13th Company Tactics

[Coverfire]

I would like to know if anyone had had much success using the Outflanking rules in 5th Edition?

Understandably each game has different varibles but I was wondering if it was worth Outflanking

rather than the standard 6" Scout movement.

 

Last week I kept two packs of 15 Fenrisian Wolves in to outflank and although they made a huge

impact once they came on the field in turn 4, I can't help but feel that they would have been put to

much better use on turn 1.

 

Does anyone have any tactical Do's & Don'ts when considering holding reserves to outflank?

Like who best to keep in reserves, what forces should I field them against and which forces I shouldn't.

I am keen to hear of any success players have had - what they Outflanked with in what size a force

and how much impact it had on the game; for or against Outflanking moves.

[JMarv]

I've tried outflanking with my 13th a number of times. In the first game I played I outflanked with everything but long fangs and one grey slayer squad. It worked amazingly well as my opponent deployed spread across the board and I was able to get flank charges in on both sides.

 

In one of my later games I ended up getting shot apart piecemeal (although having my initiative seized didn't help either) and I wished that I could have had all my units on the board to start with to hunking down for a draw after the unexpected enemy first turn spoiled my plans.

 

Now I always outflank with the fenrisian wolves. I haven't gotten screwed yet by them not turning up until turn 5 or anything, and with no more area terrain for them to approach behind I like how they get to survive unharmed off the board. Also the 19-24" charge range forces your opponent to bunch up.

 

Another unit that shows promise but I haven't used is the Storm Claw Bikers which were given scout in a FAQ when the 4th Ed. rulebook came out, although now I'm not sure if that FAQ is posted anymore. They hit a lot harder than the wolves and still have a respectable 12" charge range.

 

For Grey Slayers/Storm Claws I feel like you lose out on a lot of firepower not having them on the field. I think now I would only outflank them against armies that can't help but deploy close to the board edges like infantry guard, some orks and some nid armies.

[Wolf89]

I've used it a few times, from what I can tell, if you outflank, outflank your whole army, (give or take long fangs, these I have mixed feelings about whether you use them with 4 plasma guns, or melta guns, then it's best to outflank :( , if more heavy weapons, you might want to keep them on the board, if not comming in from the sides can be nasty).

 

First and foremost, footslogging isn't as bad as it was with the run rule, if you keep your fenrisian wolves out on the board, they help protect your grey slayers footslogging forward from shooting. They also have the ability to get first turn assault. So if you would have outflanked your fenrisian wolves, your expensive grey slayers and other units would be in open season and have high casualties. This is a big reason why I'd outflank my whole army (depending on the deployment zone).

 

Second, long fangs, outflank or not to outflank? If you use them like I do, I usually change between ML's, Las cannons, melta guns and plasma guns. If you outflank your opponent with las cannons and ML's, then you could be in for a treat depending on who you're facing. First, I find that players don't like leaving their sides exposed so they'd rather take a chance at exposing their back with having a chance I'd face their front armor. With lucky dice rolling, you could be hitting predators and leman russ tanks on their back AV, or at their worst, side armor. :wink: If you use 4 plasma guns, or melta guns you can really tear apart an enemy's flank and this unit should almost always be used to outflank.

 

Overall it's really just using your best judgment on whether your army will be most effective outflanking your current opponent or best staying on the board. Key examples of this is Tau, you want to outflank these guys, negating their rapid fire line from hell and just getting to the assault goodies and Tyranids, you don't usually want to outflank these guys, most of the time they'll be almost in your DZ when you come in and they're highly mobile. The armies I have mixed feelings about is Daemons and Drop pod armies, both (in the next SM codex) will have half their army come in on turn one, this is anywhere on the table however, so you could be foot slogging your way but at the same time, you negate Drop pod's hell from above if you're still in reserve you'll survive their initial "free shots" at you.