Thoughts on Math-hammer - tweaked for 8th Edition Relevance

Since 40k is a dice game, it probably pays to know a bit about how the dice will behave in a given situation.  8th edition shakes up a few things (like the to-wound chart and leadership) and changes some odds (like casting psyching powers, which is easier).  It also adds the whole 're-roll ones' mechanic, which tweaks re-rolls.

A Few Disclaimers - 
1) remember that we're talking about odds.  Averages are guides for decision-making.  You'll be able to take a guess at outcomes if you're weighing options.

2) Averages emerge when you throw dice enough times - twenty throws of a dice is about average, when it comes to statistics - IE - thirty guardsmen walk into rapid-fire range and drop 100d6 looking for 4+, you'll probably see 50 hits most of the time.

3) Remember that we have a cognitive bias towards remembering outliers - we're bad at math unless we're trying.

Basic Math - looking for X+ on 1d6

Base WS/BS	Unmodified chance	Re-roll misses	Re-Roll 1's	Base with +1 Bonus
2+	83%	97%	97%	83%
3+	67%	89%	78%	83%
4+	50%	75%	58%	67%
5+	33%	56%	39%	50%
6+	17%	31%	19%	33%

I'm going with WS/BS on these because it's the most common, but this math applies to any rolls when you need X or better, such as morale and wounds.  I've added in re-rolls, re-roll 1's, and +1 bonuses.

Note that blanket re-rolls are a bit better than a +1 bonus - but they're pretty close.  The only place that really loses out on it is the 2+, as we're assuming a 1 always fails here.

Note also that re-roll ones are neat, but have diminishing returns as you need better numbers when it comes to odds.  However, some stuff (like plasma) REALLY doesn't want to deal with 1's, because explosions.

Roll at Least X on 2d6

At least X on 2d6	Odds
2	100%
3	97%
4	92%
5	83%
6	72%
7	58%
8	42%
9	28%
10	17%
11	8%
12	3%

This one's important for two big phases - the psychic phase and the assault phase.  Two obvious break points are 9+ and 10+.  

We care about 9+ for deep-striking assault troops (which means that they've got just under a 1/3 chance of assaulting off deep-strike).  Note that any deep-striking troops that can get an extra inch of charge range (IE - Trygons with adrenal glands) get a significant boost to their ability to charge out of reserves.

We care about 10+ for Smite's bonus damage.

Roll 2d6, pick the highest

Roll 2d6, pick highest	1	2	3	4	5	6
Chance of getting at least  -	3%	8%	14%	19%	25%	31%

As long as I'm doing math, went ahead and did this one.  

So, What Do I do with this?

These are all guides - if you're looking at figuring out how nasty something's going to be, crunch numbers.  

Example 1 - 5 Chaos Terminators deep-strike and fire combi-bolters into guardsmen in cover. Let's assume they're all within 12" of the targets, so their rapid-fire 2 guns are kicking out four shots each.

5 combi bolters * 4 shots each = 20 shots

20 shots at BS 3+ = 13.33 hits on average

13.33 hits that need 3+ to wound (S4 vs T3) = 8.89 wounds

Guardsmen out of cover have a 5+ save

8.89 hits vs 5+ save = 2.96 saves, so 5.9 guardsmen die.

So you could expect 5-6 guardsmen to eat it.

Example 2 - say the Chaos Lord deep-strikes in behind his Terminators, and gives them the ability to re-roll 1's

5 combi bolters * 4 shots each = 20 shots

20 shots at BS3+ with a re-roll one 1's = 15.55 hits

15.55 hits needing 3+ to wound = 10.37 wounds

10.37 wounds vs a 5+ save = 3.4 saves, so 6.9 guardsmen die

So, if you dropped the terminator lord in behind his terminators, you could guess that it'd kill 6-7 guardsmen in that context.

To bring it further - so the guard survives, and however many survivors get to rapid-fire the terminators and then probably assault (move 6 + 2d6 charge = 80-90% chance of a charge going off).

What Math can do is tell you the odds of stuff happening with dice involved - but what math CAN'T do is tell you what your opponent is going to do - does the opponent turn around and try to kill the Terminators to a man now, denying you the ability to disrupt his backfield?  Does the opponent say 'eh, screw it' and let your terminators wander around his backfield and focus firepower elsewhere?

In Closing

Having an idea of how math works gives you a decision-making tool.  The dice can always give and take away, but if you know math then you can guess how rolls will go, and ask yourself how much risk you want to accept for a given course of action.

Army Building 101: Essential Capabilities

This article springboards off of my posts on evaluating units honestly and making tradeoffs. This is a little basic, but you need to bring the tools to do three basic things:

1) Hold Objectives
2) Stop Enemy Armor
3) Kill Enemy Troops

You need to hold objectives in 2/3 of the games, but make sure that you don't actually hurt yourself when it comes to killing the other guy. When it comes to stopping the other guy, you want to be able to stop vehicles AND enemy troopers.

1) Controlling Objectives
Objective games break up into two categories: 2 objectives, or 3+ objectives. The number of objectives changes the way you play, but not necessarily how you build. Controlling objectives comes to two things:

1) Hold Objectives
2) Deny Objectives

Hold Objectives
You need troops to hold objectives. Once you hit 1500+ points, I suggest 3 troops just as a rule of thumb. The number you take ultimately depends on your army, as some troops selections are nastier/more resiliant than others. If you take too few, the other guy might decide to just KO your troops and make you fight for a draw. It's a very real risk, and it's happened to me.

You have two basic choices for holding objectives: You can take a dedicated squad to hold it, or you can just bring several mobile choices and make sure you have troops on the objective by the end. If it's a dedicated squad, ideally it's got a long-range weapon or two in it (IE: Space Marine Scouts w/ Sniper Rifles, Missile Launcher, Telion, camo cloaks).

Deny Objectives
There are two ways to do this: kill the troops on/near them, or contest the objectives. If you have stuff within 3" of the objective, then he doesn't control it. We'll cover the 'killing them' part later, but the short version is that corpses don't hold territory*. Contesting objectives usually involves swift, cheap units. Sometimes it's a Tau Piranha or Marine Land Speeder, but empty transports can do the trick as well. In a pinch, you can tank-shock people off objectives as well, unless they're in a transport.

2) Kill Armor
Vehicles (and monstrous creatures) are a fact of life in 40k. You need to be able to stop them, or they'll run roughshod over you (sometimes literally, see 'deny objectives'). In terms of killing vehicles, you're looking at two basic types: lighter, and heavier. Lighter vehicles are AV10-12; Heavy is 13-14. You need different kit to take them out. Note that vehicles may not always DIE when you damage them, but sometimes it's enough to shake/stun them or knock off the main gun.

Light Armor
Usually, weight of fire is enough to harm/kill lighter armor. Things like scatter lasers and autocannons are your weapons of choice against lighter armor; S7 lets you threaten AV12 and usually comes in decent numbers. Most S8 weapons don't have the weight of fire to do the trick.

Most light vehicles are faster, and most transports are lighter-weight vehicles. Additionally, some heavier-weight vehicles have weaker flank armor (IE: A Predator has AV13 in the front, but only AV11 on the side).

Heavy Armor
Sometimes, the autocannon just isn't gonna cut it against your target. Sometimes, you need melta weapons or rail guns. Why melta? If you can deliver it to 1/2 its range, you get 2d6 for damage penetration, and s8 + 2d6 averages to 15, which is a penetrating hit. AP1 is icing on the cake, since it's +1 to damage results, or a 50/50 shot of killing the vehicle on a penetrating hit.

Some armies have access to S10 shooting (Tyranids and Tau), and this has the raw strength to go through AV 13/14.

Taking it for the Team
Note that with melta weapons, you probably WON'T get a second shot, AND you are close to the enemy. It behoves you to have some cheap, sacrifical melta units just so you can take out higher-cost targets. Triple land raider sounds fun until someone trades 3 landspeeders or 3 squads of guardsmen for 750-800 points of your army.

Vehicles and Assault
Most vehicles have AV10 in the rear, so monstrous creatures, powerfists, dreadnoughts and the like can damage or kill them. Vehicles can counter this by moving and making it more difficult to hit, but lose the ability to use some of their guns.

On Monstrous Creatures
While there are some differences between vehicles and monstrous creautres, know that the same stuff that hurts vehicles usually wounds monstrous creatures. You generally want to throw AP2-3 fire into monstrous creatures just to deny them armor saves.

3) Killing Troops
Like vehicles, troops tend to come either in larger numbers of cheap, not-so-durable guys or fewer, tougher troops. Compare the Termagant, at 5 points, with an almight S3, T3, 1 wound and 6+ save to the Plague Marine, with T5, a 3+ armor save and Feel No Pain. Note also you can get 4 termagants for one plague marine...

Now, with infantry, you generally want to pile on the wounds. Weight of fire works on infantry in general, as you'll generally wound/kill the lighter troops and you'll force the heavier ones to take more saves (which they will eventually fail). Note also that infantry love cover and will generally have access to at least a 4+ save; marines and their ilk can operate in the open and fear far fewer weapons.

Weapons of note for anti-infantry work:
1) Flamers
2) Blast Weapons
3) Small Arms
4) Assault

Flamers
These are generally for killing lighter stuff; S4 AP5 or S5 AP4 combined with no cover saves is good for nuking as many orks/termagants/non-marines as you can fit under a template. It'll still force saves on marines and the like.

Blast Weapons
Blast weapons LOOK good on paper, but if the enemy uses their 2" coherency to the max and lines up properly (IE a line instead of a group hug) they can make sure you don't hit that many troops with a large blast. On the other hand, blast weapons in crowded areas are likely to hit at least SOMETHING, but this can include your troops if they're nearby.

Small Arms
Frankly, most infantry have these. It's not your ideal weapon, but if you catch the enemy out in the open or shoot enough of them with these, they'll work. Everyone laughs at lasguns until 30-40 guardsmen point them at you...And even a 10-man tactical squad can crank out a fairly respectable number of wounds.

Assault
Not everyone belongs in assault. Those that do tend to have either a LOT of attacks, or good quality of attacks (IE: ignore armor saves and decent strength) or both. The poster child for heavyweight assault troops is the Thunder Hammer/Stor Shield Terminator. While they only have 2 attacks each, they are hard to kill (T4, 2+ armor save, 3+ invulnerable save) and hit hard (S8, ignore armor saves, and survivors go at I1 next time). The flip side is something like the Hormagaunt, which is only 10 points for something with S3, poison, and 3 attacks on the charge with Furious Charge and I5 base.

In Summary
While this IS a critical-hit wall o' text, I (and others) could easily go into more detail on the various points. I think I've covered the salient, basic points for the scenarios you'll commonly see. I mean, most of the time you'll have to deal with objectives, and all armies can bring vehicles (or MCs) and infantry. I will probably try to break these points out in greater depth for my next few non-hobby articles.

In the mean time, I've got a heap of bugs to paint, and still have Tyranid Primes, Hive Tyrants, Hive Guard, and Harpies to convert. There's also 30,121.57 Termagants to paint. Finally, there are the Trygons to build...but it's all good.

*Unless it's zombies.

Monstrous Creatures versus Vehicles

Most codices field monstrous creatures as a support element: Dark Eldar get the insane Talos, Eldar can field Wraithlords and the Avatar, and the chaos books field Daemon Princes.

With the Tyranids, though, there are no vehicles: there are merely monstrous creatures. As such, monstrous creatures fulfill the same role as tans. The chief advantage of the monstrous creature is that while vehicles have excellent durability from the damage chart, monstrous creatures have greater stamina in terms of doing damage.

A Matter of Wounds

I'm going to be arbitrary here, and take a hive tyrant with a pair of devourerers and a heavy venom cannon. Place it opposite a Space Marine Predator toting Heavy Bolter sponsons and an autocannon.

Aside from range, they're roughly similar in terms of guns: anti-personnel suite, and a weapon suitable for attacking lighter armor and heavier infantry. Following me so far? Have the image of a happy little hive tyrant, and our stout, chugging Predator?

Now fire a meltagun at them from within 6". Let's assume it hits, and neither of them have cover.

The Predator might:

1) be stunned, and unable to move/shoot for the next turn

2) lose a weapon

3) be immobilized

4) be destroyed

5) Explode violently, sending shrapnel and chunks of space marines into innocent bystanders

The Hive Tyrant might:

1) Lose a wound

2) Die, if that was its last wound

Capabilities, and loss thereof

Every roll on the vehicle damage chart has a 33% chance of temporarily inconveniencing a vehicle, 33% chance of degrading its capabilities permanently, and 33% chance of killing it outright. The exact numbers change depending on the AP value of the weapon.

Additionally, some vehicles may have an immunity to shaken/stunned, and while that's annoying as all get-out (...nothing like getting shaken/stunned results against Soul Grinders and Defilers, lemme tell ya) it's not that common, and even with extra armor, you can keep vehicles from shooting for a turn.

What does this mean? It means that even if you don't kill a vehicle, you can reduce its ability to participate in the fight, sometimes in a significant manner.

What use is a Land Raider Redeemer that's immobilized on turn one?

How's an immobilized Wave Serpent going flat out going to land? [Hint: not very well]

What use is a Hammerhead without its Rail Gun?

How's that Dreadnought going to do in assault without its Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon?

What's a stunned vehicle going to do when there are powerfists nearby?

How's a Leman Russ Demolisher feel when you forcibly removed its battle cannon?

Sometimes, even shaking or stunning is enough. If you shake something like a Hammerhead or a Leman Russ Demolisher, you've kept an expensive gun from contributing to the battle for a turn, and that may buy you some breathing room you desparately needed.

Stunning a tank near assault troops can sometimes be very unhealthy for a tank; S6+ attacks against the rear armor of 10 are...painful...en mass.

The Flip Side

So, just how do you lock a monstrous creature's guns down, or hold it in place? Oh, and for fun, realize that a monstrous creature can move and fire two guns, regardless of strength or class, and how this doesn't always hold true for vehicles*.

Simple.

CHAAARGE!

Sure, the Wraithlord has S10, ignores armor saves, and all that good stuff. He also has...2 attacks. So he got charged by 20 termagants that have Synapse support. So, Mr. Wraithlord, what're you doing for the rest of the game? That's right, squishing a gaunt a turn. Real productive, that. Bet you wish you were firing those heavy weapons, or wandering around flaming things, or insta-gibbing stuff like Warriors. But, you're NOT. You're playing patty-cake with largely inconsequential troops.

Also, cry if the other guy has lots of poison attacks. Your expensive T5-6 just got negated. Wraithlords HATE poison...

The downside is that a monstrous creature has two settings in melee: full blast, and d-e-a-d dead. That Trygon that's in a fistfight with you? Yeah, he's swinging all those attacks until you drop him, as opposed to, say, a Dreadnought. Mr. Dreadnought is big and bad and crushing you with S10 power weapon attacks until, y'know, someone with a powerfist breaks that dread CCW off. Then the dreadnought tends to go bye bye.

Cons of being a monstrous creature

While you're not going to lose combat capability each time you get wounded, you ARE still vulnerable to anti-tank weapons. As a slight con, melta weapons don't care about getting within half range of you, since S8 is S8 at all ranges.

Cover is harder to find, too. It's not impossible, but Vendettas are a royal pain for you.

Cover is not always enough, though. Toughness means that even small arms are a (small) threat to you. Bolters will NEVER harm a Rhino's front/side AV11; but bolters CAN wound T5-6. T5 monstrous creatures feel this keenly, which means stuff like Daemon Princes and the Harpy. 5+ to wound isn't bad if there are 6-10 shots like that, or enough melee attacks. However, T6+ ones tend to worry much less, but a 1/6 chance to wound isn't the same as 'Cannot Be Damaged'.

Even though you ignore armor saves in assault, monstrous creatures not inclined towards close combat CAN be tied up by large numbers of expendable troops. Furthermore, larger squads with a powerfist in them can kill you (...albeit, at a cost to themselves, BUT 4-6 marines are usually a decent trade for a monstrous creature).

Monstrous creatures that want to get into assault may have problems as you are slow, unless you have wings or deep strike (or deep strike WITH your wings). Deep striking into assault range also carries the issue of sitting there and bellowing 'SHOOT MEEEE' to the other army, which is something you have to work around.**

Monstrous creatures with guns tend not to have the same level of firepower as a vehicle. This is likely to balance out the fact it's harder to stop them from shooting.

Speaking of vehicles, vehicles can simply tank-shock troops off an objective. Even if they pass that morale check, the people move aside. If a monstrous creature wants to pull that trick off, you're hoping for an assault that leaves you within 3" of the objective to contest (or just, y'know, killing the guys...). Furthermore, monstrous creatures are technically vulnerable to tank shock. You get one attack against the front armor, and if you're one of the lower-strength monstrous creatures, the odds get a little long against toughter targets. Plus, you have to STOP the thing, so even if you penetrate, it's a 50/50 shot that you'll stop/kill the thing. Or, you just got run over, good job...

Summary

I think with Tyranids coming out, it's worth noting the differences between vehicles and monstrous creatures, since the Tyranids can and do press monstrous creatures into service as gun platforms.

1) Monstrous creatures fight at full strength until death***; vehicles can die in a single hit or lose weapons/mobility temporarily or permanently

2) Monstrous creatures can always move and shoot two guns; moving vehicles can limit their available firepower

3) Monstrous creatures are generally slower than vehicles, but see item 2 for the compensation.

4) Monstrous creatures can be locked in assault, for better or worse.

I think that wraps it up for the major ones. I think the MCs have more combat stamina because they're based on wounds, though this can be a double-edged sword.

*Mr. Predator is sad. When he drives, he can fire ONE gun, while the tyrant can stomp around all day firing every gun it holds. Mr. Predator thinks that makes the Tyrant intolerably arrogant. So, the Tyrant kicked the predator over.

**I'd suggest giving them lots of scary targets and asking if they can kill them all.

***Which may be Instant Death, in some cases. OR poison.

Your Own Worst Enemy: Cognitive Bias and 40k

Sorry about the pace of posts this month; I blame it on work + end-of-semester papers. Brainpower's at a premium, and I'm giving a nod to National Novel Writing Month* as well. Today, though, I'll be highlighting some of the ways the mind works, and how that impacts 40k.

Lazy Mind
Basically, the mind likes to take some shortcuts. A stereotype is a ready example, and we can all call to mind an easy one like 'jocks/blonds are dumb.' Is it true 100% of the time? No. Sometimes, though, a stereotype is true enough often enough for it to save us mental energy, and that's the core problem: the mind and thought tries to be as efficient as possible, and this is a fine way to cut corners.

Disclaimer
First, it's important for me to tell everyone that this is a very, very basic overview. Reading this is not an equivalent of a cognitive psychology course. It's food for thought, not qualification for diagnosis. Much of this is skimming theory, and I offer it for purely as food for thought.

Memory Biases
Your memory isn't always perfect. How? Here's some examples.

Choice-Supportive Bias: If you chose it, it had to be better than other options

Consistency Bias: You think that you always acted the way you act now

Ego-Centric Bias: Your memory is a little self-serving, you think you looked/did better than you actually did

Suggestability: Suggestions become memory of something that you actually experienced

Decision-Making Biases
Bandwagon Effect: If Everyone's Doing It, then Everyone must be onto something...

Base Rate Fallacy: IGNORING STATISTICAL DATA in favor of anecdotes

Bias Blind Spot: Tendency NOT to compensate for your own biases

Confirmation Bias: Selectively attend to data that agrees with you; essentially it's that you've made up your mind and are getting information to back you up and ignoring info that doesn't.

Deformation Professionalle: Tendency to look at things through your own profession and forget about a broader POV (...irony? Maybe, maybe not. I choose to ignore it, though.)

Expectation Bias: similar to the confirmation bias; you look for data that backs your point and ignore/attack info that disagrees with you

Irrational Escalation: A rational decision in the past doesn't mean you'll follow it up with an irrational decision in the future

Neglect of Probability: ...yes, do ignore the odds. Makes great sense.

Outcome Bias: Well, if you got results, then that's what matters, right? Surely the methods don't count...(Oh, wait. I think I touched on that when talking about Tourney Win = Street Cred)

Probability Biases
Availability Heuristic: Your memory of the data/odds is more relevant than the actual odds

Belief Bias: Well, conclusion > logic of an argument, in your mind. Basically, doing your homework is not as important to you as liking the answer.

Gambler's Fallacy: You think that the previous dice rolls have a damned thing to do with future dice rolls. (Look, rolling a bunch of 6's in a row has NO IMPACT on your ability to roll another heap of 6's. You are never 'DUE' more results)

Hindsight Bias: Hindsight's 20/20, but you did not necessarily know it all along. Sometimes it just HAPPENS, ok? Ok.

Observer-Expectancy Effect: Not only do you have an expectation, but you actively manipulate an experiment to produce the results you want.

Ostrich Effect: You just might ignore an obvious negative

Positive Outcome Bias: wishful thinking about how things will turn out for you. You think your odds are better, just because it's YOU you're talking about, and not that guy...

Regression to the mean, and ignoring it: Thing is, on a long enough time line things will go average. But, some people keep expecting extreme performance

Selection Bias: The conclusion gets distorted because you chose data in an odd way. Kind of like the tourney thing. Just take ALL the data and analyze it; do your homework

Closing Rambling
This is meant to be food for thought, largely. It's important to realize that there are lots of ways that you can botch an analysis of a situation. A lot of these ways may very well be unconscious, and hard to catch. In a sense, that's why I do some blogging; it helps me write things down and then come back to them. Frankly, it helps when you go back and try to pour over things once you've got some distance from them; you gain emotional distance through time. It also helps to have a clear record of the events.

Or, the short version: people have blind spots in the way they think. Some folks I talk to will pick something because "It Always Happens To Me." No, it doesn't. It happens to everyone. You're just being selective about interpreting the information. Honestly, strings of bad luck DO happen; one of my buddies was against MM/HF speeders 'because his meltas always miss.' No, you just tend to remember the extremes more often than you remember the good stuff. The thing is? That's a perfectly human reaction, and perfectly legitimate if not exactly logical.

Bottom line? Logic and impartiality are difficult things to pull off. You're human, you make mistakes. Admit it, try to compensate, and move on. Hopefully this list provides some insight into mistakes.

*NaNoWriMo's goal is to rough-draft a 50,000 word story, just to get people writing. It's followed by the Editing Month, go figure. I have about 5,000 words down. Not quite banking on making the other 45,000 by the end of the month.

Basics on Strategy, Goals, and Build Types Part 2

In part one, we covered the various flavors of mechanized army. This time, we'll focus on the flavors of foot.

Flavors of Foot Infantry vs. Monstrous Creature
The most basic division is whether the non-vehicle unit is person-sized,or subject to the rules for a monstrous creature. Monsters are nevertroops, and cannot score. Infantry may occupy any section of the forceorg chart, and all scoring troops are infantry. Both break down in termsof speed, and infantry break down nicely in terms of durability.

Weight of Infantry
Swarms, Light, and Heavy.
Swarm infantry are multi-wound creatures that cannot score, even if taken as troops (IE: Nurglings and for the time being, rippers). Their main purpose is to take up space either by blocking movement, or by holding something down in assault. Swarms are 'Small Targets', which means theyget +1 to cover saves, but every unsaved wound from blast or template weapons inflicts two wounds.

Light infantry is a catch-all for troops with S3/T3, typically with a 5+ save. Most infantry in the game is 'light', in this sense. Of special note is that most light infantry is abjectly afread of heavy flamers; S5, AP4 means death to light infantry on a 2+. The regular flamer (at S4, AP5) is frightening as well, but not as nasty against 4+ saves.

Heavy infantry is infantry with S4/T4+, and usually a 3+ save. Orks havethe T4, but generally have a 6+ to go along with it (Or a 4+ cover save. Which is why we bring flamers.) The archetypical heavy infantry is the space marine, with T4, a 3+ save, and a statline full of 4's. The well-armored heavy infantry tends to be more expensive, more durable, and often benefits from special rules like Fearless or 'And They Shall Know No Fear.' In short, these are the elite fellows, or the few, the proud, andthe often-outnumbered. Not that they care.

Infantry Speed
Infantry's generally slower than vehicles, and is slowed by terrain. However, there's still a variety of rates of movement. They are:

Slow 'n' Purposeful (Roll 2d6 and take highest, as though in terrain. Relentless)
Foot Infantry (6" move, d6 run)
Foot Infantry w/ Fleet (6" move, d6 run, may assault)
Jet Pack Infantry (6" move, then 6" move in assault phase, may run)
Cavalry/Beasts (6" move, d6 run, THEN 12" assault)
Jump Infantry (12" move, may run or assault, occasionally fleet)
Bikes (12" move, no run, may turbo-boost 18-24" w/ 3+ save, Relentless)
Jetbikes (FLYING bikes. May go over terrain.)

Cavalry is about as fast as it gets for assaulters. Bikes are noteworthy for increasing toughness as well; a marine biker is T4(5); which means they have T5 but are treated as T4 for purposes of instant death.

Infantry and Weapons
Shooting attacks tend to break down into one of three categories: rapid-fire, assault, or heavy.

Rapid-fire weapons are the standard-issue infantry firearm. You stand still and fire a shot at maximum range (usually 24"), or fire two shots at 12". Note that you may move and shoot at 12", but this denies you the assault, and usually leaves you in assault range of your target. Rapid-fire offers options in shooting, but you must think about whether or not you want to be closer to the target. Sometimes, it's smarter to get in and shoot the enemy, as you can hit him before he assaults you.

Assault weapons may fire if you move, and do not impact your ability to launch an assault. They tend to be shorter-ranged, and have a decent volume of fire. Most 'special weapon' options tend to be assault, and sometimes they mesh well with rapid-fire guns.

Heavy weapons tend to have high-strength, long-ranged shots. Moving denies them the ability to fire, as they require bracing or some such. I mean, it's usually a big gun. Most squads can take a single heavy weapon, and it tends to give a bunch of guys with rapid-fire guns some extra utility.

Some infantry units are one-dimensional in this regard (IE: Dire Avengers all have the same assault weapon; Assault Marines have jump packs, pistols, and close combat weapons) and are simpler. Others, like an IG platoon or Marine Tactical Squad, have a mix of weapon types and thus more options.

Infantry and Assault
All infantry can engage and be locked in assault, by definition. Some are specialists, and capable of clearing out large chunks of enemy troopers (and/or vehicles) in short order, and some get cleared out. Assault is also a good way of keeping infantry from moving and/or shooting.

Artillery
This is a rare, bizarre hybrid unit; it contains regular foot infantry and artillery pieces. The big difference is that hits get randomized between crew and gun. Guns are AV10 vehicles that die to any damage result, and of course loss of all guns or all crew renders the unit incapable of being artillery.
Monstrous Creatures
It's essentially a biological tank. T5-6 is normal, and some get as high as T8. They move like foot infantry, except they can always shoot two weapons. They assault like foot infantry, but their basic attacks ignore armor saves, and they roll 2d6 for armor penetration.

MCs come in two basic flavors: shooty, and assaulty.

Check to see if you have wings or otherwise count as jump infantry. If you answered yes, you are assaulty. If not, you should probably consider shooty, because you are SLOW. Any way you cut it, though, Monstrous Creatures are durable targets; a single meltagun can wreck a vehicle but can only take a single wound off a monstrous creature.

Note that T7 MCs are immune to S3 attacks and below, and T8 MCs are immune to S4 and below attacks. Carnifexes are about the only T7 MC, and only Wraithlords and C'tan have T8. Of course, this toughness means nothing if they run up against poison weapons. (Hey, it's something a Plaguebearer squad can seriously threaten!)

Types of Foot Builds
At the core, there are two types of foot builds: assault, and shooty. Since your mobility is limited, you basically choose either swift units or lots and lots of guns, with a nominal attempt to go claim objectives (or just shoot people off them).

Assaulty foot armies usually revolve around beasts/cavalry, or jump troops. Chaos Daemons can field six beast units, and Space Wolves can field a hefty amount of Thunderwolf Cavalry, for example. The Blood Angels do the massed jump packs, as they can take jump troops as basic troops.

The prime candidates for shooty foot armies would be Tau and IG. They bring lots of long-range guns, and pound you until you just can't resist any more, or hold objectives. Terminator-Heavy armies (IE: Space Wolves, Black Templar, Dark Angels) field a crap-ton of 2+/5+ save guys with guns and powerfists that walk at you menacingly.

Biker armies are a bit of a hybrid; and there are three codices that come to mind that can even do much of a biker army. Orks can take Nob Bikers and/or Warbikers as troops, but suffer from morale issues and problems killing tanks. Space Marines can take melta weapons on bikes and uber-cutty command squads. Eldar can take Guardian Jetbikes (kind of Blah) and jetbike Seer Councils (face TWO and you'll probably make a point of requesting to never play that army for fun again).

Monstrous creature armies are...eh. Only Tyranids can field enough MCs to make them the core of an army (that number is 8, btw). Eldar can field 4, and Chaos Daemons can drop 5. To really make that army type work, though, you need good guns on them, or speed. Chaos Daemons can do the speed, but not the numbers. Nids can do the numbers, but not the guns or speed. Eldar...can't do numbers OR really guns.

Hybrid Armies
Here, I'm using 'hybrid' as a 'mix of foot and mechanized elements.' Why hybrid? If you're familiar with corporate strategy, you know it's either low-cost (IE: Wal-Mart) OR differentiation (IE: Apple). Well, in 40k, you can split the difference. Here are some benefits.

1) Mobility of Vehicles
You want to get places? Mount up.

2) Infantry as Objective-Sitters
If you can deploy on an objective, you might as well set up a heavy weapon, benefit from cover, and dare the enemy to dislodge you.

3) Cost of Heavy Weapons
Oftentimes, vehicles can get heavy weapons cheaper. Compare the Predator to the Devastator squad. 85 points gets you two heavy bolters and an autocannon, or 90 points gets you 5 marines with bolters. By the time you've bought four heavy weapons and pumped the squad size up, you're easily pushing 200 points, which is 2-3 predators right there. More targets, more guns, and less cost. And, they can at least move a little and shoot if necessary. Depends on your codex, honestly.

4) Availability of Options.
Playing IG and want that battle cannon? Gotta get a Russ. Playing Tau and want your plasma? Get an XV-8. Your codex mileage may vary on this one.

5) Protective Layer For Vehicles
So, you brought some largely-static vehicles, or some that'll just be shuffling around your backfield at best. Grab a cheap light infantry squad. Deploy them in front of your vehicles. Now, the enemy has to go through them to assault/get to melta range. Sure, most enemies can. I mean, kroot and guardsmen are only so durable. But, if there are guardsmen standing 6" away from that Russ, I can't very well immediately drop into meltagun sweet spot range, can I? Nor can I assault a stationary vehicle.

It's why Kroot are your buddy with hybrid Tau.

Conclusion
What is best in life* - I mean this article, Raptor? I have the answer for you:

It Depends.

It depends on your codex, and what it can do. Good luck even playing MC-heavy with guard, or tank-heavy with 'nids. Not everyone can bring enough guns to play a long-range gunline. You're going to have to look at your own codex, and experiment.

*to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women. That is good. In a pinch, cheap whiskey is a substitute if you have enough.

What Does Winning a Tournament Mean?

I'll touch base on part two of the promised basic strategy article, though this kind of popped out between work and studying for that take-home test this weekend.

What does winning a tournament mean?

Some folks say it means nothing. Some folks say it means they've earned credibility simply by winning. Some folks will tell you that since you HAVEN'T won a tournament, you should shut up because you've produced no results.

So, Winning That Tournament
Warning: Some Scientific Stuff Ahead

By 'science' I mean I'm dragging the scientific method (kicking, and screaming through a gag and straight jacket) into this realm.

Consider tournaments like a test in school. Does passing a test mean you are smart? It could. So, you take a test. You get a passing grade. What's that mean? Maybe you've studied hard, done well all semester, and earned it. Maybe you crammed, which is a sub-par learning strategy but may still get you that grade.

What if you didn't do well? Maybe you're a diligent student who studies and works hard, but you had a pet die, you had a nasty breakup the night before the test, or something else. Then again, maybe you're a slacker who doesn't study.

Where am I going with this school analogy? There are multiple paths to a passing (or failing) grade. Similarly, Winning a Tournament May Be A Result Of Different Factors.

On to science, then, since I promised it. If we want to make heads or tails out of something from a scientific standpoint, we're going to do our best to control all the inputs. So, if I'm going to get a statistically significant sample* for my study, I'm going to go through the trouble of making sure they take the test with the same conditions; IE no distractions, no extraneous interference (unless I've carefully controlled for it), and so on.

In other words, I'm making sure that none of the random crap is clouding what I'm really trying to find with my study. Mmm, fond memories of spending 20-30 hours a week researching crap for my useless degree.

In 40k, I can reduce the factors of the game to six things, with three for either player:

1) The General's Decisions In The Game
2) The General's Army List
3) The General's Dice

Any combination of these may contribute to your win or loss. If all the dice are average, then they are not a factor, and it's down to the players. Let's all enjoy a laugh as we talk about dice performaing average, and watch Raptor's next game feature dice that are wildly horrible.

There are also factors beyond the player's control, at times:

4) The Scenario
5) The Terrain

These may or may not provide an undue advantage to one side.

Warhammer Is Not Science
Warhammer 40,000 does not obey the laws of science. Similarly, neither do the tournaments. If you are honest with yourself, you will see this.

Let's say that every person who plays Warhammer 40,000 is the population of Warhammer 40k. Well, the whole population probably doesn't play in tournaments.

What's it take to get into a tournament?
Nominally, a sign-up fee, an army, and time.
An army can range from like $800-900 bucks (Don't believe me? Check some math)
Of course, an army can also be around $200 (Also, check the math)

The money's largely academic, since it's kind of the entry fee into the population. So, then, you need like $15-25 and an afternoon off. This isn't a big limit, but it still is a limit; some folks just can't get that specific day off from work/family/the spouse.

So, you lose a few, but you might have a decent local turnout. So, if you win a local tournament, you've proven your ability to beat the locals that showed up on the given day.

Let's say it's out of town.
We're adding transit time and costs to the tournament at a minimum. Now, you're really eating the day up (figure 7-8 hours for the tournament, and maybe a couple hours of driving to be 'out of town'). Ok, gas isn't that bad.

Still, it's your ability to beat the players in that locale, plus anyone that heard about it and showed up.

Let's make it waaaay out of town
So, let's consider a tournament you'd have to drive 5-6 hours and stay overnight. Now we're taking up 2-3 days, and spending a night or two in a hotel. If you work an hourly job, you may incur additional costs in the form of hours off. Or, you might simply be taking time off.

You've also added a few hundred bucks to the entry fee, as you have to eat, drive, and sleep in a hotel for a night or two.

Distance means...
More barriers to entry. Personally, I'm willing to go some distance to play in a tournament; I participated in the Big Waagh! last year. This year, though, the economy hit and I had no job, so the entry fee + gas + hotel put it squarely out of my reach.

I'm not looking for sympathy; I'm just stating facts and pointing out that there ARE barriers to tournaments.

Time means...
More barriers to entry. It's an opportunity cost; you could've done something else that day. Me, if it's a day with the crazy relatives, that's an opportunity cost I'd happily pay. On the other hand, let's say you'd normally be working 3:30-10:30 on a Saturday and making $10 an hour. Not only are you spending time and money to go to the tournament, but you're skipping out on $70 in wages.

...where are you going with this, Raptor?
All I'm trying to say is that you need to consider the external factors before you make much ado about a tournament victory.

Not everyone came. Not everyone had equal dice luck. Not everyone has skill. 'Soft' scores like comp may play a factor**. Scenarios may or may not be a factor. Matchups may or may not be a factor.

Before you make much (or little) of your wins, consider what went into them. I will always congratulate a tournament winner because if nothing else, they won that day and there is some element of an endurance test to them by their nature (and by the fact we tend to play 2.5 hour rounds...).

But please, think a little bit before you consider winning a tournament anything but winning a tournament. If someone tries to tell you to shut your mouth simply because you haven't won a tournament...tell them to address the actual point you're addressing.

Don't mistake this for an attack on tournaments; I'm just attempting to offer some perspective to things.

*I think 30's the minimum, if my memory from stats class serves. Sampling is something I'm not going to discuss here, but suffice it to say that a sample truly representative of a population is the result of some careful procedures. The sampling that builds your tournament set bears no real or implied resemblence to sound statistical/scientific procedures.

**While they shouldn't, they still can. Some sportsmanship ranking systems are a fine incentive to screw over the guy who stomped you. Paint scores are somewhat subjective. Theme scores are hellishly subjective. Then again, you might get a genuinely pleasant set of opponents, and we tend not to remember those in favor of the samples of carbon-based waste that ruin the game for us. So it is to be human and have a memory.

Basics on Strategy, Goals, and Build Types, Part 1

This is meant to be a basic orientation towards your goal, winning, in 40k, and your execution. You can find part 2 here.

The Goal
The scenario sets forth the goals. There are two goals: capture objectives, and kill the enemy. Objective games may use kills to determine a tie-breaker, and you'll usually be doing some killing of the enemy if for no reason other than it makes it harder for him to win. (That it's fun is a close second).

So, we need guns, and we need the ability to move to objectives, and the ability to deny the enemy objectives by contesting with swift units, or simply killing/running off whatever's close to the objectives. We should also probably hold our own objective.

Strategy
Strategy is the way you've chosen to go about your goal. A good strategy is broad, but still limits our options and allows us to focus on the means of achieving your goal by telling you what you're putting in your army. Your choice of strategy will also dictate your codex, as not all strategies are open to all codices. At the very least, different codices will have different takes on a given build/strategy.

Builds
There are three very basic divisions of a build:

1) Mechanized
2) Foot
3) Hybrid mech/foot.

Mechanized means tanks and transports are in the army. Vehicles are durable, can block LOS, mobile, and require heavier weapons to destroy. Foot armies leave vehicles at home in favor of taking lots of infantry. Hybrid armies are, well, a mix.

Mechanized
Mechanized builds in general have an advantage in mobility. The slowest transport vehicle tops out at 12" a turn, whereas infantry must move 6" + d6, and slower if in terrain. Vehicles can simply make better time across the field, so there is more time to get to objectives, and it is easier to put firepower where you need it when you need it there.

Mechanized builds also derive durability from the fact that vehicles are generally impervious to small arms; you need heavy weapons (and often a heap) to kill them. Or, you must deliver AP1 weapons to the target, which is not necessarily easy.

Vehicles may move and fire heavy weapons. Some are at their best just standing still and firing, others can move and fire with varying degrees of success. Comparatively, infantry tends to have shorter-ranged weapons and cannot fire heavy weapons while moving (...with some exceptions). Transports, though, can get infantry into weapons range faster and with less exposure to anti-infantry weapons. (As a bonus, anti-infantry weapons tend NOT to be so useful against vehicles).

Vehicles come in three basic flavors: light, medium, and heavy. Walkers are a subset of mech that tend to be on the light/medium side.

As you go up in size, you tend to come down in numbers. Armies are, of course, often free to mix weight types, but a focus on one specific type may be advantageous (or it may not).

Light Mech
Light mech refers to AV10/11ish vehicles. Usually, these are lighter transports, sometimes with guns. Light, fast skimmer tanks fall in this category as well.

The survivability of light mech comes from the fact they're usually cheap; Rhinos cost 35 points in the latest marine codices. When taken en masse, such as a nasty army like the Immolator-Heavy Sisters of Battle...it can be a daunting task to kill them all. Same goes for Mech Dark Eldar (though it knows no forgiveness as an army). Light mech provides no lynchpin unit; light mech elements can be cheap, effective, and numerous.

Samples of Light Mech vehicles:
Rhinos
Chimeras
Land Speeders
Vypers
Whirlwinds
Raiders
Trukks
Piranhas
Penitent Engines

If it's a transport, even if there are guns on it bear in mind that it needs to be filled with decent infantry. Most of the light skimmers that are fast gun platforms either sit at range and get overlooked because there are bigger fish, or are meant to run up into the enemy's face, discharge short-range weapons, and draw fire 'til they explode violently.

Running lots of light mech has the added benefit of giving your enemy no real 'lynchpin' unit to target.

Medium Mech
Perhaps the best example of medium mech is the Eldar codex; all its tanks are 12/12/10. Medium mech bridges the cost gap, and is a bit more durable.

Medium mech includes, but is not limited to:
Eldar Grav Tanks
IG Hellhound variants
Marine Dreadnoughts
Defilers
Devilfish
Predators

Basically, it's a middle-of-the-road choice. Sometimes it takes the form of well-armed transports like Wave Serpents, Falcons, or Devilfish. Other times, it's simply a medium-weight, medium cost weapons platform like a Hellhound or Dreadnought.

Most of the time, there are lots of options for what kind of shooting role medium-weight mech can fulfill. There's an entire codex (Eldar) built around medium mech, though it makes up for the armor value by giving the tanks additional durability enhancers.

Heavy Mech
Heavy Mech is the realm of AV14. The advantage of heavy mech is that they require very specialist kit, like melta weapons in melta range, to readily kill. The downside is that heavy mech is usually costly; the cheapest it gets is probably the Leman Russ at 150 points base. On the table, heavy mech is big, tough, and has big guns.

Samples include:
Land Raiders
Leman Russ Battle Tanks
Hammerheads

Land Raiders are notable in that they are also transports, and usually contain a very nasty assault unit. The rest of the heavy mech units are just large gun platforms. Not everyone gets access to Heavy Mech, but heavy mech can also suck down a lot of points, and going too much into heavy mech can dilute your force if the other guy has some specialist kit. It is possible to bring 3-4 Land Raiders, troops, and call it an army. However, if the other guy has sacrifical melta troops, then he can kill large chunks of your army (...the Land Raiders) and strand their contents.

Walkers
Walkers are a subset of vehicles. They move like infantry, but take damage like vehicles. In assault, they fight like infantry, and only take hits on the front. They can also move and fire everything, unlike vehicles. Walkers can come in all the weights, but are mostly medium-weight. They can also be geared for shooting or assault, or be capable at both.

IG Sentinels and Penitent Engines are samples of light walkers; they're AV10 open-topped, but are cheap and can be taken in squads. Sentinels can sit back and fire, whereas Penitent Engines run hell-bent-for-leather at the enemy.

Dreadnoughts can be geared for assault with S10 power weapons, and usually have some kind of shooting capability as well. If they can GET to assault, they can deal great damage and require specialist melee kit to kill.

On Mech In General
To sum it up, on mechanization:
1) Mech provides mobility
2) Transports shield your troops from small arms
3) Mech comes in 3 basic 'weights'; you pay more for durability and guns and thus get fewer vehicles on the field. It's a continuum.

Next...I'll cover the basic flavors of foot, talk a little about Hybrid, and add a conclusion.

I'm cutting it up into two articles to see if I can avoid crit-hitting folks with a wall o' text. I'd like feedback on that, as well.

40k, Mindset, and You

From time to time, I see folks throw the terms 'fun' and 'competitive' around like they're mutually exclusive concepts, but 'competitive' and 'win at all costs' seem to be the same thing. Usually, WAAC is leveled by folks who thing fun =/= competitive, and it's used as a mark of shame. (Just ask the Arbiter what branding and the mark of shame are like. Go on.)

Personally?

I think that distinction of 'Fun' or 'Competitive' is a false divide. I am going to go ahead and cite some influence from Sirlin, who I highly recommend as reading. I'm also going to say I think there's room in this hobby for playing for fun, and having fun competing, but not WAAC. I think it gets down to the people.

Defining Some Terms
I intend to use 'playing for fun', 'competitive' and 'Win At All Costs' (WAAC), but I'm going to offer some alternative definitions.

Common use of 'Playing for fun'
I'm under the impression that most people who 'play for fun' take stuff they thing looks neat, or otherwise pick armies that suit your fancy. In a sense, 'for fun' is playing with self-imposed limits that are more important than winng.

And you know what?
In a sense, that's healthy. Winning isn't everything. On the other hand...

Winning is a worthy goal, and honestly, if you're gaming? It should be a goal. I mean, if you're going to play the game, aren't you by definition trying to kill the other guy and take his stuff? I mean, on the table, at least.

And, to be honest, isn't winning usually fun? And if it wasn't, was it due to the person across the table? On the other hand, you should be able to deal with losing gracefully.

Common use of 'Competitive' and/or WAAC
People seem to use 'competitive' one of two ways. Those that impose voluntary limits on what they bring are probably going to call you 'competitive' if you bring the supposedly 'harder' units. By contrast, a so-called competitive or WAAC player supposedly ONLY plays to win, and is dissatisfied by anything less.

As such, they are more likely to bring units that the 'for fun' folks will frown on. If they win against the 'for fun' folks, then it's either twice the affront (you played the game 'wrong' AND you won) or they write it off because you did it wrong.

In Other Words...
You didn't play the game someone thinks it ought to be played. That really sums it up for both sides; some folks in either camp think they've got the "One True Way." I doubt either supposed side could come to a consensus on exactly what their side is about anyway.

What We're Really All Talking About...
We're really talking about how people think about the game. At the end of the day, this is a game played by two or more people, and it's a test of your ability to get along with someone. It's also a test of yourself.

You should ask yourself...
1) Can you win gracefully?
Seriously? Can you? You may have monkey-stomped someone. Or, you might have had good dice luck, their bad luck, and any number of things. Gloating is a sure-fire way to make an ass out of yourself. Congratulate the other guy on a well-played game, or commisserate with them on craptastic dice luck. If they ask for pointers? Oblige them, but do so tactfully.

2) Can you lose gracefully?
Throwing a hissy fit is...not losing gracefully. Shrug it off. At the end of the day, it's toy soldiers, and it's not going to impact your self-worth, job, or anything else of importance. Congratulate the other guy on a win.

3) Can you be honest with yourself?
I think THIS is the biggest challenge of all. PIck apart the game, and ask why it went the way it did. Sometimes you make mistakes, sometimes they do. Sometimes the dice are the dice, and they have an undue influence. Can't win if you can't roll over a '1', can you?

4) Sense of humor, being philosophical, what-have-you.
It's life. Stuff happens. Deal with it. Usually, this is a social game we arrange, so we've a choice who we play with. Those people that are sketchy to play with? They tend not to get a lot of games. In tournaments, we don't always get the choice. Just remember that this too shall pass.

5) Are you willing to learn?
This'll be what'll help you improve your game. There is nothing wrong with improving your game.

If you can do these things, you will be fine as a player.

The Real WAAC
The real, ultimate Win At All Costs literally tries to win at all costs. We're talking a mindset willing to go out of the game's rules. They may cheat, but it's not a given. This is the mindset that's fine with being a jerk, and engaging in any kind of unpleasantness. I have heard tell of someone being enough of a jerk at a tournament that his opponent simply offered to concede because of it, and the opponent started filling in their score.

If this is you? You're doing it wrong.

Bottom Line?
Just freaking be a pleasant person to play. I guarantee you that regardless of your mindset, if two decent people get together to play a game, they'll probably enjoy it. I don't think you can realistically break it down to a simple 'Fun OR compete', as it's ultimately a game set in a rich universe, and it's on the player to decide what they want out of it.

Ask yourself if you can do some of these basic things, and exactly why you'd not like to play against something. Maybe you're not taking the counter. Or, sometimes, honestly, it's in the codex design. At the end of the day, though, it's up to the player to decide what and how much they want out of the universe. Personally, though, I think that either extreme (playing ONLY what looks neato, and playing ONLY what you think will win) means missing out on some of the hobby.

Basics in List-Building: Capabilities

Now, at the core you're trying to win your games of 40k. There are three basic mission types; two involve claiming objectives and the last involves simply killing the other guy.

1) Capture and Control
Two objectives. This is essentially 'capture the flag,' as objectives are placed after deployment is determined.
2) Seize Ground
2 + d3 objectives, or 3-5 objectives. We call this the 'objective mission', and it's not guaranteed that there will be objectives in your deployment zone.
3) Annihilation
Kill the other guy. This is the 'kill points' scenario, or if you're willing to look into a more balanced system, Victory Points.

Addendum: in case of a tie on objectives, annihilation provides the 'moral' victor.

So, what does this mean to you? Your army must be able to controlling objectives and blow things up, and do both of those reliably.

Controlling Objectives
As objective missions work, you need only control more objectives than your opponent at the end of the game to win. Let's take a look and see what this means, because there's more than one way to pull this off.

Controlling Objectives
If you want an objective to be 'yours', you must have a Troop unit within 3" of the objective marker, and no enemy units in that area. Good news: troops are compulsory. Better news: troops can often take transports, and if the transport is within 3" of the objective, you're claiming the objective.

When claiming objectives with troops and you do not have the bottom of the turn, it's advisable to put the exit near the objective, so you can at least disembark and still be within that crucial 3" zone.

Troops and Controlling Objectives
You are required to pack two troops units into your army. What is the 'right' number of troops? To be honest, this question depends from codex to codex. Some codices have some very nasty troops (IE: Chaos' cult troops, Imperial Guard vets w/ meltas in Chimeras...) and some do not. At a minimum, though, once you hit 1500 take at least 3 scoring choices. I say 'scoring' because some troops choices are swarms, and as such cannot score. (IE: Nurglings, Ripper Swarms).

In truth, the '3' is a suggestion, and depends on the durability and mobility of your troops. Durability comes in the form of numbers (...a 30-40 man Combined Infantry Squad of guard with a Commissar can survive a lot solely by having a crap-ton of wounds and Stubborn Ld 9), special abilities and/or above average stat-lines (Plague Marines are T5 with a 3+ armor save and Feel No Pain; Wraithguard as troops are 10 guys at T6 with 3+ saves...). Mobility for troops usually comes from being mounted in a transport, but may also be simulated via Deep Striking (for daemons, or with Drop Pods). Note that there's a difference between being in a transport, and being mounted in single-shot deep-striking deployment; the latter is only 'mobile' until it's used.

Should someone skimp on troops, then killing all their troops is a legitimate strategy. You cannot control objectives without troops. Losing all your troops means you're playing for a draw, 2/3 of the time.

Objective Denial
The other side of the 'objective' coin is to deny the enemy the ability to put troops on the objective. Obviously, dead troops don't hold an objective (well, if it's a small objective, you might have to pry it from their rapidly-cooling hands...). You deny objectives by putting a 'contesting' unit on it. This unit can be anything from another troop unit to something as annoying as an empty Rhino transport.

What does this mean to you? Nothing in your army that can move is useless. So, maybe they nuked the tactical squad that came out of the Rhino. But, you can still move that Rhino near the objective. Something like Terminators sitting on an objective may not claim it, but they will be difficult to shift off it.

Additionally, there's a time sense to claiming objectives. Until turn 5-7, it does not matter who is on what objective. If you can put something on objectives the enemy does or might control by this time, you can force them to change plans accordingly. Fast contesting units are not vital (and indeed, not everyone has access to them) but you can still do this. I keep using Rhinos as examples because once a Rhino is empty, it's usually less a priority.

Mobility and Objectives
Ok. First off, get mobility in your army. Not all armies are equally mobile (IE: Eldar have Fast Skimmer Tanks. Marines...have regular transports. Guard? Have transports that move even less, and then shoot). Doesn't matter. You need a way to get your troops to any objectives on the field, and you cannot rely on always having objectives in your end.

In other words, mount up! Even if you get one turn of movement out of a regular transport, your troops still got 12" of movement, and had to be shot out of their transport. Every turn troops are in transports is a turn small arms and other troop-killing weapons aren't killing them.

Mobility also plays into objective denial. If it's bottom of the 5th turn or later (or, if you know the turn is the last, like turn 7, or there's a time limit in the tournament) then plan accordingly. Make the enemy shoot something off his objective. For example, in the 5th (and lucikly, last) turn of one of the games I played, I threw Fire Dragons at the Guard player. Their Wave Serpent ended up within 3" of his objective, and the Dragons nuked a Leman Russ. My opponent had no choice but to try to kill the Wave Serpent, as it meant he was no longer in control of his 'home' objective. If you want someone to talk more at length about this, go check out Fritz if you haven't already.

Objectives Basics Summaries
-Keep your troops alive; 3+ choices at 1,500pts or above
-Troops claim objectives, but anyone can deny them
-Have the means to move troops to objectives (BRING TRANSPORTS)

The Business of Destroying the Other Guy
Blowing up the other guy is the primary objective only 1/3 of the time, but it's always part of the game. After all, he needs troops alive to hold objectives, and the opponent generally wants to keep you from doing the same.

There are three basic types of units out there: Infantry, Vehicles, and Monstrous Creatures. Infantry claim objectives, vehicles kill things and move objectives, and monstrous creatures tend to stomp around and wreck things. MCs are basically wound-based walkers, when you get down to it.

Killing Infantry
Your list just needs to be able to kill infantry. You will always face enemy infantry. So, what kills infantry?

-Small Arms
Just about every last basic trooper has a shooting attack. Space marines, for example, carry bolters. A full tactical squad can crank out a decent number of shots. Eldar Dire Avengers carry Shuriken Catapults, and fire at enemy troops. Pretty much every troops selection in the game has some kind of firearm (outside of most Daemons and Tyranids). With small arms, though, you need quantity to really see results, as people tend to be in cover.

Cover means everyone gets at least a 4+ save, you're checking to hit, you're checking to wound, and then they're taking saves. If you can deny the other guy cover and beat his armor save, you're in good shape. If it's something like marines or someone else with a 3+ save, then at least using something like plasma downgrades their save to a 4+. It helps, but you should ask yourself if it's worth the cost or if you have other options available.

Bottom of the line? Small arms tend not to have great range. You will need to get close to use them, or the enemy comes to you.

-Template Weapons
NOW we're cooking with napalm (or alien equivalents). Cover keeps troops alive. Flamers negate cover. Flamers ignore your ballistic skill, and just need to get close. It's pretty much essential to bring them on mobile platforms, like speeders or out the back of transports.

Why template weapons, though? The basic Flamer is S4, AP5. Lightly armored troops like Guardsmen and Guardians and Orks die when wounded by this, because they get no save. Pretty sweet, isn't it?

Heavy flamers make it better. On a 2+, 99.9% of non-Marines simply DIE when under a heavy flamer template. S5 AP4 does that. There are some non-marines out there with 3+ saves (Eldar Scorpions and Spiders, for example) but not many.

-Heavy Weapons, Blast Weapons
Some heavy weapons can pull this trick off. High-rate-of-fire weapons like Heavy Bolters and Autocannons can heap wounds onto infantry more reliably than small arms, by virtue of higher strength. Missile launchers and other blast weapons can do this in a pinch, but cover and a good spread on infantry units mitigate the damage. Tools like GF9's TAC Template are amazing aids for this. What's that mean to you? Blast weapons CAN work and don't rely as much on ballistic skill, but their damage can be minimized. (Considering that the TAC template costs like $6, you should seriously go out and get one. Just do it, it's amazing what help it is vs. blast weapons and the like)

-ASSAULT!
Troops also tend to die when hit with melee weapons. Note that assault is heavily dependent on the unit. Not all codices have access to decent assault units (IE: Tau, Guard...). In this case...you don't assault. But, some assault units (IE: Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield termies) are worth it for their sheer lethality. Assault is also a mop-up option; if neither of you are assaulty choices and you can hit a weakened unit with a charge, it might be worth it.

The problem with assault? If you do it too well, you end up out in the open on the next turn, and the enemy can simply shoot you to death. It can and will happen if you are not careful. Some units are more resistant to this subsequent shoot-to-death 'fest, like Hammer/shield termies with a 2+ armor save and 3+ invulnerable, or 3+/4+ with re-rolls on a Seer Council (who will first crank out lots of heavy flamer attacks, THEN assault you to clean you up.)

Killing Vehicles and Monstrous Creatures
I'm lumping these two together becuase for the most part, the same thing kills them: high-strength shots (with good AP against Monstrous Creatures).

-AP1 Weaponry
AP1 gives you a crucial +1 bonus when rolling damage results. The average penetrating hit will annoy (shake or stun) a vehicle 33% of the time, knock off a weapon/immobilize it 33% of the time, and kill it 33% of the time. Melta weapons shift this to 'annoy 16% of the time, damage 33% of the time, kill 50% of the time.' Bottom of the line? AP1 is highly useful. However, it tends to come with the 'melta' special rule...

-Melta weaponry
Melta is almost always combined with AP1, though some AP1 weapons are not melta (IE: Tau Rail Guns). Melta means that within 1/2 range (6" for meltaguns, 12" for multi-meltas) each hit gets +2d6 penetration instead of +1d6. Most melta weapons are strength 8, and 2d6 averages 7, so on average a melta hit will penetrate a vehicle. On average.

Melta weaponry MUST be combined with mobility to be of any use. It's not very hard to dance out of 6" range when the other guy is walking 6" a turn.

-Ordnance Weaponry
Ordnance rolls 2d6 and takes the higher roll when penetrating vehicles. As such, ordnance is a legitimate threat to armor. Higher strength is always better, as a Demolisher Cannon (S10) will crack armor more reliably than a Battle Cannon (S8). If you want a rubric of the odds, check out Jabberjabber's table. Sadly, ordnance weapons are seldom combined with AP1. They are also Blast weapons, and as such may scatter off the target. If the center dot isn't on the target, then it's no good: you only get half-strength. Additionally, some models like Dreadnoughts and Killa Kanz have a small area to land the center-dot on.

-S8-9 weapons
These usually include missile launchers and lascannons. For the most part, these tend to not come in sufficient volume to do damage to armor when needed. They penetrate light and medium-weight armor (AV10-12) well enough, but cannot usually bring enough shots to reliably kill AV14, and sometimes 13. The Imperial Guard Vendetta, with its 3 twin-linked BS3 Lascannons, is a notable exception. Ultimately, though, killing AV14 is pretty much the province of the melta weapon, as it penetrates more reliably.

-S6-7 Weapons
These guys occupy a special niche: they often come with a decent rate of fire and long range. The typical example is the autocannon (S7, AP4, Heavy 2, 48" range), and the Scatter Laser (4 shots, S6, AP6, 36" range). They are not superb at killing armor (that's the melta weapon for you), but generally have the right combination of range, strength, and rate of fire to kill transports. They are by no means a substitute for melta weaponry, but rather a compliment for knocking transports and light tanks down. S6 often comes in greater rates of fire than 7, but it's a matter of what your army can get.

-S5 or lower weapons
These are still strong enough to wound monstrous creatures reliably, but are not exactly top-tier anti-tank weapons. S5 is still sufficient to take out AV10, but requires luck. S4 troop guns can theoretically glance AV10, but this is not exactly the most efficient use of them.

-Assaulting Vehicles
Assault is an option for killing vehicles. Most vehicles have AV10 on the rear armor, which means offensive grenades (IE: Frag Grenades) can damage them, as can some infantry. Any infantry unit with Krak Grenades or a powerfist can likewise harm them, and Dreadnoughts (and other walkers, and monstrous creatures) more or less automatically penetrate them. Vehicles defend against this by postioning themsleves so as not to get assaulted readily, or by moving and thus reducing the chance to hit. You hit automatically if they are stationery or immobilized, on a 4+ if it's a 6" move (or Combat Speed), and on a 6+ if they moved at a higher speed.

Assaulting Dreadnoughts and other walkers is generally inadvisable, as they are difficult to damage with just one powerfist. Grenades need 6's to hit unless the walker is immobilized. Killing Dreadnoughts in melee requires specialist kit; you need to hit them multiple times at high strength. Something like Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield terminators (with massed S8 thunder hammers) can do it, as can Eldar Seer Councils (everyone there has a Witchblade, which hits vehicles at S9). Large squads of marines with powerfists might be able to do the trick, but at a cost to themselves, since they're looking at usually 2 powerfists attacks, one hit, and then a 33% chance of penetrating the AV12 walker.

This is different for something like a Sentinel or War Walker or other AV10 non-melee walker. They are not nearly the same threat, with usually a single attack that does not ignore armor saves. These units can, in a pinch, bog you down, but not necessarily kill you.

-Addendum for Monstrous Creatures
Most monstrous creatures have a Toughness of 6, four wounds and a 3+ armor save. Accordingly, you care about AP enough to bring something AP3 or better. Monstrous creatures are actually more durable against melta weapons than vehicles, since a hit from a meltagun can pop a vehicle, but might only wound the monster. Generally, though, the same things that can kill vehicles can reliably wound monstrous creatures. Powerfists and other high-strength and/or armor-ignoring melee attacks can work on them, though bear in mind the close combat attacks of monstrous creatures ignore armor saves.

Reliability
This gets into list-building more directly. So, we know we need to be able to move towards objectives, and we need to bring weapons to harm any potential threat on the board. What does this mean to you?

Redundancy

What's redundancy? Bring multiples. If you have one troop unit mounted in a rhino, and that's your attempt to claim any objective you can't deploy on or walk to quickly? I blow it up, and you're in trouble. If you brought one meltagun and I have three Land Raiders? You're screwed. Some people consider redundancy 'boring', but to be honest, effectiveness needs redundancy. The enemy should not be able to kill one unit and necessarily eliminate your entire capability for doing something. Bring multiple flamers, bring multiple meltaguns, bring multiple transports!

Bring Multiples!

It's a little secret to having an effective army list. Bring several selections capable of laying down long-range fire. Bring a couple ways of killing tanks, bring a couple units that can kill infantry, bring some units that can contest late-game.

Sounds like a lot of units, doesn't it? It doesn't have to be. There's another important concept:

Duality

Not every army does this; case in point my beloved Eldar. Dire avengers will only ever effectively shoot enemy infantry. However, for the Eldar? Dire Avengers can take a Wave Serpent, and suddenly this troop configuration can: move 12" a turn and fire weapons. My Wave Serpent packs a Bright Lance, giving it a decent heavy anti-tank punch at range. It packs a shuriken cannon, and being a Fast vehicle it can move 6" and fire both guns to be able to harass lighter armor, monstrous creatures, and even infantry. It's just a versatile unit.

Other examples of duality include...
-10-man Tactical Marine squad w/ Flamer, multi-melta, Rhino (205 points)
It can shoot up infantry with bolters and the flamer. It can threaten heavier armor with the multi-melta. With the rhino, it can fire the multi-melta out of the fire point. It can move, it can block LOS with the rhino chassis, it can score with the marines and the empty rhino can contest.

-10-man Imperial Guard vet squad w/ 3 meltaguns; Chimera w/ Multi-Laser/Heavy Flamer
Net cost? 155 points. The vets within are consummate armor-killers. The Chimera protects them, grants them mobility, and provides long-range harassing fire and short-range infantry-killing power.

-Multi-melta/Heavy Flamer Space Marine Land Speeder
Need to cook troops? Heavy flamer. Need to kill armor? Multi-melta. It has the speed to put its short-range weapons to work.

-Marine Predator w/ Heavy Bolters/Autocannon, or Eldar Falcon w/ Pulse Laser, 2 Shuriken Cannons
Both of these are similar; they crank out a heap of shots to harm infantry at range, or fire the 'big gun' at armor. The Falcon has the added benefit of being able to shelter a small troops unit and sit on an objective.

The previous are just SOME examples. They're what I'm familiar with, but my point is that you can and ought to configure your units to have multiple capabilities.

Conclusions
Whew. That felt hefty, but let's condense it. When building a list, bases you should cover:
1) Mobility
Get troops and weapons where you need them
2) Firepower
Kill the other guy's troops, AND vehicles, and do it well
3) Objectives
Can you secure your own and deny the other guy theirs?
4) Redundancy
Do you have multiples for your stuff? More than one tank-killer, infantry killer, etc.
5) Duality
If your codex allows it, have you made your units as versatile as possible?