40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 14) - Deepstrike by the Numbers

5th edition 40k made deep striking a LOT safer and more productive than earlier editions.  That having been said, however, it is still a scary proposition for most.  Unless there is a locator beacon (or similar functioning device) on the table, many commanders simply won't drop their troops onto the table.  The reality of the matter, however, is that deep striking is really not as dangerous as people think it is.  Take a look at the picture below:

If you click on the picture, you'll see that in this drop pod example (ignoring the guidance system for the moment), you're going to land right on target 33% of the time.  When deploying, you're guys will end up right inside that little green circle with no worries.  50% of the time, you'll land within the yellow circle, which is just about the size of the pod.  And 70% of the time you'll land within the red circle.  Only 30% of the time will you land anywhere in the purple zone.  You have a slightly better chance to land right on target! 

And the same thing is also true for personnel:

Here you've got a vanguard squad that has dropped onto the table.  33% of the time they'll also land on target... 50% of the time they'll land within 5" of their target... 70% of the time within 7" of their target.  For something like vanguard, who can actually charge after they land due to heroic intervention, you've got a damn good chance of landing within range to pull off that charge. 

So, what does this mean in practical application?  Look at it this way...  If you place this same squad just 5" away from your target squad, look at the possible scatter locations below.

Out of all of the possible landing locations, the green areas are spaces where your charge may fail, but your squad will still be safe from mishap.  If the squad lands anywhere in the red area, this means your squad will still be within range to charge the target squad... even if it scatters within that scary 30% range of 7-12" of scatter.  And there is only a tiny area of the possible scatter locations, almost all of which lies outside the 50% scatter distance range, which will actually cause a mishap.

And this is with a regular squad's deep striking ability.  If this was a Blood Angels squad, your full scatter distance would actually be inside the red circle by 1" -- which would allow you to attempt to land even closer to the target squad with less probability of scattering into a dangerous area.

Regardless, I hope the pictures above give a clearer example of just how safe deep striking really is.  The vast majority of the time, you'll probably have a safe landing... provided you pay attention to what else may lie within that circle of scatter, of course.

40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 13) - Keeping Your Eye on the Prize

Ok, so this doesn't really qualify as a "dirty trick," per se, and it probably won't work out to be much of a tactics article, but I do get to use at least one funny picture that I've been itching to use, so that's GOT to count for something, right?

The point of this article is really an opportunity to admonish those of you that manage to let a game that is 'in the bag' slip through your fingers by getting too greedy, or by forgetting the point of the game.  A clever opponent, who realizes that he's lost the game, may trick you into handing him a draw if you're not careful.  One such way your opponent may try to con you out of a win is through a simple bait and switch.

BAIT AND SWITCH

Take a good look at the picture below.  This is one of those situations where you really have to be careful as to your next move.  It's the top of turn 5, and you've got two objectives in the bag.  Your opponent only has two tiny little units to harass you, and he's only got a single objective of his own... but there is a very real threat that you really can't ignore.  It's your turn.  If this game ends after your opponent's turn, your next move is critical!

What you see here is a classic 'bait & switch' maneuver that is about to be dropped on your head.  Your opponent has intentionally tipped a hand in your direction where it appears as though he is going to assault your #2 objective next turn with the unit out in the open -- all he has to do is whether the storm of gunfire that is bound to come his way, and then he can hit you with whatever is left over.  If he lives through the fusillade of fire, he assaults you, pulls you off the objective, and swoops in with the unit in cover behind you to contest (or even take!) the objective.  Even if he can't weather the firestorm, what are the chances that you're going to take him out with just one of your unit's weapons?  If you have to use both squads, he's still free to move the unit in cover right on top of the objective for a tied game.  Right?

So, you weigh your options:
(1) Try to shoot both units.  The unit in cover is more survivable, which means you have to fire more weapons at it in order to break or destroy it.  Mathematically this means you have to use your smaller amount of guns on the unit outside of cover... but even if you have a solid BS4, only half those shots will hit, and then how many will actually wound?  How many of those will be negated by armor saves?  This is a bigger long shot than it looks.  Even with 12 guys on the table, and even if half of them have heavy weapons, it's going to be tough to take out six opponents where half of them are in cover.  Shooting just isn't as bad-ass as it used to be, and the numbers almost never work out the way you want.  And on the off chance that you don't wipe out the squad in the open, there is a chance that he will not only survive to assault you, but may even charge in such a way to pull your squad off the objective completely!  A potential loss is staring you right in the face here...

(2) Assault and fall back.  A more certain way to make sure you only have a single squad to contend with in your opponent's turn is to use the squad on objective #2 to move towards the squad in the open, shoot him with your pistols and assault weapons (assuming you have them), and then charge him.  After your shooting phase, and assuming you're not challenging a squad of terminators with storm shields, you should be able to wipe that squad out (even guardsmen vs. space marines) and then use your consolidation move to make sure you're back in cover for your opponent's shooting phase.  This frees up your other squad to direct all of its fire at the enemy squatting in the bushes -- hopefully knocking it out or making it run. While this creates a better chance to have only one squad to face in the open during your opponent's turn, it's still risky.  Your odds are still bad that you'll wipe out the cowering squad, and there is an additional concern that by assaulting, you may not kill the other guy, and be trapped away from the objective, or else not have enough distance to consolidate back onto the objective (and thus be hung out to dry for the opponent's shooting phase) -- thus creating an easy path for a win for the other guy.

But these are the choices you make when you don't keep your eyes on the objective.  What is the point of the battle above?  To hold more objectives than the other guy.  How do you keep the objective out of your opponent's hands?  By making it impossible for the other guy to reach the objective.  You have a third option here:

(3) Circle the wagons.  Your opponent can move towards the objective during his movement phase, during the shooting phase (by running), and in the assault phase (and any follow-up if he wins).  You can deny him the ability to move towards the objective in the first two possible ways by simply making it impossible for him to get within 3" of the objective.  If you circle your squad so that you're just over 2" away from the objective, and leave less than a base size in between your own men, then it is impossible for the opponent to get within 3" of the objective!  You can still move, rapid fire the squad in the open (and thus give yourself the best odds in the ensuing assault), and just stay put.  The odds that the enemy will pierce the bubble are really, really slim, thus nearly guaranteeing you maintain your victory.  (Well, so long as he doesn't manage to lay down enough dakka to make you run... of course.)

That's not to say that all bets are out the window if you go to turn 6, but if you end at turn 5, you're more likely to win the game because you kept your eye on the ball.

And here's something else you may not have seen coming... The distance between objectives #1 and #2 is 12".  With a 3" bubble created by each objective, you do understand that all your opponent has to do in order to WIN is to jump in between those two points and cover a little over 6" of ground.  Each of those three man units is capable of spanning 7" of ground (1" for each base, and 2" in between each man in the unit).  That means that either unit can jump in between your objectives and WIN the game by contesting both at the same time.  He doesn't have to assault you at all!  This should create an even greater emphasis on the idea that you have to protect that 3" bubble at all costs.  If you're not at the fringes, then your eye is not on the ball... and you could lose!

Make that bubble a habit, and your opponent may not even realize you've kept him out of range... which means he might leave himself out in the open for no good reason if you're lucky.  The less you look like you're keeping your eye on the prize, the more likely the opponent will not see what kind of tricks that YOU have up your sleeve.  Focus on the objective... but don't let other guy know  your focusing:

40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 12) - Slicing the Pie

Recently on Bell of Lost Souls, Spacecurves gave us a tactics class on how to manipulate a flamer template to hit a vehicle and its accompanying squad through the use of using a blocking squad to hijack template placement.  Essentially what this boils down to is that when you've got two kinds of weapons in a squad (or on a vehicle), that is - some for anti-infantry and others for anti-tank, it doesn't always make sense to waste a shot on the vehicle if you're not going to do any real damage.  While the raider is a bad example below, since you may actually hurt that paper tiger with a flamer, but if it was a landraider you'd merely scratch its paint and thus would be wasting time to even attempt the shot.  As Spacecurves points out, however, template weapons are unique in that they can be placed to hit both the vehicle you have to shoot at per the rules, as well as something a little softer nearby that you have a prayer to hurt.  In the picture below, which is from Spacecurves' article, you can see how to manipulate squad placement such that the landspeeder can make maximum use of his multi-melta and heavy flamer in the same shooting phase to essentially hit two different targets.  Remember that the rulebook says you must hit as much of the vehicle as possible with the template.  Without the intervening squad, the template would have to be placed in such a way that it wouldn't cover any of the enemy squad sitting outside.
 

 

While Spacecurves definitely highlights an important tactic in his article, as usual, he is really tapping into two different tactical concepts here.  The first, and most obvious, is positioning your flamer models so that they can do maximum damage when it comes time to unleash a flood of burning promethium.  When you're moving your models forward, you don't leave your flamer out on the end of the squad, tucked behind one of your own troopers so that you can't hit more than a single member of the target unit.  That would be foolish!  

Any commander worth his salt is going to pay very close attention to where that flamer is located as he moves his miniatures forward.  You're going to move them so that you have the best possible shot at all times.  Sometimes it is hitting as many of the enemy squad as possible.

And sometimes its hitting the softer unit behind the squad you're actually shooting at with the rest of your squad.  Your goal will depend on your situation on the battlefield, obviously.

The other tactical element that Spacecurves taps into is the concept of 'slicing the pie,' most commonly referred to as an element of dynamic entry. 

 

If you're a military junky, like a lot of 40k players, the concept is probably not completely foreign to you.  The idea is that you don't just walk into a room potentially full of hostiles.  You carefully dissect the room by presenting as little of yourself as possible as you enter, increasing your angle of exposure slowly as you view what is in the room.

If you've never played paintball, or the SWAT series of video games (or frankly, any number of first person shooters), or God forbid, have never been in a life threatening situation as a soldier or law enforcement officer where you've had to employ this technique, then maybe you'll miss some of the obvious advantages that slicing the pie offers you in several different situations on the battlefield.  Like the Spacecurves article, and in flamer template placement in general, slicing the pie is a matter of using your own troops (either in your own squad or with a nearby unit) as a moving wall.  You place the wall in such a way that your flamer can only see certain parts of the enemy, and thus can only shoot at certain parts of the enemy -- generally where that flamer shot is going to be most effective rather than where the shot must typically placed by default in the rules.  But don't forget that this technique can be applied in several ways.

In 40k, if half or more of your squad is in cover, then everyone gets a cover save.  Thus, like the picture below, the enemy can typically only see as much of you as you present to him (higher ground, weapon placement on vehicles, etc. all have an influence here).

 

Let's pretend for a moment that those four blue guys above are not just shadow elements in the diagram, but actual members of your four man squad.   This schematic is showing you FAR more than you think it does. 

First, if you look at the top blue guy, he obviously can't see the guy in red.  But when you look at his line of sight, realize that in addition to himself, everyone in that squad can see everything in his line of vision.  If you're looking to maximize your squads firing potential such that as many guns as possible can contribute to the squad's firepower, then you need to shoot at something in that top guy's field of vision.  I realize this seems like a no brainer, but how many times have you seen a juicy target that is obviously open to some of your guys, and then declared it before you actually counted up the number of guns you'd be able to bring to bear?  That happens a LOT, which is why it is important for you to not simply start looking for juicy targets, but to look at your squad's field of vision first, and then identify the best target in their line of sight.

Second, this field of vision diagram also shows you whether or not the guy in red gets a cover save.  Let's say the guy at the bottom of the blue stack has an AP1 weapon that will blow a hole clean through Mr. Red if it hits him.  And let's say that that grey line is no longer a wall, but a hedge that all of your guys can see over.  Now, this picture is a close call, but let's pretend that you and your opponent can agree that the guy at the bottom of the stack has a clear unobstructed view to Mr. Red.  If that's true, then all of a sudden, you have to decide if you want to go the route of 'fusillade of fire,' or if you want to take a chance with blowing a hole in Mr. Red that he can't save.  If you opt to only shoot with the guy at the bottom, then Mr. Red will not get a cover save -- the only shot made is unimpeded.  Think backwards: if the majority of the shots fired are made at models in cover from them, then the target gets a cover save; if the majority of the shots fired are made at models that do not have cover from them, then the target does not get a cover save.  Just as if you were firing from a rooftop where only your heavy weapon had the range to make the shot, it doesn't matter if the rest of the squad, had it been in range and fired, would have done so from a position that would have given Mr. Red a cover save -- if only the heavy weapon fires, then he doesn't get one.  The same concept applies here.

Third, in addition to determining whether he's going to get a cover save from you, it is also telling you who is going to be in cover from Mr. Red when he fires back!  The cover rules in 40k are really weird in that they can be manipulated in such a fashion where you can leave a special/heavy weapon hanging out in no man's land with no cover, and yet somehow still get a cover save because everyone else in the squad is cowering behind a rock.  If you want to avoid your enemy's weapons that need a line of sight to shoot at you, then you can slice the pie with intervening models and terrain to make sure that the enemy doesn't have a bead on you.  Similarly, you can slice the pie in such a way that you can minimize potential damage to your squad by making sure that your squad will have a majority of its members in cover to make best use of the abstract cover rules.

Whether or not you're conscious of it, you're slicing the pie all over the battlefield!  Angles and lines of sight are key elements to the game of 40k, and if you're careful about your exposure, you'll be able to take advantage of several aspects of the cover save rule.

Now... go eat some pie.

40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 11) - Simple Mathhammer

What is Mathhammer?  Surely you've heard of it if you've been playing 40k for more than a couple of weeks.  But IF you haven't, Mathhammer is simply the application of very simple probability to your game as a predictor of whether or not your next move is likely to be successful. 

Calculating Success and Failure
First, a few basics.  40k is about rolling dice -- a six sided cube where the odds of getting any number to come up during a given roll is 1/6 (or roughly 17%).  Pretty simple, right?  So, if you need to roll a 6 on a single dice, you have a 1/6 or 17% chance to get that 6.

In 40k, however, most of the rolls are expressed as being successful if you roll a certain number and higher/lower.  For instance, a Space Marine armor save is successful on a 3+, which means you will be successful on a 3, 4, 5, or 6.  In other words, if you need a 3+, then you are going to be successful on 4 possible outcomes.  Expressed as a fraction, that's 4/6, or roughly 67%.  (Which is why Space Marines are so tough to bring down!) 

Calculating Success With Several Factors
For better or worse, figuring out whether or not you're going to be successful in a task is not quite as simple as rolling the dice once.  In 40k, if you want to shoot at someone, you've got several dice rolls to make in order to determine if you've ultimately made a successful shot.  You first have the odds of rolling a successful hit.  Then you have to roll those successes to determine how many of those shots will actually cause a wound.  And then you have to determine how many of those wounding dice will be saved by armor or cover.

To calculate the odds of a successful shot, you need to figure in the odds for each stage of the process.  So, consider a bolter fired at a marine, by a marine.  Marines have a BS of 4, so each shot is successful 4 out of 6 times (4/6 or 67% as we figured above).  An S4 weapon fired at a T4 target will wound on a 4+.  Using what we've learned above, that means will be successful 3/6 times, or 50%. 

Personally, I don't like to calculate more than two factors at a time, so this is where I'm going to do my first calculation, even though we will still need to figure in just how many of those shots will be saved.  In order to determine how many of the successful hits will wound, we multiply the odds together: (4/6) * (3/6) = 12/36, or 33%.  This is the chance that your bolter is going to hit and wound a marine.  And if you think about it, this makes perfect sense.  If the shot is only going to wound half the time, and you're going to hit 67% of the time, obviously 33% isn't too hard to come up with on the fly, right?

But we have to move along.  Now we have to figure out how many of those successful wounds are going to be saved in order to predict the lethality of our shot.  This is actually the tricky part as it's kind of counter-intuitive.  We know that a marine will make his save 67% of the time, just like the likely success of the shot (he gets a 3+ save with his armor).  However, we are not going to multiply his chance to save against our successful wound number.  We actually want to figure out how many saves are going to fail in order to determine our own success.  So, a marine is only going to be wounded and fail his save on a roll of 1 or 2: that's 2/6 or 33% of the time.  Multiply your successful wound results we just figured above by 33%, and you come up with roughly 11%.

Putting it all together properly, the math would look like this: (4/6) * (3/6) * (2/6) = 24/216 or 11%.  That means each shot has an 11% chance to cause an unsaved wound.

Applying What We've Learned to Multiple Dice
As you know, it is very seldom that you're going to be taking one shot or one swing at a target; you're going to be rolling multiple dice for each stage of this process.  The good thing is that the application of multiple dice is pretty simple.  If you're going to roll 10 dice initially, you simply multiply the process by 10.  If 20 dice, then multiply the process by 20.  Pretty simple, right?

So, let's carry through our example.  Now you've got a combat squad of marines (call it 5) rapid firing their bolters at another squad of marines (which we'll call 10 shots).  So, now we multiply the whole process by 10, it looks like this: 10 * ((4/6) * (3/6) * (2/6)) = 111% 

And so you say, "Wait, how the heck do I get 111%?!"  Ah yes, grasshopper, that does seem weird, until you remember that percentages can also be expressed as decimals.  So 111% is actually 1.11 -- which we assume is how many wounds you can expect to cause when you fire those 10 bolter rounds at the enemy space marine unit. 

Applying the Process to Your Decisions on the Battlefield
So, now that you know how to do this, what good is it to you?  Personally, I don't think taking a pure mathhammer approach to 40k is very useful, but it can be eye opening under the correct circumstances.  For instance, lets look at our combat squad above trying to remove a two man remnant squad of enemy marines from an objective in the last turn of the game.  Off the cuff, you might think to yourself that it should be a pretty easy squad to bring down if you rapid fire your bolters at them.  But the pure statistical view of the action is actually quite the contrary.  If you've only got the expected result of 1.11 wounds, that's only one "sure" wound, and only a one in ten chance (or so) of causing the second necessary wound.  With this in mind, that might change how you decide to deal with that last squad.

For instance, what if that remnant squad is also in charge range?  If I rapid fire my bolters, I know the odds are that I'll only cause 1.11 wounds.  But, what if I fire my bolt pistols, and then charge in close combat?  Well, we can do assaults the same way:  First, figure your bolter wounds at 5 shots instead of 10, which gives you an expected .56 wounds.  (Roughly half of what you would get than if you fired 10, which isn't really surprising since you're firing half as many shots, right?)

Now, calculate the charge.  On the charge (without a sergeant) you get 10 swings as the attacker.  They hit on a 4+, wound on a 4+ and are saved on a 3+, which overall is slightly worse than shooting 10 bolter rounds.  The math looks like this: 10 * ((3/6) * (3/6) * (2/6)) = .83.  But when you add in the .56 bolt pistol wounds to the charge result, you get a total of 1.39 expected wounds.  Not a lot better, but a little bit doesn't hurt! 

But this result can change depending on slightly different factors.  For instance, if your sergeant is in the squad and has a bolter, you get another swing, raising the whole total up to a whopping 1.48.

If the sergeant has a bolt pistol and chainsword, and doesn't have a bolter, you have to change both equations.  That means the expected rapid fire is only 9 shots, bringing that expected bolter carnage down to 1 expected wound, but raises the combined bolt pistol shots and assault up to 1.56... making the second option look even better. 

And if the sergeant has a power weapon?  Then those four hits don't get a save, resulting in two separate calculations. That's 8 * ((3/6) * (3/6) * (2/6)) for the regular marines and 4 * ((3/6) * (3/6)) for the sergeant (which isn't reduced by armor saves), giving us a grand total of 1.67 on the assault, added to .56 for the bolt pistol shots, and a grand total of 2.23 expected wounds, making the bolt pistol shots + charge the superior outcome under the circumstances by causing twice as many expected wounds, and pretty good odds for causing exactly the number of wounds you need to remove that squad from the table.

But what if there is an assault weapon in the squad?  If it's a flamer, for instance, you won't factor the "to hit" in your shots -- but you can still use the full shot capacity on the charge.  What if you're charging into cover?  How much should you reduce your results depending on the expected wounds that the enemy squad can cause to you?  What if the sergeant has a plasma pistol?  Do you factor in the results of 1 and the possibility that he might not make that armor save (and thus doesn't get to add in his power weapon hits)?  All of these factors will change your mathhammer equation, and you've got to take them all in if you want the most accurate results possible.  Or you can just skip it and go with the rough estimate... 

The Practicality of MathhammerOk, that's a LOT of math when you figure just how many shots, armor saves and assaults take place in a given game.  Frankly, if you did this for every dice roll of the game, it would slow things down to a horrible crawl.  It just doesn't make sense to do this for every roll.  But it could be useful when determining which of your units should charge a particular target, and could assist you when making last turn decisions like in the example above.  Beyond pivotal decisions, however, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to apply this process every turn as it has a tenancy to suck a little of the fun out of the game.

And let's also remember your sample size here.  If you flip a quarter twice, you have an equal chance for the results to be heads or tails every time.  But is it really so weird to get heads 10 times in a row?  Of course not!  The fact of the matter is, statistics are only going to show what is likely to happen over time... and after a LOT of dice rolling.  In a single game of 40k, 10 guys are only going to fire, at most, 5 to 7 times.  Just like it would not be unusual for you to flip a coin for the same results 10 times in a row, it is also just as likely that your dice can play hot or cold for an entire game.  Mathhammer will not tell you what will happen, just what is likely to happen given infinite dice rolls... which you don't have.  Mathhammer is an expectation, and can (and often is) wrong.  Sometimes you'll do better; sometimes you'll do worse.  But over the course of your gaming career, it should even out.  (Not that it's going to matter to you at the time when you don't make a single armor save in a given game, of course.)

Accordingly, it doesn't really pay off to put too much stock in Mathhammer for a given game, and it is going to be a colossal waste of time to calculate every possible factor that does into a given decision.  Accept that you will probably do better or worse than your calculation; accept that you only ever have a rough estimate of reality, and just keep your fingers crossed.  When I use mathhammer, I do it sparingly, and I do it only with the expectation of trying to make a decision that is going to work out best most of the time.  There simply are no certainties, and putting yourself in the most favorable position statistically is the best you can ever do.

40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 10) - A Few Things to Remember, Part 1

I played a game of 40k recently, and wow was I rusty!  It wasn't just a matter of making some questionable tactical decisions, but also an issue of forgetting some pretty basic rules along the way, some of which really hurt me!  I'll work my way through some of the more commonly forgotten rules in my most recent game and will probably add on to it over time.  After all, if you're like me and don't get in as many games as you'd like, it is fairly simple to drop a rule now and then - especially in a game as complicated as 40k where many of the rules simply do not apply or arise in every game.

Ruins and You

A pretty common mistake, especially amongst players that have been around for multiple editions of the game, is to forget some of the basic movement and placement quirks in 40k.  This is compounded when you have to read multiple rules in conjunction with one another.  Let's look at movement within a building, for example.

The rules are very clear in the rulebook regarding how a model may move in relation to other models:

"A model may not move into or through the space occupied by another model (which is represented by its base or hull) or through the gap between friendly models that is smaller than its own base (or hull) size.  A model cannot move so that it touches an enemy model during the Movement  and Shooting phases - this is only possible in an assault during the Assault phase.  To keep this distinction clear, a model may not move within 1" of an enemy model unless assaulting." (Page 12, BGB)


 Unfortunately, sometimes things can be confusing when you through a ruin into the mix.  Part of that problem stems from the fact that you can kind of fudge the distances between models for the purposes of unit coherency and the assault phase.

"In the course of movement, it is possible that several models from the same unit may end up spread across two or more levels of a ruin.  When this happens, the models in the unit maintain unit coherency as long as any part of the body of a model on a lower level is within 2" of the base of a model that is higher up." (Page 82, BGB)

"In some cases the ruin might genuinely be unstable or uneven, or the space could be very limited on a particular level, making it impossible to move assaulting models into base-to-base contact with the unit they wish to assault.  When this happens, it is perfectly acceptable to place models as close to their foe as is safely possible, including the level below or above, providing that you place the assaulting models as close as possible to their opponents and you make very clear to your opponent which of your models are in base-to-base contact with his models.  We find that directly below or above works well, representing them charging up or down a flight of stairs." (Page 85, BGB)

The problem that people sometimes forget is that there are only two instances in the rulebook that allow you to "imagine" that a model is able to cover distance that he, in fact, cannot physically cover.  Because of these two exceptions, it is easy to assume that you can walk between floors despite the fact that there is an enemy unit taking up all the floor space above you.  Remember the cardinal rule on movement in ruins:

"Only certain troops are capable of clambering to the upper levels of ruins.  Accordingly, only infantry, jump infantry, jetbikes, monstrous creatures and walkers may move on the upper levels of a ruin - and only if the model can physically be placed there." (Page 83, BGB, emphasis supplied)

If moving on or in between floors would take you within 1" of an enemy model, you just can't move there, plain and simple.  And while this may be hard for some folks to swallow, it certainly isn't without precedent.  Look at the image below.






If this is taking place out on solid ground, outside of a building, the enemy can certainly prevent you from getting somewhere by locking elbows and physically taking up all the space.  Area denial is a pretty basic tactic!  If you can do that on open ground, doesn't it make even more sense that an enemy unit would be able to do it within the confines of a building where there is even less space to maneuver?  If Mr. Blue wants to get from point A to point B, and the Red Unit is in the way, he is either going to have to jump/fly over him, or assault through him.  In a building, the rules conveniently allow you to do just that when there is no actual space on the floor to get models in base-to-base contact. It's almost as if they planned it that way...

Another quirk that the ruins rules offer us is in use of template and blast weapons.  Just remember that there are three rules regarding templates depending on what kind of template you're using:

(1) Template Weapons:  Basically, I mean flamers.  Templates/flamers can only affect models on the same level, and they can only be fired on the same level as the firer, or on the level above, or on the level below.

(2) Blast Templates: Doesn't matter if you mean the big one or the little one.  When you fire a blast weapon, declare which floor you're shooting at, and then roll for scatter as normal.  The trick here is that the blast weapon can only affect models on the floor you've declared.  If it scatters out of the ruin or is not on any model occupying that level (even if models above or below are covered), then it's a miss.

(3) Barrage Weapons: Note this only applies to weapons that have the "barrage" ability in their description -- some weapons, even large ordinance weapons, are just blast weapons unless it actually says "barrage" in their description.  Barrage weapons are considered to be "lobbed" high into the air and then dropped on their target.  Accordingly, once you've rolled for scatter, look at the hole on the template.  The template is always considered to strike the highest level that is under the hole (even if it is split over two different levels), and only models under the template and actually on that highest level are hit.  You don't strike everything at that level and down -- these are highly specialized munitions... not water balloons.

And that's about all I've got to say on the matter at this point.  I'm sure I'll come up with other clarifications to post at a later time (because I'm always managing to screw something up in a game), but I think that's plenty for now.

40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 9) - The Phalanx

Anyone who has seen Necron on the table in 4th edition will be familiar with the evil power of the Phalanx army. Slow moving and tightly packed, a Necron phalanx can put out a crap-ton of gauss fire while keeping to the 'safety-in-numbers' theory. What people have also figured out, however, is that the phalanx is just not as effective for the Necron in 5th edition because of their close combat vulnerabilities. Now the enemy wants a Necron army to bunch up so that multiple assaults can be easily launched and, because of their low initiative value, the majority of the army can be wiped out after a single assault phase.

But while the phalanx can be an ineffective tactic for Necron armies in 5th edition, it is actually a very viable tactic for small elite armies (reads: pre-5th edition armies) such as Grey Hunters and Dark Angels. Most new codecii since the release of the latest 'nid codex have two things in common: cheap troops and transports (or just fast cheap troops). When you're running a slow expensive army, it is easy to become overwhelmed, so you need to try and counter that as best you can. For codecii that were created when the firing line was king, that can be difficult, but the phalanx can be a good equalizer. 

The Right Pieces

To make the phalanx work, you need certain pieces in place. First, you need a strong center to hold the line. Ideally you can do this with dakka transports, armor, and units that can move and fire their weapons to good effect. Transports that can hold your troops and still be able to kick out some firepower are best since they will allow you to not only provide cover fire, but will also allow you to make some quick last minute moves out of the phalanx in order to make last minute objective grabs. In Grey Knights armies, that would be storm trooper squads in chimeras -- the troops take pot shots from inside the transports while the turrets and hull weapons light up the units around them. By forming a nice center position as they move forward, this creates a dangerous firing lane that your enemy will avoid. Likewise, you can do the same thing with Razorback transports in a Dark Angels army - the guns on the razorbacks keep the enemy at bay and allow your small assault weapon tactical squads to jump out in the later turns to start taking objectives. You can also walk up the board behind standard terminator squads, which are slow but relentless. The point is to create a solid wall of bodies and/or armor/transports to keep your troops safe as you slowly advance on objectives at the center of the board -- just like the Necron phalanx.

Your next component, an equally critical part of this army that should not be neglected, are your tough interdiction units. In order to pull off a phalanx successfully, you have to keep the enemy from overwhelming your moving castle. If your enemy throws enough foot sloggers in the way, they will bog down the phalanx and you'll be prevented from parking on the objective. Thus, you need tough small units to engage and tie up the enemy while you march the phalanx forward. Deep striking terminator units, jump pack units, and small bike units are excellent examples of units that can do this for you. All of these units can get between your phalanx and attacking enemy squads quickly and generally have enough survivability to allow your phalanx to move into place before the enemy squads are able to move freely again. 

Why it Works

The point of the phalanx is to keep massed weapons fire in a single area so that you can overwhelm attacking units when they come at you piecemeal. You move the "castle" forward, sit in an area in between the objectives on the board (or on top of them if you have a large enough phalanx and the objectives are close enough together), and then blast the enemy as he tries to run up and take the same objectives. Just like a castle in your deployment zone is created in order to keep the enemy at bay and off your back, the phalanx takes your castle to the important real estate on the board (objectives) and plants that same firepower where it will win you the game.

In order for this to work, you have to keep fast enemy assualting units off of your back long enough to get your phalanx in place. Small units of bikes and assault squads are ideal for rushing out ahead of the phalanx and engaging units that will stop the forward progression of your phalanx. The tougher the engaging units the more likely that they will last long enough for you to get your firebase into the proper position to hose down the bad guy once your interdiction units have been destroyed or have been forced to withdrawal. An effective interdiction unit must be able to survive multiple rounds of combat. These can't be mere speed-bumps, they must be able to hold your enemy in the fight for your turn, and ideally, through your oponent's next assault phase as well so that you have at least one additional turn of marching before the enemy is turned loose. If you can tie him up for three or four combats, even better. In fact, the longer this unit holds out, the better, even if they are ultimately wiped out. The longer these units are held up, the more time you have to move the phalanx in place, and the more turns your phalanx has to wipe out larger more dangerous threats to your phalanx before mopping up the fast assault units.

When it Works

This tactic works best under the following conditions:

(1) Objective battles. This is NOT a kill points tactic. The phalanx will take lots of casualties because your interdiction units are going to die. You need multiple cheap (sometimes cheap) interdiction squads. This isn't ideal where every kill point is going to count heavily against you.

(2) One Objective, or Lots of Closely Positioned Objectives. Basically, you are trying to concentrate your forces in one area. If the objectives are positioned all over the board, that is going to set you up for failure pretty quickly. You can't be in multiple places at once because those units that aren't contributing to your center's firepower will be engaging (and dying to) the enemy's assault units. In a multiple objective battle, do your best to keep objectives bunched together so that the tendrils of your phalanx can reach multiple objectives at once, or else you can run several squads out in the last couple of turns if they are within walking distance. If there is only one objective, even better, since you're more able to focus your center's power. But that also means your enemy will be doing the same thing... which will make this tactic more difficult.

40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 8) - Blast Templates

Fifth edition 40k favors the quick and the bold... which generally comes down to who has the best mobility and transportation. Is it any wonder that IG and Razor-wolves are consistently at the top of the tournament charts? Mechanized armies are tricky because it means you're going to have to face lots of mini-tank transports and often some scary small squads inside that will continually inch close to your front lines. One way to counter the plethora of armored might against you is to take advantage of the enemy's tanks in order to pick off those squishy elite units inside. And you do that with blast templates.

One often forgotten quirk of blast templates is that you do not have to squeeze as much under the template as possible... unlike the flamer template. On page 29 of the rulebook, under "Template," the rules provide:

Instead of rolling to hit, simply place the template so that its narrow end is touching the base of the model firing it and the rest of the template covers as many models as possible in the target unit...

Conversely, the rules for placing the blast template on the following page (Page 30) simply provide:

When firing a blast weapon, models do not roll to hit, instead just pick one enemy model visible to the firer and place the blast marker (see diagram) with its hole over the base of the target model, or its hull if it is a vehicle.

And that's it! No centering the marker, no putting as many enemy models as possible underneath, simply place it over the hull of a vehicle or the base of an enemy model. The question is then, how do you take advantage of this little tidbit? And the answer is, maximize the hit potential by targeting more than one unit at once.

Look at the picture below. This is a common scenario where you have multiple enemy transports zooming up the center of the board. When you're smart enough to create natural choke points on the board with terrain the more transports the enemy has, the more likely you are to actually hit them... despite the scatter.

Obviously you might get lucky and get a two for one shot. As long as the hole lands on one of the tanks, you'll get a full and half strength shot, which can be more than enough for shots from battle and demolisher cannons against the majority of the lightly armored transports on the current battlefield. 

Perhaps an even more important use of this tactic is when the squishy troopers on the inside of the tank are taking cover behind their transports. See the image below. This may be a unit that has just deployed, or it could be a unit "running" alongside the mobile cover of the tank. Either way, your enemy has wisely decided to put some steel between his troops and your guns. Great in the real world... but perhaps not as effective on the table top.

Here, let's just say the transported squad just stepped outside of the tank. Because of two-inch deployment, most of the time your enemy is going to be bunched together - perfect for a blast template attack. But the enemy is also more likely to deploy on the "safe" side of his tank -- where you won't have a line of sight shot on that bunched up unit. But as long as that transport hasn't already been wrecked, it's still fair game! Place that template so that you cover both the tank and the squad and you not only maximize the liklihood that you're going to actually hit something despite the scatter, on the off chance you get a "hit" roll, you get full strength shots on the unit as well as the tank -- there is no half strength against troops. Further, if you're shooting with a barrage weapon, such as a whirlwind or basilisk shot, if that hole lands anywhere on the troop side of the tank, the squad won't even get a cover save. 

But let's not forget another important factor about this shot. Who says you have to be shooting with something that can actually penetrate the tank? So what if the tank is a landraider and all you have are mortars, frag grenades and whirlwind missiles? As long as that template lands on the squad, you've got a chance to hit a unit that is not in your line of sight. And since that weapon isn't going to have a chance to hurt anything else anyway, you might as well go for the possible kill. There is no rule that says you can only shoot at things you have a chance to wound or penetrate.

And that's template manipulation. While these tactics demonstrate how to take out squads hiding behind mobile cover, they can also work when attacking troops hiding behind target-able bunkers and buildings (technically, you can only fire at buildings that are occupied by enemy forces: "Units may shoot at or assault an occupied building just as if it was a vehicle..." Page 79 - emphasis supplied.), soft squads hiding behind tougher units, etc. The point is simply that the blast template rules leave a lot of room for fudging your actual target. Take advantage of their ability to maximize their ability to hit an enemy unit by aiming at multiple squads at the same time, and by dropping those templates into areas where otherwise hidden troops can be flattened.

40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 7) - Central Position

This installment will feature actual tactics from the historical military genius, Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon was famous for devising tactics based on speed and shock -- a tactical mode that has been echoed time and again ever since (e.g.the German Blitzkrieg, and the United States' Shock and Awe campaign in Iraq are modern examples of the same tactical theory). Napoleon tailored his army to accomplish the speed of his tactics by organizing his forces into smaller divisions that could act quickly and independently. These formations could move from one objective to another without needing top-down instruction.

The game of 40k is perfect for the application of Napoleon's tactics as each unit in an army generally acts independently of the others (although some armies rely more on mutual support than others), and most forces also have the ability to build speed right into their lists. To demonstrate just how easily some of these tactics apply, let's look at Napoleon's tactic of Central Position.

The concept behind Central Position is actually fairly straightforward. The concept is to put your army in a position where you can cull enemy detachments one at a time. Basically, you utilize one small portion of your army to tie down the bulk of the enemy and then rapidly redeploy your forces against a smaller portion of your enemy's army to gain local superiority (i.e. a numerical advantage on one part of the battlefield) and thus overwhelm another portion of the enemy's forces.

The Right Pieces

In order to perform this maneuver, you're going to need at least two important elements:

(1) Fast Moving Assault Units
(2) Tough Tie-Up Unit

When available, you should also consider bringing the following:

(3) Mobile Fire Support
(4) Hit-and-Run Units

The key to this tactic is mobility. You have to be able to switch positions quickly. You begin the move with a feint forward:

Your forces surge forward into the main enemy line while simultaneously choosing a smaller target that you will overwhelm once the enemy has committed his forces.

Once the enemy has committed, you leave your tougher 'tie-up' units in place and withdrawal the rest of your forces to join the smaller attack element that has peeled off one of your enemy's units.

Withdrawal the bulk of your forces from the feint and then overwhelm the target squad.

With your guns and attack units now trained on the target unit(s), you can overwhelm the enemy piecemeal and then select another target unit to overwhelm. Obviously the quicker you can move to your next enemy squad, the better... and the longer your tie-up unit can hold out against the bulk of the enemy forces, the more likely you'll be able to continue taking out enemy units in this fashion.

Note that having mobile firepower is also an important element as you can quickly redirect your firing to overwhelm the smaller portion of the enemy's army. While the opening salvo may be directed towards the bulk of the enemy's forces in order to sell the feint -- and to make things a little easier on your tie-up unit(s) -- ultimately you're going to want to be able to bring that firepower to bear on the real target the very next turn of the game. Note that if your already locked in an assault on that target unit, and you don't have an enemy supporting unit to dump fire upon, the fire support squad can always keep its guns trained on the bulk of the enemy forces.

Here the fire support unit can choose to eliminate the lone squad supporting the target unit, or it can continue pounding the heart of the enemy forces to make things a little easier on your tie-up unit.

Obviously some armies are going to be better suited to this kind of warfare than others. For example, the new Dark Eldar codex offers lots of units that should be able to pull this tactic off. Hit-and-run hellions, coupled with jet bike squads and raider units of grotesques/wracks and wyches should be able to pull this off very well. The speed of this kind of army means you can aim your tough units (grotesques/wracks) at the center of enemy forces while peeling off your jetbikes to grab an isolated enemy squad. The Hellions can then jump out of combat and join the jetbikes while the wyches, who initially looked like they were going to join the grotesque/wrack fray are redirected to overwhelm the lone enemy squad. 

Even space marines have some ability to do this using a combination of bike/assault squads, Kor'ssaro Khan, and a tough unit like terminators in a landraider. Blood Angels, Orks, Eldar, Space Wolves, Chaos, Tyrannids -- all of these armies have the ability to combine fast assault units and tougher tie-up units to pull off this tactic fairly handily. But the key to making this tactic work is a fast moving redeployment and some kind of tough tie-up unit. Without these elements, you simply won't make this work.

40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 6) - Pincer Movement

The Pincer Movement, also known as Double Envelopment, is another basic tactic that everyone has in their arsenal... whether they realize it or not.  The concept of the pincer is actually fairly straightforward.  Jut like the picture below, the point is to take two attacking elements, split them in two, and then attack two of your enemy's flanks at the same time.



The benefits of the pincer are two fold in the game of 40k.  By attacking from two sides at once, you limit the availability of cover from your forces.  Unless your enemy is going to hunker down in cover (which is not a bad thing), he simply can't protect himself from the firing of both attacking elements at the same time.

The second benefit is that you can assault from two directions as well.  This means your enemy is not going to be able to hide weaker units from assault, and you can generally overwhelm the unit you're attacking.

The Right Unit for the Job

A popular approach for this kind of attack is to take the MSU approach.  Multiple Small Unit means you have lots of smaller units, generally in transports, that can be in several places at one time.  Good examples of this are Razorbacks with combat squads of space marines and Ork Truk Boyz squads.






The reason these types of squads are popular is because:

1. They are cheap, allowing you to take several of the same type of unit and allowing you to create multiple flanking units with ease.
2. With both guns on the transport and a good assault unit inside, one unit allows you to perform both the shooting and assaulting role in a single package.  And even if the enemy manages to take out your tanks after they bring their firepower to bear, you still have multiple small assault units to swarm and envelop the bad guy.

But MSU is not the only way to go.  You can also take a two tier approach.  Lead in each flanking element with a tank, like a predator, and then follow up with an assaulting element, like an assault squad, to jump in at the last minute to mop up whatever is left of the target squads.  Alternatively, you can also just use a more expensive version of the MSU: for space marines, put terminator assault squads in a landraider; for the orks, nobz in a battlewagon.  Whichever way you decide to go, any army can create a two prong shoot/assault screen.  The eldar version might be vipers with jet bikes.  The tyranids may have a termagaunt screen followed up by hormagaunts or genestealers.  The Tau, battle suits followed by... more suits or kroot.  Necron warriors followed by wraiths.  Imperial guard chimeras full of ogryn or hardened veterans with demo charges.  Battle sisters dominion squads followed by seraphim.  And the list goes on and on.  The idea is just a one/two punch where you soften up the target from two different directions and then swarm him with something nasty.

Defense Against the Pincer

Like every military maneuver, there IS a counter strategy... and sometimes several.  The pincer movement is no different.  It is important to know the defenses against a pincer so that you can counter your enemy's pincer movement, and also recognize when the battlefield is not set up well for you to launch your own.

The key to breaking the pincer is to remember two key factors.  First, by splitting up his forces to attack on two flanks, your enemy's forces are weaker on each side than you are in your center.  Second, by attacking your flanks, he is also presenting the back side of his forces to your own reinforcements -- essentially putting himself in the position of being enveloped while he is trying to envelop you.

Multiple Hard Points

If you often find yourself the victim of a pincer, or you're facing an army that is set up well to deliver one, your chief defense against it is to create hard pockets of resistance that are hard to envelop.  For instance, look at the picture below.  Each element, which may or may not be in cover, has a counter element to your enemy's attack: it has a firepower element as well as a counter assault element.  Because you've paired these units up, and spread them out just a little, it is difficult for your enemy to get in between your deployed units without finding himself in a crossfire situation and open to a counter assault on the back side of his forces.




And you can repeat this deployment across your entire deployment zone creating several hard pockets that are difficult to outflank without offering up a soft underbelly that you can pounce on in your own turn.  Remember that this does not have to be a stagnant deployment.  Yes, this could be a tactical squad backed up by an assault squad - both hunkered down in cover.  But it could also be a terminator squad backed up by a vanguard unit.  Or it could be termagaunts backed up by warriors.  This set up can be as mobile as you like, the idea is just to create hard pockets of resistance that can act as both fire support and counter assault to relieve any of their neighboring units.

Break Out

If you don't have an army that spreads out in pairings well, then you can also take advantage of the fact that your enemy is weaker at any one of your flanks.  As is illustrated in the picture below, if you find your larger position flanked from either side, you can pick the side you think you an overwhelm, and then create an all out assault to eliminate one of your enemy's flanking forces and then turn on the small element that is left over.





The key here is target priority.  Throw something at the rear flank to tie up the assaulting element, and then use everything else you have to wipe out the enemy's other flanking units.  This means concentrating firepower one one dangerous unit at a time so that you can eliminate the opposing force as quickly as possible so that you can then turn around and do the same thing to the other flanking force.  Or you can run if you have a mobile force that won't stand up to the other flanking attack.  The point is simply that you should take advantage of the fact that you have superior numbers against any single flanking force, and that you shouldn't try to go toe-to-toe.  You should give him a stumbling block and then overwhelm one full part of his force.  If you do it correctly, you may lose the sacrifice squad, but you'll still have the bulk of your force left over to eliminate the remaining flank.  With any luck, your opponent will see that half his force has been wiped out with relative ease, and will second guess himself into allowing you to eliminate the second flanking element as he tries to regroup rather than pressing the assault.

Wait for the Cavalry

Finally, there is always the option of castling up and then bringing in reinforcements behind one of your enemy's flanks.  The problem with this approach is that there is never any real guarantee when your reinforcements are going to arrive.  On the other hand, in a Dawn of War deployment, when most of your army is going to be in reserve anyway, then it's much more likely that an option to bring in forces behind an enemy assault is a real possibility.  The trick, however, is to keep the same rules in play that you would for a Break Out.  Slow down one element of the pincer, and then overwhelm one of the enemy's flanking forces.  If you spread out your attacks, then more than likely your enemy's troops, which he has specifically chosen for their ability to make a long range unsupported assault, will be able to outclass the reinforcements available to you.  But when you use an overwhelming attack, then the combined firepower and heavy assault by multiple units can break even the toughest of deathstar units your enemy may choose to throw at you.





Good luck!

40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 5) - Refused Flank

The basic concept of the Refused Flank is to convince your opponent to spread out over a wide front (the traditional gun line formation) while deploying your own forces concentrated to a side of the table - one flank of his forces. You are thus "refusing" the other side of your opponent's force. The point of this approach is that you will be able to bring overwhelming force to one side of your opponent's army while he is forced to redeploy his forces from the refused flank to support the outnumbered side of his army.

In a perfect setting, a refused flank set up should look something like the force distribution below:

The enemy's forces are spread out in a traditional pitched battle deployment, and your own forces are overloaded on the other side. In the next picture below, you can see just how your forces will then execute this textbook attack:





As your mid-ranged units move up the side, they can take pot shots at the flank that is being attacked and then later be used to slow down your enemy's forces as he tries to reinforce his flank. Your slow units, which will be near the spearhead of the attack, should be able to lock horns with your enemy's flank while he is still playing catch up. when coupled with your medium and fast units, a well timed hit can overwhelm the offered flank and allow you to clean up the other guy's units as they either sprint in to the slaughter, or hunker down as he watches half of his army disintegrate.

The Set-up

Ok, so you've got an idea, but how do you pull it off? In a traditional 5th edition set-up, one side deploys all of his forces first, and then the second guy deploys his own. In a perfect world, your opponent wins the first turn, sets up his forces in a traditional gunline, and then you sieze the initiative after setting up your own forces in the refused flank formation. The perfect set up almost never happens because: (a) you win the first turn and will have to show your hand before he sets his own forces up, or (b) you don't seize the initiative and the enemy gets the chance to use his first turn to start countering your flank attack before you get a chance to make your move.

But all is not lost. There are certainly ways you can disguise what you're doing, or can draw your opponent into staying put and can then whittle away his forces at leisure.

1. Delay the Obvious: If it's obvious that you're trying to flank your opponent (i.e. you've already set up, and you didn't have enough forces to make it look like you were doing anything other than a refused flank attack), then delay the push. Place a small part of your force towards the middle of the table, preferably a part that can still pick off units on the targeted flank and still slow down units that move to support his weak spot. Next, only advance your slower flank units at first. When they are close to closing with the targeted flank, race your fast units behind them so that they hit about the same time. If you leave enough at home, it may not be as obvious that you're trying to overwhelm one side of the board, and he may leave the bulk of his forces 'at home' until it is too late to lend support to the attacked flank.
   
   
   
   
2. Sacrifice: Similar to delaying the obvious, try to counter his heavy hitting units on the untargeted flank with cheaper units that will keep his heavy hitters at home. For instance, if he's got a slow deathstar unit on the opposite flank, then put a small combat squad or equivalent throw away unit to confront him on that side of the board. Likewise, if he has set up with heavy weapon squads on one side of the board (like a pair of devastator squads), then put your own cheaper heavy unit on that side of the board (like a whirlwind). The idea is that you want him to commit much more expensive units to the refused side of the board while you have significantly less of your army to confront him. It will appear as though you want to trade blows, but in actuality you're trying to sucker him into leaving a flank exposed to the bulk of your army. Note that units with a scout move or infiltration can be ideal for this because they will look like a real threat and will commit your opponent's heavy hitters for longer. While he thinks you've handed him a simple juicy unit to squish, you're really suckering him out of position to where that tough unit could be doing much more harm to your forces.
   
   
   
   
3. Quick Switch: Basically, you want to set up like you would a Sacrifice, except you won't be leaving cheap units to confront him. Instead, you put your faster units on the refused side of the board. Then, when the game begins, you pull out and move them laterally to join the thrust of your forces. The faster your forces (landspeeders, bikes, ravagers, grav tanks, etc.), the better because they can turbo boost and quickly out pace the refused forces you're leaving behind. While that does mean you'll loose a turn or two of using these forces, but he'll be leaving much more expensive units behind and out of position for much longer.
   
   
   
   
4. Handing Over the Keys to the Castle: When your opponent is given the opportunity to have a piece of terrain that is perfect for an expensive unit of his own (e.g. a good berm for his mega tank, a bunker for his heavy weapons squads, a concealed approach to your own lines for his deathstar unit, etc.), let him have it and then refuse that flank. If he thinks he's got a solid defensible position, then he's not going to want to leave it, even after you start decimating the forces on the other side of the board.
   
   
5. Fun House Mirror: If you've got access to a LOT of cheap units, then you might want to mirror your opponent's across the board set-up with much cheaper units of your own. While he is evenly spread out, you'll look like you're evenly spread out, but in actuality you've got the majority of your points on a single flank. In a lot of ways, this is just a broader use of sacrifice units. But, when you've got lots of cheap sacrifice units that you can race forward, and still maintain a heavy thrust to a single flank, it may not be as obvious that you're trying to keep his forces at home.
   
   

Obviously, you should try and combine these techniques wherever possible. The idea is that you want your opponent to stay home for as long as possible before he realizes that you're trying to take him apart one flank at a time. None of these approaches are fool proof, and when the other guy figures you out, the plan could fall to pieces pretty quickly. But if you DO keep him home and are able to bring the hammer down (and the dice aren't working against you), the refused flank can be a deadly tactic.

Problems

Like I said, nothing is fool proof. Sometimes your opponent figures out what you're doing and will move his own forces to counter your effort. In fact, some armies, such as the Eldar (with Eldrad), have a built-in ability to redeploy their forces and you can easily find your big bad plan fall apart.  If your opponent can redeploy quickly and he has an assault heavy army, he may decide to overload your side of the table - forcing a bloody confrontation.  If he's fast and light, he may redeploy in the opposite quarter, making for a long drawn out battle on the longest possible battlefield.  Frankly, there are just some armies that are not easy to cage in with the refused flank tactic.  A lot of that is going to depend on what shows up on the field the day of the battle.  If you see a fair amount of slow/heavy units spread across the board, then he's prime for the refused flank.  But if he's quick and nimble, it may not be the best approach. 

Good luck!

40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 4) - Vertical Envelopment

Once again, this really isn't so much of a dirty trick as it is a very basic tactic that everyone should have in her arsenal when playing the game of 40k.  The term "vertical envelopment" generally refers to the use of airborne assets to drop down directly into enemy lines and thus 'envelop' him from above.  40k makes great use of this tactic with the Deep Strike and Outlfank rules built right into the game.  And just like real life, vertical envelopment is a dangerous tactic that leaves your forces vulnerable until they can get the proper support.  My hope is that I can demonstrate the kinds of things you should keep in mind when attempting this maneuver in the game.

First off, let's set the scene.  Below you can see an enemy unit hunkered down in cover (the boxes in red) while taking up firing positions around an objective (the yellow circle).  This can be a tough unit to dislodge because of the benefits of cover.  Throw in additional special rules such as Feel No Pain (plague marines), Stealth (space marine scouts), or Counter Charge (grey hunters), and even a small unit stands a good chance of keeping your fast objective grabbing squads from pushing the enemy off the objective.

Now let's look at some options...

There are three main types of units (and one feint) you can use to try and dislodge the enemy unit.

(1) Assault Unit: This kind of unit is, not surprisingly, dedicated to getting into hand-to-hand and duking it out with the enemy.  The benefit to dropping in an assault unit in this situation is that the enemy guarding the objective most likely will not be a combat unit.  Generally the kinds of units left on objectives are geared towards surviving lots of enemy fire by hiding in cover and/or having lots of armor.  They also generally have at least medium ranged weapons (like bolters) if not heavy weapons (missile launchers, mortars, etc.) so that they can continue to contribute to the battle while babysitting the objective.  And, since it is also rare for units geared towards shooting to be good at close combat (although exceptions to exist), you're assault unit should have a decent chance of pushing the other guy off the table... provided you can survive splash down and the initial charge.

(2) Big Nasty Unit:  This kind of unit is something that will make the enemy shake in his boots, regardless of what he has sitting on the objective.  Good examples of this are dreadnoughts in a drop pod, deep striking thunder hammer terminators, deep striking demon princes, and tunneling trygons.  The reason these types of units are great for vertical envelopment is that they can show up, take a lot of brutal firepower from the enemy the turn they show up, and then survive long enough to do a couple rounds of slobber-knocking close combat to move the enemy off the objective. 

(3) Fire Support Squad:  This is a firehose unit.  The point of this kind of squad is to drop in from above, and then hose the enemy with overwhelming firepower rather than launching an assault.  The good thing about this kind of unit is that unlike the other types, the firehose squad doesn't need a turn to start being effective at its role - they show up and start firing right away.  Sternguard and Outflanking firedragons are good examples of this kind of unit as both the ability to use massed 'special' firepower that can cut through heavily armored foes protecting objectives.

(4) Glass Hammer: Glass Hammer units are generally fast and ferocious units that can cause lots of damage quickly, but do not have much staying power.  Landspeeders and first edition Dark Eldar ravagers are good examples of these kind of swift and fragile units that can swoop in at a moments notice (both of these exemplars have the deep strike ability) and then unload nasty firepower to take down the enemy quickly.

Don't Leave Your Forces Exposed

The key to using any of these units, however, is that you have to use them in concert with one another.  If you drop a single assault unit, or even a single big nasty unit, into the backfield of your enemy, do not expect that unit to last very long.  Vertical envelopment is a scary prospect.  Nobody likes having their lines penetrated by enemy units -- people prefer to think in terms of controlled battle lines where you can try to keep the enemy in front of you while you try to out-maneuver him.  Essentially, even 40k players prefer to fight in a battle where the other guy moves in a near warhammer fantasy battle approach to the game; it's easier to fight that way because you can see where everyone is, and you can easily predict where and how the other guy's forces are going to move.  Vertical envelopment is dangerous because you have to keep your lines tighter in order to provide protection to your squads.  Vertical envelopment means that your backfield support units can get cut off, and your own battle lines can quickly get caught up in a cross-fire situation where they can only take cover from half of your army's shooting -- which is not a good position to be in. 

Accordingly, when you threaten the enemy by dropping troops into his backfield, he will generally respond with overwhelming firepower to eliminate (or severely cripple) your unit before it can become a serious thorn in his side.  If you don't want that unit to get creamed the minute he enters the battlefield, then you need to use your outflanking/deep striking squads in mutually supportive groups. 



Mutual Support

What I mean by mutual support is that you need to create situations on the battlefield where the other guy is left with Morton's fork -- that is, you have to create situations where he is left with equally unpleasant alternatives.  Look at the situation above.  If you drop in a single assault squad, the enemy's choice is pretty simple: mass firepower on the unit until it is effectively broken or destroyed.  And the same goes with any of those units.  If you drop any single unit into the enemy's crosshairs, you're leaving him a pretty simple choice: ignore your unit and die for his Emperor or make you die for yours. 

Conversely, if you drop two assault squads down, then the enemy has got twice as many problems to deal with -- but in the end, he really has the same choice: gun down one assault squad and then move on to the other. 

The real trick to creating Morton's fork is to give the enemy an actual choice -- make him choose which club you're going to clobber him with.  If you drop in an assault squad and a big nasty unit, then the enemy has to decide which of your units is the bigger threat.  And frankly, it doesn't matter to you, because his concentrating on either threat means that you're still going to hit him in the face with the other unit.  But because he is choosing which unit you are going to hit him in the face with, you will cause him actual concern and he's going to try to do all kinds of math in his head trying to make the "right" decision.  Any time you make your enemy do math in his head like that, he's back on his heels, and he's going to start making mistakes. 

Good Pairings

I like to use certain deep striking pairs in concert with one another:

Glass Hammer + Assault Unit/Big Nasty: I find a great combo to be a fairly fragile unit, which can be deep struck or just sent racing across the table, coupled with an assault unit or big nasty unit dropped in right next to the enemy.  This is a good pairing for a couple of reasons.  First, timing an effective reserve roll is near impossible until late in the game.  By using a speedy glass hammer, like a landspeeder, when the big nasty unit does drop in, then you use that same movement phase to just race that glass hammer right down the throat of the enemy.  The bad guy then has to decide if he is going to deal with the scary unit that just dropped in, and is certainly going to start messing him up on my next turn, or try to deal with the glass hammer that may not quite be in range yet, but will certainly cause problems for me if I don't deal with him now (such as a round of shooting before the scary unit pounces on me in an assault).  It's a tough choice, and it doesn't have a great answer, which is a good position for you to be in.

Assault Unit + Big Nasty:  While these two units have effectively the same purpose, this kind of coupling causes math headaches for the other guy.  Is it more likely that he can gun down your genestealers that just outflanked him and are closing in on him, or his he actually going to be able to put 6 wounds on that trygon that just popped up?  It's a tough choice, and again causes the enemy to second guess himself.  If you can manage to get these units to pop up on either side of the enemy, all the better, because then he can't just run away without running towards the battle lines, and thus towards the bulk of your army.

Support Unit + Big Nasty/Assault Unit: If you've done it correctly, then the support unit will pop in and make its presence known the moment it appears.  While the support unit is not an immediate threat for taking the objective away from the enemy, it will soften up the defender -- every good 40k player knows that volume of fire is a very dangerous thing.  Further, if he decides to ignore the support unit in favor of the assault unit or big nasty, and he doesn't successfully take down the other threat, that support unit is going to get a second chance to soften up the defenders before the big assault takes place, which isn't great.  Further, that support unit will also continue to be a thorn in his side by harassing anyone and anything within firing range - which is generally much more substantial than the assault range on the other unit.  Support units not only threaten his backfield, but will also create pinch points in his battle lines by creating cross fire threats against his main force, and threatening to create scenarios where falling back units become trapped before they can rally, or just ushered off the board.

One pairing I don't like to use is a support unit with a glass hammer.  The reason I don't like it is that a support unit is generally best when dropped in the middle of the combat zone between the two forces rather than dropped on a flank -- if you put them on a flank then they can't create cross fire scenarios or trap falling back enemies as easily.  Since that is also the same direction your glass hammer is generally coming from, then the enemy really isn't facing a vertical envelopment situation -- it's just a fast paced frontal assault. 

Conclusion

Vertical envelopment is scary because it creates chaos in the enemy lines.  Troops that 'shouldn't be there' are suddenly crawling through the enemy fire lanes and threaten to swallow whole sections of his army whole.  But if you want to do it succesfully, you have to lend your units support.  Lone squads don't generally fare well because they can be easily overwhelmed.  Further, multiples of the same kind of squad are better, but they fail to take advantage of the real chaos you can cause by making the enemy second guess himself by offering him two or more horrible choices.  The best way to use vertical envelopment is by dropping in multiple threats and trapping him between the proverbial rock and hard place.  Pull him in multiple directions by creating threats on more than one front, and make the enemy decide what you're going to hurt him with by offering up different types of nasty units.

40k: Dirty Tricks (No. 3) - Objective Camping

This isn't as much a 'dirty trick' as it is preventing last minute dirty tricks from your opponent.  If you regularly face armeis with transports, bikes, beasts, or any other fast moving units, you might have experienced that last turn move by your opponent to take or contest all of the objectives in the last turn of the game.  The Eldar, for example, are notorious for loading up wave serpents with cheap squads, dancing around the board until turn 5, and then dumping out a cheap squad 3" away from all of the objectives you've held and fought for the entire game in order to contest your position - thus stealing the game away at the very last minute.  There are ways to combat this...

If you've got a typical coin sized objective (either those sold by GW or an omnipresent poker chip style objective), there is a fairly effective way you can keep the other guy off your objective with a fairly easy maneuver: circle your wagons.





Why is this effective?

1.  By keeping your unit within 2" of the objective, you are eliminating any space between your unit and the objective.  If your opponent wants to jump in with jump packs or jet bikes or something that moves like a jump pack or jet bike, there is no space for him to land.  As long as you are just inside 2" from the objective, your opponent can't land between you and the objective and not be within 1" of your unit.  By rule, he cannot move within 1" of your unit during the movement phase.  Thus, this ring means he won't get closer to the objective than you.

2.  Because you are also just within 2", and he has to stay 1" away from you, then he can't get within 3" of the objective in the movement phase because your typical infantry base is approximately 1" wide.  This means that the closest he is generally going to get is greater than 4".

3.  The last minute grab is typically done by small under-powered units because it is a cheap and effective way to quickly grab any objective on the board at the same time and still keep some redundancy in case those small units don't make it to the last turn of the game.  This means in order for enemy units to get within 3" of the objective, the other guy is going to have to (a) commit to charging into combat, and (b) win the combat in order to consolidate within 3" of the objective.  As long as you still have units between him and the objective, it will be very tough for him to pile in closer than 3" -- even if the game goes another turn.  He's going to have to wipe you out (or at least win the combat by a fair margin) in order to pull this off, which is really tough to do with the kinds of small units reserved for the last turn grab -- even when your defending unit has been whittled down over the course of the game.

4.  If the other guy plans on using the transport to move you out of the way, you can prevent him from simply waltzing onto the objective with a Death or Glory attack.  No, you may not be successful.  But, if you've got a melta bomb, power fist, or some equivalent, you may have a decent shot.  And once again, if you are successful, the vehicle will stop short and will be unable to get closer than 3" - just like the troops he dumped out before hand.  Incidentally, the tank shock is most likely the only effective means the other guy is going to have in order to get you off the objective, but it isn't without serious risk to your opponent.