"Cooking or Cooked" is created by Josh Watrous
2 Supply, 1995 Munitions, 6
Intel, 20 Activations]
# ++ Company ++ [2 Supply, 1995 Munitions, 6 Intel, 20 Activations]
## Army Specialization
1st Royal Marines Division
# ++ Infantry Platoon ++ [1 Supply, 669 Munitions, 1 Intel, 6 Activations]
## Configuration
## Command [58 Munitions]
Royal Engineer Officer [58 Munitions]: Sterling ESMG [3 Munitions], Officer Seniority
[30 Munitions] (O1 - Lieutenant [30 Munitions])
## CORE Infantry [268 Munitions, 2 Activations]
Automaton Infantry Section [138 Munitions, 1 Activations]:
• 1x Tommybot Section Leader [13 Munitions]: STEN Mk. II SMG [1 Munitions]
• 8x Tommybot [13 Munitions]: STEN Mk. II SMG [1 Munitions]
• 1x Tommybot Gunner [21 Munitions]
Automaton Infantry Section [130 Munitions, 1 Activations]:
• 1x Tommybot Section Leader [13 Munitions]: STEN Mk. II SMG [1 Munitions]
• 9x Tommybot [13 Munitions]: STEN Mk. II SMG [1 Munitions]
## AUX Infantry [193 Munitions, 1 Activations]
Command Royal Engineers Section [193 Munitions, 1 Activations]: Designate
Command Unit, Anti-Tank Grenade [22 Munitions]
• 1x Engineer Sergeant [23 Munitions]: Sterling ESMG [3 Munitions]
• 2x Engineer [22 Munitions]: Sterling ESMG [3 Munitions]
• 1x Engineer Welder [31 Munitions]
• 1x Engineer with PIAT [55 Munitions]
## Transport [150 Munitions, 3 Activations]
Mk. VII "Merlin" Orbital Insertion Capsule [50 Munitions, 1 Activations]
Mk. VII "Merlin" Orbital Insertion Capsule [50 Munitions, 1 Activations]
Mk. VII "Merlin" Orbital Insertion Capsule [50 Munitions, 1 Activations]
# ++ Mechanized Platoon ++ [1 Supply, 373 Munitions, 1 Intel, 4 Activations]
## Configuration
## Command [35 Munitions]
Mounted Officer [35 Munitions]: Officer Seniority [30 Munitions] (O1 - Lieutenant [30
Munitions])
## CORE Mechanized [238 Munitions, 2 Activations]
Command Mk. V ''Gareth'' Drop Tank [1 Activations, 119 Munitions]: Designate
Command Unit
• 1x Mk. V ''Gareth'' Drop Tank [114 Munitions]: Turret [45 Munitions] (PL No. 3 Light
Energy Cannon [35 Munitions])
Mk. V ''Gareth'' Drop Tank [1 Activations, 119 Munitions]: Turret [45 Munitions] (PL
No. 3 Light Energy Cannon [35 Munitions])
## Transport [100 Munitions, 2 Activations]
Mk. VII "Merlin" Orbital Insertion Capsule [50 Munitions, 1 Activations]
Mk. VII "Merlin" Orbital Insertion Capsule [50 Munitions, 1 Activations]
# ++ Recon Platoon ++ [953 Munitions, 4 Intel, 10 Activations]
## Configuration
## Command [128 Munitions, 1 Activations]
Mk. II ''Bedivere'' Armored Command Car [1 Activations, 128 Munitions]: Nominate
Field Commander, Order of the British Empire, Officer Seniority [30 Munitions] (O1 -
Lieutenant [30 Munitions])
## SPC Recon [15 Munitions]
Radio Operator Element [15 Munitions]: Radio Operator [15 Munitions]
## CORE Recon [560 Munitions, 4 Activations]
Mk. II ''Bedivere'' Armored Car [1 Activations, 133 Munitions]: Turret [35 Munitions]
(QF 2-Pounder Cannon [25 Munitions])
Mk. II ''Bedivere'' Armored Car [1 Activations, 133 Munitions]: Attached Radio
Operator, Turret [35 Munitions] (QF 2-Pounder Cannon [25 Munitions])
Mk. II ''Bedivere'' Armored Car [1 Activations, 163 Munitions]: Turret [65 Munitions] (6
KJ Arc Cannon [55 Munitions])
Mk. II ''Bedivere'' Armored Car [1 Activations, 131 Munitions]: Turret [33 Munitions]
(Pom-Pom 20mm Autocannon [23 Munitions])
## Transport [250 Munitions, 5 Activations]
Mk. VII "Merlin" Orbital Insertion Capsule [50 Munitions, 1 Activations]
Mk. VII "Merlin" Orbital Insertion Capsule [50 Munitions, 1 Activations]
Mk. VII "Merlin" Orbital Insertion Capsule [50 Munitions, 1 Activations]
Mk. VII "Merlin" Orbital Insertion Capsule [50 Munitions, 1 Activations]
Mk. VII "Merlin" Orbital Insertion Capsule [50 Munitions, 1 Activations]
Johann: After some discussion, we’ve elected to go with a British list as our opening course. This list is a Royal Marines build, diving all in on the concept of orbital envelopment to crush its foes. Here’s our quick pros and cons of the list after a once-over:
Pros:
Highly flexible, lots of options to deploy and skirmish.
Lends itself to aggressive play.
Solid action economy, lots of units with good capture efficiency.
Ability to quickly tear apart an enemy army by faking out drop pod deployments to deal damage or block movement instead of deploying troops.
Excellent Intel generation, and acceptable supply generation.
Good mobility overall with lots of Scout subtype units.
Strong board control abilities between ORBS and drop pod flanking.
Cons:
Susceptible to aggressive battlesuit armies.
Middling anti-tank capability.
High mental load to maximize your deployment and skirmishing movements.
Somewhat eclectic weapon and upgrade selection that feels unfocused.
Recon platoon with Order of the British Empire is superfluous as an upgrade.
Jurgen: So I feel like The Sauce™ for this one is fairly obvious: the sky is falling and there isn’t much you can do about it!
Between the ORBS and the plethora of pods, this list really gives you the means to dictate how the first round is shaped. A massive part of this list is knowing when to start your models in the pods and when to leave them empty to simply drop for utility. One thing’s for certain though, the orbital drops will continue until morale improves.
Johann: To me the immediate standout play is to drop your ORBS token on a flank that the enemy is expecting to be relatively safe or covered, and then force deploy drop pods as needed on the other side to deny them any possible safe ground. Naturally you want to save a pod or two for a cheeky backline deployment depending on your opponent’s army and terrain on the board.
The raw, unfiltered violence of a mass Merlin deployment combined with the ability of the Bedivere to dash from cover to cover while interrupting its movement to shoot or capture makes this list have an immediate danger to almost any army type that can’t catch them or can’t risk catching follow up pods. Given there isn’t a need to deploy your whole army in pods, you’re also leaving yourself an opening to use them as additional “artillery” to harass or outright destroy enemy units. To tap the sign again; area denial, area denial, area denial. This list has it in spades.
Jurgen: Correct! While you can definitely try to just brute force it by slinging the pods at the enemy, try to be creative with it. There's nothing saying you can't simply make a wall with the pods to block off sight lines or pathways, which in a way is arguably better than getting some damage in.
Johann: I do very much enjoy both the Bedivere and Gareth, and in another life I could see myself owning 6 to 8 of each (Jurgen: For any Geheimdienst agents reading this, I promise Johann is a loyal and proud citizen of our fine Empire…) . This means the concept of a wolf pack of them is quite endearing to me. Obviously neither vehicle is standing up to a properly sized tank, but they’re reliably good in a quick skirmish. I find the Gareth the ideal platform for the Arc cannon, so that’s one of the few things I’d see as a necessary change for me to play with in regards to this list. 2 Pounder Bediveres are lovely at threatening light and medium armor, or battlesuits, and in combination with using GRAIL to secure penetrating hits you can rapidly stack damage on huskier armor like the Blackbear or Franz Joseph. Then of course the Bedivere balances your GRAIL budget with its intelligence abilities, so you can keep a constant stream of armor piercing rounds heading downrange that the other player can’t afford to be comfortable with.
Jurgen: To me, the coolest specialization the Brits can field is the Royal Marines. Having to work around a massive template that's gonna hit sooner rather than later is nerve wracking and can certainly lead to misplays on your opponents part. While some commanders will frown on the unpredictability of ORBS and its direction, it's super important to remember that you have access to GRAIL, and therefore do not care about such trivial things as “luck”. I personally have seen too many British commanders think small and use their GRAIL dice for simply hitting and penning, but you can substitute it for any roll you’d have to make. Gotta guarantee that dash move? Need to max out your medic check? Need to make sure your 17 inch diameter orbital sword of Damocles falls where you need it at the last second? GRAIL has your back! Once again this list and Britain as a whole thrives on creativity, so get your noggin joggin’!
Jurgen: So Johann, is this Orbital takeout meal Cooking, or did it get burned on reentry?
Johann: I think the composition is quite delightful, and I could see playing a list similar to this and rather enjoying it. My vote is for Cooking on our first entree of the series.
Jurgen: I have to agree! There’s a lot to enjoy here, but its a very complex dish that demands very tight execution. Handle all the ingredients with care and you’ve got a very sophisticated meal!
Now, no entree is perfect however, and there's a few things I would personally change if I whipped this up myself. Some of the upgrades here are kind of all over the place, so trying to dial that in would go a long way. The lonesome tommybot gunner is a good example, as well as the welder and anti tank grenades in the engineers in my opinion. If you can stomach a slight loss in theme, I would probably drop (HA!) 2 or 3 of the pods from the recipe to fit in a 3rd Gareth and give them all the Arc Cannons, while also adding a second PIAT to the engineers since this list is kinda light on anti-armor.
Johann: As previously mentioned, the Arc Cannons are really the move on the Gareths. They provide a staggering amount of killing power against most infantry, and will make even a veteran Landwehr shake in his boots as personal shields do almost nothing to cut their damage down. Likewise, I think the play with the Bediveres is to equip them all with the 2 Pounders, as those provide a highly reliable push of damage that pairs well with the Scout keyword on them. As Jurgen said, finding the squeeze for an extra PIAT never hurts either, since they’re one of the absolute best personal anti-tank weapons available. Additionally, as mentioned in the quick notes, the Order of the British Empire doesn’t serve the Recon platoon well, and would be better replaced by the Order of the Garter to keep your Bediveres at maximum action economy while dispersed and maneuvering. It’s a strength you absolutely want to play into with four of them working together.
Closing Notes:
Due to a combination of strong unit selections and general unpredictability, this dish should serve up a frantic, enjoyable game for two players of moderate to high skill. Though it requires the player to do a lot of planning and assessment of how they want the game to progress to maximize its potential, it leaves just enough room for the dice to do their thing and push it in strange or unexpected directions for both players. Obviously with a little help from our computer friend, GRAIL, it can make up the difference at key moments by pushing the odds in your favor without needing to rely heavily on it to find success. Between the thunder of the 8 inch ORBS cannon and ear-splitting roar of retro-thrusters, you should find yourself punching down heavily on most army compositions if you can trust in your cleverness and guile to guide your hand.
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