Hello Everyone! I've already played Infinity and actually i would like to add one Army to my match and i'm pointing to Ariadna. Actually i have a good set of PanOceania models, expecially Military Orders. I would like to play something new like playstyle and models so i was thinking that Ariadna are grat, plus i love the concept a lot! What models should i pick first? What are some good sectorials to start with or Vanilla is better? Thanks!
When I was in a similar place - being mainly PanO/Aleph player and looking for a low tech army - I picked up Kazaks. Partially because Russian-themed army is cool, partially because I picked up Coldfront anyway. And at the moment they're still the most flexible and fun to play Ariadna sectorial, and the easiest to collect, I'd say. Good army box, most models are new and easily available. Playstyle is pretty varied, you can go camo hell route, you can build good, hard to crack fireteams, there are multiple good options for long range, CQB, CC. Scots and Kosmofłot would be my second choice. I'm not a fan of playing any vanilla, so I won't help you there ;)
Howdy! Ariadna is super fun and brutally efficient! Is there a particular playstyle you are looking for? Here is some general overviews of things I have played : Vanilla : Can do anything under the general Ariadna umbrella. Now with tactical window and the French and Scots back, you can make lists that have virtually no cheerleaders. You can make really strong lists by just picking the all stars from each nation. All business all the time! USARF : In N3 this was a more defensive, dude spam army. In N4 players are still struggling to find its identity. Maybe it involves more bikes and devil dogs? I would avoid this to start unless you really, really like the models. TAK : This is a high damage, high camo, easy to play but still takes some effort to master sectorial. It has very strong link teams and poses some tough questions. Whatever models your opponent leaves out get shot by a Vet Kazak. Whatever they hide gets eaten by dogs. It has a lack of true infiltrating troopers, as most have forward deployment. Kosmoflot : This a more CC focused sectorial, with limited access to longer range weapons. It does have the best gunfighter in all Ariadna with the ability to core link The Unknown Ranger. 9 point Varangian Guards are also really, really nice. As for Vanilla vs Sectorial, there is no clear winner in Ariadna. I would start with TAK as it is the easiest to buy into with the Action Pack. A lot of the models you get will be used in Vanilla, or can easily proxy for other things.
Thanks a lot guys for the answers! I'll take a look! btw @Bellyflop when you say "You can make really strong lists by just picking the all stars from each nation" whic are those man? I never ever played against an Ariadna so no clue who they are! For my playstile i would like to change form PanO. So somethink like many camo + close quarter gunfight! ps: What are TAK ? °_°
TAK = Tartary Army Corps sectorial within Ariadna, units include - Spetznaz, Vassily, Frontoviks, Streloks, Dog Warriors, Antipodes and Vet Kazaks to name a good few. A quick search of any of the above would surely show you some example lists and information.
As others have mentioned, I'd suggest starting with TAK. It gives you a smaller set of tools to learn, while delivering full Ariadna experience. If you decide you like them enough to branch out into vanilla, many of the TAK options are popular in vanilla lists. I really need to disagree here, haha. USARF is brutal in N4 (ITS12 Mindwipe aside). The 15 order cap was disruptive to people who played them as order spam previously (boring), but that was not the most effective way to play them competitively (at least in my experience and what I've found from other competitive players). USARF order spam had a lower learning curve, but also a lower ceiling. Their whole schtik is high armor, high speed, high damage, ignoring 2 out of 3 of those to get order spam isn't going to go as far as embracing what they're good at. Anyhow, I do agree that they're not a great army for Ariadna beginners, unless they have zero interest in vanilla, mostly because many of their units don't synergize well with the rest of Ariadna.
Some common standouts are : Uxia Spetsnaz HMG Chasseur Irmandinho Grunt (infiltration) with Heavy Flamethrower Highlander Grey Caledonian Mormaer Veteran Kazak Polaris Team Streloks, especially the K-9 The Unknown Ranger Brigadier Jacques Bruant Vassily Plushenko Para Commandoes Antipode Assault Pack Van Zant Mirage-5 There are also AVA2 Caledonian Volunteers with chain rifles for 6 points, and 9 point Line Kazaks for fuel. With Tactical Window you hardly need them though.
I'd definitely add Metro and Volunteer infiltrators now that they provide cheap mid-field camo without having to roll to infiltrate. Foxtrots FOs are dirt cheap camo infiltrating specialists... basically anything that can get camo.
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@McKaptain There's a bunch of red circle icons under the army list information for SWC and overall Points, the one you want looks like two speech bubbles overlapped. Little late on the answer, sorry ^^;
Don't pick USAR. This edition shit on them hard. Caledonians changed how they work, going from a howling horde of swordsmen to a more elite & shootier army with room for a small pack of howling swordsmen, but they have strong new niche pieces that they didn't have last edition, and have one of the killiest shooting profiles in the game with the HMG Mormaer. FRRM.... exists? It's slightly better than last edition and wasn't reliant on order spam like USAR or CHA were. I dunno, I am not someone who plays FRRM so can't really comment on it with any degree of honesty. TAK was strong last edition and didn't get nerfed this edition. Almost nothing that they have is bad, and their iconic HI piece, the Veteran Kazak is one of the best units in the game, and easily the best Ariadna HI. Kosmoflot is basically a random mishmash of pieces stolen from other sectorials with a couple new unique ones that actually fit their own sectorial. For all intents and purposes, they're basically TAK with random characters like TUR, Mirage 5, and Wallace tacked on.
Couldn't disagree more, they're far more competitive than before. The only reason I wouldn't suggest them is because they don't translate to vanilla very well once you want to expand beyond them.
I've written a couple articles and discussed them in a recent episode of my livestream/podcast, lol. The short of it is that they have more DTWs, armor is more relevant, and they have far better board control with the infiltration and parachutist change, plus can now MSV through smoke. The cap of 15 orders isn't that impactful, and lists that were much over 15-16 were not optimal in N3 anyhow. My only criticism is that Ohio weren't given more interesting gear to make them a higher point unit which would differentiate them from Marauders and provide a higher cost link for people wanting to use more of the USARF budget choices (Mov 6-4, regen, and x-visors was my suggestion). To expand on the order cap, USARF isn't great at winning fire fights with it's cheaper troops, so having extra orders to spend on those bad matchups was often less effective than having a couple less orders, but more order efficient troops to use them on.
I could not agree more. My ONLY complaint with USARF’s current iteration is that the Ohio is so..... meh.
