Doubles tactics and Competitive

[The Wolfguard]

Now I know this question is going to come off as kind of vague and that there is probably not much people can help with until specifics are known but without further ado:

 

Me and my best mate are looking to get into doubles and maybe try some competitive. Our gaming community isn't so big in our area and we only really get chance to play against each other but after both playing a long time we finally want to group up and try it out. It looks like there are some tournaments that whilst competitive seem pretty chilled which look good.

 

I'm just looking for general advice for us to get started what we should think about when crafting lists to work together. He wants to run his ad mech or necrons. I currently have marines (any faction), custodes or gsc. I might look to start up a new army to get working with him.

 

Are there any tips and tricks? Anything we should be aware of in list building or think about specifically that we might not think about in normal games? We both follow the meta a lot and have a general inkling for what's good or not and there'll be a lot to learn for sure!

[WarriorFish]

If possible find out exactly how the pairings work, e.g. how do rules/auras impact the allied army as this will change what people do and you can expect (as well as what you can do of course).

 

The best doubles lists are ones that work together the most as a rule of thumb. Not just in supporting each other but also in filling gaps - the latter perhaps most important! At the most basic level this is divvying up the various phases of the game e.g. army X focuses on shooting and holding ground/objectives, army Y on closing with the enemy and denying their ground/objectives etc. This usually comes in the form of a shooting army and a "non-shooting" one, as it's easier for the non-shooty army to do its thing as the shooty element will generally hold and deliver dice justice from afar.

 

There's also the other side of working together in uniting to do one thing. This is somewhat of a meta move for doubles games, essentially it's saturation taken to the extreme as it is to a degree less expected. As with all such approaches loading the weights runs the risk of coming up against someone with the right answers...

 

Otherwise it's still the game you know, so you'll be aware what's good and what's not and that shooting and numbers are pretty much a requirement. I've played a fair number of doubles games (even triples back in the day) and they're a lot of fun as aside from more people involved it really mixes up how things work so you can try weird and wonderful things that might not work on the face of things... maybe less on the last point for a tourney even if not that competitive though

 

So first thing to do is scope out what armies you each wish to use and see what compatibilities they may have, once you've agreed you can narrow your focus on the units and roles :) Playing often together should mean you work well together also, so hopefully that gives you an additional hidden strength :tu:

[The Wolfguard]

Hey! Thank you for the quick reply and sorry about my slow one! I decided to have a think about what you said, about doubling down on saturation or essentially covering each others' flaws. I'm unsure how pairing will work as of yet, and mostly have been thinking about armies to play.

 

 

He's definitely looking at Crons/Mechanicum, which obviously play in pretty different ways. I've been deciding on chapters to play and I think I'm going to go with an Imperial Fist list. I love primaris marines, love the humble bolter and want a lot of intercessors so seems a pretty obvious pick for myself I think. I think that Imperial Fist can cover the weaknesses of both mechanicum and crons pretty well due to their versatility too so that might work out!

 

I need to actually get my army ready to a good standard then I'll definitely be looking at actual tournaments to try out and see! I'm unsure if there's a standard amount of points they're played to but I was generally looking at 1k points for my army when doing test lists, not sure how close that is but I think it's enough to give me some examples of what to build. 

 

I'm honestly really excited about it! I'm sure it won't go too well at first as we get the synergy down but I'm still happy to lose a few and learn!

[WarriorFish]

The most important criteria is what you want to play ;) With your ally's preference being more shooty that's something to start with, while Marines are also shooty the game favours this currently so you wouldn't be losing out by going all in. Plus all armies can muster some combat potential for counter charges and the like.

 

If you're set on what you want to do maybe that's the first step to take? Draft your preferred list and send it to your teammate for input. Maybe he has some ideas for you, and it will give him ideas for himself?

[The Wolfguard]

Not a competitive game but had a doubles game mostly for fun today, I ran an all primaris army, with two captains, 1 chapter master and 1 beefed up 'tough' captain. Along with a squad of 9 intercessors with stalkers, squad of 10 with stalkers, and a squad of 9 with auto bolt rifles made into veterans with a power fist in there. I then took a repulsor kitted out in the list. It was a fun game, allied with necrons as I said, playing against admech and nids. It was a very brutal game, with the enemy seizing the initiative and instantly blowing up the repulsor turn one I thought it looked bleak from the start..

 

However as soon as I bolstered cover for one of my 10 man squads, it quickly became a game of attrition with the crons slowing them down, the primaris marines in cover with 2+ or 1+ are really dang tough. I'm considering next time just having the one squad of 10 in bolstered cover near an objective, then having smaller squads spreading out with captains in each ready for melee. Maybe turn the 10 man stalker squad into hellblasters but I'm not too sure yet...

[The Wolfguard]

Got a friendly doubles tournament coming up! Its 750 points and I'm allied with grey knights who are doing a termie list! I'm thinking of using:

 

1x primaris captain

1x primaris lieutenant

 

3x5 intercessors

 

2x invictor warsuits

 

1x3 eliminators..

 

 

It's a big light on the ground but I'm the choice between invictors and the grey knights (2 hqs and 2 termie squads plus a regular squad) deep strike will keep pressure on and allow us to get to objectives...

 

Rules are strict with no forgeworld, no flyers and no super heavies!