40k Battle Tactics: Sling Shotting

Plague Marine has asked me to join the Plague Spreads team to provide some insight into some of my battle tactics in Warhammer 40,000. Here is the first of hopefully many techniques that can help get you across the line in a tough game.

So "Sling Shotting", what is it? Sling Shotting is when you use an independent character to get a unit closer to the enemy or an objective. The technique works exactly the same in reverse, using a unit to get an independent character closer to the enemy. This move can win games by itself. If you get to the last turn and you have a scoring unit just out of range for claiming an objective, if a fast moving independent character can get there to make coherency, it can be the difference of claiming or contesting an objective.

The first example I am going to provide is Dark Eldar, an army that I know fairly well, however the concepts can be taken to any other army.

How often do you have a killer combat unit that if you hit their lines, the game is over. Lets say you have a big squad of incubi in a raider, and you have the baron flying around on his sky board with his hellion mates. The plan was to zoom up with the raider, drop out with the incubi and kill some marines, while the hellions are there to jump around and pick off some smaller units. All was going well until they shot your raider down about 16" away, you don't know the exact measurement, but it is enough to have you worried you will be out of charge in your turn. This is a potential game changer, those incubit were to break the lines, now they are out in the open.

So how do you turn this around? So come your turn, they move their full 6" straight at the enemy, you now have a better guage of whether or not they will be in charge range. Now incubi do have fleet, however, you think you need a roll of at least a 4 to make the charge, of you don't get it, you are out in the open, and will be shot to pieces. So this is where the fast moving independant character comes into it. The baron leaves his unit and goes right to the front of the incubi unit, putting him as far forwards as possible, while keeping coherency with the incubi he has just joined. This has just given you an extra 3 inches.

So you were roughly 16" away, you moved your 6", leaving a 10" gap, you have now gained an extra 3" with the baron joining the unit, making roughly a 7" gap, both the baron and the incubi have fleet, and so even if you only roll a 1 for the run, the baron will get in base to base contact, and the rest of the marine squad will have to pile into the incubi.

Well, I hope this is a nice teaser to what is to come, in the future I will have links to youtube clips where I will have real life examples, with step by step explanations. This move has hands down won me countless games, because people shoot down the incubi squad, make the decision "he wont be able to charge me next turn" and then they shoot at what they perceive is the biggest next threat, and then bam! I get my incubi in and smash some peski marines...

Some of the 40k Battle Tactics that will be coming soon will be; Multi Charge - when and how to do it, "The Art of Turn 1 Assault", and many more.

till next time