Midfield Mayhem

Skirmishes are usually units with infiltration that can control the midfield.  They are often 20 – 30 points and include some iconic units such as Guilang, Gangbuster, Morans, Sarko and Shrouded.  

The Kit that these guys get is usually pretty similar across different factions.  Some of them are armed with MSV1 and would seemingly be good at hunting their counterparts on the opposite team.   The risk of fighting fire with fire is that many of these units only have an 8 inch range band and if they encounter an enemy template then they die.  Templates make the shotgun a good defence, but it’s also quite effective against armour and fire teams in the active turn.  On the other side of the coin a combi rifle helps leverage visual mods and visors in gunfights, and when the combi range is added to the infiltration range skirmishes can manipulate defensive fire team range bands.  For example if a core linked fusilier with multi sniper rifle is on ARO duty then a skirmisher with a combi is a good choice to remove that threat by shooting from the fusiliers +0 range band, if you add in a perimeter deployable to the attack and that fusilier is unlikely to live.  The SMG does not have the range of the combi rifle or the template of the shotgun, but it does have ammo types and it is cheap.  This gun has good flexibility and can be effective against armour or non-shock immune infantry.  Boarding shotguns also have AP ammo, but they don’t have the same damage potential as an SMG, particularly if you are firing at the +0 range band.  

There are counters to these units, but you must pick the right tool for the situation.  A defensive link can really suffer at the hands of a skirmisher with a combi rifle, but a well placed mine (maybe from a libertos) will keep them away.  Speculative grenades from a digger or a linked line trooper will often end a Moran in cover.  Any unit with good dodge is an easy way to remove proximity deployables like Crazy Koalas, because they do not give a penalty to the roll, try to dodge more than one deployable in an action.  Another common piece of kit for skirmishers is the Hacking Device which is countered by Killer Hackers, this is particularly good against gangbusters but not great vs morans.  Fiddler and other units with  peripherals are good at removing midfielders too.  Fiddler dodges quite well and has the potential to make 3 discover rolls in a single order if the target is camoflaged.  She can also climb her Jackbot past any deployables to trade for both the mine and the skirmisher with an exploding REM.   Finally it’s always possible to just walk past in marker state and avoid the mid entirely just remember that camouflage will get you past proximity deployables but not mines while smoke is not effective against either.  

Skirmishers often have specialist options which can help to set the Tempo of the game with an early objective lead.  Their ability for area denial can make it difficult for your opponent to equalise the objective points.  This is particularly useful in missions such as Mindwipe when skirmishers can stop the enemy accessing the objective console.  Skirmishes are order efficient in missions with zone control, allowing you to box the enemy into their DZ, but the other player might appreciate the short distance to these with low ARM, low PH and 1W skirmishers so beware.