Being good at everything

Combi-weapons. 

For that turn your Obliterators are all in reserve, right?

-Chaos lord Gigantius Douchius.

Being good at everything.

Now before you think Im posting about the size of my, ego. Im actually talking about the concept of units which are considered "good at everything" and their effect on the game.

Most people reading this will know Plague Marines are good. If not from experience but from word of mouth or someones online blog. What makes them so good? Well not only are the tougher as nails, but they are able to participate (well) in both the shooting and the combat phase.

Obliterators share this trait too. Notice how both these units are some of the most commonly played units in  CSM armies? Oblits have some great shooting capabilities, can move and fire heavy weapons, and are armed with powerfists, 2 base attacks and defenses which allow them to win combats.

Now granted neither of these units can solo assault a dedicated assault unit. And generally will get shot to pieces by a dedicated shooting army. However the option to swap from a shooting unit, to a counter charge unit is amazing.

Yesterday I played my CSM against an Ork player. We played a weird scenario where our army came down in waves of 300 points. I ended victorious because my models could do what his couldnt. Act in both shooting and assault.

At first it didnt seem that obvious, especially with the lists we saw each other take. However the small amount of points that were on the board at any time really emphasized my point. When his Nobs charged in, my Oblits counter charged. When my chaos lord (on juggernaut) got into to his nobs, his Flash gitz were stuck there completely unable to assist.

This was a huge problem I was having until not too long ago, every time I took autocannon havoks. When the rest of my list was devoted to shooting (noise marines, heldrakes, oblits, etc) they performed really well and their weight of shots ended up being a problem for light vehicles and most infantry. However when I bought a Chaos Biker Lord and some spawn, I often found that I really needed something to back them up in combat. However, Havoks really cant do that.

This seems to be a huge problem for both beginners, and non competitive veterans, and their own lists (not with net lists). They try and get a balance of shooting and assault, and end up being mediocre at both. The games where I swapped those havoks for daemonettes, my army was so much stronger. Is that because daemonettes are better? Not necessarily, its because they fit the army better. If I went back to my noise marine list I think I would find the Havoks much more useful than a squad of squishy glass cannon assault unit.

Troops aside yesterdays game was practically Khorne lord on jugg with spawn and a load of oblits against Nobs on bikes, nobs on foot, flash gits and lootas. Now my opponent played his game quite well, but he couldnt deal with the fact that when he charged my lord, the obliterators counter charged, but the lootas and gitz were stuck shooting cultists and rhinos because the rest was locked in combat.

The other problem he had was such a mix of range he didnt quite know where he wanted me. Lootas want the enemy at 47" inches away. Flash gitz want them much closer, and Nobs even closer again.

For me I could quite happily pick what weapons to use at the range I was at so I had the flexibility to chose what I wanted to do. In this game I wanted to push him hard up against his deployment zone and keep him there.

So after these points we came up with an idea. It actually came from an old Tau vs Guard story, which goes Guards men have 24" range and 5+ armour, so the tau brought 30" guns that wounded on 2+ and ignored their armour. So the Guardsmen brought heavy bolters, which were 36" range, and wounded the Tau on 2+ ignoring their armour. One thing you can take from that, is that the tau could sit at the 31" line and the guard were useless, having to move into the taus range to even have a chance of firing. But with the heavy bolter, the guard put the same pressure on the tau. So basically the idea was, 48" shooting range, with units that can counter charge if they need.

Basically the list involves placing oblits and lootas at 48" away from your opponent, Now I dont know many armies which can deal that much damage at that range, so they have to move forward into salvos of more and more fire. Obliterators get deadlier the closer they get as well which is nice. And at no point do you have a unit locked in combat so far away from the rest of your army that you cant back it up. If your opponent gets off a charge and doesnt kill the unit, feel free to devote oblits to punch em.

Now Im not going to list a perfect list for you guys, im sure you can work one out using the models you have.

But for getting cheap HQ choices, a painboy for orks is fairly cheap and ususally make his points back. Sorcerers are cheap for chaos, providing support spells like invis and shrouding, where a cheap vanilla lord gives a squad fearless for 65 points total.

In conclusion, shooty units which can countercharge are great. especially if you can keep them near by each other. Also remember to keep your ranges (if shooting) or your speed (if in combat) similar so you can keep everything contributing to the battle at all times.