# Versus... Warmachines



## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Hi all,

Continuing with the Fantasy Versus... series, next on the list is warmachines (suggested by Pertoleum and Dafistofmork). If you want to add your suggestions as to who Fantasy Versus should deal with next, go here for the general thread.

So, warmachines, how do you combat these myriad devices of long range death? From cannons that can devastate even the toughest unit of knights or snipe your precious general on his expensive mount, to Warp-lightning cannons and hellblaster volleyguns that can easily do away with an entire unit in one volley, they have a tiresome habit of whittling away your at troops so when you finally get to them it often isn't easy going.

Then of course we have Dwarf warmachines with the added nuisance of engineers and engineering runes. Not only can the warmachine be made much more effective with unbreakable crew, re-rolls for scatter, postive modifiers to hit and so on, when you finally get to that pesky cannon there is the possibility of it exploding and causing a bucket load of S4 magical hits to your prize warmachine hunters.

So how do you plan to combat them? Do you have a preferred unit or tactic that works every time? Do you prefer to mob them with cheap, disposable infantry or play them at their own game and shoot them to bits? Feel free to discuss any and all tactics against warmachines, this topic can cover quite a wide range of eventualities.


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## drivebybaptism (Dec 12, 2008)

Send in the greater deamons


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## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

or any fast cav, monster with a nice movement speed, flyers take your pick! any and every army has a good way of dealing with these. who seriously has problems with these??


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## Ascendant Valor (Jan 3, 2009)

War Machines can be devastating.

As HE, I focus my RBT fire on the nastiest things in my opponent's army; this includes heavy cavalry, tar pits (soften them up so they're less of an issue), monsters, and other War Machines. Units with Characters are especially juicy targets. If I can get your Character and his unit to run, I'll stand much better chances in Close Combat! A big if, but it's worth the chance sometimes.

Things I fear are fliers and fast movers. Normally, shooting my RBTs isn't too threatening, though magic can be if any mages can hit them. I can't tell you how many times a small unit of Harpies silenced by war machines.

Things I do to combat them:
-Focus Fire with my RBTs, if the opportunity presents itself
-Keep my units as hidden as possible. A unit of Phoenix Guard normally won't be concerned about ANY War Machines.
-Enter Combat as fast as possible. It's not a guarantee, but it's a lot safer.
-Buff my units via magic. Ward and Regen saves can be a Godsend, for instance.


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## Dafistofmork (Jan 9, 2009)

i reccently took out a hellblaster volly gun with my organ gun(8 S5 autohits anyone?). the auto hits part is good, as there is no modifers for shooting at longrange, and your cannon ball wont bounce right over it(which happened to my organ gun once!).

oh dear i suggested organ guns as the solution once again.


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## Creon (Mar 5, 2009)

All war machines but Cannons: Block the line of sight. If they can't see, they can't shoot. Raise Skeletons in front of the war machine. Move a wood into place. charge in with Light Cav. Flyers are great.


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## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

I just take more warmachines than my opponent and unless they're Dwarfs mine will be better. Other than that I think pretty much every army has some form of defence even my Ogres get gorgers and their are a few spells that effect blackpowder weapons.
If I get really stuck I'd recommend the Hochland longrifles once they've killed the mages.
I usually protect my volleyguns by placing them between 2 big units of swordsmen and although it reduces their arc of fire a little with carefull positioning it gets protection and most armies want to get in combat at some point so have to move into its sights.


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## MaidenManiac (Oct 2, 2008)

What you can do against warmachines differ so much between armies, so here are general tips:

*Own shooting back:* Roughly every 3d shot will hit crew and they are generally low T models with bad(if any save). HE/DE RBTs are specially suceptable to this since they only have 2 crewmembers. If you have cannons(or similar S9+ multiplewound warmachines yourself) shoot the machine itself to wreck it:wink:

*Magic:* There are lots and lots and few and lots of spells that can ruin warmachines. Magical missiles can, just like shooting deplete its crew(and in special cases kill the machine too). Magical movement can let you charge them unexpected or block their LoS with totally expendable models. Summoning spells can also LoS block them and possess a threat for a charge:good:

*Charge it:* Most armies have atleast one type of these: Fast cav, expendable fast units, scouts, flyers, units with "enters game from a table edge rule". Almost all of these will generally whack a warmachinecrew to the ground on a charge:victory:

*Psycology:* whilst true that they ignore own model loses they certainly don't ignore Terror:scare: Sending a unit packing(for any reason) over the warmachine can also do the thing for you

*Outnumber them:* Well, simply put, dont use expensive things with huge "bullseyes" painted on them(charriots, heavy cav, monsters...) but swarm the opponent instead. A cannon is scarcely usefull against a 300 model Skaven/O&G/Marauderhorde:gamer1:


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