Warhounds Pre-Mission Checklist

Use this page as a tool: run the checklist before you hit Deploy. It pulls together Factions and Intel, Cover and Overwatch, Squad Loadouts, and Difficulty Settings into one pre-flight habit for the single-player Steam campaign.

The 10-point deploy card

Copy these ten lines into a note if you want—or just skim them aloud:

1. Objective clarity — Primary goal named in one sentence.
2. Intel spent? — If the briefing is vague, buy or read intel before pride.
3. Roster health — Named veterans not walking in broken.
4. Class coverage — At least one answer for close, long, utility, and cover deletion.
5. Loadout match — Guns and gadgets match the map guess (see Class Builds).
6. Cone plan — Who owns the first overwatch hallway?
7. Flank plan — Where do we break soft cover if the front stalls?
8. Smoke / scanner plan — Specialist tools assigned to a real moment, not “eventually.”
9. Extract rule — We leave when the objective is done—no trophy tours.
10. Difficulty honesty — Slider matches your patience tonight.

Briefing phase (base → helipad)

• Confirm faction state will not soft-lock the reward you need.
• Confirm medical bay is not about to steal your only Specialist after this fight.
• Confirm you are not taking a brutal contract on minimum hardware without checking System Requirements.

Tactical phase openers

First two turns should answer:

• Where is high ground?
• Which cover pieces are disposable?
• Which enemy cone must be baited before the Assault runs?

If you cannot answer, spend actions on scanners and camera work—not hero pushes. Details live in Ballistics Combat and Cover and Overwatch.

Mid-mission reset triggers

Pause and reassess if:

• Two operators are downed early
• Your Machine Gunner cone faces the wrong street
• Soft cover you trusted is gone
• The objective flipped to extraction under fire

Resetting the plan is skill. Doubling down on a dead plan is how campaigns end.

Extract discipline

Missions are built around roughly 25–40 minutes. When the objective completes, leave. Loot greed is how veterans become memorial portraits. Early Campaign explains why roster continuity beats one flashy crate.

Squad templates mapped to the card

Use the card differently depending on tonight’s template from Squad Loadouts:

• Balanced (Assault / Specialist / Sniper / Machine Gunner): emphasize cone ownership and scanner timing. Your Sniper should know which roof is worth the climb before turn three.
• Breach (Assault / Grenadier / Specialist / Machine Gunner): emphasize flank plan and cover deletion. If the Grenadier has no clear wall to rewrite, the breach template is wrong for the map.
• Recon (Specialist / Sniper / Assault / Assault): emphasize intel and smoke. You are buying information; do not spend the first turn charging a prepared alley.

The checklist does not replace role pages under Operators. It forces those roles to answer concrete pre-deploy questions instead of hoping the briefing screen magically kits you.

Common failure modes the card catches

Commanders who skip the card usually fail in predictable ways:

1. No cone owner — everyone “will overwatch later,” so the first enemy sprint deletes your Assault.
2. No cover answer — four rifles stare at a sandbag forever while the mission timer and injury risk climb.
3. Broken bench ignored — you field a half-healed veteran because the portrait looks cool on the pad.
4. Faction blind spot — you take a contract that soft-locks a reward path you needed next week.
5. Difficulty cosplay — the slider says “tactical hell” while you skipped intel and smoke.

If any of those sound familiar, print the ten points beside your monitor for a week. Muscle memory is the point.

After-action (still part of the tool)

Before the next deploy:

1. Heal critical veterans.
2. Note which gadget actually earned its slot.
3. Update relationships / intel if the mission changed the strategic board.
4. Only then open the shop.
5. Rewrite one sentence of next mission’s objective guess while the map is still fresh.

Related tools and guides

• Squad Loadouts
• Class Builds
• Difficulty Settings
• Cover and Overwatch
• Factions and Intel
• Tools Hub
• Guides Hub

Run the card every time. Speed comes from repetition, not from skipping the briefing. A two-minute habit protects months of campaign progress in a single-player game where every dead veteran is your logistics problem alone.