Armies in 5th: Basics Part 5: Synergy

This has been kicking around for a while on my word prcoessor and there have been some recent posts on other blogs about it but let's see if I can add anything and continue the Armies in 5th series. The concept of synergy is hard to put a finger on, particularly differing it from your army's makeup or composition. Afterall, assuming all of our bases are covered in anti-infantry and anti-tank with most of our units capable of some sort of duality, the synergy seems inherent in the army. Well let's look at something first. Dverning wrote a nice little piece here about Troops. I've covered this in my Army Comp One and Two posts but what should be highlighted is this:

"Troops are often the bland, common, grunt soldiers of the army. Everything Troops can do, selections from other Force Orgs do larger, faster, stronger and louder. "

I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times but I'll say it again. Troops are not the killy in most armies and generally spending 1000 points on them is fail. Dverning is spot on with that line and I think it deserves a cookie or something. I see so often people spamming Tacs or Ork Boyz or whatever and it just doesn't work because your killing power is just plain bad. This is obviously bad army composition as your army can't kill as well as it should but it affects your synergy, too. You now have to make sure the rest of your units are REALLY killy and generally that means focusing their jobs and losing in duality.

So, we've covered how you want to set up your lists on paper but now we need to look at how they work on the table. It's great having a list with 6 units all of which are equally good at popping tanks and infantry but not if they can get picked apart by your opponent. Here is where a "theme" comes in and one of the main reasons I'm against most Hybrid lists (obvious exceptions being IG & Tau). So assuming you've followed the advice around here from my Army Comp and you've got all your bases covered in anti-tank, anti-vehicle, blocking, screening, sacrifical, etc. how do we make sure your army has good synergy?

Easiest way is army movement and their tempo (aka speed). If everyone can move 12" they are at an obvious advantage to an army where half move 12" and half move 6". There are obvious exceptions here with static units which bubble wrap and shoot well (Long Fangs, Infantry platoons, Kroot, etc.) but for the most part your army should be a single whole; we are gestaltists right? This is where Hybrid IMO falls apart. Whilst Hybrid BA and SW look good on paper (the TWC are arguably faster than mech and BA jumpers move essentially the same was their tanks when you consider chassis length) there is room for the differences to be exploited. So when your army is placed on the table and you are playing with it, you want it to flow. The army should seem to inately work together, no matter what you or your opponent does. A classic example is a Mechdar army. Every tank moves 24" and for the most part is all about shooting your opponent whilst staying alive but the weak link of every Eldar army is Fire Dragons. They are the lynchpin for without them, S6 doesn't get you very far against AV14 all-rounders. However, the Eldar army as a whole works in a very similar way. This is the synergy or theme of an army. If the army has good synergy there will be no times when an opposing army can exploit you significantly. If you have static long-ranged units like LF or Broadsides, it's built into the army. Poor army synergy would have those guys left alone when versusing a shooty list as the other SW run across the table but they are then very vulnerable.

Furthermore, by running Hybrid you are often offering your opponent's guns ideal choices; there are both infantry and tanks to shoot at from the get go. With this concept in mind you want to try and deny your opponent this happy pleasure, much like a refused flank. By playing an Ork horde for example, any opponent who has gone to town on meltas is going to be screwed (so against a balanced army...nope). So this generally means little in the scheme of things as it should even itself out but as a very specific army type (i.e. horde or mech, etc.) you are able to target what is most effective against you over other units.

This does seem trivial as the most balanced of lists generally have anti-tank and anti-infantry spread across them (look at LasPlas RBack spam for example) but by making sure your army is moulded as a whole, you have a one up on any army that is not (looking at you rock armies!). Whilst this is not to say the rock armies are bad (2x TH/SS in Raiders for example is a good list) nor does it help you against other balanced lists, your opponent doesn't look at your list and immediately go "this needs to die." Even with good army composition, if you don't have synergy, certain things will stand out.

Now. Most good lists will never have perfect synergy. Look at the Eldar example or TH/SS Marines or any army that enjoys the balanced and competitive label. It's impossible because certain parts of the army are going to have to do certain things. However, the more synergised your army and the more targets you present to the enemy, the harder it is for your opponent to exploit your army and the more likely they are to make a mistake. Overall, this is really an add-on to the composition posts but I think it is important to cover, especially when I'm trying to explain why I don't like BA hybrid. The more opportunities your army has to fall apart, the worse. Sooner or later you will come across that situation in a tournament and it will happen for all armies but by hedging your army more through appropriate application of synergy, makes it less likely to happen.