Snipers! How to Play and How to Counter Them - Bolt Action!

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[kanrakucheese]

One thing to note is the errata gives Partisans exclusive access to inexperienced snipers for only 35 points in exchange for being even more fragile. They’re a must take at that price since partisans lack many options. One trick with them is the ability to take a Paris Uprising platoon to get two sniper slots and a free five feet of barbed wire, AND take a generic reinforced platoon for the bombs and bazooka/medium mortar access.

[isaacchapman]

After my first few few games I stopped bringing snipers because all that ever happened was a 4 turn sniper honor duel from across the field, but recently I've started bringing them again. They're great for making spotters and squad attached machine guns go away.

[Garsty]

Snipers do have the rule of cool heavily in there favour though 😎

[TheTobaccoman]

Snipers need to always be there, draw some fire, force some choices maybe even do some work. I think their bonus lies in the mental game they play and any damage they do is extra. Also, any hits do add more pins which can’t be discounted as well.

[dexionsgamingcorner]

A Sniper unit I rarely see other Soviet players running that is a staple for me, is the Sniper Detachment. They are expensive at 120ts, but, you get a 5 man Veteran Squad with Rifles, that forward deploy, with two Sniper Rifles. With 2 Sniper Rifles, your almost guaranteed to kill something every turn, and if you advance, you still get 5 Rifle shots.

[ChrisS-fhzt]

I play them but as a sort of over view of the central objective ( dead center) So as a sort of counter of any gang rush of trucks or infantry trying to get there first at a run. It really makes the opponent to stop and think. I also take them with SMG's for the simple reason of the whole within 12 inches the shot automatically misses. I have a pretty good eye of what 12 inches looks like on the table and so as soon as I think it is within that range just say I'm using the SMG's not the scope rifle it sort of irks them when I do that. I can take SMG's for my US and under certain theater selectors for my Soviets. But I also do the whole hunting and getting into range of mortar, MMG, and light infantry and AT guns and either handing out pins or removing them at minimal fuss. That is if I can get within the 36 inch range sometimes I am on the far right and the threat or team is over almost against the edge on the left.

[daddomgaming]

Pending what nation I'm facing would depend if I use a Sniper. Like you said tho instead of a Sniper I use a light howitzer

[Elethiomell]

3:55 Very nerdy comment here... Normal dice are a lot more likely to roll 1's as they are not balanced evenly, casino dice are random but a lot more expensive. At the end of the day so long as you are both using the same type of dice the game is fair, but if your opponent turns up with casino dice beware :-) There is a good video about it on youtube somewhere.

[rodento]

The dice gods dont like me so my snipers have been very ineffective! I have killed more with a light mortar than with my sniper. On the other hand I have only lost my officers to snipers. so there ya go.

[dannyhalas]

You can just aim for the floor in the building if a snipers in a church bell tower and ignore all terrain modifiers, it's a second Ed rule because buildings were to hard to dig troops out of.

[MajorSvenGaming]

I'm no sure.... I think most things in the game have strengths and hard counters.... If your using your howitzer slot to take on my sniper rather than throwing some HE down on my squads I feel that's a win for me anyway...

A cheap sniper is fine if used well against decent targets (spotter, mmg teams, officers, ect).... I wouldn't take one in a force under 750pts however as there are better options.

The game is so well balanced however no specific viewpoint is invalidate no unit is utterly useless or broken (outside of a couple of things.... Superman for example).

[Atli-Eiriksson]

is that just an airfix 1/48th scale Corsair or is it an official bolt action model?

[SonoVAo]

As you pointed out near the end of the video is, you take a sniper for the VooDoo you put into your opponent. It has the highest chance to be extremely swingy so an opponent basically has to put anti-sniper into all their lists.

By logic, you will know what they will be taking to counter snipers.

[Centaur]

Agreed - in my mind I keep telling myself to buy them (as I've painted them up, so why not use them), but I keep finding myself going for an artillery, MMG team, or mortar for the same cost because they will just deal more damage overall. Really good video - keep up the good work!

[TikitheHutt]

That's a great point GSC is a really good reference point to bridge WH40K and Bolt Action.

[samb]

Well, I like to take a veteran sniper. I try to position them carefully to avoid HE counter fire, such as behind hard cover out of sight. I try for positions with a view across the short side of the table where they can dominate from an ambush position. The value for me is in the threat. Cross the road in front of a sniper if you dare. It might be a coin flip for me killing a leader, removing a key weapon and so on. It’s also a coin flip for the opponent risking the move. And if you waste you HE firing at a sniper, I’ll just shift him and count it as a win that he’s soaked up HE which could do more damage to me elsewhere. Horses for courses I suppose and depends on you style of play.

[leej]

Fully agree with you. Since I field a lot of inexperienced troops as an earlier war Soviet player. My opponents have started fielding snipers to pick off my Political commissars. But other than that, our local group no longer field snipers..

[AdamL]

Finnish player, I don't leave home without my sniper, sometimes I run 2 when I'm on double platoons haha. 1 very effective use I find for them is leaving them in ambush putting a critical pin on an enemy squad when they move to attack one of my units, sometimes that turns a 6 to hit into a 7

[rmkarros]

so when are you going to cover konflict47, hint, hint, 😉

[calumdeighton]

Not gotten into Bolt Action myself. But have been looking at the theory of the game's system and mechanics. And this new tid bit of information has certainly got me revaluing things. Since a Sniper seemed like a good bargain unit to bring. But is that 65pts actually worth spending on upgrades than a 50/50 chance coin flip? Seems the value of the sniper is more psychological than on board value. And measuring psychology, is rather difficult. Measure fear or paranoia is like trying to calculate war. Effectively, impossible.