Warhammer 40K: Top 5 Dirtiest Deployment Tricks Of All Time
We’re getting Retro with this one – hop in to take a ride back into the past with some of the Dirtiest Deployment Tricks of All Time. We all used to HATE these!
We are going back through the nine editions looking for the units that made us laugh hysterically, or groan with anxious dread during the Deployment Phase. Strangely it seems like 1998’s 3rd Edition was the high water mark for GW kicking out deployment tricks. Maybe it’s the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia but these tricks still haunt us many years later. Here we go in no particular order:
Callidus Assassin (3rd Ed.)
A Word in Your Ear. Sure being able to move a single enemy unit up to 6″ after deployment didn’t sound like much. But I can recall all the hilarity of moving Devastator Squads forward out of rooftops into the open right in front of buildings, or back 6″ behind it. Moving that scary assault squad 6″ back, or some hero with an aura effect just out of range was extra sweet. All those key units hiding behind tanks, just sitting out in the open, and reversing the order of bubble-wrap squads was great. It was normally all patched up by the Callidus’ target by Turn 2, but it was still distracting and irritating.
Eldrad (3rd Ed.)
Divination: Getting to move d3 of your units up to 6″ after deployment was extra spicy. Again, once deployment is done, you can do the Ulthwe 2-step, and get your shooters into solid positions to hit any exposed bad guys, move your exposed units into cover, and hide your precious HQs from alpha strikes. By definition, you could not “trick the Eldar” during deployment if Eldrad was on the field by order-of-operation feints.. The only hope was if the Eldar player was just so dense he didn’t see the obvious danger of his opponent’s deployment – which wasn’t often.
Solar Macharius (3rd Ed)
Master Strategist. Not deployment per se, but close enough. Macharius’ ability to choose who goes first or second, with no rolling required was the most powerful any mini ever got. Even Vect’s older Seizing the Initiative on a 4+ couldn’t compete against the Warmaster. Macharius was seen so infrequently ont he tabletop back in the day, that his unusual rule often caught opponents off guard. IG Players fielding Macharius would choose early in deployment to deploy insanely aggressively, or defensively with no need to worry about losing that critical roll for first turn – while unwary foes just thought they were being overconfident. Then the magic rules reveal happened…
Catachans (3rd Ed)
Ambushes & Booby Traps: Who could forget the entirely non-standard deployment a Codex Catachan army could use. They would cut up the board into 1 square foot sections and note on a map where their units deployed. These units would then pop up mid-game or if an enemy wandered too close. Of course, they could also spend points on booby traps, and place than anywhere on the board – even the enemy deployment zone. Watch your step – BOOM! It made games completely no-standard, and somewhat of a whack-a-mole experience. Rarely used, but highly memorable.
Craftworld Alaitoc (3rd Ed.)
Ranger Disruption Table: We saved the best for last. You rolled on a d6 chart for each unit of Eldar Rangers and Pathfinders in your army. The results could throw enemy units off the table and into reserves, or even get free shots pre-game at them. It was often crippling to a tightly constructed army’s ability to fight – and is infamous to this day. If you wonder why there is still a slithg taint of ill-will in the air towards any and all things Alaitoc to this day – blame the Ranger Disruption Table of decades past.
Fast Forward to Now – 10th Edition Tricksters
10th Edition is decades away from 3rd, but still we get some deployment dirty-trick homages. The Space Marine Infiltrator’s Omni-scramblers plain out stop you from deploying any units within 12″ of them. So not exactly a deployment dirty trick as an anti-dirty trick. It’s clear the Marines are all done with this tricksy BS!
But no worries, if you are looking for old-school deployment shenanigans – the Adeptus Mechanicus are here to help. Their Skitarii Hunter Cohort, can purchase the Veiled Hunter Enhancment, which lets you redeploy three Skitarii units after both armies have set up – even into reserves. Not quite the same as Eldrad’s old 3rd Edition rules (see above), but in the neighborhood.
~ Did we miss any? I’m SURE you have great stories about these abilities. Let’s hear em!
