A 2nd Edition player had just returned to the game, only to be overwhelmed by a well run Khorne assault army, and was so surprised that he wrote the following article - which I answered in turn and I thought the pair of articles was worthy of attention here in the library - for it covers some very basic truths about battles within 3rd Ed 40K  :-)

here is the original post, followed by my answer:

Can shooty armies survive the current Assault Rules? . (1 Replies).
 Novakane[novakane004@hotmail.com]. 2/11/2002 5:56 (2/11/2002 8:47)

 Ok here is my 2 cents worth:
 This weekend was my first series of games in over 3 years,(second edition).I have read these
 boards and talked to some players so i was not completely surprised by what happened in the
 tourney, but i have to say DAMN! could assault armies be stopped by a "shooty" army ever?
 Before you answer, consider this; we played on a 4' by 6' table and for some crazy reason set
 up on opposite sides of 4'.The rule was you could deploy 1' onto the table.This meant there
 was 2' seperating the armies in most cases,(not considering infiltrators).Well, it went like
 this,Land Raiders and Rhinos move, your turn.I shoot, immobilise a rhino and say ok your
 turn.
 Their turn, land raider and rhinos move, disembark khorne berserkers, charge! good game
 Wow! with sweeping advance and pumped up rhino/raider transported berserkers my poor
 space marines were toast.
 BTW i have read Brother Edwards posts on using counter assault units and was doing fine
 until a blood thirster popped in and ate them.
 Khorne is not the only ones to benefit from the sick assault rules but i must say times are tough
 unless your playing Blood Angels or Chaos.
 At least this is my take on things. 
 
 
 

 Welcome to 3rd Ed. :-) . (0 Replies). BloodAngelBrotherEdward[]. 2/11/2002 8:47 (2/11/2002 8:47) 

 Hey there!

    Yes apparently this is very different to second edition! :-) I am sorry if the transition is painful for you, but I am pleased to tell you that shooty armies still have a VERY strong standing in 3rd edition.

     When an assault army fights a shooty army is WILL go quickly IF the assault army commander is the more experienced player - why? because time is on the shooty army's side and the assault commander knows it. Every turn the assault army spends NOT assaulting the shooty army is a turn the assault army will grow weaker (casualties from shooting and all) thus leaving the shooty army stronger. The assault army commander (if they know what they are doing) will do all they can to hit the shooty army hard, FAST, and in a focused section of your line, and then roll down your remaining positions. I've been screaming this out to all the assault commanders for some time now - as it is the ONLY way to go against the AMAZINGLY capable shooty armies.

     Now - let's talk about the terrifying powers of shooty armies. Tau, IG, and mobile shooty Eldar ... I could write volumes, but will try to keep it brief :-) first thing a shooty army needs to do is destroy the transports of the assault army - and then gun them down as they move across the field. It's really about that simple and depending on how inexperienced (or unlucky) your assault army player is this may be all too easy for many veterans! The mobile shooty armies are the most dangerous especially if they focus on finding the best lanes of fire and focus on them as the assault army moves up (shudder). But do your best to whittle down the enemy while not exposing your own shooty units too much - easy enough to do if you can adopt a defensive stance and have a bit of open killing ground before your position. And I'll say again the use of screening troops can be a real sorepoint for we assault armies - the first time I fought the Tau I didn't see it until it was too late, my lead assault unit had just moved forward (from behind cover) when I realized exactly how far forward they were... and that if they wiped out that unit of Kroot to sweep into the crisis suits behind them the unit would be subject to fire from the entire Tau army... as soon as I moved them I saw it... so I tried to encourage them to attack a little and miss a LOT but it didn't work - they slaughtered the troops and swept forward only to disappear in the Tau's next shooting phase in a blinding cacophony of beamweapon fire - DOH! BUT on the happy side of things - our sweep DID stick that unit in place and one of my battle brothers WAS able to hit them with an assault on his next turn (if was a four way fight that day, and the Tau had gunned down their share of Black Templars too! :-)

   Now - you mention you play Space Marines. :-)  You my friend play one of the best armies around - but it is one of the most difficult to master (one of these days I hope to be capable enough to field a codex SM army, and I think I'm about there now :-)  Codex SM and a number of other "mixed" armies are the ones that have some of the biggest challenges before them in 3rd edition. Here's how I see things... Most armies in 3rd Ed are mixed - and when I say mixed I mean they have some shooty power AND they have some assault capability. and when faced with another "mixed" army they are on pretty even ground - it comes down to a question of movement and unit choices/scenarios etc... BUT when they go up against an EXTREME army (one which specializes in either shooty or assault) this is where the mixed army facers their biggest challenge... the answer for the mixed army is to COUNTER their threat. If a mixed army fights an assault army I can almost guarantee you won't beat them in assault - therefore you MUST adopt a more defensive stance where you can gun them down as they run at you (and run at you they will!), and conversely when a mixed army faces a true shooty army (a shooty army which has geared up to be really shooty) you need to be ready to rush in and get inside those guns - they will WANT you to try to out shooty them - because that's a drinking contest that the shooty army WILL win in the end! :-)

   Think of gladiators fighting in the arena. One has a spear (the shooty army) the other has a short sword (the assault army). the short sword CAN'T kill the spear guy while he's far away (AND he risks death every moment he spends far away) - thus his only chance is to get in past that speartip (maybe getting cut while he goes in but it MUST be done! and then once inside their guard the short sword guy is able to work his attacks for whatever they are worth.  A clever spear combatant can find a way to break free and make more spear attacks (some of your best mobile shooty armies can pull off things like this) but the challenge is just as equally present for the clever assault commander to try and stick the shooty army with an assault that they can't get rid of, can't break free of....

 so yes - quite the involved litle dance of death we have going. In 3rd edition if it goes to the assault army the battle WILL be swift and brutal (out of necessity) and if for whatever reason our movement into you goes bad the battle will be long, drawn out and ultimately we (the assault army) will get shot to pieces :-)

   Well I've written more here than I thought I would, but you seemed to be one who might understand some of my prattle :-) 

 Welcome to 3rd edition my friend, on my website you can find many in depth tactical articles which really get into the guts of what I've outlined here - I do believe the articles will help you. I have detailed information on both Blood Angels AND codex Marines as well :-)  Also have info on a number of our mostprominent enemies - tis wise to know the ways of one's adversaries yes? :-) 

   the site is here

    http://www.dragonrealm.com/exlibrismortis

    the tactics info (and there is a LOT of it from MANY BA and SM veterans) is stored within the Blood Angels Tactical Library, the link is down a bit on the index page :-)

   good luck my friend, please post if you have questions - there are many veterans on the board who can help :-)

Glory to the Emperor and Sanguinius ~ Brother Edward

PS. and if there was any doubt - my army has been shot to PIECES more times than I can count (by a very experienced player) but do not believe shooty armies are helpless before assault armies - that is just an illusion that I  (and others) would like eveyrone to believe :-) bwahahahaha, welcome back to the fight brother :-)