Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/D-99 (section)

==Tactics==
Mentioned before, the D-99 are an army that must be used very specifically.  Every unit has a function and if you cannot make them perform that function then you shouldn't have bought it as you've essentially wasted the points.  With that in mind here are some general ideas on how to use your army, how to focus them best and what to defend against:

* '''Target Priority''': This is your number one concern, you need to know what to focus on more than usual, mostly because a large portion of your army will likely be in deep-strike for a good portion of the game and partially because everyone has a specialty.  To start off, you want to destroy whatever has interceptor and/or skyfire.  If you've brought a lot of planes (more than 4) don't worry so much about Skyfire, and go for Interceptor first.  You'll likely have more guys arriving via deep-strike than you will by plane since buying a DT for everyone gets expensive.  The reason for this is because you're paying a premium for units with random deployment times, Interceptor can result in your forces being bottlenecked and unless you're up against a terrible opponent [[Tyranids|or a terrible army]] the first two turns will seem like an uphill battle.  Something that can help you accomplish this is if you deploy some sort of distraction, for example infiltrate a squad with Breacher Charges or buy the Cyclops unit.  After you've taken care of the Interceptors you can divide your targets up by the units they specialize in.  Get your Decimators on any sort of support units/models, break that Synapse web, snipe that Aspect Warrior, kill that Nob.  Get your extermination squads on blobby units and do not try to double down on what the Decimator's are already doing, if they cannot handle support units/models on their own then you bought/are using them wrong.  Make sure your execution squads take care of the armour (both light vehicles and 2+) and/or monstrous creatures, as well as any transports in the area.  Always make sure to have them target the transports first, the longer the opponent is footslogging it the longer it'll be before the inevitable assault.  Leave the heaviest of tanks for when your Vulture/anti-armour Valkyrie comes in, or maybe to a Sentinel/Gun Sentry if you've equipped them with Multi-meltas/Lascannons (though that'll make them large targets and they're not very good at tanking hits).  

* '''Supporting the Front Line''': Never underestimate what Command Squads with scanners can do for you, so always get at least one with scanners to make your other units better at their jobs.  Always have backups, don't assume that just because you have a few Execution squads you'll be safe from blobs.  While they can certainly can destroy a good number of them, always bring them in with the expectation that they'll get destroyed/be unable to do their job properly.  For this reason, get Vulture's/Valkyries for heavy armour, in addition to what you already have and Sky Talons for more anti-blobs.  Also, keep your priorities straight on which units you are bringing in, out of all of them, Extermination squads and Veteran squads are usually the ones you want to bring in last, and you'll want to use them defensively.  You don't do well in Assault with a few exceptions (WS4 is more for helping you survive than it is killing shit) so they're more suited to a turn when the enemy is going to draw closer.  In addition, the best the Veteran Squads can do is taking a missile launcher with flak missiles so that you don't have to waste one of your Valkyries turns taking down other aircraft, so they're also more suited to a turn where the enemies aircraft is going to appear (ie not turn 1).  In general for duplicates, it's best to kit out the Valkyrie to have the opposite function of whatever it is transporting (ie if a Valkyrie is carrying an Extermination squad then kit it for anti-armour).  The unit the Valkyrie is carrying should always be able to handle whatever you need them to do, so drop the unit off, then send the Valkyrie off to do something else.

* '''Surviving the Assault Phase''': Never let WS4/I4 fool you into thinking that you can do well in an assault.  When the enemy draws close, you want to gain as many advantages as possible.  Spreading out a few Decimation squads and giving them Breacher charges is a good way of deterring Assault as you can try to make the enemy pass near enough to them that you can wipe out the enemy unit with the charges.  Even if you have a few holes, you can abuse this by forcing the enemy to funnel to where several grenade launchers/flamers can make short work of them.  Use the terrain as best you can for bunching up/slowing down your opponent.  If they're spread out as much as possible to avoid the blasts, you'll have it easy, kill enough that it'll be unlikely for them to make it in range, and even if they do make it to assault they won't have many models in range (and that's where WS4/I4 really shines).  If they're all bunched together, dump templates on them and your problem will be solved.  You can also try to use the Cyclops unit to deter assault on two separate locations, though since they're just one use wonders they won't have as much of a threat to your opponent as a Decimation squad and will likely get shot before assaulting units reach them. 
**If you're extremely scared of the Assault phase, get Inquisitor Lok and a Crusader Squad to screen your army, plug up the biggest hole with them or put them near your priciest units.

* '''Using Combat Drops Best''': Combat Drop is one of your best rules (tied with Geno-surgical Enhancement).  You need to know what to bring in turn one and what to leave out, and this changes the most depending on who you're up against.  Thankfully this is pretty self-explanatory, however the above mentions still apply, if your opponent has fielded a lot of blobby units, do not rush in to bring the Valkyrie's with the Extermination squads.  Stay out of range and bring your other guns/anti-infantry Valkyries first.  Also to maximize your Combat Drops, always bring a few Sky Talons and at least one Gun Sentry, and deploy those as needed.  Their cheap points will really help you with the air-spam you're about to unleash.

* '''Zone Mortalis''': D-99 are both better and worse in Zone Mortalis.  They're better in that they have a shitload of template weapons to take (as well as Decimators with Breacher Charges being able to Infiltrate) and their Lascutters make very short work of whatever doors/obstacles you're up against.  This comes with the drawback of losing almost all of your BS4 Vehicles, which makes up a good portion of your normal army strength.  Now since you now no longer have to worry about vehicle spam (as well as nearly all long-ranged weaponry), abuse the fuck out of Template Spam, and the fact that every Infantry squad barring Decimators can take Power Fists/Weapons.  Decimators too get a lot more awesome, always make sure to hide Decimators around vital corners, bring a lot of them and use them as speed bumps while you get the rest of your army into a good position.  If there's a Decimator Squad with a few Breacher Charges around a corner then that is a corner your opponent will be scarred to come around unless they want to lose that squad, though since they cost very little (2 D-99 with Decimator Charges costs only 55 points) they can easily make those back by killing Gaunt squads.  Make sure to remember that Decimators do not make an army on their own however, so they absolutely must keep away from everything T5 and above/anything with Eternal Warrior.  If you're playing with the blip rule, then they can also help you out a lot since they're the only thing with Infiltrate, so your opponent will always know/where they are, but this also lets you know where their big guns are.  If they send a unit towards them it's most likely a T5+ unit or one with Eternal Warrior as an example.  For your other units, by the time the Decimators are killed your army should be in an ideal location, controlling more than half of the table with flamers/grenade launchers around each corner, and by that point you should have figured out where their armour/high T models are for your Execution squads to take care of.  Just keep focused and take the board one inch at a time, never be afraid to have a few sacrificial squads (for example a Command squads focusing on Lascutters to deal with doors) to get the rest of your army into a good vantage point.  

* '''Commander Asshole''': For those ridiculous games, go unbound and take nothing but squads pf Decimator Snipers with Magnoculars and squads of 2 Decimator Veterans with Breacher Charges for at least 60% of your points.  Spam MSU, since each unit has a minimum squad size of TWO MODELS.  if one of them dies you've lost 25 points minimum, or 55 points if both Decimators have Breacher Charges.  The amount of pie-plates you can drop down on the enemy (as well as using Infiltrate to get close) will cripple the enemy army very quickly.