Maximizing a box of rebel commandoes

By FlyingAnchors, in Army Building

So I just put together my first squad of rebel commandoes(I know, I’ve been out of the game for a short while), and now I’m wondering how to best maximize my one box.

basically, how would you split up your commandoes? Sniper team and put the demo guy in the regular squad, or vice versa? I’m just trying to build a “try everything “ practice list around 800 points (I’ve got 3 standard troopers, at-rt, snow speeder, Luke, Leia; for reference).

Unfortunately fo me the best use was 3 sniper strike squads or 3 bomber strike squads. I converted one of each of the snipers and bombers so i still have several extra guys

I think - and the feeling of the community seems to reflect this - that snipers are better suited to the strike teams and demo troopers are better in the squads. To get the most utility out of the charges you need to advance. If the demo trooper is in the strike team they will die very quickly, not good for moving forward as they most certainly will be targeted. On the reverse side, your sniper wants to sit at the back of the board plinking away at targets of opportunity and will likely spend most of the game out of range of likely everything but other snipers.

5 hours ago, Crawfskeezen said:

I think - and the feeling of the community seems to reflect this - that snipers are better suited to the strike teams and demo troopers are better in the squads. To get the most utility out of the charges you need to advance. If the demo trooper is in the strike team they will die very quickly, not good for moving forward as they most certainly will be targeted. On the reverse side, your sniper wants to sit at the back of the board plinking away at targets of opportunity and will likely spend most of the game out of range of likely everything but other snipers.

Agreed. I don't ever use demo teams, but they work way better in full sized squads. Albeit I don't usually use snipers either 🤔

On the other hand, I've found that the rebel sniper works well in squads. Their range 3 means they can combine fire quite often (to gain pierce for the unit and cover penetration through extra dice), but the rifle can also split fire and hit targets across the battlefield. In this case the model works more like a designated marksman- it gives the unit a DMR which supports the squad against targets outside of rifle range.

I also find the rifle fits more naturally into squads as they are often carrying out the same actions. The laying of proton bombs means the other 4 men miss the opportunity to move or shoot. This doesn't apply to scout troopers- their limited range means they spend less time shooting (generally).

I'm not saying strike teams are a bad idea and they are probably points efficient for activation and getting more special weapons in the force

I haven’t tried the Demo guy yet but if I were trying to field a Full Squad and a Strike Team at the same time out of one box I’d run the Demo guy as a Strike Team and put the Sniper in the Full Squad.

I’ve run a list with one Sniper Strike Team and a list with two Sniper Strike Teams. They are great at sitting back and putting suppression tokens on squads that haven’t activated yet. The mills are just bonus!

Ive wanted to run a Full Squad w/Sniper as a super trooper squad since they were released but I haven’t got it on the table yet...

In the super competitive world it looks like three Sniper Strike Teams is the choice d’jour.

I think a full squad with sniper and a strike team with charge is the best. The big squad with sniper is a serious threat and makes a real impact.

The small squad can run around laying charges.

Depends on the list. There's nothing wrong with the strike suicide bomber units except that the strike sniper unit is way better than all of the others point for point. The strike snipers are just way easier to use do to LOS rules, infinite range, activation advantages etc.

One of the things I’m jealous of, from the Imperial side, is I don’t think I’ll ever just run a unit of naked Scout Troopers. They’re more fragile and they have to get closer than a unit of Stormtroopers with a DLT would, which makes them... at best a sidestep, rather than an upgrade.

I think Rebel Commandos are a lot better, though. The improvement in offense is modest but noticeable, and ditto on defense with Low Profile; you also get Scout 2 out of the bargain.

So I think it might be worth playing around with just the 4-man unit and the strike team...?

Both Heavy Weapons are useful in both squads, but I think the Sniper takes the cake simply because range is king and it's easier to use? There's a lot less overhead when you're just pointing and shooting.

In my opinion the sniper easily works well on both the strike team and the full squad but the bomb guy is really only powerful on the strike team. When he's on the full team then I always elect to shoot at stuff rather than drop a bomb. But when it's just the strike team, their firepower is really weak so the bomb is really more effective.

On 1/13/2019 at 7:24 PM, bllaw said:

In my opinion the sniper easily works well on both the strike team and the full squad but the bomb guy is really only powerful on the strike team. When he's on the full team then I always elect to shoot at stuff rather than drop a bomb. But when it's just the strike team, their firepower is really weak so the bomb is really more effective.

This is pretty much my thinking as well.

On 12/13/2018 at 5:30 PM, FlyingAnchors said:

So I just put together my first squad of rebel commandoes(I know, I’ve been out of the game for a short while), and now I’m wondering how to best maximize my one box.

basically, how would you split up your commandoes? Sniper team and put the demo guy in the regular squad, or vice versa? I’m just trying to build a “try everything “ practice list around 800 points (I’ve got 3 standard troopers, at-rt, snow speeder, Luke, Leia; for reference).

I like to put the sniper in big squad and the saboteur in the heavy weapons team (2 man). If you get three boxes running three 2 man saboteur teams is a blast. You litter the playvare with mines and tear stuff UP!!!

I tend to do squad with demo (sometimes with environmental gear to let them exploit area terrain, like small groves), and sniper strike team, with long range comms if I have the points available. Keep sniper in cover with a good view, while the full squad protects and supports the demolitionist. If I can get a good sniper nest in my deployment zone, there are times the sniper doesn’t even move- just aim and shoot or dodge and shoot.

Basically, the answer is both heavy weapons can be good in either configuration and its largely up to personal choice and playstyle. There isn't a 'correct' choice that makes any other option worthless in comparison. Almost like they were well designed haha.

do you feel that the imperial mine traps are better than the rebel proton mines? Suppression has way more application than impact and blast, and red is always better as a dice option. Imperials seem to have all the ways to suppress the enemy as well as better leadership to deal with panic, etc than the Rebels (which is thematic but not always balanced)