Tactical Theory

[Brother Crassus]

Hello all. First off, let me say I'm not a great writer. I never have been.. However, I have been a competitive tournament player for longer than I can remember. I usually score top 3 in any tournament I enter locally and have met with good sucess in larger ones as well. I began writing this essay for a friend to attempt to explain how and why I take certain builds. Hopefully you can glean something useful out of this. Be warned, it is a bit long winded and probably jumbled. If anyone would like to add to the article, feel free. I also welcome any questions if you would like further explanation.. If anyone wants to take this and do it up all pretty like a pdf with pictures of their troops for examples, be my guest. I would love to see it!

 

Anyways, be kind. I'm a horrible writer and hopefully someone finds something in this that helps them out...

 

-Brother C

 

Be just, and fear not.

 

"A good soldier obeys without question. A good officer commands without doubt”

 

 

 

While I have no intention of trying to re-invent the wheel or to do a unit by unit break down of Codex: Space Marines, the goal of this guide is to discuss various methods of tactics and compositions I employ while using this particular codex. There are many great forums that are found with very little difficulty where the use and application of every last marine unit is discussed at great length. This is more of an exorcise in theory and tactical application. This guide is by no means exhaustive, and the theories behind many of these concepts can be applied to any Codex. Space Marines are used for examples due to general familiarity amongst the gaming community.

 

Brothers in arms

 

“The mightiest man may be felled by a single shot. Seek always to improve the odds”

 

One will often read of a combined arms approach to list compositions, but are often left to their own devices when determining what works well with who. I have found several different methods of employing such a technique with list building. Here are a few examples:

 

Begin with your HQ. This will determine if you have additional options open up to you within the force organization chart. Pedro Kantor making sternguard scoring. Vulkan He'stan will dictacte lots of flame and melta weaponry. Khan will have you fielding bike squads en masse, etc etc.

 

I'll begin with Marneus. He will allow me to take up to three additional units of Honor Guard. These will form the basis of “Contingents” or small battle groups. The idea being that I make a few self-supporting groups of units and keep them in close proximity to each other. The group acts as one big squad and can take care of itself against a variety of opponents, or combine themselves with other groups to tackle more powerful challenges.

 

Next we need to determine the goals of each contingent. I want them to be able to capture and hold objectives, defend themselves in assaults and be able to cope with enemy armor. In addition, mobility to be able to react and respond to enemy units or be able to mutually support other contingents will require transports. The group will look something like this:

 

X10 tactical marines

Sgt w/ power fist

flamer, missile launcher

Rhino

 

x3 honor guard

1 thunder hammer

Razorback

 

x2 attack bikes with multi-meltas

 

Individually, each unit has many weaknesses. When all of these units stay in close proximity to each other, they have less and less obvious weaknesses. The tactical marines provide a scoring unit and a solid mass of bodies able to soak up some casualties, they can also whittle down swarm units. The honor guard can help to bail the tactical squads out of a combat should they be bogged down, or can threaten characters. The attack bikes help stop enemy armor from either disgorging troops onto your position or blasting your contingent. The razorback and rhino allow you to respond to enemy threats, seize objectives, link up with other contingents, or to provide a wall of cover to hide behind once the objective is firmly under your control. In addition to all of this, because of Calgar you can pass and fail morale checks as needed. Allowing you to hold to the last, or fall back in the face of overwhelming opposition or to deny charges and set up more shooting or your own charges.

 

Now by duplicating the above contingent this gives you redundant units. Should one fail, you have another. If one contingent is not enough, you can add the weight of the second one. I find in a standard 1750 army, I can get 3 to 4 contingents of varying purpose.

 

Here is another example with Pedro Kantor in mind:

 

x10 Tactical marines

power fist

rhino transport

 

x5 sternguard

x5 combi weapons

razorback

 

x2 attack bikes with multi-meltas

 

This is very similar to the above contingent, but slightly more versatile. Another scoring unit has been added with the sternguard, as well as another unit can reliably bust vehicles. The sternguard can either add their weight of fire to the tactical marines, engage different armor threats than the attack bikes, or add more attacks to an assault. By relegating them to combi-weapons, they are able to keep on the move as well as having a nasty punch. As long as all the units stick together, you should have a counter to most immediate threats.

 

These are by no means exhaustive, merely examples of a alternative way of building and composing your force with specific objectives in mind. By taking two or more redundant contingents you can apply force as needed, where you need it. You can add a “hammer blow” contingent to bail you out of problems, or to spearhead your attack.

 

Summary:

1. Contingents need to be self sufficient, small enough to allow flexibility but large enough to deal with whatever comes their way

2. Contingents need to be able to flex and adapt to whatever role they are called on to perform.

3. At least 2 redundant contingents allow breathing room for errors.

 

Balanced Force

“Armor is no protection against the blessed tools of the righteous”

 

The balanced force takes the above method of balanced, mutually supporting contingents and instead applies it to the army as a whole. Where the above contingents are operating independently of each other and sometimes combining for larger threats, this army will work as one with every unit supporting the next. Think of it more like “the bigger picture”. While an advantage is the army can deal with most things, a disadvantage is that it may suffer from a lack of redundant units. So, potentially losing an “important” unit can leave you ham-strung and without an answer to tactical problems.

 

I find the balanced force does require a bit more thought into how it is composed, but once it is fine tuned and well practiced it can be utterly lethal to nearly any opponent. I find a well made, well played army can often trump cookie-cutter one trick ponies. But that is merely my own opinion.

 

To build a balanced army, every unit needs to have a purpose to support the next unit's shortcomings. It needs to be able to cope with a variety of opponents, and work well as a whole.

 

For 1500 points, I used an army led by Cato Sicarius. Here is the list and brief explanation of why I took each unit for.

 

Cato Sicarius

 

Cato was included in the army to allow me to keep combat-tactics. I felt this ability worked well with the aggressive nature of the list. I also am a fan of a solid core of tactical squads, his ability to give one unit a veteran skill is handy, but not game breaking. He is for the most part unimpressive in combat, I think of him as a “fancy veteran sergeant”.

 

x10 Tactical marines

power weapon

flamer

multi-melta

Rhino

 

This unit would receive scout from Sicarius if I felt I needed a turn 1 charge out of the rhino, or to move a unit up quickly to support the drop-pod units.

 

X10 Tactical marines

power weapon

flamer

multi-melta

Drop pod

 

This unit provided me with a reactive scoring unit. Depending on where objectives were placed, or where I needed to apply pressure they would come in on turn 2 onwards. Sometimes they would receive counter-attack from Sicarius if I felt I would need to play aggressively but did not need tank hunter or scout.

 

X10 Tactical marines

Lascannon

plasma gun

combi-plasma

 

This unit would receive tank-hunter from Sicarius if I expected a fair amount of armor to be present on the table. The str 10 lascannon and str 8 plasma shots were usually enough to keep tanks honest. I would usually use this squad to anchor my own deployment zone and hold any home objectives. The plasmas were also a reason for opposing deepstrikers to be wary.

 

X10 sternguard

2 heavy flamers

power fist

drop pod

 

This unit would usually drop onto the table with Sicarius on turn 1. It was usually used to spearhead assaults, apply immediate pressure to threatening units or outright scare the hell out of the other guy. The sternguard have a nasty reputation and I often found my opponents to throw whatever they could at this unit. While some games they were great, and others not so impressive.. Their reputation was often enough to predict or force my opponent's reaction to them.

 

X1 Dreadnought

Drop pod

 

The dreadnought was usually dropped on turn 1 to spite enemy armor with a short range multi melta. It also gave me my third drop pod in order to allow 2 units to arrive from reserve on turn 1. If it survived the drop, it would either continue to harass armor or chase down small squads or squads that lacked a weapon to deal with it in close combat. It often didnt survive games, but it was cheap to include and helped support the other drop units long enough for them to do their job.

 

X1 land speeder Typhoon

 

The speeder was my “floater” no pun intended. It has a versatile array of weapons and can deal with most targets. Typically I would use it to harass side armor of vehicles with the krak missiles, or use the 2 frag shots with the heavy bolter to put some additional fire on troops. It was often used to hunt down small squads that had been reduced in number by earlier volleys from other units. I've found it does well in this role, since its typically a waste to fire a full sized squad at 2 or 3 models.

 

X1 Thunderfire cannon

 

The thunderfire is a good addition to any balanced army. The variety of ammunition means it typically has an answer to most targets. The inclusion of the techmarine crew also allows you to reinforce one ruin in your deployment zone. The thunderfire would usually baby sit my deployment zone along with the Tank hunting tactical squad. I did find that if I was not careful with how I placed my pods, sometimes my cannon could be blocked from seeing targets. It is a imposing weapon and can punish people when they disembark from a transport or roll poorly on a massacre move.

 

 

Individually each of these units may not seem impressive, but when they are all being used in concert the results can be devastating.

 

There are of course lots of variations to the above. There is no right or wrong way to compose a balanced list, the general goal is finding units that work well for you and work well with each other as well as being able to counter most threats.

 

Summary:

1. A balanced force needs to be able to tackle a variety of foes and objectives.

2. All units within the balanced force need to be able to work together cohesively.

3. No one unit can be a “lynch pin” that you need in order to achieve victory.

4. A variety of units works well so long as they compliment each other.

 

 

The Hammer blow

“Weigh the fist that strikes men down and salutes the battles won”

 

The Hammer blow is a list designed around picking one part of your opponent's line and crushing it as quickly and decisively as possible. Ideally, the army will stick together and move or fight as one. The list wants to designate a priority target or two every turn and remove it from the table. In doing this, you are removing your opponent's strong points and making him or her react to you. The key here is hits hard, and hits fast. How you do it is up to you.

 

Here is an example of a hammer blow list I have been tinkering around with for 1750pts:

 

Captain Lysander

 

x10 Tactical marines

sgt w/ power fist

rhino

 

x10 Tactical marines

sgt w/ power weapon

rhino

 

x10 tactical marines

sgt w/ power weapon

rhino

 

x7 assault terminators

 

land raider crusader

 

vindicator

 

x2 attack bikes w/ multi-meltas

 

x2 attack bikes w/ multi-meltas

 

This list would move and fight as one. Looking to close the distance rapidly, eliminate enemy armor, engage key infantry with mass rapid fire and flamers, and charge whatever looks like it could walk through a marine squad a turn in close combat. If needed, Lysander can break off from the terminators and bog down characters or hunt slow moving or stationary vehicles himself. The terminators can either be used to “tank” nasty close combat units, or to walk through weaker ones. Everything else in the army is looking to either enhance the terminator's charge or to eliminate targets that are easily killed. Once the hammer blow is delivered, it is up to the tactical squads to secure and hold objectives. Everything else in the army is used to make sure this happens and to keep your opponent too busy to be able to focus on the tac marines.

 

Make no mistake, the hammer-blow is not a subtle tactic. It is best when used aggressively and always on the offense. As long as you keep your opponent pinned into his on deployment zone and on his back foot and reacting to you, then you have the game going on your terms. There are several variations of the hammer-blow. Basically, you want a key unit or two that is for nothing more than tearing your opponent to pieces. Anything else you take is to support the units with this goal in mind.

 

Summary:

1. Rock hard units are needed to smash apart the most threatening enemy units.

2. Mobility is often the key as this army is used aggressively.

3. Always be on the attack to keep your opponent back footed and reacting to you.

4. Be sure your hammer units are very well supported.

 

 

The Anvil

“A warrior is only as skilled as the quality of his armament permits.”

 

While the Hammer blow is looking to crush the core of an army quickly and the balanced army wants to do everything, the Anvil wants to stand firm and have the enemy break against it. The army I envision when using the Anvil is usually described as a stationary gun line. This is partially true. While the focus is on heavy weapons and there is a lack of transports, this army can even the odds with enemy armor and punish the survivors from range. Another option is once key units have been blasted to the warp and back, you can go on the attack with a massed wave of infantry. Running is a very handy thing, and while its not as fast or reliable as a transports it does allow you to pick up some extra speed when needed.

 

Aggressive HQ's can be used as counter assault units for your gun line, or to launch rapid assaults mid-field to preemptively strike at the opposition. I found one of the best characters for this list to be Pedro Kantor. There are a couple of key reasons why Kantor works well in the Anvil. Your units being stubborn and close to the table edge blasting away with heavy weapons mean that breaking can be scary. Pedro making you stubborn means it is less likely you will fall off the table. His inspiring presence makes all your mediocre shooting units mild devils in assault with the free attack. And lastly, his orbital strike allows you to either threaten your opponent with it all game, or immediately blast something nasty and/or fast. Also, since you cant move while using the orbital strike he is off less benefit in a transport.

 

Here is a Anvil list I used:

 

Pedro Kantor

 

x10 tactical

sgt w/ fist

x10 tactical

sgt w/fist

 

x10 tactical

 

x10 tactical

 

x5 sternguard

2 plasma cannons

 

x5 sternguard

2 plasma cannons

 

x5 sternguard

2 lascannons

 

2 attack bikes w/ multi-meltas

 

2 attack bikes w/ multi-meltas

 

vindicator

 

thunderfire cannon

 

Any extra points were usually used to kit out the tactical squads. The army intends to sit tight and send the other guy to hell from over 24” away, focusing fire on immediate threats. The sternguard act as “mini devastators” with 2 heavy weapons in each squad. They can also add their weight to assaults, while in Pedro's inspiring presence those squads would get 20 attacks each on the charge. Also while near Pedro, the tactical squads could go on the charge and throw the same number of dice as an assault squad. The army deploys castled up and close together on one flank and assumes a defensive posture. When you opponent begins to close the gap, you stop blasting and start charging unless his units are vastly superior in assault, in which case you would just keep blasting. Another note for this list is the large number of scoring units. When using combat squads, this army would have a total of 11. Securing objectives should rarely, if ever be an issue.

 

Summary:

1. Firepower is key. Overwhelming firepower is even better

2. If you opponent has a lot of armor or transports the sooner those are stopped, the longer he has to linger in front of your guns.

3. Being able to absorb assaults or counter charge is important. Focusing on firepower alone may not be enough against certain armies.

4. Focus fire until a target is gone, then move on to the next. The exception is vehicles, sometimes stunning, shaking or immobilised is enough to stop the immediate threat. Removing the main gun from some tanks is enough to reduce their damage output as well.

5. Do not wait too long to go on the attack and sieze objectives. If you linger in your deployment zone all game, you might be shooting for a tie or a loss.

[Vaaish]

Interesting ideas, I like the concept of individual groups working as a single large group. I think you meant typhoon, not tornado under balanced force though based on your description.

[Brother Emelias]

Crassus.

 

This stuff is awesome. As I do plan on entering tournaments (not so much as winning, just with the attempt at trying my best with the army I have), this aids me tremendously in how I should go into thinking about my army load outs. Thank you for this!!

[Chucku]

Good points. I usually put my armies together based on 'elements' (maneuver, support, harassment, etc) which are meant to work together and compliment each other. These elements in turn are fitted to each other to best accomplish the standard missions.

[Captain Idaho]

I found it a good read. You shouldn't be so modest with your writing skills as you ensured you were clear, concise and focussed and everything was structured nicely.

 

Interesting concepts on using Space Marines. On the whole I agree; I am loving the Hammer Blow method since 4th edition (back when I used Honour Guard and they were not highly thought of). Space Marines do need to act as a unit on the battle field to cause maximum damage. Sure a single Tactical squad can be versatile and automonous to a degree, but if you want to maximise your offensive potential you need to bring maximum force to bear upon the enemies point of weakness.

[ShinyRhino]

I found this to be worth reading. Iplay a tourney every month, and do not typically do well. I also love my anchor-units of tacticals, but find they tend to get taken apart, or cannot kill enough enemies. I've looked at Killhammer, Mathhammer, and all the other tacticas around. Onething I seem to always be missing is unit support. Once the rounds start flying downrange, I tend to forget about mutual support and lose focus.

Having small "battlegroups" that are intended to help one another might be a way for me to keep my units alive, and kill more stuff.

[Chucku]

I found this to be worth reading. Iplay a tourney every month, and do not typically do well. I also love my anchor-units of tacticals, but find they tend to get taken apart, or cannot kill enough enemies. I've looked at Killhammer, Mathhammer, and all the other tacticas around. Onething I seem to always be missing is unit support. Once the rounds start flying downrange, I tend to forget about mutual support and lose focus.

Having small "battlegroups" that are intended to help one another might be a way for me to keep my units alive, and kill more stuff.

 

Sadly our Tac Teams are not much more than a support unit these days. Mine are usually relegated to camping on objectives hiding under the armor of a Rhino or Razorback, though occasionally sallying forth for moments of glory when the opportunity presents. Sadly, against many of the more powerful & popular lists they just don't have the offensive output to slow up onrushing assault forces. HQs, Elites and others are better places to spend points.

[Brother Crassus]

Yes I did mean typhoon. It was late when I typed this up, thanks for catching that for me.

 

I'm glad you guys liked it and hope you found something useful in it =)

[Captain of The Inceptors]

Good article Brother Crassus.

I play a Balanced list similar to the one you detailed, but all of my tacticals ride in Rhino's and I have Pedro. When I read some more of your article I realised that I have been playing an almost Mounted "Anvil" type tactics. With firing from the rhino's and hopping out just the right distance to make sure I get the charge.

This has worked well for me but have you had any experiences with an all rhino/razorback mounted list?

Also is there any particular advantage to using attack bikes over landspeeders? (I havent used either, so I've been looking into it)

 

Again good article,

Cheers,

Captain.

[ShinyRhino]

I went ahead and spun up a VERY rough army list based on these ideas for an upcoming 1750 point tourney. The idea is to base the army on tactical squads, supported by various units, which forms four "battlegroups." Here's my very general idea:

 

GROUP 1:

Tac 1 in Rhino, ML/Flamer, PW sergeant

Assault Squad, PF, PP

 

GROUP 2:

Tac 2 in Rhino, ML/Flamer, BP/CCW sergeant

Bike Squad, attached MM attack bike, meltagun biker

 

GROUP 3:

Tac 3, footsloggers, Las/Meltagun, bolter sergeant

Dreadnaught

 

GROUP 4:

Sniper Scouts

Standard Terminators

 

MISC:

Sicarius

Whirlwind

 

 

The general idea is to pair scoring units with killy units that compliment their weaknesses.

 

Group 1 is my "offense" group. These boys move out and grab objectives that are either held by the enemy, or free on the far reaches of the board. The assault Marines can keep up with the Rhino with their 12" move, and can counter-assault, or act as the finisher after a rpid-fire volley from the tacticals.

 

Group 2 is the "midfield" group. These guys are great at nothing, but can range swiftly along the midfield, hunting tanks with the bike meltas, or just harass and tie up the center.

 

Group 3 is my "defense" group. Park on a home objective, and repel boarders! The Dread has some CC punch against troops chices, and has the ability to field anti-tank loadouts. The lascannon can reach the whole board, just about. The meltagun is a last-ditch weapon should hard targets get past the Dread and the concentrated fire. Honestly, a plasmagun would be better here, but I'm working with what I own at the moment. A plasmagunner must be assembled ASAP!

 

Group 4 is the "wild card." The scouts can make good defenders, and also good midfielders with Infiltrate. They can take a telehomer to call in the Terminators, or just have the Terminators start nearby. The whole group can be used to harass at midfield, or defend a secondary home objective. Sniper rifles and powerfists can put the hurt on a lot of different units.

 

The MISC group is a Whirlwind for long-range support pie plates for the offense group, and for tank-shocking low-morale troops away from my home bases should the primary plans fail.

Siccy joins whatever unit I feel is best, based on the opponent. Though more than likely he'll be joining Group 3 or 4. He's more valuable as a table-wide effect, and is not all that great in assault. So, he's a kicker for defending home base from assaults, and a overall boost to the army.

 

 

I really like this idea of assigning battlegroups and roles. We'll see how it works out next week. Ideas are welcome.

[Warp Angel]

I think it's important to note that you shouldn't have FIXED battlegroups, but rather a selection of units that allows you to be flexible in your battlegroups to be able to adjust to terrain and opponent.

 

Building your tactics around a Tac squad supporting a Close range Dreadnaught doesn't do you a whole lot of good against an opponent like Tau or Necrons that will shred the dreadnaught before it does much of anything most of the time. You're best off detatching the Dreadnaught and using it in a disposable fashion to cause havok on its own, and moving the tactical squad to support something else.

 

Don't get fixated on the idea that "these two units always work together". Instead build an army that has pieces that can be put together in as many ways as possible... Think legos instead of wooden blocks. (That's the army's total S in Killhammer speak)

 

Good tactica overall, and written by someone who can much more clearly articulate his ideas than I can.

[ShinyRhino]

I think it's important to note that you shouldn't have FIXED battlegroups, but rather a selection of units that allows you to be flexible in your battlegroups to be able to adjust to terrain and opponent.

 

Building your tactics around a Tac squad supporting a Close range Dreadnaught doesn't do you a whole lot of good against an opponent like Tau or Necrons that will shred the dreadnaught before it does much of anything most of the time. You're best off detatching the Dreadnaught and using it in a disposable fashion to cause havok on its own, and moving the tactical squad to support something else.

 

Don't get fixated on the idea that "these two units always work together". Instead build an army that has pieces that can be put together in as many ways as possible... Think legos instead of wooden blocks. (That's the army's total S in Killhammer speak)

 

Good tactica overall, and written by someone who can much more clearly articulate his ideas than I can.

 

A valid point. I was going for "best case scenario" planning. All plans fail under testing. hehe.

[rockdeity]

I think it's important to note that you shouldn't have FIXED battlegroups, but rather a selection of units that allows you to be flexible in your battlegroups to be able to adjust to terrain and opponent.

...

Don't get fixated on the idea that "these two units always work together". Instead build an army that has pieces that can be put together in as many ways as possible... Think legos instead of wooden blocks. (That's the army's total S in Killhammer speak)

 

That's sage advice, if I ever heard it. I think it's useful to have a reliable combo planned and can even be helpful probably to fall back on if you find yourself overwhelmed and need to make a decision quickly. However, you do yourself a disservice by thinking you are committed to using things a certain way. I think the OP probably had something like this in mind though, as he mentions "linking up with other contingents", so it's at least implied there that you may want to combine things in different ways.

 

Excellent post, Crassus.

[Brother Crassus]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I intend to add more to this and refine it, I just kinda wanted to throw the rough draft out there and see the general reaction.

 

Captain of The Inceptors: the reason for the attack bikes over speeders is that for the role I require, they can flex a bit more. I find being able to charge, get an armor save, having 2 wounds, and the toughness 5 adds quite a bit. If a opponent was light on tanks but was primarily str3 (tau, eldar, ig) I might consider charging squads just to "tar pit" them untill I can send something else in to finish them off.

In 4th ed, I stubbornly stuck by my Rhinos and Razorbacks and fielded almost entirely mechanized armies. I still use them quite a bit, but have backed off from a "everything is mounted" approach a bit.

 

 

ShinyRhino You have the right idea with contingents, your group 2 can support group 1 or 3 depending on what your opponent does. As can your scouts. A good balanced list. I'd like to hear how it works out for you.

 

Warp Angel You are correct in that the "contingents" should not always be fixed. One of the Marine's greatest strengths is being able to adapt to whatever is thrown at them. Mine tend to warp and shift over the course of my games, but the idea and concept is always there. Self supporting groups that can also lend there support where needed. If one contingent is being hammered by tanks, and I have 2 attack bikes loitering on the other side of the table doing nothing then yes, I'd sure as hell turbo-boost over and have them get to work. The contingents tend to make your opponent second guess the execution of his tactics a bit more once he or she realizes every group of units has an answer to whatever they are looking to do.

 

rockdeity Yeah, I wasn't totally clear but that is more or less what I meant. I do need to edit and re-write this once I add more content.

[asugradinwa]

Good work Brother Crassus.

 

I like using attack bikes over speeders because in general the attack bikes will get the Multi Melta shot off. You have to cause 4 unsaved wounds or 3 strength 8+ wounds to stop a 2 bike unit from getting a melta shot off vs just shaking a land speeder prevents its weapons from firing.

 

I play Salamanders and try to take advantage of the fun effects Vulkan can bring to the army. I take aspects from the Hammer & Anvil ideas and created what I like to call my "Stand and Deliver" type of playstyle

 

A portion of my army (2 thunderfires, a Tac Squad with a plasma cannon, and razorback) all stand in my deployment zone and shoot each turn, very rarely moving.

 

Then I deliver the rest of my army by driving my land raider redeemer filled with vulkan, a librarian, and 5 thunder hammer terminators at the enemy. Another tac squad trails behind the land raider with a multi melta and melta gun in a rhino. I flank them with 2 multimelta attack bikes, a dreadnought with a multimelta. Unless I'm playing an agressive oppenent I'll usually start my 2 land speeders with heavy flamers and multimeltas in reserve and deepstrike them. However, if I'm playing against someone who needs to move at me the speeders will be part of the delivery force. 5 rerollable multi melta hits on the first turn can usually bring down what I need to be taken out. On the other hand, using smoke launchers on the land raider and dreadnought while moving the skimmers and bikes up to 24 inches can make attacking them the next turn a bit harder.

 

The trick I've learned is overload the other player's ability to deal with everything comming at him. The ultimate mission of the meltas is not to survive, but rather to destroy any armor or put wounds on MC's. Using melta weapons double my chances of exploding a vehicle. While exploding is nice, what I really like is the unit having to be placed where the vehicle used to be. That way my plasma cannon and thunderfires can cause some serious damage.

 

The trick is to understand what you want a unit to do and then use them in a way to do that task. Each unit you have on the table should have a task that it is trying to perform. Don't hold a unit back "just in case." Rather, make the other player react to your moves.

[Captain of The Inceptors]

Cheers for addressing my question both Brother Crassus and asugradinwa.

 

I am severely thinking about getting hold of some attack bikes for my army, the unit of 2 with MM's could easily replace my dreadnaught.

I'm also thinking that I do not require every unit to have a transport so I might release a few more points. there.