Introduction

For me, Rebels were the most challenging army in PMC 2670 to design. They are based on a concept dating back to 2013 or 2014. I created three complete army list drafts for PMC 2640: rebels, bugs, and planetary defense forces. I abandoned the last one quickly, as it was very similar to MERCS. To tell the truth, the rebels were initially designed in a less sophisticated manner - they had the equivalents of many of the merc units (from the 2640 edition), but with inferior parameters compensated by extra composition points. It worked, but in my opinion, it was not enough to make them truly cool. To make a long story short, thanks to the advice of my Swedish friends, I managed to transform the initial idea into a very interesting, unique, and, in its twisted way, sophisticated army.

The main assumption is still that the rebel units are weaker than a professional army, as they are normally worse equipped, lack proper military training, and generally cannot go toe-to-toe with mercenaries. To compensate, they need to be tricky and really well motivated. If you command them, you need to be cunning and use their dirty tricks without any doubts, mercy, or honor.

For reading this article I recommened "Charge of Freedom!" from PMC 2670 metal album! :)

Tactical tricks

Rebels are the second army in the rulebook, and they require a little more practice to employ them on the battlefield of the 27th century (note: the army lists in the rulebook are intended to be as balanced as possible, but they are placed in a "beginner-friendly" order). This army, like mercs, offers a lot of flexibility, but composing the forces is most demanding to make them fit with the battle plan. Whatever you lead a force of desperate revolutionists, cruel pirates, a band of religious fanatics, Mad-Max style post-apocalyptic raiders, or anything in between or above, they are as effective as your idea of how to use them.

Victory is in the mind

The Rebel army has a few nice psychology-related rules, which can be utilized to create a few combos. "Victory needs sacrifices" gives the possibility to lose two (or three) models in the unit without reducing morale. If we combine it with "...they cannot take our freedom!" from HQs (3 extra dice to rally) and "Inspiring presence" from Holy Warriors (re-roll to rally), we have an army very immune to losses, which can greatly compensate for poor Defense values.

Adapt or Die

Tactics, which grant special bonuses for the whole army, cannot be underestimated. The possibility to choose them just before the battle is especially nice. Keep in mind when composing the army, that it's a good idea to make the roster work well with at least two tactics, even with typical pre-battle unit swaps.

Avoid direct clashes of similar forces

If you decide to engage the enemy in a major firefight, only luck, numerical superiority, or psychological resistance can lead you to victory, as your men tend to die like flies in such situations. Use tactics to split the enemy army and gain local advantages. Terrain is key. When attacking, deal with soft targets first unless you have a big chance to knock down something really dangerous.
Overview of not-so-obvious unitsNote that many of your units have nice special rules, which make them not only very themed but also very effective because of their unique combos.

Units overview

Freedom warriors

Okay. They are not very powerful, not very tough, or very brave. But there are a lot of them, and if supported by HQ and/or fanatics, they are very good for terrain control. They form the bulk of the forces and are the backbone of the army — or cannon fodder if you prefer.

Holy warriors

This is quite an interesting assault/support unit category. It's definitely challenging to base the whole army on these crazy maniacs, but they are useful to hold objectives, rush towards low-defense units, and, above all, inspire other troops. A combination of their Inspiring Presence, HQ, and army rules can make the surrounding units really hard to rout. On the other hand, they have NERF-style shooting weapons, and their extremely low Defense means that concentrated fire (especially if the opponent manages to break them) sends them to Heaven in an express way.

Mounted warriors

A very useful but tricky unit! Use their speed to deliver hard hits and escape as soon as it's getting hot! It's a perfect unit to deliver fatal blows to enemy vehicles or drive out enemy infantry from defensive terrain or buildings. Open charges aren't the best idea because of small unit size—instead, cover them among other units or behind terrain pieces to strike hard at the right moment.

Support troops

Nothing special here — two units quite similar to PMC light machine guns, an AA unit, and AT-troops. The biggest difference is in AT-units, which on one side have a greater range of 24", but on another, cumbersome weapons rule means that they lack the much-needed flexibility.

Rebel artillery

It's the first unit category to be removed — or added to your roster. Immobile artillery units, with nice special rules and the possibility of setting in direct-fire mode, mean that positioning is key to their successful usage.

Chosen warriors

Chosen warriors are the elite infantry units on Tier IV in three different variants (assault, support/assault, sniper), all having very good Stealth and Battlefield insertion combination and reasonable (for the Rebels) Defense value. This means that with a little luck, they can control important terrain features or ambush enemy units — your choice! The first option can be really cool with "Last stand" tactic, as a combination of good defense, a +4 bonus from terrain, and a bonus for stealth make them really hard to harm.

Miners

A fine specialist close-quarters combat unit, a little similar to MERCs' assault troops. Especially Tier III and IV variants deal very well with defenses thanks to the lascutters, which negate defensive bonuses from terrain (they are counted as Gauss weapons).

Deserters and POWs

There is little to add — the same stats as mercenary units with the exception of lower morale. They do not follow the army special rules, so you should consider them unreliable. They can be added to your army to add some infantry with high defense as the support or to hold terrain, but they shouldn't be counted as core units.

The First among Equals

All rebel forces need leaders! Rebel command units: The first among equals are not as good at coordinating forces like Merc or Xenotripods HQ, but they are the only leader unit in the game formed from formidable fighters and provide a great rally boost to other units. It's worth noting that Rebel command units are also an attractive choice for small, Priority 1 battles. It is also good to maximize the number of THAE units in case of losing one (as they are priority targets), and even if they do not offer extra psychological boosts, they are still good fighting units.

Rebel combat vehicles

Rebel vehicles are quite specific. Very low defense values and high damage cause that they can soak a pile of hits, but unfortunately, they can be damaged even by light units and erode quickly under concentrated fire. Unfortunately, they are not very fast, and turns cost a lot, which makes retreating for repairs difficult.

Rebel transport vehicles

Compared to mercenary equivalents, they are a bit slower, less armored, but sturdier in a similar style to combat vehicles. They have very good loading capacity, which means that they can transport an incredibly large amount of infantry. Also, they are the only way to reposition artillery units.

FlaK vehicles

These units are definitely in a love-or-hate style. They can not only cover your forces from nasty aircraft but also work fine against ground units. In some situations, they can be deadly, but fielding them requires good usage of terrain. The Heavy FlaK vehicle (Tier IV) is the only unit in the game which combines anti-tank and anti-aircraft special rules. FlaK vehicles — comparing to other vehicles in this army — have sensible Defense but less damage. As a drawback, they are really slow and barely keep pace with infantry unless they are going straight. For example, the mentioned Heavy FlaK vehicle has a movement of 6(2) and a cumbersome weapon which makes it really sluggish and dependent on initial position.

Rebel aviation

Rebels have quite a limited choice of aircraft: only small recon craft, armed shuttles with nice firepower and transport capabilities, but slow and poorly armored compared to other aircraft. There is also the lifter option with a unique capability of carrying vehicles. As there are additional limits of a single aircraft per priority level, which rather limit the usage of air force. Anyway, the aircraft still can be really useful, especially if you use them in a completely unpredictable way — e.g., you can load your entire Priority 2 army on heavy shuttles and quickly reposition it to another part of the table (infantry: 6xTier III, 2xTier IV, 2xHeavy shuttle) or use these small patrol craft to unleash devastating long-range fire for other units at maximum range.

Summary

As you see, rebel forces normally do not fight like a well-oiled, fine mercenary warmachine divided into elegant strike groups. Instead, you will get a much better result if you start to think in terms of improvisation, ambushes, uncommon tactics, hit-and-runs, weak spots, and causing chaos. Honestly, I'm very proud of what we managed to make of the army list, where the insurgents have the best results when they fight like insurgents. And before developing your own unique style, you can try to form a big blob :)

Miniatures

At the end of this short overview, a note about the miniatures. All minis shown here come from my personal collection (I know, I'm not pro-painter) and apologizes for far from perfect photos quality as I do not have good camera at this moment.

There are a few producers who can provide you with good models suitable for this army in 15mm scale. My first ideas are Ground Zero Games (militia forces, and technicals made from civilian vehicles, and of course horse-mounted soldiers), desert style armies from Rebel Minis, a few nice sets from Khurusan Miniatures (including some low-tech armies, which can represent insurgents), and of course Oddział Ósmy with a few excellent anarchist-style rebel sets.

And at the end you can listen to Rebels march from 27 Century!