Riposte, the Art of the Counter-Attack (More Advanced Vehicle Tactics)

Riposte: -noun
1. General. a quick, sharp return in speech or action; counterstroke.
2. Fencing. a quick thrust given after parrying a lunge.
3. Warhammer 40k. a tactic whereby you crush an opposing force after allowing them to over commit.

The concept? Simple. The execution? Tricky.

There's three major components that go into making this work:
1. Get them to commit to an attack that they can't recover from.
2. Counter or blunt the attack such that it is not crippling to your force.
3. Hit them in return such that their force is crippled or destroyed.

Now while I use Eldar vehicles in the examples, this kind of ploy is viable for pretty much any army out there. To quote the current Space Wolf Codex, "The only way to slay a Fenrisian Wolf [bare-handed] is to wait until the Wolf pounces and leap forward while it is in the air so that the exposed neck and belly can be attacked." I've used this tactic to success with Wolves, Eldar, Marines, Chaos and Tau. Heck, I've even pulled off variants of this with non-mechanized armies, but that's for another day...

Another thing worth stating here is that this is not meant to be an end-all-be-all of tactics. This is just one of many options to put into your tool chest.

Part 1: Get them to over-commit.
Gamers often tend to be young, single men. They're naturally afraid of commitment. They'll want to hedge their bets, explore other options, and play their own games. However, they're also easily distractable, tend not to think beyond the immediate moment and have a weakness for honey-pots.
So how do you distract them? Well, my wife can simply lean over the table, pose, and heave a bit to cause the IQ across the table drop. I don't have the same *ahem* attributes. I also want to be a good sport, so I have to rely on distracting them via gameplay. One of the simplest and easiest ways I've found is a "bait" unit.
What makes a good bait unit? It's relative. There needs to be a reason for your opponent to attack the unit in the way you desire. You'll need to get into their head a bit and figure out what will bait them... Is it enough to just present any old target? Do they dislike a particular unit disproportionately? Are they after your Scoring units?
Additionally, you will want to have a backup plan. It can and will happen that people won't take your bait, no matter how tempting the bait. Accept this, plan for it, and adjust your strategy to suit.
But the best "bait"? One where the choice to take it or avoid it doesn't matter. A crude example of this would be a unit of Fire Dragons, in a Fortuned and Moving Fast Wave Serpent, 16" from a Land Raider full of Terminators. The Terminators have a choice of getting out and attacking, or risking being destroyed inside their tank when the Dragons attack. Typically, engineering this kind of fait accompli will require multiple units working in tandem, conducive terrain and maybe a little luck... but it's worth it if you can pull it off.

Part 2: Blunt the attack.
Truth be told, this is really the second half of choosing the right bait.
When choosing your bait, you must accept that the unit is going to die. There's no room for "maybe it might get lucky" or "maybe it might live". If you're going to risk it, you need to make sure that your strategical plan can afford to have it die. If it lives? Great! You have an extra unit to go out and do damage with. If it dies? Fine, it's what was expected. Always plan for the worst and then work with the actual.
Now any type of unit can work as your bait... but my favorite is a Transport vehicle. Here's why:
a. Tanks are more mobile than normal infantry. This allows them to get into position faster and
b. A unit being Transported is not damaged unless the vehicle explodes or is completely surrounded when wrecked. Many players seem to think a Vehicle Wrecked causes them to take damage and that blocking the hatch is enough... but this isn't true in 5th edition. Have them re-read the Damage to Transported Units section.
c. Enemies cannot consolidate after close combat with a vehicle. This leaves them nice and clumped up for applying Template weapons and being close enough to charge.
d. Live tanks = mobile cover. By nature, a bait unit is typically up close and personal to the enemy. This means they will often block LOS or confer a cover save to your units behind them.
e. Dead tanks = cover and difficult terrain. When a tank is taken out, you have the majority control of where they deploy. If all your opponent's shooting is done and there's no assaulters near, it might be worth getting a few extra inches by deploying in front of the tank. If they held back a bunch of anti-infantry in hopes of popping your tank, you can deploy behind the wreckage to block LOS or get cover saves. If they have an assault unit nearby, you can put the bulk of the tank between you to force Difficult Terrain tests that might blunt or prevent a charge.

Step 3: Cripple them in return.
You've done the hard part of surviving. Now you get to exact your revenge. The usual caveats apply here of using the best tool for the job, maximizing damage, and setting things up for winning the game. It's actually this phase that tends to provide the psychological turning point for a game. Your opponent is often feeling pretty good about having damaged or destroyed a unit or two of yours. Now is when you want to hit them as hard as you can and wipe out as many units as possible. The sudden switch from a feeling of victory to one of defeat can be crushing. I've watched people give up on or even concede games after this, even though they still had the ability to tie or win.

For some practical examples, I've enlisted Vassal again to provide some images with how I approach this with my Eldar. For those of you unfamiliar with Eldar... Wave Serpents are extremely fast, very durable against shooting, and rather durable against close combat. The downsides are that they're not cheap (100+ points), their basic weapons don't put out that much damage, and their upgraded weapons are usually too expensive for the results you get. It's the units inside of them that really pack the punch. This makes the great "bait".
The yellow Serpent is Howling Banshees. (Alnti-troop close combat specialists)
The red Serpent is Fire Dragon. (Anti-tank specialists)
The green tank is Storm Guardians. (Anti-troop shooting that's more effective against packed-in targets thanks to multiple Flamers.)
Images are clickable for larger and better detailed versions.

This first image shows three basic deployments. They were done with an eye to the terrain and with the thought that the Eldar are deploying and going first. Because people will steal the initiative 1 time in 6, most of the deployments aren't right on the line and have some cover. 5:1 odds aren't that bad... don't let an aggressive deployment cost you the game.

This image shows how I might approach certain targets.
In example 1, I'm looking at a Tactical squad supported by two Dreadnaughts. An Assault squad is behind them to provide assault and counter-charge. The first concern here is dropping the two Dreadnaughts as only the Fire Dragons have the ability to drop them reliably. The second is to keep the Assault squad from charging my infantry.
Now if I approached this with the idea of alpha-strike shooting, I'd probably futz around at range for a turn and try to pop the Dreadnaughts on a lucky shot. I'd probably get one Dread and a couple Marines. But the return fire is going to turn my Dragons into a fine red mist.
But by holding off a turn and trying to bait, I can hit with all three units in tandem. The Fire Dragon Serpent is put out front as bait. There's enough room left behind it that the Dragons can bail out if needed. This and the Storm Guardian Serpents form nice, juicy targets that the Dreads and Assault Marines will be hard-pressed to ignore. And if they do ignore them or even try to move away, I'm still close enough to attack. The Banshee Serpent hangs out on the far side of the wall. It could be the point-man or flanker just as easily as these positions would put them closer for enacting a charge. However, in this example I was trying to downplay the threat of the Banshees in hopes that he'd ignore their presence entirely.
And if they don't take the bait and pull back? Unless the tac squad Runs, the Banshees are still close enough to catch them with a reasonable Fleet roll. The Dragons are also close enough to drop one Dread cold while the Serpents could angle for rear-armour shots.

In example 2, there's a full Termie T-Hammer Assault squad in the Raider and a bunch of multi-melta/heavy flamer Speeders behind the building. My first concern here is getting the Termies out of the tank. My second is luring those Speeders out so that my Serpents and Dragons can drop them thanks to squadron rules. Again, the Dragons form the bait, with Storm Serpent as the backup. The hope here is that the Termies will jump out and charge the tanks while the Speeders slide to the left to shoot my tanks. I could then hit the Termies with Storms and Banshees while the Dragons hop over to the Raider and the Serpents drop some Speeders.

In example 3, we have a much more common kind of tournament army. Here we have a squad of Termies in a Land Raiders, but this time they're supported by a Rhino wall and a bunch of Razorbacks. Here my concern is getting the Termies out again, but also breaking or hopping the Rhino wall and hitting the juicy insides. My main hope with this type of deployment is to lure the Termies into a charge. If they do so, my Banshees would be detailed for them while the other elements go after his forces. And if he stays buttoned up? I push forward again, but this time I have a bunch of shooting and assault primed to hit his lines in another turn.

None of these are perfect examples... but I needed something to illustrate my point. I also wanted to use examples that looked feasible to see in a game, rather than obvious set pieces.

Whew, but that was a lot of typing. Maybe I should switch to less extensive topics, like my recent painting. :-p Though I guess if you made it this far, it was probably worth the read. Cheers!

First pic courtesy of a psuedo random GIS... and chosen because it amused me as I'm in it...

Tactica: Vs Outflanking Genestealers

About a month ago, Alex asked me about mech-Eldar tactics for dealing with Outflanking Genestealers... especially versus multiple squads and on 4' wide boards. I promised a reply "next week or so", but it took me a while to come up with a response that I was happy with.

Why? Because there's not really a "good" answer. Here's some options to try:
1. Wait a year and hope the re-do of the Tyranid Codex changes things.
2. Swap armies and demonstrate what a wankery thing this is on 4' boards.
3. Point out that there's no model to represent the Scuttling Biomorph and refuse to play against anything that isn't 100% WYSIWYG.
4. Take a tip from The Godfather and slip a beheaded Genestealer into his bed while he's sleeping.
5. Accept your fate meekly and let them continue to rip open your tanks and add your your flesh to the biomass.
6. Accept that the rules aren't always fair, play the odds and beat him anyways.

I'm not really a fan on 1-5... well, maybe #4... but 6 is really the way to go. So let's establish a few basics:
1. They have a 6" move, d6" Fleet, and then a 6" Charge. This yields an average 15.5" move and threat range up to 18".
2. They have Rending, Initiative 6 and 2 base attacks. Getting assaulted by them hurts.
3. They don't have guns. Seemingly obvious, but crucial to beating this.
3. Genestealers aren't cheap. Typically they'll have Flesh Hooks (Frag Grenades) and Scuttlers (Scout); costing 20 points or more each.
4. Genestealers are Scoring.

Outflanking Genestealers are truly a menace. Lictors make them fairly reliable for coming in on Turn 2. There is a small risk that they'll Outflank to the "wrong" side of the field... but that's only a 33% chance. 2:1 odds favoring them is not a gamble worth taking. But the real kicker is one of timing. By coming in from Reserves, your opponent is able to see where your forces are deployed. He can then deploy them to maximum effect for target, terrain, position and even same-turn charges.

A mechanized Eldar player has a few tricks in their bag to counter this.
1. Reserves Denial. Even without an Autarch this is a good method to steal their thunder. You can deny them any easy deployment, moves or targets. However, the effect pales if you are stuck with the first turn. Your opponent can see your ploy before they deploy, you have to start rolling to enter from Reserves first, and generally they're going to have a better ability to adapt to your play. There's also the typical problem with Reserves Denial: your forces won't enter play until Turn 2+. You'll have less time to kill the enemy and secure objectives.

2. Rely on the table. With a 4' board, Outflanking Stealers can effectively threaten all but a 12" strip down the middle. Sit inside of that and you're immune to their alpha-charge. The width of this strip can also be pushed, since Fleet is a single d6 and the only part of the move that ignores terrain effects. The odds are pretty good for you if you don't stray too far and/or can force the Stealers to advance through terrain.

3. Rely on your tanks. When a Serpent has moved over 6", a typical Stealer is only going to destroy your tank 1/24th (4.2%) of the time. Units inside are only hurt when a Vehicle Explodes (1.4% chance). The Stealers don't get a Consolidate move either. So it's perfectly viable to us a tank to bait a large squad into bunching up. Just make sure your hatch isn't blocked, pass a simple Pinning test, and then watch Destructors evaporate Stealers. And even if the worst happens and a Dakkafex shoots down your tank? You deploy your guys on the opposite side of the tank from the Stealers. Good prior positioning and difficult terrain rolls should keep your guys from getting jumped in the Assault phase.

4. Rely on your mobility. This kinda ties into the three items above... but your tanks can move 24". A 4' board doesn't leave you much room to dash about, but you can certainly play bait & switch. Stuck with the first turn? Deploy your tanks near the edges so they stick the Stealers into Outflank. Then use your Turn 1 moves to jump into that safe strip in the middle. Got a bunch of objectives stacked to one side of the board? Deploy a tank in charge range on the other side to lure his attention. It never fails to amaze me how many players will lose a game because they forget strategy in favor of a tactical kill.

Recommended units: Serpent Council, Serpent Banshees, Fire Storm Guardians, and Serpent of Fury. Foot DA, Wraithlords and Spiders can also help in a pinch.

Hopefully this has given you a few ideas. I think the major points come across, but diagrams can be made if needed. Cheers and thanks for reading. (Sculpting Tutorials will resume once the flu has finished the rounds of the family...)

*Image is courtesy the fine guys at the now defunct MacHall. Check out their new work at Three Panel Soul.

Falcon versus Wave Serpent: The Math

Hey there folks.

So Fritz over at Saim-Hann put out a post wondering which is more survivable, a Falcon or a Serpent. Having done the math-hammer in the past... my answer is that the Falcon's more survivable in a stand-off role while the Serpent's a better assault boat.
Serpents are less likely to be killed by melta, Demolishers and when Moving Fast.
Falcons are equally or more likely to be damaged in other cases, but also more likely to survive the results.

5th edition has really become the heyday of mechanized armies. With this, there's been a subsequent rise in melta too. So my general rule is that Falcons sit in the back and play DAVU tactics while Serpents are used to Transport anything that wants to get close.

This is just a general rule as the math does not include BS to-hit, cover, Fortune, Tank Hunters or other exotic situations. I also don't factor for rear-armour shots; this is both implausible to fairly calculate and I figure you're getting your just desserts if that happens. So all shots are considered to have already hit, the target is in the open, it is against AV12, and the Serpent Field is on. Here's the maths:

Wave Serpent	Shaken	Stunned	Weapon D.	Immobilized	Wrecked	Explodes
S6	8.33%	2.78%	2.78%	2.78%	0.00%	0.00%
S7	11.11%	5.56%	5.56%	5.56%	2.78%	2.78%
S8	13.89%	8.33%	8.33%	8.33%	5.56%	5.56%
S9	13.89%	8.33%	8.33%	8.33%	5.56%	5.56%
S10	13.89%	8.33%	8.33%	8.33%	5.56%	5.56%
S8 Ordnance	13.89%	8.33%	8.33%	8.33%	5.56%	5.56%
S10 Ordnance	13.89%	8.33%	8.33%	8.33%	5.56%	5.56%
S10 AP1	5.56%	8.33%	8.33%	8.33%	8.33%	11.11%
S10 AP1 Ord.	5.56%	8.33%	8.33%	8.33%	8.33%	11.11%
S8 AP1	5.56%	8.33%	8.33%	8.33%	8.33%	11.11%
S8 AP1 Melta	13.89%	8.33%	8.33%	8.33%	5.56%	5.56%

This is the chance per shot for a Wave Serpent to take a certain type of damage.
Or in graphical form:

Wave Serpent	Sum Damage	Dead Norm	Dead SMF
S6	16.67%	0.00%	1.39%
S7	33.33%	5.56%	5.56%
S8	50.00%	11.11%	9.72%
S9	50.00%	11.11%	9.72%
S10	50.00%	11.11%	9.72%
S8 Ordnance	50.00%	11.11%	9.72%
S10 Ordnance	50.00%	11.11%	9.72%
S10 AP1	50.00%	19.44%	13.89%
S10 AP1 Ord.	50.00%	19.44%	13.89%
S8 AP1	50.00%	19.44%	13.89%
S8 AP1 Melta	50.00%	11.11%	9.72%

This is a Serpent's total chance to take damage and risk of being destroyed.

Falcon	Shaken	Stunned	Weapon D.	Immobilized	Wrecked	Explodes
S6	12.50%	2.31%	1.39%	0.46%	0.00%	0.00%
S7	17.59%	6.48%	4.63%	2.78%	1.39%	0.46%
S8	22.69%	10.65%	7.87%	5.09%	2.78%	0.93%
S9	27.78%	14.81%	11.11%	7.41%	4.17%	1.39%
S10	32.87%	18.98%	14.35%	9.72%	5.56%	1.85%
S8 Ordnance	31.56%	16.59%	12.42%	8.26%	4.63%	1.54%
S10 Ordnance	33.41%	23.38%	17.98%	12.58%	7.41%	2.47%
S10 AP1	9.26%	23.61%	18.98%	14.35%	9.72%	7.41%
S10 AP1 Ord.	4.63%	28.78%	23.38%	17.98%	12.58%	9.88%
S8 AP1	9.26%	13.43%	10.65%	7.87%	5.09%	3.70%
S8 AP1 Melta	4.63%	27.08%	21.99%	16.90%	11.81%	9.26%

This is the chance for a Falcon to take a certain type of damage.
In graphical form:

Falcon	Sum Damage	Dead Norm	Dead SMF
S6	16.67%	0.00%	0.23%
S7	33.33%	1.85%	2.32%
S8	50.00%	3.70%	4.40%
S9	66.67%	5.56%	6.48%
S10	83.33%	7.41%	8.57%
S8 Ordnance	75.00%	6.17%	7.22%
S10 Ordnance	97.22%	9.88%	11.23%
S10 AP1	83.33%	17.13%	15.74%
S10 AP1 Ord.	97.22%	22.45%	20.22%
S8 AP1	50.00%	8.80%	8.34%
S8 AP1 Melta	91.67%	21.06%	18.98%

This is the Falcon's total chance to take damage and risk of being destroyed.

Falcon vs Serpent	Shaken	Stunned	Weapon D.	Immobilized	Wrecked	Explodes
S6	1.5	0.83	0.5	0.17	N/A	N/A
S7	1.58	1.17	0.83	0.5	0.5	0.17
S8	1.63	1.28	0.94	0.61	0.5	0.17
S9	2	1.78	1.33	0.89	0.75	0.25
S10	2.37	2.28	1.72	1.17	1	0.33
S8 Ordnance	2.27	1.99	1.49	0.99	0.83	0.28
S10 Ordnance	2.41	2.81	2.16	1.51	1.33	0.44
S10 AP1	1.67	2.83	2.28	1.72	1.17	0.67
S10 AP1 Ord.	0.83	3.45	2.81	2.16	1.51	0.89
S8 AP1	1.67	1.61	1.28	0.94	0.61	0.33
S8 AP1 Melta	0.33	3.25	2.64	2.03	2.13	1.67

This is a risk assessment comparison of the Falcon versus the Serpent, broken down by type of damage.

Falcon vs Serpent	Sum Damage	Dead Norm	Dead SMF
S6	1	N/A	0.17
S7	1	0.33	0.42
S8	1	0.33	0.45
S9	1.33	0.5	0.67
S10	1.67	0.67	0.88
S8 Ordnance	1.5	0.56	0.74
S10 Ordnance	1.94	0.89	1.15
S10 AP1	1.67	0.88	1.13
S10 AP1 Ord.	1.94	1.15	1.46
S8 AP1	1	0.45	0.60
S8 AP1 Melta	1.83	1.9	1.95

The numbers above are a risk assessment of the Falcon vs the Wave Serpent for total chance of damage and being destroyed.

For the risk assessments, the number given is roughly how many times more likely a HoloFalcon is to get a result compared to a Wave Serpent.
A value of 1 means the two tanks are equally likely to get this result.
A value greater than 1 favors the Wave Serpent.
A value less than 1 favors the Falcon.


And here's a side-by side of their survivability based upon movement.

*Image borrowed from the good Master DarkSol's Photobucket.

Serpent of Fury! (An Advanced Skimmer Tactica)

I wrote this tactica a mere 6 months ago for Warseer, though it seems like much longer. The metagame has singe changed a bit with IG, but the tactic is still relevant and useful. The original article is currently sitting smack in the middle of a thread currently at 4,500 replies, so I've "rescued" it over here. What? I never said that every single article here would be NEW, did I?

What is Serpent of Fury? In short: the act of deploying a medium-range shooting unit from a Wave Serpent such that the tank blocks enemy capability for reprisal into the unit.

The name "Serpent of Fury" (SoF) is a derivative of the 4th edition Tau tactic "Fish of Fury". Tau Firewarriors normally come with a Rapid Fire Pulse Rifle. Getting maximal output from this type of weapon means engaging in the 1-12" spectrum. The trick to this? FWs are rather fragile, especially in Close Combat. Thus they need to limit or eliminate the ability for the enemy to hurt them. The solution? They can buy a Devilfish Skimmer Tank as a Dedicated Transport. The Devilfish would move 6-12", and stop about 6" away from the enemy. It was even still be free to shoot it's weapons if you took the right wargear. As the front and side armour is the same, the tank would also turn to present the longer side facing to the enemy. FWs on board would then disembark on the side opposite the target and fire "under" the tank, as Skimmers did not block Line of Sight. In the enemy turn, the Skimmer would be well protected from shooting and assault due to the Skimmers Moving Fast rule. The guys behind would be protected from assault due to the bulk of the Devilfish. All around this was a win-win tactic for the Tau player. The unit could function independently, hit hard, was highly mobile, difficult to destroy and generally able to compensate for most drawbacks. This was such a highly effective tactic that it became staple for most high-end competitive Tau armies.

Then along came 5th edition and it's changes to SMF, True Line of Sight, and other changes. Suddenly Tau commanders were scrambling to put taller stems on their tanks, finding the Devilfish isn't nearly as durable, lightly armoured enemies were getting a cover save and the Tau were generally left lamenting that their trick pony had been hobbled. It is still feasible for them, but is iffy for a unit operating on its own. The tactic has been reduced from a staple, to something that either requires multiple units for area saturation or as an act of desperation.

How does all this apply to Eldar? Simply put, Eldar and Tau have a number of similarities. It's like we've been guiding the development of that lesser race for millenia.. Serpent of Fury existed in 4th edition play, but mostly as part of a mechanized theme or gimmick. The amount of damage it did was usually not worth the cost. Competitive play tended to favor more effecient tactics. This changed slightly with the "new" Eldar Codex when Dire Avengers shifted over to Troops for everyone and their range was extended to 18". This allowed them to fill a compulsory slot and also maintain a bit more distance from the enemy. SoF still wasn't a mainline item, but it was at least something to do with your required Troops selections when you had a mechanized army. But the clincher was 5th edition: Troops only as default Scoring. It was no longer enough to just pay token homage with 2x min sized Troops sitting off to the side... your Troops suddenly needed to DO something.

Excepting a weird mission or special rule, having surviving Troops is the only way you can get better than a tie in 2/3s of the current missions. This means that your Troops are going to be a primary target for any opponent interested in winning. To protect them, your Troops either need to be plentiful (Orks, IG, Nids or other hordes), tough as nails (Wraithguard or Plague Marines), and/or otherwise protected (bunkered in cover, hidden in Reserves, embarked in a tank, etc).

Side Note: There's also the Multiple Small Unit option, where you take lots of minimal sized Troops. However, this causes Kill Points to rocket in Annihilation missions and is not a recommended strategy.

For Eldar, hordes are unwieldy, rather static, suffer in CC, and anti-horde is becoming common thanks to the Orks. A Wraithguard core is solid but also slow and expensive in both points and cash. It's also a "jealous" choice in that lists don't tend to just include them, but instead have to be built around them. Relying on the batlefield to have enough cover to protect your guys is also be an iffy prospect. This is doubly true for Troops as they're there to claim objectives, yet this often means moving out of their original deployment position. There's also the idea of hiding behind a building or in a tank all game and heading out to claim objecties last-minute, but this takes timing, patience, a little luck, and the rest of your force picking up the slack.

With history and the general concept out of the way, let's take a look at some common questions:
1. Why a Wave Serpent and not a Falcon?
a. SMF is the same for each and even then only matters if you move over 12".
b. A Wave Serpent can carry twice as many models.
c. The Serpent Energy Field. It works no matter what speed you move. While the Falcon does have the protection of a Holofield, the Serpent Energy Field actually protects similar against many threats. But it works better when moving Fast and/or when shot by certain types of weapons such as meltas and Demolishers. This makes them superior for closing on the enemy.
d. Wave Serpent weaponry tends to be more complimentary of close-range engagement.

2. Why Dire Avengers?
a. 18" range. Thanks to this they can get out to the side of the tank and fire cleanly into their chosen target. There's not any issues with weird LOS from their heads and trying to shoot under the tank. You don't have to worry about modifying your tank to be up higher either. Actually, a short stem is preferable because the tank will better Screen or even completely block enemy LOS to the DAs from other angles. 12" range or Flamer Template units such as Fire Dragons, Guardians, Wraithguard and Warlock Councils CAN be used in this manner. However, you have to be much more certain about crippling or destroying your target in order to escape retribution and/or getting charged by survivors.
b. Bladestorm allows you to maximize the fire output on a given round. This fits well with the SoF often spending their next turn repositioning to fire at a new target.
c. DAs tend to rate fairly low as targets when there's other big threats like Fire Dragons around. This means they're often able to perform this trick multiple times.

Now a few things to note with SoF tactics:
1. It CAN be done by a solo unit. However, a full unit of DAs and a 2xASC Exarch Bladestorming average out to only 3.7 MEQ kills. Against anything tougher than Tau or IG, I REALLY suggest target saturation in the form of two or more units moving in tandem. This has an added benefit of allowing defensive formations of multiple tanks.
2. Doom is a huge benefit to this tactic, especially against T4+ opponents. 2 units and a Doom have a rather good chance of dropping even large terminator squads, Monstrous Creatures and other nasties.
3. A Serpent carrying a close-combat unit can nicely finish out a formation. This naturally places them and their tank in good position to defend the DAs or carry the assault to the enemy. This role can also be performed by a Serpent toting close range or Template units looking to get closer and maximize kills.
4. Your DA will naturally be a little packed in when the get out to fire. Beware enemies with lots of templates, especially Large Blasts such as Whirlwinds. I suggest neutralizing or blocking LOS to these before you get out of your tanks. Deep Striking Heavy Flamers and similar can also be quite annoying.
5. The distance game only works against enemies that only move and Assault 12". Be careful of jumping out too close to an enemy with Fleet or Waagh!.
6. If you're confident in your tactics/positioning, hold off on Bladestorming right away. Put in a turn of normal fire, then Bladestorm and possibly assault in the next.
7. If the squad's been chewed up and is near or below half, mount them back up in their tank and scoot for safety. You're probably into turn 4 or so at this point anyways and those guys are typically more important grabbing objectives than trying to slug it out.

The tactics for a single unit are pretty easy to grasp. Multiple-unit tactics can be a little more tricky, so I've provided some pictures for you. In the examples below, the Iyanden (Yellow) Wave Serpents are carrying the DAs. The Saim-Hann (Red) is moving Fast and likely carrying Fire Dragons or Banshees. The first picture is starting locations and the second after moving and deploying. The image lines moved when I saved them, but I'm sure you can get the idea.




Example 1 (Left): Isolation of a target and multiple overlapping Screens. The squad on the left is the target in this movement. Both squads and their Serpents have decent to clear lines of fire into the target. Screening of the target doesn't matter as they'd get a 3+ save anyways. Every enemy except the target has their LOS Screened or even blocked by intervening terrain and tanks. Only the Fire Dragon tank is not nicely Screened and it is protected thanks to SMF. This is true not only of the guys immediately nearby, but the entire rest of the table.

Example 2 (Center): Capstoning up the center. Here the two squads deploy in between the two tanks with the third forming a protective capstone. The target unit would be the guys just inside the woods. Note that the front squad is over 50% protected from the Predator by their tank and the rest of the enemy by the red tank. This is the best option for attacking a central point and/or an opponent that has turtled.

Example 3 (Right): Push back. This is an example of combining the SoF with cover to create a position that is resistant to being assaulted. Likely the front squad of Marines is the target. However, the Daemon Prince or Raptors could just as easilly be targetted across the nose of the Red Serpent. This is your best bet for drawing off or countering enemy assaulters with an 18" range. Your DAs are protected by the tanks and that enemy models can't approach withing 1" of them until assaulting. Then being behind/in the woods means a Difficult Terrain test. The 4.5" is a calculated risk, but one many opponents won't take. The downside of this is that the unit is open to ranged fire from the inside of the board; it would work more efficiently reversed towards the board edge.

I hope that this has been informative. I'll be expanding on some of the ideas touched on above, especially those of mechanized assaults, Capstoning and others. Cheers!

Peek-a-boo! (Advanced Tactica: Vehicle Shooting and LoS)

So sturgard wrote me with another interesting question. It seems an IG player in his area has picked up several Hydras. These are then hidden behind other tanks/cover such that the guns poke out and nothing else. The player then traces LOS from the end of the barrel, often removing cover saves from his targets. In return, he claims that the Hydras can't be shot back at unless you can draw LOS to the hull... and even then he's claiming Obscured saves. I've heard a similar complaint leveled at Marines using Land Speeder poking over Rhinos and Dreadnaughts firing around the corner of a wall.

It's a "I can shoot you, but you can't shoot me." thing. The question is, is this a clever abuse of the rules or is someone getting cheated?

First let's look at "I can shoot you..". When drawing LOS from the vehicle, you need to be aware of the nuances of BRB, page 58, "Vehicles Weapons & Line of Sight". The key thing here is that the weapon must be pointed at the target and then LoS is determined "from the weapon mount and along the barrel." This is NOT the same as drawing LoS from a single point like the eyes of an Infantry model. The weapon's MOUNT must be able to draw LoS and you resolve it's ability to ignore cover from there. So sticking just the barrel around cover does not allow you to draw LoS.
There's also a fun side effect of this... a common RL counter to tanks or emplacements is to "get under their guns". Simply, it is keeping yourself safe from fire by getting out of the traversal arc of the gun. 40K allows for a 45° vertical traversal of mounted weaponry. Additionally, a model cannot shoot backwards, curving around an edge, nor point a gun through it's own hull. Give this a little thought and maybe throw down some models to try it out. Tall models (Skimmers on flying stems, Valkyrie, Titans), long barrels (Hydras, Vanquishers, Hammerheads) or turret placement on long/large models (Razorbacks, Land Raiders, Chimera, Baneblades)... you'll find they all have this type of issue against Infantry in close quarters. If the tank doesn't back away, the Infantry will often gain cover saves or even be untargetable due to being "under their guns".

Now let's look at the other half, "...you can't shoot me." BRB, page 60, "Shooting at Vehicles has a similar caveat in targeting to allow extra bling, decorations and other modeling to be done to a vehicle without in-game penalty. The rule is that you trace LoS to the vehicle's "hull or turret" but ignore "the vehicle’s gun barrels, antennas, decorative banner poles, etc.". The key thing here is that you ignore the gun's BARRELS, not the casing, weapon mount, sponson, targeters, or any other such items. Just as an extra touch, what is a sponson but a side-mounted turret? So you're doubly covered here. As long as your opponent is obeying the rules above for shooting at you, then you can shoot back at them.
But what about being Obscured? For determining Obscurement of a vehicle, we go to BRB, page 62, "Vehicles and Cover - Obscured Targets". To gain a cover save, they need to cover "at least 50% of the facing of the vehicle..." The common mistake here is that people often apply the LoS rules and ignore the weapons, sometimes even ignoring the weapon mount too. This can make a HUGE difference when looking at a tank like the Basilisk or Hydra. Obscurement is based off how much of the total model you can see, not just how much of the main hull is visible.

A couple other common mistakes in this section:
1. When shooting a vehicle, weapons that cannot hurt the tank are ignored for purposes of determining cover. This can cut both ways, so be careful with where your anti-tank is positioned.
2. When a vehicle is firing, the target's cover saves are determined:
a. ignoring weapons that do not have LoS and/or do not fire.
b. with each gun on the vehicle counting as a separate model in a unit; needing a majority with clear LoS to ignore cover.

Hopefully this has given you all some fun ideas. If anything doesn't make sense, please let me know and I'll try to expand or provide illustrations. (Actually, illustrations may be forthcoming anyways...)

Image is a Funtrak paintball tank, acquired from 800hightech.com.

Addendum: A couple of people have asked me what I got as my Ard Boyz prize. I picked up a Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer. There wasn't a whole lot of Eldar stuff I wanted in that price range and my Wolves certainly appreciate the support.