Aristeia! - Scenario Breakdown - Frenzied Dance

Join the Frenzied Dance

In the second installment of our series examining the Scenarios using the "B-Side" of the Aristeia! board, with the "Ziggurats" used for Scoring instead of the standard Deployment Zones, we are looking at the Ziggurat version of Conquest, Frenzied Dance. 

As always this, and all the Aristeia! Scenarios for the current season of the AGL, are available from the Downloads Section of the Aristeia Website. Once you have played a few games with the introductory set of Scenarios in the Reference Guide I highly recommend checking these out.

This Scenario contains a known miss-print in the English version. -V- has confirmed in this thread that the first sentence in the section Conquering Ziggurats should read "A Character has conquered a Ziggurat at the end of their Activation if they are the only Character on the three Scoring Spaces of the Ziggurat". Which is a fairly substantial change.

To Conquer a Ziggurat an Aristo must be the only Aristo in that Ziggurat at the end of their Activation. If they have a Team mate in the Ziggurat then they don't Conquer it (so be careful Displacing or Placing your Team mates). If there is an opposing Aristo in the Ziggurat then they don't Conquer it, so be careful not to risk too many contested captures in a round.

As you only Conquer Ziggurats by ending your activation in them you will, by default, be defending them to some extent. Of course, the tougher the Aristo the more difficulty your opponent will have. States, Abilities and Tactics which help to keep your Aristos up and in position are all invaluable to prevent having a Ziggurat you have captured taken away.

This also means that you need to be prepared to challenge your opponent for control over at least some Ziggurats in order to win the game. Initiative to get in first will be useful, but Frags will also be important.

So our most recent game is actually a very good example of the Scenario being played correctly:

Also note that you clear the Conquered Ziggurats each Round. This means that you need to be able to either hold a Ziggurat, uncontested, over several Rounds or keep moving to take them again.

This makes the final activation in a Round valuable, if you have a highly mobile Aristo to get to any Ziggurat your opponent left unoccupied (or you have managed to make unoccupied). But it also makes activating before your opponent to get into one of the "contested" Ziggurats (assuming you both have two you can secure safely) to Conquer it before your opponent can do the same (and block them at the same time) significant. This means Initiative is valuable on both ends, and any Aristo (or Tactic) which can offer modification there will be highly effective.

On the other hand, effective Melee Strikers also offer the opportunity to simply eliminate the occupying Aristo, and Displacement effects will likewise free up the Ziggurat for you to take it yourself. Any Aristo who, either by Displacing or simply dealing enough damage to reliably send an opponent to the Infirmary, can clear their own Ziggurat is very useful.

All this taken together means that you can't rely on your Aristos being close together as most of the time they won't be able to be closer than Range 5 at best occupying multiple Ziggurats. So short range Support Aristos may suffer due to their Team being too spread out for them to be able to effectively aid them. 

Although the overall structure of the Scenario makes it very difficult for most Tanks to do their job well, there can be good reasons to still consider these Aristos. Simply being able to reliably hold a Ziggurat in the face of overwhelming firepower is a very valuable capability to bring into Frenzied Dance. Plus their secondary abilities can also be (situationally) useful. It's hard to KEEP Max out of a Zone with Displacement, for example (unless you aren't attacking anywhere else).

Ranged Strikers can also be very useful as they can take a Ziggurat away from the opposition while still reaching out to "touch" the other Team. If they can reliably eliminate an opposing Aristo then they will be able to clear the way for your Scorers to pick up an empty Zone as well. Many of these Aristos also offer useful backup Scorer potential, or useful defensive utility. Obviously the counter plays for this are Dazzle (on your opponents Ranged Strikers and Controllers), Hidden and Smoke, all of which allow control over incoming attack options.

With the potential to score up to 4 points in a single Round (especially with a well mixed team with offensive potential, scoring capability and staying power) some bold and aggressive strategies can be rewarding for the Manager who is willing to risk them. However even a moderately strong open, securing two "safe" Ziggurats and finishing with two "contested" Ziggurats Conquered can ultimately net the same outcome.

The fact that it's so difficult to wipe out an opponents scoring entirely will keep Teams in the contest far longer than you might expect. So if you do take losses make sure you get the points you can to stay in the chase.

It is worth remembering that the distance from the Deployment Zones to the nearest Ziggurat is only two spaces, so even a slow poke like Maximus can get into the Ziggurat and punch someone in the face with his shield in a single Activation. But it's ALSO only 8 hexes to go from one Ziggurat to the opposite Ziggurat, so most Aristos can fling themselves across the Hexadome with a double Move action to Conquer a Ziggurats on the opposite side. This means that a lot more Aristos than you might initially expect can potentially get to any Ziggurat which you leave unoccupied.

One hilarious aspect of the Deployment offers the opportunity for a lot of fun with the right Aristos. This is the fact that either Team can Deploy within any of the Deployment Zones, even adjacent to other Aristos. This can open up opportunities for a dedicated Melee Striker (like Shona, for example) to eliminate an opposing Aristo before Conquering a Ziggurat your opponent intended to secure, or a powerful Controller (like Gaia) to lock down opponents (as you see her execute in the match above) before they get to play. 

Particular standout PanOceanian Aristos for this Scenario include Valkyrie (for her ability to eliminate an Aristo and take a contested Ziggurat, Immobilisation Action, and defense against Displacement), Dart (for her strong ranged damage output, along with Hidden for defense against ranged attacks and ranged control) and Gata, who can hit any Ziggurat on the table with ease.

From the Rivals there are some particularly potent threats and also some fantastic Combos. Obviously hEXx3r can be strong here, clearing out Aristos from Ziggurats she wants to Conquer while moving herself (or her Team Mates) in. Bixie is astonishingly effective thanks to the positioning of the Blocked spaces opening out her mobility. Mushashi also brings the mobility and damage output to be a real threat in this scenario.

A couple of other tips relate to Deployment. Don't overlook the fact that you can use the Central Deployment Zone. It's so seldom an option that it's easy to forget. And don't forget to drop your Aristos into the Deployment Zone which allows them the best opportunity to get extra points. This is not a time for sticking to "your" Deployment Zones for a whole match.

Overall, this Scenario comes down to movement, positioning and the ability to keep your Aristos up. But due to the closeness of the Ziggurats even a little movement can make a huge difference. 

Let us know what you think about this Scenario, and our writeup. Obviously these are the first parts of a series, so we'd love to know if this suits what you want to know about Aristiea! Scenarios in general.