Mail Bag: Return Of The ‘Templars, Eldar Foot Councils Revisited

Hi Fritz.

I just wanted to let you know that your tactics and videos let me come to 6th with my templar army at 1750p and I had only 2 troop choices!! there were 5 games, 2 killpoints, 2 with 5 objectives and 1 bases.

I won 2 and tied 3. If I had thought with my brain and not with my fists then it would be 3 wins and maybe a 4th place in a tournament where there were 30 players.

This was my first tournament ever and I really liked it and I will be attending in the future tournaments.

Thanks Fritz, you´re the best!

Thanks man! 6th place in your first tournament is great, can’t ask for a better start! 30 players overall is also a solid base to compare yourself against. I’ve been saying ‘Templars, and for that manner all the older ‘dexes still have some punch if you can take step back and figure out how to play them.

I think, perhaps as you have found out, the biggest challenge is that they are NOT 5th edition books, as mentioned in my ‘Templar .PDF they were written when the game mechanics in terms of winning mission was vastly different. Trying to build a 4th edition army with 5th edition missions in mind is just gimping it from the start. Not saying that it is easy, but the winning formula for the older books is to jus take two troop choices, protect them through transports, reserves, and the like, and then spend the rest on “killy” and units to crush your opponent. Taking razorback spam when it costs ‘Templars a premium just isn’t going to stack up against ‘wolves or BA, but taking furious charge preferred enemy terminators, command squads and dreads, etc. will as the newer marine ‘dexes still don’t get those units at any point cost.

Awesome again, keep up the wins!


Hey Fritz,

I saw your battle report with the jetseer council on Youtube and it intrigued me. I love playing footdar and councils, but I can't come up with a way to play two full councils without just slogging and tar pitting an enemy squad.

If you wouldn't mind, what kind of list do you think would best compliment that? I was wondering if 10 Wraith guard, concealed and fortuned would be a good choice.

Again, I'm stuck on this.

Thankfully Eldar seer council still have some bite in the current 40K metagame, and more than anything that is what is still keeping them alive as an army as we are waiting for a new codex to drop. Besides having the best psychic defense in the game, their powers, combined with abilities are the double threat of damage dealing and staying power- even at the cost of them, but are seer councils really that expensive compared to some of the other death start like units we are seeing in the game?

Before we get into councils proper, the two weaknesses that they have are size and their dependence on psychic powers. In any point game you can only have two of them so they are easy to tarpit and stall, and against certain armies like Space Wolves who can shot down their powers on a 3+ that becomes a huge liability.

Speed takes care of tar pitting which is why jetbike councils are the best way to go. You control the distance moving 12” and then 6”in the assault phase, PLUS you get the 3+/4+ armor saves which with fortune up is rock solid.

Second choice would be to put the council in a falcon tank which then works as an extension of the unit. Guide and fortune go up on the tank on turn one as it moves, shoots, and gets into position, and then on turn two fortune goes up on the seer council and doom hits the unit they are going to strike.
But on foot?

Meched up your council can be both defensive and offensive, reacting as needed. On foot their role really just shifts to a defensive model since walking across the board doesn’t work- you will get shot up and are just way slow. Really they work “Iyanden” style as if you were/are playing wraithguard and wraithlords- it is a static army. You use objective placement, which is 99% of how this army plays to move your opponent around on the table, and your council/guard is just placed along the way. 100% the enemy comes to you, they have to if they want the objectives. The build does well on multiple objectives, and kill points, but on capture and control often the best you can do is go for a tie.

So if you are asking about being on foot, build that council and play it with that in mind- where can I set it up so my opponent has to come in contact with it…

Brothers Grim Games: Open 40K Tournament

Planning my spring/summer 40K events right now with Jawaballs, and I just booked a ticket for the Brothers Grim Open out in Long Island, NY on June 17-19. Besides being close to home, the 40K vibe at Grim has always been awesome, and their local monthly tournaments are a blast. There are only sixty four slots in total so consider booking now if you are thinking about it. The question now is Grey Knights or Tyranids?

http://www.brgrim.com/?page_id=1421

Warhammer 40K Tactics: Drop Pods Done Right

For a while there in 4th edition I played a drop pod army where the choice of pods was a PVC capped pipe painted in your chapter colors or a DIY paper kit. Experimented with it in 5th but with the shift in army emphasis on mobility and cheap vehicles that work as both transports and killing units (razorbacks) pods seem to have fallen out of favor. I’ve also faced my fair share of them, including hybrid mech/pods to know what is done right and what is FAIL.

Is the drop pod army dead and buried till 6th edition? How to do it right if you want to play it?

Running a drop pod army has two major considerations that need to be looked at to make it viable. The first is a hard look at optimizing your army list- 1/3rd of it or more is going to be paid for pods to deliver their cargo. You can’t go crazy on IC’s, unit upgrades or the like, otherwise you will have an elite army that arrives and does nothing as it gets blasted to bits. The second consideration is the units itself as half will come down in the first wave and the second half will arrive bit by bit as you roll for reserves thanks to the drop pod assault rule.

With a full on drop pod list you have to be very focused with your units and their ability to hit and take out a target when they land, followed by surviving a round of fire from your opponent, before they can then start to move out for mission objectives. This is the main reason why drop pod armies have a n00b reputation to them- play one or two pods and your stuff comes down and dies next turn- throwing those points spent to the wind. Flood the table with pods and killy units and suddenly everything is in your opponent’s face and they have to deal with it. So what would be the optimal units to put in drop pods? Hint: they aren’t necessarily objective grabbing troops or supporting units.

My top three choices to load up pods (adjusted for codex) would be a killy terminator unit, maximum sized tactical squads with a melta gun and combi-melta, and ironclad dreads (furioso, etc). All three when built correctly can land, take a shot at something, and survive (in theory) till next turn to move out.

Throw a librarian with vortex or Arjac with TT/SS termiantors depending on your flavor in a pod. Put that tactical in a pod and combat squad out with the combi-melta in one group and the regular melta in the other- you also want a power fist on the sarge, expensive I know, but now he can threaten in the assault. Dreads with melta guns, hooks, etc. are pretty straight forward. In building your list all these units 3-4 of them would be in the first wave to come down and land. Don’t even think about capturing objectives or mission goals at this point in the game- land and wreck face. Your first wave should have, actually must have, anti-tank elements (melta) to open up and spill the infantry out on the table. You also want assault elements- dread close combat weapons, thunder hammers, power fists, and the like since you will be assaulting your opponent next turn due to being so close.

The second half of your army in pods is the anti-infantry groups- sternguard, bolter tacticals with flamers or plasma who come down in support of the first wave, (maybe with homers if you have the points) and start blasting the exposed and disembarked infantry from turn one. This section of pods should draw from scoring units in your army since they will be the ones potentially taking objectives. Keep in mind by focusing entirely on killy in your first group that lands if you have sucky reserve rolls on turn two you still have some momentum you can push to keep your opponent busy till the anti-infantry pods arrive.

Finally you want a third group of scoring troops to go in reserve and walk on the table to take objective placed out of pod range or on your side of the table. Best analogy would be what ork players were doing when nob bikers first hit the scene- spend all those points on nob bikers to wreck face (read drop pods and killy units) and a few lowly Gretchen mobz to just walk on the table and hold objectives. So now you have your army- what’s next?


Using the pods to your advantage to set up deployable terrain. Deploy the pods to section off parts of the table so all of your army can gang up on parts of your opponents army what I always try to do with my Tyranid drop pods…excuse me spore pods list. Use the pods to block off death star units so they can’t get the charge off on you, etc. In terms of objective placement for certain missions look to cluster them up- force your opponent to either try and hold them from the start, which then allows your pods to come in and hit choice targets, or if they deploy far away from the objectives/if they are placed outside their deployment zone, you can drop the pods on the objectives and castle up there with created pod terrain and make them come to you.

So what is your experience with a drop pod army? Running one? List? Face them in your local gaming group/tournament scene? Tyranids just the same? Dark Eldar webway portals just pods by another name? Sound off.

How To Use Carnifexes?

You tell me?

All kidding aside regarding ‘fexes I think they are one of the hardest units to “use” in the Tyrnaids codex? Why is that? First a trip though their sorted history…

A YouTube vid from the Fritz archives from the 2008 Games Workshop Grand Tournament. First game was a random matchup against Tyranids which was the competitive ‘nid build at the time- two dakka flyrants, some genestealers, and the rest heavy and elite slot carnifexes. A brutal army, especially since at the time carnifexes were dirt cheap. Couldn’t repel their firepower, didn’t have the assault ability, so tarpit the mass with the seer council, zip around, and contest on turn five- the dawn of that idea with my Saim-Hann. Much to the end surprise of my opponent I won that game even though I killed nothing of his and lost almost all of my stuff, only in 40K does that makes sense. Carnifexes were the bomb.

So then GW comes out with a new codex which right away means all the “good” stuff, stuff that worked from the old ‘dex is now going to get a smackdown. Sure you can still play your now old army that you pumped hundreds of dollars and paint hours into, but it will get owned. What you really want is these new models here like hive guard, trygons, and the like. Makes sense since GW is a model company and not a game company. Don’t let the bright lights fool you.

So carnifexes to a hit in ability and got their points jacked up. Stealers also took a kick in the nuts as did Tyrants…

This shift alone in points and upgrades first hurt the carnifex, and the second blow to the guy was the rules of 5th edition themselves and how they have played out- mech and MSU. Tyranids don’t have mech and MSU is most of the slots is impossible when each model costs 150+ points.
Would I be out of line saying most Tyranids players have just dumped their carnifexes for more efficient bugs?

So is it true, well it is to some extent, but maybe there is another role for the carnifex or in some circumstances does he actually excel? That is one of the things I set to find out using my new Tyranid three wave strategy.

First we need to compare heavies to heavies.

‘Fexes, Trygons/Mlocs, and the Tyrannofex.

In the MC group right away the ‘fex is looking a bit tired, four wounds vs. six wounds stock is a huge deal. A six wounds bug can make it across the table if you play that way, while a four wounds bug just won’t. Early on I experimented with walking ‘fexes and it was so ho hum, they went into a defensive role. Reserve them for later in the game to cut down on taking wounds and then when they come on have them lurk near objectives on my side of the table to act as a counter attack unit for end came control/contest form my opponent. Sure they worked in this role, and sometimes they worked really well, but look at the points I was tying up in 2-3 fexes. Not optimal, especially when Tyranids need the points to make so many other things work in the list. On a side note Old One Eye has been a blast to play defensively, especially when the rolls a ton of hits vs. a dread or a land raider and it explodes. What ‘fexes should have been is OOE stats at a base cost of ~160. Rant for another time.

Now continue the carnifex to the T-fex with guns on the C-fex and the rupture cannon on the T-fex. T-fex even for the points is better- more range, two shots, Tau like stopping power even if you do hit on a 4+, MC status, and six wounds. At least as he is walking across the table he has the range and threat to do something, unlike the carnifex who start to effect the game when he its mid table with his shooting.

This in my opinion is where most players stop. The stack the bugs up against each other like a bodybuilding contest.

Taking a step back from what the carnifex was to what he is now- this is what I discovered over the course of a few dozen games trying and adapting him out.

The carnifex is a shock beast that combines both shooting and assaulting- a hybrid of the trygon who is all about assaulting with six attacks/scything talons, and the lumbering T-fex with the rupture cannon who blasts away. He is also an MC so you want to take advantage of that, which leads to two builds:

The first has a venom cannon and the second has the set of twin linked S6 guns- both also have bio-plasma. He is an MC so you want to take advantage of the fact that he can fire both weapons a turn.

Next question is what weapon load out to take, keeping in mind he is a shock beast? The twin linked S6 shots seem ideal for taking out razorbacks, but keep in mind they are a “-“ on the damage chart so they suffer from the Necron effect. Also as a shock beast, and the points to load him out, do I want to waste those shots on vehicles? Not really, that is what hive guard and zopes are for. In this combination the venom cannon and bio-plasma are perfect. Hive guard pop a vehicle, marines dump out behind or clustered for protection and then the carnifex blasts them. Regarding template weapons, yes you will probably hit something even if it deviates, possible including your own model. Once or twice my ‘fexes have thrown up bio-plasma on themselves.

So how do we get them there? Drop pods. Pod them in to the back ranks of your opponent, do the pod shots first to maybe crack open a vehicle, if that fails, hive guard and then blast with the fex. Bonus points because you can use the pod for cover for the carnifex if angled correctly. Now with this there is a hidden cost- you are going to need some sort of hive commander reserves upgrade and at least two carnifexes and pods to make it work, three is better, but then it shuts down the entire heavy slot- not that you would have the points to spend elsewhere anyway.

Pods cut down on the weaknesses of the ‘fex and support his strengths. You don’t have to trudge across the table and being in your opponent’s back ranks with T6 four wounds is a different story all together over four wounds walking it, and you are taking advantage of its gun beast abilities right away- something is going to be in range. Next turn if they are still up then you are shooting and charging something in the assault with that high strength, more shooting, and scything talons.

Two more quick points:

With podding them in, resist the temptation to land one on one side of your opponent’s army, and one on the other. Land them right next to each other creating the full pressure on one side. If you are worried about scatter and can’t use your opponent’s models to help box in your landing then maybe consider a lictor or infiltrators who can advance ahead in their deployment to create a bump for the pod not to scatter against. ‘Stealers and podding fexes work very well together.

Keep in mind it is not only the points spent on the carnifex, plus his weapons, plus the pod based on what he kills and when he gets killed. The momentum he/they can generate has to be capitalized on by the rest of your brood taking advantage of the chaos or the next turn attention by your opponent who now has to focus on the carnifexes.

So back to the question, even with a “plan” is he worth the full points? That is going to depend on the rest of you army- what is in it? The basic list template that I incorporate them into look something like this:

Two big groups of hormagaunts running forward with a big group of shrikes behind them, backed by a dual talon hive tyrant with wings- everything moves 12” and runs d6” right at my opponent.

3 big groups of genestealers infiltrate ahead and make their way to my opponent.

Zopes in a pod come down with the two ‘fexes right into the ranks of my opponent.

Personally I have the zopes in my list since land raider spam is popular in my neck of the woods, but they could equally be hive guard. Shrikes could be gargoyles, etc. think template over actual units.

A final nice word for the carnifexes in my list when I play them over my three trygons or three tyranofexes? With the ‘fexes I either get called a n00b or dismissed since everybody knows they “suck” now in 40K, which has a certain charm to it, and I never get called a doucebag for playing them like I do the tri-trygons, to which I say (when playing the 3 trygons)- “Dude, they are Tyranids, what do you want me to play compared to everything Space Marines get?”

Dark Eldar Vs. Tyranids Battle Report

Monday night...
Battle For Salvation Gaming Club...
Bishop Vs. Fritz...
Dark Eldar Vs. Tyranids....

This week I had a chance to play Bishop's Dark Eldar at the club, of which I actively hunted him out. Playing Bishop is always a blast and since he keep Comic Book Heaven running I can't get any games in with him on Sunday, and since he has been running his Dark Eldar at the club it was a great chance to throw another evolution of my Tyranid list at him.

Mission was kill points, deployment Dawn of War, and this is where my Tyranids really struggle with Dark Eldar. So many shots that ignore my armor, are twin linked and wound on a 4+ no matter what. Bishop's list was lots of raiders, a venom to deliver a webway portal, and a void bomber, with warriors and witches sprinkled in. My list deviated a bit with an Mloc and DOM in a pod, which I have been playing with, the combo, to disrupt back field units like long fangs and the like which really punish my running bug horde.

DE took first turn and I deployed my prime, warriors, and a gaunt squad in cover as fodder. Everything else came in on turn one and I outflanked the genestealers. Here is what I was thinking, which sounded good in my head, but didn't quite work out on the table...

Get Bishop clustered in the center of the table by outflanking the 'stealers so my mass of bugs have something to run do. Drop DOM right in there after some vehicles have been taken if I'm lucky and suck some souls, and then meet up in the center with the rest of my bugs.

How did it turn out? Epic failure, although I did try to steal first turn. Interesting how this has become so important now in 40K against most army build where going second = turn one tabling, where GW has started including things in the codexes to steal first turn, or even steal it back- DE and Grey Knights.

What went wrong? My reserves were horrible and the DE really punished me for it. With no modifiers my stealers came in on turn four, on the opposite side where all they managed to do was take out a raider, and then die to mass fire. DOM finally came in on turn five, in a perfect pocket within range of four units- who only lost one guy. I knew this was going to be the case since Bishop always rolls low.

And why didn't I deepstrike my trygons? I knew I should have, so at least they can pop up and get some shots off and then maybe assault, but walking across the table under the guns of DE wasn't working. I has hoped that my reserves would come in sooner so there would be more for the DE to deal with, but since they didn't the DE could focus on one block of my units at a time.

Despite the bugs getting punished there was a chance for me to at least pull out a tie...

The first was my prime and a lone warrior firing on the venom for a kill point which failed- needed the whole or at least half the unit to generate the S5 shots to take it out, and the second was charging my last trygon into a unit of witches. I had a brain lapse that they have a 4+ invul in the assault. I could have charged a group of warriors in cover, but with only a wound left I didn't want to chance them going first and taking me out, but clearly they were the better target, still with risk.

Game ended with the Tyranids down by two kill points for a loss, but that isn't the important part of this post. Here is what is, beyond having some fun trowing some dice and pushing models around.

We all want to win, and even if you don't care about winning, given the choice you still want to win. Truth in wargaming. That said, there comes a point in some games, usually mid game where you know you are done, and it is going to be a slow death till the end. Different then getting tabled round one which hurts and then is over.

Times like this are real opportunities for growth as a gamer. Knowing you aren't going to win now frees you to try out new things, take risks on the table, and really focus on the how and why you got here. Bad dice for the evening are one thing, poor tactical choices are another. Really figure out the why, and make sure it doesn't happen again.

So what have I taken away from said game?

Three trygons period. Enough with the mloc(s) for disruption. They may have the wounds of the trygon but just aren’t scary when the close, and guys will STILL (not Bishop) argue with you when you try to place the template over models/units off the deepstrike even with the FAQ. Not worth the aggravation.

I've also posted about this before- going with what you know will work vs. a gamble for a bigger pay off. A good general goes with what they can count on- outflanks and DOM are just to random for anything other then casual fun games. 100% of the DE army engaged 70% or so of my army in points and that hurt. So with that quick analysis and a few others I'm back to my 2 regular stealer and 3 trygons list.

Which is about 80% or so done and ready for the upcoming tournaments in the next few months. The only things I still have to experiment with, tweak, and of course report back on to my loyal readers are:

Broodlords in the 'stealer squads- yes/no, and how to make them work. Worth the points?

Super tervigons with adrenals and poison buffing gaunts swarms near them vs. a gaunt factory just for objective holding as the tervigon moves forward to back the trygons.

Taking it up to 2K points for NOVA- more stealers and another tervigon vs. a hive tyrant to run with the 'stealers I currently have.

Ultramarines Front And Center!

So we have a new partner joining the Jawaballs and Fritz team bent on dominating the 40K scene- The Stout Smurf over at http://stoutsmurf.blogspot.com/ representing the Ultramarines front and center.

Jim brings an interesting perspective to our group in that he has solid miniature wargaming experience from a variety of other systems- allowing him a unique perspective on the game, coming in with that knowledge, yet being completely new to 40K, he isn’t saddled with the baggage of previous additions yet…

Expect paining and tactics from the Space Marine perspective and sign up on his blog roll…

Tyranids: Reporting In From The Front Lines

So this past weekend I had a chance to shake things up at a local tournament held by Toy Wiz- 3 games over two hours each with my Tyranids. I was eager to throw my hat in the ring so to speak since this would be my first tournament with the new list and alternative play style, and with both the Brothers Grim GT and NOVA coming up. Test games are good, and so are pickup/club games, but throwing your models down in a tournament is a different story. Blackmatt, Brother Captain James, and Jawaballs also attended and I'm sure they will have their take posted up on the blogs...

So I get there early with BC James to set up, relax a bit and check out some of the other armies. And I'm starting to get a bit nervous, not quite the correct word, but close enough as the competition is going to be stiff. Our of 25-30 players, can't remember 100% how many it was all Space Marines- the usual razor spam, T-wolf spam, and TH/SS spam, one IG leaf blower list, 3 Dark Eldar, and one Tyranids player- yours truly. So is this the state of “competitive” 40K? No Orks, Eldar, Tau, or Necrons?

First match up was random, and then the other two of the day go off battle points. Paint and sportsmanship were very minimal 5-10 points in the overall scoring so it was all up to the battle and bonus points in each game.

Round one I draw Dark Eldar, which was awesome to see on the table, just not against me- maxed raiders, ravagers, and two groups of jetbikes. Darklances, blasters, twin-linky, and lots of poisoned shots. T6 hive guard and trygons/tervigons don't like being wounded on a 4+. Mission was five objectives, one in each table quarter, and one in the center.

Normal SOP for me now is to start everything on the table, but with the speed of the skimmers and their ability to shoot like crazy I will never make it anywhere. I reserve the trygons and tervigon hoping they come in later, much later. The rest of my army- gaunts, warriors, hive guard, and the like all go in terrain on the right objective and just camp. Genestealers infiltrate 18” away from a cluster of raiders.

My plan is to hold my right objective, have the tervigon come on to the left and camp there on that objective spawning gaunts, and then push for the center objective with the rest so I have three and my opponent has two in the back on his side. Secondary plan was to hold my two and contest the center and pick up bonus points so it is a tie. Oh $hit plan was to just go for bonus objectives. 'Stealers and trygons are fodder to keep the DE busy- hopefully for a turn or two.

Stealaers last two turn, make it into assault on a raider with three left and do nothing, then die. Trygons come in, shoot some electricity bolts and then die next turn. My fire base eats lots of shots vaping warriors, hive guard and the like, thing go down hill fast by turn three as the game becomes about me making as many cover saves as I can, as I switch to plan B. Tervigon comes in on the left objective, spawns, blows up a raider and ravager, kills some warriors, etc. and holds. I make the push with my prime and a gaunt unit to contest the center but epic fail on the run and am just out when the game ends with my opponent holding three objectives, contesting one, and myself holding one. I pick up a few bonus points and finish out with a whopping eight battle points...

Observations from round one vs. a well built and played DE army? Sucky turn one matchup... What were the odds? I could see the army out shooting even a spammy SM army so it is all about first turn, but then DE have the 4+ first turn take, and I don't care how much he costs- worth it. Will things change when Grey Knights hit the table and potentially change the meta with all their psycannon spam soon to come?

Round two is vs. Space Wolves- razorback spam, two vindicators, a pack of long fangs, las/ML dread, two MM speeders, wolf scouts, and a rune priest with jaws. Mission is annihilate which is probably, the hardest for bugs since the entire synergy of the army is expending bugs to win- hard to do in a kill point game.

Deployment is table quarters and I gamble by putting my 'stealers in reserve to outflank. I need to gamble a bit and get as many battle points as I can to pull back ahead rather then infiltrate as a lead unit. With the rest of my army running right into my castled opponent thanks to deployment, and them sitting there as a fire base it is perfect if the stealers come in on that side. If they don't, and enter the opposite side they are dead from missile fire and just give up two kill points. Odds are in my favor right? 66% chance? Quick little story from a few tournaments back with my Necrons first...

My opponent deep strikes in his HQ and a jacked squad of TH/SS termies and mishaps so I get to place them anywhere on the table- fantastic! What would you do? What is the “smart” thing to do? Place them far away in the corner so they spend the rest of the game moving across the table doing nothing- 300-400 points nullified. What does Fritz do? I get greedy for the bonus points of killing an elite and HQ so I place them right into the “core” of my Necron army- next to thirty warriors, 8 destroyers, and the C'Tan. Insert evil laughter...

I rapid fire 60 warrior shots, sink in 24 destroyer shots and kill nothing, not a single terminator, not a single “1” rolled. C'Tan moves in for the kill- kills nothing, and then dies to a force weapon- now it is my opponent's turn and the same termies are running around in my core- unhappy robots...

So that of course is what is going through my mind- play it safe or gamble, especially since I don't have any hive commander or Swarmlord support. No guts no glory even for Tyranids right?

My opponent castles up, deploys everything outside the transports and sets up a huge fire base in some trenches in the center. My plan is pretty straight forward- zerg rush, blow the rhino with the wolf priest so I can kill him, and maybe to shadow in the warp- don't get me started on the GW FAQ fail again- jaws work from the hatch but my shadow sucks wind...

Move out and start running as I take lots and lots of shots. One trygon starts falling behind thanks to some wack terrain rolls and now I'm losing my front line. Hive guard pop the rhino, warriors and prime shoot the squad. Jaws gets a turn off hitting two trygons and a hive guard- thank god they are not carnifexes and they pass their tests. Venomthropes are working over time. Vindicators dropping shells, and I feel like I'm Ackbar in ROJI.

Stealers come in, blow up one vehicle, fail on the other and eat vindi shells and rapid fire bolters. Hive guard pop one vindicator, and warriors + prime get a batch of lucky S5 shots on the rear of the other taking it out as the trygons are about to crash the front lines...

Now the 'wolves are dug in with counter attack and I don't have frag grenades so they are going to hit first and lay down the hurt. I normally don't spawn gaunts in a kill point mission, but I'm hoping to spawn a bunch, charge them, bring the wolves out of cover with the 6” counter attack rule, hold with synapse, and then charge in with the big bugs to hit them out of cover and with no counter attack. Spawn 17 gaunts and also charge with my unit of ten. They all hit, 'wolves counter attack, pop off a banner, hit me with wulfen models, I die, lose the assault, die thanks to synapse, giving up two kill points as the massacre back into cover. Two kill points gone, but in theory it was good. I then make a final push with the trygons, tervigon, and spawned gaunts- spawning more and more to shoot at the land speeders of which they actually take out. Go figure. Trygons kill a squad or two and then die. Venomthropes get charged, and I forget they have defensive grenades! Doh! But I do remember the dangerous terrain test! Power fist guy goes down, banner guy goes down, wulfen guy goes down, regular dudes go down- it was a regular “1” fest, but then my venoms die. Hive guard keep blasting, tervigon gets into the mix taking out a squad and charging the dread since he is only S6. I realize that my aggressive push has put me ahead in kill points, so the hive mind sends the command to retreat, and literally I start running my dudes away or going to ground from shooting. Game ends with some nice bonus points and a full win in battle points.

Game three is going to be the final push to salvage the day and I draw a Deathwing player, three objectives mission- once center, one in my deployment zone, and one in my opponent's- dawn of war setup. My plan is to hold mine, just castle up, push and take the center, and then let the termiantors have the third in their zone. My opponent's list- all shooty terminators with assault cannons and missile launchers, two dreads in pods, MOD, Chappy, and a huge TT/SS squad. I infiltrate the stealers to the center and plan to then walk everything on. Why? If my opponent drops in away from them, out of the assault range then he has to walk to the center and my objecitve. If he deepstrikes down between them to get my objective and the center one then I can catch him in between the buffer stealers and the rest of my army when they come on.

Even in cover I take a ton of shots as one unit drops down to three stealers. Stealers assault killing a few in one unit, and the three sized unit does nothing. From there is is pushing with the trygons and spawning lots of gauts, gaunts, gaunts, laying weight of numbers- basically shooting multiple gaunt and warriors into one DW unit of terminators and then assaulting it with a trygon. I take a real chunk out of them til the TT/SS terminators hit my lines on the left and it starts to fold- throwing my warriors and prime into the mix along with a trygon who goes down. Tervigon runs around punching drop pods as hive guard and another trygon deal with the dreads. Bloody as hell but the game ends with the Tyranids holding two objectives, and bonus points for table quarters and HQ kills...

At the end of the day I finished 5th place which I guess is both good and bad. Good for the first time playing a new army and list in a tourney- especially when I'm used to, and have Null Deployment on my mind. Good for playing a weak codex in a sea of over powered lists. Bad for coming in 5th, for what I want of myself personally. I would have been happy first time out if I had pulled third place...

As for the players, venue, and setup? Best fun I've had in along time. Great tables and terrain, started at 11:00, our of there by 7:00 with lunch and some breaks so the wife was happy, and all the players- at least who I played were fun and relaxed. Toy Wiz holds their 40K tournaments every other month so I'm already planning for May...

But more importantly what did I learn from the day?

I 100% need to adjust my list to get some units backfield by turn two so I can hit my opponent in three directions- maybe Null Deployment by another name? The horde running at you, stealer buffers infiltrating, and then something else to pop up in your back ranks- I'm thinking about an M-loc? Would love y-stealers but not enough points. That, and 100% Doom in a pod needs to get in also. Only speaking for my neck of the woods, but EVERY marine player has a fire base somewhere now as that is how the game has evolved and is continuing to evolve. 15 long fangs is standard, vanilla devestators are coming back since they can't be “shaken” or “stunned”- take notice when Jawaballs is altering his list and is now sporting ML devs.

DOM is always going to have some high value non meched up units that need to be dropped since they are a threat to my big bugs...all this crammed into 1750 points needs to happen. More playtesting is in the works.

Final two questions for the day, just some observations and curious as to what my readers think. Your thoughts on the following...

You show up to the day of the tournament with all your Space Marine stuff and enough models to make three different customized lists. You wait till the rest of the players are setting up, getting their armies out, etc. before round one, and you then select one of your lists which you think will perform the best vs. the armies that you can see. Now you didn't HAVE to submit your list before the tournament (TO MISTAKE) so it isn't illegal, but really? Really?

Second question...

You have a librarian with gate of infinity attached to a unit and are battling a dreadnought in close combat. At the start of your turn, can you use gate of infinity to port yourself out of the assault or are you forced to stay locked in the assault. Yes or no?

Warhammer 40K Battle Report: Tyranids Vs. Chaos Space Marines (Death Guard)

It's an ugly planet; a Bug planet. A planet hostile to life as we know it. ~NetNews Reporter Live From Klendathu.

First game at the club with the new Tyranid list and game plan- maximum overdrive and in your face. I didn’t have anything scheduled so it was a pickup game with one of the guys- 1850 points Death Guard so I bumped my 1750 list up by adding a lictor and some worthless stuff on the prime.

My list:
Prime W/ 4 Warriors
3 Hive Guard
3 Venomthropes
10 Y-Stealers
10 Genestealers
10 Termagants
1 Tervigon
3 Trygons

My opponent’s List:
Daemon Prince MON/Wings
Lord MON, Deamon Weapon, Terminator Armor
A Big Terminator Group
3 X 10 Plague Marines W/ Champ, 2 Plasma, + Possessed Rhino
1 X 10 Havocs

Mission was capture and control with myself taking first turn. The plan? Funny you should ask as my plan is to play this army the same regardless of the mission and my opponent’s army. Kind of the whole active player vs. passive player concept I’m trying out. Have we talked about this before? A passive player is one the reacts to what their opponent is doing, they try to counter their moves and base their decisions on what the opponent does. The down side to this is that since I’m not a mind reader yet, who really knows what my opponent is going to do and I’m always one step/turn behind. Plus it let’s my opponent control the flow of the game.

On the other hand an active player is one that looks to dominate and control the game from turn one, to get their opponent to “blink” first and go on the defensive overwhelming them with force and options. This leads to mistakes, mistakes I can then punish them with on the table- in theory of course.

So I go first and push my trygons, warriors, venoms, and hive guard as far forward as I can- 12” deployment. My tervigon and gaunts squat on my objective, lictor goes in reserve, y-stealers go dormant, and the regular stealers infiltrate later.

My opponent deploys the havocs on his objective in terrain, along with a rhino nearby, two rhinos to the side, and then puts the terminators and prince in reserves to deepstrike. Was this a good move? Based on the army I’m figuring he will go defensive with the plague marines- using two rhinos as a speed bump, one to hold his objective and blast with the havocs, while the prince and termies bomb my objective- maybe even come down on an icon if a rhino can push mid filed. I’m not changing my plan either way, and in a way with them reserved I have a bit more of an advantage- one less speed bump with the prince and less dakka on the table if the termies started on it.

Infiltrate time and my stealers go as close as they can to the havocs while the y-stealers go dormant in the terrain piece that the havocs are on. This is the idea- my regular stealers always infiltrate ahead as a screening force for the trygons. One stealer squad isn’t that many points and you have to deal with them for a turn or else they hit your lines on turn two- that is one less turn of shooting on the trygons. Y-stealers are the second wave then busting out and hitting in support hopefully when the trygons hit. Venom/warriors/hive move up in support as a second wave, tervigon is third wave/back field.

Turn one, my opponent tries to steal it, but fails, bugs move out. Stealers move and run and now are facing off with the havocs ready to assault next turn. Everybody else moves and run. Tervigon poops out 16 gaunts and then gets constipated with two sixes. Death guard move out with the rhinos and guys shooting out of the hatch shooting at the genestealers and kill a few. Havocs are forced to shoot at the stealers finishing off the squad. 140 points that soaked up a turn of shooting and more importantly krak missile and las cannon shots not going at the trygons.

Turn two the trygons continue on the move backed by the venoms as the lictor comes in and lands near the right of the battle to flesh hook a rhino and maybe pull off said rhino out of the path of my swarm. Hive guard shoot and score three penetrating hits on a rhino, I then roll three ones for the damage result, huzzah! Death Guard turn two open up on the trygons wounding two of them as they stay in their rhinos for protection. Rapid fire plasma such bypassing my T6 and 3+ save. The prince comes in and lands over near my tervigon and gaunts, scattering 8” or so away.

Turn three has my y-stealers coming in and going boo right next to the havocs which is perfect- thanks to the size of the terrain and the fact that the havocs were standing still to shoot I’m perfect to place and assault. I plan to go for the havocs since they are a threat to the trygons, over one of the rhinos. Hive guard shoot at the rhino immobilizing it as the trygons assault two of them blowing them up and spilling the guys inside. Y-stealers engage the havocs and go for the +1 T since they are assaulting through cover and have no frags- Tyranid FAIL in the book. They tie things up with five or so havocs surviving and the havocs hold which is perfect. Death Guard rapid fire into the tervigons bringing one down while the prince flies to get into position to hit my gaunts and tervigon. Terminators come down and icon off a Death Guard unit near the Trygons. Mistake? Can’t really say since I was putting so much pressure on my opponent’s objective/table edge and it need support bad. If he had landed the termies near my tervigon in support of the prince my objective would have folded, but then I would have planned to sweep his and park my advancing warriors on it to claim and just give up on mine since there is nothing of the DG to score on it.




Turn four and five has my trygons finishing off the plague marines and engaging the lord + terminators as the y-stealers take out the havocs, pop a rhino, take a round of rapid bolter fire and live, assault said plague marines and eventually get wiped out leaving a lone plague marine standing. The prince gets dropped by the hive guard and supporting warrior fire as the termiantors and lord self destruct on the trygons losing one and wounding another in the process.



Game ends on turn six with a lone plague marine on an objective but contested by my remaining trygon, warriors, venoms, etc. coming up, and the tervigon and gaunts holding my objective.

After game analysis…

Infiltrating stealers worked perfectly, but I’m still really on the fence about another regular group to infiltrate with them vs. y-stealers. In capture and control the y-stealers are perfect as most players always castle up in/near terrain on their side giving me a perfect place to come in. BUT, in a tournament with crap terrain on the tables I will be in trouble, and if they come in later in the game I’m in trouble since there is no hive commander, etc. +1 to back them up. I’ve talked about how in a tournament it is better to go with a guaranteed result over a random one so I am leaning towards another group of regular stealers, plus a second group of gaunts just to account for the fact if my tervigon does burn out on turn one of creating gaunts.

Thoughts, comments? How would you react to a mass of bugs just running at you plus two groups of infiltrated genestealers? Ignore the stealers and go for the trygons? Hit them both with fire? Definitely a different flavor then my Null Deployment ‘nids…

Mailbag Monday: Grey Knights, Necrons, Playtesting

hey fritz love your vids i am starting a grey knights army and i was wondering if you could send me your grey knights army list or some suggestions this would be very helpful
thank you

Well this is certainly an interesting time for Grey Knights with a new codex a few weeks out. As for my Grey Knight list, at this point, it really does not matter- it is only good for a few more weeks...

So suggestions?

Two ways to go, fun and fluff or hard core brick in the face. Fun lists where you don't care about winning, but pulling off cool tricks and powers look at all the inquisitors and stuff they unlock and open up. Hard core, you want to look at what the best Space Marine lists do now and see what they Grey Knights can do better. For example- razorspam is powerful with all the shots it can pump out- we'll GK RZ spam can do the same only better since they could have the ability to always shoot. In regular marine lists terminators are used as a hammer unit- Grey Knight termies can do the same job better. Sure they are all more points, but what does that matter if you are killing twice the amount of stuff before your units get taken out. That is what I would look into with the new codex...

Hey Fritz.

So i gotta few questions. I'm having serious trouble bettering my brothers army. He usually plays 1 death company rhino filled with 5 death company and a chaplain. and three razorbacks one filled with Gabriel seth a priest and 8 men and the other two with tactical squads and priests. As well as this he has two Dreadnoughts with auto-cannons sitting at the back picking my troops to pieces. and a squad of Vanguard veterans with heroic intervention who always drop in with decent of angels right next to a destroyer squad. oh and i almost forgot a squad of 5 troops 3 of them with rocket launchers usually perched up on a hill.

my list is

28 troop
7 scarab sward
6 destroyers
1 lord with res orb
1 monolith
1 tomb stalker
1 tomb spyder
5 flayed ones

i usually break the destroyers into 2 wings of 3 and use the phalanx to push the Angels back but they usually just charge in knowing the necrons are weak at close combat.. My Monolith get luck occasionally and destroys a few tanks but other than that i just end up running from close combat wither by using the veil of darkness or just simply running. Any advice on this would help. Even suggestions on what i need to buy to help me would be great. oh and i attached a picture of my tomb stalker nailing a marine you might like. it isn't painted but got a nice pose. cheers buddy.

Necrons vs. Blood Angles, you have a tough match up right there with an old codex vs. one of the strongest- in the running with Space Wolves. What makes it harder is the BA is awesome in the assault and Necrons just fold in the assault. That said there are some ideas and now is a good time for Necrons- with most of the Space Marine 'dexes out of the way, Necrons will be dropping real soon with a new codex.

Here are some ideas to keep in mind as you move around on the table- monolith, not for what it can kill, but rather as a WBB factory. Imagine it in the center of your army with all your warriors and destroyers around it. When models go down from shooting or in the assault before the sweeping advance, WBB them through the portal. Imagine three warrior squads spread around the monolith- don't keep them so close that the BA can multi-assault. Rapid fire as best you can, and when one unit goes down from the assault WBB portal through the monolith and rapid fire from there.

You also want a C'Tan- the Deceiver, could proxy or make a star god model if you don't have one. Use him near your warrior units- let the BA come to you and assault with him. Don't forget he can misdirect the charge- use that to stall the BA. Put him in charge range, let him be charged, misdirect, and then charge yourself. Yes he will eat las cannon shots, but those are shots not going at your destroyers. Finally you want a destroyer lord, my preference is with the nightmare shroud attached with a small group of scarabs to soak up wounds, to zip around and draw away the BA. Turbo boost him into the back lines and start popping off shroud. Don't be fooled into thinking that with the war scythe and T6 he can hold up in the assault, he can't. That and target priority is what to focus on now till we get a new dex...

Fritz, I face a dilemma in preparing for tournaments. I live in an area, where it is a bit of a drive to my nearest gaming group so I can only get out there every month or so.

Recently I have been trying to prepare for tournaments by running simulated battles against a variety of armies using my army. I put them on a small table, assume ranges and play through turns 1 and 2 over and over again to learn about alpha strikes.

I am an avid fan of your material and I have always subscribed to your methodologies in battle.

I often hear you refer to how you and Jawaballs do playtesting on a regular basis, and I can't imagine that you play games through to completion every time. Do you have any tips that you can share with me?

When I go to tournaments I like to take pictures of all the armies on their display boards- both the good and bad ones. Same thing at the local gaming club and comic shop, so in this way I build up a virtual library of armies. Later at home I'll set up my army and start flipping through the photos asking myself questions like how would I deal with this or that, etc. What is my opponent going to do with that army? How am I going to counter it? Etc.

Second thing, when JB and I do get together is that we will play a game quickly to turn three and then stop, step back and look. Is one of us winning? Has one of us dominated the table enough, broken the others army enough that they can't come back? Important stuff as you want to “win” the game by turn three through both killy and position so the next few turns are just mop-up. Done this way we can get in a “game” in thirty minutes easy.

Final thing we like to try out is the what if scenario- take a model or models in our list and role play it out. Could my group of 20 poisoned, furious charge, preferred enemy hormagaunts take out Mepheston on the charge? What if he charged me? Get them out on the table and play it out. Could Typhus get in a killing blow before he goes down? If you had some army pics you could even wargame this out on your own...

Fritz out...

The NEXT Evolution Of 40K?

Kain is deified. The clans tell tales of him. Few know the truth. He was mortal once, as were we all. However, his contempt for humanity drove him to create me and my brethren. I am Raziel, first born of his lieutenants. I stood with Kain and my brethren at the dawn of the empire. I have served him a millennium. Over time, we became less human, and more... divine. Kain would enter the state of change and emerge with a new gift. Some years after the master, our evolution would follow, until I had the honor of surpassing my lord. For my transgression, I earned a new kind of reward...





Sorcerer or Psyker alike, imagine for a moment if you could peer into the warp and return with forbidden knowledge. It is the dawn of 5th edition and the rulebook has been leaked to the internet giving an unknown glance of things to come. Imagine the tremendous advantage you would have had at that time if you meched up your marines while everybody else, including the tournament aces, were still running their foot lists. Later on when the rest of the 40K world caught on and went from rhinos to razorbacks with full maxed out units inside, imagine if you had then jumped to MSU before it was MSU. Seeing into the future and being AHEAD of the trend is where I want to be…

So what is the next trend to hit 40K? The “summer of flyers”? LOL!

Take a step back from codex level lists and look the trends. At this point everything is mech, MSU, and spammed throughout the force org chat- a bit simplistic to say three dreds and three preds, but you get the idea.

A throne for my thoughts?

5th edition is about Space Marines. Period. Xenos are an afterthought, a footnote, and as much as I hate to say it, being a diehard Eldar fanboi it is true. Now I’m not saying you should give up on Eldar, Necrons, and the like, just that we are taking a step back and looking at the big picture that GW has created in this point and time of the game system, magnified by the players out there.

5th Edition Imperial Books: Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Grey Knights
5th Edition Update FAQ’s: Black Templars, Dark Angels
5th Edition Xeno Books: Tyranids (!), Dark Eldar

Do the math and crunch the numbers.

All the imperial books are strong with multiple builds and two to three strong competitive (read tournament) builds. Tyranids have ONE tournament build, and Dark Eldar, while still in the exploration phase seem to also only have one. Sigh, raider spam.

Chances are pretty good, at a competitive tournament, you are going to be facing Space Marines, perhaps even the exact same army that you have brought. You know what the list is going to try and do because you are trying to do the same thing. This is the rock, paper, scissors, Spock syndrome. Don’t waste your time building your army out to deal with hordes like Orks or Tyranids since the odds of facing them are almost nil. Gear up to vape AV 11/12, T4, and that 3+ save. Of course if you happen to draw Orks... The odds are in your favor for marines so take that chance.

Which is also why at this point I will personally never place Space Marines in a tourney environment. I’ll enjoy my Black Templars and Grey Knights at the club, but at a tourney it is xeno all the way. Why, if xenos are just fodder for 5th? The unknown factor. It may not be a top tier codex, but if your opponent is not familiar with it, that opens up the chance for mistakes, and mistakes (your opponent’s) are where and how you win the game. For those still playing 4th edition armies in a tournament this is the angle you want to exploit. Think about it this from this point of view- you see a razorback across the table with an las/plas turret. Everybody knows it can move 6” and fire, has an AV of 11, 5-6 marines inside, etc. But what about that weird bug with the tentacles? The difference between a trygon and a tervigon? If you are not familiar fighting xenos you have to keep in mind and remember theirs stats, range, etc. This taxes brain power over the course of the game, focus, etc. Can’t just go on autopilot. Make sense? Either way be ready for Space Marine even if you are playing them yourself…

The return of the Devastator?

Dark Eldar drive the insane amounts of shots coming down the table each turn up a notch. Grey Knights are going to take it a step further. Mech is not dead (sadly) but are you ready to adapt. Those ahead of the curve already have, you might just not see it yet. Take a look at the guys in your group who are suddenly playing devastators and I bet they are tournament players.

You are always going to want razorbacks as a marine player. The firepower options are nice, but it is more for the protection and mobility. On foot you would need a full tactical squad to keep them alive long enough to do anything, in a razorback where they are protected you can get away with five- this saves you points from not having to take the other five that you can spend on other things. Razorbacks won’t change. But what about predator tanks, and rifleman dreads? These guys are the fire outputs in the list, but now with the further escalation in firepower on the table it is easier to stun/shake them so they won’t be shooting next turn. In a well designed list it is easy to stop three preds/dreads from shooting a turn. Don’t even have to destroy them, just stop them from shooting.

Not so with devastators- with some meat shields (you never want to be the guy holding the bolter in a dev unit) you can’t take them out in a single lucky shot, or stop them from shooting next turn. That is the reason why 15 long fangs is such a bitch to face. Yes, they are cheaper, but there is no reason why vanilla marines can’t have them also. With all missile launchers their lack of mobility really doesn’t matter since they just park and shoot. Devs are the answer to what is coming.

Return of the deathstar X 2!

With the continued reduction in points for Space Marines the more is better option is now starting to open up for HQ choices. We are not quite back to the days of hero hammer, but things are close. Compare Swarmlord and his cost (with guard since you need them to make him work) vs. Mepheston and tell me which is better? Either Swarmy needs to come down in points or the 40K Dracula needs to get a bump to C’Tan point levels. Xeno HQ choices tend to support the army overall with powers or options that unlock, while the best Space Marine HQ choices are outright killers in their own right. Sure there are some supporting marine HQ choices, but these are to satisfy the fluff or fun options. Take those HQ choices that KILL and that is your deathstar. CSM and BA should have two stock, SW should have three stock. LOL! Three wolf lords on thunder wolves with all the toys attached to one thunder wolf squad, four razorbacks with grey hunters, and then 15 long fangs at 1750 and you are set. Deal with that. Vanilla marines- Lysander and TT/SS termies in one land raider and a libby and TT/SS in another. Deal with that. But Fritz, what about the points cost. Save it by not taking upgrades on your troop squads which are just objective placeholder now. Well built and supported HQ choices far outstrip what your troops can do any day in terms of raw killing power. One DS you can avoid, stall, or even deal with, two is a problem. Space Marine players, why are you not playing two killy HQ units and ramming them down the table at your opponent? Make that HQ punch so solid this is all your opponent can do…

Those are just two of the trends that I’m seeing in my own gaming circles and what I’m preparing for. When some of the “big name” tournament winners start talking about these things at lunch during the break, it pays to take notice and start preparing. Be ahead of the curve, and be ahead of THAT curve with a counter, which is also where I personally want to be going, and also hope to share with you.

Thoughts?

Tournament Bonus Points?

So what’s the game plan in a tournament where everybody is playing the same army with the same plan of tabling everybody the face? When both you and your opponent are undefeated what is the plan for pulling ahead of the pack? Bonus points, primary and secondary objectives, maybe you call it something else in your neck of the woods.

In a tournament setting your often have the primary mission- capture and control, seize ground, etc.- maybe with a slight variation, maybe not, and then you often have bonus objectives like killing your opponent’s HQ choice, securing table quarters, the center of the table, etc. For each bonus objective you often then get a single battle point or two added to your score- which at the end of the tournament can add up to the equivalent of winning another game. You have to plan and train for the bonus points.

Most tournament players only plan for winning the mission and beating their opponent, top players also plan for scoping up all the bonus points that they can- and this is what I want you to start thinking about and practicing. Tournaments are won and lost on the bonus points, I know 100% having both won and lost my share of them on those bonus objectives.

When I first started actively playing in tournaments this was the hardest concept for me to keep in mind- I was playing two games at the same time- the first was beating my opponent at the mission, and the second was picking up as many bonus points as I could. Much like you start “winning” the game from turn one, you have to be setting up those bonus points from turn one. Taken a step further, when building your army, whatever “meta” you are using, you also have to build your army to be able to capture those bonus points.

So what are some of those bonus points and what is the plan to capture them? The three most common in tournaments around here are earned for killing an HQ choice, controlling table quarters, and then often controlling deployment zones. Other popular ones are killing out all units in a heavy or fast slot, etc.

Let’s start with the HQ choice…

This is an easy one to pick up since GW is making their HQ choices more and more overpowered with each codex and front and center is an HQ IC, often part of a death star unit. Mepheston, librarians, and named Space Marine characters front and center. In my Null Deployment Tyranid list is Swarmlord, etc. Often your opponent is going to try and club you with the deathstar unit so killing it along the way become mission critical. But there is also the opposite side to this. If I am really going cutthroat to the wall in a tournament it’s also about denying bonus points to my opponent since we are all vying for those top spots- I want my points, while making sure you don’t get yours. Do you have an exposed/aggressive HQ choice in your list? Back to my Null Deployment Tyranids list with Swarmlord- his job is to cut you up with the bone swords, and he often goes down in the process giving up a point or two to my opponent. On the other hand in my overdrive ‘nid list all I have is a prime and he runs and hides to deny that point. Keep in mind that sometimes you don’t want or need to kill that deathstar unit. Sometimes I’ll send out a group of genestealers (if we are talking ‘nids) to get into base to base with that IC and pile on the attacks. Sure I lose the ‘stealers, but I get that point…

Next is table quarters, deployment zones and the like, which often require lots of troop choices to capture them AND the mission objectives. If it is an objective based mission you are going to have to have enough troops to do both. Now while this isn’t a problem with Space Marines thanks to combat squads, and other 5th edition books with cheap troop choices, the older books and some lists really suffer from the time in the game when troops didn’t matter for the win.

If you are playing one of these older books then you are going to have to shift to the defensive- “capture” on table quarter with your troops and use the other elements of your army to “contest” the other table quarters- difficult to do, but not a lot of other options.

The final piece of advice is to know when to hold and when to fold. A loss with no bonus objectives is bad, a loss with some bonus objectives means you still have a chance to come back and place. There comes a time when you know a game is lost, and while you should never give up and try to pull out the win from nowhere, it is also important o be honest. If I can’t win, after really looking at the game, then I shift away from winning the primary mission and go for all the bonus objectives that I can pick up. Which, is often easy to do at that point since my opponent is often so focused on crushing me it is easy to pick them up.

So what are some of the bonus tournament objectives in your corner of the world? What elements in your army are ready to go out and claim them? What’s your plan?