While it is a nasty army, it is not insurmountable. An armor formation means that he only has two consecutive move turns before clearing. Having dual ArP artillery pieces can keep up the pog pressure and eventually do some damage when he has to clear. Arty also outrange the Shiro and can force it to move/heat up. If he has no infantry then he'll have to send his Roku in alone to silence you guns which should give you the chance to zap it before the armor and the Shiro can assist.

A formation of Hoverbikes could also sneak up to the Shiro and get close enough to be under its minumum range without basing it forcing it to assault in order to hit your bikes. The DF Mars is worrisome here with its AnP, but if he has the tanks in front, I doubt he would spend time turning the tank around (since it doesn't have 360 arc) around just to slag a few bikes. Besides his armor will be eating pogs anyway. You could also have the Hoverbikes simply base the Shiro thus denying RAO and forcing Called Shots.

RISC Armor Piercing Explosive Rounds will work well against the armor. A Loki with Exp. Pulse or Hyper Laser would also be good for breaking up his armor formation. I've never tried Hyper Laser (wish I had one), but with 14" range you should be able to hit a middle tank with a Loki and destroy it with a single Exp. Pulse blast thus breaking up his formation. Yes you may be in range of a counter shot from the Shiro, but if you have it based with Hoverbikes, it will have ot do a called shot against your likely 22DV with Decoy (not a sure prospect by any means).

With black armor, increasing attack values and no Salvage, snakes can be tough opponents (just ask my Jade Falcon touman). They can be beat though and in this case capitalizing on your advantages (best artillery in the game) also capitalizes on his weaknesses.

Hopes that helps.

Cheers,:)

Goreb

I went with this:

HD Loki w/ -/+2/+1 pilot and RISC Hyper-laser 264
HD Bishop 37 carrying
HD Kelswa 94
SS Giggins 26 carrying
SS Towed Gauss x2 40
Formation of
HD Coolant Truck 42
SS Sortek 29
SS J27 26
HD Grey Death Scout Battle Armor 19
HD Reroll FP 20
598 points

The first round was against a youth I loaned my Cap 2 Atlas to, along with his SS Behemoth and repair vehicle, plus a Towed Thunder, Savior, repair infantry and HD Towed Gauss. Hyperlaser didn't work much, but I rendered down both his heavy hitters.

Round 2 was against the Kurita player, who had his Scourge with good pilot and Decoy, 2 Kurita Hulitz. tanks and a Dragon's Fury Mars in formation, and a Kurita Kite to round things out.

I had a PC that neutralized Decoy just for him. He moved up the Scourge at full speed on his first turn and I assaulted it on my second. The Hyperlaser worked and he lost a lot of capacity then... he charged and hit after that, but it was for 0+1 clicks. He shut down after that. I had some critical misses, had the Hyperlaser blow... the tankdrop (in formation with the TGRs to avoid misses) damaged one Hulitz, but the Mars's AnP made a mess of the TGRs and the tank was killed not long after. The Loki was able to kill everything not long after that. They were all within standard range of water.

Third round was against a brand-new guy using a borrowed army I made, with the 5 damage Enforcer, Stalking Spider, hoverbike formation and support vehicles... managed to kill every single thing in it. So 3-0!

Next, 900 point battle and Ares are encouraged. The kids love Ares.

Good show Jetman! Given that two of my most skilled opponents play HK/DF I'm always happy to hear of victory against snakes. Nice job on the win and your army was built very well.

Cheers,:)

Goreb

would this work as a high damager.

damocles with the +1 damage fp and julian with blood in the water and a continous fire mode.

so three attacks 4 damage each and another close range for 4 if the fp adds +1 to both damage slots. thats 16. just make sure you have the gods on your shoulder while rolling

Yes it would 'theorectically' work, but like you said you would have to have some pretty serious dice mojo in order to pull it off. While CFM looks good on paper, I watched Kiezer Soze pay dual CFM armed BR Sun Cobras alongside a pair of APM armed Solitaires with disastrous effect. One just can't rely on a gear that only works 50% of the time and even when it does, deals an additional two heat.

Cheers,:)

Goreb

whats a CFM and an APM.:confused: Yea i know it isn't the best combo to do. i dont even have the gear but it ceratinly would be a hoot to take out an (insert choice assault here) in one shot. Plus once you've done that you gotta worry about the swarm of enemies you basically planted yourself into if you dont give them time to spread out.

Instead of using Julian's ride, why not use the Continuous Fire Mode on the Battleforce 5 Ballistic Enforcer? It is cheaper than Damocles and can do a potential of 15 damage if teamed with the reroll faction pride. Just one less damage for better accuracy. :)

YOU, my friend spoonman will be getting many twinkies for christmas for that. I have to order the Davion BF. and the continous fire mode. oh and the CFM and APM i figured it out.

I've done the CFM/Julian Blood in the Water combo a few times. It looks neat to shoot up your enemy and then run across the board to smash him to bits at the end, but it is hard to pull off. The range is short enough that you'll need approach with blocking terrain in the way, then assault over it within the 12" range. IF it doesn't blow up (as it does so often for me) you can make a big mess.

Damocles has a better heat dial than the 5 damage Enforcer, and if the CFM blows up, it doesn't put Damocles on a repair marker as it does with the 5 one. Pushing, assaulting, CFM heat... you're almost sure to have a HUGE ammo explosion with the generic one as well.

The results are lower, but the risk is lower too, and it's easier to recover from botching it.

botching?

or you could just leave heavy hitting to the heavy hitter. Hellstar pulse 5 anybody? gear it up with something fancy and strap in one of the Davion BF pilots.

I think fielding the hellstar would be a mistake. It's heat dial is just too risky for me, a heat effect on the second consecutive order will always tie you down. The Battleforce Pulse Templar would have a more stable heat dial with just one less energy damage. Or just use the House Davion Heavies, Loki or Mad Cat, they are both tough as nails. I particularly like the fact that the mad cat can take 6 damage and still have the same attack value and energy damage output. :cool:

And you can pulse 360 degrees too. but we all know its the missles that really gave it that. still, loop hole. I still want a hellstar to round out my davion collection. i also need the loki and BF.

Here's a question brought about in a similar post (by myself) but this time involving a specific faction for me to use: How can I beat BR solitaires (with artillery backup) with only HD/SS units? Arrow IV's are what I typically use to take out other artillery and units in general (I use 2 typically) but they draw immediate attention from the soli's everytime. Which leads to the death of 102 pts. and lack of artillery to act as counter batteries against the opponents artillery. Also, our mechs are sub-par on AV and heat dials... so charging is really the only option to completely cancel the evade on the soli. Any ideas? Tips? Advice from old-pro HD/SS players? ^_^'

well definately use the reroll fp. I think the real problem is getting rid of those first clicks. with evade it gets +2 def and no heat on run. so i would say couple your art with some tank or something to give it cover and use the shells to lead the solitaire where you want if possible. you could try using a high range like madcat 4 with a hyper laser to extend its range to 21inches. or you could use long tom art instead of arrows. bigger blast radius and longer range. that could destroy the art of the enemy.

How to kill BR Solitaires using HD/SwSw:

1. Force the BR guy to come to you using artillery or a mech w/ good range. Make sure that your arty has screener infantry like ATVs or Special Forces Teams (they have infiltrate).

2. When they come in range, they should be a little warm on their heat dial. You can do two things:

a. Base the unit and then run your own mech or a threatening unit behind it. If you have a unit w/ grapple, then this would be even more effective. It can shoot at your baser, or just move away. Whatever happens, it will gain heat. If you studied his dial better than he did, you can trick or pressure him into overheating.

b. if he makes the mistake of getting w/in range of any of your mechs, blast the guy w/ a nearby infantry drop that will formation-fire w/ your mech. I like to keep a Giggins, J-37, or Bishop nearby in my defensive House Davion armies. Infantry-drop candidates are SRM Teams, Towed Autocannon (yeah!), Laser Team, Hazen's Strikers, LRM Batteries, Towed Gauss Rifles, etc. It would be so accurate, you won't even need to use your Faction Pride. lol

This combo works great on mechs w/ superior firing arcs like the Madcat, Stalking Spider and the underrated SwSw Thunder Fox. Many GS mechs have great firing arcs and make awesome candidates for this. If you have the usual 180' arc, then keep your back against a wall or something. Those Solitaires are super fast, and can nail you from any angle...

3. If you don't like to use arty and like to go on the offensive, keeping a bunch of fast moving infantry to base the heck out of these Solitaires. They stink at killing infy and you can wear them down. Hoverbikes and Purifier Battle Armor are awesome at this. Low points and great mobility make them winners.

4. Close Combat Assault Orders, Ram, or the Charge special attack can negate their Evade bonus against Ranged Combat. However I like to stick to formations or trickery... Your support units are some of the best in the game, use them!


I've been a fan of House Davion since my earliest MW days, so I hope these notes help. :-)




Howdy Spoonman, I'll go see if I have some extra goodies I can spare for ya. Hope you can hang out this weekend!




Happy gaming!