I saw this on the
AT-43 forums and thought some people would like ti read about the Karmans.
http://en-forum.at-43.com/viewtopic.php?t=3013
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by wolflord
The karman book is awesome!
My first trial run using Karmans was tonight and here is the list I fielded as Libra. The Libra special is that I must take an officer in every unit, but in return each medic may bring back to life one guy who was killed in his squad at the end of his activation.
I do find it somewhat tough to fit in all the things I want to field, and I think Karmans really shine in larger point games.
Soldier (1): 4 X Anaconga 250
--Mentor 10
--Mechanic
--Grenades 20
Soldier (3): 2 X K-Fighters 425
--Mentor 10
Soldier (1 or 2 or 3): 8 X Wendigos 500
--Medic
--2 X Grenade launcher
--Venerable Cornelius 155
--Grenades 5 (for Cornelius)
Soldier (1 or 2 or 3): 5 X Yetis 370
--Guide 15
--Medic
--Grenades 25
AFV or Soldier (1 or 2 or 3): Jungle Trike 200
--Mentor 15
Total: 2000
ap 20 figs with 1 hero- Authority 6 with 10
LP per turn.
Tonight it was Karmans vs the Red Blok. They were an adversary worthy of our time and our warriors learned a great many lessons from them. We look forward to one day guiding them to their true destiny, if they will take the time to listen. There was a bunker that held technological secrets left from our creators, the Therians, which could not be allowed to fall into the hands of the Red Blok. The bunker was codenamed Bridgehead and our forces fought furiously for control of it. In the end though, the lone survivors of the Red Block, a strange and seemingly invincible pair of twins inside a giant strider decided that they were needed elsewhere.
Thoughts on Karmans.
1. With so few units, activation order and strategy is key to victory. It might take a bit extra time to carefully plan your actions, but it is worth it. We have less guys than the other factions do, and do not have the luxury of throwing our warriors casually this way and that.
2. Our anti-tank weapons are strong but act as more of a shotgun damage spread than a directed blow. Where a UNA or Red Blok missile may do 2 damage to a single location, our weapons do a single point of damage to several scattered locations. This means that it will be difficult for a single unit to take down a vehicle on it's own in one turn, but in subsequent rounds the already damaged vehicles will start to drop like flies. be patient and keep peppering away at them.
3. Dear god we throw a lot of dice at the enemy. Splitting fire and using lanes of fire is critical to your success. 4 Anacongas throw 24 dice, and a unit of maxed out Wendigos led by Cornelius is a force to behold. 8 shots per fighter (2 zz rifles each at 4 dice) and 8 fighters plus Cornelius' 8 shots is over 50 dice. Firing them all into a single unit is a waste, when you can split fire and wreak havok in the enemy lines. My Wendigo unit split the fire into separate salvos. Thanks to the rules for multiple weapons on one card and salvos, I was able to fire a volley of 6 standard Wendigo zz-rifles at a unit (24 dice), followed by another volley of 24 dice with the other zz-rifle at a second squad, followed by cornelius's rifles in a single or double salvo, followed by the 2 grenade launchers. So if i wanted to, i could shoot 5 different units on one activation. With that many dice flying if you can line up a shot to shoot an enemy squad through another enemy squad then do it. This way you maximize the effectiveness of your dice.
4. Taking cover is your friend in a BIG way. While we throw a ton of dice, it doesn't take too many incoming hits to kill a squad, especially the K-troops with only 2 guys per squad. that is two lucky hits and your squad is gone. Use cover as much as karmically possible and try never to get caught out in the open.
5. Use your dice at range. We throw a ton of dice from almost any unit we field. This allows us to take those gamble shots at long range. Take those aim 1 Anacongas and attack something that is at range 6. Even in a standard unit of 4 guys that is 24 dice; 24 chances to roll that 6. Statistically you should probably get at least 5 impacts. If you have the choice of going out into the open for a slightly easier shot or staying in cover, stay in cover. You cannot afford to lose anyone.
6. We have fewer medics that the other factions we face. This is unfortunate as we have less troops and hence more need for medics. However, the Libra special ability helps with this nicely. Frequently i had a unit of wendigos or Yetis getting shot at. Keep your medic in the very back of the squad and do not worry if your other guys all die or if you lose a heavy weapon or even a hero. The special ability lets you bring back any fighter of the squad who was killed, and it does not exclude heroes or heavy weapon guys. I managed to move my 4 yetis forward while keeping the 5th one (my medic) totally hidden from
LOS. Even when the entire unit was annhiliated, the medic was still safely hidden and could bring back the needed fighter. You could even hide out behind a container for a few rounds and bring back 1 guy each turn. I actually like this system better than just having two medics as two medics just stop two casualties, but bringing someone back from the dead guarantees one extra guy. Think of it like this, i have my medic completely hidden from view and you shoot my other 4 figures dead with 20 impacts and 20 wounds. The Red block or UNA could cancel out two of those deaths, but the other 18 impacts and wounds would still kill all 4 figures leaving only the poor medic alive. Now the same happens with the Libran karmans and all 4 of them die still, but at the end of my activation i can bring someone back and now i have two models (probably my mentor, so i can activate for free next round).
7. The jungle trike is a great long range shooter and should probably be used as such. I ran him forward to the middle, thinking i would put the hurt on my opponent's striders. After my firing was done i had peppered him with wounds but not actually managed to disable anything on him. Then my poor trike was blown to tiny bits by urod. I think Easy trikes make good rush up and get close anti-afv vehicles, but jungle trikes should be kept back as snipers. The same probably goes for K-shooters as well.
8. Anacongas are a great assault troop if you can advance them so they are always behind cover. With my opponent tied up fighting the rest of my force, they sort of snuck up the side and got into range to use their pistols. I bet that if you gave them a flamer and snuck them close to the enemy lines that they would do all sorts of damage and make a very unhappy front line for your enemy.
9. Tho i never used it, the maser strike does offer some great tactical possibilities. It is like having free grenades with decent range to it. plus it knocks guys down, so if you have to stop a unit from firing at you (maybe they have snipers or flamers or something nasty) then go for the maser strike. And don't forget that you can do two salvos of maser strikes on two different targets thanks to having two zz-rifles.
10. Look for things that auto-kill, auto-hit, or do tons of damage to infantry and kill those things first. A unit of flamers will kill half or more of your maxed out unit with no difficulty. DON'T let them get into range.
All in all, I like the Karmans a lot, but I am not sure if I personally like throwing THAT many dice at once. It kind of reminds me of other tabletop games where you have buckets of dice and dealing with that many dice (rolling, counting, picking up) does tend to slow the game down a bit. I think i would have preferred to throw half the number of dice but get a reroll on them, as it would have been faster. But all in all i dig the Libra faction and would happily try them out again soon. Plus giant intelligent space apes who see the past, present, and future and have supremely awesome weaponry is just too cool to pass up. Karmans for the win!
