Tips, Tricks and Tactics

Okay, we all know that some people are more effective with an army than other people would be, even with the exact same army list. Part of that is familiarity with the rules and how the units work together, and part of it is reaching down into that bag of tricks and pulling things out. By tricks, I don't mean pulling a rabbit out of a hat or hiding a card up your sleeve, I mean those little things that you do to maximize the use of your army and turn a losing situation into a draw or a win. I also want them to be generic, useful for almost any army, rather than specific army advice. I'd like to examine the contents of my bag of tricks today, plus a few things that I've seen others do that I want to add to it. Some of these tips will seem really simple, others a bit more complex. I'll start with Setup, then move through the phases of 40k, then move to general tips. With no further ado, here are the tricks.

Setup

Redeploying highly mobile units
If you place your highly mobile units in one position during setup, then use their speed to redeploy on the first turn, you can catch your opponent off-guard. This should leave them stuck in a dispersed formation and force them to redeploy as well, wasting their precious turns moving laterally when they could have been charging forward or shooting. If they don't redeploy, they will be in an awkward position and may be unable to support the rest of their army. Note that highly mobile is a relative term. In an Imperial Guard army, even moving your infantry 6" sideways is highly mobile compared to what your opponent expects. Throw them off balance and make them react to you.

Fake deployment
As you deploy your units, place one at the extreme end of your deployment zone. As your opponent reacts to your placement, place one at the other extreme end of your deployment zone. As your opponent reacts to that one, place another at one extreme end. Then continue to place all the rest in the same end. This way, you'll have the bulk of your army at one end of the board and a single unit at the other end. Your opponent will most likely, have spread out to cover the whole board or at least roughly split the army between the two ends. You now have a massive advantage over one side of the board. Crush that end while your decoy unit on the other end hides or fights a defensive battle to keep that side occupied. Then use the juggernaut of your strong side to move over and roll up the rest of the opposing side.

Movement

Retrograde Maneuvers
Sometimes you just need an extra turn to get your nasty shooting or assaulting units into range. Sometimes you just need to hold out that extra turn to get the win. When a big, nasty assault unit is bearing down on one of your poor units, move backward at the last minute instead of shooting. This only works if your movement will get you out of their charge range. If it does, you've bought yourself another turn. During that turn, maybe you can secure the objective or move other units to assist. When those other units are in range, then you can turn around and lay into the enemy assault unit for all you are worth. It's amazing the damage that several units (or half the army!) can do in a single turn if they concentrate on a single enemy unit.

Last turn real estate grab
In a game with an objective to seize or table quarters, position your units so they can use their movement on the last turn to grab what you are fighting for. Traditionally this is done with Fast units, like Space Marine Landspeeders. Even units with infantry movement can be used for this, however, they just need to be positioned closer to the area you are moving into, then they can cross over the line on your last turn. This is most effective if you went second (as the opponent will be unable to respond) but can still be effective otherwise as a surprise move, particularly if you manage to move into areas that are covered by terrain.

Shooting

Fire Discipline
Too many times I've seen players shoot at the closest unit, when they would have a better chance of damaging a different target. Alternately, I've seen people pour their fire into the scariest unit on the board, even though other targets were actually more dangerous. Choose the targets most appropriate to your weapons. If you have a Tactical Squad with Bolters and a Flamer and a Lascannon, most of your shooting will be wasted if you fire at a tank. On the other hand, if you have to take out that tank (for example, maybe it's a transport full of nasty Assaulters bearing down on you) that wasted firepower may be worthwhile. Decide what has your highest priority and shoot that first. For shooting armies against assaulting armies, the highest priority is always transports, usually followed by fast units. Once you've decided your priority, decide the most effective way to kill it, trying to leave the units that are best suited for firing at different targets until the end, so they don't waste their firepower unless it is absolutely necessary. In the above example of the tank and the Tactical squad, perhaps there is a Predator or a Rhino with an HK missile that can take out the tank, which would let the squad rapid fire into the nearer unit of assault troops on foot.

Selective Targeting
You know you really want to take out the Heavy weapon gunner or the Character attached to the squad. If you limit your range or Line of Sight, you can be selective about who you hit. (if the only thing within 12" of a Meltagun is the Chaplain…) Remember, however, that GW has re-clarified the IC rule so that they may no longer be singled out in a unit if they are the closest target at 12 inches.

It's the little things that count
Watch those little things that mean big points: If only one more casualty will reduce a squad to half, do it! If you are in a table quarters/objective mission that requires a squad of more than half strength to contest or seize the objective, cut all enemy down to half strength, then just make sure you've got at least one unit left.

Assault

Take Charge
Specifically, if they are going to charge you anyway, you might as well take the charge away from them. Not only will this give your side the extra attacks instead of theirs, it will also catch them flat-footed. The unit may not be arranged properly for the assault yet, leaving the heavy hitters back out of the front lines, or leaving the unit a bit spread out (good for limiting shooting casualties, good for preventing them from making assault casualties.) Either way, use this to your advantage and smack into them on your terms, not theirs.

A few good men
If you have some models in a squad that do more damage than others (a Sybarite amongst a DE Warrior squad, for example) limit the number of other bodies that make it into contact. While this will reduce the damage you do to the enemy, it will also minimize the number of enemy models that can strike back, hopefully letting you win the combat, even against foes that are superior to your ordinary models. You can do this by shaping the squad as they move or disembark. You can also do it by selectively moving the models as you charge. If you go roughly closest to closest, you can keep those in the back from getting to an enemy model with their assault move. You can also move those in front to channel the back ones, giving them a bottleneck to move through, limiting their numbers. Just make sure you get the heavy hitters in there first to get your shots in.

Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em
Sometimes in an assault, there comes a time to choose whether to let the enemy run away or not (or to try to run away yourself, if things aren't going so well.) When to let them run or when to run yourself in an assault. If it is about to be your turn, let them run away (or run away yourself) since you can then move, shoot and assault, giving your more options, or at least the extra attacks for a fresh charge if you want to smack them some more. If it is about to be their turn, don't give them that advantage, do what you can to keep them there or pursue them, depending on which version of the assault rules you are using.

General

Rollover accident blocking all lanes Southbound…
When your vehicles crash or are shot down, they are only required to be removed on an Ordnance Penetrating 6 result. The rest of the time, you should leave them in place. Remember that this gives you some extra terrain to work with. Use it. Turn it on it's side or top, and position it a bit to give you better cover. (Don't go overboard with careful positioning, but use it to your advantage.) By the same token, watch where you put any surviving troops as they disembark. If you put them close to the enemy, they may receive further fire or be charged. Position them behind the crashed vehicle so they can regroup and survive the turn.

Choose Wisely
When you take casualties, make sure they're the ones you want. If there's an enemy unit close to your unit that may assault this turn, try to remove the closest casualties first, to give them those extra few inches to cover that might make the assault fail. You may also want to remove models from the edge of a unit to keep it in coherency so that it can fire heavy weapons next turn. In an assault, you want to keep your heavy hitters alive, obviously. You may also want to keep your models that are in base to base contact with enemy heavy hitters alive, to keep them from being able to select better targets with their pile-in movement. Alternately, you may want to have an opening so you can get your heavy hitters in there to duke it out.

Up against the wall, you Maggot!
Characters have difficulty staying alive in close combat when they are outnumbered. If you can get your back to a wall, it will limit the number of enemies that can surround you, limiting their attacks to a more manageable number.

Sacrifices and Speedbumps
Sometimes a few must die so the many can live. If there's a Big Nasty (Hive Tyrant, Wraithlord, Deathbringer, etc.) bearing down on your lines, charge a squad into it. Most of the really big, bad models have a relatively small number of attacks, and even the ones with lots of attacks really need to be hitting expensive models to make their points back. You should be able to tie them up for a turn or two with a squad, longer with larger units. On the other hand, sometimes a squad has little use in the current game (perhaps it can no longer claim quarters, or it's special abilities aren't useful for this kind of game) at that point, don't be afraid to throw it away. That unit of Mandrakes will be excellent for blocking Line of Sight to your main unit, the one holding the objective. Watch those points, however, in a mission where VPs are important.

Bait and Trap
Use a cheap squad or a juicy target like a character as bait to draw the enemy in, then use a nearby squad of nasty things to counter assault. My opponents would frequently hunt down my Hive Tyrant with their tooled up combat characters. After this happened once or twice, I took to positioning a unit of Genestealers nearby to countercharge, making sure that, even if they destroyed my Tyrant, that unit would also be destroyed. More often than not, however, the Tyrant survived due to my nearby Genestealers. This can also be effective for shooting. Use a small or cheap squad setup out in front of the rest of your army. The lead enemy assault units will make a beeline for that unit. When they get there, they will beat them into the ground, but then will have to sweeping advance (or stand there) afterward and get shot by your whole army.

You and what army?
The bulk of tactical ideas can be boiled down to Local Superiority. If you've got more stuff in one area than the enemy does, you will dominate. If you dominate this area, you will take fewer casualties, allowing you to bring your force to bear on the remainder of the enemy army, preferably crushing them piecemeal with your whole force.

Keeping the Bag Open

Play nice and share
Many of us have used these tactics or tricks in one form or another. I've attempted to compile the most useful and write them out without army specifics, so that anyone can use them. If you see some that you haven't used before, try them. If you've used some, but not for your current army, try those. Some people wonder why I give away my tactics and ideas, even to my potential opponents. I like to think that the better a player my opponent is, the better I'll be in the long run, and the more fun I'll have, even if I lose this particular game. Anyway, if you have any tips, tricks or tactics that you like to use, send them in. As more come in, I'll try to keep this page updated, so it can be used as an ongoing resource, if you'd like.

If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know

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