Young, dynamic, and relentless, the Union of Federated States has emerged from the horrors of the Ore War, a nation reforged. Buoyed by the technological advances of Nikolai Tesla, this Great Power enacts its will through the blunt application of military might. Whatever the nature of the conflict, Union forces adhere to the most modern principles of battlefield strategy and wield armaments representing the pinnacle of military technology. Indeed, to court the Union’s ire is to invite the wrath of a pitiless military machine that cares only for brutal efficiency.
Union tactics mirror their belligerent mindset. Infantry units and their dedicated fireteams operate in perfect synchronicity to pin down and destroy their targets with a murderous fusillade. Ranging ahead, the Union’s skimmer cavalry hunts down even the swiftest of foes while blunting any attempts at a counterattack. Divisions of armoured vehicles and mechanised automata, fresh from the factory floor, stream across the battlefield, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake.
The Union believe that they are destined for greatness, to become a beacon of liberty that will outshine the cloying morass of stagnant tyranny that smothers the world. It is a future they are happy to realise via the barrel of a gun…
Nothing can truly extinguish the fire of the American spirit
Howdy, good Citizens.
This blog provides an overview of how the Union play on the Battlefield, including their key strengths and things to look out for, and provides insights into how to build a Union Force, with example Force Lists for all three Force Scales.
How the Union plays
The Union are a fast, if sometimes fragile, faction whose combat doctrine revolves around combined arms and overwhelming firepower. Compared to other factions, the Union possesses some unique tricks that allow for particularly inspired tactics and strategies.
Union Infantry units with the Parent Unit (X) special rule can have a certain number of attached Fireteam units that function in coordination with one another. Fireteam units must be activated consecutively with their Parent unit, meaning you can activate a Parent and its attached Fireteams before the enemy has any chance to retaliate, outside of opportunity fire. This allows your relatively fragile Union Infantry units to give their all in a tough situation.
The Union can field the swift but reliable Iron Horse Cavalry, which serves as excellent scouts, the pyrotechnic but sluggish Blazer Heavy Cavalry, who make great infantry-slayers, and the armoured, tank-hunting Iron Eagle Cavalry, driven by ‘Tesla Bot’ automata.
The broad array of Armour units in the Union arsenal can also pose a serious threat to an enemy Force that has failed to deploy sufficient anti-heavy fire power. Overwhelm your opponents with divisions of Rolling Thunder Main Battle Tanks or anti-Light Kodiak Artillery Tanks. Use Ironhide Transports and Lamplighter Flame Trucks to quickly ship your vulnerable Infantry across the Battlefield and into position, and send battalions of lumbering automata to anchor your flanks.
Union Field Gun and Artillery units, such as the Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon, the Armstrong Heavy Artillery and the Moab Thermobaric Mortar, also provide a vital support role, as they are perfect for degrading key enemy targets before your other units can close in for the kill.
The Union’s Behemoth, the Lakota Super Heavy Engine, can be fielded regardless of the Force Scale, making it more versatile than the immense, lumbering Behemoths of other Factions. Additionally, it can form part of a Heavy Rail, a configuration of separate units, consisting of one engine and several carriages that can be tailored to suit your strategic needs. In this way, a Heavy Rail is heavily customisable compared to other Behemoths, depending on the number and type of carriages the engine is pulling. These carriages can be decoupled from the Heavy Rail during its Activation, turning them into immobile Fortification units that can serve as important strongpoints for controlling the Battlefield and providing fire support.
Battlegroups
All Union Forces contain at least one Union Faction Battlegroup. This Battlegroup allows you to Bolster a single unit of Cavalry and a single unit of Armour, a combination that means that even relatively small Union Forces can amass impressive quantities of Iron-Horse-riding soldiery and fleets of battle tanks, transports, and battle-automata.
The Battlegroup’s Commander Bonus, Give ‘em Hell, allows even relatively inexpensive units to punch well above their weight during a firefight. If this Special Command is successfully issued to a unit making a Ranged Attack, then any Strikes rolled as part of this attack inflict two Hits instead of one. This can potentially double the amount of Hits you can inflict in a single attack, giving your units the capacity to inflict tremendous damage on their targets.
As Give ‘em Hell can be issued to multiple units each Round, your entire battleline has the potential to deliver a murderous fusillade should you have sufficient Command & Conquest Cards! However, a unit that has been issued a Give ‘em Hell special command also gains the Suppressed status, a penalty that both compromises this unit’s combat capabilities and means that it cannot be issued this Special Command again during its next Activation.
It is, therefore, important to issue the Give ‘em Hell Special Command at an opportune moment so that the unit that received this Special Command can minimise any potential retaliation from the enemy when it is at its most vulnerable: shielding this unit with one of your tougher units, hiding it within terrain or a Defensible Building, or quickly retreating it away from danger can all help immensely. It’s helpful to think of the Union as a Faction that follows the rhythms of ‘pulse warfare’, with different elements of your Force swinging between periods of intense activity and moments of sluggish inertia as they first benefit from this Special Command, then suffer its aftereffects.
If you are looking to capitalise on the Union’s mechanised capabilities, why not consider including a Manifest Destiny Auxiliary Battlegroup as part of your Force? The Mainstay Units in this Battlegroup include Ironhide Transports and Iron Horse Cavalry and the Battlegroup provides Bolster options for Cavalry and Armour units. These options allow you to create a powerful strike force that can outmanoeuvre and surround the more ponderous divisions of your enemy.
Stake a Claim, the Manifest Destiny Auxiliary Battlegroup’s Commander Bonus, can be issued to an Infantry or Cavalry unit that is in contact with a Strategic Objective during the End Phase, allowing them to ignore any units that are contesting this Strategic Objective during this round. This can make for some amazing moments, when a damaged unit, or an orphaned Fireteam, rushes onto a Strategic Objective controlled by an enemy unit and, in their last gasp of breath before being Annihilated in the next round, claims it for the Union!
The Shock & Awe Auxiliary Battlegroup focuses instead on Infantry, Field Gun, and Artillery units, with this particular Battlegroup being the only one to offer Bolster options for your Infantry units. The Battlegroup’s Commander Bonus, Search and Destroy, allows you to spend Command & Conquest Cards to gain extra Victory Points when you Annihilate an enemy unit. This bonus gives Union generals the opportunity to really benefit from hunting down enemy units, even at the expense of controlling Strategic Objectives. Indeed, the composition of this Battlegroup, with its emphasis on veteran Infantry, namely Pacifier Heavy Infantry Platoon, Field Guns in the form of Hotchkiss Revolving Cannons, and Artillery, such as Moab Thermobaric Mortars, synergises well with such a strategy.
Boons
The first unique Boon the Union has access to, Headlong Rush, is relatively inexpensive and grants a Special Command that allows Union Armour units to move through Difficult and Dense Terrain as if they were Open Terrain. This can be particularly effective when you issue this to a large unit of tanks or transports hidden behind a wood, only to have them spring out at top speed when the moment is right. If you are facing a Faction that is looking to challenge you in melee, such as the Crown or the Enlightened, then Yee-Haw! provides a Special Command that allows an Infantry or Cavalry unit to re-roll any Blank results during a Close-Quarters Combat. Against a Force with an emphasis on melee units, this Special Command can certainly help lessen your enemy’s advantage.
Key Strengths
Engines of Destruction
The Lakota Super Heavy Engine can begin a Clash, pulling a number of carriages into battle, the composition of which is entirely up to you. In this way, a Heavy Rail can be customised to suit a range of purposes. Houston and McHenry Firebases provide anti-Light and anti-heavy attacks, respectively, while the hybrid Breckenridge Firebase offers a more balanced set of attacks, and the Newhaven Forward Garrison gives Union Generals another option for transporting Infantry units and their Fireteams. Additionally, the Newhaven Forward Garrison has the Strongpoint special rule, which means that it can control Strategic Objectives so long as it is transporting an Infantry unit. Parking an occupied Newhaven on a Strategic Objective certainly gives your opponent a difficult target to shift, its presence earning you vital Victory Points every Round it's safely installed.
Flexible Platoons
The combat capabilities of your Federal Trooper Command Platoon, Federal Trooper Platoon and Pacifier Heavy Infantry Platoon units can be enhanced significantly owing to their ability to take Fireteam units as additional support units. Looking for an edge in an engagement with enemy Light units? Why not add some Federal Gatling Fireteams to really bring on the hurt? On the other hand, Federal Rocket Fireteams represent some of your most reliable anti-Aerial options and can prove a real deterrent to enemy Rotorcraft or strafing runs from enemy Aircraft during Air Support Sorties. Alternatively, the UR-31E Arc Trooper Fireteam comes with a plethora of distinct advantages, from the potent Arc weapon quality on its ranged attacks to the Automata special rule, which ensures that they automatically pass any Discipline tests.
ZAP, BANG, BRRRT!
The Union arsenal boasts a number of weapon qualities that make them a force to be reckoned with. The Arc weapon quality means that a Heroic Strike adds two dice to the Attack Pool rather than one, meaning even smaller dice pools can become very dangerous. Many Union units armed with multiple-barrelled Gatling guns have Light attacks that sport the Devastating weapon quality, which allows you to round up excess hits to inflict an additional Damage, making them particularly useful against units with high Defence values. Such weapon qualities work especially well when combined with the effects of the Give ‘em Hell special command, which allows a Union unit making a Ranged Attack to count any Strikes rolled as inflicting two Hits rather than one.
Watch out for…
Masters of the Middle
Whilst the union possesses formidable mid-range firepower, they struggle at long range and in close-quarter combat. A canny enemy will try to strike at Union units either at extreme range or with melee specialists to circumvent your killzones. Luckily, the high Speed values of many Union units, combined with access to transports, mean that you can often outmanoeuvre your enemies before they have a chance to catch you unprepared and out of formation. Focus on priority targets before they have a chance to launch a devastating attack!
Tin Cans and Mimic-Men
The union roster contains many units with the Automata special rule. The Automata special rule brings a number of useful advantages, such as an automatic pass on all Discipline checks without the need for Command & Conquest Cards. However, units with the Automata special rule cannot be issued commands nor control Strategic Objectives, the latter reducing the total number of Infantry and Cavalry units a Union General has available for controlling l Strategic Objectives. Be sure to use units with the Automata special rule to screen your valuable, non-automata Infantry and Cavalry units, protecting them while they rush forwards to control Strategic Objectives.
Six Shots, Or Only Five?
Many of the Union’s ranged advantages rely to some extent on luck and, as such, can be a little unpredictable. The Arc and Devastating weapon qualities, for instance, grant particularly potent effects, but these are tied to your Attack Dice results and excess Hits respectively, and so may not trigger at all, depending on your rolls.
A cunning Union general will make the most of the Commands available to them to maximise their units’ firepower. Any result that increases their units’ Attack Pool, for instance, will increase the chances of rolling more Critical Strikes or producing excess hits, effects that complement the Arc and Devastating weapon qualities.
Similarly, Give ‘em Hell, whilst a very powerful ability, only provides a significant benefit if you roll Strikes, having no effect at all on Critical Strike results. Units that have been issued the Give ‘em Hell special command also gain the Suppressed status at the end of their Attack Step, a significant drawback that can hamper their combat capabilities in the next Round. Having a Commander close by allows a unit that has been issued the Give ‘em Hell Special Command to benefit from the +1 Discipline bonus offered by the Chain of Command special rule, increasing its chances of passing its Rally test the next time it activates.
Building your Force
A great starting point for a Union Force is the Union Faction Battlegroup Starter Set, which comes with a good mix of units that can be fielded at Reinforced size and a Lakota Super Heavy Engine with three carriages. If you are looking to start smaller, the Union Introductory Starter Set contains a great Force for playing your first Skirmish-scale Clashes, especially if you combine it with elements from the Lakota Battlegroup Set to bring a Heavy Rail to bear! Additionally, the Union Infantry Regiment and Union Armoured Regiment provide you with some excellent options for expanding your Force further, especially if you want to specialise towards a particular Auxiliary Battlegroup.
These boxes can easily be combined to create Force Lists tailored to reflect your personal preferences, as shown in the examples below:
Skirmish-Scale List (1,000 points)
This Force List makes use of models from the Union Introductory Starter Set and the Lakota Battlegroup Set to produce a force that takes full advantage of the Lakota’s ability to be fielded in smaller games. With a full quota of Infantry units and two Cavalry units to control strategic objectives, this Force aims to use its transport options and the Forlorn Hope Boon to push its Infantry units forward as quickly as possible. In order to protect these Light units, the Lakota Super Heavy Engine, Rolling Thunder Main Battletanks and Armstrong Heavy Artillery all serve to neutralise Heavy targets that could threaten your Infantry and Cavalry. The Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon serves a support role, clearing units from strategic objectives, ready for the approaching Infantry and Cavalry.
Battle-Scale List (2,000 points)
By combining the Union Faction Battlegroup Starter Set and the Union Introductory Starter Set, you can create a Force that focuses more on destroying the enemy than controlling Strategic Objectives.
Thanks to the Search & Destroy Commander Bonus, this Force’s General can gain additional Victory Points when they Annihilate enemy units—a definite advantage if you find yourself with too few units on the Battlefield to control Strategic Objectives. The Bolstered unit of Rolling Thunder Main Battle Tanks offers both anti-heavy firepower and a useful distraction for drawing your opponent’s attention away from your Force’s more vulnerable elements. Should your enemy’s Light units prove troublesome, you can always use your Full-Strength Field Gun and Artillery units to wipe them from the field…
Cataclysm-Scale List (3,000 points)
This Force List, which uses models from two Union Faction Battlegroup Starter Sets, contains a maximum-sized Lakota Heavy Rail to really bring on the hurt!
With two Houston Firebases, supported by a Breckenridge Firebase, this impressive battle-locomotive can lay waste to any Light units, especially when working in tandem with the Hotchkiss Revolving Cannons. The large unit of Armstrong Heavy Artillery serves as this Force’s dedicated counter to Heavy targets, with the Heavy Rail’s McHenry Firebase finishing off any stragglers. The Infantry contingent of this Force is designed to attack in two waves, with the Pacifier Heavy Infantry Platoons utilising the Lamplighter Flame Trucks to speed towards any Strategic Objectives as quickly as possible, whilst the footsloggers inch their way across the Battlefield, ready to contest and control Strategic Objectives later in the Clash.
The most flexible section of this Force is its Cavalry units, with the Iron Horse Cavalry and Blazer Heavy Cavalry serving as Objective grabbers and harassers and the UR-31E Iron Eagle Cavalry units offering a dependable screen for your other units.
In Short…
With access to Fireteam units and the Heavy Rail, the Union boasts a number of unique tactical options that a General can utilise to catch their enemies off guard. Union Infantry with the Parent Unit (X) special rule can use their attached Fireteams to whittle down enemy units before they have a chance to retaliate in force. The fact that the Lakota Heavy Engine can be taken at any Clash Scale allows the Union to sport an impressive centrepiece unit in even the smallest games, with the ability to include multiple carriages, allowing you to create a Heavy Rail that best suits your tactical needs. The large number of Armour units available to the Union allows you to create mobile, hard-hitting Forces that can quickly break through the enemy front line, especially if you make good use of the Give ‘em Hell Special Command.
The Union excel at close-range Firefights but hve limited access to units that can control Strategic Objectives. Isolate enemy units by dividing them into small pockets that you can shut down and Annihilate, with minimum casualties to your own Force, and you are sure to prevail!