Criteria of Competitive

by Ishamael

Yay, near-alliteration!

So, one of the most interesting thought experiments we can engage in in our games is what criteria come together to make a thing competitive or not. So, let's talk some competitive in warhams. So, I'll toss out some criteria, and explain them:

Melta
A huge change from 4th to 5th came when GW created a use for AP 1 weaponry. Turned this weapon from being a decent anti-tank weapon to a required one for reliable tank-killing.

Mobility
This comes in the form of having plenty of troop-carrying vehicles around so you can get around the board enough to threaten objectives. Foot lists generally don't have this unless they have their own special form of mobility, like Templars.

Troops
They're worth taking if a 5th ed. book, because only they can capture objectives, and by and large they're also capable of dealing damage to enemies, as well as threatening tanks.

Target Saturation
So, we have this concept called Multiple Small Units (hence MSU) wherein a player spreads his threats out to where there are no linchpins in his army that would severely weaken it should a unit that costs a lot be lost. This also forces your opponent to worry about target priority depending on your deployment.

Support Fire
Pretty much every army needs support fire in some way. Gotta open transports to assault the juicy bits inside somehow. This is also where you place your longer range suppression units.

Movement Blocking
Most of the time we can see where an opponent is going, or will want to go. So, how do we deny him that? Well, stick an expendable unit or a vehicle in the way to deny him his prize for a turn.

Deep Strike Defense
This is something I need pictures to do, but essentially you define your deployment zone to do two things: make dangerous places for your opponent to deep strike, and also use your extra bodies to push out possible landing zones away. Decent use for combat squads against a full Drop Pod army. Albeit, in that case you will want to use your mechanized elements as well to push them back.

Field of Fire
When you deploy a unit, be sure to eyeball how much of the field it will actually be able to see before you finalize your zone.

Weight of Dice
All other things being equal, dice will determine the day. As such, when you really, really need something to die, regardless of how many wounds or what saves it has, force that unit to keep rolling dice, and hope for some fails. Primary anti-Terminator bugspray.

Given that these are just a few concepts to be aware of in this game, what else might we need to be aware of when building lists, considering deployment, or whatever while enjoying our games of Warhammer 40k?

PLASTIC TOY SOLDIERS <3, Ishamael