DAO Union Firefight Tactics

DAO Union

Setting:	Grimdark Future
Games:	Grimdark Future, Grimdark Future: Firefight
Species:	Mixed
Version:	v2.50

Note: as v2.50 is in constant development the following might not be accurate.

Why Play DAO Union

You want shooting, and lots of it. While DAO melee tends to not be the best, they do have a few tricks up their sleeves, but the biggest thing they bring to the table is effective guns, vehicles, and mecha.

Pros:

Lots of AP(1) and AP(2) weapons
High volume of fire
There are multiple ways to improve shooting even further
Shield drones allow units to actually be quite tough

Cons:

Most units are pretty expensive
Low-average number of activations
Almost everything sucks at melee
Morale is average at best
The majority of your units suffer in the Defense department

Special Rules

Accelerator Drone: Extra 6" range for a nearby Spotter's Pulse Carbines. Considering how nasty Carbines can be, this can be a pretty nice upgrade particularly when grouped up.
Beacon: Ignore distance restrictions for Ambush when Ambushing within 12" of this model. This is going to be highly situational, and is mostly useful for last-round objective contesting. Spotter Squads and Stealth Suits can take this.
Good Shot: Many of the core TAO units get this rule, which is basically just a +1 to shooting, not much more to say.
Inhibitor Drone: -3" to charging anyone within 12" of this unit, this is again a Spotter-exclusive upgrade. At 15pts this is a bit expensive, but it gives one quite handy benefit - Ambushers can no longer charge this unit the turn they come in. For a Spotter Squad set up to be backline fire support, that can be a nice safety assurance.
Shield Wall: Enemies take -1 to hit models with this rule, which is helpful in ensuring the survival of more vulnerable units.
Spotting Laser: Instead of shooting a weapon, you have a 50/50 chance to give +1 to shooting on an enemy unit per laser. The +X is one-time use only, so best used either against very tough targets or units with Stealth. You'll get the most utility out of this when either using Suits or combined units, so save your lasers for your hard hitters.

Psychic Spells

Killing Blow (4+): Enemy model within 12" takes an AP(2) hit, making this a pretty cheap sniping power.
Patience (4+): Grants a friendly unit within 12" Stealth when they next get shot. This is important since most of your troops are pretty average with defense.
Boldness (5+): Friendly unit within 12" can immediately move 3", which won't really be enough to act as an escape button. It can however nudge a unit into cover or into combat.
Devastating Strike (5+): Enemy unit within 12" takes four AP(1) hits.
Deadly Surge (6+): Two enemy units within 12" take 6 hits each, making this an ideal anti-mob power.
Pacification (6+): Enemy unit within 12" takes -3 to their next melee hit rolls, which can pretty easily turn the tables when trying to stall a combat.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Grunt Leader: The basic and likely default TAO Hero. This Hero has 4+ Qua and Def and access to Drone options and a variety of personal and wargear upgrades.
- Drones: The Grunt Leader can pick out up to two different drones to provide extra utility. The Gun Drone provides you with some supporting fire, which can especially be useful for a melee-focused leader. The Spotter Drone provides access to a Spotting Laser; while helpful, it requires sacrificing the leader's shooting and that's more of an issue for a ranged leader or one without a Gun Drone for extra firepower. The Mini-Shield Drone provides Regeneration, which is pretty cheap for the staying power it offers - especially for the more vulnerable melee leaders.
- Upgrades: Captain confers Volley Fire, providing Relentless to a wide area for some extra shots. High Elder confers Psychic for both support and offense that are independent of shooting. Ethereal confers Elemental Power, which is incredibly helpful in shifting a group of friendly models over without activating them and extending their threat range.
- Ranged Weapons: By default, the Grunt Leader carries a short-ranged Pulse Shotgun with a potent AP(1) to rip through armor. For a mere 5 points, you can extend the range of that by either buying Pulse Carbine or buying the extra long-range Pulse Rifle that sacrifices a shot.
- Melee Weapons: A lot of these weapons come with sacrificing both the shotgun and the CCW, which can be risky. The Holy Sword is arguably the most cost-effective melee option, providing A3 AP(1) Rending for a well-rounded melee option. The Holy Batons, while A2, come with Blast(3) to cover a wider group of enemies and thus is made to handle mobs. The Holy Dual-Spear comes with AP(4) to reliably injure high-defense units like Destroyers. The Holy Halberd comes with AP(1) Deadly(3), making it best for Tough units. In addition, you could equip the Grunt Leader with the Pulse Pistol (a short-ranged Pulse Shotgun with one less shot) and Ritual Blade for extra melee. This loadout lets you replace the Ritual Blade with either the affordable AP(1) Rending Plasma Sword or the mighty AP(4) Plasma Gauntlet.

Infantry

Grunt: Your basic trooper, while flimsy in combat, has Good Shot on an AP(1) Pulse Shotgun in order to ensure their effectiveness at range. Because of this quality issue, it's not advised to give a Grunt the Pulse Pistol+Ritual Blade loadout. More preferable is the option for either a Spotter Drone to assist allies in hitting or a Gun Drone for some extra shots.
- Ranged Weapons: By default, each Grunt comes with a Pulse Shotgun for short-ranged firepower. For relatively cheap, they can improve the range of these guns by taking either the Pulse Carbines or going for long-ranged Pulse Rifles in exchange for a shot. In addition, there's the Plasma Rifle that can be taken for cheap AP(4) firepower. The Flamethrower provides a high volume of fire though less effective against armor. The Burst Carbine is also rapid-fire but has Rending for some surprise AP at a decent range. The Fusion Carbine provides high AP and Deadly(3) to fell Tough units.

Gun Drone: Effectively better than Grunts by having Flying and Fearless, but their longer-range guns lack any AP on them. These guns can only be upgraded in one of two ways: Precision Rounds gives Ignores Cover, which is handy in getting rid of cover-spammers, or Shred Ammo to provide Rending for potential AP.

Sniper Drone: Sniper Drones are Gun Drones with long-range Pulse Rifles, and thus come with the same mobility advantages over Grunts. They are handy for long range support, as their guns carry AP(1). They can buy Sniper to make more out of their lone shot.

Spotter: A more expensive, less durable Grunt equipped with Pulse Carbines. Just like Grunts however, they have access to a variety of unique options. Spotter Gunners take advantage of very long-ranged weapons in the crowd-popping Ion Rifle, the Sniper-toting Scoped Rifle, and the Tough-cracking Rail Rifle.
- Drones: Alongside the Gun Drone and Spotter Drone (which is oddly redundant considering that Spotters can buy Spotting Lasers for the same price), a Spotter can also access a set of unique drones. The Inhibitor Drone provides a sizeable bubble to deter charges, giving some protection from melee. The Accelerator Drone boosts the range of nearby Pulse Carbines but is ineffective on anything else. The Recon Drone, while expensive, pulls double duty - Not only is it an extra gun with Rending to pop the occasional armor, but it also has Beacon, making the area around the Spotter a safe spot for anyone using Ambush.

Stealth Suit: Tough, durable units with relatively limited firepower, whether with the default Burst Carbines or the very dangerous Fusion Carbines. These units are great for ambushing in to grab poorly guarded objectives. They also have value as support assets, as you can purchase either a Spotting Laser or a Beacon for backfield assistance.

Battle Suit: The heavy hitter option for the TAO, with three slots just to equip weapons on. They have a lot of versatility with their guns and will generally be where you want to spend any marker lights that you put down. An Energy Shield can help to make them more durable at the cost of some firepower. If you desperately need melee power, you can also sacrifice a gun for a plasma sword. In addition, you can also buy up to two Gun Drones or Spotter Drones,
- Guns: By default, each Battle Suit comes with three Suit-Flamers, all of which can be replaced with different weapons. Suit-Fuses provide AP(4) Deadly(3) in order to demolish any Tough units by negating their Defense scores. Suit-Bursts and Suit-Ions provide mid-range firepower, but one provides Rending for potential AP while the other gives a constant AP(1). The Suit-Frag provides long-ranged firepower but is hampered by Indirect. The Suit Plasma provides a mid-range source of AP(4) to take care of anything with high defense. The Suit-Missiles are your longest range weapons, provided with AP(2) and Lock-On, which isn't as powerful as it would be against Aircraft

List Building & Tactics

General Advice

Marker Drones are less useful in Firefight than Grimdark Future as they only give a single model a bonus to shooting at the cost of another model's ability to use weapons. This equates to a 50% shot at a +16% increase in a model's chance to hit. Generally speaking, you will want to skip this upgrade and just spend the points on other units instead.
TAO have to be very conscious of their opponent's charge ranges and do what they can to control the area around an objective before claiming it to avoid a counter charge. This can be alleviated by using cheaper units or ambush units to grab objectives.
Round 1 and 2 are where the TAO can really shine-- if you can eliminate a few of your opponent's key units in the game while keeping your own safe, then you will be in a good position to start rushing for objectives later on. Make the most of your Ambush units at the start of round 2.

Tactics

Aura Synergy: A TAO Hero with Relentless and Spotter with an Accelerator Drone can give Grunts armed with Pulse Carbine some extra range and firepower, if you want to use them as your core force.
- Relentless also works well with Gundrones, especially those upgraded with Rend. These can help form the core of your force to help support other objective grabbing units.
- Spotters with Inhibitor Drones work well with Grunt using Pulse Shotguns since they can reduce the odds of a counter charge... though the Spotter will make a very tempting target if you are not careful about positioning. If they can survive into the late game, these Spotters will really help with securing objectives on round 4.
Ambush: Stealthsuits and Crisis Suits all have access to Ambush. This allows you to grab for uncontested objectives at the start of Round 2. Stealthsuits and Crisis Suits both have reasonable durability and so can be expected to survive even charged or shot at by weaker units. These are helpful to allow TAO to choose what objectives to contest early in the game, rather than having to rely on attrition.
Chaff: TAO can use cheaper models like non-upgraded Grunts to contest or claim objectives. Doing this earlier in the game can force your opponent to charge you and leave their units vulnerable to getting shot by your more valuable units. This role can also be filled by more defence-oriented units like Crisis Suits, Stealth Suits or Shield Drone upgraded Grunt Leaders.
Phases of Play: In Round 1 and 2, shooting is very important to the TAO to whittle down enemy forces. You want to take advantage of your range and powerful shooting during this early phases-- TAO victory depends on softening up your opponents enough to start closing in on objectives afterwards. By Round 3 however, your priority should be to ensure that your models are able to rush to objectives, more than on eliminating enemy units. By Round 4, shooting is only important if it can stun or kill an enemy contesting an objective. Even high-cost/low-def like Spotters should consider objective grabbing to b a major priority in this round-- the game is nearly over and so there is no reason to worry about protecting them into the next round.

DAO Union Firefight Tactics

Contents

Why Play DAO Union

Special Rules

Psychic Spells

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Infantry

List Building & Tactics

General Advice

Tactics

See Also

Navigation menu

DAO Union Firefight Tactics

Why Play DAO Union

Special Rules

Psychic Spells

Unit Analysis

Heroes

Infantry

List Building & Tactics

General Advice

Tactics

See Also

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