Caledonian handbook on how to fight TAGs

Before we start, I'd like to thank my friend Joe (aka Rappletek) for having two TAGs in his army each time we played on events thus far, allowing me to smash them for research purposes!

Chances are that the first time you faced a TAG (Tactical Armored Gear) on the battlefield your army was dead before you knew it and all hopes of victory were crushed under their giant robot feet. Whether you are new or experienced, when your opponent places a TAG on the battlefield it can be a bit intimidating because they are large, have big guns, high stats and plenty of armour. Some TAGs are scarier than others but they can all be hard to deal with if you are not prepared for it.

One of the recent tournaments that I have attended (before writing this) had a TAG specific ITS mission and it made me think about how to deal with TAGs in some kind of reliable way, or at least try to anyway. Of course you won't always know if your opponent will play a TAG but it never hurts to think during army building if you have a way to deal with TAGs.

This article won't be exhaustive, every game requires a different approach and adapting to whatever is happening, but I hope that my thoughts and experiences in the following sections will give you some ideas about how to deal with TAGs in your games. At the bottom you will find my recommendations for Caledonian units to fight TAGs.

Positioning

Personally I find that TAGs are deadliest in their Active turn (as most units are). There is no way to sugarcoat it, if it is your Reactive turn and you left units exposed to the TAG's Line of Fire there is a good chance that they will die. I believe it is always a good idea to either deploy or end your turn mostly hidden and force the TAG to spend Orders moving into position. Preferably you want the TAG to end up in bad range bands for whatever weapon it has but if nothing else, you will make your opponent spend extra Orders and their army is not likely big if it has a TAG.

Most TAGs have some sort of long range weapon (like HMG or Spitfire) as their main weapon so if it can see your units from its Deployment Zone, you are just making it easy for the TAG. Hiding your units might throw off your opponent's plan because they can't just rampage with their big shiny robot. They might move forward with other units, making it easier for you to starve the TAG of Orders (more on that later).

The trick really is to end your turn with no exposed units but not giving up the board control entirely. It is sure easier said than done but once you get good at it (or like sorta good, I still struggle too) it will make your games better in general.

The only units I would recommend to have on long range AROs are those that are hard to hit (units with Camouflage or ODD) or have high Burst in their Reactive Turn (like Total Reaction Remotes) or are equipped with weapons dangerous to TAGs. Just watch out for TAGs with Multispectral Visor if Camouflage is what you rely on; nothing wrong with checking with your opponent what equipment the TAG has if you are not familiar with it. 

Never leave a TAG in null state

I believe this point warrants its own section because I think it is the biggest mistake you can make when fighting a TAG. I can't stress it enough. No matter how Orders it takes to do it, either shoot the unconscious TAG dead or get close to Coup de Grace it. Taking it down to null state (unconscious) likely took some effort so don't give your opponent the chance to repair them with an Engineer.

You might think that a TAG coming back from null state with 1 Structure point is not a big deal but keep in mind that Engineers can repair all Structure points. It is different to healing units with a Doctor/Paramedic as the target of the Engineer skill doesn't need to be unconscious. It happened to me before and it is very frustrating to realize your hard work of killing a TAG and crippling your opponent's army was a waste of a turn. 

So yeah, always finish off an unconscious TAGs. Even if there is no Engineer on the board; there are enough Engineer units in the game that can appear later (such as through Airborne Deployment).

TAG weaknesses

Facing TAGs is not all doom and gloom though, they do have weaknesses you can exploit. First the obvious, most TAGs are pretty big and tend to be hard to hide or even get partial cover (all really depends on the sort of terrain you have). Often enough you should be able to find an angle to get the TAG out of cover when you shoot it. Once you find this angle, make sure to use the right weapon.

My favourites are weapons with AP ammo (AP Marksman Rifle, AP HMG, Molotok, SMG, etc). Even a basic Damage 13 Rifle with AP ammo can kill a TAG in your active turn, especially if you can shoot it out of cover. I do think people underestimate how useful these weapons can be. TAGs might have 3 Wounds (Structure Points) but if you keep shooting with Burst 3 or more it is only matter of time before it dies.

It should go without saying that Missile Launchers and Autocannons are the best at killing TAGs. AP+EXP combo is enough to take out TAGs with 1 shot. Template weapons like Boarding Shotguns can also work as they can deny Cover but preferably you want to use the AP mode. I see templates as more of a last resort. Same goes for T2 ammo weapons. It is a threat to the TAG to take 2 Wounds with one failed ARM save but without AP they have a good chance of passing that ARM save.

Also should go without saying that using very basic Rifles without special ammo is almost always waste of time, it is a Hail Mary if there is literally nothing else you can do.

Another thing I found good to keep in mind is that TAGs are not designed for Close Combat (CC). Sure, the models might have big ass swords and they might have a high CC stat (all their stats are high though) but currently there is only one TAG in the game with Martial Arts (or any CC skills); the O-Yoroi from JSA has Martial Arts Lv1. This might not be a relevant tactics to some armies, but especially Ariadna has access to some great CC units with high Physical and AP Close Combat Weapons (CCW). I find the CC tactic to be useful especially if the TAG is in Suppressive Fire and/or has TO Camo.

The last point I would like to make about TAG weaknesses is that due to their Points Cost, the rest of your opponent's army is likely designed to support the TAG and it is not big. Thus it is a viable tactics to ignore the TAG and take out their Orders instead. No matter how good the TAG is, if your opponent has only few Orders left it can become virtually useless. I would definitely recommend this if you don't have any good units to attack the TAG with. Get pass the TAG fear, keep your head in the game and starve it of Orders. It might not always work but it might give you a better chance of winning the game than shooting the TAG and hoping for miracles.

Caledonia unit recommendations

If you play the Caledonian Highlander Army then I have some great news for you. The Scots are great at killing TAGs! There are so many units that can deal with them. You have access to variety of weapons with AP, from close range to long range and also plenty of units great in CC that come with AP CCW.

Lets start with the shooting. The best I think are the Scots Guard, especially in a Fireteam. All of them come with a weapon that can shoot AP rounds. They have SMG, D.E.P., AP Marksman Rifle, Molotok and Missile Launcher. And the best part? They all can have Camouflage. It is very satisfying when your opponent is thinking that they shooting at a sniper and then boom, its a Guard with Missile Launcher.

Then you also have Grey Rifles and Moarmaers, both Heavy Infantry units with good BS 13 and option for AP HMG. They can also form Fireteams for that sweet Burst 5 HMG; it is often enough to shred a TAG in one round of shooting.

Now the fun part, Close Combat. The best unit for the job in my opinion are the Highlanders. For mere 6pts these bad boys will almost guarantee you to cause at least 2 Wounds on any TAG. They have beautiful combination of skills and stats to get them to CC 27 and even if you do not crit, the TAG still has to take Damage 14 hit with AP. They are cheap, expendable, fast and have Smoke Grenades. Getting to CC with a TAG is not a problem for them. And you can have as many of them as you want! Few things are as satisfying as having your cheapest unit kill your opponent's the most expensive unit.

Another great unit for killing TAGs in CC I found is McMurrough (aka McMurder). This guy is even faster than Highlanders and also has Smoke Grenades. Once you get him to CC he has Martial Arts Lv3 so he can be up to CC 26 and he has DA+AP CCW, so that is two ARM saves for the TAG at DMG 16 with AP. To top it off, McMurrough has Total Immunity and ARM 4, so he can take a punch if you don't win the CC roll. The downside is that he is expensive on Points. Cameronians are a good cheaper alternative but they lack the Martial Arts and Double Action weapon.

For more brute force CC you can also use William Wallace and Wulvers. The downside with these guys is that they are not expendable, so if you go Berserk or lose the CC roll they can die as some TAGs do have EXP CCW. That said, even if it takes one or two Wulvers to kill the TAG, they are still killing something more expensive so it can be worth it. Less so with Wallace as you don't want to risk your Lt needlessly.

The last CC unit I'd like to point out are the SAS (and in extension Uxia). It might not be as obvious as the previous units why they are good for CC kills but they do come with Martial Arts Lv2 and AP CCW. This way you can get to DMG 16 if you want to and you have a very good chance of winning the first roll because if you attack out of Camo, you give the TAG -6 modifier. Then you can also use Martial Arts Lv1 to give them extra -3 and you will be at DMG 14. Overall you'll be at CC 19 with an SAS and the TAG will have a -9 CC modifier.

The problem with the SAS is the follow up though, after you are out of Camo you can't rely on the Surprise Attack (the -6 modifier) anymore. For this reason I think they are best suited for finishing wounded TAGs. In my experience the SAS work very well in twos. If you can get one into CC, cause a Wound and then follow it up with another SAS, you will have a decent chance at killing the TAG because the second SAS will have Burst 2.

The units mentioned thus far were more or less standalone, as in they can deal with a TAG in some way on their own (Fireteams only improve their ability to do so). There is, however, one more unit that I found useful to deal with TAGs. The unit is the good old Traktor Mul. There are two ways that I have used and found effective.

The first way is using the Guided Missiles. I do prefer Uragan because of AP but Katyusha can also work because of Double Action, it might take more Orders though. For this to work you will of course need a Forward Observer (FO) to Target the TAG. My choice of FO were the SAS. Thanks to WIP 13 and Camo you have a pretty decent chance of being able to Target anything in your Action Turn. After that it is just matter of spending Orders on the Mul to send missiles. You do have to watch out for enemy Hackers but your opponent might not have any since they are generally useless against Ariadna armies.

For the second combo you will need a Wardriver Hacker with a regular Hacking Device and an Uragan Mul; mainly because this is less effective on Katyusha with Burst 1. Simply give the Uragan Marksmanship Lv2 with the Hacker, get close to the TAG and blast it with AP missiles. This is something most armies do all the time if they have Remotes and Hackers, and it works so why not use it. If the TAG is in cover you can deny ARM bonus with Template Mode or if they not in cover, just use Hit Mode for extra DMG. If the TAG is not in cover you might think not to use the Hacker for Marksmanship, but it will help you in your following reactive turn so I'd do it anyway. The Uragan does have Total Reaction and Marksmanship Lv2 which will make anyone think twice about attacking it.

The Wulver Train

I heard people before to call a Fireteam of Nomad Mobile Brigada the "Pain Train", which in my humble opinion would make a Fireteam of Wulvers the "Freight Train of Pain". Chances are you saw me talk about the Wulvers before on this blog, I use them often and I keep promising to write a full article about the Fireteam. Well, I took my time but here it is!

So what makes Fireteam of the 9th Wulvers Grenadiers Regiment so good? Let me break it down for you.

First lets take a look at the Wulvers profile. Their stat line is what you would expect from a Heavy Infantry (HI) unit but they are classed as a War Band (WB). As part of Caledonia elite units, they have high CC 21 and also high PH 14. They come with BS 12 which is high in the army (but average in the game). Their WIP 13 is good, but standard among Caledonia. The Wulvers are quite survivable thanks to ARM 3 and 2 Wounds, yes you read that right. They are one of the few units in Caledonia (and in Ariadna) that come with 2 Wounds. They have no BTS but that is expected from Ariadna units.

What makes their stat line go from average/high to excellent are the Special Skills. Climbing Plus combined with 4-4 MOV allows them to get into position very quickly and it lets you attack from unexpected angles and take the high ground. They also get Kinematika Lv1 so their Dodge and Engage movement is 1" longer, it does make more difference than it might seem. The best part, however, is the combination of Berserk, Natural Born Warrior and CC 21. This makes them extremely brutal in Close Combat (CC). No matter which opponent they face in CC, you have something to deal with them. 

Natural Born Warrior gives you the choice of either denying any and all CC Special Skills of your opponent (Martial Arts, Berserk, i-Kohl, Surprise Attack, Protheion, Poison and Natural Born Warrior Mode A), or you can give yourself +3 CC and +1 Damage. Then you can also activate Berserk and get extra +6 CC and make the combat Normal Rolls instead of Face to Face. This guarantees you will hit your opponent, and the best art? You are at CC 30! So you need 10 or more for a Critical Hit. If you don't get Critical Hit, you are still at Damage 15 and thanks to the 2 Wounds you can often take a hit in return and still live.

Just a little side note, the Wulvers do have Frenzy which makes them Impetuous after they cause a Wound on an enemy unit. However, this does not affect them whilst their are in a Fireteam and so I won't go into detail about it.

The Wulvers have a good selection of weapons for very affordable points cost. You can have a T2 Rifle, a Mk12 or a Heavy Shotgun. All three options come with Grenades and AP CCW. This gives you a good mix of range bands: Shotguns for close range, Rifle for mid-range and Mk12 for mid to long range (up to 24"). With Wulver's mobility you shouldn't struggle getting into optimal range with either weapon. Both the Mk12 and Shotgun are Damage 15, and T2 Rifle has T2 ammunition (as the name would suggest), so they are all deadly. Especially the Heavy Shotgun in a full Fireteam and within 8", you'll go up to BS 21 with three templates!

The best part about the weapon options is that all of them are 0 SWC, so you still have plenty of room for other units with special weapons. There is also a fourth option, a T2 Rifle for 1 SWC that comes with Fireteam: Haris. This is handy if you want your Fireteam: Core to be made of different units (like Volunteers or Scots Guard).

You might have already notice that I keep talking about full Fireteam of Wulvers, which is 5 troops but Wulvers only have Availability (AVA) 4. So how can you make a full Fireteam? Well the key to make this freight train is William Wallace as the Lieutenant . He has the ability to join any Fireteam Core or Haris in Caledonia. And so with four Wulvers he can make a full Fireteam Core of five. Not only that but he makes the whole Fireteam so much better because of his Smoke Grenades. That way the Fireteam doesn't need to rely on other units for cover.

In my experience, I found it best to use the Wulvers Fireteam in missions where the objective is to kill enemy units or board control. Mainly because you might not have many Specialists, or even Orders, to do other Objectives based missions as most of your Orders will likely go into this Fireteam. The Fireteam I always take is one Mk12, two T2 Riles, one Heavy Shotgun and Wallace.

Now that you know why Wulvers are so awesome, here are some tactical tips on how I like to utilize them on the battlefield: 

Sledge Hammer

This is the most aggressive way I use the Wulvers but it makes for an excellent Alpha Strike and it can more or less end the game before your opponent even had a chance to have his turn. Simply put, use as many Orders as you need on this Fireteam to get into the enemy deployment zone and kill as many enemy units as possible in super close range using the Heavy Shotgun. This is especially devastating if you opponent deployed their units in groups because you will have three shots with a template at Damage 15 and potentially at BS 21.

I would recommend to only do this if you see a good path to the deployment zone and you actually can take out more than one unit at a time. Keep in mind that most likely you will have only 8 Regular Orders (and the Lt Order) as your opponent will probably take 2 Orders from you with their Command Token.

If you opponent set up well and you can't get the Shotgun to hit multiple units, it might be better off to attack from range with different weapons. This is high risk-high reward tactic. If you fail to do enough damage your Wulvers will be left far from your army and your opponent could destroy them, after which it might be game over for you as this Fireteam will be more than half your army.

For maximum effect, I also recommend use Uxia (or another Infiltrator) to kill the enemy Lt, if the Wulvers can't, so they are in Loss of Lt when they start their turn. That way they will really struggle to retaliate and your second turn will be just mopping up what is left and securing your victory.

Example game play here (Game 3).

Hold the line

It is not always possible to be super aggressive, in some games it is more important to take board sections and hold them at the end of the turn. It is always preferable to go second in those kind of missions but I played games where I went first too and Wulvers didn't let me down. They are good at holding ground when you need them to. In the Fireteam they will have Burst 2 in ARO and as long as there is five of them, you'll often be shooting at BS 15 or BS 12, which gives you good odds. The trick is to find good spots where your opponent can't easily engage your Wulvers in their bad range bands. For example, if your opponent can shoot at your T2 Rifle from over 16", the odds will not go in your favour.

I would recommend to always give them support from other ARO units, like Snipers. Though more often than not, even when I lose the face to face rolls for shooting, the Wulvers survive thanks to 2 Wound and ARM 6 in cover. Sometime your dice will be bad and there is nothing you can do about that, but most times my Wulvers came out on top from any firefight (where the odds were not heavily stacked against me by playing badly or just being outplayed).

This is something that I found to be very handy in board control missions. Thanks to the high cost of this Fireteam you can very easily dictate which sections you want to hold because three Wulvers in a section is almost 100 points that will be hard to shift. And that still gives you around 60-70 points to have in another zone. I try to always keep the Wulvers near the section borders so you don't have to spend much movement to move in and out of a zone, and you should be able to take 2 sections easily, sometime even 3.

Also, a useful thing I learned is to not have Wallace as the Link Leader by the end of your turn, unless he is really well hidden (but even then I tend to not do it anymore). He will be a big target for your opponent so chances are you might want to be Dodging with him while Wulvers would be better off shooting. As long as he is not the Link Leader, he can break out of the Fireteam and do a different ARO without breaking the Fireteam as a whole, so your Wulvers can still have some support bonuses.

Game play example here (Game 2) and here (Game 1).

Death from above

Sometime your opponent is too well entrenched down for a direct attack; such as a TAG on Supressive Fire, or you might see a group of enemy units but a Sniper is making it hard to reach them. Whatever the case might be, never forget that your Wulvers all have Grenades and high PH. This is a perfect combination for some Speculative Fire.

In the best case scenario, you want to get four Wulvers within 8 inches of your target. Then you can use Coordinated Order for all four of them to Speculative Fire. This will give you four attack on PH 11, so more than 50% chance to hit (-6 for Speculative, +3 for Range). If you are over 8 inches you will be hitting on PH 5, which I only recommend for desperate situations.

Few things to keep in mind: you only have to clip your target with the Grenade template, but they all have to go into the same place. Doing a Coordinated Order will also break the Wulvers from a Fireteam so to save Command Tokens you can use Wallace's Lr Order to do a Coordinated Order (thanks to Inspiring Leadership) with him and three Wulvers (he will throw Smoke Grenade as he doesn't have regular ones) and then use a Command Token to re-link the Fireteam if you need to.

High castle

This is something I would only recommend if you really want to win, because it is the sort of tactics you could call cheesy. I used it only once and whilst I won the game, it wasn't the most fun I had.

It will mostly work on a table with high terrain, preferably with the top being hard to reach. What you can do is send the Wulvers to the top of some high terrain to make it hard for your opponent to attack them. They will get there really fast thanks to the Climbing Plus and Wallace can Climb 6" per Order so he won't take long either. Once you are on top it should be really hard for your opponent to reach the Wulvers, especially if the terrain has no ladders or other access points. Your opponent will not want to Climb to the top because once they get there, the whole Fireteam of Wulvers will get free AROs and most likely slaughter them.

This way you can hide 170pts in a hard to reach place, if they mission is about having units alive or board control (and the terrain happens to be in a good spot to take control of board sections), it will make it very hard for your opponent to win.

Before you commit to this though, make sure your opponent doesn't have any units with special skills like Super Jump or Climbing Plus, or weapons that can Speculative Fire, like Grenades. It could backfire on you if your opponent has a way to deal with this.

Example game play here (Game 2).

The Thermonuclear Warhead of Pain

This is my all time favourite combo in the game and it is also the most devastating one. What you need to do is get Wallace and all the Wulvers into CC, which can be very easy for these guys once you practice it few times. Then as the Link Leader Wallace will attack with Fireteam support, +1 Burst and +1 Damage for each other friendly unit in CC. This gives him up to CC Burst 5 and Damage 18 (if you get all of them base to base, keep in mind the Silhouette of the enemy determines how many can be base to base).

Then you activate Berserk and Wallace goes to CC 28 with Explosive CC Weapon. So you will be rolling 5 dice with Critical Hit on 12. That will guarantee 15 Armour Saves for your enemy at Damage 18, five of those very likely to be Critical! Nothing in the game will survive such onslaught, NOTHING! Okay, maybe if you opponent is extremely lucky to roll high on 15 dice and you got no crits, that way they can survive.

The downside of this is that Wallace will get hit back, so he might not live through it himself. Depending on your target, you can switch Wallace with a Wulver for slightly lesser impact, but still a deadly one. You can even keep Wallace out of the CC and just use the Wulvers. One of those with support of three will roll four dice at up to CC 30 with AP CCW at Damage 17, 95% units in Infinity will not live through that either.

Example army list

The Wulver Fireteam will be more than half of your army points so the rest of your army is more or less build around them but considering how cheap Caledonia units are, there are many different ways you can do it. It really depends on your preferences and available models but if you would like an example this is the kind of a list I would take these days.

While Wallace is alive it will give you 17 Regular Orders and 3 Impetus Orders, which should be enough to put into the Fireteam and other units like Uxia or the Caterans. I find the Caterans to be the best long range options in Caledonia, which is why I wouldn't bother with HMG or such. The rest of the army is pretty aggressive and Doctor with Volunteers will cover your back lines.

Expanding Caledonia Starter Set

Every so often someone asks what to buy next after getting a faction starter set. While I do believe it is better to have a bit more in depth discussion before suggesting what models to buy (because there are so many different ways to play each army), I also understand its not the answer people might be looking for. Some people just want a simple answer to build an army and get playing.

Considering the recent news we will be getting a new Caledonia Starter Set, which is bit different from the current one, I thought it might be a good time to offer my thoughts on how to expand the upcoming Caledonia Starter Set.

Few disclaimers first though: these will be just suggestions on a generic Caledonia army and not tailored to any kind of ITS missions. It should give you a good broad understanding of Caledonia but there are many different ways to approach an army and it is best to find what suits you the most.

The New Starter Set

As expected with any Infinity starter set you will get six models, three line troops and three other units. The models are three Volunteers, a 3rd Grey Rifle, a Wulver and a Mormaer. The differences between the old and the new is that Corvus Belli seems to be moving away from including a skirmisher so you no longer get an S.A.S. and you also don't get a Chain Rifle on a Volunteer. This time all Volunteers have Rifles, and on the promo art they suggest one of them is a Paramedic. The other three units all get T2 Rifles.

This box set does have a definitive lack of heavy weapons, such as a HMG or a Sniper Rifle, but T2 is very deadly ammunition (causes 2 Wounds on one failed ARM save) and I think it compliments how Caledonia should be played to maximize its strengths. It is a very aggressive army and having only Rifles should force you to get closer. The good thing is that the set does give you the tools to do this. The Grey Rifle comes with Smoke Grenades and can form a Fireteam with Volunteers, so he can use Smoke to cover your advance. The Wulver has Climbing Plus and very high PH so they can get where they need to quite easy. The Mormaer is slow but he does have ARM 5 and X-Visor which extends the range of his Rifle so he doesn't need to move as much.

The points value of this Stater Set is 125pts (assuming you take a Paramedic as suggested by the set).

I have decided to offer my suggestions for lists of 150pts, 200pts and 300pts. This should help you start small and grow your collection, especially if you are doing an Escalation League. I am also assuming you might not want to spend lots of money right away so I will try to limit the purchases and make use of most models when suggesting a box set.

Easch list will be a direct expansion of the previous one.

Expanding to 150pts
Open in Infinity Army

You don't need to add much to go from 125pts to 150pts but I would recommend your first purchase (expansion) to be a box set of Volunteers. The new set that is coming out should offer 4 to 5 models (more likely 4, but not confirmed as of this article writing). My suggestion to is to add a Volunteer with a HMG and a Volunteer with a Chain Rifle. This is exactly 25pts.

This will allow you to maximize your Fireteam Core (four Volunteers and a Grey Rifle) and it will give you the much needed heavy weapon. Plus you will have two Volunteers with Rifles on the board, one of which will be your Lt, so your opponent will have to guess which one it is. I would not recommend to make the Mormaer your Lt because he will be targeted by your opponent often as he is a big threat.

Expanding to 200pts
Open in Infinity Army

For the next 50pts I would suggest Uxia McNeill and a Cameronian. Infiltrating Specialists are strong in all Ariadna factions and Uxia is the best of them all. If you take her as the Cover Action option she will give you lots of tools to use and she is a Specialists to do Objectives in ITS missions. Cameronians are like a bigger version of a Wulver, fast and deadly. They come with Smoke Grenades, Physical 16 and two Chain Rifles, not to mention Super Jump and Total Immunity. They are hard to kill and if you are careful, you can easily charge them down the board, under Smoke cover and kill whatever you need killed.

These two models are very different in how they work in the table but both will help your army to achieve its goals, either killing enemy units or getting to objectives. At 200pts you are quite limited with only 10 Orders but I wouldn't expect to face more models at this level. Some practice with Uxia and the Cameronian should give you a good idea what these units can do, which will help you use other units that have similar roles.

Expanding to 300pts 
Open in Infinity Army

Going to full 300pts, we will go from 10 Orders to 17 Orders which is more average for Ariadna armies. It is the low-tech faction and you will almost always outnumber your opponent. I know it might feel like lots of stuff to buy at once but that is the downside of being able to field lots of units. You can play Ariadna (and Caledonia) with more expensive units (and so less of them) but I would suggest to do that only if you have experience with the game as it is the harder way of playing Caledonia. 

The core of the army will remain the case, Fireteam of Volunteers and a Grey Rifle, a Mormaer and a Wulver. The only change with the Volunteers I suggest is to change non-Lt Rifle to a Grenade Launcher. The army is so big enough to give protection to your Lt without need for a decoy. I have also added a S.A.S. Forward Observer (FO) to get another Infiltrating Specialist. These guys are useful to either do objectives, ambush enemies or mark them with FO skill to other units get a boost to BS when shooting the market target.

In the second group you have the Cameronian, and six new models. Firstly I would suggest a 112 Emergency Service and a Dozer. This will give you solid Specialists (Doctor and Engineer, respectively) to help with Objectives. I highly recommend to get used to playing with these two as they can be quite helpful. Then you have a Cateran, an excellent Camouflage Sniper with T2 Sniper Rifle. He will add more long range support to the army.

Last but not least, the three Highlanders, one of the most deadly units in Caledonia (and in the game in my opinion). These guys are dirt cheap, fast and lethal. I think the Chain Rifles are best value for points (only 6pts!) but the Highlander box set comes with models holding Chain Rifle, Sword, Shotgun and Rifle. The Sword can be any kind of loadout and I don't recommend the Rifle because these guys are only BS10 and want to be close to the enemy (preferably in Close Combat), which make the Shotgun much better and deadlier option. The Highlander will take some time getting used to before you might see their potential but I highly recommend to practice with them a lot, you won't regret it when they are shredding enemy Heavy Infantry with claymores!

Why play Caledonia?

If you are reading this then either you are interested in playing Caledonia or just curious what I got to say about the army. Either way I hope you will find this useful and perhaps join the Caledonia Highlander Army!

Caledonia is part of the Ariadna faction so you can expect very limited access to hi-tech equipment and weapons, but just like Ariadna, Caledonia offers lots of cheap troops and plenty of camouflage. This way you can almost always outnumber your opponent and keep them guessing with hidden units. What makes Caledonia stand apart from Ariadna and its other sectorials is more aggressive play style. 

It is not the only way you can play Caledonia but the army does excel at getting close to the enemy and most of the units are good in Close Combat. If you like the idea of destroying your opponent with claymores and giant werewolfs, Caledonia army might be for you.

This list of strengths and weaknesses is not exhaustive but it should give you a good idea of what to expect.

Strengths 

• Cheap and effective units
• Aggressive
• Plentiful access to T2 ammunition

Getting close to the enemy requires Orders, in Caledonia you won't struggle finding those Orders because you will have access to Regular Troops as cheap as 6 points. The Volunteers are just very basic Line Troops but they do a good job of giving you lots of Orders. Other cheap troops are Highlanders, who by default are Irregular but they are very cost effective. They are fast, have Smoke Grenades, Chain Rifles and extremely good in Close Combat. The most expensive unit in Caledonia is only 43 points (excluding a Mercenary TAG), which means you will not struggle to fill your army with elite troops supported by plenty of Orders provided by Line Troops.

Playing aggressively is not for everyone, it does require you to play in a certain way but if you are up to it, Caledonia is great at taking the fight to your opponent. The army has a selection of very mobile units and plenty of Smoke Grenades to make it easier for your troops to maneuver on the battlefield. Cameronians are one of the toughest and fastest units in the game. They have 6"-4" Move, Super Jump and Total Immunity, which means they can get wherever you need them to and are hard to kill.

For those new to the game, T2 ammunition causes two Wounds for every failed armour save, instead of one. This makes it lethal to Heavy Infantry which usually has two Wounds, and worries even units with three or more Wounds. In Caledonia there are five units with access to a T2 weapon, so you will not struggle fielding this deadly ammunition type in your army.

Weaknesses

• No units with Airborne Deployment
• Impetuous and Frenzied units 
• Expensive Infiltrators

 

No Airborne Deployment (AD) units is not as bad as it can sound, it does mean you can't flank your opponent with paratroopers but Caledonia does make up for it with being mobile in different ways (see above). But from experience, I find it easier to forget AD units exist because I can't play them in Caledonia so they are not on my mind. 

Playing aggressively is not always a choice in Caledonia, some units force your hand because they are either Impetuous or Frenzied, which makes them Impetuous once they kill something. This can be daunting because it makes your units rampage towards the nearest enemy and they loose all advantages from cover but if you learn to manage this, you can use it to your advantage as it technically gives some of your troops extra free Orders!

Caledonia's Infiltrators are the SAS. Their cheapest option is 20 points and for a Specialist it is 24 points. In comparison, Foxtrot Specialist (from USA Ranger Force) is 18 points. The difference might not seem that big but these points add up quickly. However, the SAS do stand out from other Infiltrators by having Martial Arts special skill and good Close Combat value. This gives them a unique application on the battlefield and you can easily surprise your opponent with infiltrating camouflaged assassins.

Smoke Grenades (in Caledonia) 101

 
I believe it is fair to say when talking about strengths of the Caledonian Army, the three main things are tough units, plenty of T2 ammo and access to Smoke Grenades. From the nineteen unit choices (in current ITS season, and excluding Spec Ops), six of them have access to Smoke Grenades so it is very likely you will have them in your army. If you played against someone with Smoke Grenades before, you know how useful they can be. Though they can just as easily mess up your game if you don't plan ahead at least a little bit when using them.

In this article I would like cover some of the tips and tricks for Smoke Grenades that I use in my games. Before we get into it, keep in mind this is from Caledonia perspective. Most of this could apply to other armies as well, and there are some stuff that other armies can do but Caledonia can't, I won't talk about as I don't have experience with those. 

Smoke Screen in Active Turn: This is probably the main use people think of when it comes to Smoke Grenades, to block Line of Fire (LoF) from enemy troops. Smoke Grenades create a Zero Visibility Zone (Zero Vis) template of infinite height.Only Multi Spectral Visor Level 2 or higher can see through Zero Vis zone, so Smoke can protect you from the vast majority of troops in the game. To me Smoke Screen has two uses, a single LoF Block or a Smoke Path. In either case, it is very important to remember that Smoke activates at the end of the Order if you successfully pass your rolls (or win face to face). It basically means you can't throw Smoke and move through it without being seen in the same Order.

The LoF Block is simple enough, you need to move between point A and point B but enemy trooper can see the space between the points so you throw Smoke down to block LoF. The best way is to throw the Smoke while you are out of sight so it is an unopposed roll. Keep in mind though you can run out and have Face to Face roll with the enemy ARO (unless they have MSV Lv2 or higher) but in this scenario you have to make sure the template blocks enemy LoF for your entire movement. If they can see you out of Smoke, they shoot you for free. I don't recommend running out to throw Smoke unless you have to.

Smoke Path should also be self explanatory but it can be tricky to pull off. Sometime the distance between point A and point B is too long for one template and/or there are multiple AROs on the way. New people make the mistake of throwing Smoke down, moving into it and only then realizing they can't see the next point where they want to throw Smoke, it happened to me a lot too. The trick is to throw the Smoke in such a way that it blocks the first section but still lets you see the next point, while keeping your guy safe behind the first template. You can usually achieve this by throwing the first template further out or make path on an angle instead of going in a straight line. This is what I meant when I said earlier to think ahead when using Smoke.

Special Dodge, aka Smoke Dodge, in Reactive Turn: This can be confusing for many people. The name of one of Smoke Grenade traits is Special Dodge, and implies it has something to do with the Dodge skill. It doesn't and I know the name is confusing. To use Special Dodge, you are throwing the Smoke Grenade which is a Shooting Attack that uses PH instead of BS. This definition is more important in Fireteams (will get to that later). What happens when using Smoke Grenade as ARO is a face to face roll (unless they have MSV Lv2 or higher) and if you win, you negate the enemy shots and place down the Smoke template. You are not Dodging but effectively just winning a face to face shooting roll without causing damage.

This Special Dodge also doesn't work against template weapons, like Flamers and Chain Rifle. Those will hit automatically as normal though you can still throw the Smoke Grenade. The great thing about Special Dodge is that if you throw the grenade within 8", you get +3 PH and in Caledonia that means you'll be often rolling for 16, 17 or 19 (considering base PH of troops with access to Smoke Grenades).

The most obvious application is to protect the trooper that has the Smoke, like a 45th Highlander. You throw the Smoke either at his feet or further away to block the enemy LoF. But you can use Smoke to protect your other units. Say you have 112 not far from your Highlander and enemy is coming down at you but can see the Highlander first. If the Highlander can see your 112, he can throw Smoke at him to keep him hidden for later enemy Orders. My point is, think about what the enemy is aiming to achieve. Are they trying to kill the guy who has the Smoke, or are they going for someone else?

This applies more to your Active turn, but if you ever find yourself in situation where more then one enemy is shooting at your trooper that is throwing Smoke, remember the face-to-face is against all of them as long as the Smoke covers you against all. But you make only one roll, while all enemies roll against it (same as when you Dodge against multiple enemies). 

Smoke in Fireteam (Link Team): Following up from an earlier point, when you have Smoke Grenades in a Fireteam (very easy in Caledonia as Wallace can join all of them) it is important to keep in mind that throwing Smoke Grenade is a Shooting Attack (BS Attack is the skill name). This is most important in your Reactive Turn because it allows you to have some members use their Rifles and others can throw Smoke Grenades, so you have a chance to kill the enemy and be hidden for their next Order.

However, you can't Dodge and throw Smoke Grenade to Special Dodge, two different skills and it would make some members break from the Fireteam. 

Smoke & Close Combat (CC): This ties with the Smoke Screen from earlier. In Infinity getting into CC is hard because the enemy can shoot you to pieces as you are running at them. In Caledonia you can solve lots of problems by hitting things in CC with claymores but you still don't want to be shot while getting into CC. What I have done in the beginning, and I imagine other people start that way too, is to throw Smoke to block LoF so you can get close to the enemy but then you run out of it. Which does gets you into CC at least but still the enemy will get to shoot you.

What you want to do is to put the enemy into Smoke. Perhaps common sense, right? But it took me a long time to remember it during games. All you have to do it be able to land the template either to touch the enemy so they can't see, or get it close close enough so when you get base-to-base, you are still in the Smoke. All you need is part of your base inside to count as being fully in Zero Vis zone. Either case, once the smoke is landed, you can just walk into CC and its claymore time!

If you take nothing else from this article, remember that last point if you like getting into CC. I can't tell you how many times I was sacrificing troops needlessly when I could have just sacrifice one to put the Smoke on the enemy (or very close).

Obscuring your own LoF: This is something I still do today (I know, shameful), where your ARO is to throw Smoke and only after you done it you realize that your sniper, who was important for later AROs, can't see anymore. Therefore I would highly recommend, every time you use Smoke keep in mind your other troops and their LoF. Take a step back and think about it before you roll any dice, too late after that!

Lilith is in Infinity canon!

While I am writing my articles about the UK Masters Tournament I thought I'd share this wonderful news. Gutier Lusquiños Rodríguez, aka Interruptor made Lilith part of the Infinity canon! Okay okay, he didn't say that or even implied it but he was cool enough to sign our N3 books and left awesome messages in the same style we find in the books. So close enough I say!

Thank you Gutier and Corvus Belli for being awesome.

[Alert Message]
[All the units proceed to the canteen of the deck 9-B. We have a code 24. Fight in a bar. The Caledonian operative called "Lilith" is giving troubles, once again.]
[Alert Message]

"Peter 'Lilith' Balogh comes straight outta Caledonia. That means he knows taverns as well as the front line. And he fights in both!"
[Colonel Yevgueni Voronin. Recorded in a meeting o the Stavka, the Ariadna High Command. Mat' Planet Dawn.]

New Caledonia Fireteams in HSN3

The information for this article are mainly from the Beasts of War video about Fireteams, you can watch it yourself here:

http://www.beastsofwar.com/infinity/human-sphere-n3-week/fireteams/

In this article, as you probably guessed, I will only talk about Fireteams for Caledonia but the video has news for all the faction.

So whats new?

From what Bostria said, on top of the Core Links we have now (Volunteers, Grey Rifles, Scots Guard and Wulvers, plus Highlanders with Wallace) two units will have Fireteam: Haris and one unit will have Fireteam: Duo.

Fireteam: Haris - Mormaers, Wulvers
Fireteam: Duo - Scots Guard

They both work as regular (Core) Links do but have lower capacity. Haris can have only up to 3 members, while Duo has only 2. This does limit the bonuses you get from being part of the Link, full Haris will get you +1 Burst but Duo gets you nothing. But with all of them you can activate more than one trooper with one Order, which is always helpful!

Personally I was bit surprised that Grey Rifles do not have Haris but you can still link them as normal and I guess they didn't want us to have one Core Link of Grey Rifles and one Haris, in the same army. Rumour is that Grey Rifles will be able to join with Volunteers and maybe other units but don't know officially yet.

I hope they will raise AVA of Wulvers in Caledonia because I'd definitely want to run more than four now. Even if they don't though, it'll be useful to have them as 3 man Link on top of a second Link. I could definitely see myself playing defensive Volunteers or Scots Guard while using these guys to attack. The best thing will be that as long as they stay in a Link they ignore Frenzy which is one thing that makes them less useful, since they lose Partial Cover after wounding or killing something. This is assuming Link Teams still make units Not-Impetuous.

For Mormaers it is definitely a boost to be able to Link. My problem with them always was that they are slow, and I really like the idea of Burst 4 T2 Rifle or Burst 5 AP HMG. I think personally I would run them as two T2 Rifles and AP HMG, but if you really want to you could Link three AP HMGs! All ARM 8 in cover. That sounds pretty badass and hard to shift for your opponent. Hopefully Dogged will no longer drop you out of the Link either, at least not immediately.

Duo seems less useful than a Core Link or Haris because its just two troopers, but for a 4-2 unit I think it can really help. I could definitely see using a Scots Guard to attack something and another one just trailing behind to get closer to the enemy or just to a better position while you are doing something else. I doubt you will be able to Link the Camouflaged Scots since those can't Link even now.

Overall I am excited to see what more HSN3 has for Caledonia. These new Link Team options definitely open up a whole new range of tactics on how to play this already very versatile army.

(Photos of troops are from the Infinity catalogue.)

112, Emergency Service

In my opinion the 112 Emergency Service of Ariadna is arguably the most badass Doctor in the Human Sphere. In Caledonia he is also currently the only available unit with the Doctor Skill therefore you will very likely find him in your army at some point as part of the "standard" Doctor & Engineer support group and Specialists.

Thankfully, despite being the only Doctor option, the 112 Emergency Service is very useful in its own right and so it doesn't feel like you are wasting points on a "should have" unit.

Profile

Generally speaking, Doctors tend to have about the same stat line as Line Troops and maybe higher WIP. This is the case when you compare the 112 to Like Kazaks (Ariadna Line Troops) but in Caledonia their stats are better than Volunteers. For extra 2pts (over Volunteer Paramedic) you get +1 BS, +1 PH, +1 WIP and V: Courage; which can always come in handy.

You have AVA 3 on the 112 but I never played more than one, so don't have experience using multiple 112 but it might be worth considering if you have the models.

So, for only 12 pts you get a decent (more or less average trooper in Infinity as a whole) unit for your Caledonia army, who is also a Specialist in ITS missions and gives you a chance to heal your unconscious troops. In a quick summary, in my opinion the 112 is worth the points.

The 112 also comes with a Light Shotgun, CCW and Pistol. Gives you few options when it comes to defense or attack. If you are wondering why would you ever use Pistol over Shotgun, remember the Light Shotgun always uses the Impact Template and in some situations you could find yourself unable to shoot it as it would affect Friendly units.

And lets not forget the MedKit. I think people, beginners especially, might not realize that you can shoot the MedKit. It has the same Range Bands as a Pistol, and if you hit, the unconscious (Null) target has to pass -3 PH check to heal. Which is lot riskier than normal Doctor check, but sometime it can save you Orders or gives you a chance to heal where you can't get into base contact.

On the battlefield

You of course take a Doctor for the chance to heal your Unconscious troops but its not always simple as that or even worth doing. In my games I found the 112 used in these roles generally speaking:

ITS Objectives and Classified Objectives are arguably the main reason to include a Doctor, who is a Specialist. The 112 is actually well equipped for this. With Light Shotgun you can defend objectives from close range, or even attack, and because of V: Courage you can always count on your 112 to stay on the objective and not run away or hide (or you can decide to hide if you really want to). Guts Checks should not be underestimated.

It might be bit of repeating but I would like to stress out the use of Light Shotgun for defense and attack. Within 8" your 112 is shooting at BS17, which is excellent. Against most troops you can hold off with even one dice (unless you just roll really bad), though it obviously won't work as well against Camo, TO or ODD. Same goes for your active turn. If you can catch someone out of cove, the 112 should be able to deal with them. I think your opponents might be surprised by it, I am guilty of underestimating 112 too; not many people expect a Doctor to charge out and be good at taking out units.

I don't recommend CC with the 112, but if you do find yourself Engaged, at least you are dealing Damage at full PH thanks to the Close Combat Weapon, which is a sweet looking axe.

One scenario where I use the 112 specifically for Healing is "Sniper-Healing". By this I mean using the 112 to sit back near my Snipers and heal them back up if they go down, which you expect them to do so. The most important thing about this is to deploy your 112 over 2.5" away because you don't want him to be caught by a blast that might hit the Sniper, or Sniper caught in a blast because of the 112. If you have more than one Sniper, its worth deploying in such a way where you can reach one Sniper base to base and at least see the second one for some ranged healing with the MedKit.

The downside of the above role is that your 112 is usually far from everyone else and probably on a roof somewhere, so he might not be able to get to Objectives reasonably fast. Because of this, consider what is more important to win the mission, healing your Snipers or getting Objectives. Hint; in an objective mission the objectives are more important.

My miniature

I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with my first 112 so I took lots of inspiration from the Corvus Belli studio miniature. The main difference being I went with grey jacket over blue-grey and with less yellow stripes. I am happy how it came out, it fits into the military setting with green overalls but stands out.

My favourite thing about the 112 are all the little details, like the gas mask, the flash light and the shotgun shells on the chest.

I find it hard to take pictures of this but I did do bit of dirt on the bottom of the jacket, though I might make it bit darker later on as you can only really see it in person.

Last but not least, this was my first mini where I played around with blood paint. I wanted to use it for a long time but so far never finished anything to such a level where I could do the final detailing so when I finished the 112 I took the opportunity to add blood to his axe and a blood splatter on the base. More blood will definitely follow for my other minis later on.

Most photos in this article by James from Gribbley Gaming.