Pimpcron: Real Warfare Strategies in Warhammer! Part 1
Pimpcron has a list of strategies, it’s pretty cool and stuff.
Hey, hey, hey. . . hey. This is an article about how we can use real military strategies in our silly nonsense toy game! If figured I’d just say it again because some of you are so devout, that you just see the word ‘Pimpcron’ and instinctively click it.
Air Supremacy
A degree of air superiority where a side holds complete control of air power over opposing forces. This is definitely a tactic in our favorite game. Ever heard of someone taking 3 Necron Doomsycthes? Any unit that is Supersonic has an extra degree of defense. Most units can’t assault them and gain -1 to hit with ranged weapons. These types of units can really focus fire and their mobility is unmatched.
Attrition Warfare
A strategy of wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous loss of personnel and material. A hoard player’s dream and main tactic. Also called tarpitting. You take a huge blob of models, tie down a more elite unit, and let your superior numbers wear the other unit out.
Blitzkrieg
An attacking force breaks through the opponent’s line of defence by short, fast, powerful attacks and then dislocates the defenders. Speed is this strategy’s ally. Armies like the Eldar and Dark Eldar come to mind. When you have speed on your side, you are the one in charge of deciding which unit engage with who. This allows you to stack your strengths against their weaknesses.
Blockade
An attempt to cut off an area by force. The way you use this strategy is by bubble-wrapping artillery with expendable infantry. Another idea is to use the volume of models in a hoard unit to spread out and stop the advance of enemy units that can’t fly. A common way to do this is to make a blocking line with your models on the far side of objectives so that you are in control of them, and your opponent can’t physically get into range to contest.
Coercion
Compelling the enemy to involuntarily behave in a certain way. Man, there are a million ways to do this, by feigning being a bad player, or over selling/under selling a unit’s abilities. You can very easily change a player’s behavior by subtle things you do. Also included in this is baiting. Placing a distraction unit nearby in hopes of your opponent making a bad choice and goes after the unit you want them to be distracted by.
Counter-offensive
Tactic is usually implemented through surging at the enemy after their attack. Another form of bubble wrapping, wrap an elite unit with a chaff unit if you expect an assault, let the chaff unit take the brunt of the attacks. Then when your time comes, retreat the chaff unit (if they are in the way) and assault with the fresh elite unit.
Decapitation
Achieving strategic paralysis by targeting command units. Many armies depend heavily on HQ units to buff them, especially in AoS. Using ranged units to focus in on these buffing units helps neutralize the army’s synergy. My Tomb Kings crumble when someone snipes my leaders.
My yearbook was weird.
Deception
A strategy that seeks to deceive, trick, or fool the enemy and create a false perception in a way that can be leveraged for a military advantage. Very similar to the Coercion strategy above, this works well but is quite devious for a supposedly fun game of toy soldiers. I have actually used tactics like this when playing a jerk and wanting to prove a point. I’m not saying cheat, just down play your knowledge and play dumb. Induce them to let their guard down, and then strike at the heart of the army.
Defeat In Detail
Bringing a large portion of one’s own force to bear on small enemy units in sequence, rather than engaging the bulk of the enemy force all at once. This is a strategy useful to nearly any Warhammer game. All too often I see players engage with a superior unit when they didn’t have to. It is nearly always beneficial to strike hard at a weaker enemy then strike at several simultaneously.
Denial
A strategy that seeks to destroy the enemy’s ability to wage war. From Deep Striking units near an enemy Artillery battery, to keeping them from objectives, board control and psychological tactics are at play in this scheme. The best enemy unit is a dead enemy unit. But if they aren’t dead yet, the second best enemy unit is one that is not doing what it is good at. (read: not doing what the player included them in the list to do) By denying them board space or easy targets, you are diminishing their ability to wage war.
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