Terrain Tactica + Other Tactics.

[Corpse.]

Ok before mods start thinking this isnt PA related, or it belongs in some tactica area, its a project in the making, terrain discussion (what sort of terrain a player should make so everyone agrees) moral suggestions and unit discussions (and even video game references how terrain is used via LoS). So, I felt it belonged here for the time being. Perhaps discussed everywhere and in lots of threadomancy spots from searchy where none of them cover all subjects in the same thread.

 

So then, here is my query.

 

We've got obliterators, terminators and various other things that can use ranged weapons beyond 24" range. There are plenty of buildings, true line of sight blocking, and mixed area terrain where there are features that block view entirely.

 

We will even discuss casualty removal to deny certain units firing on your units if he picks the wrong order to shoot you with his models.

 

Now onto the meat of the subject. Fiddling with various units its wise to assume regular infantry models of small size in both high effectiveness and small numbers are best for terran use. Such are terminators, peeking a Cyclone around the corner of a building, having a low skimming twin heavy bolter land speeder and even obliterators.

 

Before the game:

Terrain picks, normally you pick half your opponent picks half and you use whatever normal method you use to place terrain, and be damn sure some of it blocks line of sight of at least one and a half to two inches tall. If it hard to achieve line of sight blocking terrain for your game, remember you have vehicles to make use of! You can have your own line of sight blockers, in the form of rhinos as a rule of thumb. Otherwise using static firepower tanks also works.

 

Scanning the field before trying to pick which side you want to try hard for during the side picking rolls is very important. You could have made one side better then the other, or be trying to do the same thing as your opponent may want to try. In either case, turning the tide in your favor means leaving little to chance. Such as having a few rhinos for the occasion, even as a 105 point investment to make it work.

 

 

Plan of action:

Knowing the conditions yur army fights under, its wise to assume roles for each squad and vehicle. Such as infantry with bolters, flamers, plasma, meltas and what have you could easily assume a "clean up duty" when beating up forces closest to you and having them advance, finishing them off in a clean sweep. Normally you want to make sure they will overkill, rather then let a single model remain.

 

As a side note to this, be sure when you have vehicles and intervening units, its good to plan ahead of having a vehicle like a dakkapredator hang out behind your advancing troops, where a lascannon predator would have its line of sight hindered and giving cover saves to the units it fires at through your own models.

 

Killing field:

This seems more or less like a joke. But if you have an advancing enemy, you can control to a certain extent where he comes at you from his deployment zone. A balanced army normally pulls this off best. "Luring" an enemy to a single point where he may try and single out your forces, or simly be coming to the closest melee or rapid firing spot to start eating you up, you backstep and remain as the closest unit to them. They will run or fleet as they can, and so will you. This unit is best being the rapid fire short range infantry or assault units you plan on finish his remainder off with. This squad gives you and them cover saves, so keeping mobile firepower on both sides is wise, having the middle where your unit falls back to being the clear route - thus making the enemy waste distance a few inches at a time not advancing >directly< at your main elements.

 

Otherwise, from a shooty forces perspective its nice to make a mobile force that can advance slowly around LoS blocking terrain, eating up an edge of the enemy force, slowly poking around sacking a unit/vehicle at a time. Minimising return firepower as best as you can.

 

Damage control:

Lets assume the enemy has you in his grasp, and things are not going right for you. Losing a ranged firefight, taking casualties in melee with the wrong units caught in combat. All around mess of things. At this stage you have to plan several turns ahead of time, assuming your opponents bloodthirsty line of action has already been set. If you see that a chaos lord already hit somewhere, and his next target after finishing a certain unit up is obvious, plan on moving them! If you know they're doomed, dont stand there, giving the lord another unit to charge (and refuse you to shoot him by being in melee~) all the while losing yet another unit to the monster. Get away, and dont think twice! Even if you refuse a unit to be chased down, or even plan on having them tie up the chaos lord until the game ends. Thats no way to think. If you can use three devistator squads to charge him on the final turn, thats better then having him chew up 10 guys while the other two squads sweat in their shorts shooting at something else. Be aggressive or be evasive.

 

For the occasion where you know a unit will perish, no matter what you do. Plan for the worst by either allowing the same unit a split option (fire or charge two different targets, but be unable to engage both) by playing bait tactics, or use the chance to grab an objective early while he removes something else in the process. I have seen an immobile predator make more points back by being dead terrain then being alive! I was sure I had an enemy, and chose to chase something down in an opposite direction leaving 2 devistators with one lascannon left. Proceeding to not fire for a turn (making me forget he was there) I turned a dreadnoughts rear to the thing, and in the proceeding explosion removing a sorcerer's final wound.

 

Playing coy for the right time also helps. The opponent may not always be alert or weary of all your elements. So when you push for a lure, you can strike when the time is right. This is best employed by fast or small units that can spread around or become mobile instantly. (Drop pods/deep strike helps tremendously here, as the hidden snake can strike violently).

 

 

On the subject...

 

Deep Strike/Outflank/Fast Unit Lures:

It starts with depoyment. An obvious route to go is to have two or three heavy support choices deployed along the corners forcing him to counter-deploy his big stuff there. Then if your daring, have most of your main units in the middle, luring his stuff close. If he throws units in both corners, you can ignore one side and advance to one corner with your main bulk. If you go with fast attack stuff, namely things that can move 24" in one stroke, then its best that you have as many units as possible so that most of the enemies force is on the table before you surprise him with your "final deployment". For deep strike and outflank, you try to hit the loner side with very little resistance, making due with your heavy hitters ignoring those juicy targets making use of their guns elsewhere and thus no overkill(wastng points on deep strike/outflankers).

 

 

I am not in a fresh mindset right now, so I'll be adding more later. Please add some input and strategy of your own, no matter what it is. Changes to whatever I've put above is nice as long as its positive and potentially helpful. We'll get to the subjet of what terrain to make/request later. Any links to similar subjects of interest is also helpful. (a few in my sig already).

 

Ideas wanted! :P

[Mal]

Interesting thoughts, but its not a terrain tactica as such as it coveres very little actual terrain tactics...

 

It is however a nice list of things to think about and to watch out for.

 

Better for newer players as most experienced players should be able to do this in their sleep by now ;)

[Corpse.]

(Copy+Pasting here for Amicus Aedes to read)

Alrighty, I'll add some things. Just a list in order, starting in vehicle tactics. Read some some places, figured a few out on my own, but mostly its all been done before so no real credit goes to me. =p Only credit I get is typing this post, hehe...

 

(Edit: I will be updating this often, so check back again!)

 

Run-Block:

The run rule is fun, so fun in fact that when you shoot with something, you can run models in front of something right after it fired so that they can offer cover saves to the unit that just fired.

Example:

QQQ

QQQ^^

......OOO

......OO

The unit "O" fires ^ direction. Then afterwards:

|-->QQQ

|-->QQQ

......OOO

......OO

Unit "Q" runs (with a little luck with the dice) in front of unit "O". Offering them cover saves. Importantly, if your firepower killed the threat or removed the threat's main offense ability, you can choose not to run, or do something else with the "guarding unit". Also, counter-melee units take this role on very well as they often sit around until something gets close. Also, dreadnoughts can use this as well, so dont forget about them! If the firepower unit gets pounded, dont be afraid to go to ground and recieve a cover save bonus in addition to the cover presented by the front unit.

 

 

Rhino harassment:

Doesnt mean just rhinos but these tactics are wisely done by cheaper vehicles for the reason of flimsy rear armor against melee. Sacrificial lambs and the like. Razorbacks do this well, land speeders do it best, land raiders are awesome if the enemey cant kill them in melee. but not advised with such large point investments.

 

The Pinch:

Using empty vehicles preferably, you use two or more and create a "/ / \ \" where the space between the vehicles is being about 2 inches so that a squad a bit behind the pinch can fire up with most of the models able to see the desired target. This abuses the 1" distance rule, if you keep 6" behind the pinch so that they cannot assault your unit and rhinos at the same time. (they can declaire charging both at the same time). When they do get that close, you can close the gap to below 1" to stop any from charging a second time, and still be able to shoot an entire unit with every one of your models able to see them when they are close. If your daring, you can move the two rhinos forward in a tank shock so they are harder to hit in melee, with the tank shock used in such a way that their forced coherency makes them step back when you re-create the pinch by pivoting the tanks back in the pinch formation. This allows your bolters to advance as well, or remain stationary. Be weary of death or glory, know your enemies!

 

The Wagon Wall:

Preferably with 3+ vehicles, any will do. There are several methods of wagon walls, so I separated it into separate parts.

~A: Shove your vehicles between their units, singling out their armies units and eliminating them one by one. Do not stop moving your tanks for fear of being assaulted and losing too many too quick. Land raiders do this best.

~B: Using the pinch idea in a way, keeping 1" distance between your vehicles allowing most of your models a narrow line of sight to enemy units and blowing them apart. This normally allows them cover saves, so if you line more then half the unit to see out of the small lane of fire between your vehicles you can disallow cover to the unit recieving hits, and that unit firing back. You can give more then one unit a lane of fire to a single unit, and move things around to hit the next target, notmally your rhinos dont live too long to keep this up for most of the game. Advised using vindicators for this tactic, using front armor to face them.

~C: Firepower Blocking, best used against a static firepower unit like a tank with too many main weapons, a havoc unit or otherwise high cost low mobility unit. You roll up, and block their main guns by turning the tank to the side. You stay there, he has to move, if it still can move you do it again. If he shoots and kills it, then he still has to move to fire at something else, its a two turn stopper on average in most cases.

~D: Advancing unit blocker, just roll it up and dont tank shock, just sit the rhino right in front of his advancing unit. When he moves, he has to keep 1" distance from you. He has to move around, then when he assaults (try to move more then 6" to be hit on 6's) he has to charge your tank striaght on which doesnt give him any extra distance. If he ignores the tank, and moves around, tank shock the models closest to your main force to push them back (because they must remain in coherency with their squad). This works well against monstrous creatures with no flight or manner of speed and low/no shooting ability, such as carnifexes. (Dont tank shock it, just keep getting in its way)

~E: Horde blocking, normally 3+ are best for this job. Roll up and block the enemy, then when they are blocked, if all three can move you start from one end vehicle on either side and push tank shock forward 7". He will be forced to remain in coherency, and with rhinos+1" distance is more then 6" length in total you tank shock the next closest tank 7" or more, an then tank shock the next vehcile forward the full 12" (creating a pinch and coherency, he has no choice but to walk backwards!!!). You can keep a horde (that has no anti tank weapons, such as some ork units and tyranid gaunt units) at bay for the entire game with relatively cheap vehicles. When the tanks die, they become difficult terrain for the hordes.

 

Boom Tactics:

This requires blast weapons, flame weapons, and vehicles. Its best to use an empty rhino if you use heavy blast weapons, otherwise its ok. Plasma cannons work with land raiders on this one as well. Remember the tank shock horde thing? You just tank shock into the middle of a unit, right where it sits and force the unit to bulge into itself. (The only models allowed to move are the ones that occupied the space that the vehicle forced them out of) so they will be very hard pressed together ripe for the blasting. (This is what lash does for chaos, bundle things together, while in reality ANYONE can do it with just a rhino!). With a prayer, unload at will.

 

Torch Tactics:

Same thing as boom tactics but you do it in a V pattern. Two rhinos, the left one tank shocks to the right side, and the second rhino tank shocks behind the rhino that passed in front of it, to create a V pattern. Tank shocking like that, you can either open the top hatch and use the flames. Or, you get out the rear and outside (flame templates dont allow cover saves so dont worry about line of sight) where the flame weapons are behind the rhinos and at the bottom tip of the open V pattern to open up two big flame templates... This is a very powerful tactic, and I refuse to use it. (you can bundle 10 guys together and get 3 flame weapons in each chaos squad, 2 normal, 1 combi, or 5 with havocs/chosen). This makes flame weapons about three times more potent then plasma guns. I hate it, I refuse to use it....

 

Rapid Fire Tactics:

Similar to the pinch tactic, requiring two rhinos with squads inside. This tactic was more potent with min/max in the old days but now its mostly gone. You take two small units, deploy inside the / / \ \ pattern where the rhino corners are less than an inch away from eachother to disallow assaults. If they shoot the tanks, they have roughly 4" distance from making an assault having to keep 1" distance to begin with, and if you remember you disembark 2" like coherency. So you have plenty of room with small units, and still can be done using combat squads with some armies and plague marines with chaos, even havocs/chosen etc... This takes practice, and lots of learning experience which unit to fire first as he could remove the only models in your line of sight. This also suffers from cover saves, and gets in the way of flame templates. Its a 4th edition tactic that didnt quite make it into 5th.

 

Ram tactics:

Yes you heard me, I got one for this too. You cant pivot if a tank sits directly on the side of a vehicle that is shaped more like a rectangle then a box. If it cant pivot starting from its middle, it cant pivot at all. This works in unison of destroying tank weapons that can aim from a direction less favorable to you. So keep that in mind! What you do is move one vehicle up the side of a tank you want to detain. Get the second vehicle in front, and not quite cose enough to the other side, forcing it to back up at least 4" before it can pivot and move freely. (Like backing a box out of another box). When he is forced back, move the rhino that was in front to re-block, and move the side rhino perfectly behind the tank. Using the rule to ram, you bypass the 1" distance rule. So be sure to say your ramming every time. You can block a land raider perfectly if a rhinos front hull is facing the land raiders front hull exactly in the center (side sponsons cant hit!) and the same done in the rear. You can pin a land raider sitting in the back this way too, with just one vehicle because it has no room behind it. You can also pin it against the side bvy moving two rhinos on both sides of its side sponson (prferably a destroyed side sponson).

 

Now for defense tactics for vehicles.

 

Big Bro, Little Bro:

Whats the use of an Autocannon+Lascannon predator? Sitting a dreadnought right in front of it to offer it a obscured save thats what! It cant fire its autocannon directly forward (blocked by the dread), and takes practice if you want to pivot the tank, and moving the dreadnought after. This tactic also applies for a predator blocking for a Land Raider behind it, in exactly the same way. (Gotta love side sponsons on wider vehicles!). Remember this requires planning, and having a fast attack unit with a transport is best when deployed last and you can surprise your opponent with it. Otherwise an elite/HQ transport does it just as well. (you want him to deploy his troops first normally, its a good idea where "what" might be placed for forward thinkers)

 

+Also, if you have an AC predator+Lascannons, Dreadnought in front, raider in rear, you probly have to push each vehicle very close together, and be weary if any of them get immobilised. Some people even take venerable dreadnoughts to enhance this. Its a rough tactic, and often will get you in trouble. Also great for narrow fire lanes with maximum firepower down field. Dread to protect from melee, and a raider to block what cant kill it. Some even keep a techmarine near it too, thats also mean. (Putting it in the land raider!)

 

Speaking of support units....

Techmarines of any flavor and codex can keep base contact with two vehicles at all times, sometimes three. The way you keep in base contact with three predators is this.

...|||

\\\*///

Where the priest in the middle of the 3 predators is in contact with the front predators middle-rear hull, and the side sponsons are barely touching him, but still able to fire forward. This takes a LOT of experience! And also, best done with vindicators without side sponsons where the vindicators rear corners can touch the techmarine instead. Be weary of blast weapons here! Its up to you to figure out which vehicles enjoy this, and how to combine it on the field. I have little experience with it since I mostly play chaos, and have only seen it a few times. Most people just use it with 3 dreadnoughts, move front dread, then the priest, then the last 2 dreads, keeping base contact.

 

Long range notes:

Many marines can make use of weapons that fire beyond 48", or be able to move within 48" and fire a weapon effectively adding its move distance with range. Here is a tactic for it. Long table edges, you deploy a heavy support where you normally would, preferably not near the middle however. He deploys, you deploy again and put your second heavy support near your first. This will make him deploy his third near them, and so your final (longest range preferably) heavy support deploys in the furthest corner. If you deploy second, and/or he has 1 heavy support threatening your loner heavy support, you can try and eliminate it, and thus have exclusive range on other units without too much hassle. Best done with thunderfire cannons, defilers, conversion beam lasers, long range mobile weapons that can fire on the move (like TLLC predator, move a little then shoot, obliterators etc).

 

 

I will add more later, so enjoy!

 

(Edit)Transport Perks:

 

Transport Bonus Distance:

Deploy the max you can, but face the rhino/raiders side armor on the deployment line. Keep in mind where the rear faces, in case of either side might have deadly firepower. When they get to move, you will notice that when you pivot the rhino (pivot isnt a move), you get an extra distance in front of your deployment line, and so then you move towards the enemy with a slight bonus!

 

How to get the best assault out of rhinos:

This takes a good eye for distance, but if he deploys directly on the line it wont matter, you know the distance given the mission you play. Using the transport bonus distance mentioned above. Then move forward the full distance, turn the rhino so that the side armor faces the enemy and then deploy the full distance possible. Now, this is best done with models using larger bases. (Supplied with larger bases, like certain characters, otherwise dont push your luck using larger bases on small models~). Next turn, if he was 24" away, he should be about 8" away. Move, dont shoot (he may remove models in assault range) and then get your second turn assault.

 

+If he is beyond 24", start the unit outside of its transport in case it gets destroyed, and you would suffer casualties, preferably starting them in cover behind the rhino, ready to embark once you can move. That is if he gets the first turn. Otherwise your ok.

 

Share a Ride:

You can disembark a vehicle transports unit, and embark another unit the same movement phase. You can have the unit inside use the extra disembark distance described above, move and run (usually 12+") and have another unit get in the rhino, and then have the rhino follow, turn the rhino to the side armor facing where you want to go. Do the same thing again, and endlessly give free 2.75" disembark distance to both units, making their run distance not so much of a drawback, its like giving two units jump packs! It works better with land raiders obviously.

 

 

 

(Edit) Water meets Fire:

Water Style and Fire style (reference to the water style guide), there is a way to keep mobile and ruin the enemy with tactical firepower. This includes any unit that can fire a 24" and longer range weapn while on the move, even if its hampered by difficult terrain like obliterators/thousand sons and the like.

Units that perform well with this tactic are normally Grey Knights, Any ranged Terminators, Bikes of all kinds, Dreadnoughts with guns on them, Vehicles that move 6" and fire a weapon, and all a manner of chaos troops like noise marines with sonic weapons, thousand sons, and all the like of support of obliterators and terminators.

 

What you do, is pack a number of nasty blast, ord or otherwise area effect weapons that scare the opponent to spread his infantry thinner then normal, usually max coherency. You can even play a little card-face tactic by bragging about your ranged weapons right after deploying your first vindicator/whirlwind/defiler/plasma cannon devistators/obliteraors. SInce Heavies get deployed early, its a tactic that can always work. It is also wise and bit of a force move when an opponent spreads his models thin, so that he doesnt meet the grim fate of losing 4+ models a blast. Now to take advantage of it.

 

Next, have your ranged units that move and shoot make use of whatever terrain that is nearby, with a planed route of advance and retreat in case he chases after you. Its also wise to have a few sacrificial rhinos, maybe even for tank shock, escaping a fast melee that you cant shoot up (hormagaunts come to mind) and to even tank shock his things to make use of several tactics further above this paragraph. You get barely within range and dance around his army as best you can, eliminating entire enemy units and moving onto the next. Even if there are tastier targets for your guns, having entire units removed allows you to advance deeper into his side of the table and thus keeping you from being pinned down by a few scurrying troopers.

 

To work with this style best, its wise to have a few deddicated anti assault units, or tooled up HQ's that have multiple uses for both shooting and melee. Tzeentch lord with daemon weapon is a good example, and so is the SM Chapter Master that comes with orbital bombardment and a relic blade. Be sure to be versitile with some melee, such as having the "finish up squad" of faster models like bikes or raptors/assault marines that end up getting close and munching the last few enemies with flamers and a charge. Then as you win, consolodate backwards so you dont get caught in a continuing melee that blocks your firing chances.

 

To make use of terrain, blocking models, and keeping an eye on which models you remove so that you dont "allow line of sight to the enemy model that didnt have it before" to remove your cover save chances and with various tactics from the above, you can find yourself with a flavorful army that makes use of many of its elements to great effect.

 

(Edit) Unit Specific Perks:

 

Combat Squads:

So now, splitting a unit apart into two fives, sounds bad right? Not exactly. Lurng fire to one half, and using the other half to provide cover saves to the more alluring half that gets beat on. Its about using the run/fleet rule mainly, move out of the way with the short range half in the movement phase. Shoot, then run back. Now this also can be done between coherency, you just run forward an inch or two until the squad is technicly behind the other. Here is an example.

 

O..O..O..O..O

..Q..Q..Q..Q..Q

 

Then, as you fire squad O(firepower squad), you run squad Q forward the few inches it needs to get ahead. This wont work every time, as there is bad luck. So here is another example, using a narrow fire lane made by vehicles on both sides or terrain with no threats on one half, having the threatening half being partially blocked by LoS negating terrain.

 

...QQQ

O.QQ

O

O (Vehicle or terrain on one/both sides)

O

O

Squad O(firepower squad) fires up, then the Q squad runs the measly one or two inches to cover for them.

 

So there you have it, combat squads with a twist! This also works with other walkers like a dreadnought that had its ranged taken away/melee dread/short range(counter-charge melee) dread.. Now, I dont advise this for devistators as they actually need the extra bodies for their guns, so its best used for troops/elites. Unless your suicidal with your heavy gunners.

 

 

(Edit) Drop Pod Perks:

Drop pods stop the scatter for the mishap table near enemy and friendly models using its inertial guidence. This can be taken advantage of. First, most the directions that it would scatter would be to the mishap side most likely, next is that when you add the 2" disembark distance a mere 12" scatter still puts you in rapid fire range. So if you lay your pod down directly within 2" of an enemy unit (or friendly) you will always get a rapid fire distance range (and even flamer!).

 

Taking advantage of this, using heavy flamer, flamer, plasma, sternguard guns, and all manner of short ranged weapons to eliminat the enemy. One such perk is using Vulkan, rerolling wounds on flamers. Getting a mere 5 flamers in a sternguard unit can yield an impressive 30+ wounds, spelling doom for about 10 marines or 5 terminators after the reroll of course. Also for meltas, its especially good for the combi weapons to reroll and actually be used rather have the one time shot miss.

 

(Edit) Speeder Escort:

(Thank Antique Nova for this idea)

1, 2 or 3 Land Speeders are sufficient, one for each facing you want covered for obscure results on a transport or tank you want them to escort. This requires that everything moves 6" or more. You maintain 4" gap between the two rear speeders in a triangle formation, following the front speeder with a rhino/razorback/predator/vindicator. If you do run a full three speeders, you can use the front speeder's 4" connection coherency to even surround a land raider! Though the land raiders sponsons require to be in the rear ports to really get the obscured results. Also, this also requires that you cut the hovercraft base down a little, so that the speeders are lower to the ground. You can even use the yaw and pitch of the angle of how the speeder sits on the base (basicly nose up or nose down/ lean right or left) to cover more of the vehicle you wish to escort.

 

All moving above 6" a turn, that means everything gets obscured! (And the odd turn where the speeders may perish, you will have smoke left over for that!) In addition, to get to use models firing out of the top hatch, and using a razorbacks/any tanks weapons will have to take practice to get good firing, and perhaps best using this tactic to get transports where they need to be.

 

Until next time.

Keep your blades bloody!

[antique_nova]

1.??????? NO NAME YET.

this one shows you how to literally twist the idea of a cover save and is better than going to ground, works with a minimum of two squads

thank you corpse!

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.p...p;?do=findComment&comment=1957946

 

another one is

 

2.WALL OF STEEL

moving two rhinos along side each other then when your men disembark, turn the rhinos so that they form a wall of steel presenting the side armour to the enemy creating a large wall and pop the smoke launchers for additional protection.

 

example

 

| = rhino

x = squad

 

| |

they then turn around like this after disembarking

_ _

x x

 

 

3.THE FEARLESS MARCH

this one involves however many squads you want and having grimaldus in the middle

 

G =grimaldus and retinue

x = squads

they are placed in position like this

 

SERVO SERVO

GRIM

SERVO SERVO

 

this makes any unit within 6 inches of any friendly bt unit fearless, think this only extends to grimadlus not including his retinue however it still works whether his retinue counts or not

 

Example:

 

X X

X G X

X X

 

4. FLYING MELTA

this is literally attack bikes with multi meltas that are just behind the first line of your squad of marines or termis and when you shoot you can just move the marines out of the way so your enemy doesnt get cover saves from firing through your own men and then move them back in front of the bikes again when they run! i choose the bikes because they can keep up with the bt run! dreads can be replaced instead of the bikes however they are much slower.

this technique allows the already Toughness 5 bike with 2 wounds to achieve literally a 4+ invulnerable save ( note that it is a COVER save not invulnerable i am jsut comparing )

 

Example:

 

X = men ( doesnt matter between neophtyes or initiates )

B = attack bike

 

xxxxx

xxbbx

xxxxx

 

this tactic must use a minimum of one nmarine squad and one attack bike squad.

 

5.HIDDEN POWER FIST OF DOOM

 

This tactic is mainly against squads or characters like abaddon that you assault knowing that he will cause serious casulties, you simply place your most powerfist at the back of the squad and let him chew through the majority of the squad, then attack he has had his attacks and you have had your he cant hurt you powerfist guy you can then swarm in and take the advantage, becareful not to place your power fist guy base to base contact with the enemy. eventually they will lose precious models to your hidden power fist while you will lose models, you will most likely lose less vp points than they will.

 

Example

X = men

A = abaddon, carnifex, whatever is big, large and/or nasty ( or any enemy squad e.g )

P = powerfist guy

 

Step 1

xAxxx

xxxx

xxxx

xxPx

 

 

Step 2

 

xxx

PxAxx

xxx

 

6. SPIKEY RHINO. ( like the name? ^^ )

This will involve a rhino, three bikes with either plasma guns or meltas ( meltas suit more for this tactic ) and a asm squad preferably with 9-10 men in it and a rhino with a heavily armed squad in it or a command squad if you want.

m = assault space marine

r = rhino

b = attack bike

Example

 

The two marines and a bike at the front of the rhino should be the ones with the most dangerous shooty weapons, flamers meltas or plasma pistol.

 

b mbm

m-----m

b --R-m

m-----m

mmm

 

Two marines, three bikes and the rhino move 12 inches a turn while the asm shoot with the plasma or melta giving them a 24 inch range a turn! and they get a 4+ cover save.

this trick works out at 394 points the rhino have no men in it and no upgrades what so ever and the asm squad has only two melta guns and the bikes with meltas.

 

 

this tactic is costly i know but it strikes as one and it strikes true, only reccommended as a last choice option and in city terrain where you need to hold ONE objective.

 

However if you double this and add in the e.c with an attack bike with a multi melta you can have some seriously deadly firepower and this mvoe with roughly 40 men on the go! all in 1000 points!

 

so thats 11 melta shots a turn and the entire army has litereally 4+ invulnerable saves however in this case its just cover saves. your only weakness is a black template however if you get first turn its by by enemy blast template ^^.

 

MORE will arrive later, however i am busy at the moment, if you ahve any other tatics please share them.

why wont this text box show any spaces when i place the x apart? please comment or give ratings!

thanks

antique_nova

[Mal]

I would like to edit this one a little bit mate...

 

Combat Squads:

So now, splitting a unit apart into two fives, sounds bad right? Not exactly. Lurng fire to one half, and using the other half to provide cover saves to the more alluring half that gets beat on. Its about using the run/fleet rule mainly, move out of the way with the short range half in the movement phase. Shoot, then run back. Now this also can be done between coherency, you just run forward an inch or two until the squad is technicly behind the other. Here is an example.

 

O..O..O..O..O

..Q..Q..Q..Q..Q

 

Then, as you fire squad O(firepower squad), you run squad Q forward the few inches it needs to get ahead. This wont work every time, as there is bad luck. So here is another example, using a narrow fire lane made by vehicles on both sides or terrain with no threats on one half, having the threatening half being partially blocked by LoS negating terrain.

 

If you change it so that the unit is lined up like this:

 

OQOQOQOQOQ

 

With the heavy/special unit half an inch infront of the other unit, the specail/heavy unit will be able to fire without giving a cover save and when it comes time to move the other unit forward you only need to roll a 1 to have them half an inch infront of the special/heavy unit and thus granting a coversave...

 

It garuntees the save even with bad dice rolling...

 

Just be sure that in the next movement phase you move the cover squad back an inch and do NOT move the specail/heavy squad forward or you will not be able to fire you heavies.

[chapter master 454]

I have one too:

 

ARMOURED FIREPOWER:

this formation was invented when I needed to shield the whirlwind and needed to keep that block of my army safe.

 

W=whirlwind

V=vindicator

R=razorback

T=tactical squad of 6

 

RVR

TWT

 

Small diagram but this formation is rather compact and one main weakness is that but the razorbacks are meerly cannonfodder and if you can get some shooting to help clean up and support the vindicator this works a treat. Basicly the entire formation is quite slow but really shouldn't be moving, turning may be a hassle but I often find that it turns quick enough. The tacticals are there for close range protection, arming your sarge with a power weapon or something to help counter any assaulters will ether slow them down long enough for the formation to turn or to get away. Another note is that if the formation gets surrounded you need to break the formation with some hell for leather tank shocking. However you will rarly find a foe able to get close enough and deal with whatever else you have, just bomb them with the whirlwind and use the demolisher as a nice deterrant against frontal assaults. A nice little re-direction formations thats hard to kill.

[Corpse.]

Cool Mal yeah that seems better but I find blast weapons are a pain sometimes, so both versions may still apply, I like youres though! Makes me want to fiddle with it, using three squads.... Lets see.

 

Q/O/G

_QQGGOO

QGGOOGGO

_QQQOGG

Eh, doesnt seem to work but maybe for small units it might... Tighter formation due to multiple units so I dont know about that one... Maybe keep it simple with:

_^^^^ (Fires up, fire lane)

QOOGGQ

QOOGGQ

QOOGGQ

QOOGGQ

_QOQGQ

_..O_.G

 

..11Q's, damn, would have to be SoB or chaos, with a larger unit surrounding the underside and around, all given cover saves except from the front where they shoot at stuff unhindered. Maybe smaller units of 6 could be surrounded by 10. But it looks like a two-iunit thing..

 

QOOOQ

QOOOQ

QOOOQ

QQOQQ

Casualties on Q's would oepn up O's, so Im not sure about that one either.... Q's could be low AP ranged weapons, while the AP ranged guns are in O. Two dev/havoc squads perhaps?

 

 

Oh and also, if the line is compromised a bit for some other effect.

QOQOQOQOQ - shoot straight up, no cover for anyone, deviate a little left or right incoming or outgoing firepower, then its cover saves.

 

VVVVVVVVVV(Fire angle allowed without offering cover saves, best in smaller units I think)

QOQOQOQOQ

[chapter master 454]

I would like to edit this one a little bit mate...

 

Combat Squads:

So now, splitting a unit apart into two fives, sounds bad right? Not exactly. Lurng fire to one half, and using the other half to provide cover saves to the more alluring half that gets beat on. Its about using the run/fleet rule mainly, move out of the way with the short range half in the movement phase. Shoot, then run back. Now this also can be done between coherency, you just run forward an inch or two until the squad is technicly behind the other. Here is an example.

 

O..O..O..O..O

..Q..Q..Q..Q..Q

 

Then, as you fire squad O(firepower squad), you run squad Q forward the few inches it needs to get ahead. This wont work every time, as there is bad luck. So here is another example, using a narrow fire lane made by vehicles on both sides or terrain with no threats on one half, having the threatening half being partially blocked by LoS negating terrain.

 

If you change it so that the unit is lined up like this:

 

OQOQOQOQOQ

 

With the heavy/special unit half an inch infront of the other unit, the specail/heavy unit will be able to fire without giving a cover save and when it comes time to move the other unit forward you only need to roll a 1 to have them half an inch infront of the special/heavy unit and thus granting a coversave...

 

It garuntees the save even with bad dice rolling...

 

Just be sure that in the next movement phase you move the cover squad back an inch and do NOT move the specail/heavy squad forward or you will not be able to fire you heavies.

 

Thanks for that, I needed that just to touch up my ultimate ork conga line, but yea, the run rule is by far the most broken (12" carnifexs ¬.¬). You could also just line up in a horde marine army a line of rhinos with a gap for a single heavy weapon to stand which would be rather annoying. I think that may become a really annoying army though since you would then target anti-tank things and then all you do is hide behind a wall of rhinos! You could even just do the same with 3 thunderfires and use the cover save negater rounds (unless your facing MEQ). The amount of rule breaking/bending you could do with cover and run is unreal, so much so it should be a form of kung-fu or something (Conga snake, Running pack etc.)

[Corpse.]

Slipping in an updating post here.

 

I'm inserting this post as battle formations guidelines/guesswork. Flexible due to terrain setups, game types and objectives. So it will all be loose until I get a better feel of what and how to explain it properly as I've never put any of this sort of stuff down before now. Correct me heavily on these because I'll mess it up the first try, I know I will. =p

 

Battle Formation: Defense.

T=Tank, non-transport, or empty transport.

Y=Tank, transport capable.

X=Squad, (loose coherency).

x=Squad, (close coherency/melee).

*=HQ or big creature, such as a daemon prince.

 

Deployment Line... Periods are spaces, ignore them.

_____________________________________

...T..Y..Y.*XX

T.....xxxX.X.

_____________________________________

Flank defense, two tanks on the left are fire support, the one hiding behind the one in front right makes sure it survives to move and shoot slightly around the front tank in case it dies and becomes terrain. Most angles covered by obscured saves. The two transports (or more) rush up to create line of sight blocks for the two (or more) fire support vehicles to force stand and shoot firepower to move to get a target. They also can unload their troops of various kinds for various uses, or unload before moving out to block other transports from getting too close too quick such as fast vehicles do. The mass of troops create a large block of destructive move and fire potential within 12". Its hard to approach without fast moving open topped or special movement modes like beast/cavalry, jump packs or otherwise (lictors/special characters etc). The tight formation behind the transports is to make use of fire lanes, mostly during deployment to make a player put his fire support to shoot behind/between the transports so that the two tanks on the left have that fire support where they want it so that one can be cover to the second tank behind it. Secondly, if those troops wish to follow the two tanks when they move forward, then turn their sides to face the enemy to make a transport wall, they will be ready to run to catch up and have a large block of troops near that wall wherever you stop it. The HO is positioned to assist either sides advance, and to act as additional cover if its a large creature.

 

Can mould this to either more troops, vehicles, big guns or otherwise with the same effect. You will notice that deploying in a specific order, such as a vindicator as the front tank, then a predator for the rear tank, they will counter deploy as a reaction to this. The troops bulking, to your discression of which troops go where, and troops I mean any kind like havocs/devistators, melee troops, assault marines/raptors. All conform, jump packers can follow along side the rhinos or behind them, to jump over them as marines jump out to rapid fire and eliminate close targets in a quick order.

 

Any additions/tuning welcome. These formations can be mirrored for left or right. Infantry often do best closer to the middle having room to run away to stay out of melee, and being in the middle gives them the option within the time frame of the game to go left or right. (at least I find it best that way)

 

Hope this is a good start, will add more later.

 

 

(EDIT) Update 7/29/09

Pinch Assault Counter.

When being assaulted is a one way choice, with you on the recieving end there is a way to take an assault and be able to pull out of it in the same turn your assaulted. Using two vehicles, preferably rhinos you have one model in front (to taunt the unexpecting assault to commence), with the two rhinos touching corners right behind the model cutting off any space where the rest of the unit behind cannot pass. Also cutting off any pile-in and removing all base contact of the assaulter and your unit once you remove the front model (the only model in base contact).

 

...O Sacrifice.

/|/.\|\

(Unit)

Its all discression of how you pile in, they will declaire assault on all 3 units (the sacrifice and the two vehicles), so be sure the rhinos side armors are facing as much of the opponent as possible. Moving the sacrifice's unit away from the combat so that the 6" move into the enemy wont make contact around the rhinos, appearing like a line where the sacrificial model is the tip to be assaulted. There are close conditions where this is useful, and many where it is not. First, it means losing models, and raising the possibility the rhinos will survive, hopefully having moved them in the previous movement phase to force 6's to hit them (and focus powerfists/grenades etc on your lone sacrifices). This is to be used against only to be a taunt move against fast models such as bikes/jumpers and so on that you want to trick and get to shoot/assault on your terms. Against slower models like ork sluggas its best to just sit two rhinos that have moved beyond 6" in front, with no sacrifice.