Choosing your army
Choosing the army to go to war with is one of the most important aspects of doing well in 40K game.
This is where your strategy begins, and here is where your strategy/tactics evolve from.
Where to begin
Before you select a single troop choice you have to decide what your overall strategem is going to be. Are you going to be a defensive army? Are you going to play re-actively or proactivley? Are you going to attempt to take control of the board from turn 1 and force your enemy to move where you want? Or are you going to be a shooty army to try and annihalate your opponent before he gets to you?
Of course knowing what army you are facing will narrow these choices down. Facing a tau army? You can almost guarantee that he is going to go for a shooty army/ fast control army perhaps. These scenarios and many more will influence what units you will comit to your roster.
Synergy
When i mention synergy in the context of an army i mean the way in which units work with eachother, be it in direct or indirect support . Never ever gameplan around 1 units success. Eg. My assault marines will support the vanguard in asault whilst the transport provides mobile cover to prevent them being shot at by the rest of the army in the case the enemy unit is wiped out. Meanwhile the rest of my army is shooting at his tanks etc.
a) Choose whatever you like! Do not be burdened by thinking that you have to build a super leet army that includes this this and that. Army lists do not make you leet, knowing what to do with the list you are playing is what makes you leet.
b) Make your selections with an idea of what you want that unit to do in-game. Okay, so you want 10 banshees because they look cool, a great reason to pick them, but think about what you want them to do once they are on the board. In addition think of supporting them once they get to combat, perhaps a unit of warp spiders/harlequins to prevent the banshees from being counter assaulted and getting bogged down. Many players have great armies, but spend the first three rounds of the game just trying to figure out what each unit it supposed to be doing. Avoid that by planning it before hand. Its feesible to have several gameplans (strategies) in mind, and adopt one once both players have set up.
c) Balanced is best. While any army can be effective, well rounded armiesalways end up trumps. Try to include units that can contain and control the various aspects of your opponents force. You will need to be able to launch or counter an assault, destroy armor and crate a heavy blanket of fire that will cause casualties on units you cannot assault.
d) Do not gameplan around 1 unit's success. Always use redundancy in your list. If you have a unit of banshees to counter assault when he gets to close to your lines, have something else that can counter assault on your other flank too. Do not assume that your monolith is unkillable, do not assume it will kill anything, be ready for your landraider to be blown apart on turn 1, plan for your enemy to roll an amazing number of 6's while you roll snake eyes. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.
Along with these major aspects is movement, you need to have mobile and stationary elements in your army. If your whole army is static, the enemy can out maneuver you, if your whole army relies on mobility, you can accidently rob yourself of the first turn or two of the game by moving around too much and out maneuvering yourself.
These are my thoughts, taking ideas from another forum and expanding on them. if there is anything you disagree with, or anything you think should be added please reply to the topic.
Choosing the army to go to war with is one of the most important aspects of doing well in 40K game.
This is where your strategy begins, and here is where your strategy/tactics evolve from.
Where to begin
Before you select a single troop choice you have to decide what your overall strategem is going to be. Are you going to be a defensive army? Are you going to play re-actively or proactivley? Are you going to attempt to take control of the board from turn 1 and force your enemy to move where you want? Or are you going to be a shooty army to try and annihalate your opponent before he gets to you?
Of course knowing what army you are facing will narrow these choices down. Facing a tau army? You can almost guarantee that he is going to go for a shooty army/ fast control army perhaps. These scenarios and many more will influence what units you will comit to your roster.
Synergy
When i mention synergy in the context of an army i mean the way in which units work with eachother, be it in direct or indirect support . Never ever gameplan around 1 units success. Eg. My assault marines will support the vanguard in asault whilst the transport provides mobile cover to prevent them being shot at by the rest of the army in the case the enemy unit is wiped out. Meanwhile the rest of my army is shooting at his tanks etc.
a) Choose whatever you like! Do not be burdened by thinking that you have to build a super leet army that includes this this and that. Army lists do not make you leet, knowing what to do with the list you are playing is what makes you leet.
b) Make your selections with an idea of what you want that unit to do in-game. Okay, so you want 10 banshees because they look cool, a great reason to pick them, but think about what you want them to do once they are on the board. In addition think of supporting them once they get to combat, perhaps a unit of warp spiders/harlequins to prevent the banshees from being counter assaulted and getting bogged down. Many players have great armies, but spend the first three rounds of the game just trying to figure out what each unit it supposed to be doing. Avoid that by planning it before hand. Its feesible to have several gameplans (strategies) in mind, and adopt one once both players have set up.
c) Balanced is best. While any army can be effective, well rounded armiesalways end up trumps. Try to include units that can contain and control the various aspects of your opponents force. You will need to be able to launch or counter an assault, destroy armor and crate a heavy blanket of fire that will cause casualties on units you cannot assault.
d) Do not gameplan around 1 unit's success. Always use redundancy in your list. If you have a unit of banshees to counter assault when he gets to close to your lines, have something else that can counter assault on your other flank too. Do not assume that your monolith is unkillable, do not assume it will kill anything, be ready for your landraider to be blown apart on turn 1, plan for your enemy to roll an amazing number of 6's while you roll snake eyes. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.
Along with these major aspects is movement, you need to have mobile and stationary elements in your army. If your whole army is static, the enemy can out maneuver you, if your whole army relies on mobility, you can accidently rob yourself of the first turn or two of the game by moving around too much and out maneuvering yourself.
These are my thoughts, taking ideas from another forum and expanding on them. if there is anything you disagree with, or anything you think should be added please reply to the topic.