Hey guys I'm back again with some more tactics. This time I want to discuss something that can be adapted to any army...deployment. I've lost countless games because of errors in my deployments because they weren't pre planned or thought too carefully. For the past few months I've drawn out deployment on line and graph paper for each mission. Each of these deployments focus on how the enemy's army is. For example if the army I face is a deepstriking/outflanking army then I have deployments to help increase my army's chances of surviving and have the ability to counterattack effectively. I've broken down a list of things to think about before you start drawing out deployment plans.
1) How will your army deal with an all assault army, an all shooty army,and a balanced army?
This is pretty tricky to wrap one's mind around because there are so many different armies and playstyles. So to make things easier think about what the current metagame is in your local gaming area. Think about previous games with friends and how they play. If an opponent outflanks, deepstrikes, or infiltrates figure out how you can create a defensive deployment. If they have an army that stand back and shoots like Tau, how can your army deploy offensively? If it's a balanced army, how can you create deployments that favor your army's playstyle and strategy? Then ask yourself if your army can deploy and adapt well in all of these scenarios.
2) How can you create a field of fire?
A field of fire is what I call the area of where most if not all fire support is focused at. Categorize all the long range shooting units you have in your army, whether they are Destroyers, Fire Prisms, Predators, Defilers,etc. and figure out where they need to be placed in order to have line of sight to a certain area of the opponent's side of the table. Think about where those shooty units can get side shots of Predators, or have line of sight to the majority of the opponent's long range units. Targeting a certain list of units by utilizing target priority will help create the field of fire your looking for. However, this may only work if you are going second, so that you can decide where to deploy long range units at priority targets. So if your going first, and it's an objective game then pick an objective you want to capture, and place long range units at a secure spot that can draw LOS to the objective and surrounding perimeter. If it is an annihilation mission, you can predict which way the opponent may attack. Will they attack on two flanks, or will they use units in reserves to disrupt your formation?
3) How will you deploy your offensive units?
Units that fit into this category DO NOT have to be assault oriented units. They could be landspeeders, sternguard vets in a drop pod, assault marines, assault terminators, etc. Will your offensive units like a land raider with terminators sit back somewhere on your deployment zone, like a lion waiting for his prey? Or will they go out early in the game like drop pods, and cause trouble in a specific area like a field of fire, or an objective area? These are things to consider depending on the kind of army you face, so keep in mind what your target priority is.
4) How will you deploy your troop units?
This may vary from codex to codex because Troop choices could be terminators, or sternguard, or dreadnoughts, etc. Do these troop choices pose a threat to the opponent and should support the other offensive units? Or are they more defensive like a combat squad of marines in a LasPlas Razorback? Choose carefully for when the time is right to move up to take an objective so early on in the game, most of your troop choices are still in good shape to take last minute objectives.
5) Does the objective placement help your deployment or hinder it?
Objectives are VERY important when it comes to deploying. Is your army a slow footslogging army? Is your army fast? Is your army mechanized? Is your army a mix of footslogging and mech? If your army is footslogging or a mix then consider placing objectives close together instead of far apart. That way it's much easier then having to trudge through a field of fire to get to an objective on the other side of the table. However for a fast army like an army of bikes, keeping a distance between objectives is key so at turns 5,6 or 7 you can contest or capture at the last moment. A fully mechanized force, full of rhinos and dreads like mine, may need to keep a distance apart with objective placement, but it could be in a stepping stone placement with objectives, or just keep the objectives in the deployment zone.
I hope this helps and if there is more to add then just comment about it. There will be more deployment ideas that I will show coming up real soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment