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In the battle report I just posted up, where I was playing my Nids against Blood Angels. I ended up in a position where I had some Genestealers and a group of Hormagaunts ready to assault some Sternguard. It was at this point in the game that an article I recently read over on Embolden40k popped into my head. His article was about Beating Overwatch as a combat army, and funnily enough he was using Genestealers and Gaunts as an example in it, almost in the same position as I was in.
The point of his tactica was to be prepared for Overwatch, and it was one of those great articles that stuck in my mind and made me think about what I was doing, a big thank you to Rob for sharing his 40k skills with us and bringing his thoughts into my own. So here I am, ready to do my assault and take advantage of what I had learnt. In Rob's example, he was using the Gaunts as the fodder unit to assault first and take the Overwatch hits, with a big brood of Genestealers making their assault move after Overwatch had been resolved on the Gaunts. The Genestealers get to assault the unit without taking any shots, as a unit can only use Overwatch once per unit
My scenario was slightly different as I only had four Genestealers left in my Brood after taking casualties from shooting and my Gaunts were twenty strong with their Scything Talons. I figured the Gaunts would do more damage in their numbers than the Genestealers, so I used the Stealers as the Overwatch Fodder group. In the end I only lost two Stealers from Overwatch and it didn't really make a difference, but if the Sternguard had got lucky and rolled a bucket load of sixes, the best he could have done was kill my almost dead group of Stealers, keeping my Hormagaunt Brood at full strength.
It's fair to say that in reality, Overwatch is nowhere near as scary as it first seemed when 6th Edition hit. I actually like the rule, as it's always nice to have something to do other than remove models in your opponents turn and brings a bit of realism to the game. Of course, if we are able to reduce Overwatch going into our key units, all the better, especially for Nids!
Chears for the shout out mate, I'm glad it worked out for you! It can be so tempting to charge in with a unit you know will smash face, but then you lose a few models and you fail to charge in, just ask my opponent last week, he had 2 characters and 3 bods to crush 5 grey knights, I killed 2 bods to overwatch and he rolled low on the distance and didn't make it (he needed a 5 or something), those extra inches make the difference.
ReplyDeleteSo anything that can avoid overwatch is a must! :)
Okay, I've just gone back and watched the Video again, maybe your combat didn't go to plan lol :p those Sternguard where VERY luck!
ReplyDeleteNo prob mate, yeah Overwatch isn't huge, but it can make a big difference sometimes, so anything that is going to reduce the chances of a fail is good to know
ReplyDeleteLOL, well, it was more of a case of not being in Synapse range. I should have moved the Prime forward more, but didn't think about the massive assault range the Guants had at the time. Fearless Gaunts are great now at holding units up.
ReplyDeleteNice article.
ReplyDeleteThe thing with overwatch is you cannot do it if you're locked in combat. Any unit in base to base contact is locked in combat. When you charge a unit, and made moves, you are locked in combat. So, if the Hormies assaulted first and whether they took the overwatch hits or not, the 'Stealers couldn't be effected by overwatch as the enemy unit is engaged in close combat ;) .
Exactly the idea behind it :D Glad you liked the article mate
ReplyDeleteWell, some people forget that once enemy models are in base contact they cannot overwatch. Just send in the chaff unit first or unit with more wounds/models. If the opponent decides to overwatch, then that's cool, if the opponent doesn't overwatch, then it is lost - boo hoo ;)
ReplyDeleteSubject: [idicbeer] Re: IDICBeer 40k: Beating Overwatch!