The Three Levels of Generalship in 40k
Recently I've run across a couple of articles (which you can read here and here) that break down 40k Generalship into 3 levels of play, or understanding of the game. It's important to note that not everyone wants to 'level up' in this way. Much in the same way that some people are content to have very basic paintjobs or leave terrain-making to others, not everyone wants to improve their gameplay. For that matter, if they are happy with the way they play now, who am I to say that they should change? Personally, I want to improve all aspects of my hobby. Although I find painting to be a chore, I appreciate good paintjobs and I enjoy having good looking models that I painted myself. Similarly, I want to improve my grasp of tactical and strategic thinking, so I work at that as well.

That said, this is my understanding of the 3 levels of play in 40k. (As a note, I'm somewhere in level 2, but I can see how level 3 works and am working to get there.) I'll go into more detail on each level, but I want to lay out how I feel they break down, so you'll know where I'm going with this. Level 1 is raw numbers and hard counters. Level 2 is list efficiency and target priority. Level 3 is dictating the flow of the game and seeing the army as a whole in terms of strengths, weaknesses and synergy. Below is my discussion of the third level. If you want to read the first or second level, please go here.

Sacrifices, Blocking and Synergy
The third level of 40k Generalship has a thorough understanding of the rules, and is meticulous about the details of when you can and cannot do things. (You can move within 1" of an enemy model during the assault phase, but not during the movement phase, for example.) The level 3 general views his or her army in terms of synergy and redundancy. Level 3 armies look a lot like level 2 armies. They are very efficient and generally focus on many small units. However, in addition to level-2 style MSU lists with lots of firepower, level 3 armies need fast sacrifices (such as Landspeeders) and often use Infiltrators for a wider variety of tools. Examples of Level 3 armies would be Tau lists featuring Kroot and Pirahna among others. Level 3 generals use every tool at their disposal to get into a winning position. There are a number of tactical concepts and ideas that are vital to an effective Level 3 army.

Tactical Concept: Sacrifices
Give the enemy a pawn so that you can take their bishop. Sometimes the best way to get the enemy to commit a unit (so that you can destroy it) is to give them some bait. Typically this works best when the bait is worth less than the unit you are attempting to destroy. On the other hand, if you really, really need that unit dead, it might be worth sacrificing a more expensive part of your army to make sure that it happens. One example would be putting a unit out so that the Assault Terminators will jump out of their LandRaider to eat it. At which point, your lascannons can rip them apart.

Blocking
If a level three general sees an opposing unit he doesn't have the firepower or time to deal with on this turn, he uses a blocking unit to keep it at arm's length. The best blocking units are vehicles (since infantry can be tank-shocked by tanks or simply assaulted by enemy infantry.) The faster these are, the better they can respond and show up exactly where you need them. The classic blockers are Tau Pirahna. Slap one of them right in front of a LandRaider and watch the enemy general squirm to try to get the expensive unit inside some place so they can do their thing. Stop it for this turn and use the time to wipe out the rest of the opposing force. Then work on the LandRaider next turn.

Tactical Concept: Flexibility
Make sure you have the right tool for each job, and keep your tools in multiple places so the enemy cannot avoid them. If you keep all your antitank stuff on the left-hand side of your army, their tanks will go for your right. Unless you are planning on this for some sort of ambush, this will be very, very dangerous for you. One very effective way of doing this is to equip your units with both antitank and anti-infantry. (For example, look at the Tactical squads below with combiflamers and Lascannons on their Razorbacks.)

Tactical Concept: Redundancy
If something is important to your success, you can bet a good enemy general will try to kill it. If you only have one, you are done. Make sure that you have enough to get through the game. Most players think of this in terms of scoring units, but this also extends to your anti-tank or anti-infantry and possibly other factors as well. Know what you are likely to need to win and make sure you have enough of it.

Tactical Concept: Negation
While this is partially covered by blocking, this is the idea of making an enemy unit irrelevant in one way or another. An assault unit that can't assault until turn 5 or later is nearly useless. A Heavy Weapon team that has a tank parked in front of it is useless until they can kill the tank or they move (in which case they are useless for another turn since they have heavy weapons.) Basically, you don't have to have a hard counter for an enemy unit, as long as you have something to make it worthless.

Infiltrators
For the level 3 general, infiltrating units are a special subset of blocking or speedbump/roadblock units. Not only can you use them to screw up other infiltrators and keep some scout-moves further away from your main lines, you can also potentially mess with outflankers as well. If the enemy is using an outflanking army, you can use them to help cover one short board edge. If you can cover one edge completely, you can force them to come in on the other side (destroying some of their units in the process) and foot-slog across the board the long way to get to you. Ouch. Infiltrators can also be used as advance speed bumps/road blocks. A lot of utility out of one or two small units.

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
A level three general is always keenly aware of what the goal of the mission is. Even if you destroy 90% of their army and have them on the run, they can sometimes snatch victory by a last-minute objective grab, or by killing the only unit you have left to score. If you have good tools in your toolbox and stay aware of what the victory conditions are, you'll go far.

Sample Level 3 army list
Since Space Marines are the most common army out there, I have sample lists at each level based on their codex so that you can see the differences between the styles more easily.

100 Librarian: Null Zone, Gate of Infinity

125 Dreadnaught: 2xTL-Autocannon
125 Dreadnaught: 2xTL-Autocannon
125 Dreadnaught: 2xTL-Autocannon

175 Tactical squad: 4xBolter, Combiflamer, Razorback with Lascannon/TL-Plasma
175 Tactical squad: 4xBolter, Combiflamer, Razorback with Lascannon/TL-Plasma
175 Tactical squad: 4xBolter, Combiflamer, Razorback with Lascannon/TL-Plasma
85 Scout Squad: 4xBolter, Sergeant w/Combiflamer

140 2xLandspeeder: Multimelta/Heavy Flamerx2
140 2xLandspeeder: Multimelta/Heavy Flamerx2
140 2xLandspeeder: Multimelta/Heavy Flamerx2

165 Predator: TL-Lascannon, Lascannon sponsons
165 Predator: TL-Lascannon, Lascannon sponsons
165 Predator: TL-Lascannon, Lascannon sponsons

2000pts

Those Crisis Suits are very flexible tools. High firepower against light vehicles and infantry, highly mobile. Highly recommended.

How does it Work?
Lots of tools, lots of flexibility, make the most of everything you've got. The Scouts are your utility speed-bump infiltrators, wherever you need them. The Landspeeders can either be used to block nasty units or as reserve alpha-strikes. The Librarian is another utility tool, acting as your psychic defense and limiting invulnerable saves and using Gate of Infinity to contest objectives or even teleporting scoring units to seize objectives late-game. Against mechanized armies, you've got lots of firepower to nuke them. Against infantry armies, stay in your vehicles as much as possible. You can use your vehicles to channel them and maximize the combiflamers and rapid-fired bolters. This list has a bit less firepower than a maxed-out level 2 list, but it will wipe the floor with that list regardless.

Leveling Up
I hope you have enjoyed my discussion of level 3 game play. When I have written it, you can find my article on improving and going from one level to another here.

If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know

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