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A few questions about how you play...

1. What units do you reserve? When? Why?
2. What units do you not reserve? When? Why?
3. When do you wonder whether you should reserve units or not?

Tell me about your army and it's reserve tactics...

Thanks!

1. Deep strikers, outflankers, those that require both. I would also reserve light armor so that I can deal with the anti-armor units before they arrive to make them less vulnerable.
2. I wouldn't reserve heavy armor or certain troops simply because I need them to kill priority targets/hold objectives.
3. I usually think about it when I write up my list.

I play Space Marines and I usually play Daemons. My friend has a rough time deciding which units to keep in reserve. I keep a melta Dreadnought in a Drop Pod with a locater beacon and Terminators in reserve. I land my pod near his armor (Soulgrinder) and deep strike my termies next to it. This way, his heavy support for this half of the army is vulnerable and makes a Wipeout victory attainable.

I play Orks and Chaos Space Marines.

1. Anything vulnerable that can outflank. I'm not a huge fan of Deep Strike, except with chaos icons. Units that are not very tough and short-ranged tend to get reserved in my armies, because if they aren't there's just too much risk of them getting shot up before they can get into combat, which is really a horrible tragedy. My reserved squads are a melta-armed Termicide squad, a Tzeentch plasma squad (I just love being able to drop in and annihilate any one enemy squad), a unit of Chosen, all armed with meltaguns (effectively a 12" threat range with 2d6 AP, 18" with 1d6 AP), and a unit of Deffkoptaz with TL rokkit launchaz and a buzzsaw. Once I get my hands on some daemons, those will be reserved too.

2. Anything with firepower, that I need to score objectives, and that doesn't have a special reserve ability. Because Orks and Chaos Marines both play relatively aggressively, units walking on in my backfield aren't likely to see much action, so if it can't drop in or sneak on, it doesn't go in reserve. My heavy shooters, likewise, need to start on the board, so that I get the maximum number of immobile turns in which to shoot (not an issue for obliterators, but very important for havocs). Last, I want my scoring units holding my objectives so that I can be secure and take pot-shots at the enemy as they advance.

3. What units am I on the fence about? Honestly, it's only the chosen--I like the idea of infiltrating them, but in 9 out of 10 games they'd be too vulnerable just sitting in no-man's land.

To me, reserves need a specific purpose--As a chaos player, I need to worry about the durability of my units, so anything I need to ensure makes it into cc will probably go into reserve. The enemy can laugh at me for fielding four gangs of vanilla chaos marines, and while they're stellar troops, they do tend to take on a fire-absorbing role so that my terminators and possessed can get into battle unscathed. My deep strikers exist to drop-in-and-shoot. The plasma squad (traitor dark angels ) can make their points back 75% of the time as soon as they arrive by unleashing their plasma at Tyranid MC's, Eldar Wraithguard, Tau Battlesuits, and, of course, enemy Terminators. The melta squad can hope to blast open a tank as soon os they get there, but more likely, their function will be to create a 24" diameter no-fly zone for enemy tanks, at least for a turn, by waving their chainfists and generally looking very frightening.

1.) yeah, as they've said, things which have special maneuverability like deepstriking and outflanking. Al'Rahem for example MUST be placed in reserves.

Otherwise, the times I could see reserves are with vehicles if I only brought a few against an army packed to the teeth with long range anti-tank (as this would ensure that I'd at least get one turn of shooting with them). Also, were I playing a non-outflanking horde army, I'd consider keeping some of my troops always in reserve to keep my DZ less cluttered. The first wave has no mission but to advance on the enemy, while the second wave would come in to catch objectives. Also, I've occasionally gone all-off against armies way unbalanced towards long-range firepower. If they go first, they get to spend 2 turns with absolutely nothing to do. This usually messes them up pretty bad.

2.) Anything that has long-range shooting and can't fire the turn they come on the board I'd be loathe to put in reserve. The key problem with infantry heavy weapons, for example, is that they no longer have all that much time to shoot at stuff. Leaving them off the board, only to show up when things are already getting into close combat is bad.

3.) There's actually little that I wonder about reserving. Usually if they're staying off the board it's pretty self-evident why. The only time I've had serious bouts of thinking about it are when I've gone all off.

Basically, the way I think about it is that all units in the game get a worse version of stormies' special operations. Any unit has the choice of starting on or walking on, and you get to pick before the game begins. Like with stormies, there's really only one good option, but it's worth considering the others even if you don't really use them.

Depends on the mission but I almost always reserve my Gretchin. In Kill-Points it's to protect them. In objective missions it's also to protect them. They come on later in the game & take the objective in my deployment zone.

It will depend very much on your army & how you play it.

Tx for the replies!

Shas'O Dorian wrote:It will depend very much on your army & how you play it.

That's what I'm after- army specific info!

I usually reserve my vindicator because it ALWAYS gets destroyed before it can shoot. This way, the enemy has moved closer and it gets some targets.

I never reserve my bezerkers .
When playing eldar, I never am sure because I can never gauge how dangerous they will actually be.

I play a variety of armies, mostly Dark Eldar for the last 12 months.

Whether I reserve or not is a judgment call to be made at the beginning of each game - if I don't win the first turn, and my opponent has the sort of ranged threat to put a serious dent in my army, then I'll reserve everything - while coming on the board piecemeal is not ideal, it *does* give me the ability to perform a limited alpha-strike with what I *do* get.

I think it is a mistake to *always* deep strike things; I played against a Tyranid player in a tournament yesterday that was playing a reserve/deep-striking army - he won the roll to go first and had me go first....letting me pick him apart piecemeal as he came onto the board (even with Hive Commander). He should have deployed everything and destroyed as much of mine as possible in the first turn, or at least deployed everything not in a spore pod to get in those initial shots against me.

The biggest thing to remember about reserving things is the army you're playing against and how they are likely to react. If an enemy has enough threats to challenge your strategy from the get-go, reserving isn't really going to help you - instead of making your enemy prioritize targets, you're letting them focus on what you *do* have on the board, without having to worry about what's in reserve until it comes on. Nothing makes me happier in a tournament than my 2,000 points getting to play against an enemy's 1000-1500 points - uneven fights are most welcome.

Don't paint yourself into a corner.

I play nids, orcs and marines.
General tactics.
In most games with the spearhead deployment i will put one or more units in reserve. having them burst out from My long table edge, adjacent to the enemy line is key. For this role i like to use something that can hit hard when it arrives. Possible options are a las plas razorback full of 5 sternguard and a librarian, a battlewagon full of boys etc. Lots of people get it in their head that you can only enter the board in your deployment zone and this is not the case when you play spearhead. In objective missions i like to put my objective near table edges so that a reserved unit like stealers can be a potential threat both from outflank or from advancing on from the edge of the board.
with orks i will only use reserves if i cannot fit all of my boys on the table at one time. This sometimes happens when you have a ton of boys (90 +) and a crowded deployment zone. The one deff kopter that i take is always scouting up into my foes face and since i dont use kommandos, thats it for orks.
With nids i usually play a bunch of stealers. I almost always outflank which forces my foe to bunch up in the middle of the board, usually near where my brood of Ymgarl stealers are going to be deepstriking into. I will often put my objective on the boarder of the board. This allows my stealers to be a threat to foes who approach these objectives. I will also sometimes but a large but deadly unit in reserve, often a troop, that way late in the game i can bring it on to control objectives on my side of the board.
Marines. I love to use one drop pod with either a ironclad dread with melta/hf or a unit of sterngaurd. It s a great disruption unit and allows you to dominate your foes deployment because they know its coming in and it can be real problems for them. I will often outflank with a speeder storm loaded with scouts as well. this is great for contesting objectives and the threat bubble the Mulitmelta creates is spectacular. finally i will sometimes deepstrike Melta/HF speeder squadrons against enemy that have lots of light antitank killing stuff since speeders are glass tigers, they need to be protected until they strik.

Tyranids.

Most of the time I find it better to just maximize the number of targets that I have on the board. This means that while less of my army reaches my enemy, what does hits in a devestating, unified attack. The sight of all 3 trygons also makes it less likely that my opponent shoots the right target.

That being said, if I play an all-reserves army, everything with special deployment goes in reserves. If my enemy is a gunline, everything else is reserved as well. This allows them to survive my enemies shooting phase.

Ok some questions for some of the responders. There has been some really good information in this thread, and later I'll do a summary of some of what I think is some of the most important. For now I'll ruthlessly try to tease out some more...

Dashofpepper wrote:I think it is a mistake to *always* deep strike things; I played against a Tyranid player in a tournament yesterday that was playing a reserve/deep-striking army - he won the roll to go first and had me go first....letting me pick him apart piecemeal as he came onto the board (even with Hive Commander). He should have deployed everything and destroyed as much of mine as possible in the first turn, or at least deployed everything not in a spore pod to get in those initial shots against me.

So in your opinion is it better for a reserve/DS army to choose first and deploy at least some units normally? That this gives most armies an advantage, in general?

The biggest thing to remember about reserving things is the army you're playing against and how they are likely to react. If an enemy has enough threats to challenge your strategy from the get-go, reserving isn't really going to help you - instead of making your enemy prioritize targets, you're letting them focus on what you *do* have on the board, without having to worry about what's in reserve until it comes on.

I'm not sure I really understand what you mean here, maybe you could expand. For instance, I have a mix of vehicles and infantry - 100 guard and 7 various vehicles. Both are integral to my strategy - the guardsmen for scoring and the vehicles for big damage/contesting/a couple of transports. Lately I've been thinking about keeping most if not all of the vehicles in reserve if I lose the role to go first. I feel like my infantry have the resiliance to last a couple of turns and still score, while putting out fire against any target type. My vehicles can all fire on the move. Connect my situation to what you were saying, if you please.

Also, with balanced lists and competent generals, shouldn't we assume an enemy will have enough threats to challenge our strategy from the get-go?

MekanobSamael wrote: What units am I on the fence about? Honestly, it's only the chosen--I like the idea of infiltrating them, but in 9 out of 10 games they'd be too vulnerable just sitting in no-man's land.

So what conditions have to met before you infiltrate?

MekanobSamael wrote: (I dont reserve..) Anything with firepower, that I need to score objectives, and that doesn't have a special reserve ability. Because Orks and Chaos Marines both play relatively aggressively, units walking on in my backfield aren't likely to see much action, so if it can't drop in or sneak on, it doesn't go in reserve. My heavy shooters, likewise, need to start on the board, so that I get the maximum number of immobile turns in which to shoot (not an issue for obliterators, but very important for havocs). Last, I want my scoring units holding my objectives so that I can be secure and take pot-shots at the enemy as they advance.

L_Dawg wrote:I wouldn't reserve heavy armor or certain troops simply because I need them to kill priority targets/hold objectives.

So what steps do you take to ensure they survive to do their jobs?

L_Dawg wrote:My friend has a rough time deciding which units to keep in reserve.

Why do you think he does?

Ailaros wrote:The only time I've had serious bouts of thinking about it are when I've gone all off.

Give us some specifics, if you please...

Crazy_Carnifex wrote:Tyranids. If I play an all-reserves army, everything with special deployment goes in reserves. If my enemy is a gunline, everything else is reserved as well. This allows them to survive my enemies shooting phase.

But how does walking on the board edge allow them to survive your enemy's shooting phase?

phogiston735 wrote:When playing eldar, I never am sure because I can never gauge how dangerous they will actually be.

I'm not sure what you mean here...

Thanks, all!

I rarely use reserves unless the unit in question benifits greatly from going in reserve.

like Scouts so they can outflank and take out some enemy guntanks.

Always reserve Warriors, everything else is situational but will mostly start on the table.

I never really gave it too much thought until reading this thread. Most of the lists I play benefit from being on the board the whole game, shooting away. One of my recent lists, though, has enough units with Scouts to make me think about the outflank options if I really didn't want to be on the board first turn.

I think the a good time to reserve units is when you have at least some that have special options, like outflanking or deepstriking. In that case, when a number of things come on both in their face and on your side of the board, their focus will be split.

If you have no units with an ability to threaten your opponent, and you walk on your board edge, then they can basically still pick and choose who to engage.

murdog wrote:

L_Dawg wrote:I wouldn't reserve heavy armor or certain troops simply because I need them to kill priority targets/hold objectives.

So what steps do you take to ensure they survive to do their jobs?

L_Dawg wrote:My friend has a rough time deciding which units to keep in reserve.

Why do you think he does?
Thanks, all!

For objective grabbing troops, putting them in transports help to protect. For heavy infantry, I use put them in cover to watch over an objective and slay anything that passes by.

My friend plays Daemons. He HAS to put half of his army in reserve and sometimes, that half is the one that gets deployed first. So he really has no choice but to balance each out and hope they survive.

For each of the armies I play:

1. IG: Marbo, Stormtroopers, Harker Vets, Al Rahem, and Demolishers sometimes if playing Spearhead deployment. Marbo and the Stormtroopers for DSing suicide units, Harker Vets and Al Rahem for outflanking goodness. Demolishers depending on terrain and only in Spearhead deployment as to get them on a flank that my enemy is generally weak at or trying to make use of themselves.

SoB: Seraphim most of the time, a Cannoness, St. Celestine, and some Battle Sister Squads/Celetines/Dominions in Spearhead deployment only. Seraphim, depending on what I kit them out with/role they will be playing will often DS to mess around in my opponent's back field, same with one Canniness and St. Celestine (if she's not already attached to some Seraphim). Only in Spearhead deployment would I reserve possibly 2-3 units of Battle Sisters/Celetines/Dominions in Rhinos/Immolators for the same reasons as the Demolishers above. It would really depend on the mission as well.

Inquisition Witch Hunters: Assassins, one unit of Inquisition Stormtroopers with attached Priest, Orbital Bombardment. Assassins depending on the type may have to start in reserve otherwise infiltrating them is the most common way I would deploy them. To meet the requirement of having a Priest for certain units, I keep it and the IST squad it is with in reserve to mitigate the Priest's Holy Rage special rule and as a possible answer for enemy units in my deployment zone (usually run with min IST with Meltaguns, PP and PW on the Vet, and PP Eviscerator on the Priest). And the Inq Lord Orbital Bombardment has to start in reserve.

2. IG: LRBTs, Basilisks, Inf Platoons, HWS, most other Vet Squads, CCS, PCS. The LRBTs have the range to hit most anything they want, same with the Basilisks. I want them shooting as many shots as I can, so they need to start on the board. Inf Platoons are needed as either a forward moving blob or as bubble wrapping for the aforementioned tanks, so reserving them would negate their main uses for me. Other Vet Squads mounted in their Chimeras are moving towards the objectives or enemy units to do their missions. Same with the CCS and PCS, but with the added benefit of orders. I want them on the table to do their thing.

SoB: Cannoness, most Battle Sister Squads, most Dominion Squads, Exorcist Tanks, Retributors (if I run them). I usually run Two Cannonesses, so if I DS one, I'll usually have the other with a Celestine Squad on the table or closely following Battle Sisters in Rhinos with a Jump Pack or with Seraphim that aren't DSing. Most of my Battle Sister Squads would not be held in reserve to be able to get in that < 12" sweet spot or go for objectives. I like Dominions on the table to either force an opponent to deal with them or to react to an opponent unit. I usually run 3 Exorcist Tanks being the one long range AT weapon non-allied SoB have. I want them shooting as much as possible. Retributors (when I run them) for the same reason. It would be nice to see Retributors to get Relentless in the future or even S&P to make them even a consideration for a HS slot closer to the Exorcist.

Inq WH: Inq Lords with Retinue in Land Raiders, Arcoflagellants, IST Squads, Penitent Engines, Assassins. I design my Inq Lords with Retinue either one of two ways, shooty or assualty. If shooty, they will either be deployed on foot in cover or in a Chimera or even Rhino. I want them to be on the table and shooting turn 1. If assualty, they will be in Land Raiders and will want to start as close to and move towards the enemy as much as possible barring some shooting from the LR itself. Either way I want my Inq Lords on the table to lead the fight! Arcoflagellants and Penitent Engines I want on the board for the opposite reason for keeping the Priest off it; I want to make full use of their Holy Rage special rule. Since they have (almost) no shooting, I want them to they will be foot slogging towards the enemy. With my IST Squads, they serve similar roles as Vet Squads and Battle Sister Squads as above. They are my Troops and do their missions accordingly to the mission type. The Assassins that don't have to start in reserve I want infiltrating to either get in a good position themselves or deny the enemy a place to infiltrate, or both. And if taking the Vindicare Assassin, I want him shooting at targets of opportunity as much as possible as fast as possible.

3. For all armies it really is the same. Do they have an alternate means of deploying that entails the use of reserves? What role does the unit excel at? How is the unit going to be used? Usually a big factor is what deployment and mission type it is. Does a unit give up a KP easily that could be somewhat mitigated by keeping it in reserve? Just some questions to ask and answer yourself in answering that question.

I'll usually design lists with a few units in mind to be kept in reserve (IG STs, Seraphim, Assassins), but mostly the actual decision is going to be made at deployment and depend on all the above factors. Long post is long. Wall of text done.

Edited for multiple spelling/grammar failures.

This is an open ended discussion. In general you obviously want to hold in reserve units that can deepstrike or outflank. There are some armies so DoA BA where generally you'll want to reserve your whole army. Genestealers are great for outflanking since they have fleet and if you take the Hive Tyrant they can have +1 to their reserve rolls. Vendettas are good for holding in reserve since they can outflank as well plus if you're going second it offers some good protection - plus IG can take the cheap astropath for the +1 to reserve rolls as well. Some units/armies you don't have much of a choice such as Sly Marbo (IG). One of the main things to consider is that you don't want to put yourself into a position where you'll come in piecemeal with the bulk of your army - a couple units at a time getting blasted by the bulk of your opponent's army. If your army has built in mechanics that help your reserves arrive faster then you should be okay. If you plan to build an army that starts reserve often and you can take options that speeds up them coming in sooner then you should do so.

For me, the question depends completely on whether I'm going second or first.

If I'm going first, I seldom reserve anything I don't have to. I'll even deploy, for example, a squad on the table and leave their pod empty in reserve to avoid having to put the unit into reserve when I'm going first. Unless there's a really compelling reason, like hoping to take out a long-range tank that I know will be hugging the back corners with outflanking scouts or something, everything is usually better off on the table.

If I'm going second and my army is mobile, I will consider reserving the whole army. The last tournament I played with my mech Eldar I went all in reserve 4 out of the 5 rounds (every round where I went second). There are several advantages to starting in reserve when you are going second with a fast army: (1) you always get the first shot, (2) you always know where your opponent is before you enter the table and (3) you get one more complete shooting phase than your opponent over the course of the game (because you shoot in turn 2, but he doesn't). Also for Eldar specifically, it's a huge advantage that the game is shorter by about 2 turns than it would be otherwise, because Eldar can grab a quick advantage, but will not hold on in a battle of attrition.

It's also a big advantage in tournament play that you're usually in turn 3 after about 15 minutes of play or less, so it's not usually a problem to finish the round on time unless your opponent slowplays you.

Also if your opponent has something that is required to drop on turn 1 (pods, daemons) or something that scouts for a turn 1 sucker punch (meltavets in a vendetta, LS storm), then starting in reserve and having second turn deprives him of that advantage.

The major problem I see with players making the decision to hold units in reserve is that they automatically put certain units in reserve simply because they *can* outflank, deepstrike or whatever. Outflanking genestealers, deepstriking terminators/trygons/assault troops (especially BA DoA units) would nearly always be better off deployed on the table, especially when the player is going first.

Balls out all the way eh Flav! Roger that!

More questions: if you're the commander that's deployed most/all of your army, because you've got first turn, and your opponent starts reserving some/most/all of thier army, what tactics do employ to gain victory? And for the reserve commanders, what tactics have you found to be effective against you, and how have you adjusted?

I've used the 'two turns of doing nothing' to shuffle my army, especially my otherwise generally static infantry heavy weapons, into better positions, whether for scoring, firelanes, or cover, or a combo of these. 2 turns of not on the table is 2 turns you aren't starting in on the horde. Can you bash your way through in 4 turns, after giving me free reign to set up?

Also, commanding 100 guard + vehicles means I can, to a certain extent, control deepstriking/outflanking in my deployment zone by using my units, terrain, and the board edges to 'gap it up' and protect important units. If I lose a vehicle to deepstriking melta in the first turn I usually consider it poor deployment on my part (exept at lower pts).

Thanks again for all the responses, nice work Dakka!

I don't think you can make a blanket statement that it's better to start on the table if you go first with units that can deepstrike/outflank/etc. For example Vanguard vets can use their HI to assault from the drop - it would be silly not to take advantage of this ability. Same thing can be said about Yrmgyl genestealers.

If I'm stuck with first turn and my opponent reserves all, I hold the center (marines) or hug the edges (Eldar) using the table edges to protect rear armor. You're still at a disadvantage, but at least it puts the player entering the table from reserve into the position of having to displace you (marines) or try to catch you (Eldar).

The most effective tactic used against my Eldar all in reserve is when my opponent moves to the middle--about 28" from my table edge to avoid being hit on my turn 2 by fire dragon fusion guns (move 12" disembark nearly 3, range 12") and screens the side armor of heavy tanks with other tanks. My most recent loss in a game like this was one where my opponent covered the side armor of his predators with rhinos/razorbacks, so I needed some luck to silence them in turn 2 and the luck was not forthcoming.

One recent game where I actually chose to go first and deploy was against a horde where my opponent didn't have significant long-range shooting and I wanted the extra turn(s) of shooting with my entire army to whittle him down. I've played against Eldar players who go all in reserve even when it's not to their advantage, and that just puzzles me.

Armies that have infantry models available for bubblewrap and defense in depth don't have to worry about turn 1 sucker punches or outflankers much. But by the same token, a mostly infantry army gets a huge disadvantage from starting a lot of units in reserve if they don't move & shoot, because they lose at least 2 turns of shooting (with a 50% chance of losing 3 or more turns, barring bonuses). It's mainly mechanized, move-and-shoot armies that need to use reserves to protect units from scouting/outflanking shenanigans.

@Afrikan Blonde--I avoid vanguard vets because I don't believe it's worth paying a premium for the ability to assault from the drop (unless your army is built around the ability using locator beacons or whatever, and maybe not even then). So many things can go wrong and cost you that expensive unit, and against a skilled player there may not be anything worth assaulting anyway the turn that they become available.

Ymgarl Stealers are a different story because a big part of their value comes from the disruption effect of not knowing where they're coming from, and there's much less chance of something going wrong with the drop because they don't scatter.

But either way, what I see in actual gameplay that I think is inadvisable is players using a unit's special deployment ability mindlessly, even when it would be a bigger advantage to just plonk the models down on the table.

For example, here's a battle report about a game that I won *because* my opponent put his trygons & genestealers into reserve, giving me time to deal with his army piecemeal. If he had deployed them, there's no way I would have been able to deal with that many nids overruning my tanks.

Vanguard are a staple for DoA armies. They are the new assassins of 40k and can easily get their points back plus some. They either blow up armor with meltabombs or butcher some bystanders.

murdog wrote:A few questions about how you play...

1. What units do you reserve? When? Why?
2. What units do you not reserve? When? Why?
3. When do you wonder whether you should reserve units or not?

Tell me about your army and it's reserve tactics...

Thanks!

I play a marine bike army with support I often reserve my entire army. I have heard this tactic described as "The Reserve Gambit", and it has been successful for my army, here are the reasons why...

Going Second Can Be an Advantage
Most players are more than happy to go first when they win the dice roll. By going second, and reserving your entire army, you have removed your opponents ability to alpha strike your army before you have any defenses (ie, turbo boost). In fact, if you come on the board at the bottom of 2, and the game ends at the bottom of turn 5, you get 4 turns of shooting and your opponent gets 3. (You can fire on turn 2,3,4,5 while he only can on turn 3,4,5). You need to compare that to the disadvantage of coming on piecemeal and seeing how it performs.

Also, by going second, I can be the last person to make a snatch for objectives on turn 5, 6 and 7. That makes it much easier to contest/capture objectives at the last minute.

End the Game Faster
A good advantage of the reserve gambit is that it speeds up the game. In those cases, I can come onto the board at the bottom of turn 2. If the game ends on turn 5, thats only 3 game turns of playing.
Some armies, like the IG gunline, perform very well when they have more turns to fire. By lowering the number of turns they can fire on you, you can increase your survivability.

When to NOT Reserve Gambit.
Logically if the reserve gambit works very well vs gunlines, what does it not do well against? -- That's right, assault armies! Do not Reserve Gambit vs. orks, 'nids, or BA armies. Once I tried the gambit when playing a KoS list, and by the 2nd turn, all his battlewagons, truuks, Nob Bikers were 12" from my board edge. I was forced fighting right next to my edge which does not help a marine bike army, which needs the space to fall back and regroup.

Who is the best at Reserve Gambit
Eldar players have the best advantage in the reserve gambit. Their vehicles can fly over enemy models, or ram any light vehicles that are close to the board edge when they come on. Eldar have a HQ that lowers reserver rolls, and they really benefit from the lower amount of turns in the game.

Any army that can move and shoot well can reserve gambit, however.

^ This. Especially about the eldar part. There is an eldar player at my FLGS who ALWAYS opts for second turn and an all-off strategy.

murdog wrote:

Ailaros wrote:The only time I've had serious bouts of thinking about it are when I've gone all off.

Give us some specifics, if you please...

So, obviously, certain key units always go in reserve, such as Al'Rahem, stormies, and the like.

The all-off button has only rarely been pushed by me. Things generally need to get close to my opponent's stuff in order to do damage in my case, and starting all-off, puts me at a serious disadvantage.

That said, I've done it a couple of times, and those times have been when starting on the board would have been an even bigger disadvantage. For example, I started all-off in this game. This game was an objectives-based game against a tau army. Needless to say, my opponent was counting on shredding me for a couple of turns, and making it so that whatever survived could be handled by suits once it got close.

I decided to go all-off, so as to deny a couple of turns of horrible tau maiming as my infantry ran across an open piece of ground. In the end, it goaded him into being too aggressive, which cause his stuff to be closer to mine when my stuff finally arrived. Ultimately, my opponent had fewer turns to shoot my stuff than if I'd started on the board. Basically, all-off made my opponent make mistakes.

I've gone all-off only to see my opponent NOT make mistakes, though, and that wound up bad for me.

Basically, going all-off means that you get to play a purely reactionary game. This gives you a degree of power that's equal to the amount of stupid stuff your opponent does. If your opponent is really good, then all an all-off strategy is likely to get you is piecemeal forces, but if you can mess with your opponent enough, it gives you the option of creating and then capitalizing on his mistakes.