Hekat Golgoth
From At-43wiki
The hekat is a fast, type 1 (recon) Therian combat strider with four powerful close combat attacks but no ranged attacks.
It is a deadly threat to anything from an infantryman up to an assault strider and can, in theory, damage even a Dotch Yaga.
[edit] Strategy
Hekats are currently (October 2008) the cheapest AFV available to the Therians and one of the cheapest units overall. This makes them useful for filling out slots in a platoon structure, particularly for Cypher platoons. They are also useful as re-inforcements: their great speed will allow them to join the battle and be effective immediately and their low RP cost means they will be available quickly. At 215 AP, a single hekat alpha in a 500 AP block of Reinforcements will leave 285 AP, enough for a standard unit of storm or assault golems with an overseer.
A unit of two (or more) hekats can be transformed into any type 2 strider by using the Fusion routine. With the hekats' great speed and smaller base size, this could allow a Commander to position an assault strider deep in the enemy lines early in the game. However, to gain this assault strider you must give up at least 400 AP of models and run a costly 4 LP routine.
Making one of the hekats into an alpha overseer will allow you to run the Repair routine at least once per round (and potentially twice if your Commander can use Repair as well). This is especially important for hekats as they become almost useless if they lose their Propulsion.
Easy access to the Hypernanonucleus and Dash routines are also good reasons to include an alpha in a unit.
[edit] Tactics
With only close combat weapons, the hekat is suited to one role: dash and smash! They will always be moving at least 40cm (as there is no need to use a Combat Move) and will not be using the Overwatch! drill (as they have no ranged weapons). This makes hekats simple to use at maximum efficiency. In addition, their "in your face" style can help to put an opponent on the defensive as a rampaging hekat can cause absolute havoc
As a moving hekat will be always be rushing, they have great potential to run over infantry on their way to other targets. One tactic is to Engage a unit, perhaps with another hekat, before rushing a hekat through it, eliminating any infantry it crosses on a die roll of 3+. The ability to crush infantry is a threat that may discourage an opponent from keeping his mechanics close to his AFVs.
As an AFV, a hekat can simply push aside infantry when it Engages a unit. This allows a hekat to "snipe" high priority targets within a unit, such as medics, heroes/officers and special weapons. However, as any fighters pushed aside are moved out of Engagement with the hekat it may not be able to make the maximum number of kills out of its four attacks.
The hekat also has the Hoist ability which allows it to potentially block or unblock areas of the battlefield by repositioning low walls. As Therians have no equivalent of combat engineers, this is one of a few ways in which the Therians can affect terrain in a standard game.
[edit] Modelling
Hekat models come in a distinctive "tip toe" pose. However, apart from the toes the model is typically only loosely glued and there is some articulation in the legs. This allows the model to be repositioned in more dynamic poses. See the modelling section of Rackham's AT-43 forum for examples. [1]
