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I was wondering whether or not it is considered unsportsmanlike to destroy a unit by surrounding it and then tankshocking it so that it is destroyed as it cannot move out of the way. Also, is it a real option as a way to deal with termiantors using orks. Any help to answer this question is appreciated. Also, is there any limit to the amount that units can move to avoid the tankshock?

Tactics does not mean unsportsmanlike. It means you're being creative and effective.

Besides, termies tend to have S8 at their beck and call anyway.

But if it looked like an effective option, I'd sure as hell do it if I got the chance.

You'd want to do it with a battlewagon, and even then its risky since they might have a chainfist. any other ork vehicle screams "fist me plox!"

I was thinking that I could use lots of deffkoptas to surround the Terminators and then either use several trucks with reinforced ram or the battlewagon. I was wondering about this because my opponent is playing Blood Angels and likes to take a fair number of terminators. Overwhelming them with fire seems to be a bit of a problem, especially if their assault terminators. I was trying to figure out how to deal with them and then stumbled upon a few tau threads about surrounding them with piranhas and then driving a hammerhead into them or using them to surround a landraider before popping it in order to kill the contents if it doesn't explode. Any good combination of units for this tactic?

Is there a reason that you think the unit is destroyed if it cannot move out of the way? I'm not seeing that in the tank shock rules.
Or anything that prevents it from simply moving out of the way by the shortest distance (such as through the tank sized hole you just drove through), as required by the rules?

Jihallah wrote:"fist me plox!"

Wait there, I'll be right back. *goes to get chainfist and tub of vaseline*

S_P

It's not a legal tactic anyways.
Yuo can tank shock a unit from one end of the board to the other, and they'll ALWAYS have the option of moving out of the way if they make their Morale check, by the shortest route possible.
There is no scenario in which you can tank shock a unit and not allow the shocked members to move, since you are moving your tank in a striaght line into them, thereby displacing them, and leaving space behind your tank for them to move.
Even if you have a 30" long vehicle, with two other 30" long vehicles parked next to it, leaving a tunnel down which you drive to tank shock the unit, the unit can move 30" to be behind your vehicle into the space it vacated, since that is the shortest route possible.

TheRhino wrote:It's not a legal tactic anyways.
Yuo can tank shock a unit from one end of the board to the other, and they'll ALWAYS have the option of moving out of the way if they make their Morale check, by the shortest route possible.
There is no scenario in which you can tank shock a unit and not allow the shocked members to move, since you are moving your tank in a striaght line into them, thereby displacing them, and leaving space behind your tank for them to move.
Even if you have a 30" long vehicle, with two other 30" long vehicles parked next to it, leaving a tunnel down which you drive to tank shock the unit, the unit can move 30" to be behind your vehicle into the space it vacated, since that is the shortest route possible.

This.

But as far as tank shocking goes, Id do it to a termy squad and not be affraid at all. You guys seem to be forgetting that when you tank shock, your tank moved more then 6 inches most likely, and therefore they are rolling 6s to hit. Id be pretty comfortable doing that knowing they have to roll 6s, specially if I killed one of them. Not to mention that after they fail, you can then in your next turn jump out and assault the poop out of the squad

You auto-hit, but against the front armor only. So if there is a chain-fist in the mix, I would be worried.

padixon wrote:You auto-hit, but against the front armor only. So if there is a chain-fist in the mix, I would be worried.

This

The easiest way to kill a Land Raider is to let it tank shock you, if you have a meltagun you auto hit a fist similar and a chainfist. Tankshocking is a particularly weak tactic IMO and should only be used if you want to move the tank (probably a Land Raider/Battlewagon) beyond a line of troops to assault a different target with your transported troops.

Ed_Bodger wrote:Tankshocking is a particularly weak tactic IMO and should only be used if you want to move the tank (probably a Land Raider/Battlewagon) beyond a line of troops to assault a different target with your transported troops.

Its great for running over people too!

Gotta love deffrollas!

Ed_Bodger wrote:Tankshocking is a particularly weak tactic IMO and should only be used if you want to move the tank (probably a Land Raider/Battlewagon) beyond a line of troops to assault a different target with your transported troops.

Saying that tank shocking is a weak tactic is foolish.

It certainly is not a be-all end-all tactic with no counters or ways to stop it, but as far as tactics go it is far from weak when used effectively.

What I can gather from the thread is that Tankshock won't kill the terminators by itself but it would be a good idea if I was trying to spearhead an attack on them or keep them occupied while other forces destroy everything else. Also, would it be a bad idea to take some trucks with the 'ard case upgrade in order to minimize the chance of them exploding so that I can feed them/tankshock them into the terminators to slow their advance?

A couple of things:

-Only one of the models from the unit you tank shock is allowed to make a death or glory attack, and it gets only one auto-hit, regardless of how many models, how many attacks. So you really only have to worry about a single str8 hit on your front armor. Bad for AR10 vehicles, but even AR12 (do orks have any?) has a 50/50 chance of not even being damaged, AR 14 has a 84% chance of no damage.

-Only the specific model(s) actually displaced by the tank shock are allowed to make a death or glory. So, if you don't want to get chain-fisted, just don't run over the guy with the chain fist (or melta or whatever). Run over a different part of the unit.

-Also if you're good at judging distances (or directions) you can tank shock a unit by nicking a single model at the edge of the unit, or hitting only the closest model. The unit still has to make a morale test, and only that one model is qualified to take the death or glory attack. If it's a lightning claw guy or the power sword sergeant, he's going to have a hard time hurting even AR10.

-If they pass their ld check, they just move out of the way regardless of whether they're blocked. But if they fail their ld check, and if they can't fall back without reversing direction, that's when they're destroyed. So probably what you want to do is set up your unit blocking behind them, in a sort of V shape so that they can't get around without doubling back. Then tank-shock them with multiple vehicles, trying to get them to bomb one of their ld9 tests. They fail even one, and the whole unit is wiped out.

Alternately you can just herd them off the board after they fall back, staying within 6" to prevent regrouping, or use something fast like buggies to set up the V between them and their table edge while they're falling back, which would auto-destroy them.

There is no limit to the distance a tanked shock unit can move to get out of the way of the tank shocking vehicle. Nothing in the core rule book says the tank shocked unit is destroyed in they can't move out of the way, probably because it's a situation that is just about impossible to create. Wherever the vehicle is at the start of it's move will create a safe location that the termies can move into.

The only time it's ever possible to tank shock a unit that is surrounded with nowhere to go would be if the tank shocking vehicle began it's turn in reserves, in which case the very fabric of the game breaks down and multiple rules arguments will begin.