ZM Tactics Against Traitor Legions

[Cris R]

Hi folks, so I've been looking over the profiles of the traitor legions I'll be squaring off against at the NOVA Open ZM event with my Blood Angels and Dark Angels ZM lists and a two popped out to me as hard nuts to crack:

 

1) Death Guard, which really don't face major problems with ZM terrain rules and have units that can be devastating in close combat

2) Iron Warriors, which can hold the line with Wrack and Ruin and Shrapnel Bolts that will make life hard for my close combat focused units

 

Any thoughts on how I can take on these legions or other traitor ones that play well in ZM would be appreciated. Thanks!

Edited February 25, 2020 by Cris R

[Imren]

DG is good up close, their heavy flamers are very strong in ZM, and they have the best terminator units in the game bar sekhmets, especially in ZM.

 

I'd suggest plasma support squad with apothecary, And play them clever so that you get your rapid fire regardless if you get charged and shoot overwatch or if you shoot a regular round of shooting. Remember that overwatch is at full BS if you roll D6 at or below your initiative (66% probability to do so). Against their heavy flamer support just remember that they are regular T4 power armour, instead of charging them, shoot them off.

[Brofist]

Just going to go over general tactics:

 

Deployment will be critical as will playing the objectives. Avoidance is part of how you deal with both their special units- they're slow and good at area denial, but will take the whole game slogging up the table. If you have long ranged AP2 it can force them to commit or avoid you. This is less true for Tyrants due to their 48" range. Choosing second turn lets him commit everything first and lets you counter his deployment and then possibly seize the initiative too. DG are generally pretty slow.

 

Since your list has lots of fast moving units commit them to fights they can actually win, then hold them back until you have no choice against things like their deathstars. Look out for how the DG grenades from the terminators work. Its silly, but basically if they have LOS on one model in a unit, every hit they get can bleed over to everybody in the unit, even if they are standing behind a wall totally out of LOS (this is due to how the rules for templates and shooting work). You'll get cover saves for everybody behind a wall, but having to take 30+ saves when you only have one marine in LOS can really sneak up on you.

 

Finally, you really mitigate the impact of reaction fire and overwatch by using cleaver positioning. Overwatch/Reaction fire can only shoot if they have LOS. Use corners to position your charging unit so that as few enemy models as possible see your unit. This is especially handy against units with lots of AP3/AP2, but won't work at all against flamers thanks to wall of death :)

 

Have fun!

Edited February 25, 2020 by Brofist