Mag Cannon with a Spotter.  Perhaps the compacted Mag SL and use the points from that too.

Just a quick note on the AI Squads running through these suggestions.  The points cost above is intentionally 119 for each Squad.  This is because the Assault Squad and the Infiltrator Squads are also around this point value.  If you choose to go over 1,000 points you’ll need a fifth tactical option (which could be these), which could then be used in place of one of the basic AI Squads in the above lists for smaller games.

Overall this approach keeps things reasonably neat when it comes to collecting the force, yet also gives a theme running through it.  

And that’s it for the Algoryn starter lists from Kar’a Nine.
We’ll be plugging into the IMTel next time and doing this with a very Concord flavour

Until next time!