Re: [Epic] Tactic Critique

From: Eugene E.W. <eug_at_...>
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 15:55:49 -0400

> > I personally find it difficult to employ tactics such as you have
> described
> > successfully. The reason is overwatch. I do not generally attempt to
> > destroy the enemy in cc, instead I try to blow him up. A competent
> opponent
> > can generally arrange to be on overwatch the turn of the big assault.
> The
> > casualties that will result when he fires at you may cause the
> assault to
> > fail, or, worse yet, may prevent you from launching the assault at
> all,
> > because of a failed leadership test.
>
> Actually, I have found the Eldar to be the best at this, what with
> their skimming fast transport tanks and their 30/45cm jump pack
> warriors. Just don't pop up with them in the shooting phase and no one
> will touch you until you get into assault. Obviously you need some
> terrain to make this work, but it's usually viable.
> - Erik

To be honest, the Eldar players in my area mostly go in for massive
firepower, so I wasn't thinking as much about Eldar as Orks or Chaos. I can
see that the excellent Eldar maneuverability could make it very difficult
to hit them before cc if they take advantage of terrain.
 
However, I was specifically addressing the tactic suggested by William
Rood, which involves confronting your target at range of 15cms or less, to
take advantage of the assault firepower of wave serpents and gaurdians. I
would tend to think that this would lead to very heavy casualties, because,
needless to say, assault firepower is less than overwatch. I prefer to
support close assaults from a distance, with artillery.

As an example, I recently played a 1,500 pt game, Marine's vs. Nids. (I was
marines). The first turn was spent closing the range, and the marine tac
detachment took up a position in the cover of ruins.

                   Nid Artillery
                    * * * * * *
                                       DOM
                                                Nid assault detachment
        __Buildings___ _____ #############
        ____ _______ ##############
                                                #############


                        WH WH + +
                ^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^ + + + + + + + +
                ^ ^ ^
                Marine Vehicles marine tac detachment

The combined firepower of the overwatching marines, land raiders,
whirlwinds, and warhounds smashed the Nid assault detachment. Because of
the special rules, they
were able to attack anyways, but had no real chance because of the number
of blast markers on them. In this specific case, eldar wouldn't have done
any better, because there was no real cover near the marines in the ruins
(which, incidentally, contained an objective). In my opinion, frontal
assaults are much riskier than in 2nd edition; you have to be more careful
and plan better. It is very important to get blast markers onto the
detachment you're assaulting, 'cuz odds are you'll get some yourself. Web
Spinners are great for this.

                                        Regards, Eugene
Received on Wed Jul 23 1997 - 19:55:49 UTC