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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Tank Shocking - The Bane of Foot lists


This is part and parcel of the Tyranid week concept, Tyranids cannot be mech after all but is something that has been brewing for a while. The Back-to-Basics Tank Shocking article is coming which looks more at the basics of tank shocking and how it actually works but in this post we are looking at its actual impact on the tabletop, particularly foot lists.

Tank shocking is one of the biggest ways you can impact your opponent without doing actual damage to them. Not only can you force them to flee (automatically in some cases) but you can displace infantry. This is huge and against non-mech lists, is one of the biggest advantages of mech/hybrid lists which is often over looked. This is why upgrades which allow open-topped vehicles to tank shock (i.e. shock prows, reinforced rams, etc.) are so important. Let's put this in context - you rarely get to move your opponent's models where you want and tank shocking allows this to an extent. If an army has this ability and the opposing army does not and in fact, has little defense against it, well that's huge isn't it?

That statement summarises the article rather well so pretend you didn't read it! How does this relate to the battlefield however and specifically foot lists? That's what this post is about so let's take a quick look at some of the major impacts this ability has. The most commonly referenced ability of tank shocking is clumping infantry up. This is great for using flame templates against mass infantry armies such as Orks or Tyranids or simply moving infantry units out of the way. Being able to move tanks through infantry units as well is obviously important as it means they cannot be blocked by such and have more movement options available to them. One of the biggest things forgotten with tank shocking however, is forcing enemy units to flee. Whilst most armies have pretty decent leadership across the board with an average of 8-9 on most squads, even Ld10 with re-rolls will fail at some point. One tank shock is unlikely to cause this but three, five or nine tanks all at once? Across multiple units at once? You could force a whole army to flee at once. Look at this picture here.


Here we can see four Wave Serpents and an Imperial Guard blob guarding three Heavy Weapon teams. Watch what happens when we tank shock each one 24".


1 tank shocks through green, blue and black. 2 tank shocks through green, black and blue. 3 tank shocks through green purple and black. 4 tank shocks through green and black. That's four tests at leadership eight on Green, four at leadership 7 on black, two on blue and one on purple. Those are pretty good chances of green and black failing all from simple tank shocks. Now these type of scenarios aren't always going to come up or be the best method of dealing with your opponent. If all of those Serpents are armed with Scatter Lasers and Shuriken Cannons for example, 16 TL S6 and 12 S6 BS3 shots is very likely to eliminate two full HWT and half of the third. If you can both tank shock the green and shoot at the HWT you'd be better off for example. However, if your tanks cannot shoot or you don't have the firepower to drop multiple units (imagine for example these are three Long Fang packs), multiple tank shocks can be very effective.

What happens when those units are holding an important battlefield location?


Now they're not and very likely not even there so that could be the Eldar's objective. This isn't even discussing the displacement issue of the Guardsmen around the Serpents which could be using the space they cleared to drop their own units to provide more damage to the Guardsmen around them. In the end what tank shocks do is provide extra ability to damage the enemy without having to actually shoot them (which can be huge when you don't have the firepower to kill them or ability to shoot them) and maintain the mobility of the army for as long as possible. This is part of tank shocking I think which is overlooked in favour of clumping your opponent which while nice, has a less immediate impact upon the game. Being able to move the opponent away from locations or force them to flee has much bigger consequences. Remember how we all laugh at people using Lash to clump opponents and drop blast templates on them or simply pull them into assault range? You can do this with tank shocks but they are some of the most basic principles of it. Moving units off objectives, forcing them to flee, forcing them into terrain (especially dangerous terrain), spreading them out or blocking certain aspects of the unit, etc. are all excellent applications of tank shocking where you get to dictate to a certain extent how your opponent's models are placed. Clumping them is a great use but it's not the only use.

Now let's look at this from a foot army perspective. This is hard to stop. You cannot simply say NO to the tank after all or put another tank in the way (you're a foot list duh!). Tying it up in combat doesn't work either because that's not possible. You of course have to kill the tanks and this makes even cheap transports such as Rhinos and Trukks an annoying hindrance some armies cannot afford to deal with. Say hello to lots of tank shocking, your opponent moving your models and you finally failing some crucial Leadership checks. Late game? those tanks are pushing you off objectives so can be as high priority targets as units which can actually kill you. And who said 40k wasn't a tactical game?

Now there is of course the ability to Death or Glory and when you army has numerous meltaguns or numerous bodies which can potentially hurt tanks (krak grenades, high strength combat attacks, etc.), well this is a fine tactic. Make sure you have those weapons (i.e. meltaguns) placed in strategic situations to discourage tanks from driving through those areas (i.e. around objectives) and force them to gamble if they wish to. The problem of course with Death or Glory is it really is an all or nothing approach. You either stop/kill the tank or the tank rolls over the hero and continues on - you can't even do this if you fail your initial leadership test.

However...not every army has this as a real option. Necrons? Orks? Daemons? Tyranids? No cheap and reliable guys that are actually going to stop a tank. Heavy Destroyers? Expensive. Destroyers? You only get one shot. Power Klaws? There's only one of them and S8 Rokkits are nice but not reliable. Bolt is certainly nice but if you fail, the expensive character that holds it dies. Hive Guard? Uh no unless you're super desperate. Same with MCs. If you fail. You die. Compare this to Imperial Armies which can run effective foot lists. There are numerous meltagun options or ways to stop tanks shocking through you such as effective anti-tank fire across the army. Look at Loganwing with some combi-meltas/meltaguns spread throughout the army compared to one without. The ability to have a throw-away model which can stop a tank from automatically pushing you off an objective is invaluable and some foot lists simply do not have this option.

In the end this is part and parcel of what hurts lists like this. Most of these lists have issues with tanks already in terms of just killing them but when an opponent uses tank shocks correctly, this problem is magnified. Smart use of tank shocking even against hybrid or mech opponents will still net you a lot of benefits as well. Learn them. Use them. You'll see ^^.

Comments (19)

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Roland Durendal's avatar

Roland Durendal · 715 weeks ago

Good stuff Kirb. My issue I faced in my last tourney (and face repeatedly when facing 'Nids and Deathwing) is, is Tank Shocking viable when facing Fearless troops? I see the benefit even against Fearless guys to move them out of the way / push them somewhere that is more beneficial to you, but at the same time most of the time it seems like it ends up just being a minor nuisance for them. They move aside, auto reform and move along. Even clumping them up isn't that big of a benefit (for me at least given my army list) seeing as the only templates I run are the Frag missiles on my Long Fangs and Typhoons....and if they're shooting clumped hormagaunts/termagaunts/Termies they're prolly not shooting something bigger or more important.

My observations anyway from some recent games.
2 replies · active 715 weeks ago
I had roughly the same question. My Eldar got eaten by a Tyranid force, partially because I thought tank shock would be worthless vs fearless troops. Yeah, I can push them, then I'll be assaulted and screwed.
Certainly against Fearless units they aren't running but being able to push them out of the way is still important. The most obvious thing is last turn moving them off objectives. Even if you're going first - hit my tank on 6's please.

Look at my Game 4 Event Horizon Battle Rep on T2/3. I tank shocked with a Rhino at a Wraithlord/Dire Avengers. The DA moved to the side where I could mutli-assault them and the Wraithlord got stuck on the other side of the Rhino where he couldn't join the combat for at least two turns. Wraithlord is fearless but now has not only been moved but blocked as well.

Always applications you can apply :P.
A few notes on Tank Shock - as an Armoured Battlegroup player, it is a subject near and dear to my heart.

A unit falling back cannot attempt to regroup if there are enemies within 6"... which includes enemy tanks. It is quite possible to "herd" enemy units right off the table using nothing more potent than a Chimera. Enemies can still shoot-n-scoot when falling back, so this can be risky if they have anti-armor weapons they can fire on the move (read: meltaguns), but sometimes its still worth the risk. Such as using an empty and weaponless Chimera to move the enemy off an objective (and maybe the table).

Although this is hardly a tactic I would hang an entire gameplan on, if you have an enemy unit with 6-12" of a table edge, with little or no melta, and a mobile vehicle in the area: I say go for it.

Oh, one more thing that is important to note, the Space Marine ATSKNF rule does not exempt them from the enemies within 6" rule. If they cannot attempt a Regroup Test, then they cannot automatically pass it. So yes, I have used empty Chimeras to escort Space Marine Command Squads off their objective and off my table. ;)
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
Yes escorting units off is a fine use of anything fast but tanks can actually force those units off with repeated tank shocks. They auto-fail so they fallback faster.
Good stuff, pinky. Tank shock is definitely an oft-overlooked threat to foot units or armies. The best weapon a Rhino has is not its Storm Bolter, but Tank Shock and the 10 dudes huddled inside.
Warrior_Warlock's avatar

Warrior_Warlock · 715 weeks ago

Tank shocking is the main reason my nids just cant seem to win objective based missions. ive lost countless genestealers and mc to death or glory attacks. so far when i have penetrated ive only stunned or destroyed a weapon, while my gaunts stand no chance. Being nid week i had hoped on some secret nid advice vs tank shocks i didnt know yet ;) . I do like ur images but i wonder, dont u resolve tank shocks immediatly? so the units would move before the second tank arrives making multiple shocks like u describe almost impossible to pull off?
4 replies · active 715 weeks ago
a punch from THE MIGTHY CARNIFEX might do the job but considering that Carnifex is overcosted(there goes your potential sales, GW) and does not have AP 1, I think just letting vehicle pass is the reasonable decision for Tyranids. Since Tyranids have army wide fearless options, it is unliklely that Tyranid forces running away like a chicken, thus reducing threat that tank shock brings to opponent.
Shocked units only move out of the way if you park the tank on top of them, and only the models that would be within 1" of the tank actually move. It is pretty easy to get multiple shocks off against the same unit (until it fails morale and flees).
There is an article on tank-shocking from a while back.

I would only ever DoG with an MC if it was for an objective in the last turn.

Why would genestealers ever die to this? Again... only DoG on the final turn surely?
Regarding the picture, yes you do so if units flee, you'll get less to tank shock obviously. The picture is really just highlighting how many you can force (12 in this case). if the first two tank shocks break two units, you probably won't need to use the others for example but you could if needed or move them to herd units away from objectives.

In regards to Tyranids - there is no magic button here. It's one thing which never gets discussed but is really hugely painful. Ask Archnomad about our Centurion game versus his Orks. It was objectives primary, he won roll off and choose me to go first. Back foot instantly as now his Trukks were dangerous to me as they could push me off objectives in final turns.
Nice post. I have never thought that tank shocking can be very useful against foot armies. People around me never used tank shocking to drove out annoying enemies and claim objectives like you wrote. Some of them practically abandoned their vehicles when their main weapon was destroyed. Had they read this article, they would have lead the game to their favor for sure.

PS: I would like to know what criterion do you use when deciding whether an army is bad or good. If Tyranids have a hard time against SW and GK and end up being a road-killed carcass, then what makes it a good army? Having some strengths does not make an army good.
1 reply · active 715 weeks ago
Tyranids are unfortunately, not that flash currently. They do well against most armies but they have pretty bad match ups which they are likely to meet in a tournament. These match ups aren't auto-lose but they are hard to win for Tyranids.

I would say Tyranids are okay. In the hands of a good general you can win regularly but when you come up against certain armies, sometimes it's just really really hard. And these armies aren't exactly uncommon either.
"This is why upgrades which allow open-topped vehicles to tank shock (i.e. shock prows, reinforced rams, etc.) are so important."

A little editing here is in order. You mean upgrades which allow non-tank vehicls to tank shock...

Also, it's worth mentioning that you just have to stun, immobilize, or destroy a vehicle to stop it with Death or Glory. That's basically a 3+ if you penetrate and a 5+ if you glance.
2 replies · active 715 weeks ago
But you can also say that a death or glory of S8 foot guy (missile, hive guards,...) vs AV11 (Rhino&co) lead to the death of the foot guy 61% of the time and to the destruction of the tank in only 17% !
The main issue of Death of glory is that you might die when your foot guy is more than needed...Most of the time if you are suffering mutiple tank shock it is that there is a lot of tank in the opposite army and that your army is quite low on the anti-tank area. In this case DoG is a real danger for you as it is digging your grave. In the end apart from:
- DoG of cheap guy (meltavet) vs expensive tank (LR)
- trying to keep an objective in the last turn
I find DoG quite useless. One other option to reduce the effect of tank shock can also be to stay within terrain area...there is a fair chance that the opponent tank might get immolized before it hurts you. Staying into levels of building is also a ggod way to deny tank shock
But you can also say that a death or glory of S8 foot guy (missile, hive guards,...) vs AV11 (Rhino&co) lead to the death of the foot guy 61% of the time and to the destruction of the tank in only 17% !__The main issue of Death of glory is that you might die when your foot guy is more than needed...Most of the time if you are suffering mutiple tank shock it is that there is a lot of tank in the opposite army and that your army is quite low on the anti-tank area. In this case DoG is a real danger for you as it is digging your grave. In the end apart from:__- DoG of cheap guy (meltavet) vs expensive tank (LR)__- trying to keep an objective in the last turn__I find DoG quite useless. One other option to reduce the effect of tank shock can also be to stay within terrain area...there is a fair chance that the opponent tank might get immolized before it hurts you. Staying into levels of building is also a ggod way to deny tank shock
ivangterrace's avatar

ivangterrace · 715 weeks ago

I use tank shocks mainly to assemble my enemies into a template friendly pattern. I don't rely on it for scaring troops away though.
If those Heavy Weapon Teams are armed with Lascanons or Missile Launchers, would that be a serious problem for the Wave Serpants doing the Tank shocking? Death or Glory with them would not be too devestating if it fails (a HWS dies) and you have the chance of killing the opponents model during his own movement phase. God forbid that Guardsmen Squad bubble wrap has a meltagun or two >_<

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