Help with tactical terminology

[Demus Ragnok]

In reading tactical discussions I run across units being referred to as "suppression units".

 

What units or load outs can be considered as suppression units?

 

What other unit classifications are used within tactical lingo?

[minigun762]

In real life it would be providing covering fire to keep a unit from moving or engaging.

In 40k, my guess is it is a unit that can pin another unit using sniper weapons or barrage weapons.

[DarkGuard]

In real life it would be providing covering fire to keep a unit from moving or engaging.

In 40k, my guess is it is a unit that can pin another unit using sniper weapons or barrage weapons.

 

Furthermore, in 40K, any unit which will likely cause opposing units to Go to Ground to avoid damage.

[Excubitor]

So what's available there for C:SM?

 

Whirlwind, Sniper Scouts, Vindicator...Grav Centurions?

[Storm Dragons 3rd Company]

I would also think some of the psy powers that reduce WS or BS might count as supression.  Or something that essentially tarpits things could be a supression unit of a type.  To me it's more a designation of how you use the unit.  But I am interested to see how else this is responded to.

 

Did you try asking in the forum where you saw the term used?

[tdemayo]

Ever since the invention of the machinegun, effective small unit military tactics have involved using rapid-firing weapons to suppress enemy movement with one element, while maneuvering another into position to decisively assault the suppressed foe.  (There was really nice article about it on Frontline Gaming a week or so ago.  http://www.frontlinegaming.org/2013/10/10/stop-telling-me-assault-is-unrealistic-a-journey-into-army-doctrine/)  

 

Unfortunately, It's largely impossible to mimic modern fire and maneuver tactics in 40k. 40k is a game of cartoon violence, in which units stand up to enemy fire until they are dead or flee in terror.  They are rarely pinned or go to ground, and few weapons in 40k can force them to do so reliably.  40k's Machine-gun like weapons (the Heavy Bolter, the Heavy Stubber, etc) just aren't that impressive, and can't serve the same role they do in actual combat.  The few weapons that can Pin (like Sniper Rifles or Barrage Weapons) are largely countered by the wide distribution of high Leadership and even Fearlessness in 40k.

 

If you want to mess around with anything like real tactics, you need a different rules set.  Flames of War maybe, or Force on Force, come to mind.  But this takes us beyond the realms of 40k, and I digress.

 

In the meantime, embrace the madness of a very silly universe.  Jump on your motorcycle, paint your armor bright yellow, and chop those heretics in the face with your magic chainsaw.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Just because a weapon can't pin a unit doesn't mean it can't fix a unit.  Tdemayo, you're not talking about suppressing a unit, you're talking about fixing a unit.  One element fixing the enemy, a second element maneuvers to outflank that enemy.  Suppression and pinning are two entirely different things than fixing.

 

In 40K, you can't suppress (reduce enemy fire from a position by firing on that position) and as you said, there aren't a lot of weapons that pin (force an enemy to remain in a static position by use of overwhelming or pin-point fire).  Fixing, on the other hand, is done in every single game whether you know it or not.

 

Fixing a unit means that you've identified an enemy and are engaging them in such a way that they are not maneuvering.  So for example, I have a Predator Destructor firing on a mob of Ork Boyz.  The Boyz are in a woods template.  They stay there because they get cover against my rounds, but they are not impeded by rules (ie, involuntarily) from either moving or firing.  The Boyz are fixed.  Another example is how people mention board control.  Grav Centurions are great at controlling a 30" swathe of board thanks to the fear their weapons inspire in almost everything -- they are thus fixing the enemies around them, because the enemy doesn't want to enter their weapons envelope.  This domination of the enemy Movement Phase gives you the initiative in maneuver, since you are now the one dictating the enemy's movement.  In our Ork Boyz example, the Boyz might be content not to run out of cover because they're sitting on an objective; this doesn't mean they're not fixed, however, since now you can land an Assault Squad next to the woods and charge into the Boyz.  Congratulations, you have just flanked the Boyz by maneuver and are now (hopefully) carrying the position by assault.  This is how fixing and flanking, the cornerstone of modern military small unit tactics, works.

 

To the OP, my best guess is that the person you're talking about who mentioned a "suppression unit" is either talking about a unit with Pinning or a unit with a high rate of fire (like, say, quad heavy bolter Devs).

[tdemayo]

True. Thanks for correcting my terminology.  You can, indeed, fix an enemy unit in 40k, that is, prohibit its movement by making the controlling player fear the result if they move.  However, I'd still argue that the lack of suppression mechanics in 40k effectively prevents simulating most modern fire and maneuver tactics on the tabletop.   As I understand it, in modern combat -- never been there myself -- the target unit is ideally not simply prevented from moving, but also suppressed, ie prevented from effectively defending itself from the maneuver unit about to close with them.  In a game system with more "realistic" psychological effects,you could use your rapid-firing weapons to control enemy behavior and effectiveness to a much greater degree than in 40k.  In playing FoW, for example, there's a clear game-mechanical "grammar" that encourages and simulates such tactics, something 40k basically lacks.

[Demus Ragnok]

Thanks for the replies all. DEF your reply was really helpful.

 

The term came up in a thread I started about a "scouts and 'raiders" army list I was thinking about at the time.

2x Landraiders 2x10man bolter scouts and Khan I think. Anyway 6th edition C:SM put me off the idea. But in the discussion of the list someone suggested that I adding a "suppression" unit. I lost track with the thread and hadn't thought of it again until I started a new army list recently.

[tdemayo]

Are you still planning on building an army with 2 landraiders and 20 bolter scouts? If so, how do you intend to use them?  And what kind of landraiders do you want? That will largely determine what sort of fire support would be a good addition, to control the board and maybe pin enemy units.

 

I'm assuming you'd want to send the Landraiders in from a flank using Khan's outflank rule, and use the bolter scouts to fill up your quota of on-board units. Land raider crusaders or redeemers would seem to work best, since they will likely be close to enemy forces.  I'd put something in them, of course. So that's four outflanking units.  (If you combat squad the scouts, that would give you four on board units to compensate.) Exactly what would be good in the land raiders -- that's an interesting question.  You can't roll on and assault in the same turn.  So maybe some sort of shooting unit, especially if you want to clear any enemy meltaguns away from your land raiders.  Or you could just assume you'll assault the following turn and fill them with Hammernators or other CC goodness.

 

If you want a fire support that pins infantry and ignores cover, a Whirlwind, or a Thunderfire Cannon or two would do the job.  (The land raiders might or might not use up heavy support slots, depending on whether you buy them as dedicated transports for something.)  Sniper scout squads would synergize well with bolter scouts.  (Everything on the board could infiltrate.)  They could also pin, if that's what you're aiming for.  But you'd be light on anti-tank, overall, and reliant on MMeltas on the Landraider crusaders (if any), and whatever your transported squads cary.  Some ranged anti-tank units might actually help your army more than anti-infantry ones.

 

Anyway, such an army strikes me as hit or miss.  Against the right opponent, with good reserve rolls, a double land raider suppository would be terrifying.  Against someone with some meltaguns or other land-raider slaying weaponry -- or just someone prepared to wipe all your scouts out before the LRs arrive -- it might be a very short game. 

[Demus Ragnok]

Nah I just can't make myself drop the cash on the 6th edition C:SM. Right now I'm getting ready to build an army using Codex: Dark Angels. The anti traitor flavoring from that book fits my army fluff rather well.