The Dance

 

The Dance is a combination of fire and maneuver that almost any army can do, but some can be specifically outfitted for it.  The objective of the Dance is to inflict damage on the enemy without receiving damage.  Eldar and Dark Eldar armies have very good potential for the Dance, but even Space Marines and Imperial Guard can do it, if they are set up correctly and used wisely. 

 

If the Dance has a motto, it is, “Those who fight and run away live to fight another day.”  The idea is not to destroy the opponent through superior firepower and attrition, but to outmaneuver your opponent, keeping most of your army intact.  You will probably not destroy most of the opponent’s army, but the goal is to destroy enough of it to win the battle.

 

At it’s simplest, you use the positioning of your units to hit the enemy, but not let them hit back.  For example, if you move a vehicle so that the only thing that has Line of Sight to it is a Tac squad with no heavy weapons that can damage the vehicle, you can pound them until reinforcements are moved into position, which will require a turn or more for your opponent.  You can also force this situation by applying enough firepower to your chosen target that it cannot return the fire.  Let’s say the Tac squad indeed did have a heavy or special weapon that could damage your vehicle.  If you can take out that heavy weapon, either through special targeting abilities or by wiping out the squad, you have little to worry about in terms of reprisal.  In addition, if you have a mobile unit placed just out of range of a unit that cannot both move and shoot, you can lure it to move into a position to shoot you.  You can then reposition your unit, thus negating the turn or more the opponent spent maneuvering the unit, even without firing a shot! 

 

Some units almost have to use the Dance to keep alive.  These are usually fragile, high firepower units, such as a Dark Eldar Ravager, which can fall to a S5 weapon, but has several squads worth of firepower.  The Ravager, being a vehicle, can only have LOS blocked to it by other vehicles and by terrain, both of which will block it’s LOS.  The only options for the Ravager then are either outranging an enemy unit, or destroying enough of the enemy unit that there is little chance of return damage.  This may be done by the Ravager alone (three disintegrator templates will thin a squad quickly) or by coordinating fire with other units that can get LOS to the target unit.

 

Some units can be designed for the Dance and given abilities that will be exceptionally useful.  Eldar, for example, have vehicles that can use the Crystal Targeting Matrix, which lets them shoot, then move back into cover or out of range.  They also have the Farseer power Mindwar, which would let the Farseer specifically target a heavy weapon carrier in the target squad.  Eldar Jetbikes can move in the assault phase, even if they aren’t assaulting, letting them reposition behind cover after shooting.  Dark Eldar have Night Shields, which effectively increase the range to them by 6” for enemy units, letting them use their weapons at long range while staying out of range of the enemy.  Go through your army list to see if there is anything, either as a unit upgrade or Wargear, that will help you perform the Dance.  It is possible to do the Dance with slower moving units as well, but positioning is even more vital.  An Imperial Guard Leman Russ tank, for example, cannot move and shoot the main gun.  If, however, it is set up with a fire lane that will require units to move into the lane to get a shot at it, it can conceivably wipe out those units as they move up, preventing most return fire.  Just as with other units attempting the Dance, however, the Leman Russ has to watch out for those units with increased mobility.  They may be able to move more than one unit into the fire lane, or they may be able to move through whatever it was that gave the Russ the fire lane, preventing it from shooting.

 

The Dance can be performed by a single unit or by the whole army.  Single units, as mentioned above, can perform the Dance, even as the rest of the army takes on the enemy in other fashions.  When performing the Dance solo, it is best to time the use of that unit somewhere in the middle of your shooting turn.  Don’t let it be either the first or the last unit to damage the enemy, or it will stick in your opponent’s mind and become more of a priority target.  (Unless, of course, your Dancing unit is very well protected and you want to use it as a distraction…)  The damage done in each turn by most units in the Dance is not a huge amount, so it won’t attract too much attention, it’ll just be hard for the opponent to reply to.  The advantage of Dancing solo is that you don’t have to redesign your favorite army list to make use of it, you can just use those units that are already equipped correctly to do the Dance, while the rest of the army functions as normal.  Alternately, in creating a new list, you can try out the Dance by simply devoting one or two units to it, without throwing everything into the fire.

 

A whole army can also Dance.  This usually requires designing the army specifically to perform the Dance.  To outfit your army list for the Dance, start by looking at units with special abilities that can give them protection after they shoot.  Then start looking for units with good mobility.  That will give you the option of repositioning the units quickly, allowing you to concentrate on one portion of the enemy.  In addition, mobility will let you place your dancing units into better positions and will let them move together quickly for cooperation.  Then look for units with high firepower.  A high concentration of firepower will let you do the Dance more easily.  Of course, units that can move and fire are more effective than those that cannot, but if the firepower is high enough, they may not need to move.  Indirect fire weapons, while not specifically part of the Dance, are something of a corollary to it, as they let you fire on the enemy without receiving fire and they can assist a unit placed for the Dance without having to move themselves.

 

The Dance works best against an opponent with low or medium mobility, so you should target fast moving enemy units first.  The more you can reduce the mobility of the enemy army, the easier the Dance is.  If the opponent can quickly reposition units, then the Dance can be somewhat nullified, either by achieving the LOS you worked so hard to block, or by overwhelming one part of your force with most of theirs.  Once their mobility is reduced to nothing, you’ll have a massive advantage and be able to pick off the army or avoid it at your leisure.