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Every game I play against my brother, he starts his first turn by scouting his deffkoptas up, then turboboosting them right up to my tanks. He then manages to disable it almost every time, from either shooting or assaulting it, letting the rest of his army swamp me. It seems like there is nothing I can do about this, because Ive tried setting my tanks really far back, and even giving them an infantry screen, but he always manages to reach, and I just learned that you can't screen a vehicle from shooting with guardsmen. I just need to know 2 things; Is what he's doing legal, and if not, why? If it is legal, how do I counter it?

It is legal as long as he ends his scout move at least 12" away from all of your units.

The best defense is what you've already mentioned, screening. Remember, he can't come within 1" of any of your models unless it is the assault phase. If you put a 1"-2" gap between your soldiers and your tanks, I would think that there wouldn't be enough room for the deffkopta to fit to get into assault.

If he is not ending 12" away then it is illegal. on the first turn he should only be allowed to hit you with his tl-rokkits, giving your tanks a better chance to servive.

deffkoptas hate auto cannons and heavy bolters, do not bother with using you las-cannons he gets a 4+ no matter what use the las on the juicy targets like bw and the like.

if you are screening your tanks with your guard units and he stops exactly 12" away then you can assault.

dont shoot the koptas with your tank. use the tanks to go after his mobs of boys and wittle them down (that is what they are there for anyways)


hope that helps. I have been playing orks for a loooooooong time, of course all advise should be takin with a grain of salt

Don't forget that even if you screen the scout move with the guardsmen (a good move) a jetbike can still move *over* enemy units.

Because of this, what you want to do is not screen with a single "line" of guardsmen, but use your full coherency and make sure that there isn't enough room to land on the other side of them.

When you say "tank" I assume you mean "leman russ." However, there are other tanks as well. If you are using Manticores, Hydras, or artillery tanks that are very important to your game plan, those tanks may still be vulnerable to getting shot in the side armor by rokkits: not a position you want them to be in, as their side armor is 10. At this point there's not much you can do other than try to protect the sides of your more-important vehicles with your less-important vehicles, or with your tougher vehicles.

For example, if you have a hydra battery and two russes, you deploy with infantry in front of the tanks, and the russes on both sides of the Hydras (assuming they're not in a squadron).

Jet bikes get a +3 cover after turboboosting. since he does his turboboost during his scout move as long as he's 12" away he most likley get first turn charge with 6" move, fire then assault. keeping troops around 2" all around vehicle should stop him. reserves also help this. and +1 to willydstyles advice

Deff Koptas are my favorite unit. I usually use 3 one man units with TL Rokkits and buzzsaws. They have a 24" scout move if they turbo boost. Couple things to remember about the scout moves and turbo boosting. As said above they have to stay 12" away but the most important and most overlooked rule if you can NOT turbo boost thru difficult terrain with a Jetbike

While a jetbike can move over enemy units, if the Deffkopta is kept 12" away from your screening unit in its scout move, it will not be able to assault the screened tank in its first turn. (It only has a 12" move, and can not land on or closer than 1" to your screening models. Jetbikes assault like bikes - so can't go over your unit. He could go through if you left a gap wide enough though.... or possibly around depending on actual positioning. Just not over.)

A Jetbike can turboboost *over* difficult terrain

Possibly also often overlooked, it must end its move over 18" away from its starting point in order to claim the 3+ cover save.

I'm assuming he isn't turbo boosting twice, if he moves more than 12" in his actual turn then he can't assault you. If you are screening with infantry and have them a few inches out in front of your tanks then there is no way he should be able to get to you. He can't come within 12" with the Scout move, his 12" movement in his turn should be blocked/limited by you infantry and as long as you aren't too spread out (or you infantry is more than 6" in front of the tanks) he can't charge through you infantry to get to the tanks. The other way to do it would be to completely surround the tanks with infantry so he can't get into base contact with it at all.

Another option no one has mentioned would be to keep your vulnerable units in reserve thus making it impossible for the Dethkoptas to hurt you, but for Guard its generally easier to bubble wrap.

Wow, you guys are awsome. I will have to tell him about having to end his turboboost 12'' away (bwahahaha)

Arakasi wrote:A Jetbike can turboboost *over* difficult terrain

Might want to get out your little rulebook

I can see how it could be interpreted that way - I've taken it over to YMDC:
Can Jetbikes Turbo-boost over difficult terrain?

To counter any scout move all it takes is one squad of infiltrators and careful deployment. He can probably still get side armor shots but at least not an assault which is where things get dangerous with str 7 auto hits on rear armor.

Really though deffkoptas aren't that bad to deal with. You just have to use the units in your army.