Re: [Epic] Tactic Critique

From: Eugene E.W. <eug_at_...>
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 22:42:04 -0400

> > The combined firepower of the overwatching marines, land raiders,
> > whirlwinds, and warhounds smashed the Nid assault detachment. Because
> of
>
> >From what I could see, it looked like there really wasn't much terrain
> around. A lack of terrain will always favor he who is in overwatch and
> has the field of fire. The Tyranid player would have been smart to
> take some of that disrupt arty and pound your marines from beyond their
> fire range until they were too disrupted to do anything worthwhile.
> After all, the hive mind does have its moments...

I agree, it would have been smart...

This discussion has brought out an aspect of Epic 40k I particularily
appreciate, specifically that realistic difficulties confront the
commanders. In the old epic (which I am still very fond of) there wouldn't
be any problem with charging marines on overwatch: a couple of stands would
get gunned down, and then the marine would be swarmed. One of the major
readjustments I was forced to make in switching systems was realizing that
close-assault detachments need greater care in coordinating their assault.

It would seem that this is less of a problem for Eldar players, because of
that pansy maneuverability thing. I would be curious to hear from some orc
or chaos players, since I imagine they might have some stories to tell
about their difficulties (or lack thereof) in pressing home the attack. So
far, in the only Epic 40k game I played against Eldar, I was a 'Nid, so the
Eldar were NOT, to say the least, pressing the close combat issue.

> Try fighting a battle with a lot more terrain on the board and these
> types of tactics will work splendidly. Out in the open vs. Tac marines,
> I would be inclined to stay just out of their range until I dropped my
> falcons/wave serpents and guardians in for a firefight. The firefight
> would rout them out of their cover and next turn's overwatch on my part
> or even normal orders should hit them hard in the shooting phase.
> Nightspinners and Biovores are great for suppressing marines in cover
> and the dom's death ray does wonders as well.

A quick note: the Marine position was chosen precisely because there was no
cover nearby: the left was a huge cluster of buildings, so I purposefully
avoided it. It was only a 1,500 pt game, so there were few enough troops I
could avoid the impeded firelanes of the city and set myself up a nice
killing zone, which the Tyranids kindly advanced into.

I personally would favour jet bikes over falcons and wave serpents:
firefighting is their specialty, and they don't even need any cover to do
it. 45-55 cm is close enough for them to move into firefight range, and
it's farther than any of the marine weapons can shoot.

It would take a lot of turns for the Dom's death ray to get a significant
portion of a marine detachment; I think it is much better used for the
purpose it actually was in that battle --exploding Warhounds (the poor
things). Disrupt weapons are, as was mentioned, just the ticket, 'cuz we
all know how much firepower a marine in cover can eat up before it finally
dies.
Received on Thu Jul 24 1997 - 02:42:04 UTC