Unit types, part 2.

A lot of people assume armor is easy to deal with. A lot of people also get rude awakenings when it becomes obvious that glancing, non-AP1 hits cannot destroy vehicles, and that you have to focus fire to down even a mere rhino.

Of course, the meltagun will destroy any and all armor when it's within melta-range, but can you guarantee delivery within 6 inches before the second turn is up?
Most of the time, the answer is 'no.' That's wny we'll look at how you deal with armored targets effectively, efficiently, and smoothly at range.

Light armor: this is the most populated of all categories. Light armor has relatively weak defenses, but is usually inexpensive to field, and sometimes pack devastating firepower - a powerful gun, wedded to a lightly armored chassis. The large majority of vehicles you'll encounter are light armor - the classic sign being side armor 10 to 11. A lot of light armor is also open topped, and if it happens to be armor 10 in addition, this makes it vulnerable to bolters. Some vehicles (predators) have silly high front armor for such cheap vehicles, but still meet all the other qualifiers for light armor.

Dealing with light armor is very straightforward, but still not all that self-explanatory. As with almost all vehicles, side shots is the way to go. Because light armor is weak, you can easily penetrate it with most of your anti-infantry - however, these weapons aren't AP1, so a single penetrating hit doesn't guarantee anything. You want to land more hits, yet shoot as few units as possible against them. Units with autocannons, assaultcannons, plasma, multiple missile launchers, and even massed heavy bolters easily chew through light armor, and hits from lascannons reliably become penetrating hits, while direct hits from demolisher cannons tend to destroy them. Because light armor is usually transports, and transports carry cargo, it should be a priority to get rid of light armor before melta suicide squads - or worse - are dropped into your lines.

Heavy armor: this is where things get hard. Heavy armor is more costly than light armor, but almost always more heavily armed, tends to sport strong armor in all facings that matter (real dreads, eldar tanks), or be almost untouchable from the front (Leman Russ, hammerhead). Because these are actual tanks, they have really big guns, and really big guns tend to hurt a lot. Even if you destroy their really big gun(s), many are studded with smaller guns, so can still hurt you quite a bit. Due to their heavy armanent, and the fact that all those guns actually cost points, the controlling player wants to sit still and shoot at full effect - alternatively move slowly, and shoot at full effect. This fact is actually a very powerful weapon. During deployment, setup so heavy armor gets to pick between bad fire lanes, no line of sight, or isolated positions. No matter where it's placed, your life just got a little easier.

Since heavy armor actually has real armor, frontal attacks are not recommended. All Leman Russ variants are front armor 14, as is the battlewagon, while the hammerhead is front 13, and almost always has a 4+ cover save. Sides are typicall strong, too, with armor up to 13,but more commonly being 12. Because of this armor, most of your anti-infantry is no longer effective, and since heavy armor's big guns have a much longer reach than most of your guns, you're likely out of range, as well. As ever, side shots are your friend. Autocannons and krak missiles are still effective, while lascannons have a fair chance of penetrating hits from the side, and a dramatically reduced chance from the front. Demolishers don't particularly care about the silly high frontal armor, but their range is a lot shorter than weapons commonly found on heavy armor. It's worth noting that hunting dreads sometimes tend to combine the pleasures of fighting elite infantry with those of trying to take out heavy armor.

Very heavy armor: land raiders. The monolith.
Armor 14 in all facings, and a big, fat threat against your army, thanks to the carried elite infantry. Massed lascannons can sink a 'raider, but it's not likely, and it laughs at your krak missiles. The trusted autocannon can't even scratch it, because of being only strength 7.What it all boils down to is, you need melta to slag these. There are no ways around this fact. If you can't deliver melta against the land raider, it will deliver its cargo right where you don't want it. Because land raiders are such a big investment, not to mention carry such important things, players tend to take two or none, and stack rhinos and other light armor around them. Deal with the light armor like a pro, then deliver melta against the land raider(s). If you lose a unit in the process, that's usually an okay price to pay. Then there's the monolith. The great pyramid itself isn't killy at all, but immune to the melta-rule. You can either try to land a demolisher shot on it, hose it with lascannons, or ignore it. Moving in behind it reveals weak, wimpy necron warriors, that - when killed - make the opponent approach critical phase-out totals.

The lesson learned from this post? Autocannons are much more useful than you thought.

Next up, a topic that's very dear to my heart, and the hearts of all marine players out there.