Category Archives: Gameplay
Quick Tip: Tag-Team to Win Combat
Hey all Son of Adam here with a quick tip about tipping the favor of combat. This technique is a very particular one, but it can be shaped to good effect against most non-fearless armies; it’s called the tag-team. Please keep in mind that this technique cannot be used in every circumstance, but when it can be used, it can be the shift in power during a game.
Once in the last round of a tournament, I was facing a horde ork army with a full sized nob biker unit. There was nothing in my army that could have faced that unit head on and my opponent knew it. He stretched the squad out across the board so that no matter where I went in my turn he would be close enough to engage me. I was stuck in a hard place and had to employ the tag-team.
I happened to get the rule book power terrify (it relieves a unit of the fearless special rule) and I used it on his nob bikers (keep in mind this tactic can only be used on non-fearless units). I moved up my combat unit and did not shoot in order to keep the formations that he had put out in place. Then I multi-assaulted his strung out nobs squad (big scary unit) and tag-teamed his boys squad (an easily killable unit). I used my movement in such a way to make sure that nearly all of the combat squad could only get in on the boys squad and I dumped nearly all of my attacks into it. During his reaction most of his nob squad was too far away to fight, and most of the boys were dead.
For combat resolution I had killed enough of the boys that his biker squad was taking its leadership test on a two. Even with the re-roll they failed, and since the boys were still big enough to be fearless I couldn’t pursue them. The Nobs with both warbosses rolled their three dice and fled off the table.
That is the tag-team. In these pictures you can see how the eldar jetbikes are facing off against a paladin squad. During their movement they position themselves in a place where they can declare the convenient rhino as their primary target and the paladins as the secondary.
After they charge they dump all of their attacks into the rhino and only one of the warlocks hits the paladins. Since in sixth edition all damages against a tank count towards combat resolution the paladins end up loosing combat by enough to make them test on double ones.
They fail their leadership and if the bikes roll low enough to catch them, then the paladins will break and run off the table.
This is very situational, and it’s not a guarantee, but if you find the opportunity, try it. You can help push favor of combat towards your units if you can find a way to push the combat resolution to 9+ on your side. Good luck all.
Micro Gameplay Strategy: Defeating Deathstars with Tar Pits
How would you defend against a deathstar?
Hey guys Son of Adam here again with a little article about defeating deathstars with tar pits.
Since the new edition, deathstars have grown in popularity, and with them comes the need to shut them down. Generally people go about this by trying to find the best deathstar; one deathstart to rule them all. They will play test to see, deathstar vs. deathstar, which will win out. Others try to build a list around putting out enough shots to take down anything deathstar related. These are both valid methods, but I want to offer up a different idea for your considerations; tying them up.
Deathstars are made to crash into enemy lines and destroy all who oppose, but there are some units in the game that are made to do exactly the opposite. These are called tar pit units. Tar pit units are generally cheap, large, have an invulnerable save, deny attacks in combat, have fearless, feel-no-pain, or some combination there of. Some examples are plague demons, massed tyranid guants, or swarms.
The idea here is that you can tie up a large deathstar unit long enough to make them tactically irrelevant, or to lessen their impact on the game. And, with the cost imbalance for the rest of the game, you should be able to make enough of a difference with the rest of your army to gain the advantage, or apply this tactic again to further tie up the squad.
Consider that, in a perfect world, a Draigowing deathstar assaults 30 guants backed up by feel-no-pain. The guant squad only costs 120 points and the deathstar costs upwards of 1000 points (assuming normal deathstar overload with Draigo, apoth, and 4 psycannons). This deathstar will be getting 3 attacks on the charge, hitting on 3’s, wounding on 3’s, and the guants will get a 5+ feel-no-pain on all non-hammer attacks. That’s 36 attacks, with say 24 hits, 16 wounds, and 11 dead. So, with 11 dead at 5pts a piece, it cost you 55pts to hold that deathstar still for the top of a turn.
Now for the bottom of that turn. You know the drill; it’s only 25 attacks this time, with say 17 hits, 11 wounds, and 7/8 dead. So at the end of the full turn where they were charged it cost you 90/95 pts to make the Draigowing deathstar irrelevant to the game. Take that number over the course of 5 turns and make it 395 points (95 + 75 each turn thereafter) to keep 1000 points at bay. In a 2000 point game, it has now become 1000 points vs. 1605 points. The tyranid player will gain a significant advantage. (Please be aware that this is a perfect world scenario. However, when working with perfect world scenarios, we can look for what to try for in our actual games).
These ideas work with several different units against several different deathstars, but consider the fundamental idea, take small cheaper units to tie up larger, more expensive units in order to give yourself the upper hand in achieving the victory conditions. Now go out and see if you can work this idea into your list in order to deal with the deathstars of the 40k world. You don’t have to change what you are taking now, but it’s a good exercise none-the-less to see if there are more mild aspects of this strategy that can be helpful to you when considering what to bring to the table and while playing the game.
Quick Tip: Deny the Last Turn Dash
Hey guys, Son of Adam here again with another quick tip. By the way, we are working on getting some more videos out this week, but some things have slowed us down a little bit, expect at least two.
As we have looked into some of the methods for last turn contesting in articles here, it is worth mentioning that there are ways to try and slow down and better defend against this kind of move when it is being used against you. In this quick tip we are going to point out one of those ways.
In a tournament this weekend (which will have a video review very soon), I played against an army with a Necron night scythe. These guys are the kings of the last turn deny/claim move, almost as good as last editions Eldar Falcons. They are able to move very far in one turn and drop guys without chance or danger in a large radius around the base of the flyer. (Note: there are other models with a similar capability in other armies as well).
Thus the scenario runs, each side is claiming one objective and then on turn 5 the night scythe (or equivalent) jumps onto the other player’s objective and moves his warriors or immortals in to contest or potentially claim. Then the game ends, and at the very least, the result is 1 objective to none.
Aside from shooting down all of the night scythes on the table how can you prevent this kind of tactic? There is one simple method, though not foolproof and not guaranteed, it will in the least buy you a turn.
With whatever units you have near that objective move them to surround at least two inches of the objective. You may have to sacrifice shooting, even with a squad of shooting dedicated models (devastators), but if following the golden rules, this is the more than acceptable.
Eldar Rangers make a bubble around the objective.
Once your models look like this your opponent will not be able to drop off his troops within three inches of the objective, and is not able to assault you this turn in order to bring them within this three inch bubble.
This tactic does not guarantee the win or the objective, but it will slow down the opponent for at least a turn. This will make the last turn dash a bit harder to pull off as it requires the player to; first have this move in mind earlier, second dedicate their resources for at least two turns, and third, provide you the opportunity to return fire.
The rangers deny a last turn dash from the scythe.
I hope this helps out in one of your future games. Make sure to follow/like/subscribe to our stuff. Thanks again for reading fellas and post up some comments down below. Peace.
Macro-Game Play: Approaching Mission 5
Sometimes you don’t need focus a lot of resources to hold an objective.
Hey all, Son of Adam here with a run-through of how to approach mission number five in the BRB, “The Emperor’s Will.” Eventually there will be an “Approaching” article for each of the missions, but we are going to start with five. Why five and not one? Because this one is the most interesting and the one I have seen messed up the most.
First off, let’s look at what makes up mission five. All of the rules for mission five are the standard for all missions; warlord traits, night fighting, reserves, secondary objectives, etc. What distinguishes it is the amount and placement of the objectives. There are only two objectives; one for each player. These objectives are subject to the normal rules, but contrary to 5th, these objectives are place in the owning player’s table half. (Note that they no longer have to be in the owning player’s deployment zone).
So, how do we follow the golden rules in order to win the game? The victory conditions are achieved by having more victory points than your opponent. Let’s break this down in a real blunt and simple way. We can guarantee this points preponderance by claiming both primary objectives, claiming one primary and secondary objective while the opponent doesn’t claim a primary, or by claiming more secondary objectives while neither player claims a primary. These are all very obvious, but now that they have been overtly stated we can look at how to achieve each of them.
The first, and most difficult to achieve, is claiming both primary objectives. This mission in 5th edition (capture and control) was not dubbed “mission tie game” for nothing. It usually goes one of three ways. First, both players do a full out attack and leave one scoring unit behind. Second, both players castle and wait, and third, some combination thereof. And then when the dust settles, if the game isn’t already over, each player tries to dash towards whatever objective isn’t claimed. Generally this is just a very hard way to win mission five. Usually it is only possible with a much stronger list, poor play from your opponent, or really lucky dice.
The next way is to claim a primary objective and deny your opponent from claiming one, while remembering to score one of the secondary objectives. This method is much easier to win with and is often the overlooked play. You pick which primary objective is more of a guarantee to claim and work to claim that one by the end of the game. Then you stay alive. You can try to find ways to remove your opponent from the other primary objective by baiting him or confusing him with deployment, but essentially you want to be alive and in a position to contest their primary objective for the end of the game. If you can manage not to get yourself killed, you can claim your own objective while defending it and contesting the opponent at the same time. It takes a bit of finesse and there are many different ways to do it, but the focus is on claiming on primary while contesting the other.
And lastly, you can tie for the win. If you think that it will too hard to claim both or contest one primary objective and will end up being “mission tie game,” you can play for the tie and play for the secondary objectives. I won’t go into this too much, there is already an article up about it, but suffice to say, make sure your list can handle the secondary objectives and play for them without revealing that you are.
In the end I usually play for method two, while banking on method three. This way I play very conservatively while acquiring the secondary objectives and make the push for the last turn contest.
Let me know your thoughts. Basic article, but you know I like to look at the overlooked basics for the win. Do you have any stories about “mission tie game?” Post up your comments/criticism and make sure to like/follow/sub to our stuff. Thanks for reading.
Quick Tip: Trapped in a Transport
Simply moving to surround an immobilized transport can sometimes be more effective than charging it.
Hey guys, Son of Adam here with a Quick Tip. These tips are all going to be under the Micro-Gameplay heading. Quick Tips are going to be short, very particular, ways to fight on the battlefield. Today’s Quick Tip is called Trapped in a Transport.
If you are holding, or trying to deny the enemy from holding, an objective and a unit that has the strength to take it from you just got immobilized in a transport right on top of that objective, what should you do? The first and most obvious thing people want to do is charge it, but I want to suggest to you a different approach.
For our example let’s take the mission I just recently play against Steve. Near the end of the game his Rhino full of Grey Hunters came running down on top of my home objective. Then in response I tried to come and take it back with my own, combat squad, of purifiers in a rhino (4 halberds, 1 hammer).
I was able to take out his rhino but his troops took the objective from me. I believe it was at the top of turn four that his grey hunters then made a counter assault to stop my purifiers. He charged my rhino and destroyed it. This however ended up giving me the advantage. At the bottom of five I was then able to move the purifiers into position to contest the objective, and then get a full volley off before charging.
Being outmatched, Steve could have employed this tactic to trap me in my transport. (To be fair, in our particular game my rhino was not immobilized or stunned, but we will continue to talk about it as if it were for the sake of the example). If his unit had simply moved into position to surround the rhino, my purifiers would have been stuck inside the transport and only been able to shoot out of it. Even if I killed most of the squad I would still have been trapped in my transport.
This is far more relevant in 6th edition when we consider a change to the rules. Look in your rule book with me at page 123. It shows you that units that remain fully in a transport can neither score nor deny objectives. Furthermore, neither can any tanks (with the exception of “Big Guns Never Tire” and “The Scouring” missions where they can become scoring –but still cannot deny, take a look at that part closely). With this in mind we can see the tactic come to life.
If the Grey Hunters were to have trapped the Purifiers in the rhino I would have only been able to shoot him, but not score/deny his objective. In this instance we can see the very heart of the Golden Rules of the Art of War(hammer). It would be more wise, and potentially game winning, to simply sit in front of the rhino’s doors and not attack anything than to charge the rhino and kill it.
Remember this little tactic whenever you are facing an immobilized transport with some very nasty units inside. Trap them in their transport and win the game.
Cheers
Again let us know your feedback. Has this ever worked for you? Have you seen this done against you? Were their games you could have won if you had trapped that deadly unit in their transport instead of freeing them? Let us know. And while you are at it check out our other stuff and like/follow/subscribe to our sites. Thanks guys, we are always looking to improve.
Tying for the Win
Hey guys, Son of Adam here with a quick article on tying for the win. This is part of the third sphere of game strategy; macro-game-play. Let’s hop down this rabbit hole and see what’s inside.
After a long hard fought battle sometimes both players get the same number of kill points, or have the same number of objectives and the game comes down to those good ol’ secondary objectives. Now that we are talking about sixth those are the; slay the warlord, line-breaker, and first blood objectives. When tying for the win, as the name says, you try to do this intentionally. However, if you are playing in a tournament with different rules you will need to figure out if this tactic will work and what other subtle things you need to do in order to pull it off.
Jetbikes are often overlooked in list building, but their manueverability is useful for getting into the enemy’s deployment zone.
Playing for the tie is often much easier than going for the win, but with this tactic you can achieve both. At the start of the match take a minute and look at the mission and both armies, then judge for yourself; do I have an easier time at winning the secondary and tying the primary or at winning the primary? Whichever one turns out to be more of a sure thing is the one you should go for.
You must be subtle when you do this, as in the minds of most players it will be the battle for the primary and a disregard of the secondary. Let’s continue on in the Art of War(hammer) here.
“9. As circumstances are favorable, modify your plans.
10. All warfare is based on deception.
11. Hence, when able to take the objective, we must appear unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must appear far away; we must make them believe we are other than what we are.
12. If your enemy’s strength is greater than your own evade him and seek victory another way.
13. Attack where he is unprepared, appear where you are unexpected.
14. These tactical methods, which lead to victory, cannot be divulged beforehand.
15. The general who wins has made many calculations before the battle is fought, likewise the general who makes few looses. Therefore, calculate how you may achieve victory beforehand and it shall be yours.”
So, when your force is outmatched you must modify your plans and play for a victory through secondary objectives while still appearing to play for the primary. When doing this, you will then appear where you are not expected, and attack what he has not prepared, and secure the victory.
When considering the secondary objectives, Draigo is a great choice. Not only is he hard to kill, but he also excells against other warlords.
When you are building your list keep this tactic in mind. As an example; if you know you will be playing the standard 6th edition missions, build a list that can achieve first blood, has a general that is hard to kill, and can use its mobility to get into the enemies deployment zone, while still being able to contest objectives. This may make your list look weak to some, which in the end is a good thing, as it will further the deception that you are outmatched and boost the confidence of your opponent.
Go out and try using this tactic. See if you can take victory from a strong opponent or against a list that is stronger than yours. Then make sure you come back here and tell us about it. Be sure to check out our videos and follow/like/comment/sub to our stuff. Thanks for the help fellas.
Please note that all references to the Art of War(hammer) are a fictitious knock off of the real Art of War by Sun Tzu. Some portions are a direct quote; I do not mean to take credit for any of it. Go check it out, it’s a great book.
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