Operations
Okay, I've been taking another look at my Godzilla Tyranid army. I've looked at my general design, my individual unit selection and now it's time to look at the actual operations aspect of it. I used this army a lot in 4th edition and I came up with a number of things that I did that were specific to this army. For a number of reasons, these methods of use worked well with the army. Part of that was due to the inherent toughness of the army. Another part was due to the high volume of short-ranged firepower. Still more was due to the "Wall effect" of using the Monstrous Creatures to block Line of Sight to the Genestealers behind them. Still more was due to the cumulative effect of multiple psychic screams in a small area. Looking at my last game, I think that, just as my unit choices and army style needed some updating to the rule changes for 5th edition, my tactics and operations also need some updating. The things that served me well in last edition aren't giving me the same mileage in this one. Some of these are directly due to rule changes, others are more from indirect effects. (An example of this in individual unit selection would be the improvement of blast weapons and changes to the Space Marines and Imperial Guard codexes. Because of these changes, I'm seeing fewer Lascannons and Plasma Guns in favor of more Missile Launchers. Because of that, giving my models a 2+ save is much more worthwhile.)

So let's go ahead and take a look at some of the assumptions I've been making and the tactics and operational decisions I've been using. I'll take each in turn and explain why I did it and see if there's a different way of doing things that might serve me better. I'll organize these operational and tactical decisions in order by when they occur.

Deployment
Typically when I deploy, I put my Monstrous Creatures in a straight line, base to base, as close as possible to the enemy army. This comes from several facts and preferences. The straight, base to base line comes from trying to block line of sight to the Genestealers behind my front line. Given the True Line of Sight rules, this isn't completely necessary anymore. I can no longer completely block LOS, but I can still give them cover. On the other talon, as long as I'm blocking at least half of the unit, I can still give them cover. This means I can probably start them slightly further apart and still give cover to the Genestealers. I put them as close as possible to the enemy army so that my short range Devourers can start shooting as soon as possible (also, as a Tyranid, I want to be as close as possible to the Food!) The Devourer has 18" range and I can move 6" before firing. That gives me 24" from the start of my turn. Typical missions start just over 24" apart, so I won't be able to fire on my first turn regardless of placement. If the enemy army doesn't move back, however, I should be able to start up to 5" back from my deployment zone edge and still be able to shoot on the second turn. Good, this means I don't have to be tied to the edge of the deployment zone, which may allow me to take better advantage of cover.

Second Turn
A habit that I picked up was taking the second turn whenever possible. Partly, I was confident that, given the toughness of my army, I wouldn't suffer much damage by giving up the first turn. Also, my short range Devourers couldn't hit anything beyond 24" and sometimes enemy armies would move a little closer so that they could maximize their firepower on that first turn. In addition, it often unnerved my opponents, since it made them wonder why I was giving up the first turn. While my army is very tough, some very firepower-intensive armies (such as the Imperial Guard army I faced a few weeks ago) can do serious damage during that first turn. While my Devourers cannot reach anything on the first turn, my 4 Venom Cannons and 2 Barbed Stranglers certainly can. Against fairly homogenous armies like Space Marines, 4 VCs won't typically do much damage, but against armies that either have a lot of mechanized firepower or that have small units with lots of firepower (such as the IG heavy weapons teams) they could actually do some impressive damage during that first turn.

Targeting Priority
I have also developed a tendency to shoot at the nearest targets with this army. The bulk of my weaponry is TL-Devourers, which have only 18 inches of range. While I have Barbed Stranglers and Venom Cannons, against Space Marine equivalents, these haven't done much reliable damage. Since most of what I fought were SM-type armies, I learned to lean on those TL-Devourers. In addition, their range also matched the range of my Psychic Screams. That all being the case, I'd generally shoot at the closest target until they ran away or evaporated under the weight of my fire. While that works fairly well against homogenous SM-type armies, it's much less effective against more varied armies. It also works a little differently under 5th edition, since Barbed Stranglers are now more effective than they were. So, much like the second-turn habit I picked up, I'll need to adjust my targeting priority as well. Against some targets, it may be worth only firing one weapon out of a pair such as the VC/TL-Devs on my Hive Tyrant, if the longer-range weapon can make an impact against a more important target further back in the enemy formation. Primary targets here would be firepower vehicles (not transports, typically) and small units that have high firepower, especially if either the high Strength or the AP4 of the Venom Cannon will have greater effect on them (for example: Imperial Guard Heavy Weapons teams now count the pair of soldiers on each weapon as a single, multi-wound model. This means that a S6+ weapon can instakill them!)

Objective-Taking
I used to rely on my army to take objectives as a single, concentrated group. As an alternative, I could typically count on winning on Victory points or simply wiping out the enemy army. Since my army relied on the Wall concept, I'd keep it together for the entire game no matter what. If I spread out, my Genestealers would be quickly wiped out and my psychic Screams and the effects of Synapse would be less effective. The first and last options for dealing with games are still viable, but the increased importance of Objectives and the prevalence of Cover Saves make them much less effective. On the other talon, I can no longer offer my Genestealers complete protection, but covering half of them gives them a cover save, which is mostly all they need. Given that, I need to start separating my force a little so that I can claim objectives on the last couple of turns with my Genestealers, while my Monstrous Creatures press forward into the enemy army but still provide cover for those Genestealers. I also need to consider the assault capabilities of my Monstrous Creatures so that, if need be, I can force an enemy unit off of an objective or at least contest it. Even though shooty carnifi aren't terribly good at assault, they have great staying power against low-medium strength power weapons or less.

Wrap-Up
Okay, so this all sounds good, but let's put it all in one coherent whole: I'm going to deploy my Monstrous Creatures such that some of them can provide cover saves to the Genestealers, but so that as many of the MCs also get cover as possible, too. They don't have to be right at my deployment edge and they don't have to be in a straight line. Lead MCs can also provide 50% cover to those behind, if necessary. While I will still generally do well if I take the second turn, having the first turn and choosing targets for my longer-range weaponry can be really helpful. Don't give up the first turn (for the most part) and don't forget to attempt to seize the initiative. Choose targets based on how much they can damage me and how much I can damage them, not solely focusing on the shorter-range weapons. Firepower vehicles and small firepower units will generally have priority, regardless of distance. Finally, I will detach parts of my army as necessary to take or contest objectives, and I won't hesitate to move onto them a little early, as all games may now end early (or late, it's always random now!)

What's Next?
The next step is to take my newly re-thought army and retooled list and get in a game where I use my newly re-planned operations and tactical ideas and see how it all goes together. I may find that I need to rethink some things, I may find that I still need practice with my new plans, but I won't know any of that until I get that game in and try it out. Bruce Lee said something to the effect that theory and knowledge are well and good, but sometimes you just have to strap on the gloves and get into the ring. Time to dance!

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