War College: Archetype Analysis -- Recon By Fire (AKA: The Use of Artillery)

This post started out at as a look at the use of Artillery in MFZ: Rapid Attack.  It stalled out and sat around for a while waiting to be finished.  Then I started a conversation about favorite archetypes on the MFZ Discord, the ideas started flowing, and I came back to expand this post.  Also, it's been more than a year since I've written anything for the War College so it was time to get back into the classroom.

There have been more than a few discussions about the different archetypes that we use in Rapid Attack and the one with -- what I feel to be -- the most overblown reputation is the Recon By Fire.  Not to say that a good reputation isn't deserved -- it is the second most popular archetype in my gaming group -- but I feel like people see the Double Arty/Double Spot and get spooked.  So let's take a closer look at what you can, and should, be doing with this loadout.

The main use for Artillery systems in Mobile Frame Zero is to deliver an "ENORMOUS HURT" at a great distance.  In this recent game we had seven Frames on the table with Artillery -- a count only rivaled by this game -- and they did a combined 20 points of Damage.  Which is roughly one third of the Damage inflicted in an average game coming from one quarter of the Frames on the table in that game.  Not surprising since the Commander's Handbook rates the Damage potential for the double Artillery of this Frame at 1.86/1.94/1.98 -- depending on how many White dice are involved.  The second option, and perhaps more useful, is the ability to disrupt an opponent's "Action Chain" at long range.  What I mean by "disrupting Action Chains" is hitting an opponent's Frame and forcing it to activate -- perhaps before they've formulated a plan -- but definitely before a companion Frame has placed a Spot for the first Frame to use.  Or if an opponent has a bunch of Frames in a row waiting to crash into the Defensive Perimeter you target one of the Frames in the middle of the stack so it has to move out and around the others which are still waiting to Activate.  This interrupts an opponent's offensive scheme, disconnects Spot chains, and prevents possible Cover movement from double Defense frames.

The other use for the RbF -- as I abbreviate it -- is to drop Spots wherever it can.  According to the Commander's Handbook with two Yellow dice the average Spot is 4.47, with two Yellow dice and a White die the average Spot is 4.96, and with two Yellow dice and two White dice the average Spot is 5.24.  The great thing about Spotting is the social engineering it encourages.  Yes, you can use it for yourself.  But, you could always drop a big, juicy 6 Spot on a target right in front of the Brawler that the Primary Attacker is chomping at the bit to use.  Or, if you feel like you're getting picked on just a little too much you can drop that Spot on a third party to distract the person that's been lighting you up.

Although I've mentioned using White dice to back up the Artillery and Spotting, in reality you're going to use them primarily for Defense -- as it has no native Defense -- and secondarily for Movement.  Most of the time you'll probably park this Frame someplace relatively safe and hopefully not have to move beyond some sort of emergency.

System removal for this loadout is like this; Artillery, Artillery, Spotting, Spotting.  It's done this way because Artillery doesn't lose range -- just effectiveness -- when downgraded, but Spotting does.  Debuffing a Frame's defense can help you and other players so you want that to last as long as possible.

The most Recon By Fires I've seen in a squad is four.  (In fact Tom's squad in this game was 80% RbFs.)  Normally it's a splash of one or two to add some long range oomph.