Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Vehicles 101

Vehicles 101

Introduction to Vehicles

So you want to run a lot of Metal Boxes. Welcome to the club; this article is "under construction", for the most part, but feel free to provide input wherever necessary.

A brief recap of the recent history of 40k vehicles

The general viability of vehicles in 40k has oscillated from edition to edition, with some editions favoring certain types over others; 5th edition statistically favored massed light vehicles over smaller numbers of heavy tanks; statistically speaking, if each direct hit that penetrated had a 16% chance of destroying an enemy tank, it was more efficient to take more Razorbacks, rather than running Land Raiders.

6th edition came out and introduced "Hull Points" as a mechanic for vehicles. While in theory, one could destroy an enemy vehicle by exploding it, in practice, firing enough glancing shots to strip it of health would prevent the extremes of 5th, where lucky dice rolling could have a single lightly-armored truck take five or six direct hits from a Railgun and still stand, while a Leman Russ Battle Tank died to *one*. If you damage a vehicle enough, it *will* be destroyed, no extraneous luck required. Unfortunately for many, vehicle damage was still generally an unforgiving affair; add general restrictions preventing Assaulting from most transports, and the fact most infantry could move-and-fire Rapid-fire weapons at full-range, and most transports lost a lot of purpose. The worst insult was the fact that vehicles could not score for objectives, even if they were carrying Troops that *could*. Some vehicles still had their use (Flyers were very useful to have, as were Serpents and the Catacomb Command Barge) but for the most part, vehicles were missing from the game.

We're now in 7th. Hull points remain, but the damage table is more forgiving; unless using a dedicated anti-tank weapon like a Lascannon or Railgun, a penetrating hit will *not* outright destroy a vehicle in one go. Combined with missions that favor taking-and-holding objectives in the midfield, as well as allowing *any* model to score, and vehicles are potentially an important element of the game nowadays, though nowhere as dominant as they were back in 5th edition.

Types of Vehicles, and their Roles

40k has a word salad of special vehicle-types: Tanks, transports, flyers, skimmers, fast, walkers, chariot, heavy, super-heavy (walkers/flyers/tanks), and so on so forth.

• Fast Vehicles can fire more weapons on-the-move, and move further on a Flat-Out move.
• Tank just simply means the vehicle can Tank Shock enemy models and Ram enemy vehicles. Tank Shock is discussed further down.
• Skimmers simply ignore intervening terrain/models when moving, and can elect to Jink should an enemy shoot. Note that although Skimmer by itself doesn't give a move bonus to Flat Out, a Fast Skimmer has a bigger bonus than a Fast Vehicle that isn't a skimmer.
• Flyer: Flyers come in from Reserves, being hard-to-hit, and usually are able to alpha-strike a position without too much reprisal. However, their inability to stay stationary, combined with limited firing arcs, means you usually get one good round of shooting with them every other turn...make them count!
  • Hover: This simply means that the Flyer can choose to move as though it were a Fast Skimmer. Though this makes them vulnerable to return fire, it does allow them more freedom in moving/selecting targets.

Metal Boxes and You: The Humble Rhino

Though 7 Loyalist armies (Space Marines, Space Wolves, Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Grey Knights, Inquisition, Sisters of Battle) and Chaos Space Marines have access to the Rhino and its variants (Razorback, Immolator, or otherwise) in some form or fashion, a lot of their basic use will remain the same throughout each army. By itself, a single Rhino is fairly fragile; even attempting to rush with numerous Rhinos has its issues; against an army with sufficient ranged anti-tank, you end up basically paying to give your opponent the luxury of fighting your army piecemeal.

So how do Rhinos work in 40k nowadays? What advantages does it have?

• A Rhino is durable-for-its-cost: A Rhino is fragile by itself, but not fragile enough for its cost. By itself, it does minimal damage, and generally isn't worth shooting at from an economy-of-force perspective (sure, you *could* say "Free Killpoint." Did you really need to use your Broadside battery to kill it?)
• A Rhino has a good profile: Unlike Raiders, Wartrukks, Serpents, or other exotic vehicles, the Rhino is basically a glorified M113 APC. Just a solid lump of plastic with a profile that is high enough to block line-of-sight to friendly infantry behind it, but low enough that it can take advantage of cover (either terrain, or your dudes).
• A Rhino is Versatile: This is the big one. A Rhino can serve as mobile terrain, as a bunker, a transport, or simply a cheap objective-holder.

General things to note when running Rhinos include:

• NEVER face-down an enemy gunline: The Rhino is generous in that three of its four sides are available as access points. If an enemy wishes to shoot you, chances are the Rhino will leave a wreck. Note "wreck", and not "crater": If you directly exposed your front armor to the opponent, the access points on the side will probably be exposed to enemy fire, while the rear access point will leave your guys super-crowded for blasts/a hungering Heldrake. Rather, face the enemy gunline at a 30-60-degree angle depending on whether your opponent can or cannot reach your rear arc. This way, you have more freedom to disembark, and have a nice piece of terrain to block line of sight.
• Maintain Formation If Viable: (This one matters more for those folks wanting an old-fashioned Razorback list. Godspeed, you crazy bastards) Some armies have high-strength blasts that can put a major hurt on your vehicles; should someone be bringing Manticores or a Doomsday Ark, you won't want to try this. However, you can run Rhinos/Razors in a "train"/convoy, with them advancing in a progressive line, the head of the convoy popping Smoke, while the rest take advantage of cover. *Remember* that vehicles measure weapon LOS from their weapons, and Razors have a high turret mounting. Just because you have cover doesn't mean the enemy does.
• Space them Out: Blasts are not the only thing you have to worry about when running Rhinos. A vehicle can only move directly forward, directly backwards, or pivot on the spot. In the Grim Darkness of the 41st Millenium, there is no Tokyo Drift. Let us suppose you have a line of Razorbacks advancing on an enemy, and some Eldar player has proceeded to turbo-boost a unit of Jetbikers to the rear of the convoy, and sacrificed a Serpent to block off the head of the convoy...if your Rhinos were exactly 1" apart, you're in trouble. Always maintain a minimum of 2" between each Rhino you wish to run, and preferably add an extra 25 mm to that. Most minis in this game are mounted on bases at least 28mm-wide, so even though you're spaced out, you create a mobile wall denying parts of the map to your opponent.
• The Rhino of Fury: Using the same principles mentioned above for a Rhino, it's possible to punish players aiming for horde armies by taking 2 Rhinos, driving at diagonal perpendiculars towards each other, spacing out their front bumpers 2-and-something" away from each other, and parking a rifle team in the center. The same principle can be expanded with 3 Rhinos, four...

Panzers Vor: The Shocking Use of Tanks

Tank-type vehicles are almost entirely a domain of Imperial Guard (with exceptions such as Land Raider), and are used to back up your squishy Guardsmen with superior firepower. Though, in case of some lists, the only role for Guardsmen is to provide a cover save for the tanks by standing between tank and the enemy lascannon. Other features include being large, blocky boxes and huge targets for anything on the board (as well as for the cannons on the Empire VS Dwarf game next table over). Tanks are also the only vehicles, as of 7th Edition, which are able to Tank Shock.

• Face your Enemy:

While obvious and frequently said, ALWAYS TURN YOUR FRONT TO YOUR ENEMY. This isn't simply because your front armor is usually superior (on Leman Russ Battle Tank, it's a difference between AV14 and AV10), but the fact that most of your weapons point forward, means that even AV14 all around Land Raider is able to simply inflict more damage to the enemy it's facing than the enemy behind it. You should also try to predict your enemy's future Anti-Tank placement, so you will not be caught with your back armor showing. In addition, try to cover your weak points, either in bubble wrap of infantry, or by keeping your back to some impassible terrain. Deep Strikes and Drop Pods WILL throw off your plans if you are not ready for them, so always have something ready to take care of them, least your tanks will become smoking wrecks.

• (Slowly) Rolling Thunder:

Since everything Imperium uses is based upon WW1 technology, all of your tanks are hilariously slow (except, amusingly, Land Raider, which is the biggest metal box ever). This applies to all Heavy vehicles, but Tanks are almost universally affected. This means that you should never try to follow your targets, especially against armies of fast-moving Eldar. This also means that your short-range tanks can be hit n' run as well, and they are incapable to respond to quick changes in the front line and enemy breakthroughs. However, this allows tanks to keep up exactly with infantry advance, without the possibility of overtaking the infantry screen, keeping it safe from any assaults coming from the front.

• Your Tank-Fu is Strong:

Tanks are the only vehicles that can Tank Shock. This is useful both against non-fearless infantry and vehicles. Any infantry caught in Tank Shock has to make a morale check, and even Space Marines have a chance of freaking out about a tank slowly charging at them. But most important change in 7th Edition, is that the damage equation is changed, meaning that it's possible for Leman Russ Battle Tank to move just a single inch, and ram an enemy vehicle with a S10 attack (14/2 Round Up = 8, +1 from Tank, +2 from Heavy. While not mentioned anywhere in the rules, you cannot have a Ram attack above Strength 10). This has no effect on firing capacity of the Tank, so you can target any target without losing the target control - this may include the squad which have escaped the vehicle you have glanced to death with Tank Shock.

• More Bang for the Buck:

Most Tank vehicles are also frequently the most customizable units as well. Leman Russ tanks and Land Raiders come in many different flavors, and can be set up either to counter specific types of enemy, or to have a reasonable chance to endanger anything they run across. Even the smaller upgrades, such as Heavy Stubbers can cause some extra damage after you've erased most of the enemy Space Marine squad with Demolisher Cannon (even at BS1, the shots add up with Bolters, and then Math Hammer hammers). Again, it may also be more favorable to be able to engage non standard targets, such as using LasCannon to combat vehicles outside of the aforementioned Demolisher's range.

Skimmer Milk: 2% Armor

Skimmers are one of the most common classes of vehicle in 40k. The entirety of Tau, Eldar, Dark Eldar and almost all of the Necron motor pools are Skimmers, which altogether make up about half the non-Rhino vehicles in the game.

• Jump Vehicles: Skimmers behave similarly to jump infantry. They move over terrain as if it weren't there. However, if they start or end their move in terrain, they have to take a dangerous terrain test. The distinction is, unlike jump infantry, skimmers have no way to "walk"; they ALWAYS risk this dangerous terrain if they move in cover. Many armies have ways to let your skimmers either re-roll dangerous terrain checks, automatically pass them, or ignore them entirely. These are usually cheap upgrades and tend to be worth it. One thing to remember is, thanks to ignoring terrain, Skimmers essentially can fly through ruins and buildings as if they weren't there, long as they're less than 12". This means you can park a skimmer behind a bastion during your opponent's turn, then fly right over it to get in his face.

• Jinkle Jangle Bongo I Don't Wanna Leave The Congo: All Skimmers have the Jink universal special rule. This rule is one of the most delicious bits of bullshit in 6th and 7th Edition. Essentially, whenever an enemy skimmer is shot at, you can choose to Jink; you declare this before the enemy gets a chance to roll to hit. If you do, your shots next turn are Snap Shots, but you gain a 4+ cover save. This is especially good because most skimmers(Dark Eldar and Eldar especially) have ways to get bonuses to their cover saves, turning this 4+ into a 3+.

Army Specific Notes should be found in their respective tacticae.

Flyers: Death from the Skies and You

• An Introduction*: When 6th Edition 40k came out, the addition of Flyers as a separate vehicle category was one of controversy. On one hand, flyers possessed multiple layers of defenses (including immunity to Assault), and possessed the ability to come onto Reserves at a critical point, without normal reserve-related risks of Deep Strike Mishaps, or outflanking to the wrong table edge, and subsequently could alpha-strike critical locations of a battlefield. On the other hand, their movement restrictions combined with limited firing arcs to make *most* of them effectively capable of only firing once every other turn. Many Flyer units were added to 40k but of the flyers introduced into 6th Edition, the only one which caused teeth-pulling frustration for its victims was the infamous Heldrake; the best-performing flyers were those from 5th Edition which started off as fast-skimmers beforehand, with the Nightscythe and Vendetta becoming dangerous weapons to wield or endure.
• So, How To Use Them?*: (Fill in Here)
  • Know your Role: This really is the most important part. Aircraft in general fall under several categories:
    • Bombers: Barring a FW-friendly environment, bombers as a primary unit aren't worth taking, simply because most bomb-weapons are overpriced, and they lack the effective threat projection which makes Flyers expensive in the first place. Their main advantage is they provide a limited version of Split Fire/the ability to force additional leadership checks outside of the Shooting phase, as well as providing blast weapons with an unusual attack vector/relative accuracy. However, most bombs are tooled for destroying lightly armored infantry...fast, midfielding lightly armored infantry, and you generally aren't getting too much bang for your buck.
    • Dropships: Aka Flying Transports: The big three are the Valkyrie, Nightscythe, and the Stormraven (and variants, ex. Stormwolf). Despite the temptation to use them to transport massive super-units of doom to assault something, these generally are ideal for sending smaller teams for capping hard-to-reach (maelstrom) objectives, and/or setting up the occasional enfilade.
    • Gunships: Are those aircraft that want to take it slow, and stay on the battlefield for as long as possible while providing turn-to-turn fire support. Ideally, gunships should have heavy enough armor to survive stray shots hitting them, or barring that should have access to extended firing arcs and/or Vector Dancer/Hovering.
  • Plan Your Moves Ahead: This really is the most important aspect. Flyers have a large dead-zone they cannot move into from one turn to another. (This area is where we need diagrams, anyone want to help?).
  • To Intercept or Not?: A classic misconception about flyers is that they have Skyfire by default. This isn't correct. At the beginning of your Shooting Phase, you must declare for each flyer individually whether *all* of its weapons have Skyfire, or *none* of them do for the duration of the turn. If you declare that a flyer has Skyfire and use POTMS to fire on a ground target, that shot will still be resolved as a snapshot and vice versa. The way the rule is worded, is "Zooming Flyers choose...if they do, all weapons they fire." Again, common misconception.
  • Crash and Burn: So you're penned by some lucky schmuck with missiles or that fancy Mortis Dread. You have to take a Grounding test, right? WRONG. You instead have to worry about the vehicle damage table. If you ever get Immobilized, you have to roll a d6: on a 3+ you replace it with Crew Stunned, but if you roll a 1 or 2, you're dead. So, you made your 3+ and are still in the air? You are not out of the woods yet. Crew Stunned means your flyer moves forward 18". If you cannot place the base where it has to go (on top of friendly models or less than 1" away from enemy models) you Crash and Burn on your movement phase anyway (zooming flyer forced to move less than 18"). Be mindful of what is or can be placed 18" in front of your flyer.
  • RETURN TO THE COMBAT ZONE: There's a good likelihood that if your flyer is zooming that it might luck into a table edge. In these cases, your plane can flee the combat zone and go back to Ongoing Reserves, with every ding you have. Upon returning. you're back to zooming.
• Hovering Doom: If your flyer can hover, you can then turn it into a jumbo-sized Fast Skimmer. You can only embark and disembark anything you're transporting in hover mode. The general disadvantage is that you can be hit by non-Skyfire units now, but in some cases it becomes a scoring unit.