Spacecurves’ Tactics Class: The Passive Aggressive Assault
Welcome to another Spacecurves Tactics Class, where you get step by step instructions on how to perform specific tactics in the beautiful game of Warhammer 40k.
Today’s Tactic: The Passive Aggressive Assault
The purpose of the passive aggressive assault is to get your squad into combat, but to do so in such a way as to maximize the chances of you breaking out of combat in the following enemy assault phase. It is most useful when you are playing an assault army, against a primarily shooting army with poor assault troops.
In picture 1 below we see my space marines approaching an imperial guard battle line. There is a guardsmen squad and a Leman Russ tank. It is the start of my movement phase.
Picture 1: Passive Aggressive Scenario
It is clear my squad can easily move up and charge the guardsmen, slaughtering them in one assault phase. However, if I did this my marines would be out in the open next turn, and that Leman Russ tank would likely blow them all up. Ideally, I would like to charge the guardsmen, stay in combat this turn, and destroy them in my opponent’s assault phase, so I’d be safe from shooting in my opponent’s turn, and then be free to move up and destroy the battle tank on my following turn. How can I make this happen?
Picture 2 shows the board after my movement phase.
Picture 2: Moving into PA Position
I have moved my squad so that most of them actually moved away from the guardsmen. The goal is to have as many models over 12 inches away from the target squad as possible, while keeping one of them within charge range of the enemy. The twelve inch number comes from your six inch charge, plus their six inch pile in move.
In picture 3 we see the board after I have charged, and the guardsmen have done their six inch pile in move. I have succeeded in keeping all but 3 of my marines out of the fight. This means I’ll probably only kill 1-2 guardsmen. This maximizes the chances of them making their morale check, and staying in combat for a turn. In my opponent’s assault phase my whole squad will be able to fight and I’ll likely break the guardsmen, get a six inch consolidation move, and be free to melta that tank on my next turn.
It is interesting to note that this tactic becomes much harder to pull off if I had Grey Hunters instead of Tactical Marines. The better your individual models are at assault, the harder it is to “pull your punches”. Sometimes, having mediocre assault troops is actually an advantage.
Homework Assignment #1: What other use, besides delaying an assault conclusion for a turn, can you think of for a “passive aggressive assault”? *hint, think about the forced movement of the enemy models*
Bonus Homework Assignment: What should my marines do in THIS situation?
I hope this article has taught you something you can use in your next 40k game. Please post your answers to the homework assignments in the comments below.
-Spacecurves
Class dismissed!
