Valerian's Guide to Army Building

Valerian · March 30, 2009

Section I

Battle Planning:

The battle plan that you formulate, and the method that you intend to use to defeat your opponent should vary greatly depending upon your Mission, the Enemy you are facing, and the Terrain upon which you will fight. I caution you against buying units for your army with a presupposed plan on how you will use them before you have analyzed, and fully understand these three critical factors. I often see newer players submit an army list for critique, who will then describe the tactics with which they will use their forces, when they do not yet even know what enemy they will be fighting, or what the scenario will be. Instead, I recommend that you make choices that give you effective fighting forces regardless of the situation at hand. Unit selections that are inherently versatile will be the most effective in any given situation.

Although all players will come to the game with a few ready tactics and trusty techniques in mind, most battle planning will occur very rapidly, when analyzing the Terrain on the battlefield prior to deployment of forces, when the Mission is determined and any objectives are placed, and when you have the opportunity to ascertain the disposition and composition of Enemy forces once he has deployed them. Only then can you truly begin to determine how you intend to defeat your enemy.

Enemy:

Knowledge:

Foremost, an effective commander must know his or her enemy. This begins with a detailed familiarity with the codices for all opposing forces, particularly if you plan on conducting open, or tournament play. For friendly games, you must at least be well versed in the codex of your regular opponents. You must have a good understanding of his army’s capabilities and vulnerabilities. Look carefully through your opponent’s manual and try to determine how you would fight with his available forces. You should lurk around the forums for that army type and get a feel for how others play with those forces, and perhaps even submit an army list or two to elicit feedback. Once you’ve gained some degree of mastery on the subject of your enemy, you will be well armed to use your own forces to defeat him.

Analysis During Deployment:

The initial phase of deployment provides your first opportunity to observe some, if not all, of the forces that the enemy is bringing to bear. Understand first that your enemy will place forces in response to three factors: his mission objectives, the terrain, and your own placement of forces (if you have placed yours first). Regardless of who deploys first, your goal in this phase is to try to determine from the placement of enemy forces what the enemy commander intends to do with them. Understanding the Intent of the enemy, and conceptualizing his likely scheme of maneuver (his plan for implementing firepower and movement to accomplish his mission objectives and to defeat you) will better allow you to deploy and/or move your own forces in a manner which is more likely to disrupt his plan, while at the same time developing your own scheme of maneuver for accomplishing your mission objectives. If, at the end of the deployment phase, you haven’t reasoned out why the enemy forces are placed where they are, or what he intends to do with each unit, then you are already in trouble.

Mission:

Two of the standard missions (Seize Ground and Capture & Control) require at least some offensive maneuver, as they are objective-based, and those objectives are placed either in the enemy’s deployment zone, or in the “no-man’s-land” between the deployment zones. These are generally good missions for Space Marines/Space Wolves when facing “shooty” armies, like Tau or Imperial Guard, who may be less willing, or less able, to go on the offense to control objectives in, or near, your deployment zone. Conversely, these are the worse missions to play when opposing “horde” armies, like Orks or Tyranids; at some point you will have to move toward those objectives, and therefore toward an enemy that generally has both superior numbers and superior close combat ability.

Annihilation, however, is all about destroying enemy units and getting Kill Points, thereby allowing maximum freedom toward picking either an offensive or a defensive scheme of maneuver. It should go without saying, but when given the opportunity, select a scheme of maneuver that gives your army the advantage.

Scheme of Maneuver:

Offensive:

In general, you will usually want to adopt an offensive scheme of maneuver against a “shooty” enemy, such as the Imperial Guard, the Tau, or certain Eldar builds. These are armies that will attempt to fix you in place and destroy your forces with ranged fire. They are also, however, typically weak in close combat, thus you will do well to come to grips with them as rapidly as possible.

Defensive:

Conversely, you will usually want to be defensive when opposing “horde” armies, such as Orks and Tyranids, that are vulnerable to ranged fire, stronger at close combat, and bring strength in numbers.

Neither of these are hard and fast rules, however, and sometimes the Mission will dictate that you do otherwise. If you know the Enemy you will face before-hand (usually in “friendly” non-tournament games) you can tailor your forces to take advantage of either the best offensive, or defensive capabilities offered by your unit choices, depending on your needs. If, however, you do not know the enemy prior to the battle, then you must choose forces that can be effective in either role, which I will discuss later.

Terrain:

Although you may not be able to influence the Terrain upon which you fight, you must understand how it can, and will, affect the battle.

Open Terrain:

Open terrain, that offers plenty of long-range fields of fire and line-of-sight across the battlefield will generally favor the defender, allowing him to cause casualties on the approaching enemy force at the maximum ranges of his weapon systems. Any available cover in the defender’s deployment zone would only add to this advantage by offering protection from incoming fire from the attackers, and it would force the attackers to assault into cover to come to grips with the defending troops, which can affect the order of close combat, making a huge difference in the outcome of an assault. Units with Assault Grenades (e.g. Frag Grenades) can avoid this last disadvantage, but not all Space Wolves units have them (Terminators, for example).

Closed Terrain:

A cluttered battlefield that offers a variety of cover or concealment across the board generally favors the attacker, offering him a protected approach to the opponent’s positions. Any difficult terrain may hamper mobility somewhat and slow the advance, but the protection offered by area terrain is usually more than worth the costs of a slower paced attack. When you are fighting a mission that dictates you use an offensive form of maneuver, do your best to ensure that your opponent doesn’t shirk you on the proper amount of terrain on the table.

End of Section I

Valerian · March 30, 2009

Section II

Your Forces (Troops):

Now that we have examined a few important facets about how the Enemy, Mission, and Terrain will affect each battle, let’s discuss the one variable of the battle that we directly control – our choice of troops.

Versatility:

One should buy, assemble, and paint (have available for use) units that are versatile enough to be effective regardless of the situation that fate and the vagaries of war present you. This is particularly true of the tournament army, in which you will likely face a variety of Enemy types, and perhaps also conduct a variety of Missions, using a single, fixed, army list. However, even if you do not intend to fight in tournaments, most players want to buy, assemble, and paint as few units as possible, and still have an effective fighting force. Having thousands of points worth of units to select from is very resource intensive, in terms of both time and money. Therefore, whether you intend to use your army for tournaments, or just friendly play, you will still want to build a comprehensive list that is effective in both the offense and defense.

Army vs. Unit Versatility:

It is important to note at this point that I am a proponent for versatility of the entire Army, rather than for each individual unit. Please allow me to explain. The Army, as an entity, should be built in a manner that it has such inherent versatility that it can easily adopt either an offensive or defensive scheme of maneuver and be successful. To put it simply, every unit must ably fulfill a role in either scheme of maneuver. That is not to say that one should try to make every unit good at every role (for example, mixing Heavy Weapons for defensive firepower and special Close Combat Weapons for offensive assault capability in a single unit). Such a unit may well be versatile and even somewhat effective in both roles, but it will not be efficient, as the assault capability will be wasted when the units stands-fast to fire, and the ranged firepower will be forfeit if the unit is on the move toward the enemy. Instead, the versatility that I speak of is a comprehensive versatility that is inherent in an army list that is built with each unit having specific complementary capabilities that are useful in helping us accomplish our mission, regardless of whether we chose an offensive or defensive battle plan. It is okay to have units that are specialized; when they are used in a way that they support one another and combine effects on enemy forces, they will be much more deadly.

For example, a Land Speeder Tornado (with Assault Cannon and Heavy Bolter) is an effective, and fairly points efficient, light support vehicle that can provide a significant contribution to our army whether we are attacking, or defending. Likewise, a dedicated assault unit (such as a Sky Claws Pack) is almost essential in an attacking force, but also fills a vital role of a counterattacking or reinforcing unit in the defense.

Mobility:

Another point that I would like to highlight is the importance of mobility. A casual inspection of the Mission scenarios once again should demonstrate how critical mobility is in the game: 2 of the 3 Missions require each player to move his forces to specific points on the battlefield to seize and control objectives. Mobility is certainly necessary in an offensive plan, in which our forces speed forward to 1) secure mission objectives, 2) to deploy within rapid fire range of the enemy, or 3) to come to grips with the enemy in close combat (an assault). However, mobility is also necessary, albeit to a lesser degree, in the defense, where we will need mobile forces to reinforce threatened areas in our defensive lines. Mobility is also helpful in the defense in enabling forces to move forward or laterally out of our deployment zone to secure a piece of advantageous terrain, (such as a wooded hilltop, with good fields of fire, upon which we can establish a base of fire), or to allow reserves to exploit opportunities for advantage, or outflankers to conduct a spoiling attack. Even with the option in 5th edition for infantry forces to ‘Run’, an entirely “foot-slogging” force may well have a very difficult time under most scenarios.

Operational vs. Tactical Mobility:

Mobility can be categorized in multiple ways, but I will describe two of them here. Operational mobility encompasses the manner in which a commander deploys his forces to the battlefield, to dictate the terms by which he will engage the enemy. A Space Wolves commander’s ability to Deep Strike a large portion of his combat power, via Drop Pod, regardless of Mission scenario (for standard missions) offers him a tremendous degree of operational mobility. Additionally, with their Behind Enemy Lines unit special rule, Wolf Scout Packs also have excellent operational mobility. Operational mobility is particularly important in the attack, and Space Wolves are therefore particularly well suited for that scheme of maneuver.

Tactical mobility describes the degree to which forces are free to move about on the battlefield. Forces with a large number of “foot-sloggers” have low tactical mobility, whereas jump infantry, bikes, and transports provide a great deal of tactical mobility to our forces. Tactical mobility is vital in allowing our forces to seize objectives, assault the enemy, or to reinforce threatened positions.

Analysis:

When making selections from a Codex army list, a player should conduct some analysis to determine which units will be most effective. Such analysis should help focus the player and aid him or her in making choices that are based on reason, and not on emotion (or good marketing). Such an analysis might aid a commander in selecting units that are helpful to the army, and avoid making choices simply because the unit may appear to be “nifty”. What follows are a few techniques that might be useful in conducting such an analysis.

Evaluation:

A technique one can use in army selection is to conduct a point-by-point evaluation of potential selection choices to evaluate how effective the choice might be for your army. I’ll offer the following categories as a start for your evaluation: Mobility, Firepower, Protection, and Close Combat. Rating each of these categories using a simple scale from 1 to 5 is a technique that is easy to implement.

Mobility:

Mobility is arguably the easiest category to determine, as it is the least subjective, since every model already has a fixed movement rate. The standard movement for an infantry model is 6”, which we can rate as a 3 on the 1-5 scale. For most models, moving this distance does not significantly reduce performance. I would rate a standard Grey Hunter Pack as a 3 in Mobility, while a Blood Claws Bike Pack would be given a 5. A Long Fang Pack, however, would earn a 1 for Mobility; although they have the same standard movement rate as the Grey Hunters, making such a move severely reduces the squad’s effectiveness for the remainder of that turn. Obviously, selecting a transport for the unit may improve its Mobility, but may have a negative impact on its performance (for example, Long Fangs still can't shoot their Heavy Weapons from a moving transport).

Firepower:

In the Firepower category, one can assign ratings for the amount of lethal, ranged fires that the unit or vehicle can place on the enemy. This category is probably the most subjective, as you will have to factor in multiple variables, including weapon ranges and strengths, AP ratings, and other effects (such as pinning). One might assign a Blood Claws Pack a firepower rating of a 1, a Grey Hunter Pack with Bolters a 3 (or 4 when within rapid fire range), and a Long Fang Pack (with 4 missile launchers) a 5.

Protection:

For Space Wolves, the majority of your forces will have similar Protection ratings, since the armor value is the same for most of your models. One might assign models with a 3+ save a rating of 2. Wolf Scouts might be rated as a 1, whereas bike squads might be a 3, considering the increased Toughness, and potential for an Invulnerable Save when Turbo Boosting. Wolf Guard Bodyguard in Terminator Armor would be a 4. Vehicles, of course, have improved Protection, when compared to standard infantry models, thus we would assign most vehicles a rating of 5 (or use an extended scale, beyond 5, to account for the significant difference in Protection afforded by vehicle armor).

Close Combat:

In the last category, we must assign value to the Assault potential of our units. Ratings could include a Long Fang Pack at a 1, a Grey Hunter Pack with Bolters and a “hidden” power fist at a 3, and a Blood Claws Pack with multiple Special Close Combat Weapons and an attached Wolf Guard Leader at a 5.

End of Section II

Valerian · March 30, 2009

Section III

Roles:

The utility of following through with a classification scheme for units using the evaluation criteria of mobility, firepower, protection, and close combat, should become apparent as one begins to determine which units to select for various army list Roles. When building a force, the commander should have an appreciation for the various roles that need to be filled, in order to field an army that has mutually supporting capabilities. A few such roles include the following:

Base of Fire: A unit that establishes long ranged fires to attrit enemy forces, or to fix his forces in place, thereby limiting his opportunity for maneuver. The most important attributes for this force are Firepower, followed by Protection. Examples of good Base of Fire units include: a Predator Destructor (Autocannon with Heavy Bolter Sponsons); and a Long Fang Pack (Missile Launchers) with Razorback transport (Twin-linked Heavy Bolter). Thankfully, Long Fangs Packs are much more reasonably priced in the new Space Wolves codex, and now make a much more attractive Base of Fire option.

Assault Force: A unit that will close with and assault an enemy force to destroy it (force-oriented), or that moves forward to seize an objective (terrain-oriented). The most important attributes for this force are Mobility (tactical) and Close Combat. The new Space Wolves codex contains many options for good Assault Forces. Examples now include: Swift Claws Bike Packs; Sky Claws Jump Infantry; Blood Claws Packs with a Transport (Rhino or Land Raider variant); Grey Hunter Packs with a Transport (Rhino or Land Raider variant); Wolf Guard Packs (in Power Armor or Terminator Armor) with an appropriate Transport; Thunderwolf Cavalry; and Fenrisian Wolf Packs. Obviously, some selections will be more effective than others, and you must weigh in your personal preferences in addition to considerations of efficiency (cost versus value) and effectiveness when choosing your Assault Force(s).

It is probably appropriate to take the opportunity here to make an important point. Because of all of the excellent and attractive Assault Force choices available, it would be easy to become overzealous and go overboard with selections from this category. Taking multiple Assault Forces means that you must sacrifice in other areas, weakening your ability to fill certain other important Battlefield Roles, and accomplishing other tasks. Additionally, selecting too many Assault Forces may "pigeon-hole" you into a offensive scheme of maneuver that may not be to your advantage in every situation, or versus every Enemy.

Consolidation Force: A consolidation force is one that can effectively secure/control an objective. Assault Forces will often seize an objective then hand it over to a Consolidation Force, thus freeing themselves to move on to seize the next objective. This is the only Role that has a force organization chart limitation: only Troops choices from the FOC can control objectives in 40k (although other units can contest them). This force must be the most well-rounded, as all of the four attributes are essential in getting to, and maintaining control of an objective. Because of these requirements, the only good Consolidation Force unit is a Grey Hunter Pack that has a Transport (Rhino or Drop Pod). Thankfully, with the new "Ultragrit" weapons loadout (Bolters, Bolt Pistols, CCWs, and both Frag and Krak Grenades), Countercharge, and the ability to add a Special Close Combat Weapon, and two Special Weapons, the Grey Hunter Pack is the ultimate Consolidation Force. Not only is it highly effective, it is also very reasonably priced. I recommend taking as many Grey Hunter Packs as you can afford.

Tank Destroyer: A unit tasked with protecting your force from the effects of enemy armored vehicles; usually this is accomplished by simply destroying them. Mobility is certainly helpful, for either getting the Tank Destroyer to the enemy vehicle to destroy it in close combat, or for getting flank shots on the enemy vehicle to destroy it with Firepower. Examples of good Tank Destroyers include: Attack Bikes with a Multi-Melta; Swift Claws Bike Packs with a Meltagun and a Power Fist; and Wolf Scouts operating Behind Enemy Lines with a Meltagun (and possibly also Meltabombs), with an attached Wolf Guard Leader with a Thunderhammer or Power Fist. With their reduced price, Long Fang Packs can now also serve as reasonable long-range Tank Destroyers, depending on heavy weapons selected.

Rear Guard/Flank Security: A unit tasked with protecting your “backfield” from enemy outflankers, deep strikers, or any enemy forces that have successfully maneuvered forward on the battlefield and penetrated your lines. Generally, the Rear Guard must be able to protect either an objective in your deployment zone (Capture & Control mission), or friendly units that are vulnerable to close combat, such as your tanks (Predators), artillery pieces (Whirlwinds), and Base of Fire forces (Long Fangs). The most important attributes for the RG/FS are Mobility and either Firepower or Close Combat. Examples of good RG/FS units include: Land Speeders; Swift Claws Bike Packs; Thunderwolf Cavalry; and Sky Claws Jump Infantry Packs. A Dreadnought can also make a good RG/FS unit providing that lateral mobility in your deployment zone is not essential for protecting your objective or Base of Fire units (i.e. by placing the Dreadnought near the unit/location that needs protecting).

Mobile Reserve: The Mobile Reserve is a unit that available for the commander to commit to exploit any opportunity that might present itself. The Mobile Reserve can be held off-table, in “reserve”, or can be on the battlefield, conducting a secondary task until committed. The most important attributes for the Mobile Reserve are Mobility (obviously), and Firepower. Examples of good Mobile Reserve units include: Land Speeders; and Swift Claws Bike Packs.

Redundancy

Remember that any and every unit in 40k can be destroyed; nothing is completely invulnerable in this game. Furthermore, your opponent will (presumably) be a thinking and adaptive adversary who is using all of the assets at his/her disposal to destroy your forces and defeat you. With that in mind, it is essential that you build redundancy into your army when selecting units to fill the various battlefield roles. For example, if you field only a Land Speeder with a Multimelta as your sole Tank Destroyer unit, and the enemy manages to destroy that Land Speeder in the first turn, you might have a difficult game ahead of you, particularly if the enemy force has several armored vehicles.

There are a lot of battlefield roles that you may need to fill, and it is not likely that you will have enough points available to select two or more units to fill every role. However, certain units may be flexible enough to easily slip into accomplishing a secondary mission, when required. For example, a Swift Claws Bike Pack makes an excellent Assault Force, but can easily transition to fill the Tank Destroyer role (if properly equipped), should the need arise. At the same time, however, if you do need to change its mission thusly, you must understand that you now have one less dedicated Assault Force than you started with (at least temporarily, until you can free them of this secondary task, and reorient them back to their original mission).

To reiterate the point on Redundancy, don't depend on a strategy that relies on a unit that might not be available anymore when you need it; everything can be destroyed in 40k. Instead, build your army lists toward filling the various Battlefield Roles, thus providing mutually supporting units, while achieving as much Redundancy as possible.

I encourage you to conduct your own analysis of these roles and any others that you can think of, and of the various unit types that you might select to fill those roles in your army.

End of Section III

Valerian · March 30, 2009

Section IV

Putting it all Together:

As a worst case scenario, you may be required to play a Seize Ground mission scenario with five (5) objectives at least 12” from any table edge. You will have to control three (3) of those objectives at the end of the game to ensure your victory; therefore, at a minimum, you will need three (3) Troops choices from the FOC, at least two (2) of which should be designed to fill a Consolidation Force role. (This is discounting, of course, the fact that you could attempt to control less objectives, and simply contest them instead).

Examples:

1. Consolidation Force #1: 10 Grey Hunters w/ 1 Power Fist, and 2 Plasma guns. Rhino Transport.

2. Consolidation Force #2: 8 Grey Hunters w/ 1 Power Weapon, and 1 Meltagun. WGPL with TDA, Thunder Hammer and Assault Cannon. Drop Pod.

3. Assault Force (primary) and Consolidation Force (secondary): 9 Blood Claws w/ 1 Power Fists, and 1 Flamer. Rhino Transport. Attach a Wolf Priest granting Preferred Enemy - Infantry.

4. Assault Force, Tank Destroyer, Rear Guard, or Mobile Reserve: 6 Swift Claws Bike Pack w/ 1 Meltagun and 1 Power Fist, and add Multimelta Attack Bike to the Pack.

5. Tank Destroyer #1: 5 Wolf Scouts w/ 2 Plasma Pistols, and 1 Meltagun.

6. Base of Fire #1: Predator Destructor w/ Autocannon, Heavy Bolter Sponsons.

7. Tank Destroyer # 2 (primary) and Base of Fire # 2 (secondary): Long Fang Pack w/ 5 Missile Launchers, PL with Bolter. Razorback Transport w/ Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter.

8. Rear Guard/Flank Security, or Mobile Reserve: Land Speeder Tornado or Typhoon.

9. Rear Guard (primary), and Base of Fire (secondary): Venerable Dreadnought w/ Assault Cannon and DCCW w/ Storm Bolter.

Results:

All combined, these 9 units (total cost not yet determined), plus any attached Independent Characters, can successfully fulfill every battlefield role required for either an offensive or defensive scheme of maneuver, in any mission scenario.

There are, of course, many other ways to build your army, and this is only one way to do it. What is important here is that you analyze your alternatives, and think about what roles you need to fill, or tasks that you need to accomplish, for your battle plan. Then select the appropriate unit, and choose the right options and upgrades for that unit, to enable it to perform in the way that you need it to for your army. You may discover, as I have, that several of the units that I have bought, assembled, and painted for my army really are not very effective or efficient, and do not help me achieve a versatile force that can succeed in any scenario.

End of Section IV

Valerian · March 30, 2009

Section V

Summary:

I have attempted to make it clear that one should pick forces for his or her army list that are effective in both offensive and defensive tasks. That is not to say, however, that every individual unit needs to be built to maximize firepower (for the defense) and at the same time close combat capability (for the offense), as such a unit is individually versatile and perhaps effective, but it will not be very efficient. Instead, my recommendation is that every unit chosen be able to effectively (and efficiently) fulfill a Battlefield Role in both offensive and defensive scenarios.

This versatility is necessary as we cannot create our battle plan, determine our proposed method for winning the battle, or choose our scheme of maneuver (either offensive or defensive) until we are able to examine, and gain an appreciation for 1) our Mission, 2) the Enemy we are facing, 3) the effects of the Terrain, and lastly 4) the capabilities and limitations of our own Troops. Any of these may advantage either a defending or attacking force. Each of these four variables will combine and influence the game, and should assist us in identifying the appropriate scheme of maneuver in our battle plan.

We, as players, will only be able to affect in any real way the final variable, our Troops, based upon the choices we make when creating our army list. Thus, I offer my final recommendations for Versatile, Mobile unit selections that avoid the pitfalls of the "points sink". In this way you will build an army list that can be effective when defending or attacking, as the true test of a formidable army list is one that can excel regardless of the given situation.

Very best regards,

Your humble servant,

Valerian

End of Section V

End of Article

Warp Angel · March 30, 2009

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