Deployment Zone Defence
The rules regarding deployment mean lots of units can enter the battlefield in a variety of ways from tunnelling up from underground to deep striking in. They all require you to be 9” away from nearest enemy model (at least initially).
This means that pinpoint accuracy, with no risk (apart from entering a battlefield of death and destruction in the 41st millennium!) has been gained.
Missions now require players to set up units in an alternating fashion. WIth the player who finishes first getting first go.
There are a couple of ways that we can exploit these mechanics
The most obvious is predictability. Imperial Guard players will tend to have lots of units and as a consequence can plan for going second.
Unbalanced or ‘weighted’ deployment.
We can increase the benefit of this by considering the order of our deployment. We can plan a basic deployment and then adapt it in response to our opponents deployment.
Ideally we want to have only put down units with little tactical value whilst our opponent places his army. An example are things like mortar teams that are probably going to be along the back of our lines, and where line of sight is not relevant (this is one reason why I prefer the mortar teams to Wyverns when considering anti-troop artillery).
We can then deploy our forces with a big weighting towards one side of the table, or against one particular part of our opponents lines, giving us the opportunity to smash up their army bit by bit, for example with a particularly strong swing down one side of the table.
Exclusion Zone
We can use the 9” rule to defend the rear/side edges of our deployment, and also project an exclusion zone in front of our forces. - essentially making use of the fact we are often deployed ‘on the table at game start.
You can exclude nearly half the board from deep strike if you have enough models! The diagram below is illustrating how you can cover corners etc. Remember you can ignore this after opponent turn 3 as no models from reserves after that.
The use of troops with ‘scout’ ability such as scout sentinels can further extend the exclusion area in front of your deployment area.
The rules regarding deployment mean lots of units can enter the battlefield in a variety of ways from tunnelling up from underground to deep striking in. They all require you to be 9” away from nearest enemy model (at least initially).
This means that pinpoint accuracy, with no risk (apart from entering a battlefield of death and destruction in the 41st millennium!) has been gained.
Missions now require players to set up units in an alternating fashion. WIth the player who finishes first getting first go.
There are a couple of ways that we can exploit these mechanics
The most obvious is predictability. Imperial Guard players will tend to have lots of units and as a consequence can plan for going second.
Unbalanced or ‘weighted’ deployment.
We can increase the benefit of this by considering the order of our deployment. We can plan a basic deployment and then adapt it in response to our opponents deployment.
Ideally we want to have only put down units with little tactical value whilst our opponent places his army. An example are things like mortar teams that are probably going to be along the back of our lines, and where line of sight is not relevant (this is one reason why I prefer the mortar teams to Wyverns when considering anti-troop artillery).
We can then deploy our forces with a big weighting towards one side of the table, or against one particular part of our opponents lines, giving us the opportunity to smash up their army bit by bit, for example with a particularly strong swing down one side of the table.
Exclusion Zone
We can use the 9” rule to defend the rear/side edges of our deployment, and also project an exclusion zone in front of our forces. - essentially making use of the fact we are often deployed ‘on the table at game start.
You can exclude nearly half the board from deep strike if you have enough models! The diagram below is illustrating how you can cover corners etc. Remember you can ignore this after opponent turn 3 as no models from reserves after that.
The use of troops with ‘scout’ ability such as scout sentinels can further extend the exclusion area in front of your deployment area.