|
Multiple Threats Or Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My! A tactic that I use quite frequently is that of multiple threats. It is akin to the concept of “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” If you have several threats, the opponent will have a hard time stopping all of them. On the other hand, if you only have one threat, the opponent can concentrate his entire army on it, which will likely ruin your day. My Tyranids cannot block Line of Site to each other, so I can’t just put up a cheap screen of troops to be used as shields protecting my better units. I try to make sure that all of my units can pose a threat, and it works. In my standard list, I take a couple of Flying Hive Tyrants and a couple of Carnifexes with Venom Cannon, and each of these Monstrous Creatures is about as tough as a Tank and can lay waste to even the most heavily armored foe. I also take a lot of smaller creatures, 34 Slashers (High speed creatures that get lots of attacks, but cannot penetrate armor) and 24 Genestealers (slower creatures that get lots of attacks and have some chance of penetrating armor.) The smaller creatures are my primary threat against lightly armored opponents (the Monstrous creatures get the same number of attacks whether their target is wearing light silk or hundreds of pounds of ceramite armor) but they have an effect on the more heavily armored opponents as well. Their sheer number of attacks can kill a few power-armored enemies, and they can tie them up and keep them from shooting as well. One of my Space Marine opponents has told me that he went over to 10 man squads and lots and lots of troops as a direct response to the threat of my smaller creatures. If my smaller creatures weren’t a threat, my opponents could concentrate their firepower on my 4 Monstrous Creatures and turn them into so much mulch, but they usually can’t, since they’ve got to contend with the little ones as well. The new list that I'm working with takes that threat even further. It has 3 Lictors (hidden ambush units), 1 Flying Hive Tyrant and 2 Carnifexes with Venom Cannon. It also has 49 Genestealers. The Lictors can hide in cover close to the enemy and rush in immediately to tie them up, while the other threats bear down on them. It may actually be worse for the enemy commander if my Lictors are a little too far away to rush in on the first turn. “Okay, you’ve got 3 Lictors in cover, meaning they get very good saves against your weapons and will be in range to strike at very choice targets next turn. You’ve also got a Winged Hive Tyrant inbound that will hit your lines either next turn or the turn after. There are also 49 Genestealers that should hit the lines about a turn or two after the Tyrant, and all those Rending claws should prove quite painful. Finally, at about the same time as the Genestealers, there are two lumbering Carnifexes that will carve through even the toughest tanks when they reach the lines, and will be firing their Venom Cannon on the way in, taking out vehicles right and left. What do you want to shoot?” Essentially, I am offering a Hobson’s choice, where there is no right answer. Stop any one threat, and the others will still wreak havoc on your force. Of course, I also have some help here. Lictors, due to their ambush abilities, tend to occupy a very scary place in an opponent’s mind, so they tend to get more than their fair share of fire directed at them. Genestealers, due to their ability to rend through the toughest of opponents (at least sometimes), fill the enemy with dread as well, drawing lots of firepower. Although these units can also be highly effective, sometimes they don’t have to be effective to work as a threat or distraction. If an opponent thinks that something is a threat, they will do their best to put it down, often wasting obscene amounts of firepower on something that wouldn’t really have done much to their army. There are some things that you can do to help your opponent’s perception of the unit as well. If you have a particular unit that you want them to pay attention to, make sure that you paint it particularly well and give it lots of details, or convert it heavily to get their attention. If they’ve had a bad experience with one before (even if it just got lucky that time) they will also give it more attention than it deserves, letting your other threats go free. Feel free to also point out some of the more fearsome abilities the unit has, leaving it’s vulnerabilities unspoken. Of course, it is even better if the unit is actually a threat, but perception can be your friend. Give them more to think about and they won’t think as well. If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know |