Hello fellow Posthumans I have a league coming up starting at 150pts and I decided to go for Steel Phalanx (my first love). I know many things have changed, but I still believe that SP has a lot to say. I have a couple of hypothesis: one list that works on sheer damage and one list that is a bit more tactical: Hammer list ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 4 1 AJAX FTO MULTI Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / AP Heavy Pistol, EXP CC Weapon(PS=4). (0 | 39) ATALANTA (Surprise Attack [-3], Hidden Deployment) MULTI Sniper Rifle ( | TinBot: Discover [ReRoll]) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 38) MYRMIDON OFFICER (Chain of Command) Boarding Shotgun, Nanopulser, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (0.5 | 31) MACHAON (Lieutenant) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (0.5 | 37) 2.5 SWC | 145 Points Open in Infinity Army and the second: Scalpel list ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 6 MACHAON (Lieutenant) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (0.5 | 37) PHOENIX Heavy Rocket Launcher, Nanopulser / Heavy Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (1.5 | 32) MYRMIDON OFFICER (Chain of Command) Boarding Shotgun, Nanopulser, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (0.5 | 31) THORAKITES (Hacker, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 19) THORAKITES (Forward Observer) Submachine Gun, E/Mitter, Pulzar, Flash Pulse / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 13) EKDROMOS Chain Rifle(+1B) / AP Heavy Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (0 | 18) 3 SWC | 150 Points Open in Infinity Army Consider that the league (narrative) will have most likely every faction and as far as missions they have not been released, but I think they are rolled every time. Please Comment. Thank you!
I would strive to have at least 7 orders at 150 points level. There are missions where you will need a lot of actions just to press buttons and do objective things, and they don't scale down for small games. Consider bringing some netrods, a flash pulse bot and a warcor; They are cheap and provide fuel for the big pieces to do their thing.
If I am not mistaken the Warcor is an irregular order so doesn't bring much. Best I can think of is Thorakiti(FO) 13 replaced for Lamed/Netrod 7+6=13pts so that goes to 7 and with a repeater: Scalpel List ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 7 MACHAON (Lieutenant) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (0.5 | 37) PHOENIX Heavy Rocket Launcher, Nanopulser / Heavy Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (1.5 | 32) MYRMIDON OFFICER (Chain of Command) Boarding Shotgun, Nanopulser, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (0.5 | 31) THORAKITES (Hacker, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 19) EKDROMOS Chain Rifle(+1B) / AP Heavy Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (0 | 18) NETROD . (0 | 6) LAMEDH Rebot Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7) 3 SWC | 150 Points Open in Infinity Army
Short to mid ranged weapons. A 150pt battle is supposed to be on a 24x32 board. HMGs and Snipers will find themselves at 0 range or even -3 pretty quickly. But HRL and Spitfires are king. Below are two teams but the Makhe can be switched for Myrm sptfire. I like the Makhe because he has MSV and smoke can be a nightmare on a small board. Also you can shoot through your own. He also has a K1 for anyone bringing HI. ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 7 1 THORAKITES Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 17) THORAKITES Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 17) THORAKITES (Hacker, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 19) MAKHE (Forward Observer) K1 Combi Rifle, Zapper, Flash Pulse, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol(+1B), CC Weapon. (0 | 31) PHOENIX (Lieutenant) Heavy Rocket Launcher, Nanopulser / Heavy Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (1.5 | 32) MYRMIDON Chain Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (0 | 16) MYRMIDON Chain Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (0 | 16) 2 SWC | 148 Points Open in Infinity Army ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 7 1 THORAKITES Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 17) THORAKITES Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 17) THORAKITES (Hacker, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 19) PHOENIX (Lieutenant) Heavy Rocket Launcher, Nanopulser / Heavy Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (1.5 | 32) MYRMIDON Chain Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (0 | 16) MYRMIDON Chain Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (0 | 16) MYRMIDON Spitfire, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (1 | 30) WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse ( ) / Stun Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 3) 3 SWC | 150 Points Open in Infinity Army
These are good suggestions, I only have 2 caveats: - Lieutenant is not hidden - Warcor is hardly needed considering it's now irregular (it was regular in N3 and somebody thought that it was too low for a reg order to survive) The second one has an entire Enomotarcos and that's good, unfortunately it's not very clear what happens after the 1st mission ;) (how you grow, can you exchange... questions like that are unanswered ATM) Thank you Space Ranger!
Unfortunately that's most Lt. in SP. Your options are even more limited at 150pts. Are you doing one where you can't change what you took before? Meaing you can only add to what you already had?
Well I have Lt and Myrmidon Officer that has Lt option and is Chain of Command (plus the Eclipse grenade). Plus Phoenix has a Lt option. The opponent has 3 targets to choose from. Other than that it's true SP has limited Lt options. One could choose Phoenix over Machaon because the latter is an obvious choice and is a specialist already. Thank you!
I would just avoid having your Lt. be an active gunfighter like Phoenix. He's great and very resilient, but one lucky crit can still put him down. And then you've lost your best gun AND your Lt. (or you can take the CoC Officer)
This is all of the Lt. in SP. They are all active in some way and all expensive. At least most have NWI. I think Alke is the worst since she doesn't have Mim or NWI and expensive. Phoenix, Machaon both hav Mim-6 and NWI. If you take Machaon you get a specialist doctor that can heal himself. But not many points left over for guns. If you take Phoenix you get a fantastic gunfighter but no specialist and dangerous to use. Both can be in Myrm teams Hector and Hoplite are 2 wound HI, No Mim, expensive, but great gunfighters too. Hector is wild card. Hoplite is a bit restricted in teams. ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 9 1 MYRMIDON OFFICER (Lieutenant) AP Submachine Gun, Nanopulser, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (0 | 25) MYRMIDON OFFICER (Lieutenant) Boarding Shotgun, Nanopulser, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (0 | 26) ALKÊ (Lieutenant) AP Spitfire, Pulzar, Disco Baller / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1 | 29) PHOENIX (Lieutenant) Heavy Rocket Launcher, Nanopulser / Heavy Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (1.5 | 32) MACHAON (Lieutenant) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (0.5 | 37) HOPLITE (Lieutenant) Heavy Machine Gun, Pulzar / AP Heavy Pistol, E/M CC Weapon(PS=5). (1 | 40) HECTOR (Lieutenant [+1 Order]) Spitfire, Nanopulser, E/M Grenades ( | TinBot: Firewall [-3]) / Heavy Pistol, EXP CC Weapon(PS=4). (0.5 | 64) HECTOR (Lieutenant [+1 Order]) Plasma Rifle, Nanopulser, E/M Grenades ( | TinBot: Firewall [-3]) / Heavy Pistol, EXP CC Weapon(PS=4). (0 | 65) AGAMEMNON (Lieutenant) AP Heavy Machine Gun, Heavy Flamethrower(+1B) / AP + DA CC Weapon(PS=5). (1.5 | 65) KARKATA . (0 | 3) 6 SWC | 383 Points Open in Infinity Army
Machaon is generally a safer LT option because he's not actively gunfighting, he's also WIP 15 Mym Officer is generally filling in a Mym link of some kind and throwing eclipse grenades, again generally not gunfighting (maybe in later turns), so a safer LT choice Hector and Agamemnon are both options because they have multiple wounds and high armor, etc. But you also probably want the Mym Officer CoC (yes it's expensive, but that's true of much of SP) because they will be gunfighting and could die, so moderate risk Phoenix isn't a great choice because you want him actively shooting from turn 1, up in ARO (with at least one buddy giving him a special die) and will be a high threat target for your opponent in general. So paradoxically while he's very survivable, he also has a high chance to be killed. And there's always the chance an MSV2 sniper takes him out I don't really have experience with the other options
There's several great things about Hector. Stratego turns his to Lt. Orders to regular. Great ARM, plasma is very good, and great in CC.
There is one thing bad about Hector: cost. Otherwise it's a perfect Achilles substitute, even though talking about substitute is unjust to Hector
Having played a 150pts league game vs. Steel Phalanx recently, I'd agree that: You need Orders. Lots of Orders. Not an easy thing with high-cost faction like Steel Phalanx. Netrods & Flash Pulse Bots are your friends. WarCor is a very cheap Irregular Order, which you can turn Regular with your Command token every turn. A bit expesnive to do it all the time, but gives you an option. Phoenix... I did face him. 150pts is a small table game, and makes it difficult for him to leverage his range advantage. Might be an effective gunfighter, but I'd advise agaisnt taking him as your Lt. IMO Machaon is too expensive of a Lt. to stand in the back and do nothing. Hector is too expensive in my eyes. I mean, 64/65pts out of a 150pts list? Similar problem with Agamamnon, but on the other hand a TAG in a 150pts game is going to be gorram brutal. Still, you need Orders to feed it, and some support would be in place. So, it would be "all about Agamemnon" list. Again, not a SP player myself (albeit I face them on a regular basis), but personally I'd probably go for the cheapest option - Myrmidon officer - and use it to support a Myrmidon link of one kind or another. For comparison, I currently run DBS lists in 150pts league format, and despite all the Druze drawbacks (a topic for a different forum), I tend to field 8 Regular, 2 Irregular Orders (and then 1-2 Tactical Awareness, and 1-3 Impetous, albeit I rarely can actually use the Impetous ones).
Machaon is a Doc and a specialist... not a special gun or anything else so Lt hidden by a Myr. Officer is an ok choice. If I played against you you would have thought the officer was Lt for example ;)... so it works ;). Phoenix is "the sniper when I cannot shoot at 48" because the table is too short". Also where the HRL is too long, the Heavy pistol B2 PS=6 is not too bad at all... any closer and the CCW becomes a threat like any Myrmydon. However: definitely not an Lt option for me... too telegraphed! SP lacks low costed impetuous troops (Maybe the Furies I posted in another thread could be that). At the end of the day SP looks in structure like vanilla CA: big guns like the Carontid or Anathematic need the support of cheap impetuous like the witch soldiers. Ok SP can be the hammer where CA is more hacker oriented, but that also means the need for supportware like firewalls and white noises (if not eclypse right away). This last statement brings me to the lack of cheap hackers... sure, the mono CCW is nice, but the Thireos is a bit expensive due to that
I really like the Kites now that even the cheapest one has an emitter. They are pretty cheap for BS12 and ARM3 troop. The LRL is optimal range for smaller tables and 0 SWC. ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 4 THORAKITES Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 17) THORAKITES (Forward Observer) Submachine Gun, E/Mitter, Pulzar, Flash Pulse / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 13) THORAKITES (Forward Observer) Submachine Gun, E/Mitter, Pulzar, Flash Pulse / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 13) THORAKITES (Hacker, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 19) 0.5 SWC | 62 Points Open in Infinity Army
One thing with Machaon is that with WIP 15 he telegraphs that he's your Lt. Don't know how much you can really shell game your Lt. in a 150pts. game, but with Machaon you definitely can't
This is probably what I would do and going off what I said before. Hector is the Lt. Sure, everyone knows it but good luck doing anything to him. It has 9 Regular orders including Stratego Lt. orders, 2 Tac Aware Orders, 1 Irregular that can be turned into Regular. It doesn’t have what you would think of as a heavy weapon but the Plasma is that. Then the LRL is great for the 8-24 range and fairly versatile. The E-Mitter can also sub as a heavy considering it can stop a TAG in it’s tracks. Then 3 specialists. Hacker and 2 FO. The Daleth is a perfect toolbox for the low points and can ruin the enemies camo plans. ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 7 1 1 HECTOR (Lieutenant [+1 Order]) Plasma Rifle, Nanopulser, E/M Grenades ( | TinBot: Firewall [-3]) / Heavy Pistol, EXP CC Weapon(PS=4). (0 | 65) THORAKITES Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 17) THORAKITES (Forward Observer) Submachine Gun, E/Mitter, Pulzar, Flash Pulse / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 13) THORAKITES (Hacker, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 19) DALETH Rebot (Tactical Awareness) Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 18) LAMEDH Rebot Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7) LAMEDH Rebot Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7) WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse ( ) / Stun Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 3) 0.5 SWC | 149 Points Open in Infinity Army
