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I put a ram on my Trukk and I'm looking to use the trukk to cause havok after the boyz go and do their thing.

But...I'm not sure when and where to use tank shock. Is it even worth it or should I use the trukk as mobile terrain?

Use tank shock when you would like guys to break and you are not doing anything productive with your tank. Basically it boils down to the question "Is my tank doing anything useful this turn?" If the answer is "no", then you might as well tank shock something. Sure the chance of the unit failing it's leadership test is small, but it still happens sometimes. Another thing to think about is moving your opponent. If you end your tank shock move on top of enemy models, they have to move out from under you by the shortest route and end up more than 1" away from you. If you are doing this with a decent sized tank (I do it with wave serpents and falcons all the time), you can push your opponent out of cover or away from objectives even if they pass their tank shock check. Since this happens in the movement phase, if you push the unit out of cover, you can open up on them without having to worry about those pesky cover saves. The other sneaky possibility to tank shock is pushing units out of line of sight. If you have some enemy heavy weapon teams sitting in some area terrain (like a forest perhaps) and you tank shock them, you can most likely work it out so that they are forced to move out from under the tank in a way that puts them behind the forest. They'll then have to waste a turn of movement (and shooting) getting back into a position to shoot you again.

While all those are ways to tank shock, here are some ways not to tank shock. If you are using your tank to block line of sight to units behind it, having it run off to tank shock is probably not the best idea. Tank shocking units that are very likely to "death or glory" you (and kill you in the process) is also a bad plan in general. The key to this though is to have a good understanding of just how likely the unit really is to actually kill you.

I hadn't thought of using it to drive someone out of cover. That's handy. Thanks!

You can also tank shock multiple units so long as you can contact them all in a straight line. You can really do some damage to a gun line in such a fashion, especially Tau.
The possibility is almost enough to make me want to take Laud Hailers on my Rhinos. Almost.

Tank shocking can also be used against units that like to hang out at the table edge in their deployment zone. If the unit fails the check, off the board they go!

Aha. Interesting oversight there Iorek. The guys that do that usually have big, big, big guns, so if you ever reach them, you're Jesus and you've been using loaded dice! Summary execution!

One of my regular opponents likes to use Tank Shock in conjunction with Castellan Mines from his Whirlwind. He drops a mine field on a 'Stand and Shoot' unit and then tank shocks it - forcing it to move and take damage from the minefield.

Very nasty.

Presumably he uses a Land Raider, or just assumes the risk of blowing the tank up. Interesting idea though.

Another thing to keep in mind when tank shocking. Broken units can't rally if there is an enemy within 6" of them. So if you drive though a unit and can end up behind them, it might be a good idea to do so. If they break, they will have to roll really high to get away and be able to rally next turn. If they don't get far enough away from you, they'll stay broken and keep running. You can use this to escort units off the board if you get luck with the initial tank shock roll.

when you actually break an enemy line though and force several units to flee you will feel great. it's possibly one of the funniest ways to destroy a unit, and o so rewarding.

Be careful about tank shocking with skimmers and the 6" movement rule. It's a grey area in the rules as to whether the unit has that defense if it suffers a DoG before it reaches the 6" mark (presuming it intends to go >6". Work out with your enemy ahead of time how that's going to be played.

Similar debates you can get into include Tank Shocking infantry out of terrain with a skimmer tank, while remaining over the terrain yourself, or selectively tank shocking some units while going over others. When Tank Shock works the other player tends to call "BS", so prepare the ground ahead of time and make sure you are on the same page as your foe in rules terms.

Wow! That gives me great ideas for using my trukks with rams. I have heard about using the tank shock to clump units up for flame templates, but never for so many other GREAT ideas. That helps so much!

40kenthusiast wrote:Be careful about tank shocking with skimmers and the 6" movement rule. It's a grey area in the rules as to whether the unit has that defense if it suffers a DoG before it reaches the 6" mark (presuming it intends to go >6". Work out with your enemy ahead of time how that's going to be played.

Actually the rules are fairly clear on this issue. If you look up the skimmer moving fast rule, it specifically states that the rule is in effect if you moved over 6" in the previous movement phase. This would mean that it is irrelevant how far you moved in this movement phase. An worth while point to make though. I only know this because I ran into just such a situation and had to study the relevant rules.

Tank shocking into terrain is a bit more of a gray area, but there is a fair amount of evidence to support it including the rules for tank shock movement and targeting as well as it being unallowable to have models underneath a skimmer over terrain. If it is any help, the INAT / Adeptacon FAQ also allows it (+RB.61.02H).

Nurglitch wrote:Presumably he uses a Land Raider, or just assumes the risk of blowing the tank up. Interesting idea though.

From page 205 of the BGB: "An enemy model moving over a minefield triggers a mine..."

Mines ignore friendly units. There's no danger to any of your own troops or vehicles. Neat, eh?

Ah, concentrating enemy units for templates. Hadn't thought of that. Tank Shock is definitely the "advanced user" element of 40K movement. I personally begin laughing maniacally when my opponent makes the mistake of blowing the guns off of a dedicated transport- it's like carte blanche to play around with Tank Shock.

As for skimmers shocking infantry out of terrain, unless it's multi-level terrain (like a very tall building), I can't see why infantry wouldn't be just as worried about superheated jetwash/lethal magnetic field/whatever as about treads. Warhammer is mostly 2-dimensional, so without an exception saying that they don't occupy a spcae, they would affect troops in that space. The movement rules say that the vehicle still occupies that space (models can't be placed underneath it), it just can't get the benefits of cover from it.

If these games in our league have taught me anything so far, it's that tank shocking a Tau Commander is a sure fire way to make him flee off the table.

New chaos dex is extremly vulnerable to tank shock. Regular chaos marines, chosen, terminators, etc are no longer fearless (only cult marines like berzerkers, noise marines etc).

Many choas players in the new dex believe that basic is the way to go and orc trukks (6 of them) going through two or three units at a time (6 times in a row after they have dropped their little green packages elsewhere) can defeat 300-600 points at a time. You can only roll low so many times and even with icons that allow re-rolls on failed leadership they can still loose units this way. This can cause far more damage than a few big shootas or rokkit launchers.

Meph

It's funny you should say that, because my Space/Chaos Marines all have anti-tank weapons (mainly Melta-Guns, but also Chainfists, Melta Bombs, and the odd Lascannon) for just that situation. Of course, the problem is that when you're prepared, people don't do you the courtesy of trying to Tank Shock you!

I'm always careful to only tank shock models that aren't carrying anti-tank weaponry. It's always funny to watch a missle-toting marine run away with his brothers because I charged a couple of tactical marines rather than the heavy weapon marine.

I've found that a surefire way to bring tank shock back to the game was the addition of the dethroller. What's better than forcing a morale check? Forcing a morale check AND D6 S10 hits! For some reason nobody wants to DoG my battlewagon either :(

Even if they do death or glory its only what 40 ish points? there is a one in six chance that their nice expensive powerfist or what not gets plastered by the trukk. Orks arn't afraid to take a big risk for a small chance at a big gain. It's darn orky that way.

And it is usually pretty easy to death or glory non-AT troopers. I always talk smack and remind my opponent do you really want to get a melta gun DoG attack on your vehicle, but the experience players just say, no, I'll drive through this regular trooper.

That's what unit formations should prevent. A nice tight wedge of five with a Bolter Marine on point, flanked by a Melta Gunner and the Melta-Bomb armed Sergeant on ether side will make a mess of whatever tries to run them over. Likewise a nice tight cross of five with a Lascannon or Multi-Melta (or even a Missile Launcher) in the middle will ensure that running over any Marines means running over the (really) dangerous one.

If a vehicle can drive over a trooper that isn't carry something that can crack it, or 'krak' it as the case may be, you practically deserve to get tank shocked. It's the reason why generalizing a unit is so useful, so your anti-infantry squad doesn't simply get run over!

Which further establishes the point that tank shock combines well with template & blast weapons.

Indeed it does, which often makes me wonder about how some people on these boards (and others) dismiss Template and Blast weapons out of hand.

This discussion is making me reconsider the value of Wraithblades/Singing Spears. I've been pissed about them becoming mandatory for Warlocks in the new Eldar codex for some time now. However, my usual opponents fail to employ tank shock well. One dangerous opponent that does that well could make the 25 point investment more worthwhile. Hmm. I'm still pissed about the overhead for a simple Embolden. Grumble.

Orks also like to put stikkbomb chuckas on their trukks and tank-shock you INTO cover, so they can assualt at the same I as you. Tankshock, unload the boyz and charge for I10 goodness. At least against marines and other such I4+ armies.

Two Daemons in a Bar wrote:Aha. Interesting oversight there Iorek. The guys that do that usually have big, big, big guns, so if you ever reach them, you're Jesus and you've been using loaded dice! Summary execution!

There's plenty of vehicles that can do this effectively. The origional poster was talking about trukks, which can move up to 25". Anyone who is willing to rush through difficult terrain can do this easily as well. Of course, none of this works if you're playing on a terrain-less table. But that's your fault, not a flaw in the game.

With a bit more skill you can set up tank shocks a turn in advance, especially with a CC based list such as orks in trukks. Simply move your trukk up, unload troops into a squad that they will kill in 2 assualt phases. If everything goes right, in your opponents turn your trukk will be screened by the combat. Then on your next movement you'll be free and clear to tank shock thru where the combat was.

Interestingly the Reinforced Ram also lets you re-roll Dangerous Terrain tests...

Nurglitch wrote:That's what unit formations should prevent. A nice tight wedge of five with a Bolter Marine on point, flanked by a Melta Gunner and the Melta-Bomb armed Sergeant on ether side will make a mess of whatever tries to run them over.

I don't see how this formation would help. You can just tank shock the single model at the point (bolter marine) and stop there. It can't hurt the tank and the whole unit must still make a Morale Check. It's very easy to clip a single model in a tight formation with the front corner of a vehicle.

I think I'd need a diagram to show it, but the formation helps because tank shocking vehicles have to move in a straight line. You simply turtle-up the unit pointed towards the vehicle, and you're 'protected'.

Nurglitch wrote:I think I'd need a diagram to show it, but the formation helps because tank shocking vehicles have to move in a straight line. You simply turtle-up the unit pointed towards the vehicle, and you're 'protected'.

Why does formation make any difference? Are you talking about using "death or glory" or are you talking about something else. If you are talking about "death or glory" it doesn't matter which models the tank hits, any one (and only one) in the unit can make the death or glory attack, but the unit has to pass their moral test first so it doesn't stop the tank shock per say, but I guess it would stop the squad from having to move out of the way if the tank was trying to end it's movement on top of the squad.