Monster Tactics: Ares Mothership

Hello to all of my followers new and old and welcome to the Monsterpocalypse!  This marks the formal relaunch of my Vicarious Competition blog that focuses on miniatures competitive play at the highest level, now showcasing Monsterpocalypse primarily from the Destroyer's perspective.  This first article will give you an idea of what type of content to expect moving forward.

Ares Mothership: Difficulty Rating 3/3

The Ares Mothership is the monster that got me into the game purely based on her looks.  I love the cheesy martian aesthetic and I always am imagining her sharp grabber claws make "tikka tikka tikka" noises as she rips her enemies apart.  Ares is a support monster with lots of subtleties running under the hood that can make her seem underwhelming at first glance, but the utility and mobility she brings to the fight make her a force to be reckoned with.  Offensively, Ares is painfully average, but makes up for it with a great speed stat of 7 combined with Flight and High Mobility that lets her go where she pleases.  This combined with the Steady rule to protect against Body Slams, she's very comfortable flying straight over top of enemy lines and snuggling into places other monsters might not want to be.  The Manufacture ability on Brawl attacks doesn't come up very often, but can grant some really nice unit efficiency when clearing off Power Nodes or contesting units.

Ares Mothership brings insane utility in Alpha form and should be kept here as long as possible.  You'll want to keep Ares well protected and make sure the monster you're pairing with her is exposed to the first round of enemy attacks.  This is made easier with the Transport rule that lets you drop in Power Pods to act as screening models that prevent your opponent from aligning to make power attacks.  Speaking of which... On the offensive, Ares takes a simple yet effective approach: Abduct, Step, Throw.  Ares is the queen of screen-busting and it's nearly impossible to stay safe when she's on the table.  The Flight rule lets Ares sneak around the map edges either waiting to strike, or all the way in the enemy deployment to contest buildings and disrupt power generation. Always look for opportunities to abuse Steady to force your opponent to over commit in order to deal with the looming threat.  The basic design of Monsterpocalypse makes sure that nowhere in the city is truly safe, but the Ares Mothership can be really difficult to pin down if played carefully.

Once Ares Mothership goes Hyper, many of the flashy abilities fall off and the internet grumbling begins.  Losing Abduct and Transport is a tough pill to swallow, but this Hyper form has a lot more power behind it than people give it credit for.  The big rule gained here is Hit and Run, and the name is counter-intuitive with how it should be played.  Hit and Run is best used by Hunters for taking down occupied Power Nodes, then using the Hit and Run offensively to immediately jump onto that Node and help with late game power generation.  This becomes even stronger with the new access to Spotter for defense reduction that doesn't exist anywhere else in Destroyers at the time of this writing.  Spotter can help you sneak in a damage point or two on your unit turns when marking large combined blast attacks with units like Spitters, Belchers, and Vanguards.  Keep in mind that Manufacture does stay on the Hyper form and can continue to improve your unit efficiency as you transfer into late game.

Retinue: Power Pod, Power Pod, Saucer, Hunter, Elite Chomper

"What units should I bring?" is a question ALL players have, and a small package of five models can help point in the right direction.  2x Power Pods are a must and arguments could be made for bringing as many as 3 or 4.  Alpha Ares utilizes Transport to drop these Power Pods into screening positions to keep your monsters safe on the approach.  Not bringing enough risks your opponent ignoring them or leaving them on the board so that they get left behind and cannot be spawned back in later into move convenient positions.  The Saucer adds some further efficiency to Power Pod placement, gives you an extra push for early unit turns when you're goal is to capture buildings, AND adds a flier to your list that can help capture buildings while staying on Impassable Terrain.  1-2 Hunters are good on their own, but they bring some awesome late game harassment thanks to Hit and Run.  This is one of the big pieces to Ares' Hyper form that many people tend to overlook.  Finally I recommend a single Elite Chomper to help with Power Dice generation.  Ares doesn't gain much in the way of Boost Dice and her Abduct doesn't grant any dice at all when removing enemies.

Recommended Pairings: Hammerklak, Deimos-9, Gorghadra

Ares needs a Beater or Carry monster to help bring the pain.  Hammerklak is my preferred monster that offers a really nice compliment.  He can match Ares in speed to really give your opponent headaches and in Hyper he gains tons of stats to help close the game out.  Deimos-9 allows you to go pure martians and has a strong enough Hyper form to help you guys by.  Grappler is yet another obnoxious ability in your tool box to make sure you abuse your superior movement as much as possible.  Finally Gorghadra as the ultimate face-smasher.  His great offensive stats combined with PDice generation makes sure you are never short on resources.

Honorable mention to Cthugrosh for his Summon ability to just spawn all the units forever and completely flood the board with screening models to save your monsters.

That's all I have for you today, but I hope you enjoy!  Please let me know what you like and what you don't like so I can fine-tune these articles into exactly what you guys are looking for.  Keep an eye out for future articles and eventually videos with recorded game coverage.