DOCTRINAE RAVENWING By ( Centurian99 ) |
This article has been reproduced with kind permission from the author. It's use here is not intended as a challenge to the original authors copyright and is reproduced here for the sole purpose of enhancing the Dark Angel spirit and the warhammer 40,000 experience |
Doctrinae Ravenwing Strategic Overview Once you selected, collected, and painted your Ravenwing force (You do have a fully painted army, right? With only 20-some models, and a relatively simple painting job, there's no excuse for fielding an unpainted or base-coated army.), its time to bring the Ravenwing to the field of battle. Pre-battle preparation is a major part of playing a Ravenwing army. This includes three major areas: unit deployment, terrain placement, and intelligence gathering. While none of these three will guarantee your success, failure to properly consider these factors can definitely guarantee a loss. We will consider all three elements and their use. Intelligence Gathering "Knowledge is Power" The first one that we shall consider is intelligence gathering. Before any terrain is placed or units are deployed, the wise Ravenwing commander must follow the maxim of, "Know Thy Enemy." You must identify those enemy units which are the greatest threats to your forces. At the top of this list are any units that possess long-ranged, low AP weapons. Almost every army has these, from SM Devastators armed with missile launchers or plasma cannons, to Eldar Dark Reapers, Dark Eldar Ravagers, or IG Lemans Russ. Thankfully, most of these units are heavy support class, but beware of the occasional elite or fast-attack choice that has a similar weapons loadout. The second greatest threat to the Ravenwing are your enemy's assault specialists, particularly any who are armed with power weapons. Units armed entirely with power weapons, such as Eldar Banshees or Dark Eldar incubi are particularly worrisome, particularly when they are mounted (as they inevitably are) in a transport. Enemy transports and other vehicles are the third greatest threat. The Ravenwing's advanantage of mobility is a relative thing, and anything that closes the gap between the Ravenwing and its opponents reduces the effectiveness of the Ravenwing force. Terrain Placement: "Combat shall occur on the ground between two adjoining maps" Once you've identified the threats to your force in your enemy's army, its time to place terrain. Some players place terrain in a haphazard, aesthetically pleasing fashion. They try and spread everything out nicely so that the gaming table looks well balanced. A Ravenwing player, however, does not have this luxury. The numerical disadvantage that Ravenwing will be at precludes such niceties. This does not mean that your terrain placement will look out of place, but that balanced terrain is not a consideration. As a Ravenwing player, your objective is to clutter up the middle of the board with as many pieces of terrain, particularly woods, as possible. The terrain placed in a deployment zone is really of secondary consideration, and it is vital that you close off as many lines of fire as possible through placing terrain in the center of the table. Ravenwing are ridiculously vulnerable to shooting, and terrain is a valuable method of preventing an opponent from shooting your precious units. Particularly valuable are woods templates and other pieces of terrain that block line of sight absolutely, since your bikes gain no advantages from cover. Placing terrain in the deployment zones is nice, but should be a secondary consideration to placing terrain in the center of the table. Your speed means that you should not be hanging back and hiding in your deployment zone, so the center of the table is the place where you should focus your terrain placement efforts. Unit Deployment: "Sergeant Major, assemble the ranks!" This is the final element of pre-battle preparation, and is also probably the most critical. Thankfully, it is also the one that is most in your hands (short, of course, of a Callidus assassin or some similar nonsense). Your main concern here is to minimize the effect of the 50% chance that your opponent will go first. This means using terrain to place your units in such a way that your opponent's shootiest units are stuck without targets. This very may well place your units in clusters, which is all right as long your opponent doesn't have a basilisk or some other indirect-fire menace. The most important units to protect in this fashion are your land speeders. Unlike your bikes, they do gain protection from cover, and its important that they are as well-shielded as possible. Being hull-down is the equivalent of having moved in the previous turn, and the prevention of penetrating hits is a necessary element for land speeder survival. Your second concern is to entice your opponent to split his forces, while concentrating yours. There are many ways to do this, but one of my favorites is to place an attack bike on each flank. Depending on how my opponents places his first two or three units, I can get a pretty good picture of his battleplan, and then place all or most of my remaining forces on one of the flanks. By the time that my opponent realizes that I'm not going to reinforce the weak flank, its generally too late for anything to be done about it. Once deployment has been completed, there is nothing left to do except to ready oneself for the battle and to pray for the favor of the Lion and the Emperor. Doctrinae Ravenwing Battlefield Tactics Battlefield Tactics: "Murphy's Laws of Combat" Welcome back to the third and theoretically final installment of In Tactica Ravenwing. You've constructed your army, carefully chosen your battlefield, and strategically deployed your troops. Now, all that's left is the battle itself. Of course, when it comes down to it, that's the only true test, so let us discuss Ravenwing tactics. It would be impossible to cover every, or even most of the situations that you may encounter, and I won't even try. Instead, I'll try to cover some major principles to keep in mind while commanding a Ravenwing force. The key to a Ravenwing victory lies, as it does with any army, in making maximum use of your strength, while minimizing your weaknesses. A true Master of the Ravenwing must learn how to use your weaknesses as strengths. There are three principles that you must keep in mind when playing a Ravenwing army: 1 We are few and they are many, so we must be many where they are few. Since, as a Ravenwing commander, your forces are less numerous than almost anyone you face, it is imperative that you maintain a concentration of forces. Between 1500 and 2000 points, two major points of attack are about all that the Ravenwing can effectively sustain. Trying to attack across a broad front will simply lead to your units being overwhelmed and cut down. You must use your mobility to concentrate a significant portion of your forces on a small segment of your opponent's. Your main attacks must destroy their opposition quickly, and at minimal cost to yourselves. 2 They who fight and run away shall live to fight another day. Blind charges into the enemy are for idiots like the Blood Angels. Tactical retreats and maneuvering towards the rear is a necessary and wholly honorable tactic to be used in destroying the enemy. Never allow you opponents' accusations of cowardice (and there will be many such accusations of cowardice) to affect your battle plan. After all 3 Victory needs no explanation. Defeat allows none. Now, there are some common questions that Ravenwing players will need to ask. Who goes first? This one takes a bit of thought. Take a good look at the battlefield, and your opponent's army. Does your opponent's army have any assault specialists that can perform a 1st turn charge on your bikes? Does your opponent have large amounts of firepower with LOS to your army, or can he get said LOS without adversely affecting his firepower? Are your land speeders in the open? If the answer to any of these three questions is yes, take the first turn and seize the initiative. At all costs, you need to prevent a first-turn charge by your opponent. This may mean "maneuvering towards the rear" on your first turn, in order to stay out of HTH. In a similar token, if your deployment has left you vulnerable to large amounts of weapons fire, seizing the first turn can allow you to maneuver in such a way that only a small portion of the enemy army can fire on you. Going first also allows you to get your land speeders moving, thus greatly increasing their survivability. Always move your speeders over 6" per turn, unless a) You need an Alpha Strike from a squadron of tornados and you're willing to risk their destruction, or b) you can end your movement in woods or some other form of cover. Otherwise, if you feel you're safe from an immediate assault, protected from a massed volley of firepower, and your speeders will be able to last out the turn, going second,and thereby gaining the last turn to seize objectives can be a significant bonus. |
TACTICA RAVENWING |
