Odysseus Grant's "No Surrender" theme posse

[osiris]

Updated for 1.091:
Next up is Odysseus Grant's "No Surrender" theme posse:
Honestly, this posse will be very hard to field in low points limit games. it requires large amounts of hands units to benefit from its posse bonus, and if you aren't benefitting from that, you would probably be better off using a different posse anyway.  This posse has TONS of slots too (14 separate units, including the boss, not including any bonus strategics or k9's you tack on), indicating it was designed to be used in larger games.

What does it do? well, again it's a firepower list.  designed to be used with the Woodhouse off-board artillery, and lots of union soldiers making lots of attacks (and absorbing bullets through sheer numbers of bodies). Let's take a look at what we can put into the slots:

First up: Alfred Woodhouse - reasonably low points cost, his sole purpose seems to be his shooting attack, which is ok. some tricky things can be done with it because it is indirect and very long ranged (strangely longer ranged than the largest table size in the rulebook, even diagonally, but whatever) and his ability to "take one for the team" without burning fortune off the boss is nice.  He also comes with Shoulder to Shoulder (S2S from here on out...) as do many units in this list, but he is otherwise unremarkable.  I'm actually not a fan of the unreliability of the artillery, but as it is unique in the game, it can throw your opponent for a bit of a loop, tactically. 

Also available in this slot, All the Union Hands you can pick and choose from these 6: Iron Horse Cavalry (See above, willa shaw's list) They are quite good, but as this list requires units of minimum size 6 to trigger the posse bonus, cavalry hands units would be EXTREMELY expensive.

The next two hands units are the Union Skirmishers and Union Riflemen.  These are not worth taking.  They are too expensive to be just throw-away troops, but lack any of the good special rules to make them actually effective.  Even if you buy them special weapons, they effectively become a fragile version of the special weapon as a unit.  you could use a stripped down size 6 unit of these to fulfill the posse bonus if you are running low on points, but if you do, treat them like civilians.  Keep them in the back, out of the fight, and maybe hope to just hold an objective or something before a real unit notices and murders them.

Next up is the Armo(u)red versions of the infantry.  These two (Armoured Guards and Armoured Riflemen) are a little bit more expensive (making them VERY expensive to field in units of any reasonably survivable size), BUT they come with some special rules that can make them legit dangerous combatants.  The armoured Guards are basically superior in many many ways to the riflemen for exactly the same cost (They gain a point of piercing in their melee attack, an extra 1" of melee reach, they gain a parry for melee defense, and their shooting attack gains revolver fan ability, all at the mere cost of 8" of range (and at range 10, it's still pretty darn good).  The reason why these are SO much superior to the other cheaper infantry is both the defense AND their offense.  On defense, they not only gain extra grit on their stat card, but also durable. So, they're Grit 5, with S2S, they're Grit 6, and with the forward echelon aura Grit 7, with durable (effectively making them grit 8 vs weapons with piercing) so now they are actually reasonably survivable. As of 1.091 the supergatling combined fire trick is no longer allowed. 

But where they become deadly is with combined fire (not massed fire)... Give one of them a Gatling (or even rocket or flamethrower, against certain opponents...) and then use the combined fire rule to make the gatling fire 3 times, at aim 7 (or 9 focused, but why, since it's linked anyway) and -5 pierce, nearly guaranteeing your target takes 4 hits at a -5... owch. And that's just in a 6 man squad (they can have up to 10)  Yes, this is very powerful, but remember, that unit is also going to cost you 230 pointsif

if you can find a way to keep a sawbones near them, it would make life even better, but now you are relying on three units staying near each other at a minimum. 

Still, this is the "theme" unit of the posse. so this is your main trick.

Also selectable in the hands slot in Attack Dogs.  The cyber-hounds are actually quite good at being melee tacklers. they are extremely fast with Q7, rapid, and trailfinder, with surefoot, they can almost guarantee a turn 1 charge against any enemy unit on the table (at least on the 3'x3' tables anyway) so if you have an opponent with a terrifying shooter, jam some attack dogs down their throat and they'll either need to bring over some support to deal with them, or risk being backstabbed a lot. obviously, these dogs suffer from a bunch of drawbacks as well, and would best be used with characters with sick'em and the automata resurrection power, but a single unit can add some tactical flexibility and some extra melee punch to an otherwise shooty army.

Slot 2, ANY union face... there's a BUNCH to choose from so let's dig in:
First, Willa Shaw... yup, that's right, she can Team-Player and come as a face instead of a boss. she is a fantastic addition to this posse. Her forward echelon ability is a huge bump to the hordes of infantry this list should be fielding.  you COULD consider paying the extra cost to mount her on her iron horse (actually slightly extending the range of her aura due to the larger base size), but in this posse she's good enough on foot.  She brings a lot of tactical flexibility with her gambler ability, elusive makes certain that she doesn't get entangled in any scraps her Armoured Guards get into, and she has her own fortune pool so as to not be draining grant of chips.

Next, The other Team-Player, Albert Campbell.  He's also a good choice, as he brings his own fortune chips, a wide selection of powerful (even if low RoA) weapons, and an inspirational aura.  Most importantly, he's a repair guy, so he can give mounted folks or vehicles that don't already have it a grit re-roll. He's not a bad choice depending on how you decide to fill in your other slots, but if you don't take mounted faces, and stick to the tank and iron eagles, he's not really useful as he has no role to fill.

John Sherridan: On foot, he doesn't bring much to this posse. other than the fact that he is cheap. he lacks a lot of the synergy rules (S2S, Forward Echelon, Teamwork, etc) so he's not a fantastic choice. but if you really want counter intelligence, he's the cheapest way to get it. Mounted he's worth considering, for the same reasons as in Willa Shaw's posse above. (cheap maneuverable fairly durable gatlings are hard to ignore)

Garratt Morden:  This guy almost feels broken, he's a bargain for his points cost. he comes with his own chips, very good ranged attacks (extremely good within 12" of a civilians unit), rabble-rouser AND rapport (he's great with civilians), and more importantly, both Dark Council AND Compel.  Getting the free hexalith is fantastic, and using compel can be a nasty trick roughly 4 to 6 times per turn... this Face is honestly underpointed. he's hard to pass up.

John Hunter Bennet: while not quite as nasty as morden, he does also come with dark council for a free hexalith (and the limited compel) setting up a free portal network.  Also, his shooting isn't bad either, and as long as he keeps hitting/killing he can just keep shooting. He also comes with a fortune chip, and Sic'em and elite and a decent enough melee weapon.... he's a very tactically flexible model, again, for a discount in points cost.  He DOES however lack the synergy skills, so unless you're doing some dark-council stuff, he doesn't really fit in this list.

Speaking of "doesn't fit in this posse", is our next face, Pat Garrett.  Form up on me isn't that useful, as our hands generally don't want to get too close too fast, his only real benefits are the fortune chip, and inspirational. Several of his other special rules will be wasted (like tin man) in this posse, so you're better looking to spend points elsewhere.

Next up is Kay Free.  on foot or on a bike.  Again, she has some tactical tools with rejuvenate, trapper, sic'em, etc. but her mechanic grit reroll aura will largely be wasted in this list, much like Albert Campbell mentioned above.  Skip her in this posse.

Sierra Icarus.  Unless you really want invigorate and rejuvenate, you probably shouldn't even been looking at her.  HOWEVER, these two abilities can be VERY useful to this posse.  because of all the hands units.  getting their limit up can help the be more maneuverable and dish out more shots.  Burning chips off grant to keep your boys alive? she can refill some between his activations. she's not a must have for the posse, but she's not a bad choice either.

William Sherman. Just because his model comes in the posse box, doesn't mean you should include him... he's a one trick pony. his gun (and grenades) and I suppose he can also bring dogs... not that you need them in this posse (unless you made some kind of hilarious all dog hands and gun dog support posse, which technically you COULD do, just wouldn't recommend it) his guy just isn't worth bringing.  He's gun, while powerful, isn't quite good enough to justify him not having any of the synergy abilities your other units will require to stay useful, and he's not cheap enough to just stick in.

Bernard Hopkins: ABSOLUTELY. he's a cheap and deadly sniper. one of the better snipers in the game actually.  get him up on something high and mow down all those mettle units.  he can also blast melee tacklers off of your gun toting troops.  worth every point.

Robert Pinkerton:  While not really a sniper, he does bring an awful nasty punch with that rifle. he's kind of iffy for this posse, as he lacks most of the synergy abilities (although he does have teamwork), when he's around civilians, he's an excellent tank-buster and/or character-killer.

Lucinda Loveless: Again, this is not a face designed to work in this list, as she's more of an 'agent' than a soldier.  She does bring S2S, and teamwork, as well as a few other interesting tricks (undercover, prodigious, her own fortune chip, and some decent weapons as well as counter-strike) she's not a bad face for the points again, but also again, doesn't really fit in what this list is primarily focused on. If you have a few extra points and want to use some of her odd abilities, sure, but it's probably better to look elsewhere.

Henry Courtwright:  Basically the same could be said for him as for Lucinda.  He's not bad, and does bring a couple of the synergy skills as well as a variety of special abilities. but he doesn't really fit with this posse directly.  use if you are really wanting his special abilities, otherwise look elsewhere.

Camilla Blanche:  Again, the same as Lucinda and Henry.  She has the added bonus of being cheap (and a decent bodyguard-type unit), but is really only worth considering if Sierra Icarus is also in your posse. Again, she just doesn't fit, but if you specifically want to supplement the main theme of this posse with one of her odd special abilities, she could still find a spot.

Milo Jefferson:  A trickshot rocket launcher with shoulder to shoulder and teamwork... (and some other ancillary abilities if you aren't running the crazy dog army)  if you need his heavy punch around corners, he's worth considering.

Francis Tumblety: I'm not fond of the aesthetic of this model, but he's hard to overlook. He's a Dark Council model (free hexalith as above) with enervate, and most importantly SAWBONES. this army loves sawbones, and while there is a cheaper one further down the list, this guy brings some good weapons and abilities to the field.  His Carpathogen will be effectively wasted on this posse though.

Carl Fredrickson, well, at least he's cheap.  I guess if you want portal mastery this is really your only choice. his weapons can be nasty particularly if he's near some civilians. but tinman will likely be wasted.  Another example of "only take this unit if you really want his unique special ability" otherwise, he simply doesn't synergize with the rest of the posse.

UR-31 GI bots: Strange that they take a face slot.  Small groups of these troopers would fit thematically with this posse very well. However, for their cost, and having both tasked and ancillary, there's better troops you can put on the field.  They look tougher than your normal troops, but they really aren't much, Mettle makes them stay on the table longer, however they can't benefit from forward echelon nor from Shoulder to Shoulder, so their grit will likely actually be slightly lower. They do bring good-ish guns, At least. 

Charge Sergeant: you SHOULD be getting one of these for free with your posse bonus.  They are quite nice. The Echelon aura is a big boost to the army, and he has good reach on good melee weapons to help deal with "unique" targets. (stun and disrupt on every attack is really good)  for the points cost, you may even consider paying for a 2nd one of these.

Edith LaVaughn:  well, she's (almost) wearing the uniform.  but this unit is very lackluster. again it lacks as useful synergy special rules (form up on me isn't great for this posse, not awful, but not great) other than having kill-shot, she's not much.  Her weapons aren't spectacular, but also aren't terrible.  The one saving grace that may make you want to take her is that she's extremely cheap. (although so is skip mckidney, and he's going to get you a lot more mileage...)

Leah Kingston: She's another agent.  The same could be said for her as for Lucinda, and Henry, and Carl... etc.  She's not really designed to work great with this posse, but if you want to use her special abilities to augment your posse, she could still be useful.

Skip McKidney: lets see... cheap sawbones with his own fortune and a terrifying pistol. yes please! keep a sawbones near your shooty squads to keep them alive. use his pistol on any model that has both tough and mettle that's dumb enough to get close, and they could lose BOTH. then watch your shooters mop-up with ease.

Bud "Skorcher" Hutch: This is your mettle character killer.  he can fly 18" up to any character (preferably landing on higher ground), hit their back edge of their base with a smoke grenade, to disorder them (dont do this if they have filtered lungs, as you also grant them shrouded) then blast them with the flamethrower. The grenade is blast and the flamethrower is torrent so they can't Quick and the Dead any of it.  They lose cover grit bonuses due to engulf, and if you happen to crit into overcharged that's even better.  they have to make a grit-2 save or just be eliminated.  Nasty. He's going to be operating on his own, so he doesn't need the synergy skills anyway, and he's somewhat protected from return fire by Grit6 rerollable, and mettle. he's an excellent addition to ANY posse that can take him to be honest, though perhaps not quite as thematic to the union army. still, if you have the points, he's worth it.

PaPa Trinity: This character is an excellent "Compel" battery. he also brings two fortune chips with largesse, so anyone in the posse can use them.  He has a decent shooting attack, but honestly, he should never really be making any combat actions.  He's extremely hard to kill due to cerulean clade disguise (cannot be targeted while the disguise is up), (which also means he can stand in front of other characters and grant them cover...) and he can bring and use more civilians, but he's not exactly cheap, for mostly just a compeller. 

PHEW! that's alot of faces to choose from at this slot...
But wait, we're not done, because you can also choose non-vehicle supports at this slot, so let's look at those as well:

Non-Vehicle Supports:
First: The Union Blazer is, at the time of this writing, an "Unreleased" model and therefore not tournament legal.  However, if they do eventually allow it, lets take a look:  It's the ultimate glass cannon unit.  They aren't cheap, and they are incredibly fragile, a bit less if you take them in units of more than one (to protect from ancillary), but their gun is Astounding (yes, with a capital "A"). Twinlinked, brutal, crits add hazardous, SIX shots at pierce -2 with 15" range, on a highly mobile unit...  these can bring a terrifying amount of firepower, but will drop very quickly if your opponent goes after it (as they should!). you can tactically use this to your advantage, trying to draw your opponent into killing these while your other units get ignored.

The Union Heavy Gatling Gun is also "Unreleased" as of now. it's a slightly different version of the blazer.  it's MUCH slower, but gains a little bit of survivability, being Grit 6 with durable AND Shoulder to Shoulder. But also at the expense of the gun not being quite as spectacular (but still very good) it loses linked, which is a big loss, loses two rate of fire, another big loss. and trades crit hazardous for crit shred, but it does gain refined.  Honestly, for the cost, this unit probably isnt worth it. The blazer is just better, even if this unit can S2S with your shooting squads. and for the cost, you could have more armoured squad with their own gatling, which would be much better for the posse. 

Next we have the first legitimate choice for tournament matches: The Union Fire Team.  They are fairly cheap and very thematic for the posse. All of the weapons they bring are decent, even the free sniper rifles (even if they lack any true sniper special rules).  These guys do come with shoulder to shoulder at least, but mostly are just a cheap way to bring some more special weapons. Never discount the sheer weight of dice from a fireteam full of gatlings, that firepower can kill many characters and it's pretty cheap.  Again, the only downside here is they aren't hands so they dont get forward echelon bonuses.

Next up is the K9 Gun Dogs.  These are again a way to cheaply bring specific special weapons.  a bit more mobile than the fire team, and adds durable, but at the cost of S2S.  If you're going for alot of units with dog support abilities, they may be a choice for you, but in general, the fire team would probably be a better choice for this type of unit in this posse.

Then we come to the Union Pacifiers. The reason you would want to bring these is if you want a reliable source of hazardous on their rather good shooting attack. (The card does seem to be currently misprinted, as it has both Hazardous as an innate trait, as well as gaining it on a crit, most people think this is supposed to be lethal on a crit, but we havn't heard from the studio yet.) They're again a bit more survivable with Grit6 Durable, but still a tad fragile, especially for their greatly increased cost.  Again, probably you will have better ways to spend your points, but if you really want to bring their very nasty hazard guns they do fit in this posse fairly well. (keep them near the sawbones, but the echelon wont benefit them as they aren't hands.)

 Overall here, the non-vehicle supports are probably not the best choices for this posse, but if you are desperate for some extra special weapons, they're a relatively inexpensive way to bring them.  Only the (currently illegal) blazer is really a solid choice though (unless you're going for the all dog thing of course again...)

OK, we're FINALLY on to slot 3 in the posse.  This is where you can take more hands (to finally get the posse bonus of the free charge sergeant) but this is where this posse gives a slight advantage, by allowing a vehicle in an early slot.  Lets have a look at the available vehicles:

First: The Iron Eagle.  We looked at these in more depth in the Willa Shaw posse above. But in general, these bring quite a bit of maneuverable firepower, while being somewhat fragile. Not what I would pick for this posse, because you already have good firepower elsewhere, and these aren't survivable enough.

Secondly: Here's the MUCH better choice: The Flame Truck. it's only 10 points more. and while it does lose range, and one point of aim. it still brings a gatling, but also brings a very good flamethrower, and since its even FASTER than the eagle, it can run up and use it (filling a role in this posse that your main units may not already have) also importantly, it's grit 7 with durable AND mettle, AND does not have ancillary, so it is MUCH more likely to shrug off alot of your opponent's firepower.  and since it will be big and in their face, it can easily distract your opponent while your long range shooters dish out the pain.

Next up is the Ironhide: Again, just a bit more expensive, still grit 7 with durable, but now tough instead of mettle. This really isn't the best choice for its role though UNLESS you want a transport.  which isn't bad, especially since your shooters can ride in it and shoot out, but if it blows up while they're in it, lots of them are likely to die, so... it's just a matter of playstyle.  if you like transports, this will work with the shooters, but it will take them away from their sergeants and sawbones in exchange for riding in the armoured vehicle.

Lastly, and most importantly... the tank.  Rolling Thunder is a good choice IF you have the points for it.  it's a unique threat that the union can bring. and it is absolutely tough as nails.  Grit EIGHT on the card, with Durable, and tough, AND Hardy for rerolls without a mechanic around. AND indomitable to perhaps pull the stun off from a tough-saved failed grit, although dont count on this because it's only 50% likely to happen due to the tank's mind stat. it also brings a rather good amount of firepower, even if the main cannon doesn't hit that often.  Your opponent will likely waste a ton of firepower trying to bring this thing down.

The three remaining slots are more of the same from above.  remember you do NOT need to fill the slots to get the posse bonus.  For every three units of hands with at least 6 models, you get a free charge sergeant.  (and remember in slot 6, you can actually have MORE tanks, as they aren't unique.

How to play this posse?  try to get open fire-lanes for your armoured hands units, combined fire to make their gatlings terrifying. keeping them alive with Forward Echelon, S2S, and preferably a sawbones nearby. Grant and woodhouse can hang back, woodhouse lobbing bombs anywhere on the board (no LOS required), and if anything hits your lines, grant can counter-charge and mangle them and/or bernard can snipe them off of your boys.  you can then add flavour of your choice with your other faces.   I'd recommend a flame truck or a tank to push up and draw fire (not to mention for their additional firepower).  Lots of shooting.  lots.  that's your trick.