I am a frequent poster on COTEC and in discussions I often
bring up how I feel O&G is a hard counter to WoC. Invariably fanatics come up. Now these are a danger to WoCs high value/low
model count army. The pat counter seems
to be “I will use my van guarding warhound unit to pull the fanatics”. I have to smile every time I see this.
In my local group, there is a constant back and forth in
fanatic and anti-fanatic tactics. I
thought I would share some of the tactics and counters to fanatic pullers in
one article. Since I will be posting
this both on COTEC as well as my blog, it will have a WoC v. O&G theme but
the following tactics should apply for any match up.
Setting the Stage
My typical O&G force has 3 individual chariots, 2 wolf
units, and 2 solo trolls. This is 7
units compromising 360 points that I can potentially drop before I even have to
think about dropping a unit with fanatics.
It takes a very chaff heavy army to match this. If an army can, they likely will pull the
fanatics no matter what I do by sheer dint of cheap units. Most O&G armies I have seen have 4-7
units of chaff, so my build is not out of line.
This leads me to my first problem with the van guarding
hounds theory. In countless tournament
games, I have never seen a WoC player not drop all his hound units first. This gives me an opportunity to deploy my
fanatic units away from them. A WoC
player may recognize this but reserving a hound unit until later in deployment may
lead to other problems. Will there be
room in the deployment zone to place the hound where needed? If I have forced you to drop something more
valuable earlier then you usually do, have I already not gained an advantage? As I will show you, I can easily keep the
hounds from getting to the fanatics even if I want to drop the unit opposite
the hounds. With that said, I think you
should give up a small advantage and hold those hounds, or better fast cav
until later in deployment.
Fanatic Tactics
The ideal tactics involve setting up the release of fanatics
so that an opposing unit is forced to run over them. The best is releasing in response to a
charge. With the ability of O&G to
take a very solid artillery line, an enemy that sits back and avoids engagement
could be in serious trouble.
Screaming across
the front
This involves throwing the fanatics out of the unit across
the face of your own unit, once again in response to a charge. This ensures that a successful charge is eating
2d6 per fanatic. It works best with either a wide unit or throwing
across the face of an adjacent unit.
As I understand it, the guy who won the SCGT in England had
a 100 man poison shooting NG unit. I imagine
he used this tactic, as illustrated. Here
a Skull Crusher unit declares a charge, makes the roll, and stops 8” away. The Goblin player can throw fanatics directly
at the SC but some will hit and pass through for only 1d6, or you can throw
across the front and guarantee they have to run across all three.
Here is how I would use it.
Same situation but the SC are charging my Savages. I may need to clip my unit to make it work
but that is ok.
Counters/anti counter-
The weakness of this tactic is that the fanatic units are on
the front line. This makes them very susceptible
to early pulling by chaff. Yes, that
includes those pesky van guarding war hounds.
However, I am more likely to deploy like this.
I have an advantage in a solid artillery line, so it
behooves me to delay engagement, hence it is my chaff/anti chaff on the front
line while the main units are farther back.
I have placed my Fanatic unit 7.5 inches back from the deployment
line. If you choose to vanguard your
hounds up, you are depending on first turn (which you likely have the +1) but
must stop 1 inch away from my units and unable to release the units. Since you van guarded, you cannot charge my
units and get closer. I can always
counter charge or perhaps get first turn and run the hounds off. I have range advantage with the chariot, so
you should never be able to close. The
troll is not worried about hounds and can interpose itself until it has something
more important to do. Finally, the best
target of those crappy short bows on the chariot is the hounds. A patient game will play into my hands. The deployment also leads into the next
tactic.
The sling shot
By setting up behind my SO or trolls, I have an opportunity
to throw the fanatics through the unit at a charging unit. SO have a 5+ ward while the trolls have 4+
regen to help offset the wounds they take.
The charging unit will take the 2d6 hits on any roll of 7 or less (1d6
on a 8+) and then face an angry hammer unit.
The best set up is to make sure the 8” trigger point is an inch and half
in front of your unit. So the fanatic
has a spot to stop, to close it will just carry through the charger.
Counter/anti counter.
The best counter to this is to move a chaff unit up to
trigger the fanatics and force the O&G player to throw them out in awkward
places. Of course this also means you
have survived the anti-chaff measures illustrated above. Another option in the face of heavy chaff is
to simply have them 8 inches back from the front line. It is not ideal but you guarantee hitting the
enemy unit (as well as yours) if they charge.
Of course they could just charge one of those cheap units in. A
final option is to have the fanatic unit even further back and move up on a
subsequent turn to throw the fanatics through the ongoing combat.
Much of this tactic is dependent on the makeup of the
opposing army. An army like WoC with
lots of high value/hard hitting models, it is worth throwing fanatics through
your own units. Against something like Skaven,
not so much.
Other Observations
Terrain.
Terrain is death for fanatics. As you deploy, look for approaches that take
you through terrain. It is likely the
O&G player will deploy his fanatics away from these pieces and may give you
an indication how he will deploy. It is
worth the occasional Dangerous Terrain test!
Flyers.
Flyers are the hardest thing to counter. A good O&G player will try and set up
zones where you cannot land but the ability hop over terrain from hiding and approach
from odd angles makes it tough. Flyers
of all types are my first targets for all artillery. Of course, flyers are also the best units at
getting to warmachines, which means fanatic pulling may not be the best use for
them.
2 for 1.
Look for O&G players who put their fanatic units to
close together. You may be able to move
a single wide and mobile unit (skinks come to mind) up such it pulls the fanatics
of two units at the same time.
The late wheel
Every charger gets a free wheel. A single model unit that can delay its wheel
until after fanatics are released may be able to navigate and miss some/all of
them. Not a great tactic but something to
keep in mind.
Final Thoughts
I like fanatics because it causes my opponent to expend
resources and effort in dealing with them.
Often these resources would be better spent dealing with my chaff or
hunting my artillery. However, if they
are left alone, fanatics will often tip the balance of a critical combat. 2 tend to be just fine for me though I will sometimes
play a list with 4.
I would love to hear other tactics or counters if people
have them.
Hinge
