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 6^th 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.