Back to Basics: Part 3: TANK SHOCK!!!1!

Well, as Kirby said, the guest authors need to step-up their game this weekend and this is my first contribution. Maybe if Taak gets off of his ass and sends me the final pic from our 4-way (no laughing!) I can finally get that batrep posted.

So, for part 3 of 'Back to Basics' I thought I'd try to start answering some of the questions/points that arose in part 1. Most were posted by Mr Pink himself, but there were a few others discussed. The first topic we will cover is the mighty Tank Shock.

Tank-Shock (RAWR)!

This isn't something I do a great deal, but it's a very useful tactic for several reasons. We'll start by looking at the rules governing a Tank Shock.

1) First of all, a tank shock needs to be declared, sacrificing normal movement.

2) Pivot the vehicle on the spot and declare the distance you plan to move (a minimum of 6.001 inches must be declared i.e. combat speed and above).

3) Move straight ahead until the distance declared is reached or contact with an enemy unit is made.

4) If an enemy unit is contacted, they must take a morale check, falling back if this is failed.

5) If the morale check is passed, the vehicle is let through. If any of the models in the target unit will be under the vehicle at the end of it's movement, they must be moved. They must be 1" away from the vehicle AND must remain in unit coherency. Movement of models must be made by the shortest distance possible.

Death or Glory!

If a unit has been tank-shocked and passes it's morale check, one member that finds itself in the vehicles path may take a pop at it. The model may make a single attack (no matter what the profile of the weapon used is, it's just a single shot/attack) at the vehicle, which automatically hits. If he manages to stun/immoblise/destroy the vehicle then the vehicle halts in front of the Glory-Hunter! If not, say good-bye to him, no matter how many wounds or what save he has.

So, why would you tank-shock?

1) Breaking - Plain and simple, you want the enemy to run away. Tau, Orks (outside of mob rule) and Nids (out of synapse), among many others are perfect candidates for this. Even regular marines will fail this test about ~30% of the time. Once they start running, you sit alongside them and escort them off of the battle field.

2) Bunching - Got yourself plenty template weapons? Then this should be your staple. When tank-shocking, the enemy must move their guys by the minimum possible distance - so no shuffling the whole unit to maintain spacing. Sometimes it takes one or two Tank Shocks to achieve some real nice bunching but when it's done you should be getting a good number of models under those templates. But... remember the template can't cover ANY of your stuff, so think about the movement of your vehicles.

Example 1 - You can see, even with effective model placement by the ork player, the number of models hit by a flamer can greatly increase (4 to 6 to 8) with a couple of well placed Tank Shocks.

3) Breaching - This is a tough one to achieve well, but needs to be mentioned. When you're facing a wiley opponent who's been reading 3++ you may need to think a bit about how to break those lines of bubblewrap. If he's doing it properly, then this will be almost impossible, but if he's like me and making a half-arsed attempt, then you should be able to get around it.

If you are able to get more than half of your vehicle past the enemy line, the shortest route possible will leave the wrap behind your tank. If you have an assault vehicle you can then disembark behind the bubblewrap and assault the valuable units behind. But you need to consider a couple of things before attempting this.

Firstly, make sure you can breach the line, displacing the tank-shocked unit behind you. If not and they do not run they form a semi-circle around the front and sides of your tank (which tend to be where the exits are on your assault vehicles) and prevent you from disembarking. Adding to this, his unit will be able to wrap your tank entirely and then you risk having to make an emergency disembarkation (not fun!). Secondly, make sure there is also sufficient space behind the unit to perform this, otherwise you can't get out and again, the same can occur above.

Example 2 - With a space behind the bubblewrap, the Black Templar player was able to breach it and disembark the terminators ready to assault both units of suits. Note: This is NOT how to bubblewrap properly! Quite the opposite.

Example 3 - With a poor estimate, the Land Raider Crusader could not breach the Kroot wall with a full 12" movement. The Kroot then wrap around the front of the LRC, meaning it is unlikely that the passengers will be able to disembark. If the vehicle is destroyed in the following turn, there will be problems for the Templar player.

4) Contesting - (okay, so I ran out of B words) - A tank-shock late in the game can most certainly make or break the game for you. Eldar are the King of this with their fast, skimmer transports. An 18" tank-shock range is a huge advantage for last turn objective contesting. A well aimed and ranged tank-shock can land you immediately on an objective and if it doesn't make your opponent run away, it could place you on the objective and clear your opponent from the 3" range. The absolute least you'll gain from it is a contested objective and that beats a lost one!

Example 4 - The Serpent tank-shocked onto the objective and because they were fearless, did not run. Due to good positioning by the ork player in preparation for such a tactic from those tricksy elvses, the orks have managed to remain contesting the objective rather than losing it altogether.

So how does Death or Glory affect things?

I want to mention this from both sides of the table. From an attacking point of view, death or glory can only be performed by models that find themselves in the path of the vehicle, so take time in lining up your vehicle, do your best to avoid those melta weapons and if you're AV10/11, power fists. Str8 vs AV12 only survives about 25% of the time and he's a precious commodity, so may be worth a shock.

From the other end of the table, think about this tactic when you're moving units. Place those high str weapons in places where you can minimise tank shocks without having a good death or glory attempt. Your meltas/fists should find themselves at the front of the unit and preferably at the corners with narrow faced units.

Example 5 - Because of poor positioning of the Imperial Fists, the Chaos Rhino was able to clip the edge of the squad with minimal risk (Str6 krak grenades). In the 3rd Picture, the meltagun and powerfist models were placed at the front edges of the squad so and tank-shock into the squad must pass one of these two models - good luck!

Well... that was longer than I expected, so I'll end it there. Whilst looking for a piccie for this post I came across this post by Dverning. It's main subject is template weapons, but does mention tank-shocking for unit bunching so go have another read!

Thanks for sticking aound... see y'all later for my initial thoughts on Warmachine.

Edit: Oh... and any more suggestions for Tank Shocking will be very much welcome. As per usual, this is NOT aimed at the experienced audience, more for those getting started.

Edit again: Shameless Plug: Messanger's Blog! Get your BT article sorted so I can get on with mine :P