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You know, It's funny that this game requires so much info being given, has a psych aspect to it, and it's deception is the route people are generally going here.

Ever consider superstition? as gamers, relying on chance in competition, we're a pretty superstitious lot (between dice, painting, mixing painted/unpainted models in a unit, there are plenty). Or simply, pointing out combat events ahead of time. Weather you announce you know who would win in a shoot out or assault, you're still bringing up confidence in future events and forcing them to acknowledge or dismiss the fact. If you tell them their long fangs are gonna rip open your dreadnaughts, either they shrug and accept that you knew or they try to prove you wrong with other (less optimal) options. they may not be consciously working to prove you wrong, but the idea of knowing better then your opponent is wired deep within our mind. look at any opinion related debate, and the effort thrown in to prove we know better then 'them'.

simply enough, if you can, not convince, but allow them to come to the conclusion they can't win, it's bound to throw off their psych.

for a more reliable tactic, a "one-white-Fireball' (for you M:TG player out there) unit can do wonders. in Magic, a Grand Tour player noted that by having a sub-optimal creature did something weird to the game... no one wanted to 'waste' their good cards on his sun-tail hawk. he averaged 5 damage with the bird, which is a quarter of the game. Having an out of place unit when saturated with better targets, they can pop shots off relatively untouched.

I think that taking out a specialty unit at it's own game hurts bad. So yeah out shoot some Tau or slice up some Bezerkers or Genestealers in CC, that would be a scary moment for me.

Taking 2-4 times as many models as they do is my first step.
Surviving the first round of shooting with neglegible dead due to a KFF is another good one.
Those pretty much do the trick.

Tagboard Wizard wrote:
for a more reliable tactic, a "one-white-Fireball' (for you M:TG player out there) unit can do wonders. in Magic, a Grand Tour player noted that by having a sub-optimal creature did something weird to the game... no one wanted to 'waste' their good cards on his sun-tail hawk. he averaged 5 damage with the bird, which is a quarter of the game. Having an out of place unit when saturated with better targets, they can pop shots off relatively untouched.

The problem with this analogy is M:tG has much more limited resources, cards, to deal with things. There is no difference in 40k between dealing with 5 great units or 4 great units and 1 below average unit. It's still 5 total units. You can either deal with that, or you can't. The fact that one of them is weaker doesn't matter. In M:tG, you have to save a resource for a potentially greater threat that comes later. 40k has no later.

Tagboard Wizard wrote:for a more reliable tactic, a "one-white-Fireball' (for you M:TG player out there) unit can do wonders. in Magic, a Grand Tour player noted that by having a sub-optimal creature did something weird to the game... no one wanted to 'waste' their good cards on his sun-tail hawk. he averaged 5 damage with the bird, which is a quarter of the game. Having an out of place unit when saturated with better targets, they can pop shots off relatively untouched.

This is a good tip, to a degree. As soon as a unit starts doing really well your opponent will start shooting it. The idea is to do enough to be worthwhile, but not enough to be hailed public enemy 1, 2 and 3. I've found scourges fill this position quite adequately, as with haywire blasters they do little damage, but have great utility. The enemy will likely attack your harder hitting units - ravagers, incubi etc - but all the time there vehicles will be almost entirely useless thanks to the scourges.

This in itself is a good psychological tactic - harass key units (if your codex allows for it). Things like immobilising tanks, pinning squads and causing retreats are really important, but often forsaken for attempting to destroy squads entirely. If you can immobilise one unit so your big guns can focus on other threats then you should take that opportunity.