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Made in ca
Space Marine Scout with Sniper Rifle



Naniamo. B.C. Canada

I figured I would start this particular thread so I could get help on this topic and maybe if it spins off into something that helps others then all the better, so anyways heres the low down.

I have now been playing 40k for about 2yrs now and I know how to build an army list paint & assemble my models and play the objectives but the one thing that gets me every time especially against veteran players is tactics and seeming to have the entire game planned out from turn 1.

Also anytime I have gotten help from a veteran player they tend to take over and do everything without explaning what they are up to and why so I do win the game but learn nothing in the process which is anouther reason I am trying this avenue.

As such I would like to learn how to get into this "mindset" so I don't end up "winging it".

So any advice, input and even insight from all you veteran players would be much appreciated by me and probably many others.

Thanks.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2008/11/07 12:26:08


 
   
Made in us
Dominar






Create a mental checklist for yourself.

Examine the board layout and visualize how the forces will maneuver, and how to maximize the flow of your army to counter your opponent's.

Decide which objectives you are going to go for, and when, and which you are willing to give up or contest later.

Prioritize which targets of your opponent that you want dead and which units of your own that will be efficient at removing them.

Now you have your Plan. Once you get some experience at this sort of assessment it should take you about 30 seconds to complete before the first movement phase.

Now that the dice begin to roll, simply attempt to maintain your Plan's coherency. This is where tactical reaction comes in. Look at your opponent's maneuvers, the results of his shooting and assault phases, and your potential maneuvers. Figure out what your options are. Compare this to your mental checklist and determine which options will most adhere to your Plan. Sometimes you have to make tactical sacrifices in order to maintain your overall strategy.
   
Made in ca
Space Marine Scout with Sniper Rifle



Naniamo. B.C. Canada

Ok. that helps a bit, could I get some examples?

say the following Space Marine list against a veteran Eldar player or whatever fits the bill.

How would this play out in theory?

Also maybe an explination as to how and why you would do certian things.

Sorry if I'm going too far with this just trying to get more of a clear understanding of the thought process of tactics...slow learner i guess...


Golden Legion 2000pts

HQ 100
1 Librarian or Chaplin/ Captain/ MOTF

Troop 1107
(220) 10 Space Marines, Flamer, Missile Launcher
Rhino or Drop Pod, Power Weapon
(220) 10 Space Marines, Flamer, Missile Launcher
Rhino or Drop Pod, Power Weapon

(245) 10 Space Marines, Meltagun, Lascannon
Rhino or Drop Pod, Powerfist
(245) 10 Space Marines, Meltagun, Lascannon
Rhino or Drop Pod, Powerfist
(177) 9 Scouts, Heavy Bolter, Telion

Heavy 255
(85) 1 Whirlwind or Preditor Destructor
(85) 1 Whirlwind or Preditor Destructor
(85) 1 Whirlwind or Preditor Destructor

Fast 180
(60) 1 Landspeeder, Multi-Melta
(60) 1 Landspeeder, Multi-Melta
(60) 1 Landspeeder, Multi-Melta

Elite 360
(135) 1 Dreadnaught, Lascannon
(135) 1 Dreadnaught, Lascannon
(90) 1 Techmarine, Full servo Harness, Power Weapon

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2008/11/07 12:13:24


 
   
Made in us
[ARTICLE MOD]
Fixture of Dakka






Chicago

This is an excellent question, and something that so-called tactics forums do a horrible job with, as they tend towards simply telling you what to take.


Of course, being an excellent question, there are several books available on what constitutes strategy, as well as some tactical ideas. The key is deciding what real-world strategies fit into any given game system, and which do not.

I mean, concept 1: Know yourself and know your enemy. This is as old as warfare itself and comes from The Art of War. How does it apply to 40k?

Well, you need to know what your troops are capable of, and what your opponents troops are capable of before you make a plan.

Specific example: You mention taking your marines against a veteran eldar player. Let's say the eldar player has a handful of weapon platforms. Do you know, off the top of your head, which ones are scatter lasers and which ones are starcannons? Do you know what this difference means to your army and how you should deploy?

Simple answer: The starcannon is AP2, while the Scatterlaser is AP6 (but gets more shots). If you see your opponent fielding starcannons, you know that your 3+ save won't help, so you utilize terrain more. If your opponent is fielding scatterlasers, your armour is more effective than a cover save is going to be, and so you can deploy without feeling the need to use the terrain.

If you don't know these things prior to deployment, you can either strand your men in difficult terrain needlessly, or expose them to fire that will pick them apart easily. You can see how knowing what your opponent can do is important.

Knowing your own capabilities is good too. You have to make decisions during the game, and the only way to make good decisions is to know what the odds of success are going to be.


Anyway, to start with, find a copy of 'The Art of War' and read it. And spend some time thinking about what parts of it apply to 40k, and which parts do not (there are things in there about avoiding battle, which isn't a fun way to play a wargame...). And think about the ways in which they apply to your army.

   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran




Los Angeles, CA

Mainly tactics comes down to utilizing what your brought with you.
Some things to think about
Always Always Always think about the mission. 40K is won and lost based on the mission.
Every turn ask yourself "am i winning or losing. How could this change?" ie. What could happen that you would go from winning to losing and how can you prevent it.

Dont bother to try to keep guys alive unless it is important. The are there to be sacrificed for the mission, VPS are out.

The problem with discussing tactics on a forum is you can only discuss vague generalities. nothing spesific.

Call me The Master of Strategy

Warhammer
Army Strategy
Unit Strategy 
   
Made in ca
Decrepit Dakkanaut





Actually you can discuss specifics. It helps if you use diagrams, but you can say things like: "If you have five Space Marines set up in the staggered line with the Space Marine on each end within 23" of an enemy unit, then you can remove casualties from the end within range of the unit that has yet to fire in order to reduce casualties on your unit."
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran




If you want to get a good head start on 40k Tactics play fantasy for a while then go back.. you will think much more strategicly before moving anything
   
Made in us
Been Around the Block




If you've been playing for two years with the same group of people, then you should have some of the things people mention above under control:

-You should by now know what their units do.
-You should know your opponent's general play style.
-You should know the tactics your opponents generally use for their army.

To me, if you have these three things locked down and as you said, you can make a solid list, all you really have to do is imagine what they would do with each unit based on the mission, then identify what you can do to disrupt that while still carrying out your own plan.

Some other general basics:
-Set up with overlapping fields of fire between your units.
-Concentrate fire power on a unit until you're out of stuff to shoot or out of stuff to shoot it with.
-Don't leave units unsupported unless that is what they're designed to do (we have a local player who always sends out his jump pack assault unit waaaaay ahead of the rest of his force. Sure, he may wipe out a unit but then he's staring at the entire rest of my army with nothing else to shoot at).
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran







Great question Ferik, and great suggestions by Redbeard.

What does Wolverine say? "I'm the best at what I do, but what I do isn't very nice." Think about what your troops do best. Forget about the opponent for a minute. If you can your troops doing what they do best all the time, you are halfway to winning. To do this, I break up my troops into these categories:

1. Melee
Motto: "I beat things with a stick." Melee troops dominate in hand to hand combat. Keep them there.
2. Shock Troops
Motto: "I get there fast, hit hard, then die next turn." Shock troops are meant to hit fast (primarily) and hard (secondarily), but lack staying power. They are the setup for a 1-2 punch, or there to interfere with the opponent to keep him off balance. Use the terrain to keep these guys away from massive firepower, and don't feel bad about sacrificing them to trash something big. If those Fire Prisms are linking up and demolishing your troops, it's not a bad deal to sacrifice some Speeders to the machine god for a few good side melta shots against the enemy firepower which dominates the game.
3. Ranged
Motto: "I shoot things." BOOM. Ranged troops need to see a lot of the board to do their damage. Hills are good, and so are wide open roads. Think of them as a way to "own" the board without having to be right there in the middle of it.
4. Bait
Motto: "Shoot me!" This category is very important, but often overlooked. Your opponent is going to shoot at you. Who do you want him to shoot at? Paint them bright and run them up the center. Use cheese tactics like interlocking units to keep them covered. They are there to look scary, do minimal damage, and soak up and waste a ton of enemy firepower.
5. Generalist
Motto: "I do everything ok." Basic SM are an example of this. They shoot well, melee well, and have good morale. Depending on the rest of your army, they can fill any roles which you lack.
6. Support
Motto: "My friends blow stuff up better when I'm around." These guys make your troops stronger or make the enemy weaker. Warmachine has tons of "utility solos" like this. Keep them near the troops they support.

Think of what each part of your army functions as. In the list you have above, I'd break up your troops as follows:
1. Space Marines: Generalists
2. Scouts: Support or Ranged
3. Whirlwinds and Predators: Ranged
4. Landspeeders: Shock Troops
5 Dreadnought: Melee or Ranged
6. Techmarine: Support

This may seem obvious, but the general plan for your army is keep the Whirlwinds shooting, the Landspeeders moving and causing trouble, the Dreads in melee, and the Scouts out and about causing mischief. What about the SM's, though? Well, as generalists, they pinch hit in a variety of roles. With a lot of fragile landspeeders and full heavy support in your army, I'd say that you need those Space Marines in the Bait category. Keep them in cover and keep them front and center, taking objectives and dying. This sounds strange, but if they can get shot up while the landspeeders zip back to demolish the Dark Reapers, or the Dreadnoughts can charge the Wraithguard and rip off some heads, then you're doing well.

(Of course, this is subject to debate. Some might say "don't let the scoring units die," and they may be very right depending on the game. But still, you need well defined roles for your troops before you can make a plan.)

The next step of strategy in this game, after realizing what your troops are best at, is to understand the same about the enemy. With that information, if you can do the following two things, you will win:
1. Let your troops do what they are best at ( "use your strengths")
2. Deny your enemy the chance to do what he is best at ("deny your enemy his strengths")

Now let's analyze a few Eldar for the sake of my model here:
-Banshees? Melee. Shoot them from far away or just plain stay away. (or swamp them with garbage troops and a hidden PF, but that's another story)
-Dark Reapers? Ranged. Drive the Land Speeders into their flank or control fire lanes well enough with your Ranged to make them scared to show their faces.
-Swooping Hawks? Shock troops. Tricky, and they may get what they want once. But if you can, in return, use one turn Rapid Fire against them, they're nothing but feathers.
-Guardians? Generalists. Kill them however you want, and try to interpret their role. Are they meant to soak up the fire while you ignore the advancing Wraithguard? Are they running forward to melee your scouts? Think about their purpose, and try to deny it.
-Fire Dragons are a bit harder to classify since they're so short ranged, but deny them their strength of trashing vehicles. If you can present only infantry targets to them, great. If you can blow up their transport and make them move slowly, that's good too. If they do get close enough to trash your vehicles, make sure a squad of SM is nearby to charge them next turn.

No one wins every game, but this kind of thought process is the foundation of tactics and planning. Also, the most important rule: HAVE FUN!






"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





Florida

40K is first and foremost a game. What tactics are in books most of the time dont apply to a game. Read Game Theory by Drew Fudenberg.

40K is basically divided into 2 different games: List building, and table top. No matter where you play from the RTT store up to the Grand Tournaments, you are going to try and make a list that can best take-on all possible opponents. That is where list building comes in. I wont tell you how to make a list because what makes the great players great is finding that list and tweaking, tweaking, and more tweaking until your to the point of mastering the list.

For the table top portion, this is where basically all planning and math-hammer go stright out the window. If your a shooting army, just shoot what you can kill and for assault armies force your opponent in a "damned if you do, damned if you dont" scenario where he has to either kill one thing or another.

Here is the best advice given by a Dakka user Darkness concerning strategy on the table top:

40k is a game of three phases. To play the game you need to play the phases, the game is a war and each phase is a battle. 40k is best 2 out of 3. You can Dominate a phase through sheer power i.e., speed/firepower/number of attacks, or by making your opponents speed/firepower/number of attacks wasted through various means, such as fear, numbers, armor, or special moves. Dominate the phases dominate the game. And never underestimate the movement phase, it is perhaps the most powerful phase.

Comparing tournament records is another form of e-peen measuring.
 
   
Made in us
Nurgle Predator Driver with an Infestation





List building is the dominant factor in 40K. The game simply doesn't have enough tactical depth to offer much else once the dice start rolling.

Get a good list and then play the way your list demands.
   
Made in ca
Decrepit Dakkanaut





Democratus:

I disagree, and I believe that I know a way of demonstrating that 40k has tactical depth beyond list building: leave out the list building.

In particular, I suggest playing a few games purely with a pair of Imperial Guard Platoons a side, since the Imperial Guard really do fit the basic rules of the game the best.
   
Made in us
Deadshot Weapon Moderati





Hello and welcome to my first post.

I as well would have to disagree. I have heard allot that Warhammer fantasy is more tactical. I would disagree with that as well. In fantasy you get a bonus to your dice by preforming a flank or other maneuver. This is a bonus to a dice and it FEELS more tangible. 40k is more fluid and the benefits you receive are more intangible but just as important. Ask any veteran player who has moved on from making power lists to fun lists and they will tell you the same.

Building your list and dice rolling are only a small part of it. Tactics in 40k are about maneuvering, use of terrain, flanking, set up, timing on when to take objectives, proper judging of ranges, knowing weaknesses and strengths, judging your opponents methods, sacrificing units, over all battle plan, unit combos and target priority just to name a few.

People often get caught in the trap of making a list and trusting it is powerfull enought to deal with anything. Beating opponent after opponent with little skill or thought. So they get comfortable and Often overlook the more subltle aspects of the game. Then they make wild excuses when they get tabled by a superior general with a weaker list. "My dice were bad." and all kinds of coulda, woulda ,shoulda excuses. If it was all about the list then we wouldn't use a table we would just email lists back and forth. Strategy and Tactics are your most powerful weapon in 40k, if used properly.
   
Made in us
Been Around the Block




Democratus wrote:List building is the dominant factor in 40K. The game simply doesn't have enough tactical depth to offer much else once the dice start rolling.


The only way this statement can be true is if nobody you play with ever makes even a single mistake. Which is to say, this statement cannot be true.
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




I think the best way to learn is to swap armies with tons of people.

I've played on both sides with every codex in the game for most of the strongest builds. I know what they are capable of, and how the list relies on different elements to win.

It's one thing to know how to play your army well but you will never be competitive against a general who knows your list as well as you and knows how to play there army perfectly.

There are people who are in winning contention of almost every tourny they go to. Generals of this level know every rule, know every codex, don't make mistakes, know statically how probably certain units are going to win which battles, how many turns a close combat should statistically take to end and are playing both sides of the board.

When I read my opponents list, I pretty much know how they are going to deploy, and what the general game plan my opponent is likely to use.

Get familiar with basic Historical tactics:

See my article here:

http://warmongers.ziggyqubert.com/articles/pdeflo_formations01.html

By the end of deployment you usually have a pretty good idea which way the game is going to go becasue you will see their deployment mistakes.

It depends at what level you want to compete. Adn what you are try to get good at. Are you trying to win the game, or are you trying to win a large tourny? These are two very different things.

I often win a game with turns to spare and then feed my oppoents units kill so they have fun. Or I give them my HQ so they get extra battle points. Stuff like this helps your sports and comp.

Also, many tournies have a lot of weight in painting. So learn how to get top scores. It's often more important to have paint scheme that pops off the board than painting well. There are also techniques that give great results without a lot of proficiency. A well inked army can get you better scores than a poorly done NMM army.

But in general if you want to get good...

Go to tournies with good players, and when you lose ask them what you did wrong, and how they would have played different.

Also take the time to learn the meta game. I think a lot of people lose taking unnecessary risks, especially when they fall behind in game. I see people throw tac squads with a powerfist at a landraider and are shocked when they don't kill the landraider and the squad inside eats there tac squad in one turn and moves on.

Finally, let me give you an example of a game I won on tactaics the other day. I was playing againts a SM army with the new codex. We were playing the mission with 2 objectives placed deep in each others deployment zones. It was table quarter deployment.

My opponent was playing a fairly shooty infantry based army with a landraider with a vulkan and a ton of thunder hammer termies. I knew her was goign to rpotect him token and send his termies frairly unsupported at my objective. I also knew I didn't have much that could stop it.

Turn two his landraider was in the middle of the board, so I purposeful forgot to roll my fortune roll and sent a huge expensive seer council that was just within charge range of the landraider movement plus the termy assualt range.

I then mentioned I forgot to roll fortune. He said he would let me roll it anyway, and I told him I appreciated it but I forgot, and I wanted to play by the rules :p

If the termies charged me it would bring the termies way out into the wrong direction. I also had a Waveserpent of fire dragons that would be in shooting range of the land raider should they take the trap.

The gambit worked. Teh land raider went way off track and engaged my seersouncil. My 700 point council lived for 2 turns and died. The fire dragons killed the landraider. The termies would never make it to my objective even though they we still 9 strong. They became something I could completely ignore for the rest of the game.

I won this game and pulled top sports. I won because I played the mission and controlled the decisions on both sides of the board. This is an example of tactics and gamemanship. I ticked my opponent and came out looking like a better sport, and incompetent general, and a more fun opponent. And I won.



   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka






on board Terminus Est

there three aspects to the game... Movement, shooting and assaults. If you can control two out of three you will win. Note that movement can be simply not moving.

G

ALL HAIL SANGUINIUS! No one can beat my Wu Tang style!

http://greenblowfly.blogspot.com <- My 40k Blog! BA Tactics & Strategies!
 
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka






on board Terminus Est

to me shooting and mobility are the two most important.

G

ALL HAIL SANGUINIUS! No one can beat my Wu Tang style!

http://greenblowfly.blogspot.com <- My 40k Blog! BA Tactics & Strategies!
 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Dark Angels Space Marine




Murfreesboro

40k is a game of three phases. To play the game you need to play the phases, the game is a war and each phase is a battle. 40k is best 2 out of 3. You can Dominate a phase through sheer power i.e., speed/firepower/number of attacks, or by making your opponents speed/firepower/number of attacks wasted through various means, such as fear, numbers, armor, or special moves. Dominate the phases dominate the game. And never underestimate the movement phase, it is perhaps the most powerful phase.


Dude that was some deep s t. I totally agree with you.

I've always followed my father's advice: he told me, first to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be goddamn sure I intend to." 
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka






on board Terminus Est

so which of the three phases is the most powerful? I would say movement.

G

ALL HAIL SANGUINIUS! No one can beat my Wu Tang style!

http://greenblowfly.blogspot.com <- My 40k Blog! BA Tactics & Strategies!
 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Dark Angels Space Marine




Murfreesboro

With 5th I would say the same. Depending on your moves I will react a different way. The key is to keep your opponent on his toes and trying to guess exactly what you are going to do and then suprise him with something he didn't expect. I call it the turn that decides the game. Useally, espically in 5th, there is that 1 turn that decides the game. That is the turn that each player should stive to suceed in.

I've always followed my father's advice: he told me, first to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be goddamn sure I intend to." 
   
Made in ca
Space Marine Scout with Sniper Rifle



Naniamo. B.C. Canada

Hey guys thanks for all the great info I will try to absorb as much of this as possible and hey keep the info comming more is always better IMO and thanks again.
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka






on board Terminus Est

the shooting phase...

First target the biggest threat and pick those those units that can close into your line the quickest. It is better to shoot every gun at one unit and remove it from the table rather than shooting several units and removing none. You must have a mix of anti troop dakka and anti armor dakka. It is better to have more anti troop dakka rather than anti armor. Armor cannot survive without troops to support it.

In movement you want to lessen the effect of enemy shooting versus your troops. Got example if your opponent has template weapons then you should spread out your troops so that every model in a unit is two inches apart from every other model in that unit. Transports can act as shields for your assault units.

Every army needs some close combat prowess and I have always found this to be lacking in IG. A fast shooty army can win two of the three phases but be gutted by a fast assault army that can weather a couple turns of shooting before they assault.

All this tells me that Space Marines should be easy to win with... T4 with a 3+ armor save is tough plus they have BS4 and the bolter. I say this because I only play power armor and this experience is the key to my success.

G

ALL HAIL SANGUINIUS! No one can beat my Wu Tang style!

http://greenblowfly.blogspot.com <- My 40k Blog! BA Tactics & Strategies!
 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Dark Angels Space Marine




Murfreesboro

Yea I think that power armour/space marines will start to donminate the game. There are some really good list with space marines. That can take on anybody.

I've always followed my father's advice: he told me, first to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be goddamn sure I intend to." 
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka






on board Terminus Est

iffy rule interpretation is a god send for lesser generals.

G

ALL HAIL SANGUINIUS! No one can beat my Wu Tang style!

http://greenblowfly.blogspot.com <- My 40k Blog! BA Tactics & Strategies!
 
   
Made in jp
Hurr! Ogryn Bone 'Ead!




key things for 40k tactics. Movement is Huge very huge since if you move wrong your assaults might be out of range or you might block your fireing lines.

When moving things to remember. look at what your movement means to your opponent on his turn. (will this put you in assault range, or in line for that battle cannon.)
Also try not to block firing line from your shooty units even for a turn. More than once i've seen a rhino popped right in front of a devistator squad forcing them to then redeploy next turn.

Make sure your shooting the right weapons at the right squads. match AP to armor save and strength to AV. (e.g. sure that battle cannon might be high strength and able to fit the entire Termy squad under the template, but without the AP it's better hitting a tactical squad. garrunteing kills)

Best way to figure out tactics is to review a battle. After every fight look at your units that did awsome and the ones that sucked and try and figure out why. Also play a few practice games focused on one very specific theme. If you need to learn how to use assault squads. build an entire list based on assault and play a game with it. It will make it a lot easier to see when and why certain things work or don't.

And most importantly, in 40k Objectives Objectives, Objectives. I've seen to many fights lost by an army with a 10:1 kill ratio lose simply because the player forgot to keep a troop unit close enough to that one or two objectives. Yes killing the enemy is important but when it's all said and done all that matters is objectives.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2008/11/09 02:09:30



 
   
Made in ca
Decrepit Dakkanaut





Capturing objectives would be a strategic matter, I would think, and where capturing objectives is the object of the game, then the methods of doing so would be the tactics.
   
Made in us
Nurgle Predator Driver with an Infestation





Nurglitch wrote:Democratus:

I disagree, and I believe that I know a way of demonstrating that 40k has tactical depth beyond list building: leave out the list building.

In particular, I suggest playing a few games purely with a pair of Imperial Guard Platoons a side, since the Imperial Guard really do fit the basic rules of the game the best.


I get what you are saying. I wasn't stating that there were no tactics in 40K. Just that it isn't tactically deep.

Firing at a unit from two different directions at doesn't reduce the effectiveness of return fire from your target. Volume of fire can't induce suppression. Units don't have reduced accuracy due to moving at different speeds. There's no ability to throw smoke charges to hide tactical movement. The list goes on.

All the things that make for more than "move, shoot, slice" are missing from 40K. That doesn't mean it is a bad game. But tactically speaking it is very simple.

The primary deciding factor in victory between two different armies is the army lists. This is very obvious when going to tournaments. You see the same 5 or 6 lists percolate to the top time and time again. If the primary factor in the game was skill rather than lists then this pattern would not be evident.

A person can use a list poorly or can have terrible luck. But once past a basic level of skill it is the strength of the army list that weighs most in victory or defeat.
   
Made in ca
Decrepit Dakkanaut





Democratus:

I definately agree that 40k isn't tactically deep, but I think it's tactically deep enough that players can develop the skills to beat so-called power lists.

While firing at a unit from two different directions doesn't have a specific rule make that configuration more useful than firing from one direction, I think there's implicit advantages in 40k to crossfires. Firstly, there's denying cover saves, which if it results in a morale check will reduce the effectiveness of return fire. Secondly, since in 40k a unit can only engage one unit at a time, in general, then engaging one unit with two reduces the effectiveness that return fire would have on a single unit.

Units do have reduced accuracy due to moving at different speeds, but it has been simplified into all or nothing given the rapid fire, heavy weapon, running, and vehicle rules, which is probably a good thing given the evidence that 40k players struggle enough with the simplified version, and more complex versions like modifiers yield highly diminishing returns.

I think if you look for tactics that apply with the 40k rules rather than tactics that, if it was a simulator, should be applicable with the 40k rules. Once you look at the opportunities that the interactions between lines of sight, paths of movement, ranges, and space occupied by units, I think there's tactics enough that the onus is on the player's ability to seal the deal in the game, rather than whatever skill there is in building lists.

After all, many power lists are 'power lists' primarily because they require so little skill to use and are so forgiving if you're facing other players of little skill. That's why I suggest testing the skill of players by playing games where they have the same strategic starting point.

Once players have to develop their tactical skills without strategic crutches like power lists, then they can start creating strategies that include specific tactics as well as material that survives contact with the dice.
   
Made in ca
Space Marine Scout with Sniper Rifle



Naniamo. B.C. Canada

The biggest tactic I have noticed for Marines is the proper use of movement and use of terrian so how is this utilized effectively.
Also on a side note I have heard of various "named" tactics or manuevers like the "Rhino Rush", "Flank attack", "Weak Center" ect ect blah blah, my question is what ones do you use in a given situation, how do you set them up and exicute them.
Also what are the actual basic "Meta" tactics and how do they function.
Not sure if I am being compleatly clear on this but if anyone can answer this that would be great thanks.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2008/11/13 05:16:22


 
   
Made in us
Been Around the Block





The concept of a meta tactic is one that would work in most situations. Again a lot of focus is put on phases of play and this is where meta tactics as you put it come into play.

Movement is definitely the biggest "tactical" phase in the game. Because it is a bit more of a hidden aspect. Sometimes it is obvious what and/or where the enemy will move, sometimes it is not and that is where tactics come in. Divide strategy and tactics from each other like this: strategy - overall how are you going to win? think about the phases you control and the phases your enemy controls. If you both are focusing on the same phases then your tactics will come more into play than strategy because you both have the same strategy.

Tactics are what you do in the situation. From your line of questions this is where you are really wanting help. Make sure you go back and reread redbeard and groz's posts because they seem to be the two posts that offer the most useful information (no offense to anyone else, every post on this thread has substance so far!).

But in the long run you will learn what you are wanting to learn from just playing the game. When it comes to tactics the best I can offer is just in any given situation before you just randomly do something or move/shoot/assault as make sure you have a reason for what you are doing. That is the MOST important thing. If it is movement phase dont just march everyone forward but it's "the movement phase", understand what I'm getting at?

If you take a risk understand what you are risking. If you are purposeful in what you are doing you will learn. You will grow to know how to handle any given situation. As one person say when quoting the Art of War, to know yourself and your enemy is VERY important. This IS where list building comes into play and is the strategy factor. Actually executing and denying the enemy of what you and he/she can do are the tactics.

One person said that if you can dominate 2/3 of the phases you will win and this is a very noteworthy point. When building lists you definitely what to field units that can do this, if possible or use 2 units that work together to do so. Your enemy the eldar have the harliquens which are good at movement and close combat. They fleet and rend, they also are hard to hit from a distance which eliminates a weakness so they are a good unit for the eldar. You could say they are a unit that has an advantage in 2/3 phases. If I were an eldar player I would field them. Also the falcon is a hard tank to destroy so it is one of the leading units in the game on the movement phase. Units like this just beg for another unit to help out with another phase, oh say fire dragons! They have very destructive shooting and would do well jumping out and doing so.

This how your enemy forms his strategy with the building lists that own the phases. Your tactics have to deny him his strategy. Those harliquens are coming in fast and are closing, what do you do? A tactic would be to move up a near by "tactical squad" and rapid fire them! You just found a way to deny the enemy's strategy. This are what tactics are all about.

You notice that he is moving in with a falcon full of fire dragons. The land speeders will be toast next turn if you don't use the right tactics. Maybe he is baiting you hoping you will try to take it out with your speeders. You could shoot melta at it and hope for the best. Or you move flat out and deny those fire dragons from jumping out by blocking the deployment exit.

Again tactics are the way you execute and deny strategies. And play by play accounts of situations will help to open up your eyes to what is possible, but the best way you will learn is by trying things out, and doing so with a purpose.

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2008/11/12 23:28:01


 
   
 
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