Post by aeonian on Feb 14, 2009 16:23:15 GMT -5
There are several ways that I have used tanks (mostly borrowed or proxied...*shakes fist at lack of money*) and I feel like I should share them now with all of you guys!
Static Tank Line - The Fire Wire
Tanks: Battle Tank, Vanquisher, Executioner, Exterminator
Deployment: In cover, left + right + center of deployment zone, heavily armed infantry nearby
Tactics: This style of tank use is a gunline booster...a huge one! Place your tanks where they get that incredible 4+ cover save that comes with 5th edition, and be sure to have lots of infantry near by to repel melta bomber or other close range tank killers. Best to have your fire support and anti-tank squads that you should have taken with you H.Q in the levels above (if you're hidden in a multi-level building) or in a nearby patch of cover, preferably elevated above the tank so that when hostiles get near it, they can shoot over the tank and dish out a lot of pain!
On the ground near your tanks, keep some squads with counter assault weapons such as melta guns, storm bolters and flamers, so my recomendation would be a platoon command squad.
Target Priority: use your tanks to bust the absolute most threatening units. These aren't necessarily the largest ones, just the most dangeorus ones (i.e.: Terminators, 'ard boyz and nobs, 'nid monstrous creatures, etc etc). The reason I advocate this is because as a gunline bolster, you're most likely playing kill points, so you'll have a lot of heavily armed guardsmen in cover nearby trying to take out hordes of infantry or groups of MEQ's. They need to focus on those units because they have more shots, but the tanks can fire at the lethal targets that should guarantee deaths. if you don't have tanks with AP 2 weapons while fighting and enemy that has termies, then reverse this role fire at the largest groups of dangeorus enemies (like khorne berzerkers) and let the guardsmen drown the dangeorus guys with a pool of slugs and lasers.
Moving Tank Formation - the Lead Blender
Tanks: Demolisher, Executioner, Exterminator, Conqueror
Deployment: Begin the game with several of these tanks in reserve, at least one of them, and the rest as hidden as you can keep them. Purchase the camo netting upgrade as it's only 1 point. Keep them out of dense terrain and cover so that they can start moving ASAP.
Tactics: The name of the game is speed and confusion. You want smoke launchers, track guards and extra armour to keep these tanks from slowing down, and never stop firing, even if your only target is a one man squad of guants. Every shot counts. What I ususally do, is while your Lead Blender is moving, shoot with them first, and then once you've fired all of your ordnance weaponry, use your heavy weapon teams and guardsmen squads to mop up survivors. Demolishers are the best for the Lead Blender because of several factors:
1. Better armour on the sides and rear
2. in Cities of Death, they have Siege armour, so no pesky Strength 8 or 9 shot hitting you from a window and ruining your whole day
3. Powerful, short range cannon that is good to use because you'll be near the enemy anyway
4. Bullet magnet. Draws fire from your fragile guardsmen
Target Priority: You should try to hit other enemy vehicles with this strategy, poping your smoke launchers when they start realizing that you're an actual threat. If you're not in range with your demolisher cannon at the time if you're using the LRD, then fire your sponsons, hull and pintel weapons. If the enemy is tau, for example, and he starts shooting at you with broadsides and hammer heads and other powerful and nasty high tech weapons, then target that unit at range with high AP or high Strength weapons manned by infantry to help your tanks get there. Constantly be unloading on the enemy, and focus all 3 tanks at one target each round. Nothing is more devastating against any vehicle than 3 demolisher shots or 6 multi-melta and 3 lascannon shots. if you start to take heavy damage, then move behind some cover, and shoot from there, hope you get lucky, but never stop moving your tanks.
I derived this strategy from the Gaunt's Ghosts book, Necropolis, where General Grizzmund and his Narmenians go head to head with the Zoican armoued forced and are constantly moving and circling the enemy. That's what I imagine this strategy like, and I've used it once before with some chimera's. Even that was lethal. Part of the reason behind this is that the enemy can't decide which to shoot at first - the tank on his left, the tank on his right, or the tank in front of him, possibly behind him!
Armoured Swarm - The Magic Missile
Tanks: Hell hounds, Thunderer's, Demolishers, Cyclops Demolition Vehicles
Deployment: Anywhere. It can be out in the open, behind some light cover, in dense cover. It doesn't really matter.
Tactics: This is simply a near suicidal tank banzai charge. You should probably take a Demolisher or two, and maximum hell hounds. if you have the Imperial Armour Books, then take some Cyclops Demolition vehicles, and throw those into the mix. You can even drop them off with a Valkyrie transport. What you do is drive from at least two different directions towards a selected unit (broadsides, biovores and sniper 'fex units, dark reapers and tanks, etc etc) which should be considered a target priority, a very lethal unit that your little guys just simply cannot get to.
Go full speed (not shooting) at that target, popping smoke launchers when you get into anti-tank unit's line of sight. Drive up and get in their face, make them feel the heat of your engines. That's how close you should be. Then, just unleash hell on them. Fire all of your weapons. With your hell hounds, buy a pintel mounted heavy stubber and a hunter killer missile so that when you stop to shoot you get your inferno cannon, hull heavy bolter, pintel stubber and an extra krak missile to throw into your death salad. Behind them should be the demolisher, lobbing those demolisher shots into the target, but as soon as it gets weak, start covering them by blasting nearby enemies.
With your selection of infantry, find a way to fit in some mortars and sniper so that you can pin (if they even can be pinned...stupid fearless enemies!) anti-tank units to make way for your big stuff to get through. If your chosen target is an anti-tank unit, then pin that unit. If it's a vehicle, then it obviously can't be pinned but you sure as hell can p!ss it off by shooting at it with krak missiles and possibly immobilizing or knocking off some of its weapons.
Artillery Smoke - The Safety Blanket
Tanks: Medusa's and Basilisks
Deployment: In lots of cover, as far back as possible. Make sure you're still able to fire indirectly
Tactics: This is more of a defensive strategy. You need the Imperial Armour books in order to utilize it, so if you don't have those books then this will not help you at all.
Get as many artillery and indirect fire vehicles as possible and give them smoke shells. This tactic goes well with your army only if you have a tar pit of weak, unupgraded troops (conscripts and low cost platoons).
When you start firing, all you're going to do is fire smoke shells. Start with the far side (right or left, it doesn't matter), and pop a smoke shell near your deployment zone, close enough for your own guardsmen to be able to reach it if they roll a 6 on their run roll (so about 12" away from the front most unit at most). Best to use a medus for this as they have a shorter minimum range than the basilisk. Then just work your way across your gun line. The next turn, put more smoke out to cover your advance. What this does is provide a 5+ cover save as your men move up, and if you've taken cameleoline, then you get a 4+ save all the way up to your objective, or if that's not your goal, then a 4+ cover save all the way up to rapid fire range!
Keep your tanks near heavy weapon teams so that they can keep them save. Give the tanks smoke launchers themselves. Don't stop pumping the battle field with covering smoke until your units reach reletive safety, then you can commence with firing the killing rounds out at the foe.
Static Tank Line - The Fire Wire
Tanks: Battle Tank, Vanquisher, Executioner, Exterminator
Deployment: In cover, left + right + center of deployment zone, heavily armed infantry nearby
Tactics: This style of tank use is a gunline booster...a huge one! Place your tanks where they get that incredible 4+ cover save that comes with 5th edition, and be sure to have lots of infantry near by to repel melta bomber or other close range tank killers. Best to have your fire support and anti-tank squads that you should have taken with you H.Q in the levels above (if you're hidden in a multi-level building) or in a nearby patch of cover, preferably elevated above the tank so that when hostiles get near it, they can shoot over the tank and dish out a lot of pain!
On the ground near your tanks, keep some squads with counter assault weapons such as melta guns, storm bolters and flamers, so my recomendation would be a platoon command squad.
Target Priority: use your tanks to bust the absolute most threatening units. These aren't necessarily the largest ones, just the most dangeorus ones (i.e.: Terminators, 'ard boyz and nobs, 'nid monstrous creatures, etc etc). The reason I advocate this is because as a gunline bolster, you're most likely playing kill points, so you'll have a lot of heavily armed guardsmen in cover nearby trying to take out hordes of infantry or groups of MEQ's. They need to focus on those units because they have more shots, but the tanks can fire at the lethal targets that should guarantee deaths. if you don't have tanks with AP 2 weapons while fighting and enemy that has termies, then reverse this role fire at the largest groups of dangeorus enemies (like khorne berzerkers) and let the guardsmen drown the dangeorus guys with a pool of slugs and lasers.
Moving Tank Formation - the Lead Blender
Tanks: Demolisher, Executioner, Exterminator, Conqueror
Deployment: Begin the game with several of these tanks in reserve, at least one of them, and the rest as hidden as you can keep them. Purchase the camo netting upgrade as it's only 1 point. Keep them out of dense terrain and cover so that they can start moving ASAP.
Tactics: The name of the game is speed and confusion. You want smoke launchers, track guards and extra armour to keep these tanks from slowing down, and never stop firing, even if your only target is a one man squad of guants. Every shot counts. What I ususally do, is while your Lead Blender is moving, shoot with them first, and then once you've fired all of your ordnance weaponry, use your heavy weapon teams and guardsmen squads to mop up survivors. Demolishers are the best for the Lead Blender because of several factors:
1. Better armour on the sides and rear
2. in Cities of Death, they have Siege armour, so no pesky Strength 8 or 9 shot hitting you from a window and ruining your whole day
3. Powerful, short range cannon that is good to use because you'll be near the enemy anyway
4. Bullet magnet. Draws fire from your fragile guardsmen
Target Priority: You should try to hit other enemy vehicles with this strategy, poping your smoke launchers when they start realizing that you're an actual threat. If you're not in range with your demolisher cannon at the time if you're using the LRD, then fire your sponsons, hull and pintel weapons. If the enemy is tau, for example, and he starts shooting at you with broadsides and hammer heads and other powerful and nasty high tech weapons, then target that unit at range with high AP or high Strength weapons manned by infantry to help your tanks get there. Constantly be unloading on the enemy, and focus all 3 tanks at one target each round. Nothing is more devastating against any vehicle than 3 demolisher shots or 6 multi-melta and 3 lascannon shots. if you start to take heavy damage, then move behind some cover, and shoot from there, hope you get lucky, but never stop moving your tanks.
I derived this strategy from the Gaunt's Ghosts book, Necropolis, where General Grizzmund and his Narmenians go head to head with the Zoican armoued forced and are constantly moving and circling the enemy. That's what I imagine this strategy like, and I've used it once before with some chimera's. Even that was lethal. Part of the reason behind this is that the enemy can't decide which to shoot at first - the tank on his left, the tank on his right, or the tank in front of him, possibly behind him!
Armoured Swarm - The Magic Missile
Tanks: Hell hounds, Thunderer's, Demolishers, Cyclops Demolition Vehicles
Deployment: Anywhere. It can be out in the open, behind some light cover, in dense cover. It doesn't really matter.
Tactics: This is simply a near suicidal tank banzai charge. You should probably take a Demolisher or two, and maximum hell hounds. if you have the Imperial Armour Books, then take some Cyclops Demolition vehicles, and throw those into the mix. You can even drop them off with a Valkyrie transport. What you do is drive from at least two different directions towards a selected unit (broadsides, biovores and sniper 'fex units, dark reapers and tanks, etc etc) which should be considered a target priority, a very lethal unit that your little guys just simply cannot get to.
Go full speed (not shooting) at that target, popping smoke launchers when you get into anti-tank unit's line of sight. Drive up and get in their face, make them feel the heat of your engines. That's how close you should be. Then, just unleash hell on them. Fire all of your weapons. With your hell hounds, buy a pintel mounted heavy stubber and a hunter killer missile so that when you stop to shoot you get your inferno cannon, hull heavy bolter, pintel stubber and an extra krak missile to throw into your death salad. Behind them should be the demolisher, lobbing those demolisher shots into the target, but as soon as it gets weak, start covering them by blasting nearby enemies.
With your selection of infantry, find a way to fit in some mortars and sniper so that you can pin (if they even can be pinned...stupid fearless enemies!) anti-tank units to make way for your big stuff to get through. If your chosen target is an anti-tank unit, then pin that unit. If it's a vehicle, then it obviously can't be pinned but you sure as hell can p!ss it off by shooting at it with krak missiles and possibly immobilizing or knocking off some of its weapons.
Artillery Smoke - The Safety Blanket
Tanks: Medusa's and Basilisks
Deployment: In lots of cover, as far back as possible. Make sure you're still able to fire indirectly
Tactics: This is more of a defensive strategy. You need the Imperial Armour books in order to utilize it, so if you don't have those books then this will not help you at all.
Get as many artillery and indirect fire vehicles as possible and give them smoke shells. This tactic goes well with your army only if you have a tar pit of weak, unupgraded troops (conscripts and low cost platoons).
When you start firing, all you're going to do is fire smoke shells. Start with the far side (right or left, it doesn't matter), and pop a smoke shell near your deployment zone, close enough for your own guardsmen to be able to reach it if they roll a 6 on their run roll (so about 12" away from the front most unit at most). Best to use a medus for this as they have a shorter minimum range than the basilisk. Then just work your way across your gun line. The next turn, put more smoke out to cover your advance. What this does is provide a 5+ cover save as your men move up, and if you've taken cameleoline, then you get a 4+ save all the way up to your objective, or if that's not your goal, then a 4+ cover save all the way up to rapid fire range!
Keep your tanks near heavy weapon teams so that they can keep them save. Give the tanks smoke launchers themselves. Don't stop pumping the battle field with covering smoke until your units reach reletive safety, then you can commence with firing the killing rounds out at the foe.