Favorite Fireteams

Greetings, fellow mercenaries! Dahshat fireteams are a bit of a personal journey, but I've been trying out a lot of different configurations and wanted to share my personal favorite fireteams I've used over the past several months. With no further ado, and in no particular order, here's team #1:

6
ZÚYǑNG Missile Launcher, Light Shotgun / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (2 | 36)
ZÚYŎNG (Tactical Awareness) HMG / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (1.5 | 38)
ZÚYŎNG (Fireteam: Haris, Tactical Awareness) Combi Rifle + 1 TinBot B (Deflector L2) / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 34)
ZÚYǑNG Lieutenant Combi Rifle / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0 | 27)
BOUNTY HUNTER Submachine Gun, Akrylat-Kanone / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
BOUNTY HUNTER Submachine Gun, Akrylat-Kanone / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)

4 SWC | 159 Points

Open in Infinity Army

This Zuyong core is a big commitment, but it fills a ton of roles in your list: the Missile Launcher is a chunky and deadly ARO threat, the HMG a premium attacking piece. The Haris/Tinbot/TacAware gives you a free order to reposition and re-assign the team leader when your turn is over. The Bounty Hunters are pure filler (Zuyong are AVA4, after all), but do an amazing job at that, while providing specialized firepower for very specific scenarios. I take a pair because I assume the Missile Launcher will die on turn 1 holding off aggression and want to reform a full Core to power the HMG.

Again, it's a big investment in points and SWC, but having such universally applicable offense and defensive power makes it more than worthwhile. Having your Lieutenant be a fireteam-protected HI is also a refreshing change from having a Ghulam hiding in a corner.

You could sub in Valerya or Miranda for one of the Bounty Hunters here, though I think that isn't necessary. Keeping the team focused purely on firepower works better, in my experience.

5
BOUNTY HUNTER Sniper Rifle / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
GHULAM (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
BOUNTY HUNTER Submachine Gun, Akrylat-Kanone / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
GHULAM Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)

0.5 SWC | 74 Points

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Lightweight, flexible, and packing a huge number of options, this team takes the cake for me when I want a more defensive but still versatile Core. When taking this team in the past I tended to use a Ghulam FO in lieu of the ABH SMG, but after making the swap to save a point, I actually greatly prefer this team. The addition of the ABH SMG gives you yet another set of attacking weapons, meaning when you decide to shift this Core to offense, you have a plethora of options: Sniper, Rifle, Light Shotgun, Submachine Gun, Akrylat-Kanone, and Forward Observer. Throw in whatever you happen to roll for Booty and you can cover almost every situation imaginable. Not only that, but you can also push buttons and very reliably revive members who happen to be downed along the way.

I generally assume the Sniper is going to die holding off aggression on the first turn, but haven't found the need to include a 6th member here. The 4-strong team still has so many offensive options that they don't need the +3 BS to be effective.

3
ZÚYŎNG (Fireteam: Haris, Tactical Awareness) Combi Rifle + 1 TinBot B (Deflector L2) / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 34)
ZÚYŎNG (Tactical Awareness) HMG / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (1.5 | 38)
VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device UPGRADE: Expel) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)

2.5 SWC | 93 Points

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My go-to for including Valerya these days, if I can spare the SWC. You get a free order with a BS13 Burst 5 HMG, a free order with a HI to reposition and reassign team lead, and then you have 3 orders to do whatever you want. Supportware, more HMG shots, Pitcher, button pushing, and whatever else your imagination can come up with. I see a lot of this team with the Rui Shi as the firepower element, and I prefer this team for a couple of reasons. First, it's much more compact, as you don't have to worry about finding space for a 55mm base, and everyone can Prone, so it's much easier to find them a good deployment position. Secondly, while the Rui Shi is more or less obligated to move forward to engage with its Spitfire, the Zuyong HMG can comfortably gun down targets from your deployment zone. Combine that with the extra order from Tactical Awareness and I think this is a more winning combination.

This makes a great team in Tactical Window since with 2 friends in group 2 it has 7 orders to work with. Just be sure to keep Valerya away from any serious hacking threats, as even with the TinBot she's not at great odds to fend off enemy KHDs.

3
ODALISQUE (Fireteam: Haris) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)
MIRANDA ASHCROFT Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 24)
ODALISQUE Submachine gun, Contender, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22)

0.5 SWC | 71 Points

Open in Infinity Army

Ever wish you had a B4 gun with ODD? Here's your chance, courtesy of this trio. It saves you the SWC investment that the other Haris teams require, while still providing you a potent offensive option and some nasty defensive tech. Getting this team into the midfield can lock down an entire quadrant in short order, and they will have little trouble clearing out enemies as long as you can keep engagements to relatively close quarters. Coordinate them into Suppression once you're done and your enemy will tear their hair out trying to remove them.

I'll admit this one is a bit more niche than the other three, but I really do recommend trying it out before dismissing it. Odalisques are a troop profile that's tough to appreciate just staring at them in ARMY, and their performance on the table is plenty worth their cost.

So that's the teams I've been loving during my Dahshat journey. What is everyone else fielding, what's worked for you, and what are you interested in trying next?

 

Have you had much luck with Sforza in a Core? I've had pretty terrible experiences trying to move a Core into the midfield to get him into range. How do you manage that?

 

I've sadly been a bit disappointed with him as well. His biggest problem is that he kept running into BTS6 targets I wanted to kill. Viral's not that impressive when the target is saving on 5+ after cover. I also just don't think he's elite enough as a gunfighter to justify dragging an entire Core with him into the midfield where they are extremely vulnerable to counter-attack. Especially when there's ABH Red Furies, Odalisque Spitfires, and Zuyong TacAware HMGs readily available to fill the "heavy hitter" role in a fireteam.

There's still times he's useful: in Hunting Party where he packs an extra Adhesive launcher, he's pretty nice for including in a cheap Haris to get B3 glue shots (Not accurate, see below), but in the more general case I'm leaning toward the Holoprojector 2 solo version more often than not. Suppression Fire seems to be his specialty, and the utility of Holo2 to obfuscate Lieutenants, clear out deployables, and Suppression Fire from safety add up a little better than his wildcard profile.[/S]