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I couldn't help but notice that this tactics forum, like so many others, seems to be about strategy, specifically that part of strategy involving material: the armies people bring to games. Actual tactics seems to be abstracted entirely away from the game, and I don't see any advice about actual things that units can do on the board to maximize their impact in a game in concert with other units. I think this is unfortunate because rather like Lord of The Rings Warhammer 40k has a depth of tactics that go beyond simply playing the odds, involving formations, co-ordination of fire, carefully timing assaults, and generally paying attention to the positions of models on the board as well as numbers on an army list.

Something I always recommend to people interested in knowing about Warhammer 40k is trying an introductory game involving a reinforced platoon of Imperial Guardsmen I bought for the purpose of running skirmish games. By making the armies equal I could focus the person's attention on what happens on the board to enhance their learning curve, and they usually learn to appreciate the game (if not its length!). In particular I found that using a set of diagrams before the game, specific set-ups of models to illustrate how parts of the game work (what unit coherency is, how line of sight and range affect the shooting phase, how charge moves affect the assault phase) before actually playing meant that they didn't need constant reassurance or advice from me. From my perspective it's been an eye-opener about the depth of a game I used to dismiss as shallow and it's given me the conviction that games of Warhammer 40k are won by players and not armies. It's what you do with them that matters, the missions you play, and the terrain and conditions being fought under. The army rules just provide a framework, although the way you'd here it on internet forums is that you need to get a certain army with xyz units and that after you're done composing a list (aka "copying the received wisdom of the Internet") the game plays itself.

So what I'd like to do with this thread is build up a list of tactics that can be used in any army and any game, covering the basics of 40k that so many players seem to forget because they're just desperate to get their expensive uber-unit to do something impressive.

Are you looking for basic tactics like shoot the opponents assaulty units and assault the opponents shooty units. Or more advanced like IG infantry platoons running behind hellhounds to capture objectives and use the destroyed vehicles as future 4+ cover bunkers.

For me it's DP's. By avoiding @ least 1 turn of casualies from Enemy fire, placing my units AMONGST my opponent's soldiers/tanks, and RF'ing.

TG & CA make the inevitable charge into me a not-so-scary prospect.

Oh, and I ALWAYS fire @ them 1st. Regardless of who won the 1st turn roll. Love it.

Even in alpha level games, objectives are often meaningless as one side or the other will end up being wiped off the board. Games where both sides are predominantly assault oriented, or where one or both sides has focused on lots of high damage, low survivability units like ‘stealer bomb will rarely go to six turns, don’t commit resources to the objectives because its most likely one of you won’t have any left on the board at the end of the game.

On the other hand, plenty of games are won because one side is sitting on more objectives at the end of the game. If the game has a lot of durable units like falcons, it’s likely there’ll be plenty of shooting units left on the field at the end of the game. In which case its likely the game will be decided by objectives.

A skilled player who can predict the game will be a bloodbath will put all his resources into winning the fight, and give himself an edge over his opponent. On the other hand, a skilled player who can see the game will go the distance will find himself controlling the most objectives come turn 6, and be more likely to win.

Anyone can figure out at the end of turn three the game is about to go the distance, but a good players knows from turn 1 that the game will or will not be likely to be decided by objectives.

dornsfist: No, nothing so vacuous. I'm looking for specific tactics like what sort of formation you should adopt with an assault unit to maximize the effect of an assault on a variety of targets.

For example, one shooting tactic involves moving a unit with short ranged firepower so that only a part of the target unit receives the full brunt of their potential firepower. In doing so you can use Shooting rules to (1) prevent the target unit from being able to assault the next turn, or (2) to kill dangerous members of the unit like sergeants or heavy weapon specialists, or (3) to shape the unit for an assault by another unit so that the effect of certain close combat specialists lurking in the unit may be mitigated or prevented entirely.

In order to do #1 the attacking unit needs weapons with a range slightly longer than the combined move and charge distance of the target unit, and the weapons in range must have more attacks than the number of models in range. Some diagrams to illustrate the squad formations useful for accomplishing this would belong here.

I mean sure, we know that you can either capture objectives or simply prevent the other player from doing so. Those things are given, one of those options is part of your strategy, and that's vacuous in terms of how you plan to accomplish this; your tactics. Likewise "shoot the hitty ones and hit the shooty ones" is pretty vacuous tactical advice. Good tactical advice starts with a situation and tells you when and how, in what combinations, and why.

It can often be worthwhile to advance an assault unit in line formation. When you charge only the most forward couple of models will be in base to base, reducing the number of models engaged in the fighting. This is a useful ploy when you want to minimize the amount of fighting in the first turn of an assault, either because you’re trying to tarpit the enemy, or because you don’t want to massacre or break the enemy in the first turn (allowing you to stay in hidden in close combat and immune to enemy shooting, before beating them in the next phase and leaving your unit free to assault in your own turn).

The opposite principle applies to shooting units, you can place a single model 2 inches forward of another model, with the bulk of the unit another 2 inches behind him. This will limit the engaged models to those two models in most charge situations, and so limit the casualties you will take. However, you have to think long and hard about whether you want to survive the first round of combat. Often it’s best to get routed, allowing your other units to rapid fire the enemy assault unit in your turn. But if you have quality countercharge units like rough riders this can be an excellent ploy, wasting the enemy’s charge on an ineffectual assault while your own assault will see you benefit from a packed kill zone.

There's also ways of dealing with those line formations.

The first way, and maybe the easiest way, is to flank it with a fast-moving assault unit of your own in a wedge formation. This will maximize the number of attacks you can bring to bare on the middle of the formation, while minimizing the kill-zone available on your unit's own flank, like a 'K'. You don't have to assault it though, and it's often better to flank it but forgo the assault even though you might conceivably break the unit so you don't risk getting suckered by a counter-assault.

The second way is more difficult since it will give your opponent opportunity to shoot at your units before the assault. This takes two turns. In the first turn you move up as close as possible in front of the enemy unit to form a box formation, rather like a -), or even a -]. In their own turn, unless this unit is very fast, this unit will not be be able to move away such that the available kill-zone is limited to the point-man and his back-up. If you box the unit completely it will be trapped. Either way if they wish to assault with the unit then their unit will be forced to open up their kill-zone to the defenders before they have to charge the closest models. If they don't wish to assault then you can move away freely in the next turn.

Something to keep in mind is how fast the assault unit is and how fast your own flanking or boxing units are.

If there's tactical advice you want, there are lots of resources here on dakka and indeed around the internet.

What works for me might not work for you, or indeed anyone else.

I think it's a good thread. These kind of threads are less common than discussions about army lists, unit configurations, or weapon performance, because the latter topics are more universal and usually relatively simple. Whereas tabletop maneuvers are more complex to describe, and sometimes subject to local conventions on terrain and missions.

I think it's going to be virtually impossible to talk meaningfully about tactics without diagrams. I mean, you can get some basic ideas across, but complex maneuvers/formations are going to come across a lot better with diagrams.

I imagine there's some kind of specialized tool for something like that, possibly used by sports coaches or something, but that'd be my suggestion in a nutshell. diagrams diagrams diagrams.

"Tactics as you define it is the abstracting of strategy. Since it's an abstract with no concretes in and of themselves they aren't too useful. For example I could list ways to present a false front and the flank my opponent, but what armies are capable of it? tau eldar (light or dark) and possibly the orks. Each army would have it's own way to implement the flank maneuver and general tactics wouldn't be all that useful.
Same thing with formations. Necrons and space marines are going to march differently than tyranids and eldar.

Stelek: What works for you should work for me, providing the same conditions. Otherwise it's not tactics.

Mannahnin: Yes, part of tactics is using the right tactics for the terrain and the mission. Take the tactics that the sebster and I described above. They generally assume only the units mentioned, on relatively empty boards, and no other pressing concerns like capturing objectives. While these things are more complex than the usual throwaway advice posted on the Internet ("Remember, if it's a sentence it's too long to read!"), diagrams that can compact that information are easy enough to do in MS Paint.

Longshot: Of course.

There are a lot of problems with discussing broad tactics. There are so many armies, that it is hard to generalize tactics.

For example: One of the most important parts of the game is target priority. There is nothing we can really talk about because there are so many armies all with different builds. Units that are threats to some armies are not threats to others etc.

So with that in mind, I will put forth some ideas later.

Blackmoor’s Helpful Hints #1

When defending against a Harlequin unit in a Falcon, the best defense is to bunch up into a tight ball (assuming that the Eldar player does not have a Fire Prism).

What this does is several things.
#1. If there are any survivors of the assault, the ones that are left will be in b-t-b and be able to attack back. Harlequins are all offense and no defense, so if you get some attacks back you will kill some.
#2. It lets all of your models be in the kill zone, so if they all get wiped out, you can then shoot the Harlequins in your turn.
#3. It increases the distance between your squads so that they can’t consolidate into another unit.

Blackmoor’s Helpful Hints #1

When defending against a Harlequin unit in a Falcon, the best defense is to bunch up into a tight ball (assuming that the Eldar player does not have a Fire Prism).

What this does is several things.
#1. If there are any survivors of the assault, the ones that are left will be in b-t-b and be able to attack back. Harlequins are all offense and no defense, so if you get some attacks back you will kill some.
#2. It lets all of your models be in the kill zone, so if they all get wiped out, you can then shoot the Harlequins in your turn.
#3. It increases the distance between your squads so that they can’t consolidate into another unit.

A very important note: bunch up single units >6 away from other units. Not everyone together. I'm sure you meant that Blackmoor, it just wasn't clear.

-Leo037

Just adding(a little Spammie!)

Good thread call Nurglitch. I will be playing a 3-way game this Sun.
Nids/DE/SM. Will give a tactical analysis on Monday.(But not a Battle report!)

Blackmoor’s Helpful Hints #2

When fighting a pure assault horde army try to start as far back on the table that you are comfortable with, and never, ever advance (and by pure assault I mean Tyranids and Orks. Ones that cross the table in a mass, and can only win by assault).

Sometimes you will be tempted to early on to move up to flamer, or rapid fire, but do not until just before they will be in assault range.

Orks and Tyranid armies move roughly 6”+1”-6” a turn, so be staying in the rear, you can buy yourself some extra time for several turns of shooting. By moving any unit forward, they can do several things that are all bad.

#1. You give them a free 6” charge move.
#2. There is a chance that the unit will not break (and the Ork/Tyranid player can increase the odds of the happening). And they you can’t shoot them for a turn and they act as a screen.
#3. You give them either a 3” or 1”-6” consolidation move.
#4. They will then be in the middle of your army with an additional charge move.

So when they get into combat they get a free 7”-12” (assault+consolidation) movement that you can use to shoot for an extra turn or 2.

Just curious, my Nids and my Orks win by shooting and the *threat* of assault. Too many armies out there can avoid assault so I've usually 'won' by the time assaults occur.

I do like the advice, it's great for new players.

Blackmoor: There is no problem in discussing broad tactics. Simply mention the conditions under which a tactic should work (is likely to work), and people can then generalize those conditions to similar ones. Tactics requiring that a unit be able to move 12" a turn and hit with S4 in close combat, for example, can be generalized to any units meeting those conditions. It's interesting to note that the more broadly applicable a tactic is, the fewer conditions restricting its use will occur.

Stelek wrote:Just curious, my Nids and my Orks win by shooting and the *threat* of assault. Too many armies out there can avoid assault so I've usually 'won' by the time assaults occur.

The threat of assault is not to be underestimated. I've had Broodlords perform excellently despite never reaching combat... they infiltrated into excellent positions on the board where they threatened 4 and 5 units, forcing them all to move away and costing their heavy weapons a round of shooting.

Or you can just move your army around out of assault range and fire at the lurkers. Tau practically depend on this, but it can also be quite effectively done with Eldar of all stripes, Space Marines, and even Chaos Marines (walking away while blasting trukks with Reaper Autocannons, or backing up Predators while shooting away with the Autocannon is interesting).

My #1 Rule for good tactical gameplay: mind the objective of the mission. Most people tend to forget about objective missions and go for killing the other opponent. Even in games of VP, the objective is usually worth its weight in VP.

Blackmoor’s Helpful hints #3

Know your squads MVPs.


Squads have 2 types of models…studs and duds. Studs are your squads MVPs, models like Aspiring Champions, Exarchs, Heavy and special weapons, Vet Sgts, etc. The rest of the squad are duds whose role is to catch bullets so that the studs stay alive.

You want to keep your studs together in the middle of the squad. That way as the duds die off you do not lose coherency. It also keeps your opponent from sniping a stud from the ends of the unit by using weapon range, and LOS to take them out.

Retreat is an option.

For one reason or another, I see very few players ever retreat. It’s as if they don’t realize that their troops can move backwards. Don’t fall into this mentality. If there are some assault units that are heading towards you and you can’t take them, get away from them. If there are some short ranged shooty units moving up on you, back up out of their range. If your units execute a tactical retreat, you can buy yourself some time to move in reinforcements to come help them out and/or draw the enemy closer to the bulk of your army where you will be in a better position to deal with them. Or if you don’t have anything around that will be able to deal with the enemy any time soon, you can retreat away from the bulk of your army so the enemy is left high and dry once they are done killing your retreating unit. In either case, moving away from the enemy will keep them “engaged” in killing your unit longer and put them in a less optimal position then if you just stood there to take it or if you moved up to meet them.

Another helpful hint is to analyze the units in your army that do the majority of the wet-works and cross reference that with your opponent's army list. Check what he is taking that is a threat to said unit. Taking out those threats makes that unit perform much better as the game grinds on. Example: Terminators. Find the units in the opponents army that is the biggest counter to them and target them until they are eliminated. That way, by turn 5-6 your terminators are dominating their region on the table top.

Capt K

Use your vehicles to section off your opponent's forces. A transport does not become useless after it has dropped off its cargo, even if it has no guns worth shooting or is shaken. Put it in between your opponent's advancing assault squad and its target. Make a "wall" between your opponent's units so that you can deal with them in parts instead of all at once. This works not only with ultra-durable transports like falcons, but also with simpler ones like rhinos. Even if the rhino gets blown up, it has protected a (probably) much more expensive unit.

Nurglitch
You are correct in the understanding that building your army list represents proper use of strategy, while tabletop performace relates to tactics.
that being said. every game, every mission and every army can have different tactics dependant on whats in the list, how the terrain is set up and what the objectives aree.

For example, one of the most common tactics you hear about fighting tau is to lock them in CC, but against my tau army there is usually only 1 unit on the table that you can do this to because the list is all mechanised. so that normaly sound tactic doesn't really work(and makes me snicker).


Since the reality of the game is this way you must reconfigure your tactics in every game you play based on the given variables.

The problem with all mechanized tau is you have no markerlights. Having a bunch of 'oh boy, stun me, pen me' vehicles has a certain strength; but most gunlines will rip your vehicles out of the sky and leave you with your crisis suits. Which suck without those markerlights.

You could run a few more ground units to sucker your opponent into moving towards your 'line' instead of snickering when they have nothing else to do but try and assault your skimmers with that assault marine pack with a chaplain and meltabombs....

The problem with all mechanized tau is you have no markerlights. Having a bunch of 'oh boy, stun me, pen me' vehicles has a certain strength; but most gunlines will rip your vehicles out of the sky and leave you with your crisis suits. Which suck without those markerlights.

You prove the point of my previous post. as your tactics wouldn't work very well. especially given the strategies used to build the list.

With tactical use of terrain, i hardly need marker lights because my tanks all have targeting arrays as well as smart missles to deal with troops. you need a S6 or better gun. even then you only get to glance them(as they are skimmers moving fast). with all the upgrades they have they survive amazaingly well. and those are just the transports.

Crisis suits? you mean my lone required HQ thats a deepstriking, tank hunting, suicide commander with a 2+/4+ shield drones, fusion gun, missle pods and stim injectors?

instead of snickering when they have nothing else to do but try and assault your skimmers with that assault marine pack with a chaplain and meltabombs....

Oh a CC unit, i like those better than being shot at by heavy weapons, and much better than necrons( gauss rule) .....skimmer in CC that moved fast with fletchette launchers, hey i am tau and i strike first, hit automatically and wound on a 4+ ......i usually win those.


Which goes back tomy original point-
there are good ideas and then there are actual un-set tactics based on the army you face, the objective and the terrain.

If you think destroying Mech Tau is a challenge, hate to burst your bubble but it isn't.

I don't run Mech Tau for this reason. Here's a few more:

If you think you can take out a chaplain + assault marines with flechette launchers and not lose that vehicle...yeah, you need to play better players. 4-5 wounds vs marines isn't going to win you much.

Your HQ is meltagun bait, I'm not impressed.

Are you sure you have SMS? Look like drones with guns to me.

No Piranhas?

Tau 'stun me now, pen me later' vehicles aren't exactly survivable, ya know.