My Thoughts; Part 2: Redirecting chargers

[geoguswrek]

Redirecting charges is one of the most commonly used tricks in warhammer, it can be used in a multitude of ways many of which will be outlined below. The most important thing about redirecting a charge is application: knowing when to do it. The skills i am about to explain, while useful, should be applied intelligently: there is no point trying to redirect some archers like this and don't sacrifice a 400 point unit to set up a charge on a 200 point unit.

There are lots of reasons to redirect a charge: to protect something vulnerable (normally a warmachine or wizard), to set up a counter charge or to delay a unit from its real objective (say, to stop it threatening the flank of your infantry line), or to open up an area for attack. You should be aware of objective when doing these things, and use an appropriate method.

It is the options on method that this article will focus on. There are lots of different ways of doing this, but the ones i will focus on are: "the bait and flee", "the failed flee", "the suicide", "the block" and "the juicy target".

First of these is the "bait and flee", this is the most simple method of controlling your opponent, and is one most board members will be familiar with. the objective here is to put a unit within charge range of an enemy unit, and then use a flee reaction when charged. This means the enemy only moves his normal move value towards you, and in a direction of your choosing, buying you more time to shoot the enemy. This method should be combined, where possible, with march blocking. Put your units within 8" of the enemy, so that they want to charge them, to get rid of them so they can march but where charging will be a mistake. The main problem with this method is that it is difficult to make your opponent want to charge and thus it rarely works. There are however, methods with which this does work: using knights, you can threaten charges of your own, which your opponent wishes to prevent, so he will declare charges upon your knights, allowing you to flee and counter-charge. It also works well if you manage to threaten a charge on a vulnerable target, such as a warmachine, that will encourage your opponent to declare preventative charges.

The "juicy target" is a variation on a normal bait and flee, where the objective is to use a unit the opponent does not believe will flee, perhaps a unit with a character in or an expensive or large unit. This is more reliable, since it lets you set up counter charges pretty sure that the enemy will charge you. However, this is rarely a good idea, since you are risking an expensive or large unit to set up this charge, so it must be worth it (perhaps the unit contains their only magic defence and you have a magic heavy army).

The "failed flee" strays into a different territory, that of sacrifice: with the failed flee you place one of your units (often an eagle) infront of an enemy in such a way that they cannot go around you easily so they are forced to charge to get you out the way. You then flee, knowing you will almost certainly be caught and die, but knowing exactly which direction the enemy will have moved (it is important to think about this when setting this up) and exactly how far. This is very useful for setting up flank charges, since you know where the enemy will be and is useful for protecting shooters, since you control the direction the enemy will move in (away from your shooters). Remember here that you are deliberately losing a unit, so the sacrifice must be worth it.

The "suicide" is similar to the "failed flee" except here you will stand instead of fleeing, this opens up a lot more angle on the block, and can be used when you wish to shoot a unit, because it allows you to place the blocking unit (normally an eagle) infront of the centre of the enemy and still turn it to a side. However the outcome is less predictable, since you don't know if the enemy will pursue/overrun and you don't know how far he will go. this one is best used for blocking a big unit you don't want to fight, allowing you to shoot it into oblivion.

the "block" is actually a bit of an obvious one, though under-used. Here the objective is to isolate part of the enemy line. We use a stubborn, unbreakable or otherwise very hard unit to break (for us this is normally white lions), and we move it an inch infront of one enemy, which means this is the only target that unit can charge (normally) allowing the rest of our force to advance while ignoring that unit, break part of the opponent's battleline, and then pivot round and defeat the unit embroilled with our blocking unit. The main advantage here is that the blocking unit often hangs around a long time, holding up one or more enemies for quite a while, and also getting in the way, both in terms of march blocking and in terms of preventing charges, of one flank of the enemy army helping the side we are targetting. We do however, lose the ability to shoot the unit. this method has large risks involved: if the unit in question does break, it can spell serious trouble, however it also brings pretty large benefits when used correctly.

Also remember that frenzied units have to charge if they can, so they are easier to bait, and that units with hatred must pursue and overrun as must frenzied units (thanks spellarcher), making it easier to tell where they are going to be if you suicide them. Against these units you can also do a preemptive move, by charging them in your turn, if you lose and break, they must pursue you. (do this with chariots into big units for the most damage, or with shadow warriors into the flank of frenzied knights)

Remember here, to always keep a cold calculating disposition: is the sacrifice/risk worth it, or am i doing it just because i can?

Part 3 will be on shooting and magic. (though this may be a bit big and may get cut into 2 articles)

[SpellArcher]

Good stuff geo!

I guess using the enemy's Frenzy and Hatred is helpful here as you can plan for compulsory charge/overrun on his part.

[Musashi]

What I find annoying is the lack of cheap throwaway unit for our army, rationalized on points per wound. Even an Eagle costs you 17 points per wound and if attacked is likely to lose CR anyway.

If our point spread was closer to DE spears, that might make more interesting deployment phase, since we could chequerboard it Roman Legion style, mixed in with elite infantry.

[Siegfried VII]

Very nice article indeed. I read part 1 too. Good job .

[sneakyhighelfgit]

Many thanks for taking the time to write such an article. The movement phase has always been my favourite as it is here that we can really take advantage of our larger movement, and due to our high leadership we can normally rely on our units to rally after fleeing. Elves have always been known for their gracefull dancing, and we can skip merry hell around the others on the battlefield.
Which is why playing against slaneshi demons and their banner really winds me up.