Tactics Articles

Chances are there is at least one if not dozens of tactics articles for every army in every miniature game out there.

Some of these articles seem to have been written by chimps. Truly groundbreaking paradigms of thought like "These troops are your best shock troops. They need to be in hand-to-hand to work properly."

WOW. Sun-Tzu is spinning in his grave like a rotisserie chicken. You're telling me that these troops - these pricey, elite-quality troops with big swords and no guns- need to be in hand-to-hand to work properly? Check out the big brain on Brad!!

(sighs)

All me to cite a fine example, and the inspiration for this piece. In my prep work for the upcoming Starship Troopers tourney at Origins, I was considering the options for a Skinnies army. I figured that even if I didn't take them (and I am not) it would be a good exercise in seeing what sort of armies we might see there. But upon reviewing their army book, and the list of what models are going to be available between now and the tourney, I don't see any way that someone could really put together a winning force.

But, my curiosity was raised. So I posted on to the Mongoose SST forum this inquiry:

"Does anyone have some actual Skinnies gameplay experience? I've been rolling the points around and trying to see how they'd play compared to my preferred MI, and they are just so radically different.

The Skinnies don't have the MI mobility at all. My standard way of dealing with the Warrior swarm is Ready-Jump/Shoot. It seems cheap, in a way - but the MI don't really have much choice. They can't win the game as a stand-and-shoot army - they lack the range for that kind of gameplay.

So I'm curious how the Skinnies can win. They don't have a lot of weapons with extreme ranges, and they can't beat the fast retreat of the MI, either. I suppose it's possible that they could try and do alternative reactions of Shoot and then Flee, but even then, that's dangerously close to the mouth - and the belly - of the beasts.

So, please, if you've proxied models and played the Skinnies, at any point level, I'd like to hear what you've had success with."

And this is my first reply:

"Some units just die, others die hard..."

(sighs)

Very concrete example there.

And the second:

"Well when I played I played with my friend with an arachnid controled skinne army. It was very cool considering the power of the arachnid close combat combined with the ranged weapons with the skinnies. I am now considering getting skinnies. They are very powerful if you know how to use them. They can kick some serious butt."

Um. Okay. Let's revise my request here, since You Are Not Getting It.

I posted again:

"Any specifics that come to mind? Brutes versus Marauders, anything?

I have plenty of theory. I'm looking for concrete examples."

And I got:

"I imagine the ambushing will help keep the MI on their toes, you could easily get a list where the MI must overun you, and by placing large quantities of raiders in ambush positions the MI go forward at their perril, and dear god... who trusts Mass drivers to slaves!!!! My point being a 60inch rng gun that can pump out that sort of fire power is demonic...

I think skinnies will do just fine, the venerables are mobile, and if you want you can even go bug for brute, the brute being 15 points and as good or better than a warrior..."

ARGH.

In fairness, I did get three posts (the last three) with examples of results and ideas for what appear to be, on paper, good armies/configurations. But so much NOISE to get to the signal. It's madness.

Let me pull one other fine example of some GREAT tactical advice out there...

"Chaos Warriors and Knights come in two flavors, regular and Chosen. The Chosen Chaos Warriors are cut from the 5th edition cloth. They have two attacks and chaos armor. The drawback is that they are very costly, and you are only allowed one unit. Regular Chaos Warriors and Knights have only one attack and wear heavy armor. They are still better than most similar units out there, are definitely worth the price, and you can have as many of them as you want."

What exactly are we learning here? Two attacks, chaos armor - right, I read the army list. Very costly - okay, I see your point, comparing them to this Empire Spearman over here, they cost more. Better than simarlar units - like what? How are they better? How are they worth the price????? WHY AM I FILLING MY MIND WITH THIS MEDIOCRE DREK???

Here's what I have in mind as a replacement:

CHAOS WARRIORS: Arguably the best Core infantry in Warhammer. Also the most expensive. Chaos Warriors are capable of fighting against any unit in the game, and if supported by a secondary unit (like a Chariot, fully ranked Maruaders, or another unit of Chaos Warriors) winning critical combats. Chaos Warriors will rarely outnumber their opponents based on their high point costs, but against typical opponents (Empire, Skaven, Goblins, etc) can expect to win combats by killing more of the enemy to compensate from their lower unit strength.

This could be a lot deeper - discussing optimal unit sizes (12-18), options based on what God you follow, etc. But this is the tip of the iceberg and it is STILL better than the alternatives by a wide margin.