Road to the GT: Anti- Big Hitters Tactics

Hello! Here's another tactics article from my "Road to the GT" series, focusing again on some popular tournament lists. Today I'll be looking at some of the bigger units you're likely to see and in particular the ones that cause the most annoyance: Wraithknights, Riptides, and Imperial Knights! I'll give a brief overview and analysis of each, and then some strategies and counters you can use if you face them across the tabletop.

• Eldar Wraithknights. One of the main reasons Eldar can compete so well at the top tables is this guy. He's very big indeed- Toughness 8 renders him immune to weapons Str 4 or less, while 6 wounds ensures he's going to stick around. He only has a 3+ armour save, but with the crazy MC terrain rules he can almost always find a corner of a woods or some rubble to dip his toe into and grab a 5+ or better cover save. He has 3 loadouts, but the default is by far the most common- 2 Str 10 AP2 shots that cause instant death on 6s to wound. He's great in melee too- 4 attacks and Initiative 5, again at Str 10 AP2, ensures he'll always hurt something.
  Quite simply, every Eldar army should take one, as he solves so many problems that he's impossible to leave out.

• Tau Riptide. With Toughness 6 and 5 wounds, along with a 2+ armour save and 5++ he's almost as tough as the Wraithknight. Of note is the "Nova Reactor" it has- every turn it can choose to try and overcharge one of its systems on a 3+ (losing a wound if it fails). This either greatly improves its primary weapon, allows it to fire its secondary weapon twice, allows it to jump 4d6" in the assault phase, or upgrades its invulnerable save to a 3++.
  There are a few builds more commonly seen that others- Heavy Burst Cannon/Velocity tracker/SMS/Earth Caste Pilot Array (reroll failed Nova charge rolls) is pretty fearsome anti-flyer/anti-FMC and the ECPA is probably the only thing that makes the Heavy Burst Cannon worth using. The most common is probably Ion Accelerator/Early Warning Override/Fusion Blaster though; it's one of the best Deep Strike deterrents in the game and a key part of the "Tau Interceptor Army of Doom".
  Riptides are very common in Tau lists for the same reason as Wraithknights in Eldar lists- they just solve problems that the army wouldn't be able to otherwise.

• Imperial Knights. These "Dreadnoughts on steroids" are one of the first Super Heavies to see widespread use at tournaments around the world. Their stats are pretty impressive: they have a 12" move, Armour 13/12/11 and 6 Hull Points, ignoring any result other than "Explodes" (which just removes an extra D3 HP). For weaponry either have a 36" large blast Melta Cannon, or a Battlecannon that shoots twice. In the other hand they've got a Str D chainsword, able to comfortably punk out almost any other MC in the game. Worth noting is the Heavy Stubber that's allowed to split fire from the other weapons- normally this will shoot whatever the Knight plans to charge, while the main gun blows up something else. In melee they can also make Stomp attacks- D3 small blasts, the first touching the Knight and then subsequent blasts within 3" of the previous, allowing them to be chained up to 15" away. The stomp table can be brutal, with most results doing reasonably strong hits, but a 6 on the table just removes everything under the template, no questions asked...
  Regardless of the good profile, what makes Knights useable is their special "Ion Shield" rule. This allows them to choose a facing at the start of each enemy shooting phase, and gain a 4++ against any damage to that facing for the turn. This stops firepower armies just blowing them away with ease, and takes them from "pretty good" to "table controlling".

• Pacific Rim. This is more a style of army that a particular unit, and is named after the blockbuster film. It contains the "Adamantine Lance" formation- 3 Imperial Knights, and while any is within 3" of another they can re-roll their Ion Shield save. A Pacific Rim army list will have an Adamatine Lance formation and then 2-3 Riptides or Wraithknights, resulting in an army full of overwhelming firepower, great melee ability and obscene durability. This is a very tough matchup for many armies- most Deathstars can't really deal with the threat of being Stomped to death, and it can often kill all of the tools you've brought to deal with heavy armour/MCs before you can use them effectively.

So what should you do if you find yourself matched up against any of the above? These are some thoughts to get the ball rolling:

Bring the tools. Winning the game starts with your army list, and here more than ever. Generally you should try to get high Str & low AP weaponry into your list anyway, but with the increase in these sorts of lists it's becoming more and more important. The other way to deal with these units is a tarpit- Wraithknights in particular are very vulnerable to this. They take about 4 game turns (8-9 rounds) of combat just to kill 20 guardsmen with a Ministorum Priest, which effectively takes it out of the game. Riptides can also fall victim to this, but they'll frequently be away from the front lines. Knights generally can stomp their way out of most tarpits pretty quickly, but it's still able to delay them for a turn or two. Force Axes are also a great way to instant kill Riptides, and Wraithknights too- just make sure they're Str 5 or higher.

Fight fire with fire. Linked to the above, but a less subtle strategy- these models are widely feared for a reason, and if you can include them in your army there's no reason not to! Unsurprisingly they work well as counters to themselves.

Measure your threat ranges. Both Imperial Knights and Wraithknights do the vast majority of their damage in melee, so you need to make sure you're out of charge range as often as possible. Not a 10" charge, or even an 11" charge, but >12" away- it's very rarely worth the risk of losing a unit for a very small distance gain. The only exception to this is to bait them- if you position a good (but not vital) unit just over 9" away, that requires a 10" charge. Without fleet that's a pretty low chance (~17%), but many players will take the bait given the right target. After they (normally) fail the charge, you need to have something ready to counter with- a bunch of meltaguns, force weapons, grav guns, etc depending on what it is you're calling. Riptides are primarily shooting platforms with a long weapon range, and they can move and shoot, so this section isn't so important against them. However it's worth noting that you should be careful with its secondary weapon systems- a double shot SMS is great at clearing out vulnerable units and doesn't need line of sight, so make sure to measure far enough away.

Do you need to kill it? If your opponent is playing smart with their big hitter, they'll make it simultaneously difficult to deal with and vital to stop. However, you may find that sometimes you don't actually need to deal with it, even if only for a few turns. They may have deployed too far back, or away from viable targets, or you may be able to outmanoeuvre it. If this is the case, then focus on the rest of their army while you can, then turn your attention to the big hitter late game and/or focus on winning the mission.

Knight Specific- defeating the Ion Shield. Ion shields are a pain, doubly so with rerolls from Adamantine Lance. However, it only covers one facing, so use this to your advantage. Position units in both side arcs if you can, and something heavy hitting in the front to encourage them to shield their front. If you can hit both sides at once, it's simply 6 HP at AV 12, which you should be able to put down with ease. Remember as well that a walker that shoots in the shooting phase has to turn to face its target (unlike MCs), so use this to help get side armour (or even rear armour) shots.

So there we have it- my top strategies for dealing with the enemy's biggest and best! Thanks for reading if you did, and if not then please feel free to check out the first two posts as well. This article should wrap up the "Road to the GT: Tournament Tactics" series, and in good time too; the heat is less than two weeks away, and I've still got to paint up the a load of Dire Avengers and a 5th Wave Serpent...

SimonW

Road to the GT: Anti- Death Star Tactics

Hello, and welcome to the latest post from Back In The Box! Today I'll be talking about some of the popular army lists you're likely to encounter at a GT style event, and some tactics you can use to try and get the edge over your opponent!

So, what army lists are popular at tournaments at the moment? Naturally there's a wide variety, but many of the most "competitive" builds can be separated into 2 categories: Death Stars; or Spam. Here I'll be focusing on Death Stars, but I'll do a follow-up post about tackling Spam lists too.

A Death Star build normally focuses on using very powerful combinations of rules to create a single incredibly powerful unit that is both deadly and resilient. To qualify, it normally has to have a way to destroy at least 2 units per turn (multiple assault, split fire, etc), and a way to absorb any incoming damage (re-rolling saves, tanking characters, invisibility, etc). The lists will have some support elements too- often lots of small troop squads to claim objectives while the Death Star destroys your opponent, along with some hard hitting units to fill in any gaps with the remaining points.
Some common Death Stars at the moment are:

• Eldar Primary/Dark Eldar Allies "Beast Pack"
  -This is the most common Death Star in the current meta- essentially it's a large Beast Pack unit from the Dark Eldar codex consisting of at least 20 Khymerae (space dogs that move as beasts with 3 base attacks at Str 4 and a 4+ invulnerable save [4++ for short]), with some characters for support. These are almost always the same- Baron Sathonyx, for Hit and Run and a 2++ to tank wounds, and several Eldar psykers to either cast Fortune (re-roll failed saves), Invisibility (can only be targeted by Snap Shots or hit on 6s in melee), or both. One psyker holds a relic called the Shard of Anaris, making the unit fearless. It uses multiple assaults to attack many units at once, and with Hit and Run it can hide in combat effectively too.
• Eldar Primary/Dark Eldar Allies "Seer Council"
  -This involves 9-10 Eldar Warlocks on jetbikes, joined by Baron Sathonyx (from above) and 2 Eldar Farseers on jetbikes, one holding the Shard of Anaris again to grant Fearless. It relies on casting Fortune and then getting 2+ rerollable armour and cover saves from various warlock powers, as well as using the 2++ reroll from the Baron. Again it uses multiple assaults to attack many units at once, with more Warlock powers to debuff enemies and buff themselves, alongside hiding in combat too. It was a staple of 6th edition but it's less common now, as it relies on casting far more psychic powers than the Beast Pack, so with the psychic changes in 7th edition it's much less reliable.
• Eldar Primary/Dark Eldar Allies "Beast Council"
  -My favourite Death Star build currently just for the sheer audacity of it. Pioneered at the ETC by (I believe) Team Wales, this monstrosity contains a full Seer Council of jetbike Warlocks buffing themselves, and then also a full Beast Pack with 5 Spirit Seers, Baron Sathonyx and Eldrad Ulthran! It tries to cast Invisibility on the Beast pack, making them almost impossible to shoot, and then Fortune on the Seer Council to reroll 2+ saves (Eldrad joins the Beast pack and uses his 24" range Fortune on the Warlocks). It's very flexible, and extremely deadly. The Beasts can assault many units a turn, and the Warlocks can join in or bust tanks with str 9 singing spear shooting. The unit with the Baron (normally the Beast Pack) can also hide in combat. A common tactic with the Warlocks is to roll all their powers on summoning, creating new units of daemons and even turning some of the Eldar psykers into Lords of Change!
• Space Marines Primary/Grey Knights Allies (or vice versa) "Centurion Star"
  Not the most durable Deathstar out there, but it packs a huge punch. 5-6 Centurion devastators with Grav Cannons and Grav Amps, as well as an Omniscope to split fire. The characters are normally Draigo (if he's allowed) to always have Gate of Infinity, or a Grey Knights Librarian, and Tigurius of the Ultramarines for Prescience/Ignores Cover/Other Divination Nonsense. The unit then teleports around, shooting the daylights out of 1-2 units each turn. The unit relies heavily on a tanking character, such as Draigo or the Chapter Master from the Bikestar, to mitigate return firepower as well as the natural 2+ saves and Toughness 5 of the unit.
• Space Marines "Bikestar"
  This is what my opponent Drew used in this battle report. I won't go into as much detail here as I've already covered it- essentially it's a Chapter Master with a 2+/3++ save and Eternal Warrior to tank wounds, Khan to grant scout moves, and a command squad with either Grav Guns, Storm Shields or both. It can shoot pretty well, can jink for a 3+ cover save, and is fearsome in assault too. Plus with Hit and Run it's very hard to catch, hiding in combat for most of your turns.
• Tau "Farsight Bomb"
  Commander Farsight and 7 bodyguard suits, and either Shadowsun or a Commander, along with a whole bunch of gun drones. Someone in the unit holds wargear granting twin-linked, ignores cover, and a choice Monster Hunter/Tank Hunter/Stubborn for the unit as well as BS5 for the drones, and everyone else takes dual missile pods/dual plasma rifles/dual fusion blasters and target locks. As you may have guessed, it's plan is simply to shoot 3-4 units off the board each turn. It can Deep Strike without scattering, and delivers a crippling blow with the huge volume of firepower. However it isn't very maneuverable after it arrives and often isn't very resilient to return fire either.
• Astra Militarium Paskstar
  A fairly new list that emerged from the ETC, this Death Star is different to the others in that it's a vehicle squadron. It uses 3 Leman Russ Punishers, led by Knight Commander Pask, and drives across the board mowing down whatever it can reach. Due to his order the squadron gains the split fire rule, and as Pask has rending or pseudo- tank hunter the unit is quite flexible. It requires much more support than other Death Stars as it needs to be bubble wrapped by Conscripts to prevent enemies getting too close, and it also needs multiple psykers nearby, to cast Prescience for re-rolls to hit and Forewarning to get a 4++. Still, the firepower is fearsome, and not many armies have great solutions to 3 AV 14 Vehicles with 4++ saves that you have to deal with at long range.

Note: In this article, I frequently refer to "tanking wounds" or a "tank character", etc. This means using the "closest model first" wound allocation rules to allow a character with a significantly better save/more wounds/both than the rest of the unit to absorb firepower that would annihilate his squadmates by simply standing at the front. A tank should have Eternal Warrior too, so that there's no way for him to suffer Instant Death and leave the unit vulnerable.
I also refer to "hiding in combat". This involves using the Hit and Run rule selectively, so that you launch an assault in your own turn, stay locked in combat for your opponent's turn (so you can't be shot), and then Hit and Run away at the end of their turn to escape combat, and be free to act as normal in your own turn again.

While the above lists are all very difficult match-ups to play against, it doesn't mean they can't be beaten. Here are some of the best ways to go about it:

Avoid them. There's a very good article on Torrent of Fire by Justin Cook about using MSU (Multiple Small Unit) tactics against Death Stars. Essentially, if you spread your forces and stick to the corners and edges of the board, you can mitigate the Death Star's ability to kill multiple units quickly and force them to spend valuable time crossing the board trying to get to you (and crucially, not doing anything in the mean time).

Play the mission. You can't beat it in a straight fight, but can you hold more objectives at the end of Turn 5? Can you achieve more TacOs than them? Good placement of objectives also helps here- spread them out as much as you can, so that the Star can't threaten more than 2-3 at once, allowing you to draw or even win the mission. This isn't possible in Kill Points games, and if you're playing Kill Points against a Death Star then you have my sympathy- they're very, very hard to beat at Kill Points. Just try to get as many points from the game as you can, and drink beer.

Kill what you can, when you can. Normally, the Death Star will be about 1/3 to 1/2 of your opponent's points, tied up in an unkillable block of nastiness. However, this means that all of your army can focus on eliminating their support units, not worrying about killing anything else! Destroy any small troop squads when you get the chance, stopping your opponent from claiming objectives. Kill his fire support if you get the chance, using your numerical superiority to gun them down efficiently. However, the caveat "when you can" definitely applies. You need to keep moving away from the Death Star with most of your army, and occasionally sacrifice something to it when there's nowhere else to go. Try and make sure that, when you sacrifice something, it will only be able to kill that unit. Transports with units inside are excellent here- he will often have to waste a turn killing the transport, and then another turn killing the unit too! If you just line up and try to out-shoot your opponent, he will, to put it bluntly, move across the board and kill your whole army.

Take your chances. Many of these Death Stars rely heavily on psychic powers or careful positioning. If your opponent fails a psychic power or makes a mistake in positioning, it may create an opening for you to either kill off some of the key models from the unit, reduce its numbers, or even destroy it entirely.

Go first. While this sounds obvious, it's often forgotten. A jetbike Warlock council without any psychic powers up is as durable as 10 tactical marines. A naked beast pack just becomes 30 T3 models with 4++. Bonuses to seize the initiative are excellent here- Coteaz with his re-roll, or the Strategic Warlord Trait granting +1, or even Asdrubael Vect/Imotekh the Stormlord getting a 4+! Remember than most of these bonuses stack too.

Deploy well. Again, this sounds obvious, but this is one of the times you should definitely spread out in deployment. Additionally, you'll almost certainly be deploying second if your opponent gets any say in it, so use this to your advantage and counter-deploy, using your tape measure to stay out of their threat range. Remember though that you'll almost always be trying to seize, so ensure that if needs be you can move Turn 1 to shoot their Death Star while it's vulnerable.

So there you have it, my best anti- Death Star tactics. Even if you do all of the above, victory isn't guaranteed, but at least you've got a fighting chance against some of the most frustrating armies to play against. Next time I'll be writing about another most style of tournament build- spam!

Until then, thanks once again for reading, and as always any comments or ideas are welcome below.

SimonW