Character Tactics

Keep yourself Alive

Every 40k player wants to keep the HQ alive. It is, after all, the “mini-me,” the representation of the player, so who would want it to die? There are a number of ways to keep your character alive and to make it more effective on the battlefield. While I will be specifically mentioning Hive Tyrants, most of this advice will work for other characters as well.

Keep your eyes on the Prize

First off, most characters can take tons of Wargear or options to make them do some really cool things. If you take them all, however, you can be spending upwards of 250pts on a single figure, and you won’t get nearly the value out of it. That being said, you also don’t want to skimp so much that you sweat a melee with a bunch of grots. The key here is to evaluate your options and decide what role your character should play. If you just want a character that provides steady leadership and perhaps provides a command squad with fire support, there’s no sense in giving that character a jump pack or paired Lightning Claws, since those points will be better spent on other things. On the other hand, if you need somebody that will massacre basic troops in close combat, you don’t necessarily need an Iron Halo or Artificer armor. Decide what it is that your character should do and stick with it. While there are any number of ways to outfit various characters, they boil down to a few major choices, which I will detail below. Not all characters will be limited to a single choice, but if you give your character too many options, you will be denying yourself valuable points for the rest of your army, and if the character dies to an unlucky hit, you’ll be seriously in the hole. In addition, too many roles can make it hard to effectively use a character (“Hmm, should I shoot that squad, then assault it, or should I try to blow up that tank, or maybe I should try to take out that enemy leader that’s threatening my flank…”)

Support: This is usually a fairly bare bones choice. The goal of this character is to assist something else in the army, whether it is through a little added firepower, better leadership, or actually modifying what another unit can do (such as a Farseer with Guide.) These HQs usually have little more than basic equipment, since they probably won’t see direct combat, if all goes well, and the only expense is whatever the cost of the assistance they provide.

Tank-Buster: This character is a bit more expensive. It will require something to enhance it’s movement, such as a jump pack or Wings, so that it can chase down the vehicles in question. In addition, it will need something to give it antitank abilities. Plasma guns and Meltabombs help here, as do Powerfists and Chainfists. Although this character will need some protection, it is not vital to the mission, since vehicles don’t fight back in close combat. Although the enemy may try to put a lot of firepower into this character, the combination of good mobility (you did go out and buy some when I recommended it above, didn’t you?) letting you move from cover to cover, and Independent Character targeting rules, should keep you out of too much fire.

Combat Monster: Again, fairly expensive, but there will be lots of frills that you can avoid. You will need a lot of attacks and some sort of effective weapon. This is a character that is designed to go out and chew up enemy squads. Having good mobility is useful here, but it isn’t a necessity. This character may be able to be added to a squad, enhancing it’s assault effect and protecting the character from being singled out. Good standard armor is a must here, since you will be taking on lots and lots of troops, meaning you’ll be weathering a lot of basic attacks. This character won’t have to worry so much about invulnerable saves, however, since it is focusing on killing basic troops rather than characters, which are likely to carry power weapons.

Character Assassin: This is also more expensive. To take on enemy characters, you need a slightly different load out than to take on regular enemy troops. Although you will still want a good weapon, particularly one that ignores armor, your chosen opponents are more likely to be carrying power weapons and having good initiative, meaning you absolutely need an invulnerable save. Mobility is also useful here, since it will make it easier for you to single out and tango with the enemy characters you want to take down. It is good to have a close combat squad nearby to support this character, since you don’t want him to get bogged down in close combat with basic troops unless he’s already taken out all his other targets.

Weigh your options

Go ahead and do some comparison shopping. Look at each of your options, and compare how much it costs with the benefits it gives. As an example, I did an analysis of Warp Blast and Enhanced Senses (a medium range solid antitank weapon and BS4) by comparing how much it cost to how much damage it would do. Even though my Tyrant spends most of his game time tied up in close combat, and given my tendency to roll ones when using this power, I decided that it was worth it. If I kill a 100pt character or vehicle even one game in three, the power has paid for itself, and that seems like pretty good odds. On the other hand, Rending Claws would only be useful against enemies with extremely high Toughness, such as Wraithlords and Talos models. Despite Rending Claws being cheaper, the extra attack I get from a second set of Scything Talons is worth quite a bit, and has been the difference between life and death for my Tyrant on a number of occasions. Sometimes there are options that you can take that give you additional capability at relatively low cost. Even if you rarely get to use that option, the low cost makes it acceptable to add it on “just in case.” In addition, if the character is going to be expensive anyway, items that increase the survivability of the character are good options.

Be Supportive

Characters are always more effective if they have some help. Make sure they get that help in some way. Squads nearby prevent an Independent character from being targeted unless that IC is the closest target within 12 inches. In addition, a mass of bodies in an assault will provide extra damage, prevent the character from being surrounded, and help drag down the Morale check of the enemy when the character lays into them. I like to have a brood of Genestealers near my Tyrant if at all possible. Then, when high Initiative characters try to tackle my Tyrant, the Genestealers tackle them before they can say, “Taste hot Plaguesword death, Hive Tyrant!” Nearby squads may also keep characters from being assaulted, or may charge in if the character is assaulted, lending their numbers to the attack. Vehicles can be used to run interference for a character, blocking Line of Sight or even forcing enemies to go around the vehicle to get at the character.

What and Why

Here are the choices I have made about my Tyrant, the upgrades I take, and why. The Hive Tyrant is a large creature (T6, W4) with a special 12” leadership ability. Between being such a large creature, being an HQ unit and having that leadership ability, the Tyrant will take a lot of shooting, especially since it cannot use the Independent Character targeting rules. To increase my Tyrant’s survivability, I gave it wings, so that it could get into the safety of close combat more quickly, moving from cover to cover before then. Eventually, when that proved to be not good enough, I also upgraded it’s armor save from a 3+ to a 2+ using extended carapace. The Tyrant’s armor save is not invulnerable, however, so this leaves it vulnerable to Powerfists and Powerweapons. Since I planned on my Tyrant taking on enemy characters, I knew it would need both of the Adrenal Glands upgrades (WS6 and I5) so that it could hit them more often than they hit it, and it could hit them before, or at least at the same time as they hit back. In addition to this, since characters often have multiple wounds and invulnerable saves, I wanted to capitalize on any wounds my Tyrant did make, so the slight cost for Implant Attacks (causes two wounds for each failed armor save) seemed definitely worthwhile. On the same lines, I wanted it to cause as much damage as possible, and the best bet seemed to be to give it two sets of Scything Talons (giving it 3+2 basic attacks.) On the other hand, bioplasma would give me an additional S7 attack at Initiative 10, but it would only hit half the time, and wouldn’t ignore armor saves. Being a Monstrous Creature, the Tyrant is already quite good at taking out Vehicles in hand to hand combat, and the addition of Warp Blast adds a little to the threat without taking away an attack, like a Venom Cannon would do. As I mentioned above, however, I make sure to support my Hive Tyrant wherever possible, whether by having Genestealers nearby or adding a Carnifex to the assault or whatever.

How do I work this?

A combination of good planning, support and surgical strikes gives my Tyrant the edge in battle. My Tyrant always starts behind cover, that way it cannot be taken out by good shooting on the first turn (I learned this one the hard way, trust me.) Even if that means it starts a little further back, the mobility it has will make up for all but the longest ranges quickly. As I start to move the Tyrant forward, I'm also moving fast models up to try to engage the enemy, preventing some Line of Sight to my Tyrant. The Tyrant will also use Warp Blast during the initial movement. This will be mostly targeted at enemy tanks, to cut down the next turn’s firepower. The turn that the Tyrant engages in close combat will also see use of the Warp Blast. This may again be directed at tanks, but it will more often be used to soften up a squad. If I can position the Tyrant correctly, it is possible to get an enemy character to be the closest target within 12 inches, meaning that character can be fired on, and the S10 AP1 Blast will often autokill characters, meaning the Tyrant has less to worry about in the impending assault. It has the same effect against Terminators or other units that have the potential to mangle my Hive Tyrant. In fact, against Terminators, I fire the Warp Blast, then engage just one model with my Tyrant. The Warp Blast has a decent chance to kill off a Terminator, and the Tyrant will likely take out 2 more in my initial charge, leaving none in base contact to strike back. After they consolidate around the Tyrant and the next turn’s combat comes, the Tyrant will likely take out at least two more, meaning that the squad has suffered 4-6 casualties before they ever get a chance to strike back with those powerfists. Adding a few Genestealers or a Carnifex to the mix really shuts them down. Even gaunts are extremely useful here. A unit of gaunts may be effectively unable to hurt the terminators, but they can keep the Terminators from surrounding the Tyrant, allowing it to munch through the Terminator squad with ease. The same idea goes with targeting characters in a combat, swiftly taking down those models that have the best chance of hurting the Tyrant before they can do real damage. Between starting behind cover and having fast units engaging the enemy, I can limit my Tyrant’s vulnerability to shooting. Using surgical strikes, both with Warp Blast and with charging specific models, cuts down on the models that can potentially harm the Tyrant. In addition, supporting units also keep the Tyrant from getting overwhelmed. The proper combination of these effects is a very effective strategy to use to keep your HQ alive, no matter it’s composition, and to multiply it’s power in the game.

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