Warhammer 40,000: Vehicle Tactics

Though these tactics mainly cover heavy tanks, and the examples are for the Imperial Guard, bear in mind that all armies bar Necrons and Tyranids have either access to Imperial vehicles, or can ally with Space Marine/Imperial Guard, and that these tactics will also work with light vehicles and lighter tanks such as Falcons. There are five basic formations used by tank platoons. These are the Column, the Line, Echelon Right/Left, the Wedge, and Refused Flank. Each is covered in more detail below.

Column

Tanks in column can advance and maintain alignment by following the leader. Since the formation is easy to maintain, it is used for moving a platoon up to the battle front quickly. However, this is not a good battle formation as even though the column can cover its flanks, only the lead tank can fire forwards and only the last tank can cover the rear.

Line

The line formation is deadly to meet head-on, but as with the front and rear of the Column, in a line only the most extreme left and right tanks can cover the flanks, making it easier for the formation to be broken up and destroyed. Another problem is that optimum speed and spacing is required to avoid accidents if one tank is destroyed or the formation is attacked. Against a wide front line though, with little or no flexibility the line is a very strong formation.

Echelon

The Echelon Right (or Left) has advantages of both the Line and Column. It offers full firepower directly ahead or to one flank. When used to move up either side of the battlefield it allows a commander to bring the full firepower of his tank platoon to bear and means that neither the rear, front or right/left side is uncovered by weapons fire and that the other side is protected by the table edge. If using this formation to move up the centre of the battle field it is better to have a right and left Echelon together to form a…

Wedge

Wedge formations are very strong as it brings the frontal firepower of all tanks together and also protects both flanks. If the lead tank is exceptionally heavily armoured it means that effectively all the other tanks are equal, as it must be destroyed before the others can be attacked. The space inside the wedge easily accommodates APCs and these can add additional light support in the form of anti-infantry fire to the strength of the wedge. This combination of battle tanks and protected APCs means that the large weapons of the turrets can fire at prime targets while the lesser weapons and APC weaponry can deal with light vehicles and infantry that attempt to overrun the formation. Probably the best formation to use to A) protect APCs up the battle field, B) split their front line in half and C) form a massive and powerful spear head.

Refused Flank

The refused flank formation is used when a line formation is passing a potential danger spot, such as a woods, a building, or other cover that contain an enemy. A couple of tanks drop back in Echelon to protect the flank. Once the hazard has been passed, the two tanks on the flank accelerate to rejoin the line. This can also be used to advance up the battlefield and still protect the flanks, this is exceptionally useful if you do not have a more heavily armoured vehicle to lead a wedge, and so would gain no benefit from a wedge. The line of tanks allows all to fire forward effectively and the flank allows protection of that side. For advancing up one side of the battlefield this is better than a wedge as it means that you do not have a pair (or more) of tanks blocked by the table edge.

The above formations are the classic tank formations. Now we will see how we can use these on a 41st millenium battlefield.

Column
The Column is only going to come into effect during certain specific scenarios, when you have to move your army in column. Tactically, it is useless as you will open the flanks of all the tanks to enemy fire (flank armour is weaker than frontal), negate the ability of your turret to fire forwards and can only actually cover a small area of the battlefield. One other problem that a friend of ours discovered when he tried the column formation is that if you use it to move through a built up area or crowded battle line is that all the opponent has to do is destroy the lead tank and suddenly you have 3 scenarios 1) if you were moving at fast speed you have a hell of a pile up, most of the tanks get destroyed, go out of control and run over troops/hit each other and generally get slagged (this is what happened to him), 2) if moving at combat/slow speed you slow/stop and turn away safely from a pile up, thus allowing your opponents a series of large, non moving sitting ducks while you attempt to move around the blown tanks and other obstacles or 3) you manage to avoid all problems by scooting off in different directions at various speeds and completely destroy your formation, leave tanks without support and protection, wreck your fields of fire and generally screw up your battle plan. Look at old WWII films and books, tank columns are used for advancing quickly and along roads, but if they are attacked they are destroyed with quite a bit of ease.

Line
As mentioned above, the Line is useful if you are fighting an army that cannot really out flank you easily either it doesn’t have the capability or is too slow (DO NOT use this formation against Eldar or Orks as both have very fast moving tanks/lights vehicles and close assault troops that will destroy the formation). Other forces have the ability to outflank you as well but usually not as well as the Orks and Eldar. Use it if you absolutely have to have a solid wall of vehicles to assault their front line together, but you have been warned, cover your flanks. If you are simply trying to destroy and/or split the enemy use the Wedge or Refused Flank.

Echelon
The Echelon can be used in specific situations, and you should support them with variations of the themes below.

Here we are using an Echelon Formation of tanks coming on on the right flank with mechanised infantry support. You will notice that once again each tank is able to support every other tank and all tanks are covered by anti-personnel firepower from the Chimeras and heavy weapons teams in the heavy weapons squad. You have infantry holding your line, which will advance as opportunity allows and you have heavy weapons on your opposite flank that are able to destroy vehicles, etc. You also have a mobile, hard hitting close combat unit in the Rough Riders. The object of this is to advance your tanks into the flank of your enemy, concentrating as much firepower as possible on a localized area. Once this flank of the enemy is destroyed and/or broken, you can turn upon the rest of his line and destroy it in detail. You must use terrain to your best advantage (terrain was left off of the illustration for clarity's sake only, there will always be at least some terrain on any battlefield). Remember, the key is combined arms. Once in the enemy deployment zone the tanks can wheel around begin to sweep through the line. this will scatter troops and possible run some over, disrupting squads and forcing regrouping movement, this can cause some heavy weapons to be unable to fire that turn. At this point anti-infantry weaponry should be within short range and have any bonus's as such and the enemy infantry will just be decimated. Disembark any squads in the APCs and enage the enemy in close combat if they are assault troops or engage at range with tactical troops.

A variation of the above plan is to bring on the Echelon on one side on turn 1. Force the opponent to back off into one half of his deployment zone. Continue to push on turn 2 but also wheel around to force him further into his corner. On turn 3/4 bring on a wedge or line formation of APCs and battle tanks up to trap his remaining forces, pour fire into the tightly clumped army and watch it disintegrate. If anything still survives, slow down on the following turn, disembark troops and engage and try to overwhelm them.

Wedge
This is the proper way to use a Wedge Formation of armoured vehicles to penetrate the center of your enemy's battle line.

The red fields of fire are the firepower of your tanks, the yellow fields of fire are supporting fire from anti-personnel weapons on your APCs such as the multilaser, heavy bolters and such. The weaponry on your APCs will keep infantry off of the vehicle directly ahead, and can also fire between the tanks to hit targets before they get too close. The heavy weapons squads should have good anti-personnel weapons such as mortars, heavy bolters, missile launchers, and autocannons. They should fire along the line just ahead of your Wedge Formation, going down the flanks, aiming at an area forward of your lead tank. Your infantry squads should have a more powerful anti-vehicle weapon, as they will have to defend your flanks. Concentrate your fire in killing fields, and this formation becomes a death trap for any infantry that tries to close assault your vehicles. Once you have driven through the enemy line, you can take the two tanks on each flank and fire into the enemy's line and rampage behind the line with your lead tank, but keep your infantry supporting them. Also, once you have punched through your enemy's line, unload your infantry squads from your APCs so that they can add their firepower to that of your tanks and help keep enemy infantry off of your tanks. Use your assault troops to create a threat to your enemy's flank; they can be used on either or both flanks. Their main job is to divert enemy units away from your armoured fist and to help protect it. The very good thing about this formation is that regardless of your opponent’s battle plan, he cannot fail to react to yours. If you have tanks behind your lines supporting the infantry/tanks (Griffons, Basilisks, Whirlwinds etc) or other vehicles attacking singly or in small groups (Vypers, landspeeders, hellhounds etc) and the enemy was planning on destroying those he has to change either because of the Closest target rule or because he cannot avoid to have half a dozen tanks splitting his front line and disgorging infantry while he picks off the support otherwise the support will be dead but the army will have destroyed his. Even characters with warp jumps, jump packs etc and vortex grenades, powerfists etc will have to decide what is better to destroy; a supporting Whirlwind or the Landraider heading a wedge of 4 predators and 3 rhinos? This means that as well as wrecking their plan and their front line, the wedge also draws fire from your support leaving long-range vehicles and heavy weapons troopers alive and firing for longer.

Refused Flank
This can be used as the wedge is shown below, but should be used along one side of the battle field as support for another formation, or as a formation specifically for destroy a single target, e.g. a battery of support and heavy weapons, a particular squad etc. If used as your only formation, the opponent will simply move and you have to play catch up. You can try and make this work for you as with the Echelon formation above, but I think you are better using the Echelon to do it.

In any of the attacks above, you should also use bombardment and any artillery you have in support of your tank unit.

Remember to stay flexible in your thinking and watch for opportunity. If opportunities present themselves for wheeling this formation to do more damage, take advantage of it! Do not ever lock yourself into one scenario only, or you will be beaten.

How to defeat Vehicles

The best way to defeat large vehicles such as tanks is hand to hand. A squad of troopers can very easily swarm all over a tank and rip it apart. Even a krak grenade has a penetration of 30 in close combat, which is higher than a lascannon. Characters can be even worse than troopers as their additional attacks and more powerful weaponry makes a mockery of even the hardest vehicle armour. The following table shows weapons, and their maximum penetration. NOTE: this does NOT include the +1D6 bonus for a stationary vehicle

As can be seen, the absolute vehicle killer is the Thunder Hammer. It auto penetrates armour, so heavy vehicles, reinforced armour, nurgle infestation etc counts for nothing. Only terminators have this, so normal troops must look elsewhere. Kraks are always very good, they are cheap, can be thrown and can penetrate any vehicle in the game with relative ease, melta bombs are better if you can get them, but are expensive and cannot be thrown. Other weapons that are good are power axes, power fists, plasma guns, melta guns, death spitters and bone swords. However, remember that even a basic S4 weapon or troop can penetrate most vehicles tracks if you rolls double 6 on his 2D6, so a Space Marine CAN rip apart a Leman Russ with his bare hands! As terminators have a better choice than most of powerful weapons, don't stick with the powerfist, take chainfists, thunder hammers and lightning claws, it is very much worth it. Characters follow the same rules as troopers, as they do not make the weapons more effective, they can just hit more times with it.

If you want to shoot the enemy then lascannon, heavy plasma, pulse lasers etc are the best thing to use. Krak missiles are also very useful, but they have a slightly lower penetration than the above weapons so take the others if you are wanting to specifically kill vehicles rather than just cause general damage to the enemy. Pour your fire completely into one vehicle and when it is destroyed, move onto the next, having 1 destroyed and 2 totally unscathed enemy vehicles is better than 3 slightly damaged ones. Use overwatch fire to make them keep their heads down, and target particular vehicles if you can rather than just shooting at anything.