Alright guys I'm gonna be playing some games of quadrant control soon and I want to saturate the field with mines. Having this in mind I am having a hard time deciding between maxing out on minelayers or K9 streloks Basically, if I go with minelayers I will have a stronger presence right off the bat in case i go second, but if I go with K9s I will have suppressive fire and a doggo for just 3 points, and if I go first I can mine the field from the get go Such a hard decision
If mines are your goal go with minelayers. Keep in mind though that if you reveal them all in a CO to put down more mines you will lose your ambush markers in the process. If that doesn't matter then go for it. On the other hand, you can't use the K9 Strelok in a coordinated order because they are G-Synched, so you'll have to use orders on them individually to get more mines down. If you want the benefits of the K9 then I'd say bring 3 minelayers and one dog, just so you have access to sensor and all the other tools it brings.
Thanks for the advice! I've been leaning more towards the minelayer as well, just because of the ability to coordinate them and saturate the field with mines. That plus a Dynamo duo shooting them across the center line should make my opponent's life very annoying indeed
I'm gonna say it right now: Dynamos are freaking amazing. Mines are annoying, but having somebody shoot a mine in the middle of your link team is a nightmare :D
Streloks are OK against weaker enemy units but a good player can walk a tougher W2 HI or TAG straight through your sea of camo markers and just dare you to reveal. TAK doesn't play the camo game nearly as well as Vanilla Ariadna despite producing more markers. Vanilla has just as much long-range camo as TAK (TAK has higher AVA Spetsnaz, but let's be realistic - you aren't taking more than two anyway), and has much more dangerous midfield units (Chasseurs for that LFT / SSL1 goodness) and camo assault pieces (Uxia). With their loadouts, Streloks are pretty good against lighter units but don't have the punch or skill combination to pose a serious threat in ARO in a camo state. If you want to do it right, you want to mix and match the midfield units. The new Scout Minelayer w/ E/mauler is huge for this. Like I said, a good opponent will ignore the Streloks and run straight to the juicy revealed targets (for example, a link of Line Kazaks with a Vet in there. The HMG takes away his Flame Thrower, so he's not nearly as dangerous up close). The threat of an E/mauler or two in there will discourage or stop these types of rushes. I'm sure people will disagree, but one of our best pieces for Quadrant Control is the Vet X Visor / T2 rifle running solo. He's expensive enough that he easily achieves overmatch as a solo model, and very difficult to remove with SSL2, a LFT, a dangerous gun, and the X visor for that 0-24" 0 mod goodness on suppression.
Tangentially related - is the K9 Stretlok in Vanilla now for 1 SWC? The minelayer TAK only Stretlok is not in the Vanilla Army builder, but the K9 is for 1 SWC, this a thing?
Hopefully that doesn't change for ITS Season 10. I've been really enjoying having the K-9 Strelok in Vanilla (1 SWC points cost and all).
you take both Multiple minelayers to saturate the midfield, and a K9 to ensure you dominate that midfield, wiht the SMG and sensor on the antipode you use it to hunt down your opponents midfield units and kill them to ensure that you own the midfield
Boarding shotgun on the Minelayer/FO Strelok with Camo and surprise shot is pretty dangerous to anything. Too bad FO doesn't have the mines. You can go extra budget with the SMG version for 16 pts. Get the dogs from Antipode assault pack maybe. Lot of good stuff all around, just try them all. Fun fact: that AP marksman rifle is at least 3 pts more expensive on the Strelok than it's on Puppetbot. And the T2 Marksman is 2 pts more expensive then on Vassily. Or maybe just the Caterans have it for cheap.
