Elementary, my dear Watson
I recently ran across an interesting discussion online that categorizes 40k armies in terms of the basic elements (Earth, Fire, Air, Water.) Like almost any classification system, it does break down at some points, but it is pretty consistent and offers some very good insights into the various types of armies. I've gone over each of the elemental classifications, but the article also covers a very important point that he refers to as the Beatdown. It's a point that I think few players are aware of, but it can change their understanding of the game. I've occasionally run across something that made me think in this direction, but I've never been able to put it so clearly until I read this. If you wish to check the series out from the start, please click here.

Who is the Beatdown?
The original author explains that this is a term from the Magic The Gathering tournament scene. It comes down to a question of which army has to be more aggressive to get the win. It is a contest between the Beatdown and the Control. If you don't correctly identify which role your army has, your tactics and thus your army, will be less effective. While that doesn't mean that you will necessarily lose, it's another factor that can make your army more or less effective in a given battle. I'll explain the Beatdown and the Control roles separately, then I'll cover how to determine which role your army should play.

The Control
The Control army is generally the army that can "hang on" for the win. They will generally have the more powerful army, and if they can bring it to bear, they will get the win. The role of the Control army is to play conservatively, and keep the other army from eroding your advantage. Focus on any objectives, play Kill Point-denial. Finally, since you know which one of you is the Beatdown, prevent the opponent from setting up their victory condition.

The Beatdown
The Beatdown is the army that has to play aggressively and take risks to win. They need to change the balance of power in the game. This army has to do something to keep the other army from winning and gain the advantage for itself. If The Beatdown cannot do enough, quickly enough, it will lose. Being aware that you are the Beatdown means you immediately know that you have to risk losing units to get your victory condition into play quickly. (In my recent tournament at the Seattle Battle Bunker, the first-turn movement of the objective turned my army into the Beatdown, but I didn't realize this until about turn 3. At that point, I started advancing my units and playing very aggressively, but I just couldn't do enough damage to shift that many Plague Marine squads off of objectives. If I had realized it right away and immediately gone on the warpath, the extra two turns of shooting could have turned the tables, leaving him with one secondary objective and me with two for the win. A perfect example of how not understanding the Beatdown-Control relationship can cost you a game.)

Determining the Relationship
So, now that we know what each role is, how do we determine which one we are? The relationship depends on a large number of variables, including army composition, terrain and mission. While you could go through an exhaustive list, Here are some guidelines with specific examples for quickly determining which army is the Beatdown....

If one army has a clearly defined victory condition (breaking the enemy in assault, shooting the enemy into little pieces, etc.) The one with a clearly defined victory condition is the Beatdown. If one army has to achieve something specific, while the other does not, the specific one will have to work to get it. For example, consider a standard Tyranid army against an Eldar Air Force with everything mounted in Grav tanks. The Tyranid army will have to manage to get the Eldar out of their vehicles and into close combat. The Eldar simply have to do what they always do, play keep away and whittle down the enemy. The Tyranid army is the one that has to be aggressive and take risks to achieve their victory condition. They are the Beatdown here.

If both armies have a clearly defined victory condition, but one precludes the other (Such as Assaulting vs. Shooting) then the one that precludes the other is the beatdown. An Imperial Guard army needs to bring it's big guns to bear to shoot the enemy down. A Khornate army needs to get into close combat to rip the enemy to shreds. Against each other, the Khornate army's assault would negate the Imperial Guard's shooting. Thus, the Khornate army will have to force the decision, and they will be the Beatdown in this situation.

Finally, if neither victory condition precludes the other, determine which would be most likely to win if both armies got what they want right now. That army is the Beatdown. If an army is most likely to win right now, they would be at a disadvantage if they delayed. (This is, of course, assuming that the players and their armies are fairly evenly matched. If one side will likely win regardless of timing, it is beyond the scope of this tactica, though it might change the margin of the victory.) An example might be a Dark Eldar Sniper Army (massive amounts of Dark Lances) against a Shooty Space Marine force with 3 Predators. If both armies simply lined up in the open and shot immediately, the anti-tank capabilities of the Dark Eldar would quickly put the Space Marines at a disadvantage. If they wait any time at all, on the other hand, the fragile armor of Dark Eldar, either on their vehicles or their troops, will quickly erode their firepower. Thus, they need to force the issue while they still have an army to do it with. Beatdown.

The Beatdown and Elemental Classifications
Here is how the Beatdown relates to the Elemental Classification of armies. Obviously this doesn't take into account unusual variants of armies or game specifics, but it's a quick guide, partly to help you make a decision and partly to further help you understand the Beatdown-Control relationship.

Fire Armies
Since most Fire Armies are assault armies, they will almost always be the Beatdown. One of the few exceptions is if they are up against a slower Fire Army. This may seem strange, as Beatdown, with it's emphasis on being aggressive, sounds like it should be the faster army. Not at all. A fast Fire Army spends a lot of points on being fast, points that a slow Fire Army has spent on being more effective in close combat. If you simply start both sides 12" apart and let them go at it, the Slow Fire Army will win, because it has more bodies or teeth and claws that can be brought to bear. For example, consider two Genestealer armies. The faster one gives all the Genestealers the Scuttlers option, letting them make scout moves or Outflank. It also has a Flying Hive Tyrant and some Raveners to get to the enemy quickly as well. All this runs about 400 points more than the slow Genestealer army needs to spend on a Broodlord as a leader. That 400 points turns into about 25 more Genestealers, almost twice as many as the fast army has. If that speed is of no use, I know which one I'd bet on. The faster army will have to act as the Control. They would have to use their speed and mobility to limit contact and make sure any assaults were heavily in their favor. They would have to try to claim objectives and try to preserve their force as much as possible, hanging on to pull out a win.

Earth Armies
Earth armies typically play Control against Fire Armies (remember the bit about "if one victory condition precludes the other?") They must preserve their forces and try to keep out of assault to bring their firepower to bear. They also have to manage the assaults that do arrive and minimize their impact. In other words, they have to play conservatively. On the other hand, Earth Armies generally play the Beatdown against Air and Water armies. They have the massive firepower to shred an Air or Water army, if only they can manage to pin them down long enough to shoot them. Against other Earth Armies, the same standard applies as in the case of Fire: the slower army is the Beatdown. For the same reason as above, points spent on mobility are not points spent on guns or bodies. An Imperial Guard army with massive platoons and lots of heavy weapons will have to play the Beatdown against a Mechanized IG army. The Mechanized army will be spending several hundred or more points on Chimeras. While they have Heavy weapons, they aren't nearly as cheap as the Heavy Weapons that come with a whole platoon of Grunts. Again, if they just stand line abreast across an open field, the Mechanized army will be wasted quickly. Thus, the platoon-heavy army will have to play the Beatdown and force an engagement before the mobility of the Mechanized army can get local superiority and start whittling them down.

Air Armies
Since Air armies are, by definition, mobility armies, they will always be the Control against each of the other elements. Given that the faster army is usually control, this makes sense. Against another Air army, however, it's a little more complicated. If they are both shooty or both assaulty, the slower air army will become the Beatdown, just as with the other same-element matchups. On the other hand, if one force is shootier than the other, the less shooty one will become the beatdown, since assault prevents shooting and they will have to force their victory condition on the enemy. As an example, consider a Dark Eldar Air Force against Suit-heavy Tau. The Dark Eldar have less shooting and a fair amount of assault. They need to take risks to get in quickly before the firepower of the Crisis Suits takes their Raiders down and reduces them to walking targets.

Water Armies
Since Water armies have no single advantage, they will generally play the Control against everything aside from Air armies and more mobile or shooty Water armies. They will have to play the Beatdown against these opponents and attempt to lock down the higher mobility of these armies. A Deathwing Water army against a Ravenwing Water army would see the Deathwing forced into the Beatdown role, as they attempted to get to grips with those speedy bikes.

Putting it all together
Hopefully this article has given you a better understanding of the Beatdown-Control relationship and how it applies to your 40k games. Similarly, I hope this series has given you a new way of looking at army types and makes it easier to make strategic decisions about how to handle opponents. For example, seeing an Eldar Air Force army against your Imperial Guard and being able to immediately classify it as an Air army tells you a lot about what to expect. In addition, knowing that you will be the Beatdown in this situation means that you immediately know that you need to start taking risks to bring your guns to bear on them from turn 1, instead of playing more conservatively, as you usually do against a Tyranid opponent.

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