Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

This is my first forum topic. I apologize up front if I am breaking any protocol.

That said, I'm a big fan of sit fairly still and shoot armies, IG in particular.

Question: In 5th edition, what is the best way to deal with all these deep strikers, drop pods, out flankers, bugs popping out holes, and scouts/infiltrators?

Right now my plan is simply tons of heavy weapons and spreading out along the three edges of my deployment zone. I'm hoping that by maximizing the number of big guns and foot sloggers, that I can pull out battlefield victories simply through attrition. Some of you 40K ninjas have to have some good tricks or strategy for a gamer of questionable wargaming skill who only loves to paint sit and shoot armies.

Thanks in advance
Baconfat

" I apologize up front if I am breaking any protocol. "

when did we get that?

an Inquisitor Lord w/ 2 Mystics and at least i more henchmen type. that can be a big help with the deepstriking problems you might have.
i personally run a Demon hunter inquisitor.

Mystics and good deployment are really the only things that can help you against deepstrikers. If you spread out your forces then you make it harder for them to find a safe place to land, but that may hamper you against the rest of their army.

Outflankers can be troublesome. Again a good deployment helps, particularly if you can get to the top floors of ruins or into some intact buildings. Otherwise you mave to keep away from you flanks, but again this may cause you more problems. If your stuff can take a charge well, but dies in protracted combat (like obliterators for example) then you may want to think about getting a counter-charge unit to rush in and save the day. Things with high I are good to help swing the combat in your favour before they enemy can grind down your big guns.

If you have an army that has bonuses to reserves you can simply try to play the reserves game against him. That way you make sure his deepstrikes are wasted on un known territory. THe other method is the sponge method which is to spread out your stuff but your fast stuff is on the outside while your core castle is your slower elements. You force the deepstrikers back and retreat back as well to create an extra buffer.

Thehod has it. If you are going second, let your enemy deep strike on an empty board then react to him.

Against out flankers you have two options, deploy in a phalanx in the middle of the board and waste him when he comes on, or set up in a refused flank and use an OoF to try and force him to come on the other side.

You can also use a blob squad of IG (or any large infantry squad) to physically take up a lot of space, force deepstrikers to land away from important targets or outflankers to come in away from your more vital units.

Against things coming on from the back edge, like snikrot or wolf scouts, line up a squad against the back edge, space out 2" apart, that takes up a lot of real estate and forces the enemy to come in around them.

But for trygons and such, not really much defense. Inquisitor with mystics in a valk is good as being in the valk really extends their mystic range a lot. That way anything that pops up, drops in or teleports gets shot in the face before they can do anything.

I think what thehod is missing was Baconfat asking for a strategy by which a static army could deal with outflanking and deep striking units. Holding everything in reserve and coming on later is a good idea, but its outside of the parameters laid out in the original post. So kudos for thinking outside the box, but I'm pretty sure Baconfat wanted something in his box.

So here's what I think Baconfat should do: build up your army in layers. So rather than blobbing up your infantry platoons, leave them in separate squads, and layer them into onion-like blobs. Remember that onions, like ogres, have layers. You don't want your entire army as a single blob, but several separate little castles, if you will. As above spreading them out correctly will make it difficult to Deep Strike into their midst, or to do anything interesting to you when outflanking.

On the outer two layers of each platoon you want something expendable, like Conscripts, or an Infantry squad. On the inside you want your Special Weapons Teams and Heavy Weapons Teams and your Platoon Command Squad.

So if one of the outer layers, lets call them the ablative layers, is charged then they get wiped out or fall back leaving the assaulting unit open to a face-full of point-blank Heavy and special weapons. A Special Weapon Squad with Flamers is a good investment for this sort of thing.

Now, two things are going to give you a bad day here, Mawlocs and Monoliths. Monoliths will not have their Deep Strike detered and enjoy having lots of little squishy target units around. So invest in a Demolisher tank to smash anyone that shows up, or really anyone that attempts to tank-shock your Platoons out of formation. Mawlocs are different in that they will probably try to come up in the middle of the formation in order to eat your useful Guardsmen. You could go the Mystic route, but that's a crutch that relies on Allies rules soon to be phased out. In such a case I would suggest two things, besides accepting the fact that your Platoon will suffer hideous damage:

Your Company Command Squad armed with Meltas or Plasma Guns in a Chimera or Valkyrie that can go squish the Mawlocs where they show up (much like they'd hunt Land Raiders closing with your Platoons), and thus make the Tyranid player trade an expensive monster for a paltry few Guardsmen.

A Leman Russ Punisher that can hose such a Mawloc down with its Punisher cannon, and that like the Demolisher is poised in the middle of the board to provide close-support to your platoons.

Now that I think about it, the notion of a Mawloc coming up under a Valkyrie is pretty cool...

Thanks everyone, especially Nurglitch. With cheaper guardsmen we can make a lot extra onion skins. "Hey Sarge, is it good I heard the CO call us his Onion Platoon?"

They might start adding up us a kill points, but I don't mind losing by kill points. Thousands of planets with billions of people, makes Guardsmen like Doritos, they'll make more.


I will post another reply next time I get a game in and get to try out some of these tactics.

The idea of spreading out your forces is great, especially for a guard army. That way most deep striking armies run the risk of destroying themselves, or going the "safer" route and deploy in front of your guns.

Of course, do not do this against Necrons with a Monolith or you'll watch half of your army go up in smoke on Turn 1. Believe me, I've seen it happen...

GK, they are a shooty army, strom bolters, but when it comes to Tyranids etc and they charge you will still stand a very good chance at whooping their ass. Also you can equip them with psycannon bolts to make the strom bolters ap4 and ignoring invulnerable saves, battering Legion of the Damned, with other decent units such as Inquisitors henchmen that allow any unit within 12" to take a free pot shot at any deepstriking unit.

Sorry if any of this is incorrect, didn't have codex handy.