I play USA and Firefight has come up in several local tournaments, but I keep getting beat badly. I think part of my problem has been my list construction. It doesn’t seem like it would be that hard to come up with an adequate list for Firefight, but I would really appreciate any help any other Ariadnans can give me. I don’t have minutemen, but I do have access to most other USA units.
I'm low on time so I have to be quick: Roger van Zant is your man! In this mission you have little to no use of specialists so I would either leave them home or bring a couple of FO Foxtrots maximum. Other than this bring all the heavy hitters USAriadna is loaded with. Grunt core and marauder haris would be my go-to units to do the heavy lifting. Infiltrating HFT Grunts can cause a lot of trouble (and lost army points) for your opponent: use them irresponsibly! In case they fail their roll, they make excellent DZ guardians. The scenario rewards AD, so watch table edges!
Seconded. In firefight I personally like to take no specialists at all, regular models can still loot panoplies and not having any specialists makes it VERY easy for you to kill more of them than your opponent. Load up on the big guns and infiltrators. I'd shoot for at least two infiltrating grunts, however many of them fail will stay back to protect your DZ and ARO pieces from inevitable AD troopers. I like to use a list similar to this for Killy missions like Annilation, decapitation and firefight. USAriadna Ranger Force ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 6 3 1 VAN ZANT AP Rifle / Heavy Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 38) GRUNT (Marksmanship LX) Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 18) GRUNT (Marksmanship LX) Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 18) GRUNT HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 21) GRUNT Lieutenant Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 10) GRUNT Heavy Flamethrower, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) HARDCASE FRONTIERSMAN Tactical Bow, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) HARDCASE FRONTIERSMAN Tactical Bow, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) DESPERADO Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / 2 Assault Pistols, CC Weapon. (0 | 13) GROUP 2 7 1 AIRBORNE RANGER Submachine Gun / Pistol, AP CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 20) HARDCASE FRONTIERSMAN Tactical Bow, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) FOXTROT Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 19) FOXTROT Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 19) FOXTROT Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 19) GRUNT (Inferior Infiltration) Heavy Flamethrower, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 11) GRUNT (Inferior Infiltration) Heavy Flamethrower, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 11) BLACKJACK AP HMG, Chest Mines, D.E.P. / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (2 | 36) 6 SWC | 299 Points Open in Infinity Army Van Zant comes down and does his thing while the Grunt team takes AROs, keeps your LT safe and provides orders for him. The Hardcases I use for some misdirection, trying to convince the opponent I've spent much more than I have so Van Zant and the Airborne couldnt possibly be there too and also I'll use their shotgun almost like a mine. (ambush allows for ten models in pool 1 for further misdirection) Desperados are great for trading models with the enemy charge through smoke up to something expensive and give them the choice: dodge and get shot with B5 or shoot back and eat a chain rifle. Boarding shotgun foxtrots are downright mean when someone gets too close. (alternatively you could drop them down to rifles, to give the hardcases rifles as well. This allows for several models to reveal, loot, then enter SP in great position with just a couple coordinated orders.) Hope this helps, happy hunting!
How do you get beaten? Gunned down by a Rambo unit who went first? AD troopers attacking from behind? Breaking yourself on your the opponent's defense? How experienced are you? How experienced are your opponents? I don't want to be "that guy" in regard to the last posts, but IMHO Van Zant is a trap option in most scenarios. He's wonderful to stomp newbies but most experienced players will usually kill him once he sets his foot on the map. Especially in this mission he's not very useful since every droptroop gets an AD Level X equivalent and a somewhat competent opponent will defend accordingly. My performance with USAriadna massively improved once I started using Marauder Core teams. They're very tough and have good loadout options. Even Achilles and the Sphinx get careful when they are threatened by HRLs with MSV1 and link boni. So I always recommend them. But for more input we need more information from you.
And that's why I just love this forum. Different players bring different perspectives and add their experience to the public knowledge. I have been playing for years and I just still keep learning.
