I got the Ariadna reinforcement pack for defiance and I was trying to figure out how to make an army out of them. I kind of wanted to play with an Ariadna style army: get some dogs, a motercycle, maybe swarm the enemy. First question: Are the line kazaks in the Ariadna starter box different than coldfront? I feel like I leaning towards sticking with the Russians, but I'm willing to go vanillia. I guess I'm just trying to figure out where the models in the reinforcement box came from so I know what I have. I willl also take suggestions on what I should buy. Gonna get some spetsnaz and antipodes reguardless because they look fun on the table. Becides that I don't know.
Well, the pack has some models taken out from already existing boxes, so if you buy them you will have repeated minis. In the pack you have: Vassily plushenko - He comes from the Beyond Coldfront box, that has an strelok, one of the frontoviks of the pack and vassily. So you have the problem of that strelok missing. And streloks are used a lot. Extra rifle frontovik could be ok if you dont mind repeated minis, but vassily is a character so the only option for him to not be repeated could be to change his weapon for a sniper so you have both profiles covered with miniature. Veteran kazaks (2) - The ap hmg comes in a blister so thats fine, the other one comes from the coldfront, so again you will have it repeated, anyway there are only 2 vet kazaks models available so you can change the weapon or pose a bit and have a new one. frontoviks (3) - As i said before one of the frontoviks is from the beyond coldfront, the other 2 are from the frontoviks box, so if you buy it you will have these 2 repeated, the heavy rocket launcher repeated can be ok, but i doubt you will use 2 molotoks in a list, but anyway, not bad profiles to have repeated. dog warrior - This is more of a problem, he comes from the dog warrior box that has 2 and its a big expensive box, i doubt you will use 3 dog warriors in a list, but having 2 is cool and you will miss that one, so hard choice here. They are all from TAK, the Russian Sectorial, so if you want to buy going for that force, with this pack and the coldfront you have a good start.
My criticism of the box has been that its missing the sniper frontovik, which I think is one of the better. So you most likely will want to buy the frontovik box. Overall, Its not a bad purchase and TAK is a fun sectorial. Spetsnaz and Antipodes both run in TAK and are mainstays. So they won't serve you wrong. Unfortunately, you are going to be waiting most of this year for the reinforcement box, so if you want to start playing sooner you will have to proxy or make some other purchase. If you pick up Coldfront you will only be doubling up on the Vet Kazak which, as @Foxep said, can be modified easily enough. At that point though, I suggest playing around with what you have and getting a feel for the models and what you like to do.