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I'm new to fantasy, so sorry if this seems like a dumb question. I'm slowly building up a Chaos Warrior army.

I've seen tactical advice about beating hordes or other large ranked units is to hit them in the flank with some fast cavalry while your main unit attacks from the front. White Dwarf and other places around the web seem to recommend using a unit of 10 marauder horsemen. 10 marauder horsemen seem a bit pricey for this purpose, but I will agree that if they can hit the flank, they are more than worth the points.

My question is: Isn't it easy for an army to shoot at them (even just once with a small unit) and kill 1, making them unable to get the flanking bonus. I guess you could screen them with some hounds, but it still seems like killing one of them would be really easy with missile weapons or magic.

Would a unit of 15 war hounds be a safer option? They are much cheaper and you would have to kill 6 before they lose their flanking bonus. I realize hounds are far less maneuverable, but does the cheapness and strength in numbers make up for that? Maybe screen them with more hounds or even take multiple units of 10 hounds. Hounds are so cheap in comparison to horsemen.

Losing one will not lose you the +1 flanking bonus. Even a single model will give you this bonus if it survives.

You will be unable to break ranks if you don't have at least two ranks yourself. This will probably be more important, depending on the number of ranks the opposing unit has. In this regard, 15 hounds would be much better as they can suffer five casualties and still have two full ranks. Remember that not only shooting prior to the combat is relevant. Your flanker must be able to suffer a few casualties from combat as well because ranks are determined at the end of the combat. It is not at all exotic to lose a model even to subpar fighters such as State Troops or Clanrats.

However, flanking alone, ranks or not, will not remove steadfast as long as the target has more total ranks than either of your units. With a unit of CW in the front and Horsemen in the flank, you are extremely likely to win the fight through the sheer number of kills, regardless of whether you remove their rank bonus or not. Not only is winning still important, as even a high Ld test can be failed, more kills will also serve to remove those extra ranks faster.

Thanks for clarifying that.

I'm also considering a small unit of Marauders, say 15 models with shields and light armour OR flails for a flank attack to reduce rank bonus or just dish out some extra kills. In most cases I see them being fast enough to get into a flanking position, especially if Chaos Warriors taking on the front hang back slightly.

If the flanking fails, 15 (or 18) marauders with flails would make an excellent suicide unit.

I think I need to reread the rule book again and actually get some battles under my belt before I think too deeply about my tactics. I just want to make sure a I get the basic building blocks right.