Beat the AssaultWarhammer 40k (3rd edition) is a game that leans toward assault. To paraphrase Kenton Kilgore, there are two assault phases and only one shooting phase in each turn, and if you wipe out a unit by shooting, you don’t get to run up the field and start shooting another unit! Since 40k is more slanted toward assaulting than shooting, there are quite a number of armies that specialize in it, and quite a few players that emphasize it as well. Well, if you have an assault-style opponent that is giving you trouble, this article might be able to help. I plan on giving you some insight into what makes different types of assault army tick as well as covering a number of tactics and pieces that you can use against them. Assault Style
There are several different styles of assault army. Although each one emphasizes assault, they have their own individual ways of getting the job done, which is important in figuring out how to stop them. Some assault armies may have elements from more than one of the styles discussed below. Mechanized Assault army. These are often Space Marine based and feature lots of Troop Transports, such as Rhinos. They are fast, even with the changes to vehicular assault, and they also have their units mostly under armor, where it is difficult to hurt them right away. These armies rely on their transport vehicles to get the job done, and can be severely restrained if their transports are knocked out. Note that Speed Freak Orks are a non-marine example of this style of assault army. Fast Assault army. This style of assault army relies much less, if at all, on vehicles. It generally features fast moving units of one type or another. These units may have jump packs or naturally fast movement or long assault ranges. They are less vulnerable to the anti-vehicle weapons that will stop a Mechanized assault army, but the lack of vehicles does make them more prone to injury from light weapons and templates of all kinds. Units in this type of army generally emphasize speed and mobility over power, meaning that they aren’t necessarily much better than most basic troops when it comes to combat, but their speed and the fact that several units can gang up on a single enemy tends to make up for it. Typical examples of this style of army are Tyranids and some Orks. Slow Assault army. This style of assault relies on having a relentless, crushing force. They move across the table slowly, ignoring casualties either through huge numbers or good armor/toughness. This can be rather disheartening, but there are two things that weigh against them. Time is their first enemy. Every turn they take to get across the board is a turn that they aren’t smashing your army, and a turn that they take losses from your shooting. In addition, not all units are created the same. These armies, like most assault armies, generally rely on a few, powerful units to do most of their damage, meaning that if you can eliminate those units, you will be in good shape. Typical examples of this style of army are some Tyranids and Orks. Anti-Assault TacticsThere are a number of anti-assault tactics available. I’ll discuss each one in turn. Attacking Time. The assault army has to get it’s work done in a short amount of time. If it takes 3 turns to get into combat, the army is left with only 3 turns (5-6 assault phases) in a typical six-turn game to do all the damage it needs to win. The more you can add to the time it takes them to get into contact, the less damage they can do to you. Knocking out their transports is vital to this tactic. You can use terrain to slow them down by funneling them through small passages or having difficult ground between your armies. Wall units can be good here as well, but I’ll discuss them fully below. Simply moving your units out of charge range can be a useful device as well, even without firing on the enemy, you have prevented them from engaging your forces for another turn. Wall Units. Walls are units that will slow down or stop an enemy assault. They may do this by being very difficult to damage (Dreadnaught, Wraithguard) or difficult to wipe out (large Guardian squads, ‘uge Ork mobz, Spinegaunts) but either way, they help to keep the enemy contained. Even if the enemy can kill off those 20 Guardians in 3-4 assault phases, that’s more time you have to move out of the way and prepare for their charge, or just shoot the rest of the army. Counter Charge. A counter charge unit is one or more of your dedicated assault units, whether that is a brood of Genestealers or a Chaplain, that is positioned just behind for lines ready to pounce on an enemy unit that engages those lines. Yes, you can actually beat an assault army in an assault, if you can pick your assaults. That way you can bring 2 or 3 powerful units together to take on a single enemy assault unit. Wall units and Picket units (described above and below, respectively) are very handy for this, as they help you fix an enemy squad in place and move your forces to it. This gives your counter charge unit the advantage of extra attacks for assaulting, and allows you to pick your targets. Picket units Sometimes you want to get the assault army to charge a particular unit. Maybe that unit is a Wall unit, so you can tie them up for a while, maybe you’ve got some counter charge units waiting nearby to lend a hand, or maybe you want to keep a different unit from getting charged. You might be able to pull faster units further away from the rest of the assault army, allowing you to defeat the army piece by piece. You might even decide to sacrifice the unit to allow you to fire on the enemy unit in question. Picket units will be a little forward of your main lines, making them tempting targets for the enemy. If you are planning on sacrificing them so that the rest of your army can shoot when they die, make sure that they are at least 4” away from the next unit, since otherwise the enemy might try consolidating into the next unit when they win the combat. One key to this plan, however, is making sure that your picket unit loses during the enemy assault phase (ie: right before your turn, not his!) so that you can actually shoot! You may need to reinforce your picket squad if it looks like they will lose in your turn. Remove closest models from shooting. If the assault army shoots at units close to their line of advance, remove the models closest to the assault if at all possible. The few inches gained by this can take the unit out of assault range on that turn, giving you one more turn to blast the enemy, and taking one turn of his time away. Target priority. When shooting at an assault army, just blazing away is usually ineffective. Most assault armies are good at getting to your front lines quickly and cutting down the time you have to shoot at them, meaning you won’t usually be able to wipe them all out before they get there. The key here is to figure out what you really need to kill first. Transports or anything that gets them to you faster are usually the highest priority, since a few transport losses can divide the army for you, while losing most of the transports will give you an extra turn or two to kill more stuff or maneuver where you want. Look for key units and models as well. These are the ones that do most of the damage to your army. That Space Marine Assault squad with the jump packs looks menacing, but if you are in good armor, only the guy with the power weapon will really do much damage, so gang up on him when possible. That unit of Dark Eldar Incubi can unload a world of hurt, so you might want to ignore the Warrior squads with Dark Lances in favor of taking down the Incubi. Not all units are created equal, and every shot you spend on killing things that won’t do much damage is a shot that might have won you the game. The End-Game. Hopefully, this article has helped you understand how and why assault armies work, and given you some tips on how to stop them, or at least tip the balance in your favor. Some assault armies can seem totally overwhelming, but take the time to look at them carefully and plan your strategy and you might just win the day. If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know |