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For all you Mechdar vets out there, when you're going second, what factors influence your decision to reserve everything?

Mission type, How much cover can you get from hiding in the deployment zone, How much can your opponent damage you this turn(think harsh) are you running an Autarch?

Well, in objective based games its better to go second. If you go second vs. a shooty army, it will be better to stay in reserve. If you plan to stay in reserve, include an Autarch bolstering reserve rolls.

wuestenfux wrote:If you go second vs. a shooty army, it will be better to stay in reserve. If you plan to stay in reserve, include an Autarch bolstering reserve rolls.

Going first or second, and your type of opponent aren't something you can plan for.

jdjamesdean@mail.com wrote:Mission type, How much cover can you get from hiding in the deployment zone, How much can your opponent damage you this turn(think harsh) are you running an Autarch?

Pretty much this. You might consider including an Autarch as a precaution in case you get second against a nasty shooty army, and if not he's not a terribly expensive HQ anyway.

I usually go at it from the other direction: when going second, is there a reason *not* to reserve?

The only reason why you might not wish to reserve all when going second is if your opponent has an army with very little long-range shooting. Especially if it's an assault-based army. Some BA mechanized builds that are heavy on assault cannons (which aren't really a threat to wave serpents) and/or vindicators (which aren't really a threat to Eldar) are a good example.

If you reserve against a mechanized, non-shooty, assaulty army then there's a chance he could use the two turns of movement and possibly also fast vehicles to corner you. Once a lot of furious-charging assauty guys get in among your tanks, even moving fast isn't going to save you.

If facing a foot-slogging, non-shooty army, then there's really no reason to reserve either.

Also I'd consider not reserving against an opposing skimmer mech army. You don't want huge chunks of your table edge blocked off before you enter, and if there's good terrain you can survive the turn 1 alpha strike.

And at 'ard Boyz or other tournaments where massacres matter, then don't reserve if you can avoid it because you need the extra turns to kill your opponent.

Other than that, I tend to automatically reserve when going second, even if I don't have an autarch. It's nearly always an advantage.

If you reserve an autarch/yriel is a must however a few turns of bad rolls for reserves puts your forces in trouble piece mealing onto the battle field will get you slaughtered. I do it against turn 1 assaulters thats about it

Main factor for me is the opponent. If they are going first and will have a hella volley before I get to silence some of the guns then you'll typically see me in all reserves.

Massed long range Anti-tank to be exact.

atlas_garon wrote:If you reserve an autarch/yriel is a must however a few turns of bad rolls for reserves puts your forces in trouble piece mealing onto the battle field will get you slaughtered. I do it against turn 1 assaulters thats about it

I reserve even when i don't have an autarch. Even with armies that aren't Eldar, as long as they're mobile.

It happens to me fairly often that if I have bad reserves rolls in turn 2, I can hide the units that come in using terrain, then have my army come in on turn 3. Straggling in can sometimes be a huge advantage because you still have fresh units coming in on turn 4 and 5 when your opponent is trying to grab objectives with the remnants of his army.

Coming in piecemeal is mostly only a problem in KP games, but sometimes not even then. 5th edition 40K mostly isn't about killing enemy units or preserving your own. Most of the time it's about having the right units in the right place when the game ends, even if the whole rest of your army is dead and you didn't kill a single enemy unit.

You can take 1 or 2 Autarchs, but have the option of utilizing their reserve roll buffs before rolling each turn. However, they offer you flexibility with reserves. There have been rare occasions I opt to go first and start on the table. For the most part, I reserve the whole army, utilizing the Autarch bonus and alpha strike my opponent. If they spread out, I pick a side and overload it. If they castle, I maintain my range and mobility and work to cripple their long range capability.

Two Autarchs are a bit much. One is fun. The other HQ should be a Farseer with runes of warding and whatnot, since there are many psykers out there in the 40k universe.

I reserve anyway, since I have 2 autarchs. But if I didn't, it would be down to how the opponent deployed, and what the deployment was.