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Made in us
Terminator with Assault Cannon





Units with Combat Tactics may voluntarily fail Morale checks. On first glance, you might not understand why failing a check would be useful. However, there are several cases in which this can be turned to your advantage. The three most common cases are outlined below:

First, Combat Tactics may be used to deny charges. If the enemy shoots your unit and you suffer 25% casualties or more, you can voluntarily fail your Morale check at the end of the Shooting phase and fall back. And They Shall Know No Fear will allow you to immediately reform, as long as the enemy isn't threatening your fallback corridor, and the fall back move can easily take you out of range of enemy assault troops. This is probably the most obvious use of the ability.

Second, Combat Tactics may be used to prevent you from being locked in assault. If one of your units is charged and beaten in close combat, you probably want to fall back immediately so that you can shoot the enemy assault unit in your next turn. Combat Tactics means that you don't rely on dice to see whether your men try to make it out, while And They Shall Know No Fear minimizes the risk of being overrun completely. In many cases, though, you might actually prefer your unit to be destroyed rather than remain in assault. This is another point in favor of Combat Squads, as their small size makes it comparatively likely that the No Retreat! wounds will finish them off if they are unfortunate enough to be caught. Note that you never want to do this during your own assault phase, except in extreme special cases, as the enemy will simply shoot and charge you on his turn. Further note that this does not work if your unit draws combat or beats the enemy, as you don't have to test in such cases. Strangely, this means that losing combat is often better than achieving a draw or even winning.

Last but not least, Combat Tactics, when combined with And They Shall Know No Fear, may be used to effectively break pinning. If you've taken 25% casualties or more and are pinned, simply fall back; in most cases, it's better to be 2d6" back than it is to do nothing next turn. This is also a good combination with Go to Ground; if a unit gets caught in the open by an enemy Demolisher cannon or another similarly deadly attack, feel free to hit the deck for that 6+ cover save. In all likelihood, this will preserve one or two members of the squad, where most or all would die otherwise, and by using Combat Tactics to fall back afterwards, you can break pinning for the remaining models and let them continue the fight on your next turn.

A savvy opponent will soon grow wise to your use of Combat Tactics and refrain from shooting your units in situations that might allow them to maneuver into a superior position; however, even if you never actually get a chance to actively exercise your Tactics, this is still a net gain, as it essentially means that simply by virtue of playing Space Marines, you've disrupted the enemy's own tactics. One warning, however-- if you are close to your table edge (or any table edge in a mission without an "own" edge), it can be unsafe to fall back, as units that fall back off the edge of the board count as being destroyed. This "danger zone" increases for bikes and jump pack troops, which fall back further than normal units. Therefore, in order to use Combat Tactics most effectively, you must advance onto the board in order to give yourself room to maneuver. Fortunately, you generally want to be doing this anyway.
   
Made in ca
Decrepit Dakkanaut





Somethings to add about Combat Tactics:

Before you decide to voluntarily Fall Back, be aware that the only things that And They Shall Know No Fear allow Falling Back Space Marines to do are:

1. Rally under 50%
2. Rally automatically, without a Morale test
3. Act as though they weren't falling back the previous turn
4. Take No Retreat! wounds if caught during a Sweeping Advance, instead of being wiped out.

It does not stop you from being:

1. Trapped!
2. Out of coherency and therefore unable to regroup.
3. Within 6" of an enemy and therefore unable to regroup.
4. Pinned
5. Tank Shocked

It's really #3 that you should be concerned about, because if you use Combat Tactics to flee from a bad combat, and your enemy units are not locked, you will have 2D6" of movement while your enemy units have D6", with the average being 3-4" of difference when all is said and done and your unit now wants to regroup automatically using And They Shall Know No Fear.

One way around this is to use counter-assault units, particularly Dreadnoughts, to lock opposing units in place while the infantry beat feet, because locked units don't get to engage in either a Sweeping Advance or a Consolidation move. They do get a Pile-In! though and sometimes dice roll snake-eyes.

Additionally, sometimes your Space Marines may be attacked on a flank or from the rear, preventing their rearguard models from getting 6" away from their closest models even when you roll 12" and they roll 1" (Fall Back and Consolidation respectively).

Even worse they put a unit behind your unit so that when you try to Fall Back, all of your escape routes will be blocked off, but that's standard assault tactics, and again why you should have a counter-assault unit behind your forward units. Defense in depth and all that.

Something you should also be concerned about are things like Falling Back when you have a unit of non-shooters within 1" of a unit's front (front, flanks, and rear are defined here as a relation to the unit's home edge), or within 6" of its flank or rear. If you decide to Fall Back in order to deny a charge, they can still have that unit run after you in the Shooting phase to make sure that they stay within 6", and gradually chase you off the board.

Needless to say it's always a good idea to surround a pinned unit of Space Marines to expedite matters, if you can, so they can't exercise the option of retreat.
   
Made in us
!!Goffik Rocker!!





(THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK)

I use a counts as shrike in my force so I don't benefit from combat tactics. There have been plenty of situations where I wished I could though. It's a highly situational ability, but is quite powerful when it's well used. It's primarily useful to fall back from, then melta walkers. Though it's also quite helpful to prevent a charge against an opponent that was foolish enough to shoot you in the previous phase (perhaps as an attempt to soften you up).

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Do you remember that time that thing happened?
This is a bad thread and you should all feel bad 
   
 
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