Coming from an intensive period of using Ariadna and being very successful with them, has meant a sharp learning curve (more like a sheer cliff) as I almost have to relearn the game in the process.
I chose the Steel Phalanx for a range of reasons, with a very small priority placed on how good they were to play with. It almost seems to be a 'given', that they should be hard as nails, possessing as they do such a frightening combination of high-tech toys and man-sized killing machines. With this in mind, I focused almost completely on the characters I loved and the fluff/aesthetic draw, which for me is extremely powerful with the A.S.S.
However the adjustment period has not been an easy one. My Ariadnan game plan revolves around the tricksey elements of lots of camo, and lots of infilitrators; backed up with scary-as-hell beasties screaming across the table and men with unfeasibly humungous heavy weapons hiding under piles of leaves on roof tops. My initial configuration of the A.S.S instead eschewed this multilayered game plan in favour of units that are extremely difficult to hit without direct templates, link teams, and demi-god-like abhuman super Rambos. With not a great deal of success I might add.
My intitial consignment of A.S.S consisted of a Thorakitai link, Phoenix, Ajax, Penthesilea, Patroclus, Achilles and a couple of Myrmidons.
Dropping from my comfortzone of sixteen or seventeen models at 300pts, to a paltry nine or ten has been like trying to play a totally different game system! Success with Ariadna had bred complacency that has needed to be conquered very quickly indeed as I realised this uber-elite force I had assembled was susepctible to complete collapse from a turn one ninja or TAG Rambo rampage, putting me beyond even the reach of a plan C, D or E. Mutual support is even more important when you're deploying fewer than ten models across a four foot wide space if you lose the initiative roll and your opponent is going to burn though all their orders with just a Mag Guard or Saito Togan.
Losing three quarters of a Thorakitai link team in your first turn not only removes one of your sectorial's big boons, but also consequently denies the Homeridae combat monsters the orders they need to earn their points. Double jeopardy.
The lightbulb-moment took a while to happen, but then it hit me. My force was more like a stainless steel baseball bat than a scalpel - and to me the A.S.S should be razor sharp rather than mindlessly blunt. It was a list designed to line up in my DZ and head North. And that was it. Hard to hit, able to hit back even harder... but it lacked depth. With this in mind, I have placed a request for Christmas Holiday Reinforcements (CHR) from the AI in the shape of a combat-jumping hero, a sharp-shooting huntress, and bearded infiltrator. Not all of them will feature at the same time, but what they will do is provide me with a different dimension to my game plan that I anticipate will prove the Phalanx to be every bit as deadly as that of my technologically primitive Ariadnans.
Hmmmm, some quick thoughts. One, yes the SP is built around characters but don't go all out nuts and include almost every single one of them in your list. That's a quick set up for disaster as you have to many order hungry units on the table. Try to cut the 6 characters down to 3 and you might have more success with less. Second, don't try to play the SP like Ariadna. I tried that with MAF when I switched to them from Aleph... it didn't go very well for me my first couple of games.
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