This Is Not A Test/Tactics

{skub}

The This is Not a Test initiative and shooting systems lead to some unusual tactical choices. The "generic tactics" section is for all warbands, followed by per-warband breakdowns of each profile and some recommendations for tactics, Relics, and other wargear.

Generic stats and level choices

The standard Human statline is ~20BS for DEF 6, 1W, MOV/STR/Mettle 5, and RNG/MEL 4. Elites typically bump up Mettle, Ranged, and/or Melee by a point or two, while Leaders start with 7 Mettle. Specialists have unique skills or a small stat bonus.

Faction Tactics and unit breakdown

Generally-useful skills - Motivator, Scavenger, Resourceful, Activation bonuses, etc.

Good warbands for new players - Peacekeepers with a Marshall (simple rules, no real dud options, proxy NCR and Enforcers well). Raiders (fun, evocative, still have a relatively simple rules and playstyle, good for hooking in Fallout/Mad Max/Borderlands players).

Difficult - Preservers/Robots/Renegade Reclaimers (hard to balance size and effectiveness. Expensive trap options. Hard countered by Zingers and EMP grenades, struggle in 2-player formats). Muties (tracking mutation costs, Hidden Mutations, etc.) Remnants (tracking special rules, initial build, start with a literal handicap)

Caravanners

Leader: Master Trader. Unlike most other factions, this only has one leader option (the Master Trader). They start with the Scavenger skill, which gives them bonus ammo for Limited Ammo weapons and ignores the model for Upkeep purposes in the postgame

Elites: Lieutenant. Starts with "Motivator", an aura skill that makes it easier for other models to activate.

Bonus Specialist: the "Big Lug", a Large model with two Wounds and a pure melee skillset.

Raiders

You've got no real reason to pick the Bandit King unless you want access to Smarts skills - and you're usually better-off playing corrupt Peacekeepers if you want a ranged-combat force. A "Warlord" leader loses the Smarts skills and a point of Ranged ability (compared to the Bandit King) to gain a point each of Move and Melee. It also unlocks additional "Brute" Elites, who likewise have boosted close-combat abilities. Bandits get dogs as a Rank-and-file choice, which have a chance of turning on the closest model if you botch their activation roll. Their bonus trooper is the Firebug, a cheap suicide bomber that gets replaced for free after each game.

Mutants

Mutant rank-and-file troops start with a Mutation, effectively giving most of them a free skill right from the start. They also have excellent access to psychic powers. Notably, a Mutant Gunner is the only way to get a Large, unarmored model with the skill that lets you use heavy weapons.

Instead of choosing a leader, Mutants choose the "Down-Winder" or "Outcast" warband types, which give them unique Elites. The former has access to Emissaries, your only Medic option, while Outcasts gain Abominations - feral close-combat specialists who start with four Skills or mutations, but need to pick two Detriments as well. Their bonus specialist is the "Dominant", which effectively means paying 3 points to choose a Hidden Mutation instead of rolling on the Mutation tables when you hire the model.

Mutant Cannibals

Overall the Cannibals are extremely powerful. They have access to a mix of effective Mutants, Animals, and near-universal Min-maxing through random Detriments and Mutations.

The "Pa" leader unlocks additional Psychos (your basic Leatherface/Michael Myers juggernaught killer), and has excellent close-combat stats.

Maw works as a squad leader, giving aura bonuses to activation and movement that make models like the "Tiny" and Degens much more effective, as well as unlocking a very nasty melee weapon.

Elites - "Petunia" is an un-mutated lass who uses the power of Promotions to potentially drag enemy models out of the fight at the beginning of the scenario. "Gran-Gran" unlocks the Cauldron wargear and the extremely nasty Psychic Husk critter

Heavy Weapon troopers all start with lowered Defense from the Frail detriment, which you will need to buy off or compensate for with armor. No access to Medics unless you cough up for a Freelancer, though.

Bonus - The Gimp. Gimps are extremely tough. They have to take a random Detriment and are otherwise a fairly basic trooper model.

Weaknesses: No access to Medics, with poor Ranged specialists. While Degens are cheap, they have random Detriments and are difficult to force through to the point where you can buy off their Rag-tag status. Throw them all a cheapy Shotgun or SMG, and see who makes it out alive.

Strengths: Several of their wargear items strengthen Animals (whether the Cannibals' own or wandering monsters). Morale Manipulation with Maulers and Fearsome Rep. Chameleon Suits - while the Warband has a hard cap of two, it's a Relic or Mutation for anyone else. Multiple Mettle-boosting effects, including Gran-Gran's Stew, Maw's abilities, and Man-Jerky. Which you'll need when your Tinies try to activate.. Petunia's shenanigans potentially knocking out enemy Motivators and other Specialists

Peacekeepers

Law in the Wastes. Road Marshalls give you a mixed force of up-armored cyber-dogs and handlers, while Hangin' Judges let you swamp the enemy with eplosive-collar slaves.

Bloodhound - effectively, a Specialist Bounty Hunter that gives your warband extra cash if you kill or Capture an enemy model and it can pass a Mettle test after the game.

Preservers

A Brotherhood of Steel and Enclave expy, the Preservers get mass access to Relics and Power Armor. Depending on the Leader and Elite selections, you can either go for a small, elite power-armored force or a more-flexible selection of utility artifacts and robots. The additional relics, robots, and Powered Armor customization rules in the supplements dramatically expand their options. Unfortunately, all those expensive Relics mean you're usually short on models, and a few botched Activation rolls or a well-placed EMP grenade can cripple your warband at a critical moment. Bonus troopers: Semi-Autonomus Drone (basically a Fallout Eyebot)

Rogue Reclaimers

Added in the Wasteland Companion

Rogue Reclaimers are a breakaway from the Preservers that believe only they have the authority to use pre-Fall tech. As a whole, they are a pretty one-dimensional warband, and feel more like a sub-faction than their own unique force. Instead of the Reclaimer's usual diverse tech, they can equip nearly the entire warband in Power Armor.. even if certain rookies get the salvaged models held together by duct tape. That Salvaged Power Armor can save your ass, though, since it's not subject to the usual breakdown rules and immune to EMP attacks

Settlers

Added in the Wasteland Companion A mix of cheap, trashy troops and reasonably competent.. everyone else.

Tribals

CC specialists, with some interesting leadership mechanics and excellent psi-support in exchange for poor tech.

Totem Tribals

Even more focused on CC, especially since Primitive weapons suck and you have to take quite a few of them to keep your benefits. Gain some nasty abilities on their psykers and Berzerkers.

Remnants

Let you take models from several different warbands in exchange for starting with injured models. Remnants choose from a loose Law/Chaos split of the base warbands. They cannot hire Freelancers on creation, and the exact models they can choose is affected by their leader. Notably, running Remnants technically allows you to take special models from the same base warband that the leader couldn't ordinarily use, though you should talk to your GM first.

Robots

Added with Absolutely Dangerous. Robots use a special "Upgrade" table instead of the Mutations tables, with the same mix of standard Physical ones that have to be modeled, and Hidden Upgrades that don't need to be WYSIWYG but are randomly-rolled. As with Mutations, they replace starting skills

Robots can hire any model with the "Robot" type as a Freelancer. This includes the Heal-o-Matic and Hijacked Robot (although why you want a Medic in this warband is another matter), Semi-Autonomous Drones, Scrapbots, and Wreck-it Bots. They cannot use any Human, Animal, or Mutant models but the Mad Roboticist.

Freelancers

Remember, these are here to patch holes in your warbands and get around Elite/Specialist limits. They have their own balancing mechanisms, of course. For starters, Freelancers typically cost 15-20 BS more than an equivalent model in your own list. You have to buy their guns and armor, which you can't take back, the models can't Scavenge in the endgame, they cost 3 BS in Upkeep, and you can't give the model any of your Relics. Their skills are fixed (but usually useful). At a certain point they'll always lag a bit behind your nastiest stuff. Make sure you have enough liquid assets to pay their salary for a couple games if you hire one at the start. That said, the Resourceful skill is extremely useful on any Freelancer with the Smarts tree. It pays out 1d10 BS even if the model isn't sent out to scavenge. This can be critical in the early game for smaller warbands. You have a limit of two Resourceful models, which means you're best-off putting it on ones that aren't going to be heading out in the first place -- and many of the most-useful Freelancers have access to Smarts.

Humans

Bounty Hunter - An unreliable source of extra income and gear. Has access to a decent sniper/infiltrator skillset. You can use them to troll other players in a larger campaign by Capturing dead enemies.

• Usage Notes: Kind of pointless for the Peacekeepers ever since the Bloodhound showed up. Their special rules actively interfere with the Cannibals' "Hooks and Chains" wargear.

Deadman - Your basic Dwarf Slayer expy, with gallons of Rage, a deathwish he can't actually fulfill, and a strong berzerker/survival skillset. Gear up for CC -- Maulers are especially nice if you have access to the Mutant Cannibal sourcebook. The Survivalist skill means they're rolling a minumum of a "4" on the Survival Chart, and have an excellent chance of pulling a "10" for that sweet extra EXP when they get downed, so go nuts. No Smarts for some reason...

• Usage Notes: Unavailable to Tribals

Mercenary Gunsmith - Not all that useful as a "gunsmith", since that Skill doesn't stack and pretty much everyone has it. What the MG is good for is packing an infiltrating Minigun or LMG into combat. Not only does the MG take up a Freelancer slot instead of a Specialist or Elite, Field-strip effectively halves your number of Jam counters. They have access to the Marksmanship, Survival and Smarts skill trees. Always buy Up-Armed when you hire an MG, even if you don't have the money for their gun yet.

• Equipment: The biggest, jammiest gun you can find and ranged armor. Sadly, they can't take Laser miniguns or Plasma cannon, but an LMG or Minigun is an excellent choice. You can also kit one out with a Grenade Launcher, then use skills to crank up its accuracy for a more mobile option. Again, however, not being able to give them Relic grenades keeps you from taking full advantage of a GL.
• Skills: Maintainer makes jams even more trivial to clear, effectively cutting any of your support weapons down to a single Jam token when combined with Field-Strip. With a Hail of Lead/Burst weapon, you'll need to get max actions as often as possible, which Reactive will help; if you're not moving anyway, Steady Hands is also a great choice. Survivalist will keep your investment off the kill list long enough to pull the gun if he takes a crippling injury. If you pick a short-ranged weapon like grenade launchers and flamers, the various infiltration skills can be nasty. Unfortunately, Range Finder is useless with Support Weapons.
• Usage Notes: If you're looking for a flame, Relic Support, or grenade-launcher specialist, your list probably has something at least 20 BS cheaper. But the skills those 20BS pays for are brutally effective paired with a Minigun or LMG, and it'll free up a Specialist or Elite slot elsewhere. It is a good way to sneak a heavy weapon model without the Powered Armor premium into Reclaimers. Mutant Cannibals can likewise use a gunner model without Frailty, though Gramps has his own dirty tricks as noted above.

Merchant - Same excellent skillset as the Sawbones, Starts with Resourceful and Advantage on Haggler rolls. A Merchant can be incredibly useful in the early game for warbands with a lot of Rag-Tag models, letting you get a lot of bodies early then slowly stockpile the weapons and armor they'll need as they buy off the gear limit. They also help out Relic-heavy groups like Reclaimers and Rogues who need to save as much cash as possible to feed those Upkeep-hungry powered armors.

• Equipment: No special requirements. You just want him to survive into the post-game, so solid ranged gear and decent armor
• Skills: Focus on survival.

Sawbones - One of the most useful models in the Freelancer section. Not only will that +1 on the Survival table keep a model per game off the KIA list, you can keep other models from ever needing to roll in the first place. The Sawbones itself is also a major hardass between its starting Survivalist skill and access to Survival and Quickness.

• Equipment: An SMG will give a good mix of ranged firepower with Burst and Compact, while still letting the model move up with the important stuff it needs to keep alive. Get the best non-Relic armor you can afford, because Medics eat a LOT of attacks.
• Skills and Advances: Focus on improving Mettle/Intelligence tests ASAP. Since they have access to the Smarts tree, Clever or Resourceful should be your first skill pick. Flighty and Spring-heeled will ensure the model won't get easily pinned by enemy melee or ranged combat, while Nimble makes it more likely that you can get your double action to move and get to doctorin'. Or shooting, for that matter..
• Usage Notes: Warbands with Medical specialists (Preservers, Down-winder Mutants, Settlers,

Veteran Scout - Grants a re-draw in the Income phase. While this isn't quite as nice as "draw two, pick one", it's still useful for maximizing income. You can also just use as many re-draws as possible to churn through the Wasteland deck hunting face cards. Their other skill trees (Quickness, Marksmanship, and Survival) give you a decent, generic infiltrator.

• Equipment: SMGs and Shotguns let you use their infiltration and cover-ignoring skills. An Assault Rifle gives you a nice Overwatch tool.
• Skills: As usual, Reactive or Nimble make you more responsive. Quick gives bonuses to their Trekker rolls to ignore Difficult Terrain or break away from CC pinning. The mix of Quick and Flighty lets you block enemy LoS with close combats, then break away quickly next turn. Steady Hands usually wastes your Trekker skill, but can be useful to get an infiltrating sniper who has the ability to ditch through Difficult terrain.
• Usage Notes: Generally good in bands where you want to infiltrate but don't have enough bodies with Ranger. As with the DJ (below) he frees up a critical Elite slot for Caravanners. Basically useless for Tribals, given the readily-available Tribal Scout has a 10 BS discount and starts with exactly 1 stat point of difference.

Wasteland DJ - added in Kickstart the Wasteland. Starts with a boosted-range Motivator and a special rule that cranks up the EXP on one of your grunts if it scores any VP in the match. Has the excellent Skill mix of Leadership (which is quite rare outside Leaders), Tenacity, and Survival trees. Boosted Ranged stats.

• Equipment - you're limited to 25 BS' worth when hiring one, so pick carefully. Burst weapons work well with Assertive. You can also make an absolutely devastating NCO to coordinate a Close Combat squad
• Skills: Depends on what holes you need to fill. DJs are commanders, not brawlers
• Usage Notes: Best for warbands with good close combat skills, poor Mettle, and a Leader you'd rather not take into Close Combat. Caravanners in particular benefit from freeing up an Elite slot for Local Emissaries, since their Leader starts without access to Motivator. If you can pick up the All Together skill, a Raider DJ is excellent for sending in the Mongrels - the skill by-passes the Activation Roll and lets them charge into CC without eating your other team members. Otherwise, just use him to keep the Frothers and Firebugs in line. Tribals have the Chronicler Specialist, which does exactly the same job for a 20 BS discount - and with no wargear limits.

Wasteland Hunter - Excellent sniping skills, starting off with Steady Hands and Called Shot. The Hunter is your cheapest option in the early game to pick up Ignore Armor without Relic weapons. Once per "campaign" they can force a Wastelands Hazard to be a monster instead of Rad-zones and the like. Neat idea, kind of pointless outside one-shot games.

• Equipment - a Large Caliber Sniper Rifle or other long-ranged, single-shot gun to take advantage of their skills.

Mutant Freelancers

Rogue Psychic - Mostly useful as a cheap Psychic support, especially with the unfocused combination of Melee, Marksmanship, and Smarts skills. Their utility depends entirely on what you roll on the Powers chart. You can either gamble on a second roll on the Psychic table, go for a cheap Mutation, or pick a starting Skill. Either way, you probably shouldn't take one at the start unless you really want psi-support and don't have the option already.

Wandering Mutant - Mixed Melee, Marksmanship, and Survival skillset, with a bonus to their close combat skill. Start with two random Hidden Mutations and potentially a Detriment. Wandering muties are a bit of a crapshoot. Good Mutations mean you've just picked up a devastating close-combat specialist with a mostly-wasted Skill tree. Bad..? Well, hope you're willing to blow another 50 BS to roll again.

Robot Freelancers

Kickstart The Wasteland added a number of Robot freelancers, who can now be tacked on as either an Elite or a Freelancer. Absolutely Dangerous tacks on even more freelancers, and some special rules which give Robots much of the same flexibility as Mutants in exchange for their universal weakness to EMPs and unique Medical requirements. All Robots start with +2 DEF but cannot purchase armor later. Robots are also immune to gas and poison (but not Radiation), which is very situational until someone decides to start popping off Fear Gas grenades on top of Objectives.

Depend-o-Bot - Wanna robot? Can't be arsed to buy the supplements? This guy is pretty.. Handy. An utterly generic robot, with bonuses to its combat abilities. Cannot be taken in an Elite slot.

• Equipment: Up to one Integral weapon doesn't count against the Upgrade limit.
• Skills and Upgrades: Starts with two slots, and the generic Marksmanship/Melee/Survival combination.
• Usage Notes: This guy is up to you - there's no particularly compelling reason to take him, but there's no reason not to as long as you have the cash and you want a basic humanoid robot.

B-Ho1der - Enclave Eyebot proxy. A cheap, fast, hovering little bastard, the Beholder is very good at dropping templates into places other people don't want them to be. Keeps the standard 6+2 Defense that most Robots have, making it exceptionally difficult to kill on the way in. And to cap it off, they only cost 2 BS in the Upkeep phase.

• Equipment: 30 BS cap, and can take an Integral Flamethrower for just 15 BS. Other gear depends on whether or not you want to pay for upgrades.
• Skills and Upgrades: One slot, chosen from Quickness, Melee, or Marksmanship. Note that the Leap skill is pointless on a Hover unit, and Range Finder, Steady Hands and Called Shot likewise conflict with a flamethrower loadout. The Armless upgrade is free, fits the original proxy intent, and gives the model +1 Move. Alternately, give it some beef with an Armor upgrade, though that's going to hurt your initial budget. If you don't feel like Upgrades, a mix of Quick Charge and close combat weapons gives you a tough little brawler with a massive threat bubble to pin down enemies until its big brothers show up.
• Usage Notes: In a Robot band, consider carefully whether this guy is worth it compared to a Hovering Kill-Bot or Observer. The Preserver's Drones lose armor, freedom of movement, and Upgrade access in return for better ranged skills, Relic access, and Shoot and Scoot. Raiders get the Broiler, which winds up being substantially cheaper and has a better skirmishing skill list.

Tank-R - Tank-bots can take Support weapons and start with a tougher-than-sin Def 7(9) and 2 Wounds. Also has Trekker, so it's worth buying off Ungainly in the future if you don't buy one with Treads. The Tank-R is an ungodly expensive choice that will take a long-ass time to pay off. Despite their poor mobility and neutered skill-tree (limited to Marksmanship and Survival), a TANK-R is great at straight-up deleting enemy models.

• Equipment: 40 BS cap. An integral Missile Launcher, cheap backup melee weapon and a pistol is good if you want to make powered armor go away. You can give it other backups later.
• Skills and Upgrades: No standard Upgrade slots, one free Integral. Called Shot mixes well with Missiles if you're sick of enemy powered armor or heavy robots.
• Usage Notes: If you're a Robot player and really want a tank, go for the Kill-Bot with a Warbot upgrade. Otherwise, this is as good as you get. At 115+ points, a TANK-R is a Hell of an investment for something that straight-up locks up for two turns when you roll a "1" to activate it..

Mister Coteau - An absolutely brutal close combat specialist, packing the Brawn, Melee, and Quickness trees. If it can take a model out of action in melee, it pays its own Upkeep for the game as well.

• Equipment: 30 BS cap, one Integral for free. You start with a whopping 7 Melee, so paired weapons aren't as useful as making sure you have the raw Strength to drop opponents quickly. A Masterwork Heavy Weapon costs 10 BS and a Mauler only 16, leaving plenty for a backup gun. War Totems, and similar hardware.
• Skills and Upgrades: Starts with Against All Odds and Flurry, but no generic Upgrade slots. The Hover mobility type is good on most melee combatants, and combines well with Spring-Heeled if it Malfs. Quick Charge will get the model into CC faster (especially combined with Recon), and Flurry means it will still get multiple attack rolls when it does. If you're feeling particularly lucky, tack on Blitzer for an essentially guaranteed kill.. as long as you can hit. Opportunist is always useful when taking on enemy CC units, while Brute makes a 2-handed CCW even more effective.
• Usage Notes: Needs to get and stay in Close Combat to pay its way. The model is extremely expensive, but a very nasty surprise if you otherwise have poor melee options.

Mad Roboticist - A Robot Medic. That's pretty much it, though Roboticists start with Clever instead of the Sawbones' Survivalist - better at healing, more-likely to die if they get taken out.

profile - description

• Equipment:
• Skills and Upgrades:
• Usage Notes: