Spray and Pray

Tanks, the classic form of artillery. They come in all shapes and uses. Long range, short range, ballistic, lightning arcs, and even AntiAircr-OW! Stop it Scott.

But these have mostly been limited to GUARD, the humanoid faction who have tanks up the whazoo. But with the Subterran Uprising coming forth they bring their own vehicles. And for lack of a better description, they're Tanks. And so we have Todays Highlight: Grinder Tanks.


I wasn't sure what to expect of these guys. There had already been a preview of Ral Kurrilik who has a unique style of play. So that means whatever he does has NOTHING to do with what the others do.

In a previous blog, I mentioned that the only spoilers available about the grinder tanks was that they have the Marker advantage. This is true, and frankly it's a great ability. The number of times it has foiled my plans for domination have been remarkable.

Marker (Advantage): If this figure participated in an attack that missed, reroll the attack roll with dice in play

But that's just the spoiler. There are two abilities that it's missing. Well, actually there's one. Frankly, one of them is Obvious: Burrow. If you have a Moleman and he doesn't have burrow, then he has Jump.

But the last ability on this guy is interesting, there's only one other figure that has it, and I keep getting an AntiAircr-OW! Scott, stop it... tank thrown at my head.

Flak: If target unit has Flight, all monsters and units adjacent to it with Flight and a DEF equal to or less than the number of strikes rolled take 1 damage.

Wow, that's... Terrible. So your target needs flight. Right, fair enough. Your target needs to have other flying units around it to be effective! Yeah... That's... That''s pretty limited to a few themed armies. Like Sky Sentinel. And... Martian Menace! And... I dunno. Seriously, there are few situations where it can take advantage of a situation. The only figure that has Flak is the AntiAircr-OW! Scott, stop it - and it has Anti-Air.

Anti-Air: If this figure participates in an attack against a figure with Flight , this figure gains +1 brawl and blast B-Dice.

The AA-Tank (OW!) lucks out at relatively poor manoeuvrability and poor blast and brawl attacks. Having 1*0 on both their attacks, the Grinder Tank gets to play around with up to 3 Action-die on either of their attacks. And they get to re-roll it. This is useful anywhere, whereas Anti-Air can only be used on the short range Blast he has. It works on his brawl, however, he can't target flying units with his brawl.

Now I see what they were aiming for. You have an AA Battery firing many MANY bullets into the sky to try and hit something and if they're cluttered together, well then the saying "Spray and Pray" is true to its word.

And with the presence of Ral-Kurrilik (Ï'm getting really good at remembering how to type his name) you can get more benefits out of it. Red Rage on him gives them that little bonus to the resolution of their attacks.

Rage: After this figure hits with an attack, gain +1 P-Die.

So you get a 3 A-die attack with a basic Grinder Tank, with a Re-Roll and extra Power Die when you hit? Game on. I'll be testing the fella out over the next few weeks so keep your hats on kids!

Next week: The Uprising Wants You