Guide to Warpath: Enforcer Starter Force

Next month sees the release of not one, but four new army sets for Warpath, covering the Enforcers, Forge Fathers, Veer-Myn and Asterans. These Starter Forces are perfect for getting a new army on to the battlefield, containing lots of core troops supported by elite units and force commanders. We’re even releasing four new heroes to fight alongside them too- you’ll hear more on each of these later!

Today, we’ll be taking a look through the Enforcer Starter Force and how to use its contents on the tabletop.

The core of any Enforcer Strike Team are the Enforcers themselves. Although considered to be line troopers in the context of the army, they are anything but when compared to other forces. Enforcers are mankind’s super-soldiers – designed to take on any threat to the GCPS. The Starter Force comes with twenty hard plastic Enforcers, who can be built as either strike squads with ranged weaponry, or assault squads with close-quarters weaponry. You can upgrade these with specialist equipment, such as Burst Lasers or Incinerators and there’s even components to build a sergeant, who can take an Energy Gauntlet.

Personally, I would run these in two units of ten models each. Ten strike Enforcers with rifles, upgraded with two Burst lasers and a sergeant with an Energy Gauntlet and ten assault Enforcers with pistols and wristblades, with two incinerators and anther sergeant with an Energy Gauntlet. This allows me to tackle many situations, as I have both close-quarters and ranged troopers to hand, while the upgrades grant each squad a bit more power in their specified role. Both units’ sergeants can issue commands – this is one of the bonuses of fielding Enforcers. This means that not only will I get extra command dice to roll for my orders, but also that the squads will always be able to receive orders from their sergeants, rather than relying on army leader, like other forces would need to. An extra order to move to take cover can make all of the difference for claiming objectives.

In addition to those twenty Enforcers, you will also get a five more miniatures, who come with upgrade components to create a Heavy Support Team. Armed with ‘Harpy’ missile launchers, these are ideal anti-armour troops, capable of taking down enemy vehicles. Field them as a static firebase, who will focus on priority targets in support of the rest of your force.

The heavily armoured Peacekeepers are great for punching holes in the enemy lines. There are five hard plastic Peacekeepers in the Starter Force, who can be upgraded with either a Burst Laser or an Incinerator, as well as a sergeant and Defender shields. Peacekeepers come with double-barrelled ‘Dominator’ laser rifles and Energy Gauntlets as standard, making them efficient at both long and short range combat. Equipping them with Defender shield drops anti-armour power of the Energy Gauntlet in exchange for constant cover. It’s worth considering how you want to use these in combat before selecting a load out and assembling your models. I would personally favour the shields, as I would use the Peacekeepers to cross the battlefield and focus on pushing through the enemy’s firepower. This will likely put them out in the open; the cover of the Defender shields will counteract this.

Pathfinders are elite and stealthy scouts for the Enforcers. Their Recon special rule allows them to start the game posted ahead of the main forces, entrenched within a building. Their sniper rifles can be used to pick off choice targets, suppress enemy troops, or aid your own squads using their Tag rule. Personally, I use these for area denial; an entrenched squad can be tough to shift from terrain. I’d field the miniatures in two squads of five, each with a DOG Drone, who can grant re-rolls for my command dice, or deny the opponent Victory Points, using its RDL Transmission. Having two separate squads lowers the risk of of both being destroyed in one go, although each unit is individually more vulnerable and will need to be supported.

Finally, there is a Strider. Because we’re nice and it hasn’t been widely available yet, this Strider comes with a Burst Laser Upgrade. This means that you can build the Strider in the army as either the Urban Assault Pattern, anti-armour Polaris Pattern or anti-infantry standard load out. I would opt for the latter, which will be invaluable against the myriad forces that will outnumber my elite Enforcers. It can pile on suppression, whilst reliably gunning down enemy infantry and surviving the firepower directed back at it.

In addition to the Starter Force, the Enforcers will have a new character to lead their troops into battle. This new miniature can be built as either a Forward Observer or Lt. Commander Roca – a special character for the Enforcers. The Forward Observer acts as a squad upgrade to your force, adding three command dice to issue orders in battle. Roca, on the other hand, is a step above. He provides four Command and wields a sniper rifle which can be combined with his Precision Fire order to deadly effect. If that weren’t enough, his Alien Intel special rule allows him to issue any orders that can be taken by your opponent’s commanders – making their advantages into your own.

You can pre-order both of these (or any of the new Warpath products) from our webstore now, or pick them up from any good hobby retailers in May. You could even pick up one of the pre-release bundles, which includes a starter army, hero, command dice, plastic counters and all three Warpath books!