Tourney Prep: Deployment Strategies, Take 1

The past couple of nights I've been doing two things:

1. Building another set back Chimera to complete the mechanization of my army
   
   
   
2. Practicing deployment strategies

Something that I've mentioned repeatedly here and on my battle reports is that my deployment strategies need work. I've focused on target priority and on worked on my list design but deployment continues to elude me.

So, I measured out a 6 by 4 foot section of carpet, got down on my knees and started playing with my boxy toys. I am not too proud to admit that I made the occasional *wooooosh* *vroooom!* noise while setting up my very serious war games.

I figure that there are three basic army types that I need to prep for- gunline, melee, and drop, as well as getting 1st vs 2nd turn.

Shooty is the match up where 1st vs 2nd matters the most. My goal is to nullify their shooting by placing my nice, fat, AV 14 Leman Russ' right in the front while my Chimeras cower behind them as we move towards midfield. Most armies' long range AT fire is str 9 or lower which, while the upper limit will break through AV 14 on occasion it's definitely a long shot. Plus since I'm squadroning two Leman Russ to fit in a Manticore (I can't help it- it's too pretty!) they will have extra armor which will help them keep moving forward... at least until the inevitable immobilized result ruins my day.

If I go first in a Pitched Battle deployment I'll use a deployment like the one above. Hopefully there will be some LoS blocking terrain that the Manticore can hide behind while the rest of the army moves up. If I go second the Vendettas will probably hit reserve to possibly outflank and at least make sure that they get one good shot off before being shredded by enemy autocannons.

If in more of a Table Corners setup we'll the use the deployment above instead. Again, Vendettas can go into reserve, this time possibly along with a Chimera or two for the quasi outflank and objective grab.

Against melee armies... it depends. Hordes I'll try to go second against and use the refused flank strategy while deploying everything (except maybe a Vendetta or three, depending on the build). I've never faced TWC beat down yet, but depending on their Long Fang support I might split the army in two, hopefully distracting the big beasts with the majority of my armor busting in one group while the other goes for objectives. Nids, stay out of the way of Hive Guard and try to blast the damn gribblies from across the board.

Drop armies are where I think my army has the greatest weakness. I refuse to use the DH mystic trick as that's a little too cheesy (and short lived with the GK book coming out soon) for me to go for. Which leaves me with this deployment, two meltavet squads and my plasma bedecked CCS:

The plan is to stick this out in the open and put everything else in reserve. The CCS can really chew up firepower while the Vets provide anti-Dread defense and scoring potential. Then the big tanks roll on and use their low AP blast templates to clear the ground of those bloodthirsty angels and Loganwings.

Of course, this has all been without any terrain being taken into consideration or even objective placement. Add in my previously admitted lack of expertise with deployment makes taking what I've said only doable with a fair bit of salt. Still, the practice of actually getting your models out and seeing how much space they take up and how you can block sight lines most effectively is great practice and even more fun... if very open to mocking from those significant others in your life. *Vroom* *Vroom* indeed.