More Thoughts On Footdar: Basic Deployment Concepts

Sorry for the pause the week of New Years. Its been crazy this week. I never realized how much stuff I had. It really piles up over a year. As I pack and get ready for my move back to Lansing I have been continuing my experiments with the Footdar. I have gotten in 3 games with OST playing his Death Wing, his Iron Warriors and His new Orky horde. The first two games were against my now evolving standard footdar list. I tried an all Aspect Warrior version when Farseer Re-Rolls dared me to try a list not involving the Avatar. Needless to say versus an Ork army not a good idea.

The Avatar is actually a lynch pin in the whole list. You have to keep your troops in the fight and making them fearless helps a whole ton. The placement of the Avatar is pretty crucial. All of your units, especially the Guardian units must have at least one member of the unit within 12 inches of the Avatar. I usually place the Avatar in the literal center of the army. The Guardian units are to The Avatars fore and wrap around the left and right. If you are using Harlequins they go ahead of the Guardians. I also use Storm Guardians instead of Harlequins as it presents a target twice the size and with a raw ton of attacks. The Warlock in the unit has the Enhance power so they hit like Aspect warriors.

Now the only units that will not be able to take advantage of the fearless aura of The Avatar are your rear guard and deep striking units. The Warp spiders and Dark reapers , as Aspect Warriors, have a good leadership and although may take a lot of fire should be able to hold up. The guardians are the main force and need the most bolstering.

Setting up the army in a pitched battle can be very difficult. This is especially true with a massed horde of Guardians. It also makes it difficult for the Harlequins to act as a screen. That said you have to choose what you screen carefully. The Harlequins will not be able to screen both Guardian units so you should place them in the front of the Avatar. This puts them in the middle of the two Guardian masses flanking the Avatar. The Seer Council will fit in behind the Avatar to bolster the Guardians Avatar and the Harlequins. The Support units, artillery and long range support, should be kept in cover on the left or right flank. In a pitched battle you still want to establish a kill corridor with your long ranged support. This is difficult given you are spanning the whole long board edge. The real key is making sure you have a kill zone established where your forces are marching.

Spearhead style deployment makes your job pretty easy. Support in the back and the Guardians surrounding the Avatar. The Harlequins up front strung out in a ling can usually screen the whole force. The kill corridor is very established since you will be squaring off corner to corner. Besides suppressing the main enemy force you will have to use your long range support to guard the flanks of your army. This is especially true on the flank facing your opponents table edge. Reserve units can hit the side of your army hard. You must also be weary of outflanking units. Genestealers and boss snikrot can wreck some havoc in your back field and cut out your long range support. I usually have the seer council hang back a bit, stretching the unit out so the seer maintains fortune range on the Avatar . You can only do this for a turn or two though. Deep strikers are no as big an issue as you can spread your force out to deny your opponent the ability to land units. Any drop zone that is viable is unappealing as its an instant kill zone. You must only be weary of units that can assault on the turn they land.

Dawn of War style deployments are a mixed bag. You can start very far forward but you only have two units on the table. This means an advanced force pretty far forward of the main force. One would think its preferable to start with nothing on the table and walk on. This has its advantages if you do not have first turn. It hampers your ability to deploy your army properly though. Units will be out of position due to space constraints. So its actually good to place a couple of units on the board. I usually go for a unit of Guardians and a Unit of Pathfinders. You have the protection of night fight and a 5+ cover save with the Guardian unit. This is where Eldrads power to redeploy units comes in handy. You can optimize your position based on what your opponent does if you are forced to set up first. Heavy weapons fire will be at a minimum. This will also allow you to get optimal firing position for the Pathfinders so they can start trying to pin units from turn one. Your opponent will see them as a target of opportunity and possibly dedicate an excess amount of resources to destroy them once he sees how hard they are to take out with shooting. I prefer buildings just because you get a get out of jail free card when it comes to indirect fire ordnance as long as you are as high as you can be without being on the top floor. Choice of HQ can be tough. I usually start with the Avatar on the table since the Farseer will not be able to deploy with the Warlock unit. Just be sure to put him in a spot that will keep him safe.

So there ya go my thoughts on the 3 basic deployment types. I would also like to announce that the Second “Test Of Khaine” tournament will take place in April. I will be bringing more details in the coming weeks on here and DarkFuture Games. It will again be at Evolution games and tentatively scheduled for the 14^th of April, which also happens to be my birthday.

Until next time.............

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!