I'm finally getting enough regular
WH40K games to form some strong opinions about what I like/dislike about certain units and army builds.
I play all of my games right now in weekly three game tournaments. The tournaments vary in points from 1500 to 2500. The games have time limits so most games end on Turn 3 or 4. The short game length certainly plays a role in my list building. Reserves and Outflanking are less useful and staying off the board on Turn 1 when the enemy has the first move isn't quite as desirable.
The scenarios are usually those from the rule book except that Dawn of War is infrequently used.
The typical opponents thus far are: Dark Eldar (raider/ravager/Wych heavy),
IG (foot or mech), Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Demons (Fatecrusher), Tau mech, Eldar mech, and Ork Cyborg. There was also a generic
SM Biker army with a
LR with termies and two Devastators. I haven't seen a Necron army, Lash or Double Lash army, or an Ork Green Tide list yet. There are some Tyranid armies but I have yet to face them so I'm not sure how they are built.
The terrain tends toward about four pieces per table with a tendency towards a few hills (roughly a foot to a foot and a half in diameter), some tall buildings that aren't very wide, a few small fortified (3+ save) buildings, and the occasional area cover that grants a 4+ save. So cover isn't very common. You certainly aren't going to be able to move through it to get into assault range. At some point, assault troops will always be exposed in the open.
So given these conditions, I find that I like the following units because they're usually effective:
HQ:
CCS with regimental standard and three plasma guns in a Chimera that has a hull heavy flamer.
Troops: 3-5 veteran squads with either three melta guns or three plasma guns in a Chimera with hull heavy flamers or heavy bolters (I like a minimum of four Chimeras with hull heavy flamers in my list and then the remaining Chimeras have hull heavy bolters). I like two squad with meltas and the rest have plasma guns. In the local metagame, you can't possible have too many plasma weapons.
Troops: Infantry Platoon with
PCS that has two flamers and a
MB. The platoon has 3-4 infantry squads with grenade launchers. One squad has a commissar with a power weapon. Two to three of the sergeants have power weapons and
MBs. It depends on the number of squads. One squad leader is always bare (no upgrades) because he is the one that dies first when the "Blob" fails a morale check.
Fast: One or two Vendettas (bare, no sponson heavy bolters) that carry the
PCS and one infantry squad
Heavy: Squadron of two Griffons with hull heavy flamers
Heavy: Squadron of one or two Hydras
Heavy: Plasma Executioner with plasma cannon sponsons and a hull heavy bolter
In the local metagame, I find that my 1500 point list seems most effective. At 2000 points and above, I simply run out of room to deploy everything effectively. Given the short game lengths (3-4 turns), anything in Reserve won't get much (if any) of an impact on the game.
Orders are critically important so I keep the
CCS near the center of my army and within 12" of most of my infantry. This is even important for the mechvets because they need the reroll for pinning tests (from the regimental standard) when their Chimeras explode. I also use a pair of wooden cubes with the six orders written on them so that I always remember to give orders. All six orders are useful (even Incoming!!!).
Melta is just as good as advertised in the many Dakka
40K army list discussions but Vendettas, Chimera Multi-lasers, Hydra autocannons, and the Griffon Heavy Mortars tend to wreck/destroy
AV 10 and
AV 11 vehicles before the melta guns get to them.
Against AV12-14 is when the Vendetta and melta guns earn their money, but I also find in games that only last 3-4 turns, I can usually ignore some enemy vehicles in order to focus on killing all enemy troop units and any vehicles that are fast enough to contest my objectives by Turn 3.
The "Blob" with three squads, a commissar, three
PWs, and two
MBs is extremely useful. In the infrequent Dawn of War game, I like to put it in the center of the table (when I win the roll off for deployment and first move) so that the enemy is setting up within 6" of his table edge. I also like to use it to hold my objective in Capture and Control missions. The odd situation is when we play Seize Ground. In that case, depending on the opponent, I may run the squads separately instead of blobbing them. Most enemy armies have a difficult time capturing or even contesting four or five objectives. I've got a good chance of at least getting a draw in that scenario though Eldar Wave Serpents have given me difficulties.
The two things that really have stood out for me so far is that plasma is worth the point cost. The first point is that
GW had a good reason for making plasma guns 15 points each. They're just that good. The second thing is that the Chimera offers a wonderful drive by shooting ability with the rear hatch that serves as a fire point for five shooters. Three BS4 plasma gunners within 12 inches of enemy squads are devastating. The two rapid fire lasguns are just icing on the cake. It gets even better when you have two or three squads like that nearby. I've gunned down Abbadon, Asdrubal, Demon Princes, and nearly ruined entire squads of Space Marines. The key point is to keep your Chimeras fairly close to each other.
There are two other points that active players already know but that less experienced players need to learn: target priority and which weapon(s) to fire first, second, third, etc. I find that killing the enemy's most fearsome unit isn't really necessary. It depends on the scenario and the location of the unit on the table. I am learning to assume that I can't kill everything (especially in three turns) so I have to kill the most mobile units that are closest to the objectives. Given multiple targets in that category I prefer to target troop units.
Having selected the targets that are most important to me, I like to start with orders (because the rules require it), then use Hydras, Vendettas, and Chimeras to pop transports. Once the enemy is forced to disembark, I use the Large Blast (Griffons) and Small Blast (Plasma Executioner) template weapons against the densely packed models. Finally, I fire the plasma guns and melta guns from the top hatches of my Chimeras (passengers can fire at separate targets from the transport vehicles).
Against armies that don't have many vehicles, I allocate weapons to kill his troop units that are either moving toward my objectives or sitting on his objectives. But I can't hit everything so I like to target units near the objectives that I need in order to win. So in a four objective game, I only care about three of the objectives - usually the three closest to my army. The one exception thus far is
SW Long Fangs. Those guys are very dangerous so I tend to target them early with my Griffons. Most players around here use five model squads so I have had some success at bringing squads down to three models and causing Fall Back checks. They fail these often enough that Long Fangs haven't cost me a win yet.
I've got many months of gaming ahead and I have yet to fight quite a few builds. I may find that my core list isn't balanced enough but so far I'm getting very comfortable with it and I can easily visualize what will work or not work against the armies that I play against most often. New enemy builds will upset the apple cart but at least I know what my army is capable of even if I don't truly understand my opponent's force.
Thoughts? What works for you? How is your local metagame different or similar? How does the meta affect your tactics?
