Untouched unit tactics

[anarchyfever]

Having read some brillent tactics. I would like to touch apon units not so often mentioned or used. Not becuase I believe everyone should follow the way I play but becuase I think all units have their uses.

 

Situation is the main reason you use a unit. Killhammer details this well.

 

Combat squads

 

The idea of splitting a 10 man sqaud can seem heartbreaking (and a little foolish). But they can be played, combat sqauds are how I roll (but thats just my playing style, and that I use 750pts most times).

 

The idea behind the 5v5 man sqaud is that one sits back and defends homebase namely the Hvy. While the serg and special go out and take the objective at all costs. If you use them to hunt then they will die, their not a 10 man squad.

 

Second of all it is important to think about how both units will act, as now they are two units they can work together to take down elites (Plasma cannon or missle launcher), tanks and enermy transports (Las cannon or missle launcher).

 

It's a good idea to keep the 'base taker' units inside the range of the home base squad and use them to get rid of enermy units who think they can take care of a measly 5 marines on an objective, the only time you should't do this is if:

 

A) Their is a big tasty unit of battle suits (Plasma cannon) or an avatar (Las cannon) coming straight for you

B) Your brother unit in the field has been destoryed, then go crazy and teach his units with a 3+ save or more why plasma is so dangerous

C) Your brother unit has had to go out of range to get to an objective, this is when another sort of unit guards them and your home base unit attack the closest threat.

D) You feel like you can use the 5 man squad in a different way (Be my guest)

 

Notice I favour the Plasma cannon and missle launcher over the Las cannon. This is becuase I favour templates, nothing likes templates and I find making a unit take as many saves as possible is more effective then killing 1 unit at a time. Also to me a Las cannon in a 5 man squad gets rid of its effectiveness as the 4 bolters have little chance of killing whatever you deem to much for a plasma cannon. And the template on the PC and the ML make up for the other 4 marines not shooting.

 

Althought thats not to say their isn't a time to take a Las cannon, just make sure the situation needs it, and your brother squad isn't suffering.

 

In the end the combat squads are not seperate units but 1 unit working together.

 

You don't have to follow what i've said, just that it's what i've found works over the time i've been using them (non-stop).

 

Sniper Scouts

 

I few interesting notes on sniper scout squads. The gun has 36", thats further than a firewarrior. It hits on 4s, not too bad. And always wounds on 4s, excellent for tough units.

If you take a 10 man squad it comes to 140 points. 30 less then a bare Tactical squad.

 

Now if you give the whole squad camo it comes to 170, the same as a bare tactical squad. Now what do you get for this, in cover the same save as a marine, longer range than a fire warrior and the same chance to hit as a fire warrior.

 

Now lets look at the stats, they can't hit as much as a marine but they can sure as hell give and take in combat and shooting like a marine.

 

Now lets give 1 scout a Hvy Bolter, the same range as the snipers and a template wounding on 2s, so auto hit and high wound output, and free.

 

Here we a see a large home base defender unit which can give and take alot of punishment.

 

I'm not going to say that this squad this large a squad is a must, but that they still have their uses in 5th edition.

 

Thanks for taking your time to read this, I hoped it gave you some intertesting ideas on how to use these units differently, and I'll add to it as time goes on.

[ToI]

I'd just like to make one minor correction. the Heavy bolter on the squad does cost 10 points to add in...though it is well worth the expenditure. Thanks for the comments/strategies on combat squads too, I see a lot of people trying to split up their squads and never doing it the right way (even me once in a while). It's good to have a basic framework for combat squad tactics that is easy to understand.

 

ToI

[Warp Angel]

Ever had your scouts rolled in hand to hand because they have measley WS3 and a 4+ save?

 

They're only good defenders if you aren't facing:

 

Stormboyz, Trukk or Battlewagon riding Orks, deepstriking chaos or daemons, outflanking genestealers, winged hive tyrants or demon princes, falcon mounted harlequins, assault marines, howling banshees in a wave serpent, infiltrating striking scorpions, just about ANY dark eldar unit....

 

But ifyou can keep them out of CC they're respectable. There are people who can do that. I'm not one of them.