Keep yourself alive

Before the game starts and after it ends, there are plenty of ways to improve your chances at winning.

Maximizing Flexibility

Our gaming group tends to pick their armylist first, then find an opponent, then pick a scenario. What this means is that we don’t tailor our list to our opponent or our scenario, so our lists have to be flexible enough to handle all comers, whether that is Space Marines, Tyranids or Armored Company, or anything else under the sun. So we need to build our lists to handle vehicles and monstrous creatures, light and heavy troops, and still be able to claim an objective. I like the challenge of taking the same list to do everything, it really makes you consider your options! When I design my list, I try to make sure I’ve got all my bases covered. As an example, here is my latest Tyranid list at 1500pts:

Tyranid Assault Swarm

HQ 1 Mutable Hive Tyrant @ 197 pts

Adrenal Glands (both WS and I) Enhanced Senses (BS4), Toxin Sacs, 2x Scything Talons, Implant Attack, Extended Carapace (2+Sv)

Synapse Creature

The Horror

Warp Blast (20)

HQ Mutable Hive Tyrant @ 197 pts (same)

HQ total: 394

Troop 8xSlasher (Mutable Gaunts) @ 118pts

Leaping, Toxin Sacs (S), Adrenal Glands (I), Scything Talons; Hive Node (x1)

Troop 8xSlasher (Mutable Gaunts) @ 118 pts (same)

Troop 9xSlasher (Mutable Gaunts) @ 118 pts (same)

Troop 12xGenestealer @ 192 pts

Troop total: 832 pts

Heavy Support (Mutable Carnifex) @ 137 pts

Enhanced Senses, Scything Talons, Extended Carapace, Venom Cannon

Tyranid Monstrous Creature

Heavy Support (Mutable Carnifex) @ 137 pts

Enhanced Senses, Scything Talons, Extended Carapace, Venom Cannon

Tyranid Monstrous Creature

Heavy Support total: 274

Composition Score breakdown:

0 Pts spent on Wargear. 5pts

6 Troops Selections. 6pts

856pts spent on Troops. 6pts

Troops: Other = 6:4. 7pts

2 Troops at Full. 7pts

31pts (30 max)

We don’t normally use a comp score, but I like to check mine out anyway. As far as flexibility goes, this list is very good. My Slashers and Genestealers are good at taking out numerous light troops (such as Dark Eldar Warriors or Orks) while my Tyrants and Carnifi are good at taking out heavy troops such as Space Marines. With the Warp Blasts from my Tyrants and the Venom Cannons from my Carnifi, I can take down vehicles at range, and the Monstrous creatures are more than capable of taking down vehicles in hand to hand. My Genestealers and Monstrous Creatures are also quite capable of taking down enemy Monstrous Creatures. As far as mobility and claiming objectives goes, I'm good for that as well. Even though I have no vehicles, my gaunts can use Fleet of Claw (and a 12” assault move sometimes) to get places fast, and my Tyrants fly 12” each turn. In addition, my Carnifi can claim objectives and are tough for opponents to get rid of. All this flexibility means that I won’t get caught short if somebody shows up with a Deathwing army or an Armored Company or an Iyanden list.

Terrain Placement

While people generally suggest that you use terrain to your own advantage, not everyone seems to know how to use it. Some terrain impedes movement, meaning it will slow you down or channel you into certain paths (or that you can use it to do that to your opponent.) Some terrain blocks line of sight, meaning that you can hide behind it (or your opponent can.) Use this knowledge to place the terrain in a useful position for yourself before the game starts. How you place terrain depends on how you want to use it. If you want to use it to channel your enemy or block line of sight, it’s best to place the terrain away from the board edges. If the terrain is within 6 inches or so of the board edge, it won’t have any impact on the game, since most units won’t even go near it. If the terrain pieces are too small, they won’t have any effect on the game either, since it is very hard to get a single 3” tall tree to block LOS for even a single character, much less a squad. If you have small terrain pieces, I would recommend that you clump them together to form larger chunks of terrain. That way they actually can block LOS or impede movement. For assault based armies, that means they can hide more on the way in, for shooting based armies, it means that they have longer and wider fields of fire. (The two are not mutually exclusive, you just have to know how to handle the terrain better than your opponent does!)

During and after the game

During the game, there will be many tactical considerations that will vary greatly from one game to the next. This is the stuff that most tactics articles cover, so I won’t repeat it. I’ll cover some strategic thinking and move on.

During the game, use your opponent’s turn to start considering your options, so you can make decisions quickly when it is your turn. You can start by looking at your opponent’s moves and identify your priority targets (what you need to worry about and how to deal with it) You can also use this time to remind yourself what your overall plan for the game is and how you can get closer to achieving it during your next turn. Keep your eyes on the prize and make sure every unit is doing something to secure the victory.

After the game, whether you won or lost, talk to your opponent. Shake their hand and tell them it was a good game (unless it was really bad, in which case, you may want to talk it over with them and see how you can make it better.) Then you can talk to them about the game. Try to get their perspective on the game and your use of units. Maybe you had a unit they weren’t particularly concerned about, but you used it effectively to help you win. Maybe they think you would have won if you had used one of your units differently. Give them a chance to tell you what they think. Everybody thinks that they are an expert, so let them talk a little and you can learn something, even if it’s something to avoid doing!

There are many things you can do before and after games to enhance your performance in the game itself. If you don’t use these to your advantage, you’ll be denying yourself a lot.

If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know

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