TERROR TACTICS

Perhaps the most important duty a Sniper will ever be called upon to perform, and indeed, one of the primary goals of any sniper mission, is that of terror. Terror tactics, the psychology of the battlefield, are often what gives an army the edge in combat. A demoralised foe is a defeated foe, and will easily crumble to the most meagre of assaults. It is to this extent that every Sniper should have knowledge of terror tactics. The main targets in terror tactics are listed below:

• Officers or high-ranking enlisted personal
• Troopers caught in “compromising” positions, such as relieving themselves or engaging in intimate activity.
• Any troopers who have been observed to be popular in the enemy platoon.
• Civilians who have a stabilising affect on the trooper’s morale.

It is these duties that are often most displeasing to a Sniper. Nonetheless, they are amongst the most important duties that Snipers will be called upon to perform. As Snipers by their vary nature cannot possibly give targets a ‘fair chance’, to avoid psychological burnout, it is important to examine the reasoning behind each of the targets that have been mentioned above.

Officers or high-ranking enlisted personal are the brains of any army. While the masses of troopers will determine the strength of an army, no amount of enlisted men is going to guarantee victory unless they have solid leadership behind them. Depriving a unit of its leadership will often ensure that the unit will be severely handicapped in a battle, thus giving the Empire the winning edge.

Troopers caught in compromising positions are valid targets as well, for a number of reasons. These troopers, despite the activities they may be engaged in, are still the enemy. They willingly signed on to fight against the Empire (since it is known that the New Republic does not conscript). Thus, they are fully aware that they are placing their lives in danger by doing this. Aside from this obvious factor, the main reason for targeting such troops is to demonstrate to their colleagues that they are not safe anywhere. The enemy must feel that the Empire will find them, no matter where they hide. Although this may be looked upon as dishonourable by the enemy, it encourages the break-up of Rebel troops and therefore, failure in battle. Defeating an enemy through the minimum loss of life can be regarded as the most honourable undertaking a warrior can attempt. Therefore targeting troops in non-battle situations is acceptable.

It is also acceptable to target enemy troops who have been observed to be popular. Such troopers often serve to encourage the enemy in battle, and to keep them moralised where they otherwise would break. This action is contradictory to the mission of the Sniper, and as such, these troopers must be eliminated. However, it is difficult to pick up these troopers without close and careful examination. Random killing of troopers will not achieve much, for while it will degrade the morale of the enemy slightly, each death brings the enemy one step closer to pinpointing the Sniper’s location — this is to be avoided at all cost as a Sniper cannot afford to fight the enemy on their terms — for he is without a doubt outnumbered and alone.

The final main target that a Sniper may be called upon to eliminate is a high level civilian official that is currently encamped with the enemy. These targets carry with them the highest priority as the New Republic, with its democratic hierarchy, places important knowledge in the hands of its civilian leaders. While an Expert Sniper may be able to organise an abduction mission to take the civilian leader away, the regular Sniper should merely eliminate the target so as to deprive the Rebels of the knowledge the target possesses. As most Rebel leaders have been soldiers in the past, and as they would willingly fight and kill again for the New Republic, there should be no distinction between a Rebel civilian leader and a Rebel soldier — for they are one and the same in most cases.

STEALTH

Stealth is key to a Sniper’s survival. There is no situation where a Sniper carries more firepower than the enemy he is pitted against — always, he is outnumbered and outgunned. It is therefore essential to the Sniper’s survival (and therefore the success of his mission) to master the art of stealth. Stealth itself is a simple enough concept to understand. A Sniper should move in secrecy, ensuring that he is never seen, no matter how much his effects may be felt.

There are only a few key factors to a Sniper’s success at mastering stealth. The first of these is that movement should only be carried out at night. Although every Sniper helmet has a night vision mode, the standard Rebel trooper does not posses this advantage. Thus, while the Sniper’s mobility is not hampered by low light conditions, the average Rebel cannot detect him. Movement should also be kept to a minimum.

The firing phase is, of course, when the Sniper must ensure utter secrecy is maintained. There is nothing more distinctive than the flashback of a Korikar firing and this is merely compounded during the night. Therefore, a Sniper should make it a general rule to eliminate his target only when there is no chance of another enemy seeing this. While this generally means that a Sniper should aim mainly for Rebels that are alone and have no people with them, this is not always the case, and at times it can be advisable to eliminate a target even when there is a potential for discovery. These cases can include situations where there is a narrow window of opportunity (such as a Rebel caught in a compromising position), or situations where a high-ranking Rebel is delivering a speech aimed at moralising his troops. In the latter situation, the Sniper should carefully assess the mood of the enemy before eliminating his target. If the speaker has already moralised his men to a large extent, elimination may have a counter-effect as it may galvanise the unit into action and thus provide a solid resistance to any further eliminations and, in some cases, to the escape of the Sniper.

However, in most cases a Sniper is free to act as he pleases, as long as he is killing for a reason. This is the key to Sniper activity — any killing that is not in the mission brief should have a clearly defined purpose to it, such as the creation of panic within the Rebel ranks.

SAFE POSITIONS

A somewhat mundane, yet vital, task that a sniper should carry out when deep within rebel territory is the formation of a safe position, or safe zone. A safe zone, put simply, is merely an area that the sniper knows perfectly. The sniper knows the location of every shrub,  every bush, every hole and every inclination in this area. These areas are necessary for two reasons. Firstly, should an enemy happen to wander into this area, it becomes a killing field for the Sniper, as there is nothing more dangerous than a Sniper in terrain that he knows. A safe zone becomes vital, however, when a Sniper is under attack from enemy scouts. Scouts know how to detect Snipers, and they use this knowledge to the fullest — only with absolute knowledge of your surrounding terrain can a regular Sniper hope to elude Rebel scout squads, and a safe zone allows you to gain this knowledge.

SCOUT SQUADS — BRIEF INTRODUCTION

Rebel scout squads are perhaps the only danger to a good Imperial Sniper. While Expert Snipers are trained in the elimination techniques of Rebel scout squads, the only possible course of action a regular Sniper can take is immediate retreat. Although most officers would never knowingly send a regular Sniper into a situation where there may be scout squads active, even the best intelligence is inherently subject to some measure of inaccuracy, and it will often be the case that the enemy’s strengths have been over or under estimated. Should a scout squad attack your position, there is only one reasonable option, and that is to fall back. Eluding the scout squad’s attention will be the primary goal of a Sniper who finds he is under attack. A regular Sniper should fall back to a safe position that he has prepared earlier, and hide until the scout squad has moved on. Under no circumstances is a Sniper to fall back to his main position, or to contact any allies near his position — the scout squad will detect this, and they will gain valuable intelligence on our activities.