Sunday, August 2, 2009

Smoke and Mirrors, er . . . uh Transports

Here is another battlefield tactic. A quick tip, a battlefield tactic that will serve you well in your games.

The availability of cover in 5th Edition has changed the game greatly. However, if you do not take full advantage of this aspect of the game, then your opponent will have an edge on you. It is one thing to make a good army list, but you must play well on the table to win the day.

Here is the quick tip: Make cover for your transports where there is none.
You must learn to move your tanks your in a way that will provide cover.

In the first picture, you see how two rhinos traveling together are stronger than one. The first Rhino pops smoke, and the second takes cover behind the first. Make sure that you obscure the vehicle by keeping it tucked in behind the first. On the next turn, drive the rhino in the back out full speed ahead. Pop smoke, and drive the rhino which smoked on the previous turn up behind the new lead rhino.

Be sure to tuck the Rhino in behind to maximize its cover. With this method, two Rhinos can cover much more distance, and they can benefit from the smoke launchers for two turns.

In the second picture, you can see a rhino parked on an objective in the edge of a ruin. I placed the Rhino so that its side armor facing was 50% obscured to provide a cover save. Also, the Tactical Squad inside can fire the lascannon out of the top hatch. In this scenario, my opponent must either change his plans and move to another part of the table to change armor facings that he is targeting, give up on firing at the rhino, or allow me the cover save.

In the last picture, you can see another use of terrain to get that cover save. You have to think about the saves as you make your moves. Use every bit of the terrain to your advantage.

There is a right way and a wrong way to move. Hanging your transports out in the wind is the wrong way to move.

5 comments:

FoxPhoenix135 said...

Nice little tactic... I might give it a try sometime.

Feldmarshal Goehring said...

It works well in my experience.

Thanks for reading and for commenting.

Hallowed Ground said...

Awesome, I just watched a vid by Fritz about this tactic...He is making me think about using Razorbacks instead of rhinos for my BTs. Just a heads up as to what I may try next time :D

Dverning said...

Good little tactica there. I've been advocating this kind of play for quite some time. If you think it is fun with Marines, you should try it with Skimmers like Eldar tanks...

Feldmarshal Goehring said...

@High Marshal Hunter->Thanks for the heads up. I think Fritz makes a good argument for non-Blood Angel Space Marines to use Razorbacks instead of Rhinos in the current 40k environment.

@Dverning->I am truly green with envy over the Wave Serpent as a transport. I honestly believe that it is the best transport in the game. Whats not to love: Super-fast, Respectable arsenal, and the Protective Energy field. I love it.

Your Eldar Skimmers can make better use of their move distances because they can drive over one another instead of having to drive around.