Firefight Spotlight – Shane Knerl
6th Apr 2017
Dave
This is the first in a series of community spotlights from our American Warpath and Firefight players. First up is Shane Knerl. Over to you Shane...
Deadzone was exactly the game I was looking for coming from light skirmish games like Heroscape. It introduced the painting and modeling aspect of the hobby in an inexpensive format with great models to work with.
After a while I started to look for a larger, deeper game. What made Warpath and Firefight so appealing was that the models I had been collecting for Deadzone are compatible. My Deadzone Enforcers blended seamlessly into Firefight, and as I add more units and vehicles, the step up to Warpath will be just as easy.
The expanded playing field of a 4x4 or 4x6 grid-less map means that all of my Battlezones terrain has become part of the fray. I can scatter it about, making the scenes I imagine when reading the various sourcebooks and novels like First Strike.
When deciding on a faction, I wanted to try one that I hadn’t played before in Deadzone - having played melee heavy factions like the Plague, the long-range survivability of the Enforcers and even tried the balanced options the Marauders give.
In the end Forge Fathers were looking like the way forward. I like how you can field an army of virtual tanks in the Forge Guard, melee based teams of Brokkrs, or a more balanced option with the Steel Warriors. Oh, and let's not forget some of the toughest vehicles in the game. The faction's limited model count will allow me to spend some more time on painting and modelling; something that was hard to do with the higher model count Plague and Marauders.
What I think makes Firefight unique is the scale and depth of the game. You can go from barely larger than Deadzone all the way up to huge battles that resemble a chaotic theatre of war. The use of limited commands mean you have to be far more strategic with them. Unlike Deadzone, they do not replenish every single round, so your decision about when and how to use your command dice are all that more important because they could be the difference between victory and defeat.
So let’s take a look at what I will be running in both my Deadzone and Firefight lists as I move on with this project:
Deadzone Forge Father list:
Steel Warrior Huscarl – 32
Steel Warrior – 21
Steel Warrior - 21
Steel Warrior - 21
Steel Warrior - 21
Steel Warrior Specialist (Magma rifle) – 28
Steel Warrior Specialist (Hailstorm Autocannon) – 29
Brokkr Bike – 23
Total – 196 + 3 Ammo decided before the game.
Firefight Forge Father Army:
5 Steel Warriors w/ Hailstorm upgrade – 125
5 Steel Warriors w/ Sergent upgrade – 145
5 Steel Warriors – 105
2 Valkyr w/ Sergeant upgrade – 100
5 Brokkrs w/ Engineer upgrade – 105
5 Brokkrs w/ Inferno drill upgrade – 95
5 Forge Guard – 200
Jotunn Weapon Platform – 120
Total - 995