# Presence and Intimidation



## DarKKKKK (Feb 22, 2008)

There are some of those units and models in 40k that make an impact by just knowing they are in the game. Those units that your oppenent throws everything at them to get rid of them or desperately attempts to ignore and stay out of range of their destruction. Just having these units brings fear into minds of many opponents, which to the owners favor, can use that fear to distract and deceive while their opponent's minds are overwhelmed with what to do about your unit(s) and everything else in your army. 

What do you guys do with these such units? All armies have these "feared" units to employ. How many of them do you usually use? Do you use the "feared" as more of a distraction, keep your opponent shooting at it instead of the rest of your army and become a fire magnet? Or support it with your army around it, keeping it alive by benefiting from the army around it? Have they won more games for you or have them just been a point sink in the end? How do you use the presence and intimidation brought with these units to your advantage?


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

I think this is a common tactic with Land Raiders filled with Terminators, and Monoliths.
Generally using a big vehicle to draw fire away from other vehicles is a good way to go, because people often think the big kill is worth more than several smaller kills.
They're usually wrong.


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## VanitusMalus (Jun 27, 2009)

agreed with Winterous. I utilize the "too many units to kill them all" tactic. I would rather have so many varying units on the board that the enemy doesn't know who is high priority versus using some expensive big unit to draw everyone's fire. Mainly because what if the first unit gets lucky and nukes that unit/vehicle?


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## Blue Liger (Apr 25, 2008)

Being a DE it's hard not to do this that unit so happens to be our HQ, but yes I tend to prefer to place as many units on the board as possible to make sure my opponent has a harder time taking out units that are threats to him/her.


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## projectda (May 12, 2008)

i use the forgeworld bloodthrister. it strikes fear into all the 1st time. for those who have played it/knows what it does still run from it.


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## johnnymajic (Jan 2, 2009)

There's a couple of things that come to mind as a chaos player; Demon Prince, khorne bezerkers, khorne champion terminators with lightning claws in a demonicly possed landraider and vindicators seem to scare people sillly. These are just a few heavy hitters


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## Iron Angel (Aug 2, 2009)

Monoliths will freak people out, and rightly so. I use them in pairs, advancing with my army in the Steamroller tactic most times, using them to support WBB or pie plate, whichever seems more necessary at the time. Other times, I Deep Strike them directly on top of my enemy, usually with less mobile foes, to draw fire and act as huge, terrifying distractions, or anchors to teleport units in that benefit from its location in the center of the army. Its special rule forcing units out of its way can be useful for disrupting enemy positions as well. Other times, I'll drop them on objectives to drive away the units holding them, and bring in my own troops to take objectives in the last few turns. Just the mere presence of two or more Monoliths is enough to make the enemy overthink the battle most times.


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## Wolf_Lord_Skoll (Jun 9, 2008)

Intimidation doesn't work if your opponent knows what they are doing. 

For example my last game was against Necrons with Monolith and Nightbringer. I ignored the Monolith, almost killed Night Bringer with a tooled-up Broodlord and retinue(because I knew they could do some damage) and caused a turn 5 Phase out because I was using my actually firepower to destroy his Warriors.


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## Grim Jaw (Apr 19, 2008)

Recently Space Wolf Scouts have been causing problems for my main opponent, he plays Guard. So a unit of 5 with melta Bombs, with the ability to come on right next to his tanks, and charge on that turn has given him a lot to think about, he's even resorted to leaving a unit strung out along his back line to stop it.


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

I do this all the time with my Daemons. Nobody and I mean _nobody_ stays perfectly calm when there are two Greater Daemons, a Daemon Prince, Soul Grinder and five Bloodcrushers running at them. I've beaten one of the top placing Canadian GT players by simply giving him too many scary units to shoot.


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## Rye (Sep 22, 2009)

When the number of Leman Russ variants on the table exceeds three, people begin to get a bit nervous. The same applies to Valkyries, I find.


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## Khorothis (May 12, 2009)

In our LGS my frequent use of Kharn made him grow a reputation for being scary as hell. Which he is. :grin: But the scariest or rather more embarrassing is when my opponent brings up his trump card against him (like Rockfist guarding Grimnar, which is a great idea) and I simply avoid it. Keep in mind that you can always increase their scariness with clever use, like Katie Drake above.

Monoliths are paralyzing only for those who never played Necron before. Everyone else knows that if you play against Necrons, go for everything that has the Necron rule. The really scary thing in the Necron army are the Wraiths. Thank goodness they don't have power weapons, that'd make them even scarier than TH/SS-toting Assault Terminators.

Currently my plan is to bring two DPs and a Greater Daemon (I made a ridiculously good bargain for a Bloodthirster, all thats left is the mailing bit) and two squads of Slaaneshi Bikers. At first, they'll be busy shooting the Bikers apart (good luck going past the 3+ cover save, turbo boost FTW), but then suddenly, out of bloody nowhere, appears a Greater Daemon and two Obliterators, who charge and shoot respectively. Bad news is that I already have a DP with 4+ inv. save, the other is a Lash Prince, the third is essentially a bit sluggish DP on steroids. In the meantime, my humble CSM will close up and shoot everything to bits. However, if I can't keep the pressure up and my opponent gets even one turn to settle down and think he'll see through the trick and come up with a plan to counter them.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Khorothis said:


> Currently my plan is to bring two DPs and a Greater Daemon (I made a ridiculously good bargain for a Bloodthirster, all thats left is the mailing bit) and two squads of Slaaneshi Bikers. At first, they'll be busy shooting the Bikers apart (good luck going past the 3+ cover save, turbo boost FTW), but then suddenly, out of bloody nowhere, appears a Greater Daemon and two Obliterators, who charge and shoot respectively. Bad news is that I already have a DP with 4+ inv. save, the other is a Lash Prince, the third is essentially a bit sluggish DP on steroids. In the meantime, my humble CSM will close up and shoot everything to bits. However, if I can't keep the pressure up and my opponent gets even one turn to settle down and think he'll see through the trick and come up with a plan to counter them.


Why Slaaneshi bikers?
Why not just normal bikers, or even Nurgle bikers?


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## Khorothis (May 12, 2009)

Winterous said:


> Why Slaaneshi bikers?
> Why not just normal bikers, or even Nurgle bikers?


They already have better toughness and if I boost their initiative, they'll have much, much more chance at killing MEQs. And I always wanted to have Slaaneshi Bikers. Think of Doomrider, man, I wish we still had him as a special character. But alas, all the awesomeness of Chaos died when 4th ed came... :cray:

A minute of silence, please.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Khorothis said:


> They already have better toughness and if I boost their initiative, they'll have much, much more chance at killing MEQs. And I always wanted to have Slaaneshi Bikers. Think of Doomrider, man, I wish we still had him as a special character. But alas, all the awesomeness of Chaos died when 4th ed came... :cray:
> 
> A minute of silence, please.


But if they exist solely as an up-in-your-grill threat who want to survive volleys of fire, why give them Slaanesh?
I wouldn't even be going into melee with them, I'd just shoot, TL Bolters are pretty good.


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## Khorothis (May 12, 2009)

I give'em Slaanesh so I'll have an excuse for wierd conversions. And for safety's sake, I'm not talking about anything thats 18+. SERIOUSLY. 
If it were Pyrovores we're talking about then it'd be a completely different thing though. :grin:


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Khorothis said:


> If it were Pyrovores we're talking about then it'd be a completely different thing though. :grin:


Wait, where did they come into this??
And supposedly their gun is AP4, so no worries there.


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## Wolf_Lord_Skoll (Jun 9, 2008)

Katie Drake said:


> I do this all the time with my Daemons. Nobody and I mean _nobody_ stays perfectly calm when there are two Greater Daemons, a Daemon Prince, Soul Grinder and five Bloodcrushers running at them. I've beaten one of the top placing Canadian GT players by simply giving him too many scary units to shoot.


Oh really :grin:

I've played Deamons at 1750 with Tyranids: Deamon Prince, Bloodthirster, 2 Soul Grinders and 4 Crushers w/ Herald. Not all that scary, in the end I won 1 objective to 0, took out all of his troops with my army, while my Broodlord and retinue killed off his Thrister and Crushers


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## DarKKKKK (Feb 22, 2008)

Rye said:


> When the number of Leman Russ variants on the table exceeds three, people begin to get a bit nervous. The same applies to Valkyries, I find.


I just had a 2,000 pt battle against my friends Imp Guard. He had 2 Leman Russ Battle Tanks (squad), 2 Leman Russ Vanquishers (squad), 3 Valkyries holding all his troops, command squad in chimera and 2 techpriests with 2 servitors with Plasma cannons each. :shok:

Although we ended in a draw in an annihilation game :mrgreen: .....because I had to go to work, but it would have been about the dice rolls for the rest of the game. It was that close.


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

Wolf_Lord_Skoll said:


> Oh really :grin:
> 
> I've played Deamons at 1750 with Tyranids: Deamon Prince, Bloodthirster, 2 Soul Grinders and 4 Crushers w/ Herald. Not all that scary, in the end I won 1 objective to 0, took out all of his troops with my army, while my Broodlord and retinue killed off his Thrister and Crushers


Congrats. 

But you weren't playing me. :laugh:


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## Lopspoon (Jun 23, 2009)

I find you can add to the intimidation by making special mention of this one unit, for example recounting times when a greater deamon destroyed half an army, then if you put that unit into cover, they will waste valuable shooting trying to kill a minor unit


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## IntereoVivo (Jul 14, 2009)

I really like modeling my "counts as" units a little bigger/scarier looking then normal for this very reason. The more eye-catching it is, the more likely someone will choose to shoot it (unless they actually know what they are doing).

Target saturation is one of my favorite tactics as well.


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## Wolf_Lord_Skoll (Jun 9, 2008)

Katie Drake said:


> Congrats.
> 
> But you weren't playing me. :laugh:


Aye, that is true. But I still wouldn't be intimidated by the number of large targets. The other player? Sure  But never the things in the army.


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

Wolf_Lord_Skoll said:


> Aye, that is true. But I still wouldn't be intimidated by the number of large targets. The other player? Sure  But never the things in the army.


Fair enough. And I was just trash talkin' anyway.


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## Wolf_Lord_Skoll (Jun 9, 2008)

Aye, no harm done. Still scared of playing the Drake though


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## officer kerky (Jun 12, 2008)

i find that fielding an army of grey knights can scare the crap outa anyone who doesnt know how to kill them.

also an imperial guard army just comprised of platoons seems to scare my friend pretty bad in a 3k battle.


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## Concrete Hero (Jun 9, 2008)

officer kerky said:


> i find that fielding an army of grey knights can scare the crap outa anyone who doesnt know how to kill them.
> 
> also an imperial guard army just comprised of platoons seems to scare my friend pretty bad in a 3k battle.


Really? I always grin wildly when facing an army of GK, knowing I'll be finished for lunch XD

Not sure how intimidating it is, but I've have a few funny looks when I've finished deploying my Guard army, LOTS of vehicles. Quite funny when your opponent is low on the Anti Armour


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## Fumble Tumble (Oct 3, 2008)

how about commander farsight and his bodyguard, come on people, who wouldn't find commander farsight and 7 battlesuits scary... its pretty killy

and when i see a guard army made of platoons i say "well hammerheads are gonna be happy", just because i love playing horde armys mainly because tau usually own them...


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## Sethis (Jun 4, 2009)

My Opponent is scared of all my grav tanks... but I have 5 in 1500pts so there's not much they can do about it! :laugh:


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## ChaosRedCorsairLord (Apr 17, 2009)

Carnifex with talons, crushing claws, adrenal glands, scythe tail, reinforced chitin, regenerate, tusked. He's absolutely useless in assault (even with all those upgrades), but attracts so much shooting I just can't bare to change him to a dakkafex.


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

I think people are rightly scared of hammerheads, dont deal with them and either light infantry or transports are dust 

Oh and broadsides in cover get so much fire for such small results

I love playing farsights body guard its insanely good fun however I dont think its seen very often and with the large blast markers IG can put out its becoming less and less intimidating by the day.

Grey knights .. I've never lost to them or had a problem with them so I dont know... 

personally monstrous creatures like daemons really intimidate me as I really dont know how to deal with them in bulk especially in armies when I have khorne beserkers or flamers of Tzeentch raining down on me.

Also I've given up dealing with shield termies they are just so hard to kill


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

deathbringer said:


> Also I've given up dealing with shield termies they are just so hard to kill


Weight of fire dude. It's about all you can do unless you have a vortex grenade or something.


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## timsmith (Nov 30, 2008)

Like alot of people have said. some nice conversions always says your serious about the hobby. I find a well painted army has the same affect. There is nothing worst than putting your unpainted models on the table vs a well painted army. 

I find the thing you have to do is come up witha game plan to win no matter what your facing. I recently played in a 1200pts game playing CSM vs 18 BLOODCRUSHERS!!!! and a thirster and some PB's. It was objectives and i just concentrated on keeping my lash prince alive 2 eat his troops. I only had a wounded Lash Prince left but managed to pull of a draw by focusing his attention on my LR and Rhino's. I knew i Couldnt out monover him as it was only a 4x4 board otherwise i may have had a chance. Man those Crushers are hard to kill. 

I was intimidated yes but i knew my army was well designed and ALWAYS has a brawlers chance at least. 

Before you open fire or move anything have a think for 2 mins, Rush things and you will make crutial mistakes like firing at a LR coz its big and scary when you should be killing the rhino with the tac squad in instead.


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## Inquisitor Malaclypse (Dec 6, 2008)

not bad picks, but so far only big nasty models that take up a lot of space have been picked.

i choose:

Eldrad.

does a lot for his points cost, a viable choice in armies at 1250 points plus, and like a nest of cockroaches, incredibably hard to kill.

i know i'm biased, but he's up there on the top 10 special characters list for 40K.

our non-Eldar players have been adjusting their lists to deal solely with him to the point that at last half the armies now included a psyker of some kind. talk about manipulating your opponent's playing style.


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## The Fallen (Jul 15, 2009)

projectda said:


> i use the forgeworld bloodthrister. it strikes fear into all the 1st time. for those who have played it/knowswhat it does still run from it.












Who wouldnt be scared of that thing?


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

It looks too big to even play with... would be a nightmare trying to _Deep Strike_ it safely or get cover.


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## Sethis (Jun 4, 2009)

The Fallen said:


> Who wouldnt be scared of that thing?


Reminded me heavily of the following:


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Katie Drake said:


> It looks too big to even play with... would be a nightmare trying to _Deep Strike_ it safely or get cover.


Who gives a damn?
That thing is AWESOME!


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

Winterous said:


> Who gives a damn?


Well, I do. I have no problem with awesome looking models. In fact, I recently purchased a Forge World Chaplain Dreadnought with two Dreadnought close combat arms (left and right) and a Dreadnought scenic base, so the problem isn't putting out the cash for a cool looking model. The problem is putting out the cash for a cool looking model that results only in one getting skull-fucked because the model is too big to hide behind a damned Monolith.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Katie Drake said:


> Well, I do. I have no problem with awesome looking models. In fact, I recently purchased a Forge World Chaplain Dreadnought with two Dreadnought close combat arms (left and right) and a Dreadnought scenic base, so the problem isn't putting out the cash for a cool looking model. The problem is putting out the cash for a cool looking model that results only in one getting skull-fucked because the model is too big to hide behind a damned Monolith.


Simple solution, get a bigger Monolith


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## bakoren (Nov 16, 2009)

I tend to use a Carnifex spec'd to stand in the back and shoot a Strangler into squads. Oddly enough, my friend wastes his Drop Pod full of Assault Marines with Khan just to kill this thing. He is my distraction piece. After they kill him, or for some reason they didn't lock up in combat, I send in some GeneStealers to clean up the mess.


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## Strange Dude (Jul 15, 2008)

Never underestimate the value of a unit that messes up your opponents plans anything with a psychic hood can really put a spanner in your opponents plans and force him to change them.


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