Thursday, September 13, 2012

SSU Re-Do


I've been looking at my current SSU force over the last couple of days, and I've realized something; my force has no coherent battle plan. My units don't really compliment each other. They're more a hodge-podge of random stuff I bought (mostly because they actually are a hodge-podge of random stuff I bought). I've been looking especially closely at my transport helicopter. What am I going to actually transport in it? as it stands right now, I'm going to be dropping snipers into enemy territory and then using the thing to go around annoying enemy infantry with its machineguns.

I've been lurking in the Dust-War forum and reading what few threads exist on the SSU. One theme has come up- everybody seems to agree that Rifle Squads and Close Combat Squads are the way to go. I've also fallen in love with the "human wave" theme the SSU has going for it with the ability to form their squads into 11-man behemoths. This serves two purposes:

First, those squads lay down a lot of firepower when activated. I mean a lot. My double Battle Squad with "Trediakovsky" Commissar cranks out a mighty fifteen dice at Infantry 2 squads. Even a squad in cover will have to think twice about picking a fight with these boys.

Second, they decrease the size of my command dice pool. This means I'll get fewer orders, which will mean I'll get the drop on my enemies more frequently. This is a Very Good Thing. At first it may seem that I would suffer with fewer commands to go around. The reality is that I'll be activating swarms of infantry at a time whose goal is not to suppress enemy squads, but outright destroy them.

There are downsides, though. Spray weapons will be very, very scary prospects  (that Fireball dropped in my backfield may very well be a game winner). It's easier to suppress my entire force. I have very few overall units with which to grab objectives. The downsides are there, but I feel the upsides by far outweigh them.

"Quantity has a quality all its own."- Josef Stalin
The force I've planned out just drops the transport chopper in favor of Nikolai and a second Rifle Squad. The "Sumarokov" Commissar will be attached to the double Rifle Squad as well as Nikolai, creating what is more or less a sniper mob (they can't be fully supressed, there are twelve bodies, they halve their target's armor, and they hit on blanks).

Finally I'll attach a "Karamzin" Commissar to my Snipers to make a sniper rocket launcher, and form my two Close Combat Squads into one with my "Derzhavin" Commissar forming a wall of sulfur and molotovs.

For those who care, here's my revised list:

---  Heroes
Nikolaï (20)

---  Defense Platoon (153)
Upgrade: Improved Command (5)
Command Section: "The Medvedi" SSU Command Squad (25)
1st Section: "Frontoviki" SSU Battle Squad (20)
2nd Section: "Frontoviki" SSU Battle Squad (20)
3rd Section: "Ohotniki" SSU Rifle Squad (20)
4th Section: "Ohotniki" SSU Rifle Squad (20)
Commissar: "The Trediakovsky" (8)
Commissar: "The Sumarokov" (5)
Support: KV47-A "Nadya" (30)

---  Defense Platoon (127)
Upgrade: Political Importance (5)
Command Section: Koshka Rudinova with Grand'ma (53, Hero)
1st Section: "Fakyeli" SSU Close Combat Squad (21)
2nd Section: "Fakyeli" SSU Close Combat Squad (21)
Commissar: "The Derzhavin" (5)
Commissar: "The Karamzin" (8)
Support: "Jnetzi" SSU Sniper Team (14)
Now I just need to wait for FFG to release the SSU Hero Box so I can actually get my hands on Nikolai. Oh, and I need to wait for my coffers to refill since I'm going to be pre-ordering the limited edition of Dead or Alive 5...

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