Saim-Hann Vs. The Inquisition

Headed over to the gaming shop to get in the last 40K game for the year where I faced off against an odd mixture of grey knights, space marine snipers, inquisitorial storm troopers, and an inquisitor lord with a freakish retinue. 1535 points seek and destroy had me dropping my warlocks, fire prism, and my falcon, while keeping my jetbikes, vypers and farseer at full strength with all their tricks.

For deployment I massed all my forces to the left behind cover with the plan of hoping my opponent would be forced to match my deployment to keep me in check. I was then going to turboboost and fast move everything to the right and attack his weak side working my way down. My opponent didn't match my deployment but rather spread his forces out long across his deployment with the grey knights mainly on one side and his storm troopers on the other. Not that he could have kept my warhost in check, but now there was nothing stopping me from loading up on the left side with all my firepower. Taking on half of my opponent's army with the full of mine is always the plan.

Inquisition took the first turn staying put while firing off a few questionable shots at my jetbikes with the space marine snipers. I say questionable since we were playing area terrain and only a fraction of my jetbikes rear fin was visible- but what the heck it would have only been one model killed at worst and it is nice to be a good sport, especially when playing somebody for the first time. Snipes hit, wound, and I fail my armor save- made my pinning test so it could have been far worse.

Saim-Hann to go so I advance my jetbikes up the left side to take on the space marine snipers while my vypers moved and took aim at the inquisitor lord & retinue. Shuriken cannon fire from the jetbikes dropped four scouts and massed starcannon and brightlace fire from my vypers wiped out the inquisitor lord and his lackeys followed by my jetbikes moving back behind LOS blocking cover.

Moving the grey knights forward my opponent opened up with psy cannon fire dropping one of my bright lance vypers while his other storm trooper forces stayed put while the remaining snipers fired but missed on my jetbikes. Going to work on his terminator squad of grey knights with my vypers and jetbikes I massed all my shots on them wiping them out in an impressive display of overkill while my farseer tried to mindwar the terminator captain but failed with perils of the warp and missed the ghosthelm save killing her.

Next turn the remaining grey knights fired on my vypers stunning two along with the storm troopers taking down one of my jetbike squads. I followed up with a squad of my jetbikes breaking away to finish off the marine snipers as my continued mass fire wiped out the rest of the grey knights. Now sending his storm troopers forward I sent my jetbikes into the assault backed by my vypers wiping out the remainder of his storm troopers the next turn.

Taking the victory it really wasn’t much of a contest for the Saim-Hann- once I dropped his grey knights and inquisitor there was nothing he could harm my vypers with. S 3 hellguns can’t glance the armor of my vypers so there really wan’t much point playing beyond that.

On a total side tangent I picked up the new autarch jetbike model at the shop so that is on the to-do list to model up, paint, and report on.

Saim-Hann Cityfight?

As we move closer to the start of the gaming club's campaign, the call has gone out to whip up some more terrain for each sector. I've been assigned the cityfight sector and have modeled up enough terrain for 25% of the board which is how we play. Cities of Death tiles mounted on cardboard bases with glued sand for texture and broken plastic bits for rubble, all drybrushed silver, black, vomit green, and some brown. Tactically this is probably going to be the worst terrain for me to play on. Lots of places for my opponent to hide in hard cover which will negate the AP of my star cannons and bright lances. Time to start brushing up on some cityfight tactica.

Eldar "Jet Cycles": Blast From The Past

Jetbike Tactics: Shuriken Catapults

Wouldn’t it be super sweet if every jetbike could upgrade to a shuriken cannon? Who wouldn’t do that given the puny (and dangerous) 12" range of the shuriken catapult. Stat wise a jetbike looks pretty good with the 3+ save, T4 and 12-24" movement till you get to its weapons- the shuriken catapult, but at least it is an assault twin linked weapon- which is the start of where to use it tactically.

With the 12" range of the shuriken catapults it means that if you can shoot at your opponent they can shoot back at you with everything from pistols, to rapid fire weapons, to assault/heavy weapons. Playing your jetbikes by just blasting away (spray and pray) is not the way of Saim-Hann or even the Eldar way. Shooting with your shuriken cannons is but the first part of the plan. The first and perhaps primary role of your jetbike’s shuriken catapults is as a way to soften up your opponent before the assault. Jetbikes as assault units? Crazy? Not really. What works is running each squad in a size of 5-8 + a warlock with destructor.

Now don’t just throw them up against the closest enemy unit or that squad of genestealers and expect to pull it off. Use your speed, even if it means turbo-boosting or not assaulting this turn to get them into position to where you can assault a weaker unit next turn, or your opponent’s weakest unit. Then use your 12" movement to get an inch or so away from your opponent’s unit and open up with the warlock’s destructor and all that twin linked shuriken fire. This should bring things down to where you can easily win the assault. If you have to take on a very strong unit, try to get a unit of vypers into position to give some supporting fire before your jetbikes open up and then assault.

A final point to consider is that when you are planning which unit to assault don’t pick the one out in the open so after you win your jetbikes are hanging out for everybody to shoot at, position your assault into that isolated unit or at least use the massacre/consolidation to move into another assault or get behind some cover.

The next tactic to employ with the shuriken catapults is in a light vehicle/tank hunter role. While I like to use the shuriken cannons to pop incoming transports and then blast the disembarked occupants with vyper starcannon fire the speed of the jetbikes gives another tasty alternative. Use the 12" mobility of your jetbikes to get into position where you can surround the doors of the transport (say a rhino for the example) and then shoot at the rear with your twin linked shuriken catapults backed by your warlocks witchblade for extra measure. Force everybody to disembark and since the exits are blocked they die. This is a pretty worn out and perhaps "dirty" 40K rule exploitation trick but it is the speed of the jetbikes that makes it possible to move and surround a transport.

As some side tactica I have used my jetbikes twice to surround a land raider and then pop it with brightlance fire from my vypers- BL fire bringing the AV 14 down to 12 really cuts through ‘raiders.

Tactically (beyond direct objective grabbing) think of you jetbikes as a surgical strike unit- by the time they attack the unit they are attacking should be either soft enough to directly destroy or weakened enough by your vypers so the jetbikes can finish them off.

Finally as a last resort if you are faced with directly attacking one of your opponent’s units double up with at least two jetbikes for every MEQ model. The twin linked makes up for the 3+ BS but you will still need the numbers to wound and though up enough dice for some failed armor saves.

Jetbike Tactics: Sniper Slide & The Setup

(Click Image For Larger Picture)

Continuing to work on my jetbike tactica I wanted to put down my thoughts on exploiting the 6” move in the assault phase that each Eldar jetbike can use if one is not turbo-boosting. The best well known exploitation of this is to move your jetbikes up behind blocking cover, then move around, shoot at an enemy unit, and then move back behind cover in the assault phase.

Shuriken cannons work best with this idea given the 24” range of the weapon and less so with the 12” range of shuriken catapults- although the idea can be pulled off with the catapults in certain circumstances. Now given that the shuriken cannon pumps out three 4+ to hit shots the real tactica behind this idea is to turn it something more of a mere annoyance to your opponent. To do this you’ll need to take advantage of the jetbike’s speed and a long range fire support vehicle like a fire prism or perhaps a vyper in a pinch.

The first step in setting up this trap is to look for a deployment zone which has cover you can hide behind near your side of the board and an enemy unit that will be advancing along that section of the board. This is where the trap will be set so you want to deploy your jetbikes away from it- leave it open for your opponent to advance through giving the illusion of a weakness in your deployment for them to exploit. As you are deploying you want to deploy your jetbike unit(s) far enough away from this trap zone yet close enough to turbo boot to behind cover. You also want your fire prism to be deployed on the opposite end of the board within movement to get a fire lane to the spot with the prism cannon. This is a key point- most players don’t know or can’t visualize the “reach” of the fire prism at 60”. At the opposite end of the board with a correct fire lane it is possible to blast an enemy squad without your opponent even noticing that they are in range. This is another Saim-Hann secret- appearing far away but being near.

Begin by letting your opponent advance through the hole you have created (or if this is not possible look for a lone unit to isolate with this tactic using your movement to set them up). You want to wait till they have advanced enough that there is no place for them to hide or move away to. Move your jetbikes into position behind cover and then move out, shoot, and move back in the assault phase. Getting caught out in the open you want to continue to draw your opponent out and repeat the same sniping tactic next turn. (Unless of course you can move in and finish the unit off completely with massed shuriken fire without receiving any shots back)

Seeing the unit getting sniped your opponent will either draw them back, advance, or perhaps send another unit to help out and over power your position with the jetbikes. Let him think your jetbikes are isolated as you continue to snipe away. While this is happening remember to keep an eye on where your fire prism is and how you can move it into position to fire on the unit(s) advancing towards your jetbikes. Once your opponent is out in the open and in position to be fired on with your fire prism, turbo boost your jetbikes out of there, move your ‘prism into position and blast away with the 60” range- try to guide it with your farseer if you can to make sure it hits. Well placed vypers with 36” starcannon and brightlace weapons can also fill the role of the fire prism or add to it.

Good hunting!

Practice Games For The Upcoming Campaign

Got in a few practice runs @ 500 points against some Imperial Guard at the club and it was interesting. Sniping with the shuriken cannons (move, shoot, move behind cover in the assault phase) really only dished out damage if I fired all three on the same unit. The IG force was chimera heavy and the shuriken cannons did ok at glancing and penetrating the sides- jetbike mobility made it happen. Vs. IG I was hurting for scoring units and I suspect it will be that way if I face IG, Tau, and Tyranids- nothing I can really do about that. Warlock destructor performed very well with no armor save on the IG troops.

Now, here is the real question that I can use some feedback on. The first month and a half of the campaign is going to be locked in at 500 points- so what is in my list stays in my list. Clarified last night was that dedicated transports for troops can be used minus Land Raiders if somebody was playing Deathwing or something like that.

Since dedicated transports are allowed do I drop some jetbikes and take a wave serpent with some cheapy guardians? With AV 12 and skimming I will pretty much have a vehicle that can’t be damaged by anything. The odd models with say a plasma or lascannon can be mind warred with my farseer. Do I stick with the purity of all jetbikes or drop in the ‘serpent for a potential huge advantage?

The other issue is since the campaign is node and experienced based I need a lot of early wins to keep ahead since it will be a while till my holo-field vypers make it into the game. The 'serpent might just give me this.

2008 Battle For Salvation Campaign

Starting in mid January the 40K club I play in is going to host an ongoing storyline campaign which I’m going to take on with my Saim-Hann.

The Storyline:

Out on the eastern fringe of the galaxy lies a small, quiet system of eight planets orbiting a single star, much like the sun that Terra orbits. Most of the planets in the system are fairly unremarkable rocks with no mineral wealth or strategic use. Thus, the Gideon system has been ignored and has remained a footnote in Explorator Fleet logs.

This obscurity changed upon the discovery of Gideon IV, a habitable world that was missed by the Explorator fleets for some reason. How a habitable world like Gideon IV escaped detection is still a mystery, with many Imperial Captain swearing that it appeared out of nowhere. Once found, initial scans showed a world teeming with mineral wealth, archaeotech, and a crumbling infrastructure from what appeared to be the planet's former and long-dead inhabitants.

With habitable worlds at a premium, the Gideon system was suddenly bestowed with a new strategic value and the Imperium dispatched a small fleet to claim this newly revealed world. The Imperium was not alone in their want to claim this worldly treasure. The Gideon system's location was near the expanding Tau empire and even the Eldar had an interest in claiming Gideon IV as a maiden world. What's more, Hive Fleet Kraken had passed nearby, and the Hivemind would not let such a tasty morsel pass it by.

All of these machinations ignored one question: what happened to the dead civilization of Gideon IV?

The Imperium's landing on Gideon IV was scattered by a sudden and unexpectedly turbulent planet-wide storm. Imperial Guard contingents were separated from their central Command, and the crusading elements from the Space Marine Chapters found themselves cut off. Even the headstrong Tau experienced problems, with many of their Hunter Cadres haphazardly scattered across the planet.

Before any of the forces on Gideon IV could regroup, the skies above appeared to boil and shift. Contact with the fleets in orbit stopped and a deathly silence fell over the planet – not even the native fauna made a sound.

The most chilling discovery was made when trans-atmospheric craft were sent by the surface groups to attempt to contact the fleets. The craft discovered at the cost of their existence that the atmosphere was sealed by some kind of shield and none of the fleets could be seen. Any attempt to break through the atmosphere was met with disaster, and it became apparent that the forces on the world were trapped.

This realization spread like wildfire in the Imperial Guard regiments, causing mass desertion and morale to evaporate. The Space Marines, of course, turned to their internal strengths. Yet, even the Tau, whose Aun was still with their fleet, found themselves in considerable disarray. It was as if the very atmosphere was fostering discord among the trapped forces.

Imperial Guard Commanders turned warlord and started to carve out empires for themselves, declaring they were following the one true Emperor, while assaulting other ‘heretical’ Guard regiments. The natural rivalries between the Space Marines boiled over into open conflict between the Chapters. A madness assailed the forces on the planet as they all strove to claim it in the name of their Lord, Empire, God, or Hunger.

So the Battle for Gideon IV began.

The campaign will be broken into 3 rounds which with a new round beginning every month and a half. Each round will consist of 3 turns. Each turn will last for 2 weeks. All in all, this campaign will last the better part of 18 weeks give or take with the voting of all members.

My Saim-Hann Strategy:

Starting with only 500 points for the first round with an HQ choice and the rest “troops” I’ve put together the following list:

Farseer: Rune Armor, Ghost Helm, Jetbike, Mindwar

5 Jetbikes 1 W/ Shuriken Cannon
5 Jetbikes 1 W/ Shuriken Cannon
4 Jetbikes 1 W/ Shuriken Cannon & 1 Warlock W/ Jetbike, Rune Armor, Witchblade, Destructor

Tactics?

Hang back and move, shoot, move back behind terrain with the shuriken cannons while my farseer plays the usual mindwar role.

Use the jetbikes with the warlock’s witchblade as my anti-armor (if there even is any at 500 points) and as my main assault unit. Use the speed of the jetbikes to close the distance, shoot/destructor and then assault. Use the other two jetbike squads to harass and secure objectives/table quarters, etc. per mission. Planning a test game or two later in the week with some club friends to try out our 500 point lists.

As the campaign progresses and we ramp up to 1750 I’m going to start playing a new list I’ve been working on. I dropped the wave serpent for a falcon, added another warlock, and will be running some shining spears.

More Internet Farseer Conversions & Spirit Stones

Continuing to look for ideas to model up/convert another Jetbike Farseer I found a few more internet examples:

http://www.transabrina.ch/images/warhammer/Eldar/pages/jetbikefarseer.htm

http://members.optushome.com.au/eldar40k/gd00_jetbike_farseer.htm

http://spunkybass.tripod.com/Eldar.htm

http://s7.invisionfree.com/Realm_of_Runes/ar/t1318.htm

A DIY yourself Farseer conversion tutorial:

http://members.optushome.com.au/eldar40k/diy_jetbike_farseer_conversion.htm

Which then brings around the question of spirit stones out to any Eldar players. How do you paint the spirit stones on your jetbikes, guardians, etc.? I’d like to get a more pop out/3D effect. Mine are painted a base of black, then two shades of green, followed by bone white dots for the reflection.

Vyper Tactica Primer

I’ve talked a bit in some other posts and battle reports about the Eldar vyper and how it has become the backbone of my Saim-Hann list. One of the many comments and emails I have gotten again and again is how you keep an AV 10 model alive even with the holo-fields and spirit stones. The nutshell of it- range and terrain. Holo-fields are not the first defense, they are there incase you screw up range and terrain.

As an example I take my vypers with star cannons and bright lances which means I have an effective range of 36” inches. Firing on an enemy unit I only really have to worry about return fire from other 36”+ weapons such as plasma cannons, heavy bolter, venom cannons, etc. This is the first step in using range to protect your vypers.

Summed up only shoot at units that you can hit far enough away so they can’t effectively return fire with what they are armed with. Avoid the temptation to zoom in guns blazing. Take a moment and look at the board like a chess game determine where you can move your vypers so they can be at maximum range to shoot and stay away from return fire. If you can’t get there this turn use your 24” move to make it so for next turn or the turn after. The way of Saim-Hann is to only engage where your firepower can overwhelm and destroy. Often you will probably find yourself hugging the left or right side of the board edge as opposed to moving down the center. Next is the proper use of terrain to limit what can shoot against you. When facing long range loaded armies such as Imperial Guard or Tau this combined with range is key. The diagram at the start of the post sums up this idea in image- position a line of sight blocking terrain feature in-between you and as many enemy units as you can while leaving a lane of fire down to the unit you want to shoot. The first pane in the image is bad, the second good.

Combining the ideas of range and terrain will lessen the shots you receive back given the heavy hitting role your vypers may play with the holo-fields then as a line of defense for what gets through.

Fritz’s Saim-Hann: Year One

While this humble blog is only a few months old this December marks a year that I have been extensively playing my Saim-Hann army. It’s kind of funny how my initially least favorite army turned into my centerpiece and most favorite/fun army. Fear not loyal Farseer’s I’m not calling it quits or even slowing down by far.

My first battle was against a Tyranid horde army of genestealers and carnifex and I got slaughtered with only a single Vyper remaining. No holo-fields, stones, or mindwar trickery on my part I charged in like Space Marines figuring my Jetbikes were just like them and got hosed. Disheartened I put the army away for a few months and went back to playing Space Marines and Necrons. Dusting off my Warhost a bit later I really sat down and started not only working out my list really trying to put myself in my models place. If I was a Saim-Hann Wild Rider on a Jetbike what would I be doing? With my new list I dropped the scatter lasers on my Vypers, cooked up some Warlocks, and got my present Farseer on the table along with the Fire Prism. Feeling a bit better I went to the gaming store in my area which holds pickup games every Sunday. All the tables except one were full.

I quickly found out why the table was free since the player waiting for a game was a known rules lawyer at the store. Not who I really wanted to play but I didn’t drive out to watch so we set up- Saim-Hann vs. Blood Angels with the old BA rules. The picture above is from the setup and in order to bring my list up to 1750 I had to throw in a few old Eldar Rangers which I had who you can see holding the hill to the lower right.

Mission was Recon Victory points and as silly as it may sound I was really nervous especially since both our armies were painted red/black and mixed in nice with Mars board we were playing on which had a crowd gathering around it. The Blood Angels had two baal tanks, a ton of five man assault squads, and three drop pods ready to come in.

First turn I immediately fell in love with multiple star cannons firing on Space Marines out in the open as they advance. Add in guide from my Farseer and I was wrecking guys. Lining up the Dark Angels Commander and killing him outright with mindwar resulted in a ten minute argument about if I could really do that since he was an independent character and I was sold on the mindwar trickery also.

The rest of the game was back and forth loosing my jetbikes again outright since I was still learning how to play them with Saim-Hann eventually taking the victory with my Vypers and Dire Avengers heading to my opponent’s deployment zone. Completely selling me on the viability of a Saim-Hann themed army I’ve been having a blast playing them since. I even got my revenge on the Tyranid player since!

Plans for next year? Defiantly a Farseer conversion in the works along with some Shining Spears, a new display board with my Jetbikes and Vypers flying at different height levels perhaps chasing down some Orks since the new ‘dex is coming out, plans for games day and the next grand tournament in the works, and of course more glory and battles.

Eldar Terrain Tactica

(Where would you rather be?)

When playing Saim-Hann I often find myself ignoring terrain beyond the value of it blocking line of sight fire to my units and the cover saves it may offer my opponent against the fury of my starcannons and brightlances. After all, when you are playing with units that can ignore all terrain by flying over it, it is easy to see the battle field as a blank slate. However, in the role of a Farseer I must remind myself of all outcomes, keeping the vale of cover in mind for my Guardians and Dire Avenger brothers who may find themselves on foot. A 4/5+ armor save isn't going to buy any real saves and my Guardian or DA squad could potentially be wiped out in a good turn of bolter rapid fire. Moving from cover to cover is a constant reminder that I can't forget. Rolling a few dice for fun with a squad (10) of Death Guard Plague Marines agasint a squad (10) Guardians played out as followed:

Death Guard fired 15 bolter shots, 2 plasma shots and one 1 melta shot at 12".

11 bolter shots hit along with 1 plasma hit resulting in 7 bolter wounds and 1 plasma wound. Out in the open the Guardians took a loss 8.

Now I put those same Guardians behind a crude mon-kei barricade offering a 4+ cover save which resulted in 4 making a cover save reducing the loss down to 4.

Magnetized Flying Bases

Working on a Saim-Hann army? Adding more Jetbikes? Something to consider in the conversion area is adding magnetized bases. No more broken plastic bases while it gives another dimension and some heft to your models.

When I was starting out on the Saim-Hann path I got about half of my Jetbikes in a trade which had this curious magnetic base on two of the models. Took a bit to figure out how it was made and soon I redid all the models in my warhost with the same idea.

At the toy store I found a “magnetic puzzle toy” which was a collection of magnetic cylinder sticks about 1.5” high that were magnetic on both ends to attach to the magnetic balls in the puzzle. Spray painted black these sticks formed the center and magnet of the base which is then glued to the plastic base of a GW stand. From there you put a small screw into the bottom of the model, paint it black, and now the magnetic top of the stand “clicks” to it. In this way the stand give my Jetbikes and Vypers a little more heft to resist getting knocked over when somebody bumps into the gaming table and the cleanness of the stands adds a bit of presentation to the models on the table.

The Way of Saim-Hann 2007 Slide Show

Jetbike Farseer Ideas From The Internet

(From Scibor Miniatures)

http://www.sciborminiatures.com/en_,gallery.php?art=544#i/monst/big/eldar_farseer_on_jetbike04.jpg

(From 40Kology)

http://40kology.blogspot.com/2007/11/cut-and-paste.html

(From Farill Elach Craftworld)

http://members.optusnet.com.au/eldar40k/farseer.html

I’m in the planning stages of adding another Jetbike Farseer in my warhost so I’m on the lookout for some inspiration. Hitting up the internet, here are the top three best I’ve seen so far. I was thinking about maybe going with an old Harlequin Jetbike as the base of my conversion? Time to go bitz hunting.

Mindwar Sniper Tactica

After my experience in the 2007 GT and further refinement of my Mindwar sniping tactics I wanted to write out a small primer for my fellow Fasrseers to take against the Mon-Keigh.

To use Mindwar to its effective most I recommend the following minimum load out- Farseer + Jetbike + Mindwar + Runes of Witnessing.

Mindwar itself only has an 18” range which for a foot slogging Fasrseer means if you are close enough to use it you are close enough to take return fire. Using the power in the shooting phase means that after movement its range is boosted to 24” (18” Range + 6” movement), Given that at best you will only be able to use the power six times in a regular game (if your Farseer isn’t killed) 24” range isn’t that great. To negate these shortcomings your Farseer needs a Jetbike.

With the Jetbike your effective range is boosted up to “30 with the 12” Jetbike move and then after the power is used you get another 6” move in the assault phase to either start moving to the next target or duck behind cover to avoid return enemy fire & retribution.

Runes of Witnessing are also 100% needed. Rolling 3d6 and discarding for psychic tests is a must since you want to make sure Mindwar goes off every turn. So with the Jetbike you have the mobility and protection and the Runes increase the changes of it going off which brings us to tactics.

Tactically I have found there are two ways to use Mindwar depending on the mission and models in your opponent’s army. I use Mindwar to either earn beaucoup victory points or to take out wargear specific models.

Lets start by looking at how Mindwar can earn some nice victory points. Is your opponent playing a special character or high points HQ choice such as a Chaplain or Necron Lord? Identify these targets and place your Farseer accordingly. Move into range, pick them our, and blast them. Even with the LD of 10 vs. your Farseer’s LD of 10 a good roll of at best will kill the character or at worst earn you a few victory points by scoring a wound.

Targeting certain characters could cripple your opponent for the game. Target that Necron Lord with his Res. Orb and Veil of Darkness. Target that Chaplain to get rid of his Fearlessness and Litanies of Hate. Target that Space Marine Force Commander to drop the 10 LD for all units on the board. Drop that uber Carnifex.

Next up in target priority are those wargear models- such as ones with melta-guns, Power Fists, and Heavy Weapons. Not as good as dropping those expensive special and independent characters these are your next choice after you have dropped the rest.

Understanding who to target it now comes down to being able to put it into practice:

Trying to time it so your opponent places his HQ first is key. Of course this depends on how many other troops & heavies you have vs. them but you can get it going by allowing them to place first. Once their HQ is down you now know where to place your Farseer.

When placing you have to use terrain to block your approach while allowing you a place to fall back behind after the Mindwar to shield yourself from any return fire. Remember since your Farseer is on a Jetbike you can pretty much ignore terrain for movement. Move out an ahead, Mindwar and then use the 6” move to get back behind cover- think of moving/hopping from cover to cover.

If an HQ character isn’t in range and you can’t safely approach the next step it to draw them out. Here is an example of how I do it to give you some tactical ideas to adapt to the units in your Warhost.

I set up a unit of Jetbikes with my Farseer often against a Space Marine Chaplain led unit. Of Assault Marines. I bring out the Jetbikes firing the Shuriken Cannons at 24” forcing either my opponent to run and take cover or charge. Charging they will get off a few pistol shots on my Jetbikes maybe downing one or two but timed to just be out of assault range. After they do this I then run my Jetbikes back 24” as my Farseer comes out of hiding to Mindwar the Chaplain, with my Farseer then moving back into her hiding place with the 6” assault move. Eventually if your Farseer starts to get boxed in, use the 24” Jetbike turbo-boost move to get out of there.

Good hunting!

The Way Of Saim-Hann Is The Way Of Speed

Here is some general Saim-Hann tactica that I have had good results with against a mainly infantry/gunline based army like Tau & Space Marines. Very simple, but very effective with the speed of the Jetbikes and Vypers pulling it off.

When deploying I want to force my opponent to deploy long and wide across his deployment zone. I start by placing my Fire Prism in the center so it will have lanes of fire to both sides of the board. Deploying troops next I deploy Jetbike heavy on my far left with large squads. I finish deploying with my Wave Serpent and Vypers to the far right and with my Farseer next to the Fire Prism. With so many Jetbikes to the far left it leaves a large footprint and looks like a lot of models. I want my opponent to have to match or counter my deployment, or if he strait up deploys a gunline across his deployment zone.

First turn I guide my Fire Prism since even with a 3+ to hit I want to make sure it hits since it only gets that one uber shot a turn. I then move my right Jetbikes and Wave Serpent out to the far right and ahead to engage my opponent’s units to the right. Through this I try to use terrain to block lanes of fire and LOS to my units.

Now with all my Jetbikes to the left I make a turbo boost move heading to my far right side of the board. I get the distance to stay out of bolter range fire and the 3+ invulnerable to stay somewhat save from heavy weapons fire- again trying my best to do the move behind cover.

This now forces my opponent to react to my movement (and it is always better to have your opponent reacting as opposed to acting) and either way I am setting him up for the hurt. If he stays but my Jetbikes will be across to the right next turn where they will link up with my other Jetbikes and Wave Serpent to all out attack my opponent’s units on the right. If my opponent pursues or brings units out to try and fire I then move my Vyper squads out and to the left saturating him with Starcannon and Brightlance fire to hold him at bay from reinforcing or then move my Vypers into the mass of Jetbikes to load up even more.

During this my Farseer tries to move within 6” of both the Vypers and ‘Prism for Guide or goes of headhunting with Mindwar depending on the mission and what enemy HQ present itself.

With my Jetbike redeployment I load up on one side and overwhelm my opponent before moving down his line of troops from the rear.

As an aside back to the deployment phase if my opponent loads up on one side of the table corner with his gunline then I still deploy in this manner with my Jetbikes on the left flanking and making an end run into his troops timed with my main assault of the Vypers and Wave Serpent.

Thoughts?

Army List Question?

For the readers- with your 40K army do you run the same list or have multiple lists written up depending on what army (Tau, Marines, etc.) you face?

Should you run one list vs. any opponent and/or is tailoring an army list ahead of time cheesy?

I've been running the same list vs. all opponents but I am thinking about writing up different lists for who/what I may face.

Unsportsmanlike?