How to Play the Flying Circus Part The First

Posted by Kevin Rogers

 

 

 

We have demonstrated the flying circus in action on this blog many times, but we haven’t discussed the finer points of the army. To this end, I received this email:

Hey Andrew! (WTF?) I am looking for some advice and since you are really the only blog I read (and trust to not give questionable advice) I was hoping for some help. Before I go into it I'll give a little back story on where I am in the Warhammer gaming world and where I would like to be.

I went to a tournament this weekend and got swamped using a pretty standard 1850 Be'lakor Flying Circus. I certainly don't think the list deserves the score it got. I feel that to really do well with Flying Circus, you really have to min max the effectiveness of all 4 FMCs. I am just simply not at a point where I can do that. I would rather ram my Korn Dogs into something and its usually pretty hard to fuck that up, at least with the people I play with. So I go to you asking for help not only with Flying Circus (although it certainly requires the most work) but also with the Warhammer in general, how Daemons function the game (against all armies and not just Eldar / Space Marines), what to look for when playing a game, forming a general game plan, correct use of psykic powers, noticing and maximizing bits of terrain etc.
 

The first couple things that I would like some extra advice on are listed below. I feel like this stuff is pretty easy for an experienced player but I have only been playing for about a year so I still feel I need help.

1. Forming a game plan from Turn One.
One thing that I noticed when I play games is that I usually don't have a real solid plan to win the game to about turn 3. At this point I really hope that one of my Daemon Princes doesn't die to an unfortunate case of being out of position. I also realized that it felt like in a lot of my games I was the guy that sat back and didn't really try to advance until much later in the game. Looking at battle reports and such it struck me how defensive Flying Circus feels and it was a significant change of pace then the beast rush down lists. Again, this is coming from inexperience but any advice from a better player would help.

2. Knowing how to approach all types of armies.
This one comes down primarily to experience but it happens a bit, especially in tournaments where a lot of players have mashed together lists. Its odd because I feel like I know how to play against Eldar armies most because that is where most of the advice is aimed toward. But what do I do against 150 ork boys and 40 lootas? I know the lists can beat most armies but with Flying Circues you really can't waste any time or points.
3. Psykic powers.

Not going to lie, psykic powers can get really confusing sometimes. We have access to all the good tables playing Daemons but knowing what table to roll on and units to use each power on can be so mind boggling hard to remember sometimes. Running a Flying Circus you usually have access to 3 tables and will want to maximize what each power does. Not too mention powers not going off and Deny the Witchs happening. It can and often gets hectic and hard to manage.

Again any advice is welcome. Looking over the email I realize I mostly just need experience playing the game but I am still sending it haha. No other Daemon players in town to talk to so your blog is often times the only discussion I get to see regarding my favorite book. Anyway cheers and have a good day.

Sincerely, Mom's Spaghetti



Andrew does Chaos Space Marines and modeling/painting stuff around here! I handle flying circus stuff, and I’m beginning to suspect Bill Kim was eaten by a yak.

Anyway, this will be part one in a series of I-don’t-know-how-many posts on playing a flying circus the right way. Often when I watch a battle report that involves a circus player, I’ll see them say “Wuh, I don’t feel like I did anything wrong!” even though they got their butts kicked by a bunch of Necrons on foot. In this installment, we’ll address your first point: how to form a game plan. It’s easier than you think.

From the sound of things, you’ve noticed that the circus is a pretty passive animal. Defensive isn’t the right word. Defensive means sitting there and daring the other guy to come at you, which is how Tau usually play. The circus is a finesse army that picks its spots, unless you’re playing Kenny Boucher’s Nurgle version, in which case it’s sometimes played a bit more aggressively. Most people who screw it up do so by exposing themselves to too much enemy firepower too early, and they lose the battle of attrition. The dirty little secret of the circus is that it can say “I’m not playing” pretty much until turn 5 if it needs to.

The general principle I live by with the circus is that you can’t use what you don’t have, so don’t lose anything. My general goal going into every fight is to have at least three FMC’s alive by turn 5 to contest objectives. If this means playing like a gutless wonder for four whole turns, so be it. My theory of play is that if I can keep most of my stuff alive, get first blood and linebreaker, I can contest all the objectives/keep the other guy off the relic/win on kill points, and at the very worst, win 2-1, no matter what game I’m playing. So, if it’s a W-L tournament, I’m going for the 2-1 win most of the time because it’s low-risk, high-probability. If I get more points, that’s cool, but all I care about is the W.

That is your game plan, every single game. Of course, the particulars of how you go about it change depending on who you’re facing. What I did to Ian’s Beaststar and Chewie’s Seer Council is not what I do to Drop Wolves, for example. But we’re not going over strategies against different armies in this piece.

Beyond your overall strategy to win 2-1, it is really tough to plan more than two turns in advance in anything but the most general sense because the other guy gets a vote.

On the first turn, what I generally do is look for a weakness in my opponent’s deployment and exploit it if I can. I’ll also make a target priority list in my head. Really this goes for any army I’m playing, but the target priority for the circus is a bit different. Generally, threats to the FMC’s need to go first, then scoring, then everything else. However, in the early going, when the other guy has all his toys, you pick what spots you can, but mostly, you favor staying alive above all else.

That’s the foundation of any game plan. You do not go exposing any of your precious units to a ton of firepower because unless they have a 2+ re-rollable, they will probably die. This happened to my opponent J. in the mirror match I played last month. Getting first blood was the key to the game. He had a Nurgle Prince who didn’t get Iron Arm or Endurance, so I picked on it. On his first turn, he moved his FMC’s as a group toward the board center rather than flying the Nurgle Prince off. So I hit it with psychic shriek and a hades Drake, and boom, he loses first blood and is playing down one FMC for the rest of the game.

The same thing happened to me back before I learned to use the circus properly, I had puppet master on my Grimoire Prince, and flew him to within 24” of a Manticore to shoot rockets at my IG opponent. The Grimoire Prince was then grounded and blasted with plasma because I exposed him to a ton of firepower. That little mistake cost me a tournament, but I learned that flying up to the other guy’s entire army with your 4 or 5 baddies and going BANG! BANG! BANG! don’t work so hot. Save that crap for the bomb list.

The most important thing to remember is that your default move is always to bug out. If you have no smart play, you don’t play. You fly off the board. That is always your fallback. If you can’t take something out with low risk of losing that MC, you do not take the risk. It’s like throwing the ball away in football. Live to play another down unless it’s the fourth quarter and you have to make a play.

I think we’ve covered the basics enough. Play like a huge pussy, and you should be in the fight until the end.

NEW IMPERIAL GUARD/ASTRA MILITARUM PHOTOS!!!

Here is a sneak peek at the new IG codex.  Enjoy!

Via PianoSam! 

This looks pretty cool - some kind of Hydra alternative. 

*EDIT* Reported to be BS3 12/10/10 with 3 Hull Points. Shoots a 48" Str 4 AP6 Blast, with Barrage, Blast, Ignores Cover and Shred - so no, it is NOT a Hydra Alternative but meant for Anti-Infantry.  

Aaaand here we see the original Hydras. 

And I think something we've all been waiting for - Orders! 

Turn Order Tactics That Neutralize the Dice

by Nick Nanavati

I’ve come to the realization that in most of the armies I design (with 6^th edition and the current meta in mind), I try to create many different deployment options. This allows me to always react to my opponent, which in turn allows me to always have positional advantage. Andrew Gonyo demonstrated the importance of going second in this article, which does a great job of highlighting all the main reasons to go second if given the option.
However, 40k is a dice game, and roughly 50% of the time you do not get the choice. Part of the challenge of 40k is implementing tactics and building lists to mitigate the opportunities for dice to screw you―this especially includes the roll for turn order. By creating a list that emphasizes multiple deployment options, you can certainly ease the pain of going first.

Reserves
Reserves force your opponent to play differently; without knowledge of where your army is, your opponent will have to be cautious and keep up a strong defense on all sides in order to not get blindsided. This will severely limit his offensive capabilities as well as his ability to spread out for board control. Also, when you go first with a reserve-based army, your opponent will lose half the advantage of going second, which is the ability react to the enemy’s deployment. If most of your army resides in reserve, you can play cautiously and limit the amount of firepower you take, then come out of nowhere and decimate the enemy by coming in at his weakest point, or surrounding him and giving him no place to retreat.




Alpha Strike
Having the capability to Alpha Strike the enemy is also a wonderful tool for a 40k player. The term Alpha Strike means to deal a massive, crippling blow to the enemy on turn one (sometimes turn two), then pressing the advantage gained early on to carry out the win. Armies with large scouting opportunities or incredible firepower (White Scars, Ravenwing, Tau, and Dark Eldar) are the primary armies for Alpha Striking, although almost all armies can Alpha Strike to a lesser degree.
Often times however, it is not the Alpha Strike that will win you the game; it is merely the threat of being capable of launching one. If your opponent is aware of what your turn one damage output can be, he will deploy incredibly cautiously (even if going first, in case of seizing), which will immediately give you board control and allow you to outmaneuver the enemy army.

Rapid Redeployment
Rapid redeployment is the last step of having multiple deployment options. The idea here is basically to trick your opponent. Your army is designed to be so incredibly mobile that you can fake your opponent out by deploying in one section of the board and moving (and often turbo-boosting or moving flat-out) to the opposite side. After you have completely outmaneuvered the enemy, you can start taking his army apart piecemeal with the longer-ranged elements of your own.
One of the reasons Eldar are currently dominating the tournament scene is that they have the ability to play in all three deployment options. Eldar armies often reserve loads of Jetbikes, Spiders, and Swooping Hawks to come in and harass unprotected scoring units. Eldar are also very capable of conducting Alpha Strikes with multiple Wave Serpents, Wraithknights and the ever popular Tau allies. And lastly, they are easily the fastest army in the game with the ability to move their Jetbikes and Seer Council 48”, Wave Serpents 36”, and even put their Swooping Hawks back into reserve to re-enter them using Deep Strike on later turns.
It is clear that 40k is, to at least some degree, won and lost in deployment. Based on results found in Torrent of Fire’s Ultimate Weapon, Eldar seems to be one of the armies dominating in the deployment phase; however; other armies are capable of competing with them. I think the new and underused Space Marine codex is the army to do it

Deathstar Tactics: Get the Most Out of Your Army-in-a-Single-Unit

by Justin Cook                         

A lot of competitive lists in 6th edition are running high value, high cost units. These ‘deathstars,’ as they are often referred to, are typically reliant on having several characters add synergy to an already powerful unit, making them absolutely terrifying. We’ve all heard of the Jetlock council, Paladin star, the new kid the O’vesa star… they all have wild offensive capabilities and incredible durability.
But a lot can go into keeping them alive on the tabletop. Let’s look at some of the ways you can keep a high value unit alive against a variety of threats.

Put your best foot forward: Have a tank
Having a highly durable character out in front of a unit to ‘tank’ damage has been a common notion in most of 6th edition. These guys will be the ones taking a pounding and typically have a few of the following traits:
   1) high toughness and/or Eternal Warrior
   2) a good invulnerable save, usually a 3+ or better
   3) a large wound pool
   4) and this one is likely the most important―independent character special rule
The first three are natural durabilities anyone can understand and appreciate. Of course you want Draigo, a nova-shielded O’vesa, or your Eternal Shield Chapter Master standing in front of your valuable unit of Paladins, Centurions, or buddy Riptide.
The last trait, however, is a little more abstract. The independent character special rule allows for your tank to both spread damage around by virtue of Look out sir! and to take major enemy threats out of the picture in combat through challenges. Be sure to read up on Look out sir! on pages 16 and 26 of the core rule book, and how challenges work on pages 64 and 65.

Surround your tank with ablative wounds
Usually there are degrees of importance when it comes to any squad’s models, even a high value unit of Paladins or Jetlocks




Once you kit a unit out, you might have a few models that just don’t have any special gear or extra abilities. These are the models your tank needs closest to him to soak up the extra shots you don’t want him taking. Nothing’s certain―you still need to roll for Look out sir!―but it’s fairly reliable to send over Bolter wounds from Draigo or a Chapter Master to a Paladin or Centurion, respectively. They all have 2+ armor saves, so why risk losing an opportunity to take a 3+ invulnerable later to a wound you can afford to take elsewhere?
You also need to assess what kind of firepower you’re facing: Can you afford to have the secondary Riptide in an O’vesa star taking Look out sir! wounds, or is it better to take them on Shielded Missile Drones?
As an example: If you’re up against a unit or two of scatter laser War Walkers, it’s probably better to have O’vesa Look out sir! into the Burst Cannon Riptide, as both have the same save and you have a combined 10 wounds to work with for spreading out damage. If you’re playing against triple Wraithknight, however, you should likely be putting Look out sir! wounds into the Shielded Missile Drones. This is why I always splurge on getting the extra Shielded Missile Drones for my Burst Cannon Riptide, since it gives me four extra wounds. I don’t care as much about tank distortion shots.

Keep the synergy safe
Deathstars usually have one or more synergistic characters that make them the tabletop powerhouses they are. Typically these are Farseers, Inquisitor Coteaz, or the ubiquitous Tau ‘Buff Commander.’ These guys need to stay away from incoming fire, typically in the rear of the deathstar, far away from wound allocation through shooting and combat. You’ll also want to keep an ablative wound or two around them if you can―barrage can really put a wrench in the works. Also, never forget how Focus Fire works. If you stick the tank and first few models in cover but leave part of the squad out in the open along with your buffing characters, you’re begging to lose them to mobile firepower.
Here’s an example of how Focus Fire can be used against a deathstar: If I put every model except my Commander from my O’vesa star in area terrain, my opponent can declare Focus Fire on models with a 6+ or worse cover save. By doing this, my Buff Commander is hit first, even if he’s in the back of the unit. If this is a strength 10 weapon, the Buff Commander is now in danger of being insta-killed, when the closer Riptides would not have been. You should usually choose whether or not you’ll stick to cover and do so for the whole unit.
Also keep in mind that cagey opponents will move units between parts of the deathstar and their shooty damage dealers. This creates artificial cover, and they can then Focus Fire at the Commander who should be left exposed. Check out page 18 and 19 of the core rule book to learn more on how Focus Fire works, and read up on how intervening models create cover for units shooting through them.
These are some of the key elements to keep in mind when putting together and using a functional deathstar-type unit in 40K. There are a lot of benefits to these units, such as the fact they’re nearly impossible to kill and can dish out high amounts of damage between shooting and combat. However, it’s important to know that this is just one way of playing 40k competitively, and that it does have its downsides. The most notable of these is certainly the lack of Fearless in some deathstars, but there are other less obvious drawbacks, like the ability to tarpit them or play around them and kill the rest of your army. Nonetheless, deathstars will probably be around for quite some time, so it’s good to know how to use them and how to play against them.

Justin Cook notched an 8-0 record at NOVA GT 2013.

Becoming a better 40k general tactical #1-Winning the pre-game

originally posted on TheBack40k

By Spaguatyrine




With 6th edition comes a new phase of 40K. I call this the pregame phase.
There are often anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes of pregame warmups before turn one even starts. In my opinion, whether you win or lose will often be determined by the pregame phase and deployment. I will even be brash enough to say more than 50% of games are won in this critical first 15 to 30 minutes.


Your brain starts a data dump:

This is even before you get to the table! When you do arrive, you say hello to your opponent and plop down your list while sizing up your competition’s list and army. The nerves and butterflies threaten to turn your breakfast into lunch. One of you might try some small talk to break the silence. As you scan each other’s lists, strategies start going through your mind on how you are going to beat his, and beat him as a player. Sometimes players who process more slowly can actually push this introduction phase to more than a few minutes―ultimately helping a game not play to the end. I don’t think this is done on purpose, but I have seen this a lot at tournaments.
The next order of business is to start rolling for deployment zones, warlord traits, psychic powers, etc. One of the most important aspects of the pregame phase is choosing sides based upon terrain, your armies, the mission, etc. With everything that has happened above, we can often forget to take into consideration the terrain layout and how this affects our game, or we just take a quick glance at it. Depending on your army, this is a critical step in the sequence of picking a side, determining turn order and warlord table, rolling for psychic powers and every other little accounting detail.

 

If you are playing on the table shown here, and it’s the first time you add its information to all of the data being shoved into your head during the pregame phase, you could easily miss some of the advantages of the terrain layout based upon the mission.

Trick #1
Before the tournament starts, walk the ENTIRE game floor and look at each table. While you’re doing this, picture your army on the table and which side has advantages for you. Observe firing lanes, hiding spots, where you might want to place your fortification. Yes, do this for all 100+ tables if necessary. I only spend about 30 seconds on each table, but it mitigates some of the input of data to your brain when you are actually there, giving you more precious time to find a way to beat your opponent. Even a 30-second snapshot greatly reduces stress on your thinking muscle. Plus, sometimes you walk up to a table and there is a 15″ line of sight-blocking building in the middle and you are like, “WTF!” If you’ve already seen it, the shock will not hit you as much as it will your opponent.



Trick #2Practice against as many different armies as you can. This goes without saying, but search out players who have different armies, ones you normally don’t play against. In 6th edition, all army lists now have counters.


Maybe you have never played against Meganobs with Greentide Orks, or Necron Wraiths, or Mech Guard. Nothing puts more strain on the human brain than being in an unfamiliar situation. When an environment is unfamiliar and the stimuli to our brains is hostile and unknown, we begin to overthink, and that’s when most players make mistakes. There is a reason why Tony Kopach always appears calm beside the tabletop. When our brains are firing normally, we won’t overheat and blow a hose. Even if you crush that Greentide list, having experience to fall back on with your current tournament army against as many other armies as possible will slow the brain drain pregame.
If you do get blindsided by something you have never seen or are unfamiliar with, ask about the basics and ask to keep your opponent’s codex on your side of the table. Ask, What type of unit is that? What weapons and psychic powers do they have? A quick scan of the codex instead of the army list is preferable.


















Trick #3Going second is often a good tactical choice depending on the mission, which army you’re playing, if Night Fight is in effect, etc. If going second, take two different sets of dice. With one set of dice, measure out the max effective range of all stationary units that can hurt you taking into consideration Night Fight cover and the other usual factors. With the second set of dice, measure out the max effective range of all units that can hurt you. This gives you a road map of where you can go and how safely you can deploy. I will also often discuss the deployment with my opponents: “This unit is out of line of sight from that unit, correct?” “By the way, this gives a 3+ cover save.”
Take your time deploying. Being out of position on the top of turn one can cripple you. Picture what your opponent can do after his movement. This is especially important with the new Riptide and Wraithknight models. Picture where they can be and what you can do to counter their shooting.
If you are deploying extremely defensively, a.k.a. staying out of range, DO NOT ROLL TO SEIZE THE INITIATIVE, unless you have the mobility to cause SEVERE damage. This backfires on many players, and they seize and lose because of it.
There are many strategies and tricks to consider as you prepare for a game; reducing the amount of information you have to think about in the pregame phase can ensure your processor doesn’t overheat and make you forget important steps and tactics. Get a routine down and stick to it. However you start a game, develop that routine to help reduce stress and guide your mind to a win.