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Post by easye on Jun 14, 2016 14:11:59 GMT
Quick question on martian tactics. Which is a better approach?
1. Make a wall of lesser machines to screen your bigger hitters with, essentially forcing the Humans to fire at the more expendable machines, but risking a Daisy Chain if one goes up? 2. Spread your machines out just over 6 inches from each other
Your thoughts on how to help Tripods survive against concentrated Human firepower.
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Post by madmorgan on Jun 14, 2016 14:15:39 GMT
Spread out And use Slave drone/lobo skirmish line. Also there the 'Martian shuffle' - move 1st phase into range, fire phase, then move 2nd phase back out of range of your targets. Forces the human player to close to maintain firing range on the tripods or just shot at drones/lobos the majority of the time. Since posting this, the new phased turn approach has eliminated this tactic, as it is a Initiative Winner moves 1st Move phase, Loser moves 1st Move phase, Winner fires, Loser fires, Winner move 2nd Move phase, Loser moves 2nd Move phase. Morale is rolled per phase occurs - Turn ends and next turn initiative is rolled. This system is much better in my mind to run the game in. Only modifies to the initiative roll are : +2 for each enemy Armor 11+ unit destroyed, +1 for each enemy unit destroyed, -1 for each Command unit destroyed. Only modify human rolls, the Martians only roll an unmodified d10.
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Post by hardlec on Jun 14, 2016 15:02:00 GMT
The Martians get little if any advantage from staying close together. With their longer range and superior defense, it is best for them to spread out and attack from several angles. Use drones and/or lobots to search through the bushes and buildings to sniff out ambushes. Most of all remember this is not warhamster. The objective is defined by the scenario and there is no advantage to a clot of melee in the middle of the table.
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Post by terrance on Jun 14, 2016 20:09:24 GMT
Agree. Keep spread out. And don't forget to use the Martian second move to close with routing humans if possible. (Otherwise use the Martian shuffle mentioned by Madmorgan.) Get close enough and the routers become destroyed. With the human breakpoint so much higher than the Martian breakpoint you need to destroy entire units as fast as possible.
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Post by billf on Jun 14, 2016 21:21:58 GMT
Spreading out is better. Plus the tripods are so much taller than drones and lobos that the humans can just shoot over them at the tripods behind. We just did the first battle in the Vicksburg part two. The Martians had 3 tripods within 5" of each other. One blew up, the blast smashed the veteran tripod next to it flat, and did 3 armor damage to the other one. Human followup fire caused that one to blow up as well.
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Post by scottwashburn on Jun 28, 2016 11:49:35 GMT
A lot will depend on the terrain, of course. Sometimes the Martian player will have no choice but to bunch up.
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Post by mikedski on Jun 28, 2016 12:33:18 GMT
Spread out.
Martian shuffle is a tactic but of limited use in a 6 turn game. Harder to do if the human is stealth or hidden. Essentially the machines are not moving forward while prey flees and time to get on an objective or exit the board is limited.
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Post by mikedski on Jun 28, 2016 12:50:17 GMT
Caveat. I do play on a larger board. Also cheaper human artillery out ranges all Martian weapons.
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Post by madmorgan on Jun 30, 2016 12:35:36 GMT
Curious - how much larger? Interested as ranges are so important in the game.
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Post by mikedski on Jun 30, 2016 12:38:12 GMT
Curious - how much larger? Interested as ranges are so important in the game. 6x8 ish
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Post by billf on Jun 30, 2016 14:45:24 GMT
We play on either 5X6 or 6X8, depending on which store we are at.
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Post by madmorgan on Jul 1, 2016 10:50:52 GMT
That would change the scope of things a lot. I'm curious if you folks ever do any of my OOBs and if so, what adjustment for the different table sizes do you make?? Actually, this is a general question - what adjustments, if any, do players make for tables that are bigger (or smaller?) than the 'standard' 4x6' table that AD rules state??
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Post by billf on Jul 1, 2016 22:21:35 GMT
Hi Mad,
We don't make any adjustments for the bigger table sizes. The Martians are powerful enough as it is. They just have to deal with it. So far it hasn't made that big a difference.
Bill
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Post by madmorgan on Jul 5, 2016 12:29:18 GMT
Sounds good, more space, more maneuver room, more tactics - all good stuff
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Post by mikedski on Jul 5, 2016 13:39:52 GMT
Seems odd that the only Martian tactic is keep fingers crossed and not get blown up.
Attention. Attention. Thread jacking in progress. Please cooperate and this will end peaceably :
1) is it better to sweep when you have a chance than a focused heat ray?
2) are Martians wasting their time trying to heat Ray anything in trenches?
3) what is the best way to uncover stealthy humans? Take pot shots at decoy tokens from a distance or get within 6 inches and get a clean shot at anyone exposed?
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