Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Tau Art of War: 1. Laying Plans

As a side note to the readers, there are a handful of books that I read and meditate on.  I usually do this when I feel a void and need advice on any facet of my life.  The writings I usually fall back on are The Holy Bible, the Hindu Vedas, various works by Machiavelli or Dostoevski, and Sun Tzu's The Art of War.  The Art of War is a book that I have been reading continuously and repeatedly in the last several of weeks.  It occurred to me after watching a History Channel Special that you can apply each one of Sun Tzu's lessons to Tau Tactica.  So I have decided to make a series of posts reviewing each lesson by Sun Tzu and applying them both on and off the table top.

I. Laying Plans
Sun Tzu says "According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one's plans"

Probably one of my favorite passages by Sun Tzu.  This means that we as Tau players should be able to modify our battle strategies as the flow of battle channels forward.  I.E. I planned on taking objective A, but I see greater advantage in taking objective B instead.  Or I was going to shoot at the battle wagon but the trukk on the flank is dangerously close to a mob of boyz making an explosion result especially harmful to my enemies morale.  

Sun Tzu says "All warfare is based on deception.  Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable, when using our forced, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make him believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.  Hold out baits to entice the enemy.  Feign disorder, and crush him.  If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him.  If he is superior in strength evade him... If he is taking ease, give him no rest.  Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected. These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.  

With maneuverability, firepower, and Strength that is often overlooked the Tau force is probably one of the best armies to apply these meditations towards.  I.E. both you and your opponent both know that your fire knife will do nothing when firing While facing the fron arc of a Leman Russ.  But with the change to rules all close combat attacks strike rear armor which means an un-upgraded fireknife on the charge will inflict 3 S5 hits towards rear armor when assaulting.  Reserves make an especially great addition to our army with accurate landing we can appear where our opponent least expects us and inflict horendous amounts of damage.  For laying out baits, every good opponent should know that he/she should assault out battesuits when presented an opportunity, but for just 1 point more than the cost of a single guardsmen you can give a battlesuit a TL flamer taking advantage of the wall of flame special rule.  Also, we all know sportsmanship, I.e. an opponent asks what is inside transport #1 we should tell them honestly because we expect the same from him, 40K is turning towards a game of sportsmanship, but we should never let the opponent know that in 2 turns my battlesuits are going to Deepstrike behind your lines and target your rear armor. 

What do you think?
If you  have read Sun Tzu before and have read the first chapter tell me if you noticed something applicable to the Tau that I overlooked.  If you haven't read Sun Tzu there are plenty of copies available for free online.  Do you have any tactics that you think can be applied to these lessons?

Thought for the moment
A 30 Boy Ork Mob Assaults a unit of 5 Pirrahna skimmers all with Flechette Dischargers.  Each Ork technically counts as assaulting every vehicle.  Does the ork player suffer 150 wounds on a 4+?