Getting Started: Resistance Training Manual

So ladies and gentlemen, it is time for me to share my experiences in playing the Resistance. Mainly list making and some solid tactics. 

I have played around quite a lot with lists and have taken both allied and feral to the tournament scene. My opinions are coming from a heavily competetive side. Basicly if you want the best chance of winning some games, (I say chance because even I, the master of lucky dice cannot foresee what the dice gods will decide!) then you need to read this.
When I say lucky, I am the person that could probably save 30 2+ Siren dodge saves in one round of CQB, but also be able to roll snake eyes on my Thunderstorm custom shooting on the last turn while he is holding a focal point with 1 dp left........ Yeah yeah, i know your heart bleeds for me, blah blah.

I'll start by probably one of the most asked questions with the resistance. What faction ahhhhhh!!!

The man-eating crazies of the feral clans, or the pawns of the United Colonies government.

This is and isn't an easy choice for me. Both card sets are strong but play very differently.
Feral cards have lots of sabotage to the battlefield and bump CQB making a basic unit act like Beserkers, but the best one is strike masters (your Mf is the same as your Mv) best played on the Barrel Bomber (BB) or Cyclones to get to your opponents home objective building or whizz up a flank. 

The allied cards seem to want to bump your commander with extra weapons and even passive saves. They also have some infantry cards, by replacing men on the field, whilst giving them scout (I love using this on free-riders). I think my favourite is the one in which you get 2 bases of legionnaires to join the fight. This is a very useful card if you are sending troops into a fight you know is a bit 50/50. Basically soaking up wounds for your MFR squads, or just back-up your basic billys.

I try not to rely on the cards but both are so strong. So I look at what units I would prefer to field and see what cards my list is forcing me to take. 

So a brief look and we can see that both card sets boost their faction specific units, the BB and MFR's. 

The Pathfinders (PF) don't benefit from any of the allied cards and the Beserkers already do what they are meant to do. The PF in my opinion, are designed to kill light dropships. Beserkers are a little random, they kill infantry in CQB and for cheap points. I would prefer the PF but then you have the fast mover syndrome. See where im going here, deep down the rabbit hole.

So it takes you back to how you want to win the objective battle. Do I want to concentrate on building damage, using a BB and sabotage cards. Or the strength of killing infantry (MFR) in CQB and the PF before they even get to a building. 

I would rate the PF and MFR the more reliable option, but I have been using the BB in every list for the last couple of months. It is just too much fun doing 15 damage to a building on average. Also I haven't found that I have used the Beserkers much as the slot gets filled with Occupation Vets, they are so awesomely rude!!!. The allied units however are great together. The only opponents that really cause the PF grief is UCM with Rapiers and the PHR with Phobos/Helios. It's the rate of fire more shots needed to get those 6s.

Both commanders are good at building demolition which adds to the feral plan of building demo a bit more. The Thunderstorms 18" range means you either go for a centralised building or its not till turn 2/3 when on the opponents home objective. Exactly the same plan for the BB, unless you find your strike masters card and a sabotage building card (for the life of me I cannot remeber the name of that poxy card). 

This is why i have come to the conclusion that the M3 Alexander is more of an allied unit and the Thunderstorm a feral. The M3 needs to get up close and be aggresive and the allied cards give you extra guns and a passive save. The Thunderstorm backs up the building demo plan of the BB. In all honestly the Thunderstorm will play very well in both armys but if playing aggressive you won't be shooting buildings. 

Hawk has really got this balance thing on track. 

"but sir, the objective was right here"

With fielding MFR's it is very hard to find room for the other exotic infantry in the game. I would say that you always want to have 3 x jacksons in a lifthawk in any list. Any combination will work well. I like to go 2 x Res Fighters and 1 x exotic. The only time i wouldnt go for jacksons is if you have commited to having 2 x squads of MFR's. The only option after this really is some chaps in a Battle-bus. Vets and Res Fighters or a mix. I always try and stick to the 4 x squads rule of thumb here at Team OB. 

I'm not going to factor in Freeriders as infantry as they work well in any list. This normally means that you are fielding 5 troops plus freeriders. More than all the other factions. This is where the Resistance is strongest, oh and always chuck in a drill they are too versatile to not include.

As you can see choosing the infantry is a big factor in what faction/units you can field!! 

Once you have made these vital choices. You will only have around a 3rd of your points left out of(1500). The infantry is going to cost you 500-600pts it's alot but it's the only way to be competitive in your list building!

But as you can see choosing the infantry is a big factor in what faction/units you can field!! 

Once your mind is set, you need 3 other components to make you list function(win), you will need some anti-air, some scouts to increase SOI (unless you already have got some free-riders). And finally something to destroy ground units,grab focal points, or as I say a distraction units.

With AA you need to look no further then the Gun Wagon. 2 x squads of 3 inside Krakens is more than enough for a solid base of fire. Yes the Zhukovs are rude but very very expensive with a Lifthawk. Every list I make with Zhukov's in always ends up being unbalanced. Zhukovs and PF do work well together. Gun Wagons inside Krakens just have so much more speed and movabilty. You can get 2 squads compared to one squad of the Zhukovs. It's a no brainer, 8dp's compared to the wagon/krakens 20dp..

The best way to get scouts in is Free-riders. We all know that these survive really well so are best suited to spot for our forces. Gun Technicals are good but die very easily if not positioned well.

There are a lot of units within the Resistance than can claim focal points, even the drill hehehe.....

Because of this I advise filling your anti-tank slot with whatever units you like the most.
These units should be harassing your opponent and hopefully causing lots of pain, but more importantly a distraction. My favourites that seem to always perform well are Cyclones and Hannibals.

Army list: Feral
Clash: 1492/1500 points
Standard Army

Breaching Drills [50 pts]
 Breaching Drill: Model 109 Breaching Drill [50 pts]
Warlord's HQ [280 pts]
 Thunderstorm: NT-5 Thunderstorm Custom(Commander) [280 pts]
Vehicle Detachment [193 pts]
 Gun Wagons: 3x Gun Wagon, NT-1 Kraken [113 pts]
 Barrel Bomber: Barrel Bomber(+AA Cannon) [80 pts]
Vehicle Detachment [233 pts]
 Gun Wagons: 3x Gun Wagon, NT-1 Kraken [113 pts]
 Cyclones: 2x AH-16 Cyclone [120 pts]
Resistance Band [258 pts]
 Fighters: 2x Resistance Fighters, AT-77 Lifthawk, 3x MT-90 Jackson [148 pts]
 ^ Sharing ^ Fighters: 2x Resistance Fighters [48 pts]
 ^ Sharing ^ Berserkers: 2x Berserkers [62 pts]
Infiltrators [318 pts]
 Freeriders: 2x Freeriders [70 pts]
 Veterans: 2x Occupation Veterans, NT-1 Kraken, 2x Battle Bus(+Rocket Launcher Battery) [168 ts]
 ^ Sharing ^ Veterans: 2x Occupation Veterans [80 pts]
Rusted Fist [160 pts]
 Hannibals: 2x M9 Hannibal, AT-77 Lifthawk(+AA Cannon) [160 pts]


Army list: Allied
Clash: 1498/1500 points
Standard Army

Breaching Drills [50 pts]
 Breaching Drill: Model 109 Breaching Drill [50 pts]
Warlord's HQ [355 pts]   
 Alexander: M3 Alexander(Commander), AT-77 Lifthawk [285 pts]
 Freeriders: 2x Freeriders [70 pts]
Vehicle Detachment [233 pts]   
 Gun Wagons: 3x Gun Wagon, NT-1 Kraken [113 pts]
 Cyclones: 2x AH-16 Cyclone [120 pts]
Vehicle Detachment [113 pts]   
 Gun Wagons: 3x Gun Wagon, NT-1 Kraken [113 pts]
Resistance Band [427 pts]   
 Fighters: 2x Resistance Fighters, AT-77 Lifthawk, 3x MT-90 Jackson [148 pts]
 ^ Sharing ^ Fighters: 2x Resistance Fighters [48 pts]
 ^ Sharing ^ Veterans: 2x Occupation Veterans [80 pts]
 Marine Force Recon: 2x Marine Force Recon, Raven A/S [151 pts]
Rusted Fist [160 pts]   
 Hannibals: 2x M9 Hannibal, AT-77 Lifthawk(+AA Cannon) [160 pts]
Fast Strikers [160 pts]   
 Archangel Pathfinders: 2x Archangel Pathfinder [160 pts]


I've tried to keep the lists to include as many starter box units as I can, this should save on the pocket and give you an in-sight to what to expect in your lists.

With Resistance, well dropzone or anygame really. You have to play the mission, You can kill all of my ground forces but if i have found every objective was it worth it???.

I told you this was from a completely competitive side!!!!!.

We do not win games by big margins its something you are just going to have to live with, just like the Scourge.

What we do have is lots of models and some great versatile units, every unit does its job well if you are giving it the right task. High pts models should be on focal points and plan what objectives your infantry will go for, hopefully not a building you have been blowing to pieces. We wont be able to go for all objectives, so don't thin yourself out too much.

You can't complain if you are losing your Cyclones to AA if you are not even trying to get your scouts to spot for their indirect fire barrage weaponry... YES, HIDE THEM BEHIND BUILDINGS!!! you may not get the short range missiles off early game, but its okay. The resistance are strongest around turn 2-3. 
Talking of barrage, they love going for skimmers. Barrage never misses it just scatters so if you see a whole bunch of skimmers blast away 9/10 it will hit one or maybe even more.

If when facing an enemy with lots of long range guns, keep your wagons and technicals inside their transports. The Krakens soak up so much firepower and don't underestimate their E9 canons. You can always shoot the embarked squad after disembarking which is where the gun wagons get there strength from. They love to deploy turn 2 to get behind the central buildings.

A couple of units to keep an eye on are the Fire-drake and the Phoenix, both are flying behemoths.  With no active countermeasure on some of our units, their blasts can wipe out whole squads. Best stay in your transports until in effective range.

When playing PHR and Shaltari. I would in most cases deploy turn 2 to gain some range and seek cover behind those buildings. Exception being that they have left a gate or a transport within your gun wagons range turn 1 (29"). Try to take out the PHR anti air with your barrage while out of line of site, same for any skimmers the Shaltari are fielding.

Barrel Bomber's should move from building to building avoiding AA where you can until ready to drop  the big bomb on opponents home objective or a closer one that has been occupied by the enemy. Leave the BB frag bombs till after otherwise it will move too slowly and will never get to the other side of the board. Same principle with the Cyclones, but they have a slightly better range. So won't need to fly full distance. Be careful with blast weapons and how close you put you own units next to the enemy, you cannot place a template down if it touches one of your own models.

When playing against Scourge and UCM you have to be careful of how far you leave your aircraft. The scourge Reapers have tremendous maneuverability, I would try and deploy turn 1 for safety. be mindful that the UCM drones have a 21" effective range and will probably hide behind a central building to cover most of the board. Deploying your AA here will be great BUT remember the phoenix. Try hiding behind buildings and get the angles across the battle covering your aircraft the drones will hunt.

If playing with Battle-buses let them go for the home objective or closest one, the infantry in Jacksons you should fly fast turn 1 with some cover. Then deploy into central buildings, back up res fighters with a squad of Beserkers the furthest away from a building that the units in Battle-bus could get to.

With MFR'S its the reverse  use their speed to get to the furthest buildings, and 2 of Jackson/lifthawk squads into home objective, turn 2 deploy 3rd squad into central building.

Key with objectives is to be the occupier that way you can search and control the fight. In CQB more squads is better, even if they are weaker as not everyone has to fight. They can sneak off if you find an objective. Free-riders are good at passing objectives between units. Don't hesitate to stick them in a building to help search, but do not send them into fight. They will die a horrible death!!!!

I'll probably update this as newer units come in and ill try to cover how to deal with certain threats more in depth but for now that's it.

Joe out!!!!