The olde bait'n'switch

So youre out for a weekend of hunting some Dark Angels? Better stock up on our high energy marine bait!*

*Marine bait is subject to copywright by GW, any attempts to reproduce or even use this product will result in a lawsuit.

The olde bait'n'switch

The olde bait'n'switch is not a new tactic, but it seems to be a long forgotten one, I guess mainly because you need to keep your tactics secret then when the time is right make a move that loses you friends.

Regardless the bait'n'switch or just baiting is still a very sound tactic that plays heavily on your opponents bloodlust and can turn a game for you.

Firstly, while effective, Im not talking about setting up a countercharge unit just out of line of sight, then yelling "SURPRISE ASSAULT MARINES." Because we dont have fog of war this is too hard to do.

What im talking about is sacrificing your own squads for board position rather than simply model count. Here are some ways to generate advantage from a losing position.

Imagine you are playing your brilliant blue ultramarines against a foul chaos horde. Now your 10 man vet squad was blown down to 3 men, failed ld and fell back. Now luckily for you, you auto regroup, but now are left with a problem. 3 vets wont do much. Especially as they wont get close enough to the enemy to fire enough shots to really work wonders for you right?

So most people will run them away and hide them behind a building. Maybe try and sneak them near an objective late game. While this may work sometimes, I find 9/10 times you are just wasting your time.

instead take advantage of the fact your know the enemy will want to finish them off. The just have to, its part of every warhammer players dream to board wipe the opponent and what better way than to start wiping entire units out.

So you move them to say 18" from their CSM with dual plasmas. You know you are going to die, but what will you gain? Well chances are unless the squad is 20 man strong, they will move in to rapid fire you. What does this mean for you other than a dead squad? Well it means you forced that squad to move 5-6" in a direction of your choice. This may be in range of those plasma cannon devistators or just off that objective you were hoping to secure next turn. You can also use this to clear room for deepstriking too.

Counter charging units are great, its a great tactic, one you shouldnt abandon. However its well known, easy to spot a mile away. Convincing your opponent to move their squad into range of your army with a "free kill" is harder to spot, especially if your opponent is bloodthirsty. So many times I have sacrificed a unit of cultists to draw a unit deeper into my lines and away from the support of the rest of his army. 

Use this tactic in any way you please. Move units away from supporting fire to open a charge on tau. Move the front line of guardsmen away to allow a direct line of sight to the heavy weapons squads. Put yourself in charge distance of plaguebearers so they move and are no longer providing cover for the squad behind it.

At worst, you make them waste time killing a unit now, and not prioritising your threats, rather than sweeping them later when they have run out of targets.

It all relies on one basic instinct of a warhammer player. Their insatiable lust for blood, winning games, removing whole units from the board, etc.

And lets face it, youre one of these players too.

What feels better at the end of the day?

Knowing you killed 8 men from 4 space marine squads but removed none, or annihilating three 10 man squads.

Now do the maths (8*4 > 3*10) 

I still havent got my hands on an ork codex to determine the points costs of some of the units I want to run. Mainly lootas, painboyz and sluggas. But Im sure one will find its way into my arms before long.

In the mean time, ponder the idea of baiting units to be where you want them, and tell about how it affected your game. Even if for the worst!