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OK, I would like to expand on this when I have more time, but put simply, what is the best way to deploy? Should one stick to a plan? Should one deploy reactivly, depending on their oppomant? Should one try to force ones opponant to deploy in an unfavourable position by deploying in a certain way?

I know what I think, and will expand on it later-but what do you think??

Any ideas on good deployment would be fantastic..

You should have a plan, but Id advise depending on your opponent too.

Agreed with thenoobbomb.
Personally I have a very generalized deployment for each of my armies and usually do a similar deployment each time I play them. However, it's always useful to have a few aspects that are able to change depending on your opponent.

For instance, my Troll army is generally forced to set up in the same way almost every game, just for the sake of LD. But, I have two hound units and even the Dragon Ogre unit that can be tossed around.

Deployment is definitely key, but there's also enough time (normally) that you can make up for some mistakes during the movement phase.

When I first started playing, years ago, I’d draw a little picture of how I’d like to deploy when I wrote up my list. It worked okay, for the most part, but there will be times when your opponent takes a unit or deploys in a surprising way that you simply have to respond to. With a rigid plan in place for my deployment I found it hard to adjust on the fly, and often lost track of what I needed to achieve with my deployment.

So these days I just make notes about what is important about my deployment. They’re generally pretty obvious things, but the kind of things you can forget when adapting a plan. So now against, say, my pistoliers I’ll write ‘deploy opposite slowest key enemy unit, preferably on flank’ and other similar notes.

Now I can adapt my deployment on the fly, while making sure units are still deployed in an optimum fashion.

Thing that has worked for me is make a plan, but be willing to/have the ability to change. Being a Wood Elf player deployment can be both standard and crucial (Glade Guard hang back, Waywatchers appear somewhere ect.) and have used my high mobility to my advantage on numerous occasions. Depending on what army and how you run it all having varying levels on how important deployment is, which just adds more fun to the game IMO

As everyone has stated above you need to have a general idea of what your units need out of the deployment phase ie low Ld units need to always be near a bsb/general and cannons etc need to be put on the flanks if possible.

On top of that thee is reactive deploying where if your oponent puts down a certain type of unit you match it with its counter.

The only other thing I can think of is making sure you have enough "drops" in your army that you do not end up deploying your entire army before someone has commited his deathstar/horde units.

Hey Guys!

I wrote this article over on Ulthuan.net, but I'll post it here as well; it's written to be applicable to every army, not just High Elves:

The Art of Deployment

Games of Warhammer are won and lost in the deployment phase.

It may seem like a silly statement, considering the battle hasn't even been fought yet, but it is a simple truth. The decisions you make during this phase of the game not only dictate the pace of the game, but also the outcome.

Let's boil the game down into the simplest form we can to illustrate my point. You have a unit of Empire swordsmen and a Dwarf Grudge thrower. The Empire swordsmen have movement 4, meaning a march move of 8. Given the 24" distance between deployment zones, this means that the empire can be in charge range of that Grudge thrower on turn 3, allowing the stone thrower two shots on the unit - odds are they make it to that artillery.

Now deploy the units differently, one on each corner of the board. Instead of 24" to travel, the swordsmen now have close to 100" to travel before they reach the artillery. There is almost no chance that they make it to their target alive.

It may be an extremely simple example, but it illustrates the point - given that our units have fixed movement and ranges, where you deploy them largely dictates where you can apply their force.

Knowing this, it now becomes vitally important that you a) have a strategy for deploying your troops and b) adapt that strategy based on your opponent’s deployment choices.

1) Your best units are like having a strong hand in poker

Professional poker players, upon being dealt a good hand, don’t slap their cards down on the table and exclaim “Check this out!” – It’s more tactically advantageous for them to pretend like they have nothing and try to draw out their opponent’s bets.

Similarly in the deployment phase, think of your strongest units like they’re full houses. You want to get as much information as you can before you make a choice about where to put them down. If you drop a 600 point unit as your first drop, your opponent can react to that drop by implementing one of their redirection or absorbing strategies.

Small distraction units are perfect for this task; by deploying these units you buy time and give away nothing. I recently played a game versus Warriors of Chaos, where the first four units on the board were 10 strong units of marauders. These units were approximately 50 points each – 200 points all in – and for that cost, he ensured that he had the tactical advantage in terms of deployment. Using those 4 drops, he effectively exhausted my low point units and forced me to reveal my hand first.

2) Stop thinking about units and think about the big picture

Even armies that employ “death-star” tactics cannot earn enough points to win a game against a wily opponent without thinking about their strategy as a whole. We’ve all fallen into the trap of deploying our armies with the intention of “fighting this unit against that unit”. Think back, though, at your games. How many of these games actually end up with the battles you expect?

It usually doesn’t happen how you expect it; the game rewards strategies like flanking and rear attacks too much for you to believe that your opponent will just run his troops at you head on.

Instead approach the game with a general strategy in mind. Your strategy should suit your army’s play-style – I often use my High Elves in a refused flank strategy or my Skaven with a hard center/heavy flank strategy. Every army has something it does well, but the point is that your deployment should augment what your army can accomplish. A lot can be ascertained just by thinking about what your, and your opponent's army does well.

Approach the deployment phase with a common goal. If you just put down units without any thought, a canny opponent will pick you apart piece by piece.

3) Know your opponent and react accordingly

What does your opponent do well?

This is where it pays to do some research and know what each army is capable of bringing to the table.

Using this knowledge, you can begin to make certain assumptions about what is going to happen on their side of the board before a single unit is placed. For example, if you’re facing Skaven or Empire, you can put money on the fact that you’re going to be dealing with big units. Large units require a great deal of real estate on the board, which limits the positions that they can put them down and still manage to accommodate the rest of their army. Use this to your advantage; think in terms of what your opponent *has* to do and what he’s probably going to do. This will give you a tactical advantage. Using the example just mentioned, there are probably only three spots on the board he can drop that unit, and out of those only 2 are reasonable – how are you going to deal with it?

I mentioned a battle against Warriors of Chaos in the last section. In this battle, my opponent wrote what I would call an excellent list – well rounded and with a strong shooting and magic phase, including a level 4 sorcerer and 2 hellcannons, with heavy focus on steadfast blocks of marauders.

I, as the Skaven player, had a disadvantage in close combat, but a strength in numbers and comparable shooting.
For all intents and purposes, my opponent had a stronger list. What ended up costing him the game, ultimately, was allowing the skaven to encircle him and utilize their numbers to their advantage.

When faced with superior numbers, an elite army must do whatever they can to mitigate their opponent’s numbers. Refused flanks are perfect for this, essentially causing a significant portion of the opponent’s army to be tripping over itself.

Similarly horde armies must do what they can to utilize their additional units to out-position the opponent in order to reduce their effectiveness in combat and win a war of attrition.

4) Deploy to force an opponent’s move

Think about the game of chess; a move that advances your strategic goal and forces your opponent to make a move is strategically more advantageous than one that simply furthers your own objective.

This one is a little more nuanced to use than the others, but it can really get you a leg up if used effectively. When done well, this strategy essentially allows you to in a way deploy your opponents army for them.

Let’s take a unit of Chosen Warriors for example. As one of the hardest units in the game, the threat of these guys being deployed is a very real risk to your opponents. Why not use this to your tactical advantage? Your opponent will certainly see your unit of badass mother-F’ers and immediately allocate distraction/absorption units (ahem *slaves* ahem). So knowing this, use it to your advantage; deploy your chosen, then drop your unit of fast cavalry or spawn immediately beside it the turn after, allowing them to deal with the distraction threat, and allowing you to walk unimpeded into their battle line. You use the psychological effect of a unit to force your opponent's hand.



I don’t think I’d be out of line in saying that half of the game happens in the deployment phase. It dictates when, where and how you apply your force. It dictates when, where and how your opponent applies his force. It rewards those who read their opponent and it punishes those that don’t. It creates opportunities and likewise eliminates them.


Anyway, hope it helps!

D

It depends on who the opponent is and where your units will be most needed.

It all boils down to what your opponent is playing, I normaly deploy my Beastmen in such a way that i have the potential to react to any form of ligth cavalry or knigths comming barreling down the center, this is a tactic I had to come up with due to the amount of Cavalry heavy armies in my gaming circle.

Since as a VC player my general stuff like zombies/skellies etc have to be by my general BUT since I typically have more to put down I save my bllod knights or whatever for last so all their stuff is already on the table and cant place anything to react to my varghulf, blood knights or whatever Im using that game.