40k EDITORIAL: State of the Imperium (Top Ten Format!)
Hey all, Jwolf here.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the balance of forces I see winning games and tournaments, and these are some of my thoughts about the decline of the whole Mechanized Revolution, in my favorite Top Ten format.
Top Ten Reasons that Partial Mechanized is Better than Fully Mechanized for Imperial Armies.
10) Heavy Weapon Survivability. A Lascannon or Railgun can kill a Landraider in one shot. Over the course of a game, a 10-man tactical squad is unlikely to even have to take a morale check from the same weapon.
9) Increased Firepower. Almost any unit will be able to produce a greater volume of fire outside of their transports than within.
8) Firemagnets. Troops on foot are attractive targets for enemy Ordnance and other AoE effects. Good use of walking troops will generally steer these effects towards the target of your choice. And remember that any Autocannon that shoots at those 2 last walking troops isn’t shooting your Rhinos.
7) Misdirection. Foot troops are almost guaranteed to be the targets of things like the Doom of Malan’tai, Mawlocs, Marbo, and other beasties that pop up in bad places. Using a squad to draw the attention of bad things with short ranges can take them out of the game without requiring a single shot to be fired. Nothing makes me happier than when Outflankers head towards the lone bait squad instead of moving towards objectives.
6) All-Terrain Movement. Boots never become immobilized on a pile of rocks. With run, a squad will move almost as far as most transports anyway.
5) Uniqueness Breeds Uncertainty. Most fully mechanized forces tend to look and feel the same. More importantly, good players understand these forces almost without thinking. Taking a partially mechanized force reduces the effectiveness of the average and above average player in making good decisions about how to stop you.
4) An Empty Bus Gathers no Shots. Try driving some empty Rhinos and dropping some empty pods on the board. It’s amazing how they get ignored in favor of more important targets. This can leave you with a ride for those late-game rushes.
3) Nonlinear Units. The general case of nonlinear units is they are not able to ride the battlefield in style. Drop Pods, Deep Strikers, Jump Packs, and other non-linear units come in a lot of non-mechanized formats, and can be critically useful to successfully defeat many opponents. Driving a wall of Rhinos fender-to-fender across the board does win sometimes, but driving that wall across the board with Chosen coming in from the side wins more.
2) The Un-Metagame. Almost any environment produces a metagame, and almost all metagames cycle from mechanized to hordes and back again. Taking a partially mechanized force leaves you able to deal with both ends of the spectrum without taking too much of a beating against either. Our local gaming population is large enough to have multiple cycles going on within different subgroups, so riding in the middle makes the most sense here and on the road (where we have only guesses about the force mix that will be presented).
1) Synergy. Specializing units so that some are designed to ride, some to hide, and others to fire will help you to develop tactical synergies that actually win games. For example, a Tactical Combat Squad in a Rhino with Melta, Combi-melta, and Powerfist can effectively deliver Melta fire at a 2d6 range out to 21”. This Rhino is going to get shot. The same Combat Squad on foot, running with cover, isn’t going to be a priority target for a while. By the time it is in effective range, your long-range shooting may have diminished the available pool of fire, leaving the Combat Squad in better shape to proceed.
~Well, that’s what I’m thinking. I look forward to hearing what you think and why.
