Warhammer 40K Tactics

[hamishspence]

Recently Slaaneshi or Khornate daemon armies got plastic models, so could go troop heavy. But yes, most of the rest are metal.

[Bryn]

Recently Slaaneshi or Khornate daemon armies got plastic models, so could go troop heavy. But yes, most of the rest are metal.

Ah, my mistake. I should really have checked my facts with the online store before saying stuff, shouldn't I?

[Da King]

Tactical question here; I'm new to 40k, I've played 3 games so far with my Imperial Guard Army, and every single game, my Russ'es are destroyed by my opponents within the first or second turn. The first game 2 were wiped out by A Tau Broadside that seized the initiative and destroyed Both of my tanks by the second turn. The second game the only one on the field was destroyed by a deepstriking SM Dreadnought, and the third game they were both destroyed by infiltrating stealth suits. The battle cannon(s) usually gets to be fired once (and most often, miss) before all my tanks are destroyed. What can I do to make sure my tanks stay alive to see more then 2 turns, possibly even till the end of the game?

[tyckspoon]

What can I do to make sure my tanks stay alive to see more then 2 turns, possibly even till the end of the game?

Always, always, always plan to lose initiative. That means deploying your tanks for safety, not killing potential. Put them in or even completely behind cover. You want them benefiting from the hull-down rule (effectively a cover save for vehicles) if they're being shot at. Consider upgraded armor to help reduce the effects of weaker hits. Against a particularly shooty army, go ahead and stick them completely out of line-of-sight; they won't get to fire their battle cannon, but they can still move out and use the sponson and hull weapons. If you use the tanks as a particularly important part of your strategy, focus-fire on your opponent's main anti-tank units.. you have much less to fear if you can blast the Broadsides off the board before coming out of cover.

There's relatively little you can do to fend off units that have the ability to just show up in/around your deployment zone (although even when being destroyed, your tanks can be serving a valuable function in some game types. In an objective-based game, for example, that deepstriking Dreadnought is *not* making a mess of a troops squad you need to hold the objective points.) About the best I can suggest is to make sure you don't leave your tanks isolated. Deploy them in pairs, so they can cover at least one of each other's side arcs. Leave a squad or two with the tanks. Maybe a mortar team. If anything shows up and destroys one tank, you can shoot it up with the other tank or hurl your men into assault in order to (hopefully) tie it up for a couple turns.

[LordVader]

Tactical question here; I'm new to 40k, I've played 3 games so far with my Imperial Guard Army, and every single game, my Russ'es are destroyed by my opponents within the first or second turn. The first game 2 were wiped out by A Tau Broadside that seized the initiative and destroyed Both of my tanks by the second turn. The second game the only one on the field was destroyed by a deepstriking SM Dreadnought, and the third game they were both destroyed by infiltrating stealth suits. The battle cannon(s) usually gets to be fired once (and most often, miss) before all my tanks are destroyed. What can I do to make sure my tanks stay alive to see more then 2 turns, possibly even till the end of the game?

I have a solution for your deepstriker problems. I run a drop-podding army full of meltas, and as such I rely on dropping behind tanks to kill them. However, what you can do to mitigate this somewhat and stop non-drop podders from DSing at all is to scatter a squad of Guardsmen out behind your Russ, as if they try and deep-strike anything behind it to get at the vulnerable rear armor, they will be kept out of melta range (hopefully) by your Guardsmen.

As far as Broadsides go, my advice would be to keep the tanks out of LoS first turn, and then maybe pop smoke and drive forwards the second to a (hull-down) firing position unless you have a very tempting target. Remember, there's a decent chance that the railgun will either glance and fail to kill your tank or bounce off, against the front armor of a Leman Russ I've seen railguns fail many a time, so if you need to take a gamble, you can go for it and your tank still has a good shot at survival.

[Mr._Blinky]

BTW, does anyone have experience running an army that is entirely Infiltrate+Deepstrike? I'm running one now, and it's really good for getting your opponent exactly where you want them, but I was wondering if anyone had any good tips.

[tyckspoon]

BTW, does anyone have experience running an army that is entirely Infiltrate+Deepstrike? I'm running one now, and it's really good for getting your opponent exactly where you want them, but I was wondering if anyone had any good tips.

Uh.. roll well for your deepstrike scatter? I'm assuming you already have the basic ideas (like dropping your anti-armor units behind or on the sides of the enemy tanks, putting your close-combat units in reach of their favored target, etc) so it's more a matter of whether or not the dice will let you do it the way you planned on. The best I can come up with is to suggest that you try to make sure each Deepstriking unit has at least two decent options, depending on how the dice fall.. eg, try to drop an assault unit so that it could get to two different targets if it landed directly where you want, and then if it scatters away from one of them it should still be able to get to the other.

[LordVader]

I am beginning an all-Drop Pod army, and from what I have seen so far you absolutely need to stay concentrated. I typically drop squads in pairs, or lone with a dreadnought for support. Leaving squads out on a limb will let the fully-deployed enemy eat you up piece by piece. As far as assault goes, I think Infiltrate may be better as DSing assault squads will either get shot up or counter-assaulted and neither of those are good things.

Also, you want to make the most of your entry, as you get to choose where to initiate combat, not them. YOU have the initiative, which can be crucial, and if you do enough damage to them on the way in you can already get them in the mindset of the defeated.

In short: Don't spread out too far on entry, and on the turn your stuff comes in, alpha strike enemy targets with it.

[Mr._Blinky]

Thanks for the tips. I currently have a Termie Librarian (and soon a squad with him), a 10 man Assault Squad, and a Dreadnought DSing, while I've got a Tac. Squad, 2 Combat Squads, a Dev. Squad, Vets, Sniper Scouts, and my Cmd Squad infiltrating. It has the handy advantage of forcing my opponent to deploy everything before I do.

My main weakness right now is lack of real armor, which I don't want to get because it messes with the flavor and fluff of my army. This should be partly remedied by my getting two new Dreads when the new starter set comes out, but I still don't really have anything that can take a square hit from a lascannon and live.

[Psychotic]

My main weakness right now is lack of real armor, which I don't want to get because it messes with the flavor and fluff of my army. This should be partly remedied by my getting two new Dreads when the new starter set comes out, but I still don't really have anything that can take a square hit from a lascannon and live.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. A very common tactic regarding armor is to go all or nothing. Going with lots and lots of tanks and APC's basically overloads your opponent's anti-armor weaponry, allowing your land raider or rhino's to deliver their shipment of mmm delicious. Going with no tanks whatsover means that you deny enemies valuable targets for the anti-armor weaponry, meaning that the 35 points that they spent on a lascannon is a point sink compared to a heavy bolter or an autocannon.

[Mr._Blinky]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. A very common tactic regarding armor is to go all or nothing. Going with lots and lots of tanks and APC's basically overloads your opponent's anti-armor weaponry, allowing your land raider or rhino's to deliver their shipment of mmm delicious. Going with no tanks whatsover means that you deny enemies valuable targets for the anti-armor weaponry, meaning that the 35 points that they spent on a lascannon is a point sink compared to a heavy bolter or an autocannon.

Well, as you can see my army is extremely troop-centric. At the moment, it's best optimized at taking out vehicle heavy and ranged armies, so I need to get a bit better and taking on CqC armies. I'm getting a bunch more guys soon though, so that should be less of a problem.

My other problem is that for some reason when I first built my guys I was dumb enough to give them almost zero special weapons. I've got plenty of heavies, but my entire army has one flamer and no plasma guns, so that kills some of my flexibility right there. Though, again, with any luck this should be remedied soon.

I was wondering though, about how useful is a squad of scouts with snipers? I've got one with snipers and one armed for CqC, and I was wondering what situations and enemies they're actually good for, and under what circumstances their just a point sink?

[Destro_Yersul]

I've found that sniper scouts are actually really good for taking out the high toughness critters. Wounding on 4 is pretty much best case scenario against those anyways, and hitting on 2 only helps. Even if they have decent armour saves they'll fail eventually. This does mean you have to take 10 for it to be worth it though.

[Kane]

Asking for a friend, since I seem to be the 'knowledgeable' one in our group. (Remember, it's all relative.)

Anyway, He as of the other day, had the Tactical squad that came with BfMaccrage, a partially assembled tactical squad box, and another tac. squad and a force commander, both NIB.

He's waiting for the new marine dex to come out before he gets one, but he's planning on playing blood angels.

The problem: We stopped in GW the other day, and he was convinced by the GW personel to: buy a devastator squad, an assault squad and preorder 2 copies of the new starter set that's coming out.

Now, especially that last part, it seemed to me that they were just gouging him for money. They told him he had to buy it, since he's playing SMs and his second army, assuming he gets one, will be orks.

Part 2, what kind of advice should I pass on to him on expanding his army. I currently have slightly over 1000 points of Tau, our 3rd group member has around 600 pts of nids, and is about to get the 1500 pt "Tyranid Assault Brood" from GW. He also may someday be facing necrons regularly. (4th group memeber.)

What does he need? (We're all planning on working up to 2000-ish pts for our armies, and possibly starting a second after that.)

Oh, and he's also got his eye on the Baal predator that he's seen in GW. Is that worth while?

[SolkaTruesilver]

As an IG, what kind of heavy weaponry should I focus on when fighting SM? Missiles, Lascannons, Heavy Bolter, Autocannon, Meltagun? What is worthier: 2x Leman Russ + 1 Basilisk, or 1x Leman Russ (assisted with infantry) + 2x Basilisk?

Edit: And I was looking for the point-cost for a Master Vox Unit for my Army HQ. Where is it written?

[tyckspoon]

Those starter kits are usually pretty good deals for building the core of an army, but with three Tac squads and a Commander already he's missing a lot of the value he would have gotten by starting fresh with it. On the other hand, those Dreadnoughts and Termies will be pretty useful, and he'll have a nice solid base for a future Ork army. I'd say it was worth the price.

What he should add to his army depends on how he wants to play, really. As is, he has the base for a drop-podding army.. I would suggest he just go ahead and play some games with his current models and then just mix in some more of whatever he thinks he's missing. My personal suggestion would be for some more heavy firepower- a Predator or two, maybe a Whirlwind- but I don't know how that would fit with your friend's preferred tactics. Space Marines can be adapted into three or four styles that are almost completely different armies.

[Wraith]

He's waiting for the new marine dex to come out before he gets one, but he's planning on playing blood angels.

No need to wait - go to this link and you can use the brand new Blood Angels Codex for free (And legally, before anyone asks - it's been released into the Public by GW). You don't even need Codex: SMs to use it, just the main rulebook.

The problem: We stopped in GW the other day, and he was convinced by the GW personel to: buy a devastator squad, an assault squad and preorder 2 copies of the new starter set that's coming out.

Now, especially that last part, it seemed to me that they were just gouging him for money. They told him he had to buy it, since he's playing SMs and his second army, assuming he gets one, will be orks.

On the assumption that he really is going to play Blood Angels, the Devastators and the Assault Squad are a good choice, as Blood Angels can take the Assault Squad as a Troops choice and they are nicely complimented by the big guns as a Heavy slot.

As already mentioned, however, the 2 starter sets will be of extremely limited value. He won't need the Tactical Squads, certainly won't need 2 Commanders, and the Terminators are strictly optional. A better investment would be to buy another fairly large Assault Squad and bodyguard for his Commander, either Veterans, Terminators or Assault marines depending on what he feels like doing.

Part 2, what kind of advice should I pass on to him on expanding his army. I currently have slightly over 1000 points of Tau, our 3rd group member has around 600 pts of nids, and is about to get the 1500 pt "Tyranid Assault Brood" from GW. He also may someday be facing necrons regularly. (4th group memeber.)

What does he need? (We're all planning on working up to 2000-ish pts for our armies, and possibly starting a second after that.)

Blood Angels are primarily a Close Combat-orientated force, though like all Space Marines they are perfectly capable of long range too. Once he has his corre army down (Commander + Bodyguard, Assault Squad, Assault Squad, Devastator, Devastator, Tank) anything he likes the look of will probably work out fine, so long as he knows how to use it on the table.

Such is the beauty of Space Marines, and why at one point they made up more than 50% of ALL Games Workshop's sales.

Oh, and he's also got his eye on the Baal predator that he's seen in GW. Is that worth while?

Against 'Nids, it's absolutely brilliant - multiple shots can destroy a decent sized unit (Tyranids are notoriously weak when it comes to armour, generally speaking) and the Rending rule of Assault Cannons can take down even the Carnifex and Hive Tyrant with a little effort.

Against Necrons it's also quite good, as they are generally quite vulnerable to big guns that can knock down a lot of models for the purposes of their Phase Out rules, although Necrons can be annoying since ALL of the weapons can Rend too, making the tank a little more vulnerable.

Against Tau - and in an army with few other large targets, like a Blood Angels/Close Combat army - he might as well paint a large bulls-eye on the side and have done with it!
It's a choice target for any large guns (of which Tau have many), and he'll need an extreme amount of luck and skill to keep it around for more than a turn or two. Having said that, the Assault Cannons are going to scare the crap out of Fire Warriors (AP4 cancels their save) and Crisis/Broadside Suits alike (s6 causes Instant Death on them, which is fantastic) so while it's around it'll likely cause all sorts of mayhem.

[SolkaTruesilver]

Good point up-there. What should I buy first when I first build an Imperial Guard army? For the moment, I have 1 Leman Russ tank (given to me), 20 Cadian Troopers (4x Sarges, 4x Flamers, 4x Vox Casters, 3x Autocannons, 5x Regular Troopers), 20 Ratchatan Troopers (ye know, the Rambo-guys). I plan to use them as Conscripts. And I have another 5-pack of Cadian Troopers.

When I'll have finished building and painting it all, what should I buy next? I have ennough sarges for the moment, I think. Maybe Officers? More flamers/autocannons? Heavy Weapon teams? Slightly more Voxcasters?

Then, I'll have to actually have an army. I already said about the Heavy Weapons. Maybe Chimeras? Hellhounds, Basilisk? Another LR?

[LordVader]

As an IG, what kind of heavy weaponry should I focus on when fighting SM? Missiles, Lascannons, Heavy Bolter, Autocannon, Meltagun? What is worthier: 2x Leman Russ + 1 Basilisk, or 1x Leman Russ (assisted with infantry) + 2x Basilisk?

Edit: And I was looking for the point-cost for a Master Vox Unit for my Army HQ. Where is it written?

Master Vox, like all Officer upgrades, is in the Armory.

I'd advise lascannons/missiles personally, and load up on plasma/melta. However, you may want to consider taking an autocannon or two for popping Rhinos, as it makes up for Guard's average BS.Against Marines, I'd take 2x Russ and 1x Bassie, as the Russ is better able to operate in support of your troops and it instant-kills everything Marines have anyways.

Chimaeras are terrible, side AV 10 dooms them to a terrible destruction at the hands of even the basic infantry of most armies. Plus they're heinously overpriced. Hellhounds are worth their weight in gold against swarm, low-AS armies like Orks and Tyranids.

If you can tell us what your regular opponents play, we can better direct you in your purchases.

[busterswd]

#1 priority is you need an actual HQ to play a game, which is usually the generic HQ squad. If you have a MUCH larger army, you can qualify for one of the specialty units for HQ. I highly recommend going through the IG codex in game works to figure out what you can add.

[Mr._Blinky]

Those starter kits are usually pretty good deals for building the core of an army, but with three Tac squads and a Commander already he's missing a lot of the value he would have gotten by starting fresh with it. On the other hand, those Dreadnoughts and Termies will be pretty useful, and he'll have a nice solid base for a future Ork army. I'd say it was worth the price.

What he should add to his army depends on how he wants to play, really. As is, he has the base for a drop-podding army.. I would suggest he just go ahead and play some games with his current models and then just mix in some more of whatever he thinks he's missing. My personal suggestion would be for some more heavy firepower- a Predator or two, maybe a Whirlwind- but I don't know how that would fit with your friend's preferred tactics. Space Marines can be adapted into three or four styles that are almost completely different armies.

Well, my local GW's got a little "exchange program" going, where they pair an ork and SM player together. When the set comes out, each buys one, and the SM player gives the ork player all the ork units, and the ork player gives the SM player all the SMs. So I'd be getting 2 dreads, 2 commanders, 10 termies, and 20 tac. marines for 60 dollars. Since only thing that's been preventing me from getting termies is the price, I'd say this is a more than fair deal.

[LordVader]

I'm doing something like that.
Currently, I think I can expect something like:
1) 3 Dreadnoughts
2) 40 Tactical Marines
3) 10 Terminators.

Battle Company Apoc Formation, here I come!

[Lostintransit]

Well my tactics involve dropping a chapter of marines on it.......

But in smaller games i find dreads, tactical and devastators do the trick nicely!

Regards

[Bryn]

Good point up-there. What should I buy first when I first build an Imperial Guard army? For the moment, I have 1 Leman Russ tank (given to me), 20 Cadian Troopers (4x Sarges, 4x Flamers, 4x Vox Casters, 3x Autocannons, 5x Regular Troopers), 20 Ratchatan Troopers (ye know, the Rambo-guys). I plan to use them as Conscripts. And I have another 5-pack of Cadian Troopers.

(Assuming you've already built all those Cadians as described): That's quite a mix of units you have there. Those 4 flamer troops will be handy in forming a command squad, but you're going to need a great many more models to accomodate the voxcasters and sergeants. Which brings me to...

When I'll have finished building and painting it all, what should I buy next? I have ennough sarges for the moment, I think. Maybe Officers? More flamers/autocannons? Heavy Weapon teams? Slightly more Voxcasters?

You'd probably be best off buying a box of 20 Cadians. Combined with the sets of 5 standard Cadians you already have, you'd have 3 squads ready to go. Three of the vox troopers could go into those, leaving you with three troops left over from the box. If you get your hands on an Officer and one more Cadian of any sort, they could be made into a Command Squad (once again, I would arm these guys with flamers)

That would leave you with...

• two command squads (the flamer guys you have, another three flamer guys from the set of Cadians, one of the Voxcaster guys, and two Officers)
• three infantry squads (three Sergeants, three Voxcaster guys, eight of the regular troops you have already, and 16 regular Cadians from the box set)
• a conscript platoon (the Catachans)
• Three Autocannons which can be put in their own unit or spread around the three squads of Cadians you have. If you put them in the infantry squads, that gives you an extra six spare cadians. If you do that, then the six cadians + four from the box set can make a fourth squad of infantry.

Then, I'll have to actually have an army. I already said about the Heavy Weapons. Maybe Chimeras? Hellhounds, Basilisk? Another LR?

Hellhounds are lovely, lovely things. They are godlike at dealing with any army without power armour, and reasonable at killing everything else. If you get one of the two Forge World Hellhounds, then they look wonderful as well.

Apart from Hellhounds, it depends on what you want to do. If you want a mostly static Guard army, using your Autocannons in squads, then take tanks to support that, like the Basilisk. If you want to be more mobile... you could wait for GW to release the plastic Valkyrie along with the new Guard codex, or buy Imperial Armour Apocalypse and get Arvus Lighters. If you have more sense than money (shame on you ), Chimeras are still generally not such a great idea. I would look into the Centaur (see also the other Centaur) for your command squads, though, as that thing is fast, so it should get them somewhere before getting popped open by a lucky bolter round.

The great thing about the Guard is that, thanks to Forge World, they have more stuff than anyone. Just have a look and see if there's anything you like.

[Inhuman Bot]

I play (not chaos) 'nids. I have a warrior hevy army.
I take a broodlord and a reinute of genestealers, and the other hq is a warrior squad. 2 warrior squads and a lictor for elites.
Adding on 2 genestealer squads for melee, and 3 without number termegaunt squads, and my army is effective agianst who I play with.
Also, to other nid players, are gargoyle worth it? I don't have any, but they don't seem very good. And are biovores good? I have a carnefix and ravener, so I have more HS and FA spots open, so I'd like some advice on those 2 units.

[SolkaTruesilver]

That would leave you with...

• two command squads (the flamer guys you have, another three flamer guys from the set of Cadians, one of the Voxcaster guys, and two Officers)
• three infantry squads (three Sergeants, three Voxcaster guys, eight of the regular troops you have already, and 16 regular Cadians from the box set)
• a conscript platoon (the Catachans)
• Three Autocannons which can be put in their own unit or spread around the three squads of Cadians you have. If you put them in the infantry squads, that gives you an extra six spare cadians. If you do that, then the six cadians + four from the box set can make a fourth squad of infantry.

.

Now, that was incredibly useful..

Oh, I sorry I mislead you. I was wrong about some of my troopers having autocannon, they have grenade launcher instead. Do you have changes in suggestions about what to do...?

Against high-T or high-Armor armies, should I switch my flamers to other weapons? Like.. oh.. Plasma or Meltaguns?

[Calvin33]

Against high-T or high-Armor armies, should I switch my flamers to other weapons? Like.. oh.. Plasma or Meltaguns?

I do, with my Khorne army getting up close and personal but I use plasma pistols, but that means there getting a tad expensive.

[tyckspoon]

Against high-T or high-Armor armies, should I switch my flamers to other weapons? Like.. oh.. Plasma or Meltaguns?

Probably plasma. They have better range, better strength, and enough AP to punch power armor, all of which are important when you're looking at things like assault-heavy Space Marines marching down-table. Meltas are overkill with insufficient range for most situations; those are primarily tank-hunter weapons. The only thing keeping plasma guns from being incontrovertibly the best weapons in the game is the Gets Hot rule.

[Bryn]

Now, that was incredibly useful..

Oh, I sorry I mislead you. I was wrong about some of my troopers having autocannon, they have grenade launcher instead. Do you have changes in suggestions about what to do...?

That changes things slightly. Depending if you want to take Grenade Launchers in your Infantry Squads, they can be used there to free up three models, but you won't be able to make a fourth infantry squad that way. Still, you can make a remnants squad with seven models.

I didn't mention this in my last post, but the way I described, your army would be organised as follows...
Command Squad (HQ)

Infantry Platoon (Troops)
- Command Squad
- Three Infantry Squads
- Remnants Squad

Conscript Platoon (Troops)

That would give you your requisite 1 HQ and 2 troops.

Against high-T or high-Armor armies, should I switch my flamers to other weapons? Like.. oh.. Plasma or Meltaguns?

When you're fighting Marines, plasma is fantastic, especially as you, being a Guard player, have plenty of bodies so that even if a few end up exploding you'll have a fair amount of plasma left over. Melta is generally not so worth it unless you have a way to get very close to the enemy, and it's better at killing tanks anyway. On Necrons, though, it does have the advantage of preventing them from coming back after you kill them.

Still, you get one melta and one plasma in every special weapons blister, so you can switch between them and see which ones you like.

[The Gunslinger]

Hey everyone. I'm running a 40k campaign this year, and have 10 armies participaing: my Black Templars, as well as Blood Angels, Necrons, Tyranids, Guard, Traitor Guard, Ultramarines, more Tyranids, Eldar, and Witch Hunters. Any advice on how I can make this narrative campaign as compelling and fun as it ought to be?

[Bryn]

You're lucky, in a way, in that you have a whole bunch of Imperial players. That makes justifying the presence of so many armies a lot more straightforward. I'd advise going for a system of planets as opposed to a single world to avoid stretching verisimilitude too much. I would also make the setting remote, so none of the armies can expect reinforcements.

Some ideas, assuming you haven't already planned a background, in which case this stuff should be discarded or even defenestrated ()...

Spoiler

Show

In a remote, but strategically vital, system of planets, a splinter fleet of Hive Fleet Kraken is closing in. As they approach, Genestealer-cult-led factions launch mass uprisings on the affected planets. Sensing the time to strike, Chaos cults also join in the carnage, even corrupting the Imperial Guard itself.

Since the worlds in question are vital to the functioning of the Imperium, a very large force is sent in to put down the uprisings and defend against the Tyranids. The Space Marines, Sisters of Battle and a single regiment of Guard, are the first to arrive, the rest of the relief force being delayed by Warp currents.

There is another presence in the system again, though. The Eldar have foreseen the imminent arrival of their oldest enemies. Disturbed by the fighting raging across the system, Necron tombs far beneath the ground on several worlds open up, sending their warriors purge the world of the filthy life forms that are infecting it.

That should cover all the armies involved.

As for running the campaign itself, the 40k rulebook has some advice. Having never run one of these things myself, though, I can't add anything. I would reccomend having a wide variety of characterful battlefields to represent the different planets, but that might be tricky depending on who's organising this.

In short, I don't really have much to offer