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Dual Faction Firepower

A Tannhäuser Strategy Article by Guest Writer Jeremiah Terry

In March, the technologically advanced Matriarchy received additional firepower with the Matriarchy Trooper Pack. Dealing with a new foe can be a frustrating task, so we asked Tannhäuser guru Jeremiah “miah999” Terry for some tips on using the forces of the Reich and Shogunate. He was happy to share some sound strategies for facing the now allied forces of the Matriarchy and Union.

Resisting the Forces of Freedom and the Motherland

When opposing the forces of the Union or Matriarchy, the Reich and Shogunate have a variety of options. Your first instinct may be to fight fire with fire when facing down all that Union and Matriarchy firepower, but the Reich’s guns are not as powerful as the Union’s and the Shogunate’s are even less so. And no faction can match the technological might that the Matriarchy can bring to bear. So, if you can’t match the Union bullet for bullet, or the Matriarchy tech for tech, what can you do?

In a combat oriented game, use Heïzinger’s Combat Pack, allowing all Obscura Korps affiliated characters within six path circles to roll an extra attack die in combat. This can be extremely powerful when combined with characters like Karl “Ozo” Zermann, whose Command Pack already allows him to roll five dice against any character within six circles regardless of whether or not they share his path. This combination of Heïzinger’s Hermetica and Karl’s Doom allows the Reich to roll as many as six dice from defensive positions with minimal risk to their own forces. To further increase the effectiveness of these abilities, you can combine them with an attack and retreat strategy.

While your enemies may have the better guns, they are always limited by their path. If they can’t see the target, they can’t shoot it! Therefore, they must always be advancing towards the Reich’s position. If you keep that in mind and try to anticipate your opponent’s next move, you can advance just enough to bring your weapons in range.  Maintain a few movement points so you can fall back a few circles, so you won’t find yourself on the same path as the enemy on the next turn. Always try to end your turn with eight path circles between your forces and the enemy; it’s not easy but with careful planning it is possible. At the very least this will force your opponent into spending Command Points to move rather than shake off wounds or boost statistic values.

Fighting Fire with Fists

While the Reich has their out-of-path abilities, the Shogunate is far more focused on melee skills and devastating hand-to-hand attacks. Both Iroh and Mizu can make two melee attacks in a single turn, while Itami’s Kenabō can smash weaker enemies with a single blow. The Shogunate’s forces are best kept in teams of two or three characters with each smaller team working to bring down a specific target.  A good way to distribute your characters is to pair Iroh with Itami, and Mizu with the Shin agent, keeping the Ashigaru in a defensive or offensive overwatch position like the new Covert Circles. You could also use him to draw your enemy into a position where Iroh and Itami can swoop in and attack. The other advantage in keeping your  team divided in this way is it forces your opponent to do the same, and a Union player unfamiliar with this tactic can quickly find their weaker characters cut off from the defense of their big guns, or a Matriarchy player may find Zor’ka undefended and isolated.

Another thing to keep in mind is the Union often uses a smoke heavy strategy since characters like MacNeal and Ramirez are unaffected by smoke. They can create a lot of trouble for an inexperienced player, but the Shogunate does have ways of dealing with this. When facing a player you know to be fond of M15 smoke grenades, remember that Mizu’s Combat Pack allows her to make melee attacks without penalty, and Itami’s Stamina and Command Packs provide options for dealing with a character hiding in smoke. With Itami’s Stamina Pack he can enter the smoke, and while he will still suffer penalties, his powerful stamina bonuses means he can stay and take a beating. His attacks are weaker, but they will eventually wear the enemy down. His Command Pack, however, offers an even more interesting ability; with The Suffering he can force a character like MacNeal to turn his abilities against his own forces!

One Big Happy Family

Now that you’ve seen what the Reich and Shogunate can do on their own, you can see that they’re both very powerful forces, and combined within the Nippon Accords they can become even more powerful!

However, it may take some more planning to pull off some of the more advanced strategies. For instance, Hoss’ teleportation ability can be used with great success, especially paired with Itami and his Subdue ability, but it requires a bit of set up. In the first turn, place Hoss and Itami in a relatively safe location and adjacent to one another. Then, at the first opportunity on the following turn, use Hoss’ Chronograph to trade places with an enemy (the ideal target will have a low mental value and have not activated yet this turn). If successful, your target will find himself next to a very imposing blue Oni, unable to move without winning a stamina duel. You can further increase the effectiveness of this strategy by placing Itami on Overwatch before the start of the second turn.

Another way to take advantage of the Nippon Accords is to go with a melee oriented force. Both the Reich and Shogunate have very good melee characters like: Yula, Eva, the Stosstruppen, Iroh, and Mizu. A team combo like this has some great advantages. You’ll have a character that can do full damage in smoke, one who can destroy enemy weapons and equipment, and some great melee fighters.

Thanks, Jeremiah! Using these tips in your next Tannhäuser match might lead you to victory. Check out Jeremiah’s previous articles Someone to Watch Over You and Picking the Right Pack for more game-winning strategies. If you’re still looking for more tips, visit our Tannhäuser community forums and keep watching this space for upcoming Tannhäuser articles.

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Source: Dual Faction Firepower (http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=3389)