Codex Astartes: Favoured Approach

[Ming]

So how do you deal with enemy firepower, other than destroying it?

 

In a fairly recent game at a tournament...I moved away from it. Got ahead in KPs turn 1, and ran and hid behind cover, focus firing on any opponent unit (all terminators or ravenwing bikers) that got too close. It worked wonders.

 

Another tactic - shoot a vehicle just long enough to stun it or shake it. Then move on.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Coming from a BattleTech background, I think I have a fairly unique perspective when it comes to dealing with enemy vehicles and the amount of firepower they can put out. I'd be more than willing to bypass/ignore a vehicle if I had "pulled its teeth," so to speak, even for a turn. You see this a lot with Vindicators -- take out the big gun and then ignore them -- but in most cases, I'll accept a Shaken result because it means that I don't have to worry about it next turn. Even Land Raiders, with the Machine Spirit rule, can fire only one gun which is an effective thirding of their base volume of fire. I try not to concentrate unless The Plan makes it all but required that that particular tank die right now.

 

I also do try to use intervening terrain and other vehicles to protect my most valuable cargo/vehicles, but the tables I play on tend not to have lots of LOS-blocking terrain which kind of makes that difficult.

[Captain Idaho]

Coming from a BattleTech background, I think I have a fairly unique perspective when it comes to dealing with enemy vehicles and the amount of firepower they can put out. I'd be more than willing to bypass/ignore a vehicle if I had "pulled its teeth," so to speak, even for a turn. You see this a lot with Vindicators -- take out the big gun and then ignore them -- but in most cases, I'll accept a Shaken result because it means that I don't have to worry about it next turn. Even Land Raiders, with the Machine Spirit rule, can fire only one gun which is an effective thirding of their base volume of fire. I try not to concentrate unless The Plan makes it all but required that that particular tank die right now.

 

I also do try to use intervening terrain and other vehicles to protect my most valuable cargo/vehicles, but the tables I play on tend not to have lots of LOS-blocking terrain which kind of makes that difficult.

 

Yes I agree with this.

 

As for protecting my own vehicles, it's all about making it difficult to destroy the transport/vehicle you don't want to lose most. With Typhoons and Fast Melta units coming for the enemy, plus a clever placement of your AV11 vehicles to grant cover saves (usually using another of your vehicles or smoke to do so) often means the opponent will ignore the Rhino because he has immediate threats to counter.

 

You can exacerabate this aspect by moving a Tactical squad in a Rhino into a threatening position, or even putting such a unit in a vulnerable position to bait the opponent into contributing to its demise! Some people balk at such a move, but if used correctly particularly if said Tactical squad is not essential to you winning the game, you can write off any losses as strategically viable.

 

This works quite well if you have (in my case) Honour Guard a little behind the Tactical squad in the attack, with your firebase and home objectives safe at the back. The Tactical squad might rush forward into the teeth of the enemy and therefore needs to be dealt with. Whilst dealing with said Transport and Tactical squad (to protect the enemy home objective) your assault force has a better chance of reaching where they want to be.

 

Works even better in later turns because the opponent hasn't the luxary of dealing with your potential objective contesters in a couple turns, having to deal with them immediately lest they survive a next turn attack improbably and contest an objective (and winning the game).

[Gearhead]

I don't have a lot of melta, just the crusader. So, not much help there. I also have benched my devs for a bit, replacing them with Sternguard (more firepower and scoring), and a second typhoon (which is all the devs firepower back), so don't be pattin' me on the back there.

 

As for weathering firepower, I learned from playing Tau and Dark Eldar. The best way to deal with firepower is to not be there. Speeders are great at this. Cover's good, especially for scouts. Disabling is one of the best, taking out the big gun on a tank (usually the turret is the one that matters), or even shaking it will do the trick. Grey knights are a pain when it comes to this, since they can get rid of shaken very often. It doesn't work very often, but pinning is really useful for this. Basically, if you think you can rip out something important, go for it. If you don't think you can weather it, leave or bunker down. Dark Eldar are absolute jerk when it comes to this, their speed combined with shadowfields and flickerfields makes targeting them an total pain. We're not as fast, but we can still apply it.

[Something Wycked]

We've talked about our "spear-haft" units: firebases, counter-attack units, and Troops. Now let's get on to the glamour boys: the tip of the spear. Here we have the iconic Assault Terminators inside a Land Raider, rolling across the table to deliver sharp death to the enemy, shots glancing harmlessly off its ceramite hull. But not everyone uses that combination.

 

What unit do you use to lead your army's charge across the board?

 

I'm a very shooting oriented player, but I still have 20 Assault Terminators with varying kit, and a Land Raider Crusader. I also have a couple Assault squads/Vanguard Veterans to fly across the board.

 

So what is the tip of your spear made of?

[MagicMan]

Tactical Terminators.

 

 

Shooting **** up on the way in, and then massed powerfists.

 

 

I play with almost no vehicles, though. Except Dreads. So it doesn't matter that they're slow.

[Marine Errant]

I use a ten man assault squad with two flamers, usually led by a chaplain (and occasionally a captain with TLLCs). Sergeant has a TH/SS combo as well. Expensive but works surprisingly well all things considered. :)

[DarkGuard]

I use an Honour Guard squad with Chapter Master in a Rhino to lead the line. Thanks to their huge amount of power weapon attacks they will take apart nearly any unit. The lack of assault vehicle status on the Rhino matters little with proper positioning.

 

In the past I've also used my Sternguard squad in a Rhino to spearhead an attack, they can pump out enough shooting to take on nearly anything.

 

People may have noticed that these two units were also my counter-attack units earlier in the thread. The simple reason for this is because I use them for both roles depending on the situation. Thanks to the damage they can pump out and their mobility they can perform both roles admirably.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I've been laying off it lately, but my favorite speartip is a wall of four or five dreadnoughts (one Ironclad, one Venerable), all with DCCWs, with a harness-equipped MOTF riding shotgun to fix any immobilizations. People aren't normally usued to seeing that kind of massed stompiness and have a tendency to focus fire on them, which leaves my Tac Squads' Rhinos free to zip up to objectives and take the mid-field nearly unopposed.

[Gearhead]

Pedro, crusader, assault terminators. Pedro makes nearly unit decent at assault, so there's two tac squads up there in rhinos, powerfist and free stuff on them. Behind that to avoid getting shot up is an assault squad, two flamers and a powerfist. It's expensive, but it's also the counter assault force doing double duty. I also have speeders, but those are more for running flanks than spearheading.

 

I don't really build a dedicated spearhead, it's more like a buckler that I can hit people with. It's no Vulkan Deathstar, that's fore sure.

[maturin]

To continue the analogy, I throw a couple of pilums (javelins) at my enemy first to crack their units a bit - my LSS melta scouts, droppod dread, and scout bikes. Then I follow up with my gladius - Sternguard, which is protected by a scutum (Rhino Vanguard).

[Something Wycked]

To continue the analogy, I throw a couple of pilums (javelins) at my enemy first to crack their units a bit - my LSS melta scouts, droppod dread, and scout bikes. Then I follow up with my gladius - Sternguard, which is protected by a scutum (Rhino Vanguard).

:tu: I love it!