Erik K. Rutins wrote:
> An idle tactical thought occured as I was sitting here, wrestling with
> my work.
>
> An all-jetbike + vyper army, two echelons deep. Advance to shoot and
> firefight with both echelons on assault orders. Then place the front
> echelon on overwatch, the back echelon on assault and drive the enemy
> back through continuous firefights. Keep up this alternation until the
> enemy is dead.
>
> This works better against some armies than others, but I would not
> hesitate to use it against the Tyranids, for example. You will lose
> lots of jetbikes eventually, but you may just be able to surround and
> destroy a lot of enemy before he shoots you out of the sky.
>
> Anyway, it's what occurred when I wondered about some of those pictures
> in the books with hundreds of jetbikes swooping around.
>
> Regards,
>
> - Erik
On the contrary, it won't work against Tyranids at all. They will be
dutifully broken by your firefight, then ignore their broken state (using
their special rule), swarm you, and annihilate you. An assault value of one
will not protect you even from Termagants, let alone Hormagants, Lictors,
and Genestealers. A Tyranid army would eat this tactic for breakfast
(literally).
This tactic might also have difficulty with War Machines. Firefighting them
will accomplish little, so you better hope that the overwatch firepower
from the Vipers does them in.
I think that this army/tactic would be most effective against Orks/Chaos
Assault forces; you can (hopefully) pound them in the fire phase, and then
sweep them away in the assault. On the down side, the Ork special rule
means that they will win the initiative in the assault phase more often
than you will, which could be bad.
Against Space Marines, you will probably be outshot (they have 2 fp on
overwatch, the same or better range, and better armour), but your ability
to swoop in and break them with a firefight will doubtless annoy them
greatly. Their Devastators will doubtless prove annoying.
The Marines, incidentally, could probably replicate this tactic using the
all-attack-bike force I have already recommended. Of course, the innate
superiority of attack bikes will probably render the tactic more effective.
I suppose some heretics might be inclined to throw in some land speeders as
well, to take advantage of their alleged 'superior mobility'.
Incidentally, for those of us who try to calculate the'formula' for points
costs, comparing the prices of Land Speeders and Vypers illustrates one
aspect of the formula, at least.
Eugene
Received on Fri Sep 05 1997 - 02:17:30 UTC
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