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Hey all,

As we all know, 40k is a game that makes you use your brain, but it is also a game where you can attempt to play with your opponents brain too.

Just wanting to get some ideas as to what sort of psychological tactics you guys have used or had used against you while playing.

I don't mean stuff like making faces or trash talking your opponent, but stuff within the game.

I personally am a big fan of purposefully taking out my opponents favourite unit, whether this be a giant points sink or just a unit that they have spent hours and hours lovingly converting and painting. I've found that by taking these units out early in the game, you can seriously demoralise your opponent.

Another good one is building your army around something that is not traditionally their strength (ie. a close combat IG army) There's nothing more disheartening than having your ass handed to you in close combat by a bunch of measly guardsmen.

So how about you guys? What kind of "psyche outs" do you employ?

My main 'psyche out' is just playing Tau the way they are meant to be played people find the first two turns incredibly demoralising, to the point where one of the player I regularly play against starts complaining it was pointless him even setting up. Even if he then goes on to draw/win he complains from turn 2 to turn 6.

But yeah, taking out their prized unit is priceless, as often they don't know what to do without it and start making mistakes

Oh and rolling saves. I'm a bit of a demon for saves usually. Wyches charged my 12 man fire warrior unit? I have to make 15 4+ saves? When odds are against me winning the combat that much, I tend to pass all of those saves... my record is about 16/16 in one go...

I'm more apt to nto attck a person's favorite or most awsome looking unit that they spent time on so they can enjoy having it out... but then again i'm the kind of player who wants everybody to have a good time

example this weekend my ork speed freaks list

big mek kff
wazdakka
5 diversified nob bikers w/ painboy
3 meganobs in bw
20 slugga bosy in bw x2
8 burnas in a wagon

at 1750 vs tyranids.

I could have wiped the floor with him had i just stayed embarked and shot, keeping the battlewagons together moving them and shooting big shootas... btu who wants to play a oen sided game, deff rollad in and proceeded to lose. my opponent at first wasn't sure how he was donna pop my wagons, instead i made that part easy. we both knew i could easily have won but it would have been kind of a paper rock sissors win


now if i were in a tourney only then would it be trying to win above all else. but as logn as i don't let the opponent get in my head I'd leave the psychology alone and worry abotu tactically sound moves ... 40k isn't exactly poker . the cards are all on the table and its hwo they are used that is important

I love Marbo for this. He only costs 65pts, but it's simply astounding the amount of firepower he attracts on the turn he shows up.

Outflankers also seem to screw with the enemies heads, more so then deepstrikers. I think it's due to the fact that they can assault when they show up and don't mishap.

De-meching mech lists is also a great way to mess with an opponents head.

I hit the alternate deployment side of IG as hard as I can. Al'rahem, Stormtroopers, valkyries, and even sometimes scout sentinels. The extra versatility gives me the right tool for the job, and the enemy never knows where I'm going to end up popping up from.

I infiltrate right next to my buddy's tervigon with a bunch of fusion blaster stealth suits with a marker drone so that I can wound it, then mark it for a missile strike
That really makes him feel the pain, as he now can no longer spawn gaunts, or have his favorite(?) MC on the field.

killykavekommando wrote:I infiltrate right next to my buddy's tervigon with a bunch of fusion blaster stealth suits with a marker drone so that I can wound it, then mark it for a missile strike
That really makes him feel the pain, as he now can no longer spawn gaunts, or have his favorite(?) MC on the field.

Dark Eldar - A lot of accurate and lethal fire. Reaver Bikes all cause problems that users don't know how to deal with. Deep Striking - Web Way Portal. Toughness is no defense from poisoned weapons. It makes them into a matchup problem that is different from what most users know works against standard opponents.

It is fun forcing an opponent to think his way through the problem you have presented him with.

killykavekommando wrote:I infiltrate right next to my buddy's tervigon with a bunch of fusion blaster stealth suits with a marker drone so that I can wound it, then mark it for a missile strike
That really makes him feel the pain, as he now can no longer spawn gaunts, or have his favorite(?) MC on the field.

Stealth suits ignore the 18" infiltrate rule?

I assume you all would never employ these tactics in a casual environment, right? This seems more like a Win at all Costs kind of thing.

As far as psychological warfare, you honestly just have to play your own game. One of the biggest things that mess with opponents is when they score a big kill (like a land raider or a storm raven full of paladins) and you simply keep going without even blinking. I find this Stonewall Jackson-esque approach really can throw someone off their game.

But on to the point of destroying an opponent's favorite unit. I think it is rather unsportsmanlike to spitefully do so. If that unit happens to be the terminators completely decimating your front line, by all means, let em have it. But to say, ignore other targets to stack wounds on a well painted and converted unit...seems to miss the point of WH40k, which is about fun.

I was also laughing when this one kid cut down 10 guys in a power blob that was advancing at his tac squad for the first time. I told him that he'd have to do that another time over before I started to get concerned. That kind of bugged him.

Throw things in his face. That usually can force your opponents hand or makes him make irrational decisions. Rolling 2+ saves one. At. The. Time. is a good way to never fail (played against Lords of the Black crusade in apocalypse. 10 terminators + Abbadon and nine other lords/scorceres. he rolled one at a time and they just didnt die.)

Bullet magnet.

I like to say "dink" whenever I make an armor save (bullets bouncing off the armor), or, playing orks, move my boys. One. At. A. Time. I once had someone get so mad at me from both of these things that he quit. XD

Use feints. Send out a unit people expect to be tricked out and dangerous so they waste all their shooting and assault on it. Make the unit bare bones so instead of removing a real threat they were pissing in the wind. Gives the rest of the army some time to not be attacked.

Your going to lose some models each game you play. Dont let your opponent choose which ones they are.

jeleopard wrote:I like to say "dink" whenever I make an armor save (bullets bouncing off the armor), or, playing orks, move my boys. One. At. A. Time. I once had someone get so mad at me from both of these things that he quit. XD

That sounds less about psych-out tactics and more about you being an incredibly annoying person to play with.

I play marines. Using the Scout speeder storm with multi melta and a load of scouts with fist, and combi melta can be very threatening to many opponents. If you are going first they know that you will likelly Ace a armored vehicle first turn. If you are going second and you put your scout speeder in outflank, they fear the edge of the board.

I cant tell you how many landraiders have burned on turn one via the use of one of these scout teams. Sure your opponent can try to bubble wrap their land raider. Its not as easily said as done especailly when you consider the 12 inch melta range that the speeder has. And even if they do succeed, the mere fact that they are playing a different game on turn one means that you are already dictating the game. You are in the drivers seat. its always been one of my favorite tactics to use these speeders. I now run two in my army.

the edge of the board is scary...

dajobe wrote:the edge of the board is scary...

In 40K the world really is flat...

was that ever up for debate?

jeleopard wrote:I like to say "dink" whenever I make an armor save (bullets bouncing off the armor), or, playing orks, move my boys. One. At. A. Time. I once had someone get so mad at me from both of these things that he quit. XD

i dont think that really counts as a win!

daedalus wrote:

killykavekommando wrote:I infiltrate right next to my buddy's tervigon with a bunch of fusion blaster stealth suits with a marker drone so that I can wound it, then mark it for a missile strike
That really makes him feel the pain, as he now can no longer spawn gaunts, or have his favorite(?) MC on the field.

Stealth suits ignore the 18" infiltrate rule?

No, but I place them around 20" away and wait for him to move his footsloggers to move up. Knowing that they won't reach me in one turn, I light 'em up with my BCs and if he falls for the trick of sending a MC their way, then I Fusion Blaster the bejeezus (is that how you spell it?) out of it. Or, I infiltrate farther away and marker light his general with my marker drone if I can see him or it depending on if nids have genders. AND... the first time I used this tactic, he sent half of his army towards the stealthsuits, allowing me to pick off any units that were moving towards my gunline.

Ajroo wrote:

jeleopard wrote:I like to say "dink" whenever I make an armor save (bullets bouncing off the armor), or, playing orks, move my boys. One. At. A. Time. I once had someone get so mad at me from both of these things that he quit. XD

i dont think that really counts as a win!

Yeah, honestly if you did this in a game with me, I'd probably quit too. And tell all my friends not to play you. This is obnoxious behavior. Making yourself such an unfavorable player that your opponents would probably rather commit suicide than play against you is not gonna get you more games.

On topic, the destruction of an opponent's favorite (newest) model is always great. First turn I drop pod-melta'd my friend's new land raider that he just lovingly painted up and was very proud of, while it was in the corner of the table. Boom. Terminators are footslogging now.

I have a nice bone too though: one friend had a BA LR mishap and blow up, but I let him keep it and just played it as I moved the model where I wanted. Boards edge, but I fed him a squad too, so it could do something. Game was pretty much over already from bad dice, so I wanted him to get something. It happens. Sometimes squads need to be thrown to your opponent, without looking obvious (like melta-ing said land raider so termies can come out and eat squad).

My current Guard list is pretty good for this. Most of my units have the ability to wipe sqauds of MEQ's from the board in a turn. Plenty of ordnance, a few squads kitted out with loads of plasma, a good ammount of melta and a few demo charges for good measure. They units are pretty expensive but they generally do more damage than they cost which is vital for tooling up units in this way. The problem is, to keep points down, units have to be very specialised. A melta unit lacks any anti-infantry, the anti-infantry won't really hurt transports ect. Thats where intelligent deployment comes in =p

Think about units the enemy has do deal with ASAP or he will pay.
Outflankers, infiltrators, fast moving units, deep strikers come to my mind, and
of course BA Furiosos with blood talons.
My DE was not able to deal with it from far and his army paid a high price.

For Tau, add an Ethereal.

You probably haven't filled that 2nd HQ slot, and if you add him and tell your opponent about the death effect, everything that has S7+ will be fired at the Dumbfish (love that nickname) he's in. Stick it within weapons fire range of their squads, but well back and bubble-wrapped from d-pods and/or assaults.
You'll get the 4+ disruption pod saves, and they'll fire 300-400 pts of stuff that should be IDing your suits and popping railheads at a 50 pt guy who will probably survive 2 turns at least. When he does get thrown from his transportation? Run him over to a broadside squad and join it (since they're your least mobile but hardest to kill suits). Enjoy the look of despair as they see they've allowed you a couple unmolested shooting phases to blow their transports and tanks to kingdom come

I haven't played any tourney level 40k, but I've played a bunch of high level M:TG and I'm sure a lot of similar tactics would translate. Of course, it depends heavily on how serious the opponent is and how much they are paying attention to you/your body language.

Keep your eye on a specific unit, like you value you it, when you're actually are using it as bait.

Keep your eye on an enemy unit, to make it look like you're going after it, or plotting against it.

Put your hand on a unit to move it(if you don't plan to) then take it away.

count numbers out loud or on your fingers, like you're calculating inches or turns

Obviously, you cant use things like this against every opponent, or in every situation. Instead of "tactics" i guess this would be more along the lines of social engineering or meta gaming. You'd be surprised how easily you can manipulate someone into thinking/doing something you want them to by just using body language.

Innocently asking the side armor value of vehicles not in cover always works to make them scurry them back away from my gunlines. Works even better if you have d-pods in the wings waiting to show up.

"Nervously" checking LOS from your "valued" unit to their shooty squad(s) tends to help emphasize the point too. That, or the classic: Occasionally snickering when they move a unit, and when they inquire, say "Oh, nothing, it was nothing. How many points did they cost you again?"

Also, it'd be a crime to not mention Doomthumb and his wonderful use of "alternative dangerous terrain indicators." (Wasps on strings )

Play in the nude. That will get you the psychological edge everytime...

Although not a female player, I'd have to hazard a guess that if you happen to be appropriately endowed (No man-boobies, please, for the love of the Emperor), cleavage would be an effective distractor as well.

With my IG army I plan on finding what people ignore the most and turning that into the main threat while making what they normally consider the biggest threat the diversion (eg, inclusion of special units/upgrades while stripping to the bear bone others).

Take this to the extreme of say decking out a lot of sentinels to distract from some power blobs.

The effect would be mostly on people I play often. Many magnets will be required.