Tactica outnumbered!

Keeper of the Fortress

Alright folks Another installment of my opinions on matters concerning tips and tactics. This installment is on being outnumbered. Now if you play horde or just large armies you can still read but this is meant for those of use who are outnumbered on a regular basis.

Now starting off people view being outnumbered as a weakness inherent in the armies that comprise this (Grey Knights, Chaos Thousand Sons, Deathwing, Ravenwing etc etc). Now while this is indeed a drawback this can also be considered a strength.

Know your Strengths

-Being small can be of help. If you win the dice roll have your opponent set up to go first. Then you set up your smaller army to be able to attack a smaller portion of the larger enemy. Of course the enemy may try to redeploy via movement but anything that makes your opponent do something they may not want to is an advantage in my eyes. Make no mistake though being outnumbered is still a fundamental drawback of these armies. Les bodies to capture and less bodies that can fall.

-Deployment is Key. As mentioned above you could make your opponent go first in turn and deployment but in the cases where you either want to go first or are made to go first. Deploying your forces effectively is always key and more so when your outnumbered.

- Play to your armies strength. This is obvious. Chaos Thousand Sons are good at shooting so maximize that. I am of the mind that unless your typical shooting range is pistols like Beserkers you should maximize your shooting. This will vary depending on how you build deathwing for example as you could have an assault heavy force or shooting heavy. This is 40k battles in the future I always say use your guns when you can. Again if your main gun is a pistol then you have to play smart to get in and assault.

-Play to the mission. Annihilation aside there are objectives to capture. Do not forget this. Its something that even veteran players can do. You get caught up in the slaughter or are just enjoying the fighting and before you know it your either too outstretched or too weakened to take objectives. NOTE: Necrons have a built in secondary objective of phase out. Sometimes going for the phase out could be better then going for objectives. Now this depends on the enemy Necron force and your own as well as the mission. Now in Annihilate the gloves are off and just make sure to utterly destroy a unit before moving to the next so you get that point.

-Don't let your opponent get into your head. What this means is that against a tyranid swarm or Ork horde army id you look upon the enemy and say "I can't kill all that" you really are weakening yourself before the game starts. You'll be more cautious. The mind war is just as important at the luck of the dice roll. If you can make your opponent wonder why our so confident you have a higher chance of them slipping up.

-Be bold. Remember tactics never truly make it to the battle. Id you can confuse or surprise your opponent in a manner that benefits you that always helps.

I know this is all old hat to many of us but any one of us can forget these overtime or just not apply it because we are too busy thinking of other things in the game.

Know your weakness and make them your Strength

Basically if your army is weak in the assault then use that to your advantage. Aggressive shooting and smart target prioritizing can keep that assault heavy force your facing back for one more crucial turn. While it would be nice to be able to shoot down the assaulting horde before it gets to you it rarely happens. But the more shooting you get in the better.

-Sacrifice. We all know to be prepared for casualties. but sometimes sacrifice is in order.Speed bumps are less around in small armies but a transport or a whittled down squad can be used in that role. Now its not the best idea for small armies like this but if it give the rest of your army an extra hassle free turn then go for it.

Now I'm not going to go into army specific tactics here but maneuvering your army is critical. Also read up on your armies rules. For example a Thousand sons squad in a rhino is pretty nice. Give them essentially a 36" shot by moving twelve getting out and then shooting as they are relentless via slow and purposeful (last i checked that works anyway). Basically all armies have either special rulings or there own unique strengths that have to be exploited constantly.

So essentially my point of view is that unless your assault specialized only (like World Eaters) you should shoot as much as possible. My reasoning for this is that most horde style armies have bad armor saves. And even with all the cover saves now you can negate there armor with your guns. In assault you'll have usually 1 guy that can negate armor saves consistently. Now granted a 6+ is nothing but lucky dice rolls can really hamper you. Deathwing is the exception as regardless of what you give them its a power weapon. However with Deathwing they are small squads and one of the smaller armies so you have to be careful.

One final tip is don't be afraid to spend points on things if it will enhance your armies ability. With Beserkers for example they are great in the assault. And while Rhinos really help them get across the board you may want to invest in a Land Raider. Better survivability, can assault out of it and it has some heavy weaponry if it survives dropping the beserkers off. Also it'll draw fire away from the rest of your army.

Thats about it. Mostly just a reminder on things we all forget. This is just the beginning. I plan to go into detail in other installments which are based on a specific codex for each installment of: Outnumbered! So stay tuned. I think the first will be Chaos cult armies. That means for those that don't know armies that are dedicated to one chaos god and at least in my eyes the troop selections should only consist of the specific unit for that god (Plague Marines for example). I will cover each god in this next installment so it will be a bit long. Until then!