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Today in part 2 of my 3 part article installment I'll be talking about Synergy in its two forms, and how to apply it in game to maximum effect. If you haven't already, you really should read part one of this series so that you understand what I'm talking about. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/356559.page

I'll start out by answering the question, what is synergy? It is putting two units that work together to improve their level of play beyond what they normally can. Synergy is a simple concept to understand, but a difficult concept to properly incorporate into a list. So what are some examples of synergy that make the whole better than the sum of its parts? A good example is Dark eldar grotesques and haemonculi. To have 2 pain tokens makes them both more survivable and more dangerous as an assaulting unit. Another example is Pedro Kantor bringing an assault unit with him. He gives them another attack simply because he's there.

If it's so simple to understand how can it be so difficult to incorporate properly? Far too many people try to force synergy between units in list construction, and they suffer on the table top because the synergy they tried to build in doesn't work so well in game. Some examples of this is trying to put a squad of meltavets in a chimera with a multilaser and heavy bolter. There is no synergy in this choice as the two chimera weapons are long ranged and the weapons of the veteran squad is too short ranged. If you are going to put melta veterans in a chimera, you are better off putting a heavy flamer on the Chimera than leaving the stock heavy bolter. Then you have synergy in destroying a transport with the veterans and using a flamer to roast the survivors. What would be an example of good synergy with the Heavy bolter multilaser then? A veteran unit with 3 grenade launcers (Or plasmaguns) and an autocannon heavy weapons team would be good synergy because you are concentrating on ranged firepower instead of being up close.

Synergy is perhaps the most important aspect of constructing a balanced list. It allows your weaker units to work together in taking out a stronger enemy unit. It's important to pair short ranged anti-vehicle firepower with short ranged anti-infantry firepower. So we've covered good synergy. The problem is you can't understand good synergy without understanding bad synergy. Bad synergy in shooting is a more difficult concept to understand as you need to know why it's bad. Bad or forced synergy is a result of two parts that can work together, but are not optimal for working together. An example of this is a squad of Sternguard veterans with 10 combi-meltas in a rhino. The rhino only allows two members to shoot out, and offers no true anti infantry or anti vehicle capability. Does this mean putting sternguard in a rhino is bad? Depending on the rest of the list it can be. The rhino does offer mobility for Sternguard with combi-meltas that's true, but the fact that you are unable to use it at full capability is what makes it bad synergy. The rhino bottlenecks the sternguard in a two shots per turn melta roll. For the same points a drop pod would offer better synergy with the sternguard because you can fire to full effect with the sternguard, doesn't risk getting blown up and forced to walk on the way there, and allows them to combat squad when they arrive so that they can kill more than one vehicle.

Bad synergy isn't just limited to allowing a unit to be fully effective, it is also sometimes acheived by putting mismatched weaponry in the unit. By using mismatched weaponry I talk about using weapons that have severely different ranges. An example is giving a tactical squad of marines a missile launcher and Meltagun (this example also takes away the combat squads rule to show a point). Another example is giving a unit of dark eldar warriors a darklance and a blast pistol. So why is the unit of veterans with grenade launchers and autocannons good synergy if you don't want weapons with a big drop in range? On their own the unit has no synergy, but when used with the chimera it is increasing the amount of firepower in that intermediate distance. If you are able to "step up" the amount of firepower available at 12" increments you are fielding synergy. The unit in chimera has 2 shots at 48" (autocannon), 8 shots at 36" (Autcannon, Multilaser, Heavy bolter) and 11 shots at 24" (Autcannon, Multilaser, Heavy bolter, Grenad launchers). You have multiplied your firepower by 4 by your opponent covering 12", and then it is mulplied to nearly 6 times the original number when your opponent gets into the 24" range.

So synergy in list building can be a difficult concept to fully integrate, but if you are able to run choices from your army that work in tandem you have increased your ability to deal damage beyond what the points of the unit suggest they should be capable of.


So I've covered Synergy in list building, but there is another type of synergy that which occurs during the game. In the game you are capable of creating synergy without this having been created in list. Having 2 units working together sounds like common sense, but if they are not suited to working together then chances are it isn't good in game synergy. The example I'm going to use is a squad of plague marines with melta and a squad of Khorne berzerkers. On the surface this looks like good synergy, the plague marines take a unit out of the transport then the berzerkers charge the unit that comes out. However, this isn't good synergy in that the berzerkers have no way to reliably destroy the vehicle on their own should the plague marines fail. This leaves the berzerkers out of their vehicle having been hoping for close combat which is then denied and they are unable to kill the vehicle before assault. Even if in the assault phase they destroy the vehicle, they are out in the open for retaliatory fire back into them.

Coming up with synergy in the game is all on the player of the army. This situation requires the player to think about the game, instead of going into mindless shooting or killing mode. The next thing to think about is that synergy can be gained by the order in which you shoot the units at your disposal. The example I'm going to use is the one with the meltavets in a chimera. By shooting the vets first then the chimera you have synergy. However by choosing fire the multilaser at a distant squad then fire the vets you have lost a great deal of synergy because the two units are working on their own instead of working together for maximum benefit. If the veterans prove unable to destroy the vehicle, then you have another crack at it with the multilaser if it has the ability to destroy it.


I've been mainly talking about synergy in shooting, which is the most common form of synergy in the game. So how then do we get assault synergy in the game? Assault synergy is best described not as two units working in tandem to take out a more dangerous threat, but as the ability of a unit to conduct an assault on their own while maintaining both offensive and defensive capabilities. Exactly what this means is to have a synergistic assault unit, you have to be able to deliver your blows without dying horribly. The epitome of a unit that has synergy for assault is the TH/SS terminator squad. They have incredible survivability to live long enough to deliver their attacks. This does not mean all assault units must instantly have invulnerable saves for them to have synergy. An example of a good unit that has synergy in combat are Howling Banshees. Plenty of people will think I'm off my rocker by saying they have assault synergy because they are a subpar unit which is true. However on the first turn of combat the howling banshees are going to deliver all their attacks before the opponent can ever react. In this situation they have given up on the ability to defend themselves for full offensive capabilities that allow them to get their attacks off before they die horribly.

The other part of good assault synergy is whether the units have offensive grenades or not. Units that do not have offensive grenades are often found lacking in that they cannot dig a unit out of cover without losing models in the process. One such unit would be a basic dark eldar Incubi squad. They lack offensive grenades to allow them to make use of their higher initiative, and have no wargear that allows them to strike first or survive long enough to strike. They are not assault synergistic on their own, but they do have a different type of synergy I call Combined assault synergy which I will touch on in a moment. If they have no assault grenades why are TH/SS terminators an assault synergy unit? They have wargear that allows them to survive long enough to get their attacks off. What about lightning claw terminators that so many people think are good? Lightning claw terminators do not have assault synergy because of their 5+ invulnerable save. They do not have the ability to survive long enough against that Incubi squad if it is charging them while they're not in cover. For the purposes of this guide the minimum invulnerable I consider survivable is 4+ as that means half of the wounds inflicted are going to be absorbed and the unit will survive. Remember for something to have synergy during assault it must do two things; First it must be able to survive until it can attack or have a way of making it so that their attacks will always be struck before your opponents (or after), and it must have a way of equalling out units in cover whether surviving until they get their attacks or having assault grenades. A form of bad assault synergy would be putting powerfists (or powerweapons) in a unit of tactical marines. As they do not have the survivability of an invulnerable save, and strike last in the round means that adding a powerfist puts a unit of tactical marines where they are not ment to be, close combat.

Now it's time to touch on what I call combined assault synergy. Combined assault synergy is how two units will interact with one another to increase the effectiveness of one (or both) without decreasing the effectiveness of either. This means exactly what it sounds like, one can buff the other but take no penalties on their own actions thereby increasing the output of both units. A prime example of this is an Eldar seer council. The Farseer is able to give the unit the Fortune psychic power making them incredibly resilient (more survivable than TH/SS terminators as the case may be). This is good synergy, but what makes this the best example of synergy is the Warlock powers of Embolden and Enhance. With the ability to reroll leadership tests from Embolden this makes the unit nigh impossible to affect with wargear that forces them to take leadership (or morale because it is a type of leadership) tests such as Blood Angels death masks or the dark eldar crucible of malediction. Enhance increases their effectiveness further by improving their rolls to hit against average troops from a 4+ to a 3+ meaning that there is an almost 17% increase in their abilities, but it also gives them a higher Initiative value making them strike at a step above the standard initiative of 4. This is the perfect example of combined assault synergy, several bonuses and buffs on the unit, but it suffers no drawbacks.

That is one half of combined assault, but there is still the second half which is two units working together. Take the unit of Incubi I described earlier that has no assault grenades, they have no assault synergy. Yet they can have combined assault synergy. If a dark eldar player sends a squad of wyches in to hold up the target unit that's in cover, the next turn the incubi can assault in and take no penalties to their initiative because the wyches have tied up the unit. Without using the wyches (or other unit with which to tie up the unit) the incubi are sitting ducks when they assault into cover because they lose one of their best tools, higher initiative. Another way of using incubi to gain combined assault synergy is attaching an independant character with grenades. While the grenades do not work for the squad, they do allow the independant character to attack first and lessen the impact of the attacks at them.

As before I'll give some examples of bad combined assault synergy so that everyone can understand what this looks like, and tell between the two types. A classic example is mounting an assault unit in a close transport that does not have a way to assault out of it on the move. Using the rhino as an example (Simply because it's probably the most ubiquitous metal box in the game) you can mount a unit used only in assault in it, but you are taking the penalty that unless you do not move before you disembark the unit, they are unable to do their jobs. Remember, bad combined assault synergy typically can be overcome by smart placement of units, and not being too eager to get up close to your opponent. Case in point, don't rush a rhino forward 12 inches if doing so will put you within 18" of a meltagun instead keep it outside of the 18" to avoid the almost certain death of the transport, even if it means you only move 7 inches closer.



Now I'm winding down to the final type of in game synergy, defensive assault synergy, or it's sometimes better known as bubblewrap. Back in article 1 I talked about how to be a balanced army that you need to be able to play competitively in all 3 phases. This is the alternative to carrying a unit that can play competitively in the assault phase. The reason I put it here instead of placing it within the playing competitively in the assault phase is that this synergy is required for defensive list rather than an offensively balanced list or a true balanced list. As you can see balance does indeed come in three flavours, offensive, defensive and true balance. What are the differences? Offensive balanced lists will use their competitive movement tactically in the middle of the field or their opponents backfield, and try to take the fight to the opponent. This means they typically have a higher number of assault units a good example is a Descent of Angels list with a moderately sized death company toting some power weapons. The defensive route on the other hand requires you to place an overwhelming amount of firepower with the ability to move competitively, but typically only engaging that movement when your opponent threatens to overwhelm your firing superiority typical lists of this sort are Tau that field two or more units of kroot to protect their shooters for a turn or an imperial guard hybrid list that has a combined infantry (or blob) squad with (Or without) power weapons. The final type of list is the true balanced list that runs almost equal parts shooting, assault, and high movement. These lists are typically, but not always present with a good mix of short, medium, and long range weaponry typical lists of this sort can include a space marine Vulkan list utilizing TH/SS terminators in land raiders, or a mechanized eldar list that includes a Seer council in Wave Serpent or jetbike mounted.

So the defensive assault synergy does have one sticking point that a great many people will spot, unless the defensive unit it supported with other types of synergy it won't do well. For example, using the synergy talked about earlier with the veteran squad in the chimera is a good way to support your defensive assault synergy. By stepping up the amount of firepower your opponent faces as they close in it means that with proper target priority your defensive support should not be overrun in a single turn of assault, or if it is then your opponent faces a frightening amount of firepower which is multiplied again as the short range standard infantry weapon joins in the shooting as well. Other ways you can support the defensive lines is by ensuring they receive proper attention as your opponent closes in. By this I mean giving the unit the keys to success. For imperial guard this may mean using First Rank Fire! Second Rank Fire! on your blob squad in the closing moments before an assault to ensure that your opponent's assault threat is weakened. For Kroot this means not being afraid to have a couple extra bodies, and spending the first turn or two gone to ground to ensure as many Kroot as possible survive for the assault.

I have already touched on some of the parts I will be presenting in part 3 of the article, Redundancy and how all the various parts will affect the whole of your army.

I read the first paragraph and had high hopes for this, but it was all downhill from there. You had some great ideas and great potential here, but you squandered it with long, weak examples and fuzzy logic.

Lone Dragoon wrote:Assault synergy is best described not as two units working in tandem to take out a more dangerous threat, but as the ability of a unit to conduct an assault on their own while maintaining both offensive and defensive capabilities. Exactly what this means is to have a synergistic assault unit, you have to be able to deliver your blows without dying horribly.

Look. That is not synergy. That is called "unit design" and you can't change it. SS/TH terminator "synergy" isn't a huge choice that players have to make, its the standard load-out. A better way to approach this synergy would be to say that a librarian to gate them, or a land raider with its assault ramps allows the terminators to get into assault SOONER and do the job they're designed to do.

You then went on about Howling Banshee synergy, with their masks affecting initiative, with power weapons. You know what a banshee unit comes with, standard? Power weapons, banshee mask. There is no amazing synergy there, its the way the unit works, and you don't need to write an article about things people can't change. A better example would be how a Farseer's doom offsets the banshee's low strength of 3, allowing more wounds that automatically bypass armor, massively increasing the effect of their power weapons by making up for a weakness of the unit.

The entire post seems more focused on basic tactics with specific units than synergy - how to assault out of vehicles without assault ramps, how to exploit the huge defenses of assault terminators to get keep them in the game, etc. You also touch on synergy with transports and firing points, but you don't go into any real detail about how to maximize their effectiveness, it just kind of fades out with the long example of a "good" (read: bad) squad composition. If you want to make a point about synergy with fire points, stick to examples like this:

Lone Dragoon wrote: If you are going to put melta veterans in a chimera, you are better off putting a heavy flamer on the Chimera than leaving the stock heavy bolter. Then you have synergy in destroying a transport with the veterans and using a flamer to roast the survivors.

This is real synergy - the flamer needs troops to hit, the meltas need a tank to hit. Chimera gets close enough to the tank for meltas to turn it into soup, the troops bail out, flamer time.

"Combined Assault Synergy", as impressive as it sounds, is just normal synergy and you've just over glorified it. And a seer council isn't even a good example here, even though they augment each other a fair bit, because you can ONLY take a seer council as a DEDICATED BODYGUARD for the farseer, you didn't make an incredible tactical decision to put them together. They come together. Fortune makes the whole squad more survivable, yes. Embolden makes Fortune work more often, yes. Enhance improves the entire unit in CC, yes. Doom makes Destructor spam ridiculously over powered in situations where they can hit, yes.

Why not do an example of synergy between units that need to be picked and fielded separately? Something like, wraithguards and wraithlords, in a wraithwall list? Most new players won't realise that wraithguard are tall enough to give wraithlords a cover save, and that the spiritseer in the wraithguard squad overcomes spirit sight on all of the wraithlords. This is good, well planned synergy. Banshees with power weapons + banshee masks is not good, well planned synergy, that's "hey, I want banshees in my list".

Overall, disappointed. For such a long post, there really is very little useful information. Moreso, the information that is there is mostly unrelated to good synergy in a list, its general tactics and game mechanics. I hope that before you write up your Redundancy post that you jot down some key points in notepad and plan the post before you write it up, because this post was mostly just vomit on the screen.