Re: [Epic] Titans and CC (a new theory...)

From: DAVID C LADO, DEPT OF NEUROSCIENCE <LADO_at_...>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 22:39:17 -0500 (EST)

>>Really, we would need more specifics (maybe examples) to give any really
>>good advice. This by the way (IMHO) is what the list is best at. Just
>>issue the challenge ("you can't defend Titans") and watch the people on
>>the list rise to the occasion.
>
>O.K. then my main force are Imperial Marines, with a bit of IG stuff
>(super-heavies and artilliary), plus a Warlord Titan Battle Group.
> Generally we play 6000-7000pts. Usually I take the three Warlords as
>heavy fire support, then have Devastators in cover between the titans to
>shoot up any incoming bikes, the rest of my army is generally thrown
>forwards into the fray to capture objectives, with one infantry company
>riding in Gunships either to kill Eldar artillary, or support attacks on
>objectives.
> My main problem is that the Eldar player is getting rather good at
>hiding his jetbikes (which he takes rather a lot of) until the last moment
>when they jump out, swarm maybe two of my titans and take them out.
> As my titans are equipped with long ranged weaponry, they`re not much
>good at gunning down massed assaults, thus it`s lest to Devastators to try
>to clear the jetbikes away.
> I could keep some Scouts back to defend the titans but I`m loath to do
>this as Doomweavers and Warphunters are good against large formations, (as I
>have found out in battles past).
> At the moment I end up deploying at least one of my gunships to rescue
>my titans, which always seems like a waste.
>
> Any tactics anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.

I don't think you have a problem here. Sounds to me like you've got a
good duel of strategy/counterstrategy going (that's what the game is all
about). Soundz to me like you pretty well know your options. I am an avid
titan hunter when I see them on the board, and I fairly drool when I see
those titans get stuck out by themselves. My experience on how to stop the
swarm attack is to

1 Use terrain. Put the titan in and around impassible terrain to
        jet bikes (woods, buildings, ect) to minimize the number of stands
        he can put against your titan and also to restrict which side the
        opponent can get at. Frex, if you put a Reaver with the back of
        it's base against a building, that's a few less stands the eldar
        can put against it and also prevents the eldar from using the
        titan itself to block LOS from supporting units to the front.

2 Pack your army together. The more infantry hanging around (with
        their command units) the better off you are. This is true not
        just for the titans, but it also allows the titans to support
        the infantry. You have already covered the pros and cons of
        holding back more screening troops, so the only thing you need
        to do is ask the question "what is hurting me more, the
        artillery or the jet bikes?". If the jetbikes are your worst
        worry, then commit the scouts. Who cares if they get shot up,
        they're cheap and every shot at them is one less going at your
        assault force. Plus, this allows you to keep the thunderhawks
        to go after the artillery (the best way to protect the scouts),
        and attacking is really what you want them to do.

3 Judging from what you said about your force composition, I don't
        think there is anything wrong with it. From my limited
        experience (fought eldar lots, but only with orks), the keys to
        beating them are speed and numbers. I personally don't even
        field titans against them since eldar have so many ways of pulping
        them. If you want to bring them (or need them) then I would
        concentrate on fielding mostly infantry and light vehicles around
        them, staying away from tanks and super heavies. My rule of thumb
        with the orks vs eldar is never field anything worth more than 100
        pts a model (easy to do with orks)

4 Another thing that pays when fighting eldar (again, I don't know
        how well this translates to non-ork armies) is aggression. It is
        far better to be fast and furious than slow and cautious. The
        eldar armies I generally face are like assassins, they are good at
        killing the hell out of one unit, but they have trouble killing
        large numbers of units in a single turn. If you swarm two assault
        companies and a scout company (frex) straight across the board at
        top speed, they will get to the eldar deployment zone on the third
        turn. This basically gives the eldar 2 turns to come up with a way
        to stop you before you are all over his tanks and arty (THs will
        work even better). If he hasn't beaten you by turn three, you
        will probobly beat him. Also, I consider assaults (fast and mean)
        and scouts (cheap) to be the premeier assault troops. I would hold
        the tacs back as a reserve to either support the assault or
        protect the titans as they are needed (this assumes you have the
        titans to the rear of the assault force, not on the other side of
        the table, thus suggestion #2). A good thing about very aggressive
        attacks is that they will often divert troops and firepower away
        from the intended targets to stopping the assault force, and he
        can't kill the titans if he doesn't attack them. The other thing
        about being very agressive is that it forces the eldar to make
        adjustments, forcing him to react to you, and thereby creating the
        opportunity for him to make mistakes.

5 What you want to avoid, IMHO (In My Humble Opinion, btw) is
        spreading your forces out and getting caught in small scattered
        detatchment vs detatchment fights. The very elite and
        speedy pointy-heads will generally win this sort of battle.
        In a fight against the eldar you want *all* your homeboyz around.

Like I said, these are the tactics I use with orks against eldar, and they
have served me quite well. They do require you to field a "orky" style
army (lots of assault troops, less shooty stuff), and if you don't want
want that sort of army, then, of course, these tactics won't help much.

Also, my discussion went from "how to protect a titan" to "how to beat
the eldar". That was not an accident. Keeping your titans alive does
not insure victory and loosing them does not mean defeat. The bottom line
is that if he *really* wants to get the titans, he will and you can't
really stop him. But you can make him *pay* for his decision. The ideal
situation is to put the eldar in a position where he can't block all your
options, if he kills your titans and uses firestorms to kill the THs, the
assault troops get him, if he uses the bikes to fight the assault troops,
the titans and devistators get him, ect. If he stops all of your options
then you turn bright red, scream and shout, and blame the dice (or is that
just me).

David the verbose


                                
Received on Wed Mar 12 1997 - 03:39:17 UTC