Trencher Commandos

Forged during years of warfare in some of the most brutal fighting in all the Iron Kingdoms, the toughest soldiers of the Trenchers are singled out for special training. These commandos must master a variety of skills that include camouflage and covert unit coordination in addition to the deadly knife fighting techniques that are their trademark. In battle they crawl to the very edge of no man’s land to silently neutralize enemy scouts and snipers and disappear back into the woods without a trace.

A coordinated commando assault supported by grenades and scatterguns rapidly turns units of enemy of soldiers into ground meat.

Masters of covert operations, sabotage, and targeted elimination behind enemy lines, the officers of the trencher commandos are the best of the best. These officers lead squads of commandos on the most dangerous and sensitive assignments, where their paramount goal is always simple: complete the mission at any cost.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Entire Unit
  • Template:Stealth
  • Template:Advance Deployment
  • Template:Tough
  • Template:Pathfinder
  • Template:Anatomical Precision

• Officer only
  • He has +1 MAT, RAT, CMD, and 5 hitpoints
  • Template:Officer
  • Template:Granted (Template:Reposition 3-alt)
  • Template:Tactics (Template:Quick Work-alt)
  • Template:Mission Objective

Weapons

Leader, Grunts, & Officer	Carbine File:Gun icon.jpg  RNG   ROF   AOE   POW  10 1 Template:- 10 Grenade File:Gun icon.jpg  RNG   ROF   AOE   POW  6 1 3 12 Template:Cumbersome Trench Knife File:Sword icon.jpg  RNG   POW   P+S  0.5 3 9
Scattergunner	Scatter Gun File:Gun icon.jpg  RNG   ROF   AOE   POW  SP 8 1 Template:- 12 Trench Knife File:Sword icon.jpg  RNG   POW   P+S  0.5 3 9

Theme Forces

• Cygnar
  • Template:Gravediggers. This unit gains Rise in this theme.

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this unit in the Template:Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Sloan is leading the army.
  • Mercenary players can use this unit in the Template:Llaelese Resistance theme. They become Llaelese models and gain Pathfinder.

Thoughts on the Trencher Commandos

File:Trencher Scattergunner.jpg

Weapon Attachment

Trencher Commandos in a nutshell

Trencher Commandos are something of a toolbox unit. They're capable of taking on light infantry with their carbines and light jacks/heavy infantry with their grenades if enough of them can get into range. They're also a great counter to units such as Widowmaker Scouts, which have no natural ability to deal with Stealth.

Thoughts on adding the WAs

• Scattergunners aren't that different from their common brethren, except for the fact that they got a shotgun. Which should be more than enough reason to consider adding as many of them as possible, especially with the CA since it gives them Quick Work and Mission Objective. They can charge in, kill a model thanks to anatomical precision and lay down some spray templates to absolutely shred infantry. With the changes to the points values in late 2021 the WAs are cheaper per model than the main unit, making them even more attractive.
• A Battle Priest can be a huge boon to the unit, as it grants them Rise which works perfectly with native Tough. Mission Objective also affects him. The downside is that the Priest will have nothing to do on turns you just want to shoot and cannot Quick Work either.

Thoughts on adding the CA

As if Cygnar needed more ways to massacre single box infantry - but the CA is very very good at that, especially combined with the Scattergunners. Reposition's great on a stealth unit - and if you're expecting a lot of enemies then quick work with rifles or scatter guns can create a hell of a mess in the enemy's back line. The commando grenades are well suited to dealing damage to multi-box infantry or to light warjacks/warbeasts when combined with the CA's Mission Objective.

Combos & Synergies

• If you're taking Commandos, you will probably want to take Captain Maxwell Finn. Not only is he an unholy terror by himself, your Commandos become effective MAT8 as a result. RAT7 sprays from the Scatter Gunners makes their ranged output very nasty, too.
• Both of the iterations of Siege work wonders with the Commandos.
  • Colonel Markus 'Siege' Brisbane extends their threat radius immensely via Desperate Pace and his feat, effectively turning the Commandos into SPD11 models.
    • Fury also mitigates their subpar melee damage vs non-living or multi-wound models. Stealth also means the DEF penalty is less of an issue as they close on the enemy.
    • The feat-created Dig In is also nice for their survivability, although they generally prefer it for the threat extension.
  • While Major Markus 'Siege' Brisbane doesn't add much to their threat radius, under his feat they hit like trucks. POW14 grenades and Scatterguns are far more scary when they can damage an ARM20 model at dice plus four.
• Captain Allison Jakes gives them a surprise boost during her feat, making their melee weapons RNG2.
• Captain Allister Caine as with all Trencher units, can keep them from being knocked down when they succeed Tough checks.
• Captain Jeremiah Kraye Countermeasure turns them into anti range monsters. With Stealth preventing shooting over a distance of 5 inches or greater, Countermeasure prevents shooting over a distance of less the 5 inches. This makes them screen/jamb much harder then most units.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Anatomical Precision has no impact on Undead models, or the Construct infantries of the Convergence.
• They're reliant on Stealth and terrain to keep them alive - their base DEF and ARM are not hard to get through for most units in the game. If you are up against models with True Sight or Eyeless Sight, your Commandos will not last long.
• Their short melee range means it can be hard to get the charge on to their main prey - high ARM - single wound, Tough infantry.
• No Take Up or anything on the Scattergunner
• The addition of Quick Work from the CA doesn't allow you to throw grenades since they are Cumbersome.

Tricks & Tips

File:Trencher Officer.jpg

Command Attachment

• Anatomical Precision means they're great against high ARM, single box infantry. But with the low melee range of their trench knives, you may have to use some of the unit to absorb a charge and then attack with the rest of the unit in your next turn.
• Anatomical Precision also gives Tough units such as trollkin pause for thought.
• Position the Scattergunners throughout the unit to make it harder for your opponent to take them out without either getting into melee or putting his units squarely in your commandos' threat range.
• Between AoE shots, templates, Reposition and occasionally Quick Work, this unit can eat up your death clock pretty fast. Practice accordingly.
• Remember AoE deviation rules, as a point blank thrown grenade cannot deviate far enough to not hit your target.
• Charge as much Commandos into a target as possible (with the right positioning you can get 5 of them into melee with a heavy), then reposition away to make room for a flanking Trench Buster to finish the target off.

Other

Trivia

• The unit & WA were released in Forces of Warmachine: Cygnar (2010.02)
• The CA was released in the Gravediggers expansion (2017.06)