# Massive Artillery Tactics



## emporershand89 (Jun 11, 2010)

So the reason I have started this thread is to discuss the use of massive artillery bombardment both in the Table Top and the Ficitonal Universe. 

For the first I wish to ask if anyone has attempted such a feat, and if you have how did it work out. Currently I'm looking at 5-7 Basiliks or a few Conquerer's mixed with Infantry/Heavy Weapons. the main idea is to just throw as much heavy orancance at the enemy and wipe them out before they come into their effective range(similar to Tau tactics). I wish to use this to Pound Sand on my DE freind. Any comments, thoughts, suggestions?

Secondly in the Fictional Universe how affective is Artillery really? Does it really do as much as they books say or is it more a grinding tool of war for low-ranking commanders using Basic tactics(like in Gaunts Ghost series)?


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## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

In theory massed guns should be very effective. 
Even if the enemy gets through your defensive screen they still have a job to do taking out that many guns. 
The only draw back will be the points cost and how much you have to sacrifice from the rest of the army to get these levels of guns.

As for the performance of arty in the fluff well as always it is a good or as bad as it needs to be for the story.


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## Deathypoo (Jun 27, 2011)

Does your artillery have night vision? I feel like you auto-lose any game that starts at night, no?


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## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

Deathypoo said:


> Does your artillery have night vision? I feel like you auto-lose any game that starts at night, no?


Why would that be so ?


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## The_Werewolf_Arngeirr (Apr 3, 2012)

Ive had the horror of facing a game of pure basilisks, it utterly raped my Dark eldar which were situated completely wrong for facing against that kind of army, but it was pretty brutal.


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## Loki1416 (Apr 20, 2010)

Don't know if it counts, but I had 3 PPL in my GK list that had Orbital Strike. That was a lot of pie plates coming down and was a blast for me. My two opponents HATED it. We played 1v1v1 with the home rule that you could shoot into the other peoples melee as long as none of your guys were involved. I cleaned house!


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## The_Werewolf_Arngeirr (Apr 3, 2012)

Loki1416 said:


> Don't know if it counts, but I had 3 PPL in my GK list that had Orbital Strike. That was a lot of pie plates coming down and was a blast for me. My two opponents HATED it. We played 1v1v1 with the home rule that you could shoot into the other peoples melee as long as none of your guys were involved. I cleaned house!


ive done that one when Ive done battle royales with old friends. Ill miss those days, but they just grew out of the game cause they hated 6th.


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## Deathypoo (Jun 27, 2011)

Magpie_Oz said:


> Why would that be so ?



Maybe "auto-lose" is an exaggeration, but night fighting starts certainly favor closer range/melee armies, and having the longest range/shootiest possible army intuitively makes me think the effect would be exaggerated. Am I missing something?


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## scscofield (May 23, 2011)

It is a single turn of night fight and there will still be plenty of shooting before the armies hit melee. 

Not sure but don't the artillery have indirect fire so they can just fire at the targets anyways and it just autoscatters? That much AoE is still going to hit shit, even with scatters.


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## SSG.House (Jul 29, 2013)

Ive never worked with Indirect fire in the game, I dont see how a lack of night vision would hinder the ability to lob some high angle death. But like I said I have never dealt with it, so I dont know if there needs to be a spotter, or if the no blind fire rule counts?


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## Deathypoo (Jun 27, 2011)

Night fighting says you can't target units further than 36" away, period. No barrage. If it said you don't have Line of Sight to enemies further away than 36", you'd be able to fire barrage.

I always feel like it cuts out a significant advantage when my 60" weapon has to be in range of my opponent's 36" weapon if I want to shoot it. If I had a whole army based on those weapons, night fight would hurt.


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## scscofield (May 23, 2011)

Thing is with the deployments they will either be in range or pushed back to hide. If they push back they will still have to advance into the open field after night fight is over.

Hammer and anvil: if they hug the edge of deployment they will be in range. Otherwise they are not and lose the advantage NF gives

Dawn of war: same deal, 36 inches plus deployment means they can't hide.

The weird angled one might cause issues but it would even without NF in those regards.


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## dragonkingofthestars (May 3, 2010)

I believe the grey knight 'Exterminatus' list deserves a mention.

2000 points, Coteaz, Grand Master w/ Orbital Relay, six Techmarines with Orbital Relays and some squads. 

14 S6 Ap4 large blasts per turn.


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## emporershand89 (Jun 11, 2010)

The_Werewolf_Arngeirr said:


> it utterly raped my Dark eldar which were situated completely wrong for facing against that kind of army, but it was pretty brutal.


May I ask Werewolf how that came to be. My enemy will be the Dark Eldar so any information I can get to gain the advantage will be helpful. 

The main reason I ask is because I doubt the effectiveness to hit the Raiders/Talons. My experience has been that the Raider's Lances will shoot across the board and annihilate anything in front of them (vehicle wise). Thus while in numbers Arty seems good, in practice I'm afraid to use it. What are your thoughts on the matter?


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## Mossy Toes (Jun 8, 2009)

emporershand89 said:


> May I ask Werewolf how that came to be. My enemy will be the Dark Eldar so any information I can get to gain the advantage will be helpful.
> 
> The main reason I ask is because I doubt the effectiveness to hit the Raiders/Talons. My experience has been that the Raider's Lances will shoot across the board and annihilate anything in front of them (vehicle wise). Thus while in numbers Arty seems good, in practice I'm afraid to use it. What are your thoughts on the matter?


I assume barrages on any clustered Raiders/Ravagers/Venoms would absolutely shatter a DE army. Bring some sacrificial Chimeras in case of Night Fighting to dart forward and illuminate a fitting target for your guns.


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## MidnightSun (Feb 10, 2009)

emporershand89 said:


> The main reason I ask is because I doubt the effectiveness to hit the Raiders/Talons. My experience has been that the Raider's Lances will shoot across the board and annihilate anything in front of them (vehicle wise). Thus while in numbers Arty seems good, in practice I'm afraid to use it. What are your thoughts on the matter?


May we swap Raiders? I tend to need at least four Dark Lances per AV11 chassis, closer to 6 if I want to deal with any real vehicle.

Midnight


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## Iraqiel (May 21, 2008)

I've played both basilisk heavy armies and manticore heavy armies (i.e two to three), and have even mixed them. And I very often take a Master of Ordinance. My thoughts on artillery barrages are:

Against elite armies, your shots will be shrugged off, and the scatter effect will mean that you can have turns of completely ineffective fire. Also, minimum ranges mean that you need to find a way of dealing with enemies from 36 inches away (24 for manticores), which potentially relegates them to expensive heavy bolter platforms... or you fire your barrage without the BS being subtracted from the dice, which can have... orky... results.

However, against horde armies they are incredibly effective and can quickly wipe the table clean of those nasty orks, nids, cultists or guardsmen. I've also employed them to good effect clearing those random tactical squads left just behind the mid table away from objectives. 

So, mixed results. The vehicles don't have a lot of staying power, so if those Dark Eldar get close enough to lance you, you've probably had it. However, with enough deterrents or scary things like hellhounds, melta mechanised vets or sacrificial sentinels, they may be left alone long enough to make a big difference.

Fiction wise, the artillery doesn't differ too much from what was seen in WW1 and WW2 (guard wise). Good references are the Western Front WW1 like Sainte-Brettenous and Ypres, and from WW2 Monte Casino and the Africa Campaigns, especially the sieges of Tobruk. The Guard is vast and if you wanted, you could make your army a Gun Regiment plus rear area security team that just has the bad luck to have been left at the front of the line during every single battle they've fought in... tough luck to those guys!


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## Chaplain-Grimaldus (Aug 4, 2013)

That or it constantly has the misfortune of being attacked by the most sneaky flanking enemies!

If you want a real world account on what it is like to be on the receiving end of an indirect barrage (Ugl, Mortar, Chinese rockets and Rpg) and having artillery fire support in combat (105, GMLRS missiles) then PM me and I will be happy to talk about it, just not here


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## Old Man78 (Nov 3, 2011)

"One wages war with artillery" Napoleon

"Artillery is the god of war" Stalin, me thinks


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