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. Last week I started with knowing the rules. This week I'll be covering using the missions.

What's the Mission?Any plan to win a game of 40k needs to include the missions. They are quite literally, the barometer of success (or failure) in a particular game. With the exception of wiping out the opponent's army, the only way to win is to succeed at mission objectives and prevent the opponent from doing the same. While it is important to understand how the missions work, I actually want to start off with a more generic plan to win through mission objectives. Afterward I'll discuss the differences between the missions.

Keeping Score
Any plan of winning has to include some way of keeping score. If you know who is ahead, you can choose your playstyle accordingly. If you are ahead, you will want to play more conservatively, to keep your lead. If you are behind, you will need to play more aggressively to make up the differential. A very simple way of keeping track of the score is just to keep a tally from turn to turn. This only takes a few seconds and provides you with a valuable tool for understanding the play of the game. A quick glance each turn will not only tell you your position in the game and allow you to plan accordingly, but will also help you keep the specific mission in mind, which brings me to the next topic...

Keeping your eyes on the prize
Many players, myself included, often have a hard time keeping the mission in mind. You get busy destroying an important part of the enemy army, or trying to keep an important part of yours intact, and you forget about the little squad in back sitting on the objective. Some players will even try to actively distract you from the objectives. This can be a good plan to use. Probably the easiest way to do this is to hit them with something that makes them react. A Flying Hive Tyrant or Daemon Prince in the midst of their army pretty much guarantees they'll be paying attention, for example. A slightly different way of doing this is to make it obvious that you are targeting a big, important model of theirs. They can get so busy trying to keep it safe that they forget about the mission. So the question remains, how do you keep your eyes on the prize? A very simple way is to write it down. The same paper that you are keeping a tally on of who is winning the mission can have a simple line at the top for what the mission is. At the beginning of each turn, a quick glance at that will help you keep the mission foremost in your mind. This will help you formulate a plan for each turn and for the game as a whole, which brings us to the next part...

Develop a plan
This is another part where a lot of players (including myself) fall down. A little planning at the beginning of the game will save you a lot of time during the game itself. A little planning at the beginning of each turn will also save you time on decision-making and target priorities. It will also keep you focused and prevent you from wasting energy or sacrificing units needlessly. Let's start with the game level of planning. You should plan out how you will achieve the mission objectives, including a rough time-frame. For example, an objective mission plan for a game might include a couple of turns of maneuvering to provide a powerful firebase that can provide support to most or all of the objectives. Turns 3-4 might include a plan for weakening key opposing units that are on or near objectives with the Firebase. Also during this time, assault sections will be maneuvering into sheltered positions to make their assaults from. Turns 5+ will involve the assault sections hitting their targets, with the Firebase shifting fire onto key targets that are either supporting the units yours are assaulting or that are threatening the secondary objectives.

While no plan survives contact with the enemy, a quick plan like this helps you stay organized and on task, no matter what the opponent throws your way. (If you are interested in a sample game-plan for a Killpoint mission, I'll include that in the Killpoint section below.) The changing situation on the battlefield is what the individual turn plans are for. For example, let's say that at the beginning of Turn 3, the opponent pushes a large assault unit forward, hoping to tie you up or keep your assaulters busy. First, remember that your overall plan for this section of the game is for your firebase to weaken key opposing units that are on or near objectives, while your assault units are supposed to be maneuvering into sheltered positions in preparation for their primary assaults. Since the large assault unit is likely to be on the way to the key objectives, you will probably be best served by assaulting with your assaulters. Since it's a large unit, it will probably take them a couple of turns to chew through it, which will keep your assaulters somewhat safe (part of your plan) and position them closer to the key objectives (the other part of the plan.)

Objectives
An objective mission involves putting your scoring units onto objectives and keeping opposing scoring units away from objectives. Importantly, only Troops units can be scoring units, while other units can only contest an objective. (This means that my LandRaiders cannot hold objectives, but they can keep opposing units from holding objectives.) Another important thing to realize is the distance. If you aren't within 3" of the objective, you cannot claim it or contest it. This means that some objectives will have a huge area (if a whole terrain piece is an objective that can cover a lot of ground.) On the other talon, some objectives will have a very small area if they are markers or model-size pieces. The size of an objective may change your strategy for claiming or contesting it. You might be able to surround a small objective or park a vehicle on top of it such that no opposing unit can even get within the 3" zone. On the other hand, it will be easier to contest a large objective, since you may be able to get your unit far enough away from an opposing claiming unit that the unit cannot assault you. (Very effective when the opponent has a powerful unit claiming an objective and you contest it with something small and mobile that it can't reach.)

Note that you will want to protect your scoring units to make sure you have enough to win the game at the end. You will also want to make sure that you move them early enough to reach their objectives, though the Run rule can really help here. At the same time, you'll want to be wiping out opposing scoring units or tying them up late in the game so they cannot reach their objectives in time. As an interesting note, if you move very carefully, you may be able to pull opposing units off of an objective with an assault. If you move such that only one or two of your unit can reach the opposing unit with their assault move, it will force the opposing unit to move (up to 6") into contact with your models. If those models you contacted were outside the 3" objective zone, you will have pulled the unit off of the objective, at least for that turn. Keep in mind at all times that the objectives are the only important thing in this game. You may need to sacrifice a character or an expensive unit to make sure your Troops survive. One great way to protect them is to put a vehicle in between them and the opposing army. Even if the vehicle wrecks, it will still provide some cover for them and will have blocked at least a few shots.

Killpoints
A Killpoint mission involves killing enemy units to the last man (or Thing.) There are basically two important parts to any strategy for winning a Killpoint mission. The first is looking for units that can do a lot of damage (either to your army or to the opposing army) and the second is looking for vulnerable units. Units that can do a lot of damage are great for getting you a lot of killpoints, but they can do the same for your opponent. Once you have identified these units in both armies, you have to find ways to neutralize or wipe out the ones in the opposing army. At the same time, you want to protect yours so that they can continue to take down opposing units. Vulnerable units are those that are easy-to-kill targets. Characters and vehicles are often very easy killpoints, especially to high strength weaponry. The next most vulnerable are multi-part selections (such as Zoanthropes or Lictors in a Tyranid army.) These count as separate units in terms of kill points and are typically pretty easy kills. After that, look for small units and units made up of easy to kill targets. A unit of 3 Terminators might be tough, but it's pretty vulnerable to even a few shots or attacks that get through that armor save. A unit of 10 Guardsmen will be shredded by rapid fire or multishot weapons. By targeting these vulnerable units, you can quickly build up a lead in killpoints. In turn, knowing your vulnerable units allows you to attempt to protect them from the opponent, so that they cannot return the favor.

Earlier, I promised an overall game-plan for killpoint missions. Here is an example of such a plan. In the beginning of the game you want to have your most powerful damage units firing (or moving to assault) at opposing damage units. (This reduces the amount of firepower they have to damage you, and the earlier you do it, the less they'll be able to effect you.) Vulnerable units that have good damage should be set up in protected positions where units that could target them will likely be eliminated by their fire combined with your damage units. (Vulnerable units that don't have good damage should be hidden or kept off the board where possible.) Turns 3-4 should see a shift in focus to taking out vulnerable units in the opposing army and, if you have the lead, hiding your own vulnerable units. Turns 5+ should focus on protecting your forces and concentrating fire on one unit at a time to make sure it is killed before you target another unit. Again, no plan survives contact with the enemy, and being ahead or behind on Killpoints will change how you play from turn to turn. (For example, the above plan assumes that you will be a little bit in the lead throughout the game, but not very far. If you were further ahead, you might shift to protective play much earlier. If you were a little behind, you might have to take more risks with your vulnerable units or be less protective of your forces in turns 5+.)

Knowledge is Power
Now that you have taken a closer look at mission planning, go try it out. Take a look at your army. Identify the damage units and the vulnerable units, identify the scoring units and those that will be best suited to contesting. Then when you get a game, keep score and try to put together a plan from before your models hit the table until you shake hands at the end. Work out where you need to go, when you need to get there, and what you'll need to do at that point. And if you find that you have a hard time with it, start simple and write it down. At that point you'll be ready to tackle Knowing your own army.

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