Raphaelus
Blood Angel
(8/8/02 11:47:50 pm)
Blood Angel Tactica1
What is a marine? He is an assault trooper he is a tactical trooper
he has the power and cost of three men, superbly armoured yet having only
one wound. Therein lies the problem. For one marine you can get two-three
enemies of the same troop type and so marine forces are those armies which
are usually outnumbered on the battlefield. Marine armies are those most
likely to be swamped in combat, and being attacked by three opponents to
one are odds that will result in death, most of the time. How do you defeat
this? Blood angels assault, this is our thing - we shoot like marines,
we move like marines, we assault like millenia old crazed madmen. however
our assaults should not be those of orks or tyranids, a bludgeon to smash
the enemy to pieces - but like a surgeons scalpel cutting away pieces of
the enemy until a balance is reached. This is achieved by two things.
For the examples below, imagine your army is made up of three blocks,
the left, the centre and the right. so is your opponents army.
1)MANUEVRE. The blood angel curse. lets all run forwards into the guns/teeth
of our enemy. an idea of which of your units is going to attack that of
your enemy is something to keep clearly in mind from the first turn of
battle. picking your targets for heavy weponry and moving into positon
for a coordinated attack - i can't stress how important these things are
for a blood angel commander. blood angels should only assault - unless
its absolutley unavoidable, black rage, sneaky foe- with two or more units.
if you assault on a one unit front with no supporting units, that one attack
will be swallowed up to no use. Me personally i try to attack by the second
turn, but will wait until the third if im not ready, so that my attack
is not a probing stab but rather a battlefield wide slash with a sabre.
2)Picking your Assaults.
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The Blood Angel player is in position to assault. (this is not a map
of units but rather a representation of the different assault elements
if you like) basically i tend to throw my left into combat with my enemies
centre as a a pinning or spoiling attack. the centre and right, will attack
my enemy's right. Under perfect circumstances, this will a. crush the enemies
right. b. tie up the centre and pin units (they won't be able to move in
my opponents turn as they are in combat) c. prevent the enemy's left from
getting into combat with anyone but my left in the next turn. i now have
two parts of my army free, while my ebemy has one part in combat and one
part with a nasty choice. support the centre or attack tw o of my elements.
OK this is over the top i realise for 40k - but its the concept im talking
about. PICK your combats.
I hope i made sense, its been a very long day
good luck and good hunting
Blood Angel Tactica2
Frontal assault is a quick way to defeat enemy IF you have good firepower
and mobility. This was a very often-used tactics by Russians in WW2. Large
infantry units rushed across defending Germans, wiping 'em out. Such assaults
usually meant heavy losses but the goal was achieved. The German "Blitzkrieg"
tactics was also a type of frontal assault: fast moving panzer units drove
deep behind enemy lines while infantry circled the enemy at the sides making
a "protection shield" and preventing the enemy from escaping and regrouping.
Artillery had a very important role - to suppress the enemy and destroy
his strong points.
Be careful when performing a frontal assault - if it's not well prepared
and your enemy holds easy defendable positions he can break your assault
and go into counter offensive smashing your units on the way! (which is
what WE excel at by the way against horde armies!) To make a successful
offensive using this tactic it is best that you use your premier assault
units as the panzers driving deep, and your other transported infantry
as the flanking units.
The Blitzkrieg tactic works also in 40k. Use it to gain crucial objectives
and by pressing your enemy to withdraw. In such assaults speed and firepower
are vital. Heavy weapons such as whirlwinds, *vindicators*, snipers, devastators
and heavy tanks will pin the enemy down and protect you when you're most
vulnerable, as your assault element is advancing. Order tanks to good positions
(smoke on your tansk is essential) ready to fire at full effect from turn
2 and at the same time move infantry in their transports to the sides.
the hard hitting assault units should be moving into position to strike
in turn 2 or 3.
Another important thing to be aware of is that after taking your objectives
you establish strong defense making any counter attacks difficult ie -
kill the foe than move into cover IF POSSIBLE to reduce casualties from
the counter.. This is what marines excel at - assaulting the enemy then
resisting a counter attack. Now you can move your assault element into
postion for the next attack.
How to break a frontal assault?
Well a well-planned assault is hard to break because it is launched
when and where least expected. Only a good mobile defense with infantry
guarding weak points and tanks can stop the attacker. This is what a mobile
reserve is good for - such as a deepstriking assault squad - held in reserve
until turn 3 and directed to where looks weak in your deployment. or as
mentioned in a previous post, teleporting terminators.
Flanking the enemy
If you want to defeat large numbers of strong enemy units flanking
them is one of the best ways to do it! This is also a good way to support
main attacking force (the assault units- look under "Frontal assault")
and surrounding the enemy. The big deal about flanking in 40k is not as
pronounced as in FB. This is because the game is more fluid, and units
do not have penalties for being attacked in the rear. HOWEVER. there is
crossfire. and there is the bonus for the attacker in that rather than
attacking from the front and being within striking distance of maybe three
enemy units (- like when you attack the centre) you are attacking a unit
one on one.
For flanking maneuvers speed is the most important. Fast light tanks,
fast attack units and bikes can do a great job in breaking the enemy defense.
If you can move units from side to enemies back his chances of getting
out of this are very small. While your heavy weapons are providing suppression
fire move the other straight to the enemy. Your enemy now has a nasty decision.
He can let you attack and pin down one of his flanks and ignore it - leaving
you free to move his side or rear, shooting at his tanks side and rear
armour, cutting off fall back avenues and so forth - or he can try to deal
with you and have less resources to contain the frontal assault... though
he will make a decision and carry on, it will make him react to YOU and
YOUR moves - and that is the first step to controlling the battle.
an example of a "text book" assault combined with flanking
Under the cover of the main force fast units (bikes, speeders, rhinos
with tac squads) take positions on the sides and move to the flank
Now the units on the flanks and centre provide support. Fire from the
speeders/bikes will pin the enemy down and threaten tanks. Your heavy support
in the centre such as whirlwinds, vindicators and heavy tanks will add
to this, making the enmy hesitant to move position. (vindicators excel
at this! people fear them like nothing else)It is time to move the main
force to closer positions. I try to stay out of fire while still advancing
- my target assault is 2nd turn with more than one unit in the assault
turn three at the latest. ideal conditions for me to assault are - three
units in range and another unit in my rear ready to plug a gap.
Because the enemy was under continuous fire and had many losses even
the strongest units will hopefully be under strength or out of position.
If the enemy has ignored your flanking units then they could have moved
to the rear of the enemy by the third turn, cutting off fall back avenues
and being ready to assault in the fourth turn - move your flanking teams
to the enemy's back and surround him. If you break the enemy he is in dire
starits. and this will affect his decision making even more :-
Tips:
Be very careful when performing assaults. Choose your assaults carefully,
and make sure you have support.
Suppression fire is a good way of shutting down enemy defense. it will
kill off enemy troops and give them a choice - fire back and stay in postion,
or go and get the flankers and be shot on next turn. weither decision will
result in deaths. and allow your troops attacking from their flank to do
their job with minimum losses.
Speed and power are the keys to success. get into position - smoke
launchers and use of the terrain are all important.
Be ready to defend what you have gained and be prepared for counter
offensives.
Frontal assault can totally break the enemy or it can give him a chance
to defeat you. remember this - if your assault is swallowed up, if you
lose the combats, go to defesnsive - blood angels are marines and we can
do this rather well.
wellt thats me done for today [:)]
good luck & good hunting
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