Hi I am just starting Ariadna (fairly new to Infinity) an am wondering what people use as ARO pieces. Ariadna isn’t blessed with a nice Total Reaction bot like other factions (Tractor Mul doesn’t count lol), so I have been looking at the cheap sniper options (I love snipers). I’m currently thinking that the Line Kazak Sniper (16/0.5) and Grunt Sniper (18/0.5) look like decent options. Are these good options, what else should I take a look at?
Those aren't horrible options, but unless they are linked there are better alternatives. The Cateran is an excellent sniper for an ARO piece, more expensive but a lot better than a grunt or line kazak. The purpose of ARO troops isn't just to kill enemy troopers, the advantage in straight gun fights is almost always with the active player. The idea is also to waste their orders and delay them from completing the mission or achieving whatever it is they are trying to achieve. To that end Ariadna has awesome ARO troops. Chasseur mine layers, hard cases, and foxtrots litter the midfield with Camo markers, some of which hide troops, some hide mines, and some are fakes! All of these take a lot of orders to deal with, and your opponent has to be careful because they aren't sure what's hiding under the marker. You've also got cheap troops with template weapons, like Galwegians, to hide behind corners. Very cheap but it will take at least an order or two to remove each one and your opponent will often have to risk taking armour saves from their template weapons in the process. Warbands like dog warriors are hilarious because they have multiple wounds and total immunity which means they can take forever to get rid of. And models like Irmandinhos can roll up some interesting options on the booty table like ODD or panzerfausts which make them highly irritating to be rid of. Then you've got nasty stuff like a Tank Hunter with an Autocannon, a Spetsnaz Sniper, the Cateran etc which hide behind Camo markers in your deployment zone. These are the sorts of dangerous troops who CAN outright win face to face rolls. So you have lots of options!
As above, the options are plenty. And as Reservup points out, there is much more to ARO's than long range [static] troops like TR bots and snipers. And the golden rule will always be: don't feed your ARO pieces to your opponent on a silver platter during deployment. He will just pick his best/most efficient answer and gone is mr. sniper. ARO'ing in the Second and third turn becomes ever more important to block objectives, lock down lanes, etc. and by then some of his best counters might be gone. So Dare to hide! [Camo helps ofc.] Sometimes [when you go second] a foe might not really know what to do in his first turn when he has nothing to shoot at. Resulting in some shuffling about/moving up. Not so very efficient. +Depends on the mission ofc. Regardless, on the awesome sniper model vs utility scale I live and die by this guy [not mirage]: A circumstantial funny trick in later stages of the game is to have mr. Zouave walk up to corner and spend a full order to sap. Changing silhouet, so he now peeks out, while forfeiting the opponents ARO's. My 2cents
Thanks for the reply’s. I must admit that hiding all of my ARO pieces on the first turn never occurred to me, might try that one when I play next. The Cateran sniper is something I have looked at, but wasn’t sure if he was worth taking. The way I was looking at it was that 5pts saved with using the Kazak could be useful. I could get a Volunteer for 6pts giving me 2 regular orders to the one irregular of the Cateran. I can see that the surprise attack and mimitism mods would be good for that first ftf roll, so will give him a try. I’ve never really thought about hardcases as an ARO piece, loooking at them that way makes them more appealing (never liked the look of hardcases as an active piece). I like Irmandinhos and I have been looking to include Galwegians, as a cheap chain rifle + Smoke grenades is always a good deal.
Ariadna's best ARO pieces are cheap troopers in SF mode. SMG Desperados are the best. Obviously you cannot deploy them in SF mode, so going second hurts this tactics. If you go first you can lay down smoke to allow the SMG troopers go into SF mode unmolested. More expensive troopers like AP Rifle Tankhunters are not bad choices either. Just keep in mind: ARO pieces are expected to be killed in action.
I like AROs that are tough to kill but can dish out the pain if your opponent messes up. Of course, smoke + MSV2 will ruin any Ariadna ARO, but Tankhunter with Autocannon or T2 Vet would be my choice to cover a fire lane. Both of them have camo, and the tankhunter has valor, so will need to be removed or he'll keep shooting. Vet L2 on the Kazak is also great.
FO line Kazaks get 3 or 4 of these guys on rooftops and watch the disco lights. Want to take care of the Spetsnaz on a rooftop? *FLASH FLASH FLASH* Want to move forward onto an objective? *FLASH FLASH FLASH* And the best part is, if you get enough of them covering a lane at least one will be flashing the enemy unopposed most of the time Also, any cheap camo infiltrator in supressive fire will net you good results, as the enemy will be shooting back at them on a -9 before any other mods (assuming you have cover of course)
This is one of the things I like about the game. In most other games asking this sort of question would result in lots of people suggesting the same 2-3 models. Here I have only had a handful of reply’s so far and already have a dozen options suggested. It’s more to do with play style and mission type, instead of significantly overpowered or undercosted choices (it does however make choosing the right ARO piece harder ). Tank hunter - I am looking forward to playing this as the new model looks really good, and she isn’t that expensive. FO Line Kazaks - Not something I had thought of before, but taking one or two to go with the Warcor looks like an option (will try it out). Veteran Kazak - The T2 X visor looks interesting, move him up and put him in suppressive fire somewhere annoying. Give him a little support and he will be a pain to dig out.
I really like to put Foxtrots or Chasseur in suppressive fire with a mine covering their backs. Grunt snipers in cover, for that 6 arm goodness, plus them being waaaay back helps them survive. I usually put my line kazaks in SF to guard my deployment zone. The T2 X visor vet is great too.
I tend to use any/all of the following; 1) Camo'd missile launchers - or anything else with templates - mainly cos your opponent learns quickly to spread their troops out; even this can be enough to spoil their plans, cos it might limit where models/markers can go and/or shoot from; without even needing to ARO! 2) Decoy camo markers; assuming you mix them up every now & again, then your opponent may spend orders trying to discover nothing at all. 3) The aforementioned fireteams and/or models in suppression fire can also force your opponent to change tactics. tl:dr :- any unit that forces your opponent to compromise their play - without needing to do anything at all - is the best ARO piece.
I love grunt snipers for ARO, being ARM6 in cover makes them very obnoxious to take out sometimes, similarly T2 sniper Blackjacks can force the enemy to spend a lot of orders to clear a lane. Generally though, I avoid putting out many turn 1, long-range ARO pieces, they're going to get killed. Just remember that, the job of an ARO piece is to waste enemy orders and get killed. Don't be revealing expensive attack pieces like Spetsnaz to perform an ARO. What's most important on the ARO in my experience though is shutting down narrow lanes of fire that enemies can move warbands up through. Guarding corners to prevent the enemy from moving up the board is going to help a lot more, and something that Chasseur minelayers are amazing for.
Chasseurs are masters of the close range ARO due to being able to delay revealing thanks to 6th sense. Any enemy coming into ZoC and LoF can't attack the Chasseur and is forced to Dodge if they want to avoid a flame template to the face.
Enemy moves into ZOC, you delay, if he wants to discover you, you then flame him, I get that. What if he comes in your ZoC, you delay, he does nothing. NExt order he does discover- shoot, you delay first part, but then decide to shoot? He shoots you back no matter has he discovered you or not with first order, because you revealed yourself after delay and shoot him back? Or basically, if he fails to discover you, since you delayed, you don't have to do nothing if he didn't discover you, and make him waste more order in order not to get shoot in the face by his 2nd part of order because you revealed yourself?
Enemy moves into LoF. Chasseur Delays Enemy idles Chasseur BS Attacks with LFT Yes the Chasseur is revealed but the enemy has just taken a fire template hit, and if they activate again they're likely to take another!
What if for what ever reason you decided not to flame him and reveal yourself. If he with next order does discover-shoot, you delay, he doesn't discover you because he fails roll, what happens then if you shoot. He shoots you back or not?
Umm, how are you declaring your ARO after the discover roll is made? Declare all skills, then roll dice is a foundation of the game. Game example: Fusilier Angus starts the order with LoF to Chasseur Bertrand. A uses discover against B as first skill B delays ARO A declares BS Attack against B B declares delayed ARO Distances are measured, dice are rolled.
I find that Spetsnaz (Sniper/HMG) and Tankhunter (AC) are my best vanilla ARO pieces... The amount of damage they can inflict usually keeps my opponents from doing anything silly.....
If we are talking about long range aro (op mentioned snipers) then i would say Grunt sniper and Kazak ML (both are cheap and can waste few orders), Caterans (perfect ARO troop), Zouaves Sappers (solid aro with cover wherever they want to have it), Scot Camo ML and Tankhunters (nasty yet pricey surprises), Briscards (against camo/ODD rich lists), Ambush Spetsnaz (amazing unit) and BJ T2 ("2w" aro). Other than that i would add Uragan and whole camo galore for shorter distances. It all depends of you, cheaper or not.
