40K TACTICS: Art Of The Infiltrator
Fritz here. Having been recently spotted playing Tyranids I wanted to share with the good readers here on BoLS some of my thoughts on infiltrators and how I have been using them…
Is it just me, but for the most part in 5th edition infiltrating has really kind of fallen by the wayside along with deep striking as a tactical option? Outflanking seems to be the more popular option with infiltrating being the option that opens this up for you. So why is infiltrating dead, or if it isn’t in LGG, why aren’t you using it? At this point in the game, every army has the option, and for what you can potentially gain, it is worth rounding up two hundred or so points.
Playing Tyranids, genestealers are my infiltrators of choice so what is the plan with them? Take first turn, deploy as far forward with my brood as possible, and then infiltrate the genestealers as close as I can to my opponent? Be on them turn two with the ‘stealers and then hit them with the second wave of buggies coming into range by turn three? Sounds good on paper, but often this is just throwing away your army, and against certain builds it just plain won’t work.
Getting up as close as you can with the infiltrators means you will often be out of cover, and genestealers like cover. Also, what happens if your opponent seizes the first turn? I had this happen to me when I was facing Tau trying the good old stealer rush and it was a disaster. With more models, and more “shots” on the table, this is the 4th edition way of using infiltrators, let’s take it up to 5th…
I want to use my infiltrators as an anchor point on the table. I want to use them to control the movement of the game, limiting and influencing my opponent so it allows my army to better exploit their weaknesses.
So the first thing in assembling a group dedicated to infiltrating is that they have to be a threat in the assault. Power fists, melta bombs, or rending claws are all nasty and want to be avoided at all costs. Second is the strength of numbers, you are going to need a large enough unit size to soak up some losses for a few turns and still be a threat. Ten ‘stealers and a brood lord work for me, what do you have in your codex?
Now for infiltrating, the question is where to go? Cover is a must, even if you benefit from a MEQ save. I want to look at the table and ask myself- where can I put down my infiltrators to assist with the synergy of my army. With my Tyranids, the goal is to keep you away from the center of the table so I can outflank and deepstrike from the edges catching you from all directions. To help push my opponent to the edges I want to work the ‘stealers into terrain as close to the center of the table that I can. Once here, they project a threat bubble of 18” from what they can hit in the assault. Their only job is to project this bubble for as long as they can. If I get shot up with a lot of dakka, I’ll go to ground for the 3+ save. Even if they are pinned from going to ground, as long as a few remain they are still a threat and something that my opponent has to keep in mind.
That is how I’m using infiltrators, and what goes through my mind at the tabletop… How are they working for you all? Fritz Out!
