The Book of Omnicron Snipers

[Jexik]

They're great for killing heroes and tough squads. I think of them as a ranged version of the Minions of Utgar. Also, I think they look really cool.

[Hero Hot Hatch]

Originally Posted by nerdyninja

my thoughts too... but also at first I didn't understand their ability

I did not care much for the Snipes a couple of weeks ago. They looked too fake and uncool in the pictures, but now that I got them they are really cool. In addition to being cool-looking, you get a 50% probability of getting 2 skulls and with height advantage you have a 25% probability of getting 4 skulls. That is just awsome.

They are worth their points when compared to the 4th mass. The 4th mass is great but you need to "wait the fire" and Valiant army to get additional defense. Even with height advantage and "wait and fire" you only have a 6.25% probability of getting 4 skulls. The difference is huge and the defense of the Snipes is better as such the 30 points premium over the 4th Mass. Their range is longer too. The only disadvantage when compared to the 4th mass is that they are 3 vs. the 4th mass 4, which somewhat compensates for the lower defense and lower attack effectiveness as you get an additional chance to attack. You can also get 8 4th mass for just 40 points more than the 100 for the Snipes.

These guys give meaning to "Precise" and their power "ain't called Deadly Shot for nothin'". I'm definitely getting another set of these although they seem to be a good stand alone range squad.

Something like this is what I want for Jandar but in an archer/knight disguise so my army does not look so sci fi.

One "mistake" (if you could call it that) on the stats. is the height. Come on! Medium 5!? These guys should had been Medium 6 like the Minions or Sentinels. It's probably a mistake but it is a good mistake or it depends. I would use some knights like the KoWs to hold the line or even blockade with the Templars if that means that these guys will get height advantage, then blast them all. These guys are so tall that they can even shoot over a KoW or a 4th Mass and have a clearer line of sight, which is another advantage or disadvantage as they can be seen too. It works both ways, but it is still and odd stat.

[ThrasherDarkrai]

Originally Posted by Hero Hot Hatch

They are worth their points when compared to the 4th mass. The 4th mass is great but you need to "wait the fire" and Valiant army to get additional defense. Even with height advantage and "wait and fire" you only have a 6.25% probability of getting 4 skulls. The difference is huge and the defense of the Snipes is better as such the 30 points premium over the 4th Mass. Their range is longer too. The only disadvantage when compared to the 4th mass is that they are 3 vs. the 4th mass 4, which somewhat compensates for the lower defense and lower attack effectiveness as you get an additional chance to attack. You can also get 8 4th mass for just 40 points more than the 100 for the Snipes.

I agree with the rets of your statement, but disagree with this part (somewhat, anyways. I disagree that they are worth 100 points. I agree with everything else, even in this paragraph.). The main problem when facing the 4th is the 4 ATTACKS PER TURN. If you were to choose between 3 squads of 4th Mass and 2 squads of Omnicrons, I would pick the 4th. The fact that they gain four attacks, likely from height, easily makes up for any other disadvantage. If I attack most squads with all 4 attacks from the 4th, chances are they'll be dead because the 4th rolled more attack than them or they whiffed (when you get attacked four times, chances are most squads will whiff at least once). In the odd chance someone survives, most squads won't be able to kill all the 4th (ie. Kill all four), only 2 in most cases if they even have a high enough attack. The difference between that and the Omnicrons is that if the Omnicrons somehow don't manage to kill the enemy, then they'll die - 4 defense from height isn't a really high amount of insurance. Plus, it's 100 points - there are lots of things I could be getting for 100 points instead, especially if I'm getting more than one.
But I digress. Even with my belief that they are overpriced, they are still a good squad that are probably better to me than the Microcorp. These units are very fun to use, so I suggest to everyone to give them a go!

[Hero Hot Hatch]

It all comes down to game style. I'll be trying these out to see how they do. I still think that they are worth the 100 points or more than the 4th mass based again on the following: longer range, no need to "wait then fire", and more base defense. Moreover, you don't need an all Valiant army to get all the defense. The larger numbers of the 4th Mass offsets some of the advantages of the Snipes. However, you are a lot more likely to kill anything that is closing in with the Snipes than you are with the 4th Mass. I mean the probability of getting 4 skulls is 25% with height advantage! That is 4 times more likely than a 4th Mass with its 6.25% under similar circumstances. I know that there is more to it than simple probabilities of an event (such as "at least"), but this illustrates the power of Deadly Shot and like I stated grammatically correct "it ain't called Deadly Shot for nothin'".

Without height advantage, the Snipes have a 50% probability of getting two skulls. That's twice a 4th Mass probability of 25% if they did not wait to fire. (somebody will have to calculate the probability of them getting "at least" 2 skulls if they wait and fire as I forgot how to do that and I'm lazy now to look it up). I'll continue using the 4th Mass a lot because I like them so much and are fun to play, but there is a clear reason why the squad of 3 Snipes is worth more than a squad of 4 4th Mass.

If the upcoming Militia of wave 8 come with a similar power to the Snipes, that squad of 4 might very likely be worth more than 4th Mass's 70. We don't know, but it all depends on what other elements are required.

[rdhight]

Originally Posted by Roufus

Look at the Cacodemons from doom. They try to look menacing but they're just so darn cute. They can't help it.

Definitely. They also try to sound scary, but they come off as adorable. I always feel sorry for killing them because of that little purr/whimper they make. If I were a Doom marine, you'd find my corpse right around the first level of episode 2. "Well hi there! Aren't you a cute little--" *insert sound effects of rdhight being simultaneously electrocuted and eaten*

And now, back to the subject of omnicron snipers. These guys haven't seen near as much playing time since I got my Microcorps. On the other hand, they're great ambushers for maps where a permanent glyph is down in a depression. I do this all the time in my maps, and the omnicrons love it. You just wait for the other guy to send out a glyph-grabber; once he claims the prize, you hit him with six doubled dice.

I would love it if Zetacron had a powerful boost to (or from) figures with a precise personality. Precision cuts across heroes, squads, and four different valkyrie generals; an incentive to assemble a precise army could be a lot of fun.

[Hero Hot Hatch]

One thing that I like about the Snipes besides deadly shot, their 7 range and three defense is the ability of using Sir Gilbert to move 4 of them just behind a squad of KoWs or MacDirk Warriors when I use Sir Gilbert with them instead of Alastair MacDirk. If you get lucky with the Jandar Valkyrie dice and can give the Snipes height advantage with the dispatch, their deadly shot effectiveness doubles even before taking a turn with them. Since they are a squad of three, but you can still move 4 with the dispatch, you also get to move backup along.

[ryer9000]

I just bought these guys at walmart, I'm glad I came and read ya's posts because I thought that every skull rolled counts as a hit. Including the defense roll.

[bmattj1]

i use these guys alot in place of the KMA at my house, we play 900 points games to i leave them at height next to cap and finns spirit on them and raelin in the back to boost defense. this gives me 4 attack dice 3 times with the possibility of having 8 skulls. And also gives me 6 defense with the caps tactician and raelins aura, maybe 7 with height advance. All this = victory

[ReverendBayes]

Originally Posted by bmattj1

i use these guys alot in place of the KMA at my house, we play 900 points games to i leave them at height next to cap and finns spirit on them and raelin in the back to boost defense. this gives me 4 attack dice 3 times with the possibility of having 8 skulls. And also gives me 6 defense with the caps tactician and raelins aura, maybe 7 with height advance. All this = victory

You'll probably not want to hear this, but:

Finn's spirit can only be placed on a unique army card!

[cosmosis]

Not only can Finn's spirit not be used on the Omnicrons, but his aura (and Sir Gilbert's) can only add 1 attack to a unit with a range of 1.

However, don't fret yet. There is still a way to get 4 attack on the omnicrons without extreme height or glyphs:
Omnicron's Base Attack = 1
Height = +1
Captain America = +1
Taelord's Aura = +1
Total = 4

[bmattj1]

oh wow i didn't notice that. i usually always put him on squads. guess i didn't read the card oh well im going to implement house rules on that one lol

[cosmosis]

Originally Posted by bmattj1

oh wow i didn't notice that. i usually always put him on squads. guess i didn't read the card oh well im going to implement house rules on that one lol

You can put him on UNIQUE squads like the Izumi Samurai and UNIQUE heroes like Raelin, but you cannot put him on COMMON squads like the Omnicron or COMMON heroes like Swog Rider. I, for one, have definitely messed that one up when our group started playing.

A house rule is fine, but you shouldn't get used to that rule when it comes to playing more competitively, as you will soon notice that putting Finn on COMMONs make those commons overpowered, especially in the case of the Omnicron.

Of course, don't take my word for it. It's always most fun to try these things out yourself. Just beware of guys like Sgt. Drake who can run by the Omnicrons