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Each type of army obviously has it's preferred set up but I was wondering what Dakka thinks are the best general tips for deployment in particular missions/scenarios? What do's and don'ts are there? Do you have any 'Golden Rules' for deployment?

For example, in Dawn of War, is it usually more of an advantage to set up as far up the board as you can, forcing your opponent back, or would that leave your two mandatory troops and HQ too isolated? Is it a better idea to hang back and only deploy far in for a capture and control mission? etc etc - let's hear your ideas!

In dawn of war, don't go first against drop pod armies.

In dawn of war, it depends on how fast the rest of your army is and what you think the odds of your opponent deploying anything are.
For GK, I generally castle and refuse a flank as it's better for me to have my forces consolidated. Otherwise, stragglers can be picked off.
For Eldar/DE, it is generally best to deploy out of the range of enemy guns and with your less valuable skimers screening the higher priority ones.

That's all off the top of my head.

First piece of advice, read the deployment rules closely. You may notice there are NO mandatory Troops or HQ deployments on Dawn of War.

I have 3 armies that I play regularly and they all have different strategies with regards to DOW:

My Space Marines like to deploy first and get a rhino midfield which serves to limit deployment for the enemy and also gives a searchlight so all those cyclones and typhoons will have something to shoot on turn one.

My Orks on the other hand, like to go second on Dawn of War since they deploy nothing and then just drive on 18" and usually overload a flank fairly easily. Its sort of like an all-reserve deployment in that you don't get shot on turn one, and still get everything in all at once. With fast vehicles and Ghazkull I can generally still get all the charges I want on turn 2, although turn 3 isn't too bad either since the enemy only shoots 2 times max. I've tried to deploy some stuff and go first, but it never works as well as a mass rush from going second.

Meanwhile, my Mechdar tends to want to all-reserve most of the time, so Dawn of War is no different than any other deployment, still looking to go second.

-Myst

My IG tend to set up a CCS and an infantry platoon in cover.
My Marines will usually just infiltrate some scouts
GK used to put Coteaz and a henchman squad in a chimera up by the midline, but with the new FAQ saying he can't use his ability out of a firepoint, probably just put them in some cover.

Check out Spacecurves's deployment articles on BoLS.

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/10/spacecurves-tactics-class-deployment.html

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/12/spacecurves-tactics-class-more.html

Spacecurves is the U.S. ETC team captain and wins multiple GTs a year, so you can trust what he says.

As Orks:

In Dawn or war I like going second and usually deploy a squad of 20 boyz, my mek, and a truckboy squad deep in my deployment zone with the 20 boyz close enough to blob up and jump into a BW turn 1. I try to keep them midfield, and behind as much cover as possible. The mech usually jumps into a second wagon.

in all missions:
I deploy my bikes on a flank to keep area control and to limit what can blast them off the table, and turboboost the turn before the charge. (I usually charge turn 3)

I keep the fast vehicles on the sides of the army, and the slower ones in the middle to adjust for refused flanks

I try to hide a Reserve scoring unit in objective games to limit the assassination of all my troops in the first 5 turns.

Thanks for the ideas so far! How about Spearhead?

Fielding my Deathwing isn't really an issue for me as they're kind of a simple army to play but with my GK, I tend to prefer keeping everything close together and try to claim midfield where all my units can support eachother and lessen the weakness of only mainly being able to shoot 24".

But it's when I've got to deploy in a way that means I can't do that, that it's more difficult. Once I've taken out a few of my opponents units, it's easier for me to spread out but I don't like doing it when I'm facing a full strength army as Razorbacks and MSU purifiers aren't that hard to take out if they get isolated.

My only advice for you would be to build your army with a specific set of deployment strategies in mind. Know how you are going to deploy against different types of opponents in different types of missions.

It's important because about 80% of the time, I can look at a table during deployment and tell who is going to win and lose. Deployment gives you more opportunity to screw things up for yourself than any other phase of the game. So you can either make it work for you or against you.

As I play guard I try to use cover as much as possible and deploy my platoons in cover. However, for me I always need to remember to keep my entire army in reserve when facing drop pods. One dreadnought worked through one platoon and then another after it came in reserve in a game I just played. Therefore, for me I think deploying in reserve is best or at least part of your army and try to go second if you can. Of course I can benefit from more melta bombs, power fists, experience etc.