Preparing for Invasion

Good day assorted peoples of the Dropzoning variety! I bring you greetings, fair tidings, and Invasion!

September has crept up something fierce this year, and this weekend Hawk will be hosting their biannual tournament and open weekend. It combines Invasion, a two day 1500 point tournament, and a decent sized display of brand new models, current models, and potentially new exciting info for the next big things (last year we had artwork featured in Reconquest, and the original drawings of the spaceship displayed at Salute, not to mention a few Resistance goodies)! The OB team managed to rock out with our socks out last year, and picked up 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th and 5^th place, as well as the team award (Skullsword even won the raffle, jammy git). Although we are of course hoping to do as well this time round, but we are certainly taking nothing for granted!

Here are the lists we will each be bringing to the party, and a brief explanation of how it will work. Well, should work...

Edchopp – UCM

“Operation Smash and Grab is a-go!”

Edchopp's army varies differently to most UCM armies I have played - in a good way I will add! He has no Rapiers, and his air support relies predominantly on his Drones and Archangel's. The Wolverine A's provide a flanking option to catch light dropships off guard. We have had it confirmed by Hawk that Forward Observers will not be being used, which made him a little sad, but when the Archangels work, they really pay off.

The other main aspect of his army is the Demo Squad; the Katanas and Eagle. These boys will level a large building in two turns without breaking sweat, and deny his opponent the objective on their side of the table. The Gladius and Longbows act as utility units, and apply pressure where needed.

GettodaDropship – Shaltari

“Keep them at arms reach. Failing that, a Caiman's gaus range will do nicely.”

I would regard GtdD's list as the 'wild card' of the group, and I'm sure he would agree with me. He has recently fallen head over heals / Romeo and Juliet / serious holiday romance in love with the Caiman, and the list reflects this in a big way. Although he only has 3 squads of Braves, there is a lot of punch in this army, both AT and AA, and armies expecting to sit back and out-shoot their opponents will end up being surprised.

The Caimans will be both a fire-base and flanking units when necessary and he will find himself able to rapidly out manoeuvre most rapidly. Will the list work? I don't know, and I don't think GtdD knows. I'm not even sure if he has tried it yet! Whatever happens though, it's sure to be a laugh!

You'll probably notice the incomplete list... This is because he didn't get back to me with his full list, but I'm sure he'll share it post-Invasion!

Mega Mike – Scourge

“Hit hard, hit fast........ die quickly when it goes pear shaped.”

MM was umming and erring between his Scourge and UCM at the last minute, and decided to opt for the Jellys. I for one am glad, as he has just finished the army and it looks great, and deserves to be shown off. Also, he plays Scourge like a freight train, and I always enjoy looking over to his table and seeing his entire army in his opponents half. MM runs a varied Scourge force, Which is Strong in all areas. The Destroyers are used to ambush his adversaries infantry deep within their half, and the warriors claim everything behind them. The Minders are set up as a 'web' to catch light dropships, to suffocate mid-table with effective AA.

The rest of the force bullies the opponent. The Prowlers are dropped on their targets heads, and the hunters swiftly follow them up. MM considers the Scourge to be hardest army to win with, and I agree with him, but his force is varied enough to be able to tackle almost any situation!

Sgt Slaughter – PHR

“We sit in a corner, and blow the living fuck out of everything.”

When I asked the only non-posting member of Team OB for a succinct sentence to describe his army, this is a literal word for word quote. The Man, the Legend, the Wordsmith.

Having said that, you can't really argue with him. The army is set up to castle a corner, and batter anything that is stupid enough to come within 24” of it. The Enyos provide an objective denial unit, in the sense that there won't be an objective left to collect by the time they have finished with bringing down the building it resides in. The Apollos do provide flanking ability, but all in all the army is a very archetypal PHR army; The Immovable Object.

Skullsword – PHR

"Immortals... We'll put their name to the test!"

His army has become a little bit of an issue lately, as he is seriously champing at the bit to use the Resistance. There are a few reasons he isn't, most notably that they have been banned at Invasion. That being the issue that it is, his list has been restructured a little over the last few weeks to feature units which are a little faster and more adept at actually moving around the board. The Athena was doing the hokey cokey for the last month (in, out, shake it all about) but he opted for something a little more reliable in his Enyos. Granted, they don't provide the same service in terms air denial, but he uses his Helios very aggressively and they make up for this in spades.

Taking Apollos and having mostly everything mounted in Neptunes gives the army a little more speed, meaning opponents need to mind their focal points!

Zombiestate – Shaltari

“We lurk in the shadows, and spring when least- Who am I am kidding? It's football hooligan tactics; wait in alleys until no-one is looking, rush out and knock a few heads together, then quickly piss off.”

My army, and my way of playing it haven't really changed too much in the last year. The idea was originally, as broadly advertised on the Beasts of War video, to use Scourge this year. That plan has sadly fallen through, and I am stuck with my larey, bright Shaltari.

Not that I mind too much mind you, I love the hedgehogs. The main change in the force is the Tarantulas, which I have been rocking since they were released. I haven't brought myself to throwing the Tomahawks on the bonfire just yet, but the spiders are just 100% more useful. The other main change is a fiddle around with the battlegroups. You're not allowed more than 2 squads in a standard battlegroup, and with 2 squads of Tarantulas I had to put my Kukri in an infantry slot. This does mean each activation is dangerous in its own way, which is a plus, but I don't really have a 'Hammer-Group' any more, which is a shame.

The deployment of my force will differ on my opponents; I don't tend to have too much of a goal in mind turn 1, as being Shaltari I can basically go wherever I want! My Tarantulas will commonly hunt down the juciest target they can find in turn 2/3 though, and the Jag's deploy centrally in most games to provide a fire base.

We are all hyped, and if you are down please come over and say hi! Don't be put off by the blue air around Sgt Slaughters table, the Scourge noises I will be making with MM, or Edchopp and GtdD marvelling at Skullswords ridiculous falling masonry rolls (I apologise in advance to all who play him).

As a footnote, I will add that we will be running another 1500pt tournament on the 1st November. We will be posting more info on this early next week.

Ciao!