Dropzone Commander Battle Report #14 – Shaltari Tribes vs United Colonies of Man
The
wars of the (relatively) near future continue, with Ubii Tribe making another
appearance against the United Colonies of Mankind. As the two factions attempt
to break the line, our embedded reporters will showcase the action from above.
“Affirmative,
sir,” came the shaky voice of a junior officer. “Intel reports were correct,
Horus Manslayer is leading the Shaltari forces.”
“Hold steady,”
warned the Lieutenant. “Shaltari bleed, just like anything else. Get the armor
into position, and start relaying coordinates back for orbital guns.”
“Yes sir.”
The Armies
Ubii
Tribe War Party
Shaltari
Tribes – 2,000
Wings of the
Chieftain
3x Eden Medium
Gate
4x Spirit Light
Gate
2x Haven
Terragate
Court of the
Elders
COMMAND – Coyote
Warstrider with Prime Warchief (CV6)
SCOUT – 4x Yari
Light Grav Tank with Light Ion Cannon
Shaltari
Swordpoint
STANDARD – 6x
Tomahawk Grav-Tank
SUPPORT – 3x
Kukri AA Grav-Tank
Shaltari Warrior
Clan
TROOPS – 2x
Braves
TROOPS – 2x
Braves
Shaltari Warrior
Clan
TROOPS – 2x
Braves
SUPPORT –
Firedrake
Shaltari
Speartip
SCOUT – 4x Yari
Light Grav-Tank with Light Ion Cannon
EXOTIC – 2x
Firstborns
Shaltari Warfist
HEAVY – Caimain Heavy
Grav-Tank
HEAVY – Caimain Heavy
Grav-Tank
SUPPORT – 3x
Kukri AA Grav-Tank
UCM
Fleet Marine Security Force TF-109
United
Colonies of Mankind – 2,000
UCM Field
Command
COMMAND – Kodiak
ACV with Colonial Lieutenant (CV3)
SUPPORT – Ferrum
Drone Base
Colonial Armored
Formation
STANDARD – 3x
Sabre MBT
-Condor Medium Dropship
SUPPORT – 3x
Rapier AA Tank
-Condor Medium Dropship
SUPPORT – 2x
Longbow Howitzer
-2x Raven-B Light Dropship with
Missile Pods
Colonial Armored
Formation
STANDARD – 3x
Sabre MBT
-Condor Medium Dropship
SUPPORT – 3x
Rapier AA Tank
-Condor Medium Dropship
SUPPORT – 2x
Longbow Howitzer
-2x Raven-B Light Dropship with
Missile Pods
Colonial
Legionnaire Corps
TROOPS – 3x
Colonial Legionnaires
-Bear APC
TROOPS – 3x
Colonial Legionnaires
-Bear APC
-Sharing Condor Medium Dropship
Colonial
Legionnaire Corps
TROOPS – 2x
Colonial Legionnaires
-Raven-A Light Dropship
TROOPS – 2x
Colonial Legionnaires
-Raven-A Light Dropship
Colonial
Expeditionary Group
EXOTIC – 2x
Praetorians
-Raven-A Light Dropship
SCOUT – 4x
Praetorian Snipers
-Bear APC
SCOUT – 4x
Wolverine LAV Type-A
After Action
Report
The
dice were not my buddies in this game. The lieutenant who led this UCM force
had apparently earned his commission fighting Shaltari, because his tanks took
my offensive elements apart. When my AA web collapsed, I basically had no way
to continue the attack, and had to instead go for the lateral win.
The
UCM demolished me initially, but somewhere the dice came back for me. I’m not
really sure when it occurred, but I ultimately had just enough time and luck to
overwhelm his flank and push through into his deployment zone. This is the
closest Encroachment mission we’ve played so far, and we were scratching our
heads with the math for thirty minutes before we got the final outcome.
Where
did things go right for the Shaltari along the way? If you saw it, tell us in
the comments below. I’m leaving it down to efficient use of gates and just barely enough luck to squeak
through. Stay tuned for more!
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I enjoyed the report, as a Shaltari player myself I think I know where things went wrong in the battle. Firstly it was a list imbalance, but I'll tell you what I think I would've done strategically. Those armor 10 tanks are usually put in UCM lists as they come with their starter sets, I would have avoided them like the plague and attempted to keep the Kukris alive. The Tomahawks can't hope to damage that armor so perhaps focusing their shots on occupied buildings later in the game would've had more benefit. As far as the list though, I would, if not instead of Tomahawks, add Tarantulas, as they could penetrate that armor better than any unit in the Shaltari army. If you haven't used em before they are a standard choice like Tomahawks, they take up more mass in your gates and cost more but they're the only thing that combats high armor/damage points/skimmers with ease. Their gravity gun has it's own damage table which allows them a 4+ to those tanks for damage, and say your opponent used a Gladius 2DP 10A tank ever, that would be even easier to damage with a 3+. I could go on about the Tarantula as they have changed the way I play the game. I almost always have a squad of em. They're not invincible though, maybe boosting their passive saves with a Dreamsnare support choice would help, but being a walker and having no skimmer bonus can make them easier to hit... this is made up though by having 8 armor and 2 damage points. Pick up some Tarantulas for when you face UCM again, I'm sure you'll see a more even battle :) Happy playing!
ReplyDelete*Sadly the Caimen and Firedrake are in the same boat against UCM, but for the points they can be quite nice, the FIredrake especially. But together might be future downfall against UCM, if you focus on shaking up infantry inside buildings maybe an Ocelot would help, or perhaps beefing up in other areas of your list with those points would help out more. Again, check out the Tarantulas. ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments sir! I agree with everything you've said here. We normally play at 2,500 so I was shaving points, and for whatever reason I thought it would be a good idea to lose the Tarantulas I always play. I should have known better; they've always been my answer to UCM armor, and I paid the price big-time.
DeleteIt's nice to have the comments, keep them coming!