Warmachine Tactics: Dealing with Stealth
At some point, most new players run into an enemy model or unit with the Stealth rule, and many of those new players have no idea how to deal with it. Here, I discuss some of the basic tactics.
So your opponents are running a model/unit with Stealth, and its giving you fits. Maybe they’re running Eiryss. Maybe it’s Legion Striders, or Bane Thralls, or even a Warcaster, like Deneghra. Whatever it is, don’t despair! There are ways available to every faction to take out those annoying Stealthed models.
First, lets review the single most important rule for Stealth that gives most people problems: Ranged and magical attacks from more than 5″ away automatically miss.
Now I want you to think hard about that. Ranged and magical attacks from more than 5″ away auto-miss. Nothing more, nothing less. Therein lies the key to taking out those annoying Stealthed models. Here’s some ways to do it:
1) AOE’s, especially long ranged AOE’s. Yes, your shots will miss, but you’ll still have a chance to scatter and hit the model with a 1/2 strength hit. The one thing to remember about most Stealthed models is that they don’t have high ARM. Hitting Eiryss with even a POW 6 or 7 shot will hurt her, and you’ve got a great chance to kill her if you’re shooting that AOE from your Warcaster or a Warjack, giving you the option to boost the damage. A single 3″ AOE doesn’t have the greatest chance of hitting, but with multiple AOE’s, say like those from Deliverers, or with a 4″ or 5″ AOE, you’ve got a very good chance of at least clipping the offending model. Just make sure you position your models to give yourself 2 turns of shooting, just in case the scatters and/or damage rolls don’t go your way.
One other tactic is to run one of your own models into melee with the enemy model and then shoot yourself in the back. Consider the following. A Khador Warjack runs into melee with Eiryss. The Khador player then shoots his own jack in the back with a Destroyer round. The DEF of the Khador jack will be 12 (10 base, +4 for being in melee, -2 for being attacked from the rear arc), easily hittable with a boosted attack roll. So long as the Khador player was smart, the 3″ AOE will also clip Eiryss. The player boosts the POW 7 roll versus Eiryss, likely killing her, but doesn’t boost the POW 14 against his own Warjack. With ARM 20, the POW 14 direct hit will do an average of 1 point of damage to the Warjack, hardly enough to worry about, and a small sacrifice for getting rid of a dangerous model.
2) Spells. Remember, all magical attacks from more than 5″ away auto-miss. So run an Arcnode or even your Warcaster within that 5″ (be more careful if it’s your Warcaster) and “fire away”. If the Stealthed models’ defense is so high that you’re afraid of missing, you can always target one of your own models with a spell like Chain Lightning, Ashes to Ashes, or an AOE spell. If you set this up right, you’ll have a pretty easy time hitting your own model (say a high ARM Warjack with low DEF) in the back, and then having the closest models for the spell to bounce into be the Stealthed enemy. You don’t have to roll to hit on those extra Chain Lightning leaps….
3) A Sacrificial Lamb. Lets say Striders are really ruining your day, and shooting up all your guys. One simple way to deal with them, or at least take them out of the game for a turn, is to run something into melee with them! Now, this tactic is better against Stealthed units that focus on ranged attacks, like Striders or Eiryss, than say, Bane Thralls, since most models with good ranged attacks are often lacking melee skills. However, this can still work against Bane Thralls too, especially by tying them up, you can take them out of the game for a critical turn. A word of warning, against models with very high DEF, say DEF 15+, make sure your sacrificial unit has a decent MAT, or your opponent may just walk out of combat. A MAT 6 model making a freestrike against DEF 16 will still need an 8+ to hit; not good odds.
4) Charge Them! This isn’t always possible against some units, but is often your best option against a Stealthed Warjack/Warbeast, and against many of the Stealthed melee units. Consider, most models with Stealth also have SPD 5 or 6, and most won’t have reach. Therefore, take one of your own SPD 5+ units with reach and charge them first! This requires a bit of range guessing skill on your part, but it is often the best way of eliminating those models. Even a SPD 7 stealthed melee unit like the Legion Hexhunters can be outcharged by a SPD 6 unit with reach (10.5″ threat versus 11″).
5) Spray the Suckers. Sprays ignore stealth. As with spells, you’ll often need to use the sprays from Warjacks/Warbeasts to give yourself the option to boost the hit roll against high DEF models. One other benefit to sprays is that they can be combined with the sacrificial lamb tactic, since sprays ignore the +4 DEF bonus for being in melee. If your sacrificial unit also has high DEF or ARM, you can tie up the enemy on one turn, and then move in with sprays later, saving your boosted rolls for the enemy model.
These are the most common ways of taking out stealthed models. Of course, there are others, and most factions have access to at least one model capable of ignoring the Stealth rule completely, but the tactics above are easily applied with almost any reasonably balanced list. -Lux out
