Tactica - How to make the most of piling in.

[Ben]

Hi all,

I thought it a good idea to set up some tactics articles/posts. 

In this one I want to chat about the ways that you can make the most of the pile-in rules. 

I'll start the discussions by posting a few tips. Feel free to share any other pile-in tactics that you use or have been caught out by  

Actual in-game example would be great  

Charge and pile in. 

This is a simple one. You get to pile in after a charge even if no models are within 3" of your unit.

Models with long reach can easily take advantage of this rule and it can be easy to engineer a situation to your advantage. 

A unit or protectors (3" range in combat) can charge a unit. You can combo charge that same unit and kill it leaving the protectors free to pile-in 3" and attack another 3" at a unit your opponent thought was safe. 

You have to pile in towards the closest enemy  

If your opponent strings a unit out you can charge him on the left and place a unit on the right just outside of pile in range but ensure that your unit is the closest model the last man has to pile in towards. 

O= model 

- = 1" gap

x= your units  

X0-0-0-0---x

This will pin your opponents unit into a conga that he can't get out of without breaking coherency   

it works best when your opponent is strung out to maximum distance but be aware that oval bases can pivot and extend their coherency quite a bit

Pile in and tag

In this case you would charge 2 units at once. The first unit you are charging as normal, and the 2nd unit instead of staying out of 3" to stop them piling on you are going just into 3". 

This makes that unit engaged in combat. They can attack you but you are aiming to minimise the models that will reach you. The goal is to stop them being able to move next turn without first retreating. 

I have done this to stop an enemy unit being able to charge one of my units that are on an objective.  

Post below with any of your own tips or if you have any tactics relating to the pile in rules. 

[Criti]

Bait and Switch

Screen a hard hitting unit behind a thin line composed of a weaker unit.  Exact distance depends on the base size and weapon reach of units being utilized, but the overall is to make sure that an opponent within 1" of your screen (the range of most melee weapons) is withon 3" of your heavy hitter.

Your screen will prevent your heavy hitter from being attacked, and when the opponent slaughters a chunk of a screen (you DID pick 1 W models with a ****** save, right?), you step up with the heavy hitter and dish out some pain.

Next turn, their unit has a bloody lip.  Yours is still fresh.

Over the Top

Similar to the Bait and Switch, the Over The Top puts a hard hitting and resilient unit in front  (Retributors, perhaps), and a heaby hitter with good reach behind (A Dracoth Celestant with his 2" Tempestos Hammer, maybe?).

If the heavy hitter gets charged, the long reacher can join in the fight safely.  The increased potential damage may make your opponent think twice about charging, thus giving your heavy hitter a chance to charge later. 

[Kramer]

8 hours ago, Ben said:

If your opponent strings a unit out you can charge him on the left and place a unit on the right just outside of pile in range but ensure that your unit is the closest model the last man has to pile in towards. 

 

Does that work this way? I always assumed the models on the both ends had to be within 3". Don't have the rulesbook close at hand but that would be a neat trick. 

[KHHaunts]

9 hours ago, Ben said:

Hi all,

I thought it a good idea to set up some tactics articles/posts. 

In this one I want to chat about the ways that you can make the most of the pile-in rules. 

I'll start the discussions by posting a few tips. Feel free to share any other pile-in tactics that you use or have been caught out by  

Actual in-game example would be great  

Charge and pile in. 

This is a simple one. You get to pile in after a charge even if no models are within 3" of your unit.

Models with long reach can easily take advantage of this rule and it can be easy to engineer a situation to your advantage. 

A unit or protectors (3" range in combat) can charge a unit. You can combo charge that same unit and kill it leaving the protectors free to pile-in 3" and attack another 3" at a unit your opponent thought was safe. 

You have to pile in towards the closest enemy  

If your opponent strings a unit out you can charge him on the left and place a unit on the right just outside of pile in range but ensure that your unit is the closest model the last man has to pile in towards. 

O= model 

- = 1" gap

x= your units  

X0-0-0-0---x

This will pin your opponents unit into a conga that he can't get out of without breaking coherency   

it works best when your opponent is strung out to maximum distance but be aware that oval bases can pivot and extend their coherency quite a bit

Pile in and tag

In this case you would charge 2 units at once. The first unit you are charging as normal, and the 2nd unit instead of staying out of 3" to stop them piling on you are going just into 3". 

This makes that unit engaged in combat. They can attack you but you are aiming to minimise the models that will reach you. The goal is to stop them being able to move next turn without first retreating. 

I have done this to stop an enemy unit being able to charge one of my units that are on an objective.  

Post below with any of your own tips or if you have any tactics relating to the pile in rules. 

A Tactica section in the forum would be great for this stuff.

[KHHaunts]

Not being nit picky just checking what you meant.

But in "Charge and pile in"

This is a simple one. You get to pile in after a charge even if no models are within 3" of your unit.

I assume you meant Model instead of unit.

Obvsiouly you cant pile in if your whole unit isent within 3"

8 hours ago, Criti said:

Bait and Switch

Screen a hard hitting unit behind a thin line composed of a weaker unit.  Exact distance depends on the base size and weapon reach of units being utilized, but the overall is to make sure that an opponent within 1" of your screen (the range of most melee weapons) is withon 3" of your heavy hitter.

Your screen will prevent your heavy hitter from being attacked, and when the opponent slaughters a chunk of a screen (you DID pick 1 W models with a ****** save, right?), you step up with the heavy hitter and dish out some pain.

Next turn, their unit has a bloody lip.  Yours is still fresh.

Over the Top

Similar to the Bait and Switch, the Over The Top puts a hard hitting and resilient unit in front  (Retributors, perhaps), and a heaby hitter with good reach behind (A Dracoth Celestant with his 2" Tempestos Hammer, maybe?).

If the heavy hitter gets charged, the long reacher can join in the fight safely.  The increased potential damage may make your opponent think twice about charging, thus giving your heavy hitter a chance to charge later. 

Great example of this is Eternal Guard and wild wood rangers.

While with 1" range units you may need to enure there is enough space for the Heavy hitters to filter through and then retreat (With the weaker units preventing the enemy pursueing).

With these guys they both have a 2" range but are pretty small models. Which means your eternal guard can hold ground and get buffed to create the shield (But a shield with average attacks that can it with agood range) with your wyldwood rangers swinging over their heads with their elite attacks as your sword while being truely out of the standard 1" attack range.

[Ratamaplata]

2 hours ago, KHHaunts said:

Not being nit picky just checking what you meant.

But in "Charge and pile in"

This is a simple one. You get to pile in after a charge even if no models are within 3" of your unit.

I assume you meant Model instead of unit.

Obvsiouly you cant pile in if your whole unit isent within 3"

Rules only say you need to have made a successful charge OR be within 3"

If you made a successful charge you can pile in no matter how far away you are by the time you activate the unit.

The tactic described works perfectly. Even better with units with 6" pile in.

[Squirrelmaster]

Yep, you can pile in when your whole unit is more than 3" away, if you charged that turn. That would generally only happen if the unit you charged was wiped out by something else earlier in the combat phase.

Another one:

Ability bypass

For example, I end my charge move with one model 1/2" away from your Furies, but most of my unit has moved towards your Daemon Prince of Slaanesh, getting 3.5" away while staying as far away from the furies as possible (while maintaining coherency).

When I activate that unit, I can pile in 3" towards your DP and attack him, without ever triggering his pseudo-always-strikes-first ability.

A similar trick works on Empire Handgunners.

[KHHaunts]

Right.

moderatly rare occurance i suppose.

Worth watching out for though!

[Ben]

7 hours ago, Squirrelmaster said:

Ability bypass

This is a nice one.  

People should remember that Piling in and attacking is the range of your pile in + the range of your weapons and this can lead to some cool situations.

[Ratamaplata]

2 hours ago, Ben said:

This is a nice one.  

People should remember that Piling in and attacking is the range of your pile in + the range of your weapons and this can lead to some cool situations.

Yep... with careful positioning you can often get to attack units your opponent thought were out of range.

Consider the points;

- total charge threat range is 2D6 + pile in + weapon range

- only one model has to make it to within 0.5" of any enemy model... the rest of the unit can go in any direction (while maintaining coherency)

So it can be possible to slingshot off a unit to reach another unit further away. Obviously this is tricky with 1" weapon range but 3" is awesome... and 6" pile in (are there multi model units with this) would give a huge 21" max theoretical charge range (I think?).

[Nico]

Quote

You have to pile in towards the closest enemy  

If your opponent strings a unit out you can charge him on the left and place a unit on the right just outside of pile in range but ensure that your unit is the closest model the last man has to pile in towards. 

O= model 

- = 1" gap

x= your units  

X0-0-0-0---x

This will pin your opponents unit into a conga that he can't get out of without breaking coherency   

it works best when your opponent is strung out to maximum distance but be aware that oval bases can pivot and extend their coherency quite a bit

Yup. This works a treat on Necropolis Knights and other big base cavalry that are already in an extended line 1 deep. Whereas a double thick rectangle of troops is less badly affected as the back rank can split at the middle and go separate directions.

Quote

Ability bypass

For example, I end my charge move with one model 1/2" away from your Furies, but most of my unit has moved towards your Daemon Prince of Slaanesh, getting 3.5" away while staying as far away from the furies as possible (while maintaining coherency).

When I activate that unit, I can pile in 3" towards your DP and attack him, without ever triggering his pseudo-always-strikes-first ability.

A similar trick works on Empire Handgunners.

This might work on Wrathbros as well. If your chaff kills them or pins them before your big monster piles in (so the big monster isn't within 2 of a Wrathbro when it dies).

Another one (not sure if mentioned) is to mitigate Deadly scenery or the Wyldwood rule - charge in with only one model to satisfy the half inch rule, the rest stand on the edge of the relevant scenery and pile in onto it instead (no death on a 1). Incidentally - I play this as a death to a specific model rule (like Hand of Dust) - not an allocation of damage to a unit which then gets allocated to models by the controlling player at the end of an attack. So don't make the champion or standard bearer the model that charges onto the scenery as that specific model may die.