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Hey All,

I'm new to Flames of War, and I'm doing my homework not only on the game mechanics but on the history as well. I'm thoroughly enjoying it, I'm even getting my wife interested in WW2 history which is like icing on the cake. I've decided to go with the 82nd Airborne (even prior to reading the great article here on Dakka) and I have some questions to start with. I'll probably add to these a bit, and hopefully get some painted stuff up eventually.

My questions is, are snipers worthwhile? They are 50 points apiece, but you can take 3 of them in a command squad. You can pretty much place them anywhere you want, and 1 hit from them causes a platoon to be pinned. Then you just place them right back into your pool. This sounds like a great way around artillery, even though smoke might be lacking. Is it viable to use them this way?

I just starting using Snipers for my LW 101st. Airborne Company.i have only used them in one game. But i was rather quite happy with them.I deployed them in ambush and used them to pin down infantry squads,then i would nail them with my Mortar teams. All in all pretty effective.

They are always very expensive, the points could be better spent on AT equipment, as your Infantry is already good at killing infantry, a sniper is a very specialised anti-infantry unit but it's real skill is not killing it's pinning units down which causes even more problems than killing the enemy outright. An assault will stall when pinned, a Gun team will not be happy firing whilst pinned, it reduces the effectiveness of those shooty units like HMG's

ROF 1 , AT 0 FP 4. Plus they are CONF VETS. A decent sniper should be able to get several shots off in one turn, but no, you get one shot with a re-roll to hit, and the FP 4 is good against dug in units. The Pool idea is good, they effectively warp around the battlefield like Eldar Warp spiders and they are useful for neutralizing infantry guns and mortars, pinning them down and keeping Enemy units pinned.

All in all, you need a list that provides cheap snipers and at least 2 teams of them to be useful. I quite like them but you need experience in the game to utilize them to the full. e.g When to make that one shot count or when hold fire and use another Sniper pair on another unit.

PROS - At Worst they are a nuisance to the enemy, at Best they are force multiplier.

CONS - It costs alot of points for a bloke with a rifle.

Thanks mwnciboo! I'm starting to see where they are a lot of points versus other units and perhaps not very practical. They are, from what I can see, only good for pinning platoons. It would be nice if you could pick which team you wanted to shoot!

Now, to spam bazookas...

I have never liked then, to expensive for what they bring to the table. They are also very situational.

I think alot also depends on the terrain you play on in your area.

The more terrain, the more possibilities for deployment, the increased likelihood they will be able to deploy in an area that is useful.

I have also been considering them in lieu of mortars. The idea being, at least with FJ FV mortars, you can get about three snipers for the same points. You lose smoke, but you have the potential to pin three units. In a world of defensive fire, interlocking units, yadda yadda, that may be worth considering.

Plus in reserve missions, they are, in essence, "on the board" and not contingent on a reserve roll. If you are at that point of 6 units, and 100 left over to go towards a 7th, that might be worth considering.

Terrain you play on.......This is true to a degree, but Snipers will suffer for LOS in built up terrain and with German Units Storm trooping everywhere they will seldom be nicely exposed (if the player is worth his salt).

The problem as I see it is that Smoke affects numerous units, no unit can see through it. Well judged/positioned smoke can shield your assault force from multiple threats and allow you a degree of freedom of action. There is also the issue of stopping spotters and observers calling in fire on you. On top of all of this, Mortars with their re-roll to hit 1st time and the ability to fire directly really tips the scales in their favour over the humble .303 Rifle and scope.

Snipers would be common if they were 30- 25pts or so.

Sounds like this is a matter of opinion,I always play big point games,So no points problems for me.25oo pts. plus for when we play.
For me my Snipers will always be fielded,After the first game with them as a attachment to my Paras.They performed rather well.
As for my German snipers,They have the Tendency to be lame most of the time.Except when i field Bruno,Then the enemy is always in trouble.In one game he scored a entire Glider Infantry Engineer platoon.but that is the exception.
Here is kinda the Break down for me Very handy tool for my 101st. Paras,But for my Germans i usually leave them back home.
So, like i said it is a matter of opinion.But it is mainly for me, comes down to deployment and tactics.

Too many armored company players in the metagame, and that's where the sniper really falls down for 50 points each. In lists where you know the enemy has a good number of infantry assets, they would be good for 25-30 pts each. But not 50, sadly.

Just my opinion.

col. krazy kenny wrote:Sounds like this is a matter of opinion,I always play big point games,So no points problems for me.25oo pts. plus for when we play.
For me my Snipers will always be fielded,After the first game with them as a attachment to my Paras.They performed rather well.
As for my German snipers,They have the Tendency to be lame most of the time.Except when i field Bruno,Then the enemy is always in trouble.In one game he scored a entire Glider Infantry Engineer platoon.but that is the exception.
Here is kinda the Break down for me Very handy tool for my 101st. Paras,But for my Germans i usually leave them back home.
So, like i said it is a matter of opinion.But it is mainly for me, comes down to deployment and tactics.

For 101st, actually it's quite good to have snipers... Your Infantry is aggressive, Fearless Vets, so they are quite at home taking on armour in hand to hand. Snipers would be good to pin Enemy Guns (Infantry Artillery or artillery guns) that would free up your Airborne artillery and Mortars to get their teeth into enemy units rather than having counter-battery duels with enemy artillery.

I think British Para's and Commando's benefit from Snipers too. The elite nature of snipers means they fit well with elite infantry based armies. Your points have alot of merit, but with the Meta-game being alot of armour and Mechanised infantry, and elite infantry, I only see Snipers on these Infantry elite formations.