Dear Sirs/Madams, I have been playing TAK exclusively ever since the release of Coldfront while prior to that only playing with vanilla Ariadna for over a year. As much as I like TAK I am starting to miss some of the flexibility and possibilities of vanilla ariadna (e.g. Chausseurs, cheap infiltrators, Mirage-5/Van Zant etc). I am curious if anyone here has continued playing vanilla Ariadna after the TAK release and if so if they have updated their lists with TAK specific units. I am interested in going back to playing vanilla again but would like to know if anyone has had experience with this in a post TAK world. Best Regards,
I've started vanilla Ariadna right now, but I think it fits to this topic. For me, Vassily Lt and the CoC Tankhunter are the best additions to Vanilla. He is a very good replacement for the Cateran as a wip 14 Lieutenant with BS 13 nnd Arm 4. Frontoviks are good to, but it depends on the Mission like the Grid if it is worth to take them with you. Strelok BS FO can be a good replacement for the third Foxtrot if you'll go for full Camo Spam.
Hi Ben, thanks for the input. Yes, I also struggle to bring the Frontoviks, they are so fragile without camo. The HRL is however a nice piece. Viiktor
In a lot of ways, I prefer the Strelok over the foxtrot now (except for the AVA). At 16 points with a smg, it can really be a tough nut in the center field, and I prefer a boarding shotgun on FO a lot of times since I don’t find myself using the rifle anyway. As was said above, the COC tankhunter is a nice profile. Depending on your opponent, the scout minelayer can be a fun surprise. Ariadna can field enough midfield specialists to make the “mine? E/M? Model? Ambush?” a fun game.
Mostly, TAK improved a little bit vanilla : - more camo marker. Strelok FO will replace a foxtrot FO in many list, increasing the number of camo marker and the shell game - Vassily bring a camo lieutenant even better than the scout lieutenant and TH lieutenant are (better BS, better weapon, still specialist and D-Charge, ambush camo) - Vassily CoC make more usable some lieutenant option rarely used in Vanilla due to LoL risk (Vet Kazak AP HMG, Van Zant executive order) - TH CoC : I don't see the point compared to Vassily. It's barely cheaper and a lot worse (lower BS, no ambush camo, worse weapon, SWC tax) - Scout minelayer bring a psychological threat to Ariadna shell game. I usually bring 12 to 16 camo markers. Now my oponent has to think more because one (or more of them) can be dangerous even to high end HI ot TAG
Overall, vanilla is still far more flexible. TAK sacrifices that flexibility for having linked line kazaks and some powerful expensive link teams. Frontoviks are good to reduce the price of veteran kazak fire teams, and offer some interesting profiles like sniper with visor and engineer to support veterans. With mimetism and assault pistols they are notable middle cost link troops. Also you can field many dogs but I think they fit vanilla far better. Except the K9, the strelok k9 is a blessing for TAK. In my opinion the best TAK additions to vanilla are the scout Emauler minelayer, Vassily, McMannus and the Ratnik. Mavericks are better but the dynamo with molotock can be interesting for some missions Also some strelock profiles can be situationally good, but in my opinion chasseurs and foxtrots are just excelent.
