The Ariadnan Occupation (N2)

Ariadna's central tactic is of occupation. A successful navigation of an Ariadnan army is controlling board space and squeezing options out of your opponent's troops. Due to what you field, you force your opponent to make particular choices and then you punish any decision. The multitude of Infiltration, Mechanized Deployment and Air Drop immediately controls the centre, coupled with Mines and Sapper to limit your approach to the troops means that Ariadna telegraphs its occupation of the board at the end of Deployment.

Ariadna is incredibly spatially aware, due to having so many weapons optimal Range begin outside of 8". This makes Ariadna a mid-range faction, where select troops can get close, but the majority of Ariadna likes their opponents at arm's reach. With the high mobility, 360 vision of Camouflage and increased Orders due to cheap troops, Ariadna can funnel enemy models into kill zones.

The models that do want to get close are Impetuous and come with Chain Rifles or Berserk coupled with high PH CCWs. Your forward force means your opponent is stuck in their half of the board, or their incursions into your half have been slowed. They spent Orders to get served onto a platter for your aggressive troop.

This ideology of board occupation becomes a tempo game, where the numerous Frenzy units really begin to shine. The model behaves normally during the opening moves of the game, allowing Ariadna to move without consequence. Once the enemy has made contact, your troops mobility increases with a now Impetuous moves to respond to your opponent's attempts to buck your centre line occupation.

Tempo is important at the point of battle, as opponents need to waste Discover Orders to peel away protection instead of immediately do harm. Do not shoot back on the Reaction, let your opponent fail Discover checks and need to spend more Orders sending another unit to Discover the Camouflage Marker. Retaliate against these out of position models, punish the attempted approach. Climbing+ and Camouflage frequently means attacks from unexpected angles, allowing for Surprise Attack situations.

As both sides lose models and Orders, Ariadna wins the attrition war. Infiltrators do not need to spend many Orders to move into optimal position, allowing for losses if the battle goes awry or allowing for more moves from other units when Ariadna's plan is successfully executed. Impetuous and Frenzy units get closer to the action without spending Orders. Do not trade models, but think of trading Orders until you can push your opponent into Retreat!

Ariadna is a finesse based army that has a slim margin of error. Other factions have Wounds to account for mistakes, Ariadna has the much more fragile Camouflage protection. Dogged gives a second chance, but should be used to dig deeper into your opponent's Order pool. By positioning, armament, equipment or uncertainty of Camouflage, leverage your opponent's Orders into exploitable opportunities.

"He who strikes first, strikes twice."
- Mexican proverb