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OK, this is legit, and I can't take credit for it as it was told to me by a friend who actually (accidentally) pulled this off.

So, it only works against certain armies in Dawn of War scenarios or when the other player goes all in reserve.

You take a large number of spore mine clusters which are deployed before either player puts any models on the table. You deep strike them through out the other player's deployment zone.

The other player can not deploy within 18" of an enemy model. If you disperse the spore mines properly, this should cover the entire deployment zone.

This forces him to go all in reserve.

You then deploy a large number of infiltrating units, such as Genestealers, along his entire deployment edge (this only takes a few units of them as each model can effectively cover 3").

If he or she does not have units capable of moving over or through your Genestealers, those units can not come on the board without violating the 1" rule, and you therefore win before the game begins.

Now before anyone gets there panties in a bunch, I AM NOT SAYING THIS IS A VIABLE TACTIC, only that it is an interesting loop hole to discuss.

Against a mech army, it doesn't work so well, obviously (although it still puts you into position to assault them right after they come on), but against a foot army it is auto-win.

Interesting, no?

Sounds very TFG like.

sounds very lulzy.

I like it.

ironically my 1850 nid list includes a few min sized units of spore mines and a few large model count units of genestealers, so I could pull this off without adjusting my list.

obviously invalidated if any unit in their list is a tank, a skimmer, jump infantry, deep striker, outflanker, infiltrator, or something else along those lines (wolf scouts, snikrot, etc)

Im not impressed with it. It could work against a very limited number of armies. But it relies on a few things, the first being getting all the spore mines in at the right spots.

The second being that your opponent does not run mech. Mech marines could tank shock+flamer the entire outflanking stealer units to death. Mech eldar will just jump over the stealers, and likely shoot them to death.

The third problem being this invests a lot of points in something that will likely die quickly against most things. 36 genestealers is 504 points. Thats a lot of points, and some precious scoring unit slots for a gimmick. A lot of armies will simply show up, destroy the stealers for free kill points, and keep going.

Huh... never realised this would be possible... i suppose it depends on you deploying first, correct? But your comment about DoW deployment wouldn't work i dont think, as Spore mines are neither HQ nor Troops, IIRC. In any case, i agree with Kurgash, VERY TFG like.

p.s: where did your friend discover this? in a friendly game in-store, tourney etc?

Its amusing.. only if the game wasnt mostly Mech though..

Not to effective or fun either.

Sandyman11 wrote:Huh... never realised this would be possible... i suppose it depends on you deploying first, correct? But your comment about DoW deployment wouldn't work i dont think, as Spore mines are neither HQ nor Troops, IIRC. In any case, i agree with Kurgash, VERY TFG like.

p.s: where did your friend discover this? in a friendly game in-store, tourney etc?

Spore mines always deep strike. They ignore dawn of war limitations. Same way demons do.

It's a very obvious tactic...I generally like taking 3 squads of 3 mines to mess with my opponents deployment...but winning that way...why play?

duct, why bother going half arsed with it then?


Tactic wise its sound and possible.
Though committing 3 units to irritate someone is pointless.


In a tournament i'd have no problem seeing this done as it breaks no rules and its smart.
In friendly games i'd find it amusing, but not needed.

OK, as I said in BOLD, I am not saying anyone should look to do this all the time, just that it is funny that it is possible.

And as I said, it only works against foot armies that are not jump infantry, deep strikers, out flankers or infiltrators, so there are a lot of times it wont work, although it still is a good tactic to force the enemy to come where you want them.

Yes, it is TFG, which is why I said In BOLD that I don't think it is a viable tactic, just an interesting loop hole.

But yeah, my friend did it on accident against an Ork foot Horde. They both looked at the board and where like, wow, the game is over.

I just think it is funny myself!

half arsed?...the 3 mines deploy in one deepstrike...no use wasting points getting more spores...they almost never do anything besides make your opponent move stuff differently...which is where they shine.

They don't count as kp...so commiting 3 units/90 points is not so bad.

I don't think you realize that by forcing someone to shoot at several spores or by making them run over it with a tank...you're leading them around the board into exactly what you want...it's tactically sound.

And a single squad of genestealers could block their deployment...which i always have.

But I wouldn't do this because I play to play...even in a tournament you won't catch me being a TFG...If I win it's because I played better...not because they mission allowed for me to be cheap.

I just see it as a waste of FA choices
You can drag an opponants units about the board by baiting him with targets, dont have to drop mines down and kill of choices.


Also, this is on another discussion aswell, take a look duct, thats why people shouldnt hold back in reserve lol.

۞ Jack ۞ wrote:I just see it as a waste of FA choices
You can drag an opponants units about the board by baiting him with targets, dont have to drop mines down and kill of choices.

I don't really play the Fast Attack Choices all too much...that's my style and that's why it works for me.

Spore mines come down as clusters and don't get a chance to unclump until your movement phase. So it can't force anyone completely off the table. There goes your genestealer idea.

If your opponent has first turn, what he does have deployed in a DoW can just shoot at the clumps (you'll only have 3 of them). Exploding one will probably cause most of the others to detonate.

Even if everything they have is off the table and you get a move phase before they enter, the mines only drift d6 inches, 2/3rds of them randomly. Either the genestealers pull this off or they don't. But why would a foot horde start completely off the table when it doesn't have to, as I explained above?

Without playing the rules wrong, I really don't know how you pull this off. Am I missing a half-dozen things here?

yes...deployment...they are saying...which is true...that if you deploy the 3 clumps directly...you can force your opponent to leave everything off the board because they cant deploy within 18 of your unit...then you deploy...infiltrate genestealers on their edge...end game.

Slight problem...

Units that are blocked in reserves are not destroyed. Sure, you end the game, but only because there is no way it can continue. Nobody wins.

This tactic can only possibly work 1/6 of the time and only if the opponent has no vehicles or flying units. If you get lucky like this, great job. You get a draw. If your opponent had any counters or the mission was wrong, you probably lose the game.

I hate the tactic anyways...

Its been stated before that this tactic is only win against certain army types. Those it is win against I dont feel bad about using it on. Horde orks not getting to deploy? That must suck, but at least the game will take less then 3 hours.

The 3 spore mine clusters work, total area they produce cover is around 3,000 inches, table half is 1,700 I believe.

Yes, that is correct.

And yes you still win, only in KP would it be a tie.

In Objective missions you simply park units on objectives.

In KP you could allow a small corridor for enemy units to come on one at a time.

Again, this is all hypothetical. I doubt anyone would even want to do this outside of a joke scenario.

personally I think this strat works better with shrike + 10 termies and lots of scouts with p fist sarges, that being said, easy counter for this tactic from any army standpoint is deploying my 35 points rhino transport with no unit in it.

Just a sec, how are you deploying FA choices at all, 1 troop and 1 hq in DoW deployment, everything else is off the table.

You don't win. The game just grinds to a halt.

The rules does not tell us how to resolve the situation of reserves wanting to come in but not being able too.

This isn't new and simply a variation of what happened at ETC last year.

doubled wrote:Just a sec, how are you deploying FA choices at all, 1 troop and 1 hq in DoW deployment, everything else is off the table.

Read the thread, spore mines deep strike before the deployment begins. They dont deploy, they show up.

Reecius wrote:
Against a mech army, it doesn't work so well, obviously (although it still puts you into position to assault them right after they come on), but against a foot army it is auto-win.

Who except Tyranids runs non-mech these days? And I don't think I've ever seen an all-reserve foot army, Tyranid or not.

I see foot lists fairly frequently, but not super common.

But, again, I have said multiple times now, I am not saying this is a viable, game winning tactic to be used all the time.

As I said, it is just something odd that will come up once in a while, and it makes for a funny loop hole, not something that will happen every game.

In Dawn of War, you can force your opponent all into reserves using the spore mine clusters, but in standard missions, a player may opt to go into reserves for one reason or another, and you could capitalize on it with this type of trick, if you were so inclined.

the point is that if its an all foot army in DoW they HAVE to all-reserve, even if its the "walking on first turn" reserve.

Ah, I get what you were saying now. I read it on my way out the door and should have read it more carefully.

If GW ever gets around to an FAQ, we might see this show up. I'm not sure 37" diameter "no-deploy" bubbles was exactly what Cruddace had in mind with spore mine clusters.

Terminus wrote:

Reecius wrote:
Against a mech army, it doesn't work so well, obviously (although it still puts you into position to assault them right after they come on), but against a foot army it is auto-win.

Who except Tyranids runs non-mech these days? And I don't think I've ever seen an all-reserve foot army, Tyranid or not.

I've read about an all reserve foot army, and it got destroyed by similar tactics to this. A Tau player infiltrated all his kroot after his opponent didn't deploy anything, and he spread them out along the whole deployment zone... the other player then automatically lost...

It was really sad/funny

Yeah thats in the general discussion.

To be honest most of the people who play all foot armies are running swarm orks or guard. Nids too, but they dont have a choice. THe orks/guard though are annoying as hell to play against, as they tend to take forever. I played one of these armies at the ard boyz and got 3 full turns in before time was up. So I dont particularly feel bad if this happens to you, considering the kind of armies you will likely be running, bugs excluded.

Those who have said this is not an auto-win versus mechs, that depends on how the TO rules on tanks tank shocking off the table. If the TO rules that they cannot, it is inded an auto-win tyranid combination.