TACTICA ANGELUS TENEBRAE By Daniel Custodio ( Chaplain Lucifer ) |
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 |
PART THREE: SCENARIOS (Continued) Night Fight Basically it's a cleanse mission only the deployment is even farther away and we loose our main advantage: Ranged Firepower! Not to fear because I have developed a fabulous technique. Put searchlights on your rhinos and send them empty 12" to point up a target, while your squads blast away the enemy from safety. As the rhino rides empty it makes a poor target as no one likes to waste fire on empty rhinos! Don't expect that to work against the same opponent twice though. Patrol It's a mission too random for my taste. You don't know who and when will show up and to make things worse it can end on turn four. Make sure the Troop choice you deploy in the beginning can deal with any situation. You won't know what backup to expect, so I suggest either a large Marine squad on Rhino with lascannon and plasma gun, or a squad in a Razorback with twin lascannons. That way you can blast whatever enemy reserves show up be they tanks or infantry. If you have few guns available don't shoot whatever enemy reserves enters the table, concentrate on eliminating what's already there, so when the reserves show up they don't get support. If lady luck smiles on you and your reserves appear early in the game, you can afford to split fire and shoot what's already there and what's entering. Mind you that there's a threat level for each enemy unit you need to consider. So if something nasty rolls in, shoot it. Example, it's better to shoot a Predator that rolls in than to let it fire at full power for one turn before you try to eliminate it. Just remember these words are not engraved in stone, so what works for me, might not work for you, so if you lose don't blame me!!! Recon Another mission that depends on speed. Deploy your strongest units in the middle. That way whichever flank you choose to assault you always get covering fire. Re-deploy your fastest units so that in the last couple of turns they can zoom to the enemy's weakest flank. Don't send units piecemeal, attack en masse. Lucifer's sneaky trick - Scouts! They can infiltrate and be a lot closer to the enemy's deployment zone. Once I managed them to deploy in the enemy's deployment in a flank he had overlooked, then the scout autocannon proceed to maul armour from the flank. Rescue This one's a bit of lottery ticket, especially for Marines that don't have much firepower on the move. Deploy all your troops, don't hold back any! If it is up to you choose the long deployment zone. That way you can position your troops to capture all three counters closest to you. Rhino's are essential here because the fast attack is not available until turn two or later. If you're lucky and capture the counter bring it back into your deployment zone and form a barrier around it. If you have to capture it from the enemy care not for casualties! Pretend it's a Fallen and rush your close combat troops over there and/or shoot them to oblivion. Every turn you waste works against you so you'll have to move swift. Pitched battle It's a cleanse mission, but with a Recon deployment. You'll have to deploy evenly so to secure both your quarters, and you'll have to keep those Land Speeders secure to deny the enemy's quarters in case of emergency. It is pretty much played like a recon, except you don't have to go so further into enemy lines, so advance steadily into the border lines. In turn six you'll just have to decide which deploy zone you want to occupy. There's the Shooting way also, blast the enemy into pieces (below 50% will do fine) so they can't claim quarters, and secure yours. Try to tackle fast enemy units first, so they have to commit their slower units to quarter capturing. Take and Hold In this mission the defender needs a solid base of firepower to eliminate threats and a good dose of close combat troops, because there'll be always bloody fighting. I recommend Dreadnoughts, Terminators, Scouts and tooled HQ to hold the fort, Devastators, predators and Tactical squads to eliminate invaders. For the defender there are two ways, either you stay back, shoot and mop up what's left or you can shoot, and attack the invaders taking the fight to them to slow them down. If you are the attacker you'll need fire power too, but you'll need firepower that can move, and capture the objective. It's okay to have some squads in the back giving support, but to increase chances of capturing you've got to "swamp" the objective with your troops. Again Dreadnoughts and deep striking terminators and assault squads can provide a diversion while the rest of your army approaches. Meat Grinder This one is a tough one for the attacker. It is very difficult to wipe out entirely the enemy's army! If you're attacking a Librarian can be helpful, the "weaken resolve" power can make units fall back of table. Some Speeders to eliminate hidden vehicles and units are good too. Use deep strike and infiltrators to your advantage, getting them into enemy hidden positions. Bring lots of troops, and, with "Sustained attack" rules, you might need to make Kamikaze runs in order to wipe out enemy by attrition. Defender has an easier task Just mount a line of fire with some backup units behind and blast them while their advance. As the mission has random game length time it can work to your advantage. Hide a couple of small squads behind cover and protect them well with other troops so that enemy will get a hard time annihilating your army. Land Speeders are good at this job because they can "fly" from cover to cover and avoid enemy fire. Bunker assault If you're the attacker, grab a couple of lascannons and blow the bunkers straight away, especially if the bunkers have occupants. Go for the throat on this one and aim at the most expensive units of the opponent. If you're defending try to position your cheap vehicles in front of the bunker, making the bunkers "hull down" and harder to destroy, mind you that you'll have to work extra hard to earn points back in case your bunkers are destroyed. PART IV: ADDENDUM Hunting the Fallen: Don't do like I do and forget to roll for hunting the fallen. I forget this about 90% of the time and sorely regret it because it can give a lot of character to the battle and is one thing that no other army has. It is our proud trademark! Thanks for reading through this "testament". I hope I helped some of you, and sorry about the exhausting repetition of plasma cannon advantages, but they're as versatile as it gets! |
TACTICA BATTLE FORCE |
