After being very dissappointed with Sky Sentinel, I'm going to give Laser Knight a try. I have a feeling he'll fit my playstyle much better than SS did. Blue Amplify looks like tonnes of fun, and I love the Chain Attack on the Ultra.

Here's what I'm planning to run with him:

Elite G-Tank
Grunt G-Tank x2
Elite Ion Cannon Tank
Grunt Ion Cannon Tank
Repair Vehicle x2
Fire Engine
Fuel Tuck
Shadow Fuel Truck
Elite Rocket Chopper
Grunt Rocket Chopper
Elite G1 Fighter
Grunt G1 Fighter x2

I plan to use the Tanks to grab objective spaces, and the G1s to screen and attack in conjunction with the Choppers.

Not sure what buildings to run really, other than my GUARD Defense base. The Newpaper Office, but what else? I don't want too many hazards about with him, but then again I don't have a massive amount of buildings to choose from, so I may not have much choice.

Buildings are not as important to Laser Knight because of Blue Amplify. He seems to always have P-dice, despite holding zero buildings. In fact, I have even heard of players who bring the minimum number of buildings that is allowed, 2, with LK. He just doesn't need them the way other monsters do. He is not range heavy, so little need for radar. He is grounded, so it is important to keep movement lanes open for him. The big downside to this is that your opponent basically gets to set the map the way they want it, and there is little you can do about it. I have never tried this, and don't think I have the fortitude to try. I know that is doesn't really answer your question, but it might provide some food for thought.

Yeah I was thinking about that. I might use less buildings than normal, but not sure that I could bring myself to only bring the minimum number, especially since I like to have some buildings near my spawn points.

LK is very effective with a minimum city. Although I think that strategy only work well against someone who's not seen it before. And it also doesn't work very well against the good ranged attackers. Map choice will be important for you, although I don't really have a suggested map.

Beware Tow and Hoist, abilities that can easily take away 2P for a very low A dice investment. Power denial games also limit LKs effectiveness, forcing him to spend A dice to Power Up.

I don't know that I'd take 2 Ion Cannon Tanks. Rather, I might replace the elite with an AA Tank. You'd be using those units mostly to hold Power Zones, and bringing their triggers into play only when you need them.

Okay that's a good idea, I'll take out the Elite Ion and add a grunt AA.

Here's my revised list:

Elite G-Tank
Grunt G-Tank x2
Grunt Anti-Aircraft Tank
Grunt Ion Cannon Tank
Repair Vehicle x2
Fire Engine
Fuel Tuck
Shadow Fuel Truck
Elite Rocket Chopper
Grunt Rocket Chopper
Elite G1 Fighter
Grunt G1 Fighter x2

I went through my buildings and decided on 6:

- GUARD Defense Base
- Tokyo City Center
- Newspaper Office
- Defense Contractor
- Publishing House
- Oil Refinery

Unfortunately most of those give Hazards, but I have a Fire Engine at least, and they're all nice ones to secure if I can manage it.

Just another thought on mini-city: it can really mess with you opponent. Depending on the map it really throws off their plan. Forcing them to place all of the buildings works to their disadvantage. We have a player who likes to turtle def x on riverside. He surrounds himself with dangerous bldgs and throws def bases on your side. With mini-city he loses most of his protection on that map because he has to filll up the middle green spots first. So he loses bldg advantage with regards to his strategy.

Situational to be sure but letting your opponent fill the map isn't always bad.

I wound up cutting back to just four buildings: GUARD Defense Base, Newspaper Building, Oil Refinery and Tokyo City Center. Problem is our main event organizer couldn't make it, and didn't leave his maps there so we could only play on the starter maps- so the city's were always full between my 4 and my opponents 12.

Laser Knight did okay. He trounced Pteradax in the first round which was great, since Pteradax destroyed Sky Sentinel last week. Then second round faced the horror of Ulgoth- man that monster sucks. Even with the nice edge from Hit & Run on LK's Alpha, those Chtul units ran riot over the board. Didn't help that he had 4 Towers of Corruption that he could spread around either. Also never seemed to get my Power Up rolls this game, despite rolling 3 A-dice.

Final round I faced a Zor, but we were cut short on time for this one so barely got started. I had taken 4 damage to my opponents 3.....bah!

I definitely like Laser Knight's playstyle a lot more than Sky Sentinel's. I think he may be my new favourite GUARD monster, although I still like Defender-X a lot as well.