Roadside Sniper

**Key Features** | »Modified MX-15»Roadside mines (x2)»Black uniform»White belt»Patience of a saint

## Tactical Analysis

* **One Shot Paddy:** Using MX-15s with advanced scopes, the Roadside Snipers have become the bane of the countrysides of Ireland, capable of picking off isolated patrols with ease while remaining hidden.

* **Tick, tick, BOOM:** Along with their rifles, the snipers are skilled at planting bombs on the roads where they operate that can at least damage enemy vehicles that they can't attack directly.

* **Too far to be shot:** Aircraft, especially helicopters, are the greatest dangers to the snipers that can't run from them. Enemy animal scouts are also considered dangerous, since the snipers MX-15s are modified for range, not rate of fire.

* **From Boston with Love:** Eventually, the snipers can gain access to better scopes and anti-materiel rifles. This can allow the snipers to easily kill the crews of enemy vehicles and leave them right for the taking.

## Background

*"The Legion's getting worried of Óglaigh na hÉireann*
*if One Shot Paddy sees them, they know they are going down*
*So the next time that you see the coward Legion on the run*
*Remember One Shot Paddy and the gallant Phoenix Front"*

- "One Shot Paddy", writer unknown
While the news worldwide prefers to focus the slums and ghettos of Northern Ireland, the truth is that much of the landscape is still made up of small farms and wild grasslands. These isolated towns and locations were just as split by faith and loyalties until the Battle of the Bogside. Since then, Allied patrols and the rare Syndicate movements through the region are treated with disdain, even outright hostility by the locals. While certainly not strongholds for the Phoenix Front, the roads of Northern Ireland are no longer safe for even the most heavily armored convoy thanks to the snipers.

Trained in the same countrysides they operate in, the Front's snipers have brought the war to all of Norhtern Ireland. Trained as the ultimate guerrilla marksmen, they have instead become akin to the Soviet snipers by sheer dint of needing their skills to be the best. Already reports flow in to Stormont of convoys ambushed by snipers positioned along the route, picking off soldiers along the way. The Syndicate has likewise been troubled by the interruption to their operations, seeing their drug convoys blown to pieces by roadside mines and other explosives. This has forced both factions to take to the skies in the hopes that the Front haven't yet figured out how to take out helicopters with a 5.56 round.

Their skills aren't restricted to the countrysides however. The Sprawl is a veritable sniper's playground. Windows everywhere, with wide avenues to take a target from and run through if they're made. Syndicate-backed gangs are typically picked off piece by piece, the survivors unwilling to move for fear of silent death (You never hear the one that's for you after all). Alleyways are typically mined to prevent the Syndicate's vehicles from moving anywhere the Front doesn't want them, and the snipers are capable of vanishing into nothing no matter where they fire from.

This has created a dangerous rivalry with the Syndicate's centurions. Considering themselves the elite of the world's snipers, the fact that the Front's "backyard boys" are attempting to challenge them at their own game is a challenge they can't back down from. Bounties against Front snipers among the forces in Belfast are some of the highest, causing entire cohorts to seek the prize that leaves them bleeding in the streets. No fools, the Front's snipers are typically unwilling to face a challenge they know is too much for them. So when faced with a horde of auxiliaries drugged out of their skulls meant to draw them out for a centurion to pick off, these snipers typically run and wait for a better day. After all, there's always another day for the struggle. What good is a dead soldier?