7th Ed. Interesting tactic I stumbled across on the weekend

[strewart]

Well, I am sure you have all had the situation where your heavy cavalry/monster/chariot etc. has charged a unit, hit it really hard, either destroyed it or made it flee, overran and effectively been out of the battle for 2-3 turns while you turn around and return to the action.

I was playing my High Elven army on the way to an absolute massacre over my friend's Vampire Counts and in the second turn my unit of dragon princes charged a unit of ghouls. This was a bit of a gamble, the ghouls were flanked by a varghulf and grave guard unit so if I didn't punch through the countercharge would have eaten my DP's for breakfast.

Anyway, in my movement phase my eagle had come up the flank behind terrain first turn and was now ready to march-block since it had little other duties with no lone characters or warmachines. I moved it up and put it directly behind the ghoul unit really close, there were 2-3 units it could march-block from there. As an added bonus, everything went to plan and the DP massacred the ghouls and overran to get away from the other units, I rolled a 15 (fairly high roll but more than possible). Now because of the eagle, instead of flying off 15" and ending up off the board basically, the trotted forward 4-5" to hit the eagle and stop safely out of the charge arc of all the units around, and really close to the action ready to get straight back in!

Now it is a common tactic to put a >US5 unit behind to destroy them if they flee, but I have never seen it used to stop your unit overrunning too far.

Food for thought.

 

[thesecondman]

Persuing units always go their full distance. This even includes persuing over difficult terrain, and through your own units, just as you go through your own units whe you flee (the unit is effectively supposed to break coherencly and run solo, like a skirmish unit). Check da fleeing / persuing section. Please post if i'm incorrect.

 

[Caneghem]

Persuing units always go their full distance. This even includes persuing over difficult terrain, and through your own units, just as you go through your own units whe you flee (the unit is effectively supposed to break coherencly and run solo, like a skirmish unit). Check da fleeing / persuing section. Please post if i'm incorrect.

Pursuing units go 2d6 inches if M6 or lower, 3d6 if 7 or higher. They always move the full distance, but they stop if they hit friendly units or impassable terrain (or enemies). They do ignore penalties for difficult terrain though. p.43

 

[thesecondman]

Sweet, thanks for clarification.
That is quite handy.

 

[strewart]

Yep, there are very few things that can actually go through a unit and out the other side. Fleeing units will break around friendly units, fanatics can pop out the other side, but pursuing are stopped by interposing units.

 

[kroxigor01]

Nice idea! A depleted Terradon unit (they always seem to be depleted, the enemy have a habit of shooting and magicing them alot...) can win you the game!

Another trick I have tried with units with US<5 is to make the enemy flee further.

Say you're planning on Doom and Darknessing a low leadership unit and then shooting it with a couple of Salamanders to panic it. Lets say that the enemy unit is a unit of Knights Errant, so are about 6" long. You place a single Terradon so that it is directly in line with the firing angle of the Salamanders and behind the Knights Errant, but 6.999" from the table edge.

If the enemy unit fails its panic test and flees far enough to reach the Terradon, it dies! WOHO! Conceivably you could kill a unit of Knights Errant that are 16" inches from the table edge.

Now imagine you had a unit of 4 skinks, supposedly 'no longer a threat' (my opponents words), to make a 10 inches (+ enemy unit length) 'teleport off the board zone' .

 

[Caneghem]

Nice idea! A depleted Terradon unit (they always seem to be depleted, the enemy have a habit of shooting and magicing them alot...) can win you the game!

Another trick I have tried with units with US<5 is to make the enemy flee further.

Say you're planning on Doom and Darknessing a low leadership unit and then shooting it with a couple of Salamanders to panic it. Lets say that the enemy unit is a unit of Knights Errant, so are about 6" long. You place a single Terradon so that it is directly in line with the firing angle of the Salamanders and behind the Knights Errant, but 6.999" from the table edge.

If the enemy unit fails its panic test and flees far enough to reach the Terradon, it dies! WOHO! Conceivably you could kill a unit of Knights Errant that are 16" inches from the table edge.

Now imagine you had a unit of 4 skinks, supposedly 'no longer a threat' (my opponents words), to make a 10 inches (+ enemy unit length) 'teleport off the board zone' .

Can also use that one to fling them into impassable terrain, or other friendly units of US5+. A sound tactic, as yeah, especially with 2 terradons you can make a pretty sizable teleport with that otherwise depleted unit.

 

[strewart]

Wow teleporting units is a great idea, and now makes me somewhat reconsider charmeleon skinks.

If you put a unit right behind theirs though, as a teleport, would their move distance just be measured from where they are and ignore your unit if they are going past it anyway? Or would it add distance to their flee move? Is this only really usable when you are say 6-10" away and looking to make them go further than they would?

 

[Caneghem]

Wow teleporting units is a great idea, and now makes me somewhat reconsider charmeleon skinks.

If you put a unit right behind theirs though, as a teleport, would their move distance just be measured from where they are and ignore your unit if they are going past it anyway? Or would it add distance to their flee move? Is this only really usable when you are say 6-10" away and looking to make them go further than they would?

Yeah you have to make an estimate of about how far they will flee, the "teleport" only happens when they end their flee move on top of your unit.