long range survior or deep strike suicide

[terminatorAM]

So in past experiances have you guys had more success with a deep striking tank hunter who can get in close but is sure to die on your opponents next turn or a longer range lascannon armed unit that that has more survivability? The examples im thinking of are a small sternguard squad w/ a couple combi-melas in a drop pod against a dreadnopught with a tl-lascannon. Of course others are still valid such as deep striking land speeders against devastators or tri-las preds.

 

So does it pay off to take out that one pesky tank early with a one hit wonder or is static and surviable more workwhile to strike again later?

[tedwin183]

Depends on the army you play, really. If you're a chaos player, you're a fool not to take termicide squads. However, codex marines don't have that luxury. I'd say most likely, it's good to have combat squads with one MM coming down in drop pods. That allows for flexibility, points conservation and a more reliable way to get close and do damage.

[Grey Mage]

Why would I use my deepstrikers as suicide squad? Place your DP in such a manner that it gives cover or blocks LOS to the model as much as possible, kill the enemy tank, and then stay between the two out of the way of most of the enemy AT firepower.

 

OR better yet, support your DS AT weaponry with other DS squads designed to take out infantry and/or tanks- like a bunch of GHs with Meltagun+Plasmapistol and rapidfiring bolters. Good stuff.

[Koremu]

Use mid to short range units with proper support? Covering a pair of Multi-Melta ABikes with a Rhino mounted Tactical Squad is usually enough.

 

Suicide tactics are ultimately risky and wasteful.

[Vel'Cona]

Koremu's got it right. This whole "suicide unit" thought process is really very silly from a strategic standpoint. It's the equivalent of constantly running Hail Mary plays in football; eventually someone may catch the ball, but it's not necessarily going to go in your favor.

 

I would echo that the best way to deal with armor is fast moving MM equipped units, that can engage at medium to close range and are screenable, or at least have a low footprint. Attack Bikes are at the center of this strategy, as Koremu stated. Land Speeders can also perform this role admirably, and don't need to worry about terrain while getting in position (though their footprint and survivability suffer). Even a MM added to a LR can be seen as a solid tank hunter, if only because the LR carrying it is such a pain to kill in return.

 

My preferred tactics aside, without bias I can say that any C:SM army and indeed any WH40k army needs to be able to address the destruction of enemy armor from any range. If this is not the case, then there should at least be redundancy in the primary method used (multiple DP melta squads, for instance).