ARTICLE: Neuroshima Hex – Steel Police

The wastes need order. There must be law. Without it, we are nothing but savages… no better than the mutants we defend our homes from. To win this war, we must mobilize. We must exercise justice swiftly and with absolute abandon. Humans are weak and feeble… unable to protect themselves without the pre-war machinery we cherish. Most minds would break under the weight of our duty. We seek out injustice, destroy it, and recruit from anyone strong enough to survive our wrath.

We are the Steel Police. The new world may not be ready for us, but we don’t have time to care. Every day the injustices of the wastes bear down on us and we must rise against it. We are the front lines and the weaklings aren’t even aware. We fight so that you may sleep at night… but only if you abide by our laws… for if you don’t, you will suffer our judgement. The penalty is death.

New Army – New Units

The Steel Police introduce a few new tactics and a great new rule: reflection. Don’t like being shot in the back? Have no fear weakling!

Judge – The cornerstone of the Steel Police army. The Judge is mobile, hits hard, and is immune from rear attacks. Not only that, reflection bounces attacks from behind back at the attacker! With three of these tiles in your stack, use him wisely!

Riot Policeman – Melee attack, Armor, and a Push Back once per turn. The Riot Police allow you to open holes in the enemy defenses to drop in your Judges and nets.

Pacifier – One of the most versatile units in your army, the Pacifier shuts down an enemy tile like a normal net unit, but can also be removed and replaced with a new tile. They are key to your victory.

Executioner – Like the name suggests, the Executioner is a badass. Melee, Toughness, and Shields is powerful on its own, what makes him special though, is his ability to kill. When you play the executioner, you can choose to take 1 damage to your HQ to remove an enemy unit and place the Executioner in its place!

Net of Steel – The Steel Police HQ is extremely powerful, allowing you to drop a net anywhere on the board. At the cost of 1 damage to your HQ, you may place the net anywhere. You only have one, so choose wisely!

New Tactics

Keep them alive. Positioning is extremely important to the Steel Police. You possess only a single Move Action tile. You cannot count on getting out of tough situations by retreating. Stick your HQ in a corner, build a wall around it, then pummel your way to victory. Your units are very slow. To make up for this, they have an amazing ability to disable strong opponents. Use your nets! Set your Net of Steel often. Deploy it, destroy the netted unit, and re-deploy it. Do the same with your Pacifiers.

Use your Riot Police to open weaknesses. Riot Police make holes for you to drop in new units. Deploy a Judge in the newly created weak-point and cripple your opponents. Riot Police also allow you to get at Units your enemy has tried to protect from your Pacifiers. You don’t have the luxury of waiting on a Sniper, Grenade, or Air Strike Action tile. You have an Executioner instead. Give him some breathing room with the Riot Police, and combo him down with a Pacifier.

While the Steel Police have strong defensive capabilities, you will lose a long, drawn-out battle. You must execute your plan swiftly. Hit the enemy base hard and often, disabling anything that gets in the way. You are too slow to wait around for the Final Battle. Show no sympathy! The Law must be upheld!