Relthoza In Planetfall pt 3: Recon And Command

Greetings all.  SeerK back again to talk Spiders in Planetfall. Before we delve into the Helixs for this Installment I wanted to make a quick announcement.  We still have a couple spots left in both the Tournaments at Adepticon 2016.  We have primer missions up for The Schaumburg Prime Offensive, but not the Schaumburg Beachhead.  This is Primarily because we are working directly with Spartan on the Planetfall missions.  The process is a bit slower, but it will be worth the wait.  Stay tuned as I will hopefully be able to make the full Official Announcement very soon.
 In this installment we are going to be taking about the, in my opinion, "big Guns" in the Relthoza army.  That is the Recon Helix.  I also want to discuss some of the newly released helix's, namely the Command helix and what it means for the Relthoza Army.  This new unit is literally a game changer.  The Relthoza have been growing in strength with each new release and this feels like a culmination that signals the army almost being "complete". Planetfall has been slowly but surely growing and improving and the future is looking bright. Lets take a look at these two Helix's





The Recon Helix

The Recon Helix is a bit of a misnomer. That is The name is a little misleading.  The Helix consists of a Caramis Anti-Air Walker Squadron.  You can then Add up to 2 Yayiss-Ya Heavy Sky Pods with Jamriss Heavy Infantry in them.  When I think Recon, I think of fast moving elements that harass enemy forces while the main army moves up and hits the enemy units hard.  The Recon units then finish off elements and support the main army.  The Relthoza have a very different idea when it comes to Recon.  Anti-Air and heavy Infantry units do add some very good support.  Lets look at the units.

Caramis Anti-Air Walker

The Caramis has a decent DR.  Its not as robust as the Talamas or the Salamas, but it does bring some good fire power.  18 dice that can engage air units is very nice and helps keep the ground attack craft off your other units.  It also has a designator to bring down the Heavy Spires.  Once you add in the Heavy Infantry to a full squadron of Caramis you have a Helix just shy of 500 points.   Taking a Recon Helix means possibly baring yourself from Aerial Helixs.

The Caramis is a good support unit.  The squadron can throw 18 dice in its Effective range, which is its only range band.  The Designator also has only an Effective range.  The only real drawback is that you only have a threat range of 24 inches.  The Caramis is cloaked and is also a Recon Specialist.  This really helps you get good position on the table to threaten air units.  The addition of Recon Specialist across the whole army has really helped with the lack of long range firepower.

That being said you need to make sure you do not leave the Caramis out by themselves waving in the wind.  Because they are a DR 5+6, they are not as robust as your front line walkers.  Screening the Caramis with Your Heavy Walkers or Mediums keeps them safe and allows them to protect the other units from air units.  Unit placement plays a real key when engaging your opponents units.  Placing gaps between your units after you move them allows the units behind them to also attack, or in the case of the Caramis keeping them completely screened by other units allows them to stay safe.

All in all the Caramis is a good support unit for your main line troops.  The Jamriss swarm is the real meat of the Recon helix though.


Jamriss Heavy Infantry

One of my main complaints about the Relthoza army is it reliance on Drone Nexus sources and how the Drone Nexus's function in the game.  Drones, especially infantry, die in droves to fire as well as the Pile of Disorder markers they get if they are outside of nexus and or command range.  The Jamriss alleviate this by being Fearless.  They also pack a punch with a 10" ranged weapon with 5 AD.  A unit of 5 bases delivers 25 AD of anti-personnel goodness.  They are also robust with a DR of 5.  When they are in Drone Nexus Range they also sling 15 AD of CQB dice.  These guys are my go to back line blitzers.  They are great on the flanks or in areas that do not have an abundance of Command elements or Drone Nexus's.  The Yayiss-Ya Spire is also Harder to kill so you can drop it into hotter landing zones to bolster your Drone Nexus Network.  Basically these guys are great for dropping into really crappy landing zones.    I usually forego aerial units to field two Recon Helixs.  It really comes down to how you like to play the army.  I prefer hitting hard and fast and trying to swarm the enemy.  These guys provide a good anchor for that.

Ground Command Helix

I have to say The Ground Command Helix has been one of two the Helixs I have been eagerly waiting for, the Assault Helix being the other.  The Ground command Helix consists of a Javi Heavy command Spire , four Narissa Gun Nodes and a Salamis Medium Walker Squadron.  The Javi gives you a nice 20 inch radius of Drone Nexus coverage and command Element.  You also get an additional TAC.  Two big boosts to the army are the fact all units within 12 inches are fearless and if a unit looses its command element, it is considered in command range of its command element if it is in command range of the Spire.  So no disorder tests if a Helix's command element is gacked.  The Salamas squadron and Gun nodes Provide Protection.  The Javi Spire is an elevated unit so it has a big bulls eye on it.  The total cost for the Helix if you get all the bells and whistles is only 10 points shy of a leviathan so it is costly.  It brings a lot of bonuses and support to an army, but may not be a very good investment at lower point levels.

The Gun Nodes are the Spires only weaponry, besides the Salamas Walkers it brings with it, They can have Either have an anti-air profile or a longer range ground attack profile.  You can choose which one you want when you drop the elements in, so you can tailor the nodes to whatever situation needs to be addressed.  All the Elements are cloaked to provide further protection.  The Command helix is an expensive investment and not as robust as a leviathan, but it brings a lot to the table.  It occupies the Field Support Helix spot in the chart so it has nothing competing against it currently.  Depending on what the Assault Helix brings to the table, this could be a very hard decision to make.  Taking 2 Assault Helix's or A command Helix and an Assault Helix.


Well there you have it, my two cents about the Recon and Command Helix.  I am going to talk about Aerial units in the next part of our series.  I will also be talking hobby as I delve into painting Vogrins Directorate.  I am getting the Infantry upgrades and Directorate Recon Helix painted up for him.


Until Next time

Crush the Alliance and as always...

REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!