Making the best out of what you've got
Last year I wrote an article about making the most of what you've got. In the article I acknowledged that sometimes you have limitations that prevent you from having the coolest or best models. It covers different ways to make sure that what you do buy is exactly what you need, and suggestions on using one model for several tasks or converting a special model from a basic one. I also mentioned using magnets or other temporary attachments to make your models serve multiple purposes. The primary gist of the article was that of saving money on the models that you buy. The advice in the article is still good, but there's more that can be done. You can make sure that your models are outfitted in the most optimum manner, so each one is as effective or efficient as possible. You can also make sure that you use each model in the most effective or efficient way possible, so you get more mileage out of what you do have. With no further ado, let's have a look, shall we?

Exceeding your Limits
Most 40k players have limitations in one form or another. You might be limited by money, meaning you can't afford to always buy the newest, coolest models. You might be limited by time, such that you can't spend as much time converting or painting your models, or even that you don't get much practice with your army. You may even be limited by your own concepts. Perhaps you think your army should look a certain way, or you have a theme that you want to follow which may preclude the use of certain weapons or units. Sometimes it can seem that these limitations keep your army from being successful. They are after all, limitations. All other things being equal, if there are two armies on the table and one of them has more limitations than the other, which one is more likely to win? The key there is the statement that all other things are equal. On quite a few occasions I've seen people that are very good generals use a very limited army to beat an army built with fewer limitations. Part of the key was that they had better tactics and strategy. I've also seen armies with strict limitations beat armies without them because the limited units were still built for high efficiency or effectiveness. Finally, I've seen limited armies defeat armies without limits because the limited army was built so that it's units worked together more effectively. High efficiency and/or effectiveness, synergy (working together), tactics. We'll take a look at each in turn to see how to improve what we've got.

Limitation: Models
You've got a certain number of a certain kind of models, and you can't afford any more of them. Your first option is to convert what you've got. One of the easiest conversions is to make a standard squad member into a squad leader or character. That's what I did with my Dark Eldar Sybarites. Rather than buying a more expensive model, I simply improved the look of a basic plastic model and created some home-made wargear for it. You can do the same with heavy and special weapons, sometimes creating the weapons from scratch, other times by adjusting the look of the weapon the model already has. A number of my Dark Lance gunners were simply plastic Warriors that I converted to carry a Dark Lance I'd purchased in a Bitz order. That was significantly cheaper than the pewter models, and it gave me more variety in terms of poses. You can even do this with Characters. By changing the pose of the model and adding details and wargear, then making sure that you spend extra time painting it, you can have your own, custom character. It might be a Chaplain on a Bike (created from a Space Marine biker), it might be a Dracon on a Skyboard (created from a plastic Warrior), or it might be a Broodlord converted from a Genestealer. Each of these takes a fairly basic model and through adding flourishes and various posing and weapon conversions, turns it into something unique and interesting that is also far more effective than the original model. You can also convert vehicles into other vehicles, such as turning a Rhino into a Razorback or Whirlwind, as I mentioned in the original article. Going further, you could make one model that can be used in different ways. I have seen a Razorback with a reversible top, such that if you flip the top upside down, hiding the turret, it looks like a normal Rhino and can be used that way. I've also seen a Rhino with an attachable Missile turret to make it a Whirlwind. You could buy a single Rhino chassis, and a couple of turrets and have several vastly different models for the price of one. You could also convert a Predator from a Rhino, which could save you some money. Finally, you can use imaginative conversions to give you totally different kinds of units. I've seen Imperial Guard Sentinels made from jeep or half-track models. I've seen Rough Riders mounted on Tyranid Gaunts rather than horses, and I've seen Chaos Bikers converted from basic CSM models and put on mechanical walkers. I've also seen defilers made mostly of putty and various bits and pieces cobbled together into a bizarre, chaotic construct.

Limitation: Time
There are only so many hours in the day and there's so much you have to do. You just don't have time to keep messing with your army, tinkering with it and painting it and converting it and even practicing with it. Here's where a limited number of models helps. If you are playing a very, very small army, such as Deathwing or Ravenwing or Iyanden Eldar, you don't have nearly as many models, which means less painting and conversion time is necessary. This is one of the reasons that I am looking into a very small army for my next 40k expansion. Even if you don't have such a small army, you can take the army you've got and apply some different concepts to it. You can choose a simpler paint scheme, so that each model is painted more quickly. You could even choose a different painting technique, such as drybrushing, washing or dipping that lets you get the army painted up to a "gaming standard" quite quickly. By limiting your conversion work, you will also speed things up. To avoid having your army all look the same, you can do the easy conversions like using particular heads or slightly varying poses and the angles weapons are held at. None of the stuff that involves actually taking a modeling knife to your army, just a bit of glue. There are also some ways to make your army more effective without having to spend a lot of time practicing with it. One of these is to make the army simple. If you have a "point and click" army, you don't need to have a lot of practice with fancy tactics, you can just set it in motion and keep it running smoothly. One way to do this is to have more efficient units. There are a number of internet forums and discussion groups devoted to various armies and you can get a lot of good advice about what the best units are and how to make them the most efficient. If you choose your army from these best, most efficient units, you'll have an army that is simple to use and will give you good results without a lot of practice. (I'm not saying you'll win every game, but it will give you a big edge.)

As an example, let's take a Space Marine army. If you read up on Space Marine forums, you'll find that Assault Cannons are hands-down the most effective weapon out there for Space Marines. (Better against vehicles than a Lascannon, better against Troops than a Heavy Bolter, better against Monstrous Creatures than a Plasma Gun.) By choosing models and units that have Assault Cannons, you'll have a very efficient army that will be easy to use. (Again, this won't win all your battles for you, but it makes using the army easier and it gives you an edge.) You can also use one army list. This is something I do frequently because I want to be able to take on all-comers with one standard list. It generally means you have to have more diversity in your list as it has to be able to stand up to anything, but it also means you are always working with the same units, and usually the same configurations of those units. That means that whenever you do get a chance to play, you use the same army and become more familiar with it more quickly than someone that changes their army frequently. (Player A plays 20 games and changes his army for each game, depending on the opponent or the mission or just on a whim. Player B only gets to play 10 games, but uses the exact same army each time. Which one will be more familiar and thus more effective with his army after the end of these games?) The more familiar you are with your army, the more flexible and effective you can be with it. If you don't have a lot of time, limit your army so that you get more familiar more quickly. Finally, you may be able to apply your time differently. For example, I typically don't get to play very many games. That means I don't get as much of a chance to actually take out my army and push my models around the table and practice my tactics. On the other hand, I do have time to read army forums and think of different ways to use my army. Thus I can spend non-gaming time improving my game so that when I do get to play, I can be better at it. I can spend some time working out how to make my units individually more effective, I can learn more about using my units cohesively so that they are more effective than they were by themselves and I can get a better understanding of tactics so that I can out-maneuver my opponent when I do get to the table, all without getting a game in. Thus, when I do get to play, I can be a better player.

Limitation: Concept or Theme
Sometimes we have a concept of an army that we just can't or don't want to shake. Perhaps to you the quintessential Tyranid force is the swarm. You just can't get over those StarShip Troopers images of hordes of bugs swarming over the enemy in vast numbers. If this is the case, you don't want a bunch of Monstrous Creatures, because it would take away from having the little bugs. Alternately, you may see your Space Marines as brutal, hardened commandos that want to take the fight to the enemy instead of standing back and shooting. In this case, you probably wouldn't want a bunch of Tanks or Devastators, because it would take away from your charging hand to hand fighters. Sometimes we have a theme that we want to follow. You might have a preference for one kind of weapon over another. (Salamander Space Marines prefer flamer and melta and plasma weapons, so you might not want to take Assault Cannons and Heavy Bolters.) Perhaps your theme is assaulty Tyranids and you want to avoid guns if at all possible. Any way you slice it, these limitations mean that there are certain things that either won't appear in your army or that you won't have very many of. That means two things: you need to make the units you do have more effective and you need to make the units you have somehow cover for those that you don't.

You can make the units you do have more effective in a couple of different ways. You can make them more effective by making them very efficient. Outfit the unit so that it is very specialized and good at one thing. If you avoid taking gear or options that don't help with their primary task, you can get a unit that is very, very good at one thing and since it doesn't cost too many points, you can take more units. One example of this would be the standard Space Marine 6-member Lascannon/Plasma squad. 4 Space Marines with Bolters, 1 Lascannon, 1 Plasma Gun. For less than 100pts you've got an antitank weapon that combines with the plasma gun to give good effect against opponents in powered armor as well. Plus it's a Troop choice and it can take 4 Wounds before it starts losing its real ranged power. (Note that you could make it a 5-member squad and save a few points, but the extra Wound is helpful and even numbers are more efficient in terms of victory points.)

You can also go the opposite direction in terms of effectiveness. If you give a unit a little bit of variety of gear, they can do more than one thing, and that flexibility can make them effective. Even if they aren't as efficient, having a unit that can do multiple things means that they'll be effective in every situation, whereas a more efficient unit might be useless in some situations. An example of this might be a squad of 8 Space Marines with a Missile Launcher, a plasma gun or melta and a Sergeant with a Power fist in a Rhino. If you need to crack vehicles, you've got a long-range heavy weapon and you might have a short-range one as well. If you need to take on power armor, both your weapons can do so. If you need to assault, you've got the Powerfist and some extra bodies to do so, and if you need to move to take an objective, you've got the Rhino to get you there. This squad is far less efficient shooting at vehicles or Powered armor than the Lascannon/Plasma Gun squad, but it has assault and movement capability that that squad lacks, which means you can use it in a larger variety of situations that the Lascannon/Plasma Gun squad would be useless in. Note though that I am not advocating giving every squad the proverbial kitchen sink. The "basic squad" that I was using was the 8-member squad with a Powerfist Sergeant in a Rhino. Pretty efficient for assaulting. Adding a special weapon is inexpensive and makes them more effective by allowing them to shoot better during the turn they are disembarking from the Rhino and preparing to charge. By spending a few more points on a Missile Launcher, you can give them a bit of flexibility in terms of being able to stand and shoot at range, but you are only spending a few points. A Lascannon would be much more expensive which would take away more from their original task of assaulting. Applied over several squads, the difference in price would be significant and reduce the number of models or even units you had available.

Finally, you can make the units that you do have cover for those that you don't. For example, if you have a Tyranid army and you don't want guns because your concept of Tyranids is all about the claws and teeth. (I grant you, that's a fun, visceral concept!) You'll need to have something to take care of tanks. Sure, Tyranid talons are very good at taking down infantry, but when they go up against Armor, it can be a different story. You may want to have Monstrous Creatures that can tear through tank armor like tissue paper. You may decide to use Rending Claws to peel back the skin of tanks. You may decide that Lictors can pop up near tanks and ambush them that way. You might even choose to use non-gun ranged weapons, such as Warp Blast or Biovore Spore Mines. In any case, you will need to have something to cover your lack of guns. A Tyranid army without guns is difficult. If you choose to use no shooting at all (meaning no Spore Mines or Warp Blasts) then it'll be harder. If you don't have enough Rending Claws or Monstrous Creatures, you'll simply end up scratching the paint on the sides of any tanks that the opponent brings and dying to their guns. Make sure that you can cover your limitations in some way and you'll have a more effective army.

Limitation: Army List
You've got the models, everything is Wysiwyg, your list is turned in to the tournament judges or whatever (or maybe you bought the army from someone else and don't have time to make changes now. For whatever reason, you can't or won't change your army list. This is where tactics and strategy come into play. Two identical armies can take the field, but if one player uses his units together more effectively, it'll make a big difference in the outcome. Discover which units work together best and figure out ways that they can complement each other. This might be using a Devastator squad to soften up targets for an Assault squad, or it might be using Gaunts to tie up enemy shooting units so that the Genestealers can get into combat without being shot. If you simply let each unit do it's own thing, even if they are very efficient units individually, you won't get as good a result as if they play as a cohesive whole.

You can also use tactics to out-maneuver your opponent. If you can arrange it so that your whole army is facing half of the enemy army, you are likely to wipe them out quickly and suffer fewer losses. You can then engage the other half of the enemy army with most of your army still intact. You can weight your deployment to one side or another to concentrate your forces. You can use terrain to divide up the enemy army for you. You can also use mobility and range to concentrate your power. Even if you have identical units, if you can concentrate your forces or divide theirs, you'll have a huge advantage.

Putting it all Together
Okay, so now we've got some idea about how to make the best use of our units, let's take a look at a real-world example. A post came up on Warpshadow asking for advice for a new player with an 1850 point army list. When I saw the list, it looked familiar, so I went back through some emails I'd received. A Warpstorm fan (Hi Chris!) has been communicating with me about his brother's Tyranid army, and told me about an interesting concept the brother was trying to use. He calls it a Control Swarm. The idea is preventing the enemy from going into certain areas (area denial) and using the combination of Barbed Stranglers and Psychic Screams to pin units and keep them from moving away from him. He also likes to use blast templates because they tend to spread the enemy out (another form of control.) When I checked back in my emails, I realized it was, in fact, the same one! He had a number of limitations, which you'll see below, but I gave him the best advice that I could. As I finished giving the advice, I thought that other people might find it useful as well. I asked if I could use his post as an example for this article, and he graciously said that I could. (His name on Warpshadow is Uriel. Hi Uriel, and thank you!) Below his list, you'll find my commentary and some practical examples of the way to make the best out of what you've got.

The Post
This is my final list as I can't make any changes, no budget left for purchases. I'm really strapped for cash so advice such as "Drop the Biomorphs and buy 20+ more Gaunts" isn't an option, This list was originally 1500pts, but I had to bump it up with Biomorphs to get it to the standard 1850 because I just didn't have the money for more models. I really do have to work with what I have.

1850 Pt list:

HQ: Hive Tyrant @ 187 Pts
+1 In; +1 WS; +1 BS; +1 Save; Flesh Hooks; Toxic Miasma; Scything Talons; Venom Cannon; Psychic Scream
2 Tyrant Guard @ 92 Pts
Flesh Hooks; Rending Claws; Scything Talons

HQ: Broodlord @ 97 Pts
+1 In; +1 Save; +1 St; Flesh Hooks
5 Genestealers @ 105 Pts
Extended Carapace; Flesh Hooks

Troops: 12 Termagants @ 72 Pts
Troops: 12 Termagants @ 72 Pts
Troops: 12 Hormagaunts @ 132 Pts Flesh Hooks
Troops: 12 Hormagaunts @ 132 Pts Flesh Hooks
Troops: 6 Genestealers @ 144 Pts Extended Carapace; Flesh Hooks; Scuttlers
Troops: 6 Genestealers @ 144 Pts Extended Carapace; Flesh Hooks; Scuttlers

Elite: 5 Warriors @ 278 Pts
+1 In; +1 WS; +1 BS; +1 Save; Flesh Hooks; Leaping; Scything Talons (each); 4xDeathspitter; 1x Barbed Strangler

Heavy Support: Carnifex @ 183 Pts
+1 In; +1 WS; +1 Toughness; +1 BS; +1 Save; Barbed Strangler; Twin-linked Deathspitter

Heavy Support: 3 Zoanthropes 195 Pts
Each has Warp Blast, 1xSynapse, 2xPsychic Scream

Total Roster Cost: 1828

Also I have a couple notes on stategy, there is a reason I don't gun my bugs up with Devourers instead of Deathspitters/Stranglers. because I wanted to be a little different and wanted to go for a theme of "Control" that goes with my army's fluff and such.

Limitations
Okay, so we've got a couple of different limitations going on here. We've got a limitation of Models, being that he's only got certain models and cannot afford more at the moment. He's also got a limitation of Theme, that he wants to take Deathspitters and Barbed Stranglers, both for being different and for his theme of control. Going with my comments above, I give him some advice on making his units more effective and on tactics to get better use out of them.

Advice
Hello there, I've been talking to your brother online, I'm glad you found Warpshadow!

My first advice would normally be to drop some biomorphs and get more bugs, but that's not an option at the moment. My second advice would usually be to drop some Deathspitters and get Devourers, but you have a preference against that, so let's see what we can do with what you've got...

Hive Tyrant: replacing the Scything Talons with a Devourer would roughly double his effectiveness. Alternately, he could theoretically get a Barbed Strangler to add a bit to your Control idea, but I'm not sure that it would be worth the points.

Broodlord: I'd highly recommend Implant Attack for him. It will make him much more effective against enemy characters, which I expect he'll run up against. It's a lot easier to sneak one or two Wounds past that invulnerable save than 3 or 4, and that can mean killing them before they get to strike back, which means you are unhurt and get to do it again next turn!

Gaunts: remember that these guys can take down Space Marine Landspeeders and the like. Sure, they are primarily fodder, but that S4 weapon can be highly useful at times. If a brood takes down a single Landspeeder, they will have paid for themselves. If they also manage to reach enemy lines and tie up a unit, they'll will be doing double duty! One thing to consider with these guys is giving them Scuttlers. You might be able to get points by removing some less-useful biomorphs from something else (such as the Carnifex.) Scuttlers makes these a turn two threat, so they are just as fast as the Hormagaunts and the Genestealers. This automatically elevates their threat level. Without it, almost no one will bother shooting at them since the Hormagaunts and Genestealers are both more expensive and more dangerous. With it, it'll draw some fire away from your more expensive combat types.

Hormagaunts: Consider WS5 and/or Toxin sacs on these guys. It makes them much more effective and makes the Genestealers a much less obvious target!

Genestealers: try to use their Scout Movement to lure some of the opponent's shooting units out of position. They are a very expensive and dangerous target, which will put them very high on the enemy's priority list of targets. In your deployment, put them outside of cover, hoping that he'll place a unit to be able to shoot at them. When you get your Scout move before the game starts, use it to move them behind cover, denying him that target. This may take a key unit or two of his out of the game for the first turn as it has to reposition to get a shot at something. One less turn of shooting (especially at the start of the game) can make a huge difference in your survival rate!

Carnifex: Have you found the TLDeathspitter to be that effective for it? A Venom Cannon will do a lot more to vehicles and can be at least as effective as the Deathspitter against troops. (twice as many shots, higher strength, plus it generally doubles toughness, so you can occasionally instant-kill something nice!) Although you'd be losing the template of the Deathspitter, you'd still have the larger, more effective (and pinning) template of the Barbed Strangler. If the enemy doesn't spread out for the Strangler, they won't spread out for a Deathspitter. If they do spread out for the Barbed Strangler, they won't spread out any extra for the Deathspitter. I know that you are using biomorphs to make up points since you don't have more models, but there may be more effective ways to use those points than giving your Carnifex all those survival upgrades. I find that my Heavy Support Carnifi don't get shot at much, because my opponents almost always have more dangerous things to shoot at. (In your case it would be the Genestealers and Broodlord and possibly the Hormagaunts.) Since this is the case, I don't bother spending points on making my Carnifi harder to hurt since they are rarely even shot at. You can also shave a few points to use elsewhere by not using the combat upgrades (Weapon Skill and Initiative.) Right now you are spending 45 points on making your Carnifex harder to hurt and 10 points on making it better in close combat. While the biomorphs are fun, if you can use those points elsewhere, you'll be better off.

Tactically, I'd recommend using some form of weighted deployment. Put most or all of your army on one side of the board. This will get you out of range of some of the weapons on the other side and will let you concentrate most of your army against a small portion of the enemy. You can use the Scout move of the Gaunts to start them in a very compact formation, but then spread out as they move forward. This will let you pack your deployment zone a little more tightly, getting you closer to the enemy but still allow you to spread out a little to lessen the effect of template weapons if your opponent has some. I would also recommend figuring out which units are the best against which targets. For example, Genestealers are more effective against targets with a good armor save because of their Rending Claws. The high number of attacks available to your broods of Hormagaunts make them more effective against targets with less armor. (Example: against Eldar, you want the Genestealers against the Striking Scorpions and the Hormagaunts against the Banshees, not the other way 'round.) You can, of course, also use your Pinning capability to keep enemy counterassault units from attacking your broods as they tear apart the rest of the enemy army. That will keep the "teeth" of your swarm running at better efficiency so you can mulch them quickly.

If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know

Return to Warpstorm!