Deadzone: Asterians Strategies and Tactics

This article will focus on describing different tactics for the Strike Teams built from the Asterian Faction Starter in the previous article, as well as some thoughts on how to use the models in the Asterian Faction Booster to expand them into larger forces.

Storm of Fire

The core of this Strike team consists of a solid core of well-equipped Cyphers led by an Overseer, with artillery support provided by the deadly Plasma Vortex Drone.

The core tactics used by this list involves a careful advance by the Cyphers and Overseer while the Plasma Vortex hides safely out of sight and uses its Blast attack to disrupt the enemy. It is often best to shoot the Drone first to blast models into vulnerable positions and then have your Cyphers ready to attack immediately afterwards.

Use the Cypher with the Energy Shield as the “point man” for this team, taking the lead and deploying Toxic Smokescreen at just the right moment. A good example of this would be moving it into an objective cube at the end of the turn and then using smoke to firstly conceal it from enemy fire, and secondly to make recapturing the objective difficult in melee. The toxic smoke will leave the enemy Vulnerable, and you can use this opportunity to have your overseer counter-attack and kill them.

The Cypher with Ammo is best used for making opportunity attacks whenever it can. If the Pulse Bombard is lucky enough to blast the enemy Leader into the open, seize the initiative, move the Cypher to get a clear shot, then make use of all command dice at your disposal as well as the ammo counter to score a kill. Use your Overseer’s command ability at this point to remove your opponents dice they may have been saving to add to their survive roll as the final nail in the coffin.

Asterians benefit from this type of gameplay a lot, setting up traps and taking advantage of their ability to move opposing models.

Surgical Strike

 The second list uses similar tactics to the first, but in a different manner. Instead of using a Blast weapon to move the enemy into vulnerable positions, this list makes good use of knockback, and has three models that can use it to place enemies in difficult positions. These are supported by a very deadly Cypher with a Fission Beamer (R10, AP 5), and Energy Shield (3), allowing it to kill anything in the game with ease and survive return fire very effectively.

With this list, focus on advancing with Cyphers as usual (note that the models with Charge Gloves still have their Noh Rifles, as it is only the model’s RF weapon that has been replaced), but also look for opportunities to snipe enemy models using the Fission Beamer. Use Knockback to force enemies into cubes where it can see them and finish them off! Remember to save shoot command dice to use on the Fission Beamer. In this list, focus on using the Overseer’s ability to shut down dangerous plays that your opponent might make, especially anything that may threaten your Fission Beamer.

Expanding your Strike Team

The contents of the Asterian Faction Booster are a fantastic way to provide more options for building your Strike Team. For the “Storm of Fire” list, you may way to consider expanding it with some additional shooting options that disrupt the enemy, such as the Cypher with Force Rifle, along with switching out your Leader for the more shooting-focused Cypher Prime, allowing you to overcharge the Noh Rifle shots of your Cyphers.

For the “Surgical Strike” list, consider other models that allow you to act quickly and capture ground. Kalyshi are very fast and excellent in melee, and Jetbikes can offer excellent fire support to cover their advance. A surge forward to wipe out enemy resistance, and then have your cyphers follow up to capture objectives and fill them with toxic smoke can be a highly effective, if daring strategy.

In general, Asterians favour having a specific strategy in mind, and carefully planning and executing it. With a wide variety of troop types and some of the most effective weapons and items in the game, a meticulous player will really enjoy formulating new and unique paths to victory with them. Use these Strike Teams as starting point, play some games and then figure out how you want to expand your forces Deadzone v2 has a lot of opportunities in terms of different weapons that can be fielded and conversions that can be made, so you can customize both your models and your strategy to create a force to be reckoned with!

The Asterian Faction Starter and Faction Booster are available to pre-order now and can be found in all good hobby stores from the end of June!