Firefight: Second Edition Faction Focus – Enforcers
24th Mar 2022
Jonny Mann
Welcome to the future, soldier.
By now you should be aching with excitement for the release of Firefight! But what faction will you take command of in the vast Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere? Today we're finding out more about the Enforcers.
Background
It goes without saying that maintaining an economic empire the size of the GCPS is no easy task. Lucky then that the bureaucracy that serves the Council of Seven, the armies of corporate legal experts, public relations gurus, propagandists, information brokers, alternative fact writers, spies, saboteurs, and diplomats is exceedingly good at their collective job.
And yet, there still are more flashpoints, conflicts, invasions and insurgencies across the Five Spheres than even these administrative authorities can effectively manage. Sometimes it does not matter how well the agents of the Council collude, connive, and control: things still end explosively. And when a faction rejects the Council’s outstretched hand or an alien invader cannot be bought, bartered, or reasoned with, more often than not the next thing they see is its fist.
This is the Enforcers Corps.
Each individual Enforcer is a bio-enhanced human, selected from various walks of life, the best private militaries, the worst secret prisons, and turned into the greatest weapon mankind has ever known.
The Program, a beyond-secret genetic and mental reprogramming initiative, turns out soldiers who can fight harder and for longer than anything that came before them. Their muscles are denser than a standard humans, their blood able to sustain them in low oxygen environments and repair minor wounds while the operator is still fighting. Their senses are enhanced too and advanced neuro re-patterning ensures that every Enforcer is unswervingly loyal to no-one but the Council.
How do they play in game?
Mark Robinson from the Firefight RC dons his Peacekeeper armour to give you the lowdown on these elite fighters.
The appropriately named Enforcers are the bully boys of the Warpath universe. So, what can you expect on the tabletop from these super soldiers?
If you’re one of those fun-loving types who prefers getting your models on the table and pushing them around, rather than spending all your time painting the little blighters then this is the army for you. Arguably the most elite army in the game, you won’t need to spend too much time at your hobby desk before you’ve got yourself a fully battle-ready force up and running (the Enforcer half of the new 2-player set or the Strike Force set is perfect places to start).
One of my biggest takeaways from the playtesting stage was how good a job Andy and the playtesters had done with getting this army to feel and act on the battlefield just the way it should based on the lore. Enforcers are designed to be either exceptional in a specific role or be excellent multi-functional walking weapons. They’re some of the very best at doing what they do, and that comes across in the gameplay, but that excellence costs. Even the cheapest 5-man unit available to you doesn’t leave you with much change from 100 points. Building a force list becomes a little game in itself, as you won’t be able to take all the toys you want, you’ll have to be clever and make sure you’ve got every outcome covered with your limited numbers.
With that in mind, on the face of it the army seems easy enough to pick up and play - and it is - but it’s not the most forgiving, and you can very quickly find yourself at the bottom of a rather large crater wishing you’d made better choices. There’s no option for a cheap, 10-man filler unit (like many other armies) to throw into the path of an onrushing Spectra, or do little but sit on a backfield objective all game. You will notice every model you lose, so every single action must have a purpose and every decision you make must be measured.
All units in the list have the Advanced Training keyword, meaning your troops can benefit from a Faction Order anywhere on the table, not needing to be in close proximity to a command unit like most others do. This is handy because the Faction Orders are brilliant, you will use them all, all game, every game! If an Enforcer general has Command Points left over at the end of a Round then they probably need to ask themselves if they’re taking things seriously!
I want to mention a couple of my stand-out units. Firstly, the Pathfinders. The models are a thing of beauty (enough on their own to make you want to start an Enforcers collection), but let’s look at their rules. Their statline doesn’t seem overly impressive, but when you combine Stealthy with a 24” TAG rifle these guys (and gals) can stay out of harm’s way in relatively safety from the enemy. Ignoring them can prove very costly though, with their 4+ to hit, base of AP1, Marksman AND Vicious (Shoot) they are nasty. But issuing the Firestorm Command Order (which you can give them anywhere on the battlefield remember) on top of that means it’s possible for this small squad to neutralise elite troops with relative ease.
This leads me on to my favourite unit in the list, the Peacekeepers. If Pathfinders are the surgical knife, then these fellas would be the double-handed, flaming, wrecking ball of doom! I love them. They’ll win you battles, and they’ll look good doing it. Dominator rifles are your friend (I mentioned Firestorm didn’t I?), and so are Energy Gauntlets. Those multi-functional walking weapons I mentioned earlier… well this is them! Each one is essentially a mini Strider… and you can take them in units of up to four! To mix things up a bit you can opt for the Specialist variant with Defender Shields for a quite frankly ridiculous armour value of 8+.
I could talk about Peacekeepers for days, but I’ll move on to some of the other options at your disposal. You’ve got two classes of flying vehicle, the Accuser and the Persecutor, with both vying for title of best flier in the game. The Persecutor has the firepower to legitimately take down a Sturnhammer in one volley, and the Accuser isn’t far behind offensively, but also acts as a transport to get one of your squads where it needs to be.
Jetbikes, Pathfinder Monocycles and Sniper teams can all be incredibly useful at taking out small targets. Use the Go, Go, Go order on any of these to really annoy your opponent by popping into the open, unleashing an accurate volley on your target and nipping back into the safety of cover. Less subtle but equally as effective is the destructive power of the Heavy Support Enforcers with their HMX-32 Missile Launchers, and the Breach and Eradicate Enforcers who do just as much damage but prefer to do it close up.
You’ll have a lot of fun finding out just how each and every one of the units in this force list excels when played correctly. But I’ll give one final mention to the Peacekeeper Captain. He’s a Peacekeeper with 3 Health Points, can take either a Dominator Rifle or Phase Claws, and generates a green command die. He’s good, very good. However, his We Feel No Pain aura which gives Resilient (2) to every unit within 12” makes him one of the very best commanders in the game. Get that protective aura up and running early on in every Round and smugly bathe in the audible groans of your opponent’s frustration.
