Planning to Win
I'm putting together a new army and I'm making plans for how to use it effectively. I've written a number of articles about how to play better in a variety of ways, but I want to put together a coherent plan for this edition. This is partially to set it in my mind. It should also help you to get a better grip on your own games as well. This will cover Knowing the Rules, Knowing the Missions, Knowing your own Army and Knowing the Enemy. I have already written Knowing the Rules and Knowing the Missions and Knowing your own Army. This week I'll be covering Knowing the Enemy.

What about those guys over there?
If you don't know what to expect from the enemy, you can't make a plan to deal with it. Thus it follows that understanding the enemy army is going to be important to your plan. There are several ways to understand an enemy army. You can buy the codex to read the rules and look at their options. You can go on various websites devoted to that type of army and have a look at some of the armylists that people put up. You can even go so far as to try to create an army (at least on paper) of that type to get a really good understanding of it. While I may cover these options later, they all have a flaw. Not only does each one take time, but it only applies to one army. It may prepare you against Space Marines, but if you happen to run up against Imperial Guard this time, it won't help any. A faster way of understanding an army is to classify it by it's type. To do this, I'll guide you through the Elemental classification system. When you understand _how_ the enemy works, you'll have an easier time putting together a plan, even if you don't know what or who it is.

Earth
Earth is tough, resilient. The Earth army wants to outlast it's opponent. Earth armies tend to spend most of their points on resilience, either through tough troops or large numbers. They typically don't have much mobility and usually (but not always) focus on Shooting to wear their opponents down through attrition.

Typical Earth armies would be Imperial Guard with tons of grunts and guns and tanks or Shooty Space Marines, with lots of heavy weapons and plenty of bodies in powered armor to keep them firing.

However, not all Earth armies are based around shooting. For example, a Space Marine Horde army based around lots of bodies and lots of powerfists is a perfect example of an Earth-based Assault army. On the other talon, not all shooty armies are Earth-style. For example, a Dark Eldar Lance army, with lots of Ravagers and small sniper squads is definitely a Fire-style army, as they have massive firepower, but almost no resilience.

Earth

Fire
Fire consumes. The Fire army wants to overpower it's opponent swiftly. Fire armies tend to spend most of their points on specialist troops, so they cannot stand up to a drawn-out conflict. They may have mobility, but it will be solely focused on bringing them to their opponent. Fire armies are typically (but not always) based around assault, rather than shooting.

Typical Fire armies would be an all-Genestealer Tyranid list with massive rending power from their claws but a limited number of very expensive specialists, or a fully-mechanized Space Marine Assault force with lots of points in transports and assault characters.

Of course, not all Fire armies require assault. Sisters of Battle, with their intense, short-ranged firepower and T3 models are definitely a fire army. In addition, not all assault armies are Fire. A Tyranid Swarm list is very much an Earth army with buckets and buckets of models swamping and wearing down the enemy.

Air
Air gusts. The Air army wants to outmaneuver it's opponent. Air armies tend to spend most of their points on mobility and/or speed. Since they have so much invested in their mobility, they must take on their opponents through local superiority and flanking attacks. Air armies are less common than Earth or Fire armies, and they can be very difficult to play, since a mistake is so hard to recover from. They can also be very difficult to play against, since they are so hard to get to grips with (and because fewer players have experience playing against them.)

Typical Air armies would be an Eldar Air Force or Ravenwing Bikes. High mobility allows this army to concentrate force, either in shooting or assault.

Not all Air armies are fast. As an example, my Tau Battlesuit list is definitely an Air army, even though none of the models move more than 12 inches per turn (unless I bring the Piranha, but that's a small part of the list.) In addition, not all fast armies are Air armies. An example here is a Tyranid 2nd Turn Assault army. While it is often made up primarily of units that can move very quickly, that speed is almost entirely devoted to straight-line movement to get into contact with the enemy as swiftly as possible. Thus, this is actually a Fire army, despite the speed.

Fire

Water
Water Flows. The Water army wants to find a weakness and exploit it. It wants to deny the enemy what they want. A Water army doesn't have a set plan for engagement, it can only be defined by it's opposition and the mission and terrain. They have to have mobility and flexibility. If the enemy wants to shoot, the water army may assault, or they may decide to move to deny the enemy targets. Typical water armies have more shooting than an assault army and more assault than a shooting army and the mobility to keep their options open. What really sets the Water army apart is the flexibility of it's game plan.

A typical Water army would be Pure Grey Knights or some DeathWing armies. With almost every unit capable of movement without impacting it's shooting, every unit capable of solid shooting and nearly every unit capable of solid assault, these armies have a lot of options.

Armies that are capable of moving while shooting and retaining an assault capacity are impressively well-balanced, but they aren't necessarily Water armies. Having those capacities is a requirement, but part of what makes a Water army into a Water army is it's plan of attack. Each of the other styles will have roughly the same plan regardless of opponent army or mission. A Genestealer army will play the same whether it is playing an Objective Mission or Annihilation, and whether it is facing Shooty Space Marines or Tau or Khorne Berzerkers. All it can do is full-blown assault. Similarly, an IG list will play basically the same against Tyranids or Tau. All they can do is shoot, so that's what they have to do. Part of what makes a Water army play as a Water army is the willingness to take each army, each mission, each game and each turn as it comes. To take advantage of each situation as it comes is the plan that makes a Water army what it is. Note that not all Grey Knight armies, even pure ones, are necessarily Water armies. Some of them will be heavily weighted toward either shooting or assault, and will thus be more likely to play that style to the exclusion of the other. That would mean they'd handle most missions in the same fashion, which would not be Water. Similarly, a RavenWing army will generally consist primarily of units that can move (very fast) and shoot and assault to full capacity. While they have these capabilities, I would suggest that they will almost always fall back on their movement to take on enemy armies. They have too much invested in their movement capabilities (as opposed to their resilience or firepower/combat power) to use another option on a regular basis. They cannot fall back on their Firepower against an assault army, or their assault capability against a shooty army, they will have to use their movement to make their capabilities more effective.

Now What?
okay, so you have labeled the enemy army as a particular kind. What do you do about it? Basically, you want to keep it from doing what it wants to do, and you want to find and exploit any weaknesses of the army that you can. Let's look at each in turn.

They Can't Always Get What They Want
You want to prevent the enemy army from doing what it wants to do. So, what do they want to do? Earth wants to clump together and outlast the enemy in a war of attrition. If you can force it to move, you will likely cause it to be less effective. (If that Imperial Guard army has to move, all those Lascannons and Missile Launchers go to waste...) Getting it to move can be as simple as limiting their line of sight and picking away at them where they can't do much back to you. Fire wants to consume. They want to use their specialist units to quickly overcome your army with lots of damage. You want to play keep away with them. Keep them from assaulting you or getting close enough to bring their powerful weapons to bear. Target their most mobile units and fall back away from them. Less mobile armies with long-range weapons can do this by making a split deployment then focusing on one side of the Fire army. The side left alone will shatter that half of your army, but will then be faced with a long slog across the table into your remaining guns. Air wants to outmaneuver you. Do whatever you can to hinder their mobility. Shoot jumppack troops and transports first. If possible, clump your army together to keep them from isolating and concentrating on a section of your army. The Water army doesn't have a preferred method of winning, so we can't prevent anything here. We might be able to find something in the next section, though.

Aim for the Exhaust Port
You want to find and exploit a weakness of the army, or at least an area where you have more strength. This can depend a lot on your army, but we can make some generalizations. Earth armies are resilient and relatively immobile. In objective missions, it can be easy to get them to turtle up and not come out of their shell. Annihilation missions will be harder, but you can exploit their lack of mobility to limit your casualties. Fire armies have expensive, specialist units and lots of damage potential. They will have a very hard time winning a battle of attrition, especially if you make it difficult to use their specialties. (The old "shoot the assaulters and assault the shooters" bit.) Air armies also have expensive units, because they pay a lot for their mobility. This means that every casualty you cause hurts them a lot. Water armies also have expensive units, because they pay for their flexibility. Again, they can't afford many casualties so a firefight or close combat is what you are looking for.

Air

A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing
This is a very brief summary of each of the elements. I have given more detailed descriptions that I would recommend you check out. Earth. Fire. Air. Water. At this point, I am considering putting out another update in this series about further ways to know the enemy (involving some of the longer methods that I mentioned at the beginning of this article.) If I do so, I'll add a link here to it for continuity.

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