I'm finding that Dahshat performs better for me when I take the first turn. Does anyone have any different experiences or preferences going 1st or 2nd?
I think it might depend on your lists and how you play them. Dahshat has a lot that can do well with either way.
Slight preference for first turn for me. Dashat's reactive tools are a little better than some sectorials, but not by a lot, so getting the first punch in has a lot of value.
I think this is also pretty mission dependent- though I’ll usually lean towards saying “first to try an alpha strike” if the rest is unknown.
I agree that they don't have many solid ARO pieces aside from the Libertos and Hunzakuts in SF, which are amazing. Mostly I just mine up the midfield and hope for the best. Even in missions that count mission objectives at the end of the round where you would normally want to play second, I find myself still wanting to go first. My hope is to make it difficult for my opponent to dislodge my troops during their turn.
This can absolutely be a thing and I've done the same myself. I will say though that, as you noted, our ARO game is weak in Dashat. I find that relying on a holding action late game can lead to disappointment. My personal approach, (in last-round scoring missions), is to essentially hide my power pieces and then dislodge any defenders with a last strong push. When using this strategy in another faction, (like Haqqislam for example), I find it to be of utmost importance to hide/defend your late game attacker/scorer as well as you possibly can. I actually have an easier time of this in Dashat due simply to the relatively large number of strong pieces I can fit in a list.
Between Al Fasid, Maghariba, Libartos, Zencha, Hunz, Gromez and Drones I have found that first turn Dashat can litter the table with mines and Repeaters. Plan for going second. Pray for going first.
