Back to Basics: A 40k Tutorial for Playing the Odds

I’ve decided to write about some basic strategies involving competitively playing the odds for 40k. This article is geared towards new players who have been playing for roughly a year… you’ve finally learned all the rules and now you can start to really focus on your strategies and tactics. So if you are a hardened veteran this article might not apply as much to you. Hopefully everyone can gain something useful.

Often I see players relatively new to the game making the same mistakes over and over again. For example: a beginner will make a high risk decision that has a fairly low chance of succeeding rather than make more conservative choices that have higher odds. A good example is firing all of your heavy weapons at a Space Marine landraider, or Necron Monolith, in hopes that a lucky shot gets through and destroys the primary target. A major drawback to this type of decision making is that the rest of the opponent’s army is untouched that turn and then the next player turn the opponent is relatively free to move about, shoot and launch their assaults. You’ve put all your eggs in one basket and if the goose does not deliver the proverbial golden egg then you’re done. If the player had split their fire focusing primarily on shooting more lightly armored transports such as Space Marine rhinos and razorbacks in the case of a Space Marine army then they’d stand a much better chance of popping some of their opponent’s armor and slowing their advance. Basically what I’m saying is that if you execute decisions that have the best odds then the chances of you being overall more successful is much higher.

If I’m playing a shooting army then I want to spread my heavy weapons around various units as much as possible so I can focus fire on one target first, destroy it, and then move onto the next target. Some armies lend themselves well to this type of build – Dark Eldar with several squads of Warriors and Trueborn armed with dark lances and blasters plus all their raiders armed with more dark lances. Each of these units can target a separate enemy unit. Some armies don’t lend themselves so well to this type of build – for example a primary source of heavy weapons for Space Wolves are Long Fangs (they can split fire if the pack leader is still alive so that helps to mitigate the disadvantage of taking several heavy weapons in this one particular unit). On the other hand, I like to have weapons that are dedicated to anti-troop dedicated to a few units versus being spread out amongst my army – for example: a Space Marine Devastator squad with four heavy bolters. It requires a high volume of shooting to quickly drop infantry rather than plinking away at them with a couple of shots here and there. Again I will focus fire on one unit at a time, destroy it then move on to the next target. It’s very important to focus on one enemy unit at a time rather than randomly shooting one unit here and another there.

If I’m playing a shooting army then I focus on first destroying units that are the highest threat. For example I don’t want a huge squad of gargoyles to hit my battle line and tie up a lot of my units because that will shutdown a lot of my shooting. If possible I will target the closest enemy units not in cover to deny them a cover save. Good Tyranid players run several waves in their armies – the first wave is fast and meant to quickly reach your battle line so that it can tie up a good portion of your army. Necron players can also do this with their scarab swarms. The first wave provides time for their slower second wave to reach your army relatively untouched. I focus on slower moving threats once the most immediate threats have been eliminated.

When I am fighting an assault I want my attacks to do the most damage and focus placing the majority of my attacks on enemy models that have the lower initiative and worst armor saves. By scoring the most wounds possible you have the best chance of winning combat and either breaking the enemy unit or forcing them to take a lot of additional armor saves due to No Retreat. Stacking lots of S4 attacks that don’t ignore armor saves versus a multi wound T6 unit are largely wasted if you could have directed these attacks versus another lower toughness units such as gaunts. The goal is to either break or destroy enemy units in close combat so you can then move onto the next target, otherwise you could be allowing your opponent to tarpit your assault units.

If I have a powerful independent character or monstrous creature in assault generally I’ll place all its attacks on models with lower weapon skill, the worst saves and lower initiative. If you stack these attacks versus another powerful model/unit with an invulnerable save then most likely the majority of your attacks will be blunted – lower odds of hitting/wounding and the opponent has a save versus those attacks that do wound. Generally speaking you really want to maximize the number of wounds you inflict in each round of close combat, even more so if you’re playing an assault army such as Blood Angels or Tyranids.

Often I’ll use models armed with power fists or power klaws to snipe enemy independent characters that aren’t Eternal Warriors in an attempt to destroy them with one one wound due to the Instant Death rule. This is a quick and easy way to eliminate big threats in close combat – I’m taking advantage of an inherent weakness.

Often when discussing assaults I speak about the power of the multi charge and counter assaults. These are two powerful tactics for assault armies that can quickly destroy a significant portion of your opponent’s army. The multi charge means that you are charging multiple enemy units, scoring lots of unsaved wounds then either breaking them due to combat resolution or forcing them to take a lot of additional armor saves due to No Retreat. The quicker you can destroy enemy units in close combat the sooner you can engage other enemy units. Also if some enemy units do remain locked in combat then they are tied up (can’t do anything else the following player turn) plus your opponent can’t shoot your units that are locked.

Counter assault means that you have some units held back that do not immediately engage the enemy in close combat. Your first units to reach an assault lock enemy units in place so that the following turn you can then hit them with your counter assault units and break through their lines. Often my counter assault units are my best close combat units. By making sure they can charge they benefit from launching assaults rather than receiving them. Blood Angels with Furious Charge and/or Preferred Enemy are roughly three times as deadly when charging as opposed to being charged. On the other hand a classic counter attack unit are Grey Hunters and they excel at receiving a charge – they disembark from their rhino and rapid fire then make use of the counter attack USR to absorb a charge – you are getting the most value out of Grey Hunters by using them as such. Note though there will be instances when it’s a better choice to just shoot their bolt pistols and charge the same turn; it all depends on the situation.

Counter assault units are also used to protect your shooty units. Armies such as Space Marines can hold a squad of assault terminators in a landraider and quickly launch a counter strike of the enemy reaches their troops. It is very important to prevent an enemy assault unit from running through your backfield uncontested, otherwise it’s game over man.

So in conclusion I’ve provided some examples that show you how to maximize the offensive power of your army. Shooting you want to spread out your heavy weapons so that you can target various enemy units, on the other hand you’ll want to keep your anti troop shooting clustered in a few units so you can pour the most shots into a few target units saturating them with wounds. Assaults you want to be able to charge and hit multiple enemy units to maximize your offense.

How would you use these tactics with your army? Do you have some more tips and tricks for new players you’d like to add?