Warhammer Tactica: How to rule with cavalry in 8th edition

Cavalry was, in many ways, King in 7th edition. With superior movement, enhanced strength on the charge and little to no fear of being attacked in return, the only things cavalry feared were unbreakable units and flying monsters.




A typical cavalry battle included a furious charge, most or all of the opposing front rank being wiped out, and thus the opponent already losing the combat before their turn to strike ever arrived.



With the advent of 8th edition, the mindset changed. People dismissed cavalry as chaff, unworthy of being taken. After all, they no longer got to attack first due to charging, their advantage in charge distances diminished, and steadfast meant they can be…and are…drawn into multi-turn slugfests with steadfast infantry. They then can be taken out in wars of attrition.



People who dismiss cavalry out of hand are often simply stuck in 7th edition thinking. They are trying to use cavalry in the same role as it was used in that time frame and thus miss out on a great deal of the strength of cavalry.



Lets start with the movement. The swift stride rule still presents an advantage in charge difference for cavalry. To start with, a typical cavalry base Movement is roughly 3” greater than its foot-slogger counterpart.



Second, rolling 3d6 and choosing the best 2 will typically result in better movement than simply rolling 2d6 and accepting the result. The average result in charge distance for cavalry thus starts with two advantages and, occasional outliers due to atypical dice rolling aside, almost always going to result in more distance on the charge thus allowing them to project their force further.



Example: Take a typical infantryman, say an Empire Greatsword with M4 versus his cavalry counterpart. The battle line having been maintained, they both start 11” away from the enemy.



The infantry needs to roll a 7 on 2 dice, a fairly typical result most players “expect” to make. And they will about 58% of the time. Which means slightly more than 4 in 10 times they will fail.



The cavalry, however, has 3 dice to roll needing to total just 4” on any two to accomplish their charge. (Note that later I will argue the charge may not be a good idea anyway). Even without rolling 3 dice, they would have an 83% chance of accomplishing the charge, and that percentage is only improved by being able to roll 3 and discard 1.



Thus it is vastly easier for the cavalry to drive home the charge due to their better base movement and extra die. However, they are also more likely to be in the position to make the charge already.



Infantry moves over 40% slower, on average, than cavalry. The further they are moving, the larger the gap in range.



Example: The Empire marches their battle line forward for 2 consecutive turns, trying to get at the Dwarf battle line 36” away. The infantry moves 8” away, leaving them still 28” from the Dwarf lines. The cavalry, meanwhile, has advanced 28” which virtually assures them of being able to charge the enemy line now just 8” away.



Obviously there are times this will not be a good approach. Most times this will not be a good approach as unsupported cavalry not called Chaos Knights will have a difficult time taking out a stout infantry block.



But it is a powerful option. It also ensures cavalry has the means to set up flank charges for when the slower-moving infantry DOES get to the enemy battle lines.



Thus we clearly see the blatantly obvious; cavalry still has a massive mobility advantage over infantry.



The problem is, many people still attempted to use cavalry the way it was used in 7th. Get there first, charge in, wipe out the front rank, and expect to see the enemy run. But 8th edition infantry tends to A) stay in place due to being steadfast or else have something like the Crown of Command.



Furthermore, they still get to attack back. On the turn the cavalry charged. This leads people to see cavalry get bogged down, worn down by losing a knight or two a turn while doing no damage, and get seen off.



A change in thinking is in order.



Cavalry still has two massive advantages besides their mobility. First, they often are equipped with lances or spears that give them a nice strength advantage on the charge that tends to lead to inflicting large numbers of casualties.



Second, they are heavily armored which tends to increase their survivability.



The best-armored foot troops typically have a 3+ save and that is limited to a handful of troops such as Chaos Warriors and the increasingly rare Gromril Armor/Shield combo for Dwarf armies.



More typically heavy armor and shield is giving a 4+, and most infantry units have even worse armor. Compare that to the 2+ cavalry routinely achieves. Even against S5 troops they are saving 50% of the wounds inflicted!



So how to use a fast-moving, hard-hitting, rugged unit?



All too often the answer has been to send them unsupported into ranked infantry and be disappointed with the results. The correct answer is to use them in conjunction with your own infantry.



When two infantry units clash, it typically is a war of attrition unless the steadfast unit somehow wins the combat. Most steadfast units either have very high leadership, re-rolls, or both, thus making them very difficult to budge.

Cavalry gives your own unit a way of turning that combat into a decisive win. This works best with armies with inexpensive infantry. Chaos Marauders, Empire State Troops, Brettonian Men at Arms are all fine examples.



First you bring an infantry block of your own that either is already large enough on its own to have the steadfast rule or else is close enough in size that a good round of combat might flip it.



Then you use that mobile, fast moving cavalry to hit the steadfast unit in the flank. Several things are going to happen.

First, you are going to get attacked back. That is the reality of 8th edition. Even your most elite, strike first, hard-hitting units are highly unlikely to do enough damage to one-turn annihilate even Skaven slaves even if they do an unsaved wound with every attack and save every wound done in return.



Second, what you are trying to do is take away their steadfast. Charge too early and you will do massive casualties but not remove enough ranks to keep them from being steadfast. Charge too late and your own unit may have run by now.



But charge at the right moment and your cavalry becomes what it should be designed for; a shock unit that hits so hard the unit that was effectively unbreakable loses steadfast, takes so many casualties that their ensuing break test will require insane courage or close to it, and runs.



Third, by charging at the right moment you are going to keep that juicy strength bonus by being able to charge again.

Fourth, even if you get bogged down, you should have advantages in saves so be taking fewer casualties than most infantry forces, though of course there are exceptions.

There are defenses against this maneuver of course. There are always ways of protecting the flanks or having a unit that is stubborn. Of course, there are ways of dealing with flank protectors and often ways of removing stubborn, so do not get too caught up in the extraneous details.

Start by figuring out what cavalry is good at, then using cavalry for that instead of remembering what it used to do and being upset it is not that anymore.

Warhammer Tactica: Chaos Marauders

Chaos Marauders are an interesting troop. Their stat line is rather pedestrian. They are average or worse across the board. On the bright side, they also are very cheap, checking in at only 4 points, a number that in a vacuum sounds to cheap until you put it in the context of an army who has only one other selection under 13 points apiece.

This indicates the Marauders can be used in a similar way to Goblin line troops: pure bulk and numbers. Unlike Goblins, however, the Marauders have nothing like a Fanatic to provide a little bit of punch unless they are backing up a Chaos Hero, perhaps an Exalted Hero or something along that line.

To be most effective at doing that, they need to be tooled up to make them a little more rugged. After tooling up, they then become close in points to far superior troops such as the Chaos Warriors. So how best to use them?

First, lets look at their capabilities. We will start with their special rule, The Will of Chaos.

The Will of Chaos allows them to re-roll failed Panic tests. With a standard Leadership of 8 and 2 rolls, that means they have an 89% chance of staying in place against even the highest casualties.

With a movement of 4" per turn (8" if marching) and no rule such as Fast Cavalry, Always March or Skirmish at their disposal, that means they must account for crossing movement-blockers such as rough ground or obstacles that force them to move around.

As a result, their best formation is 5 or at most 6 models wide. This will provide the best coverage for troops behind them while providing them with the maximum maneuverability.

This limits their effectiveness as a shooting shield. They still are quite effective in front of Chaos Warriors, who have the same limitations, but are far less effective when trying to protect Chaos Knights, for example. Their slow movement will only inhibit the Knights from doing what they do best; rapidly getting into combat.

Their effectiveness as shooting shields is further limited by their squishy nature. With a toughness of 3 and at best Light Armor and Shield, they will be wounded by better than 50% of the shots that hit them and since most shots have a -1 due to armor piercing (with many missile weapons having a S4 in addition, the effectiveness of Light Armor and Shield is completely nullified), their save rate will be somewhat less than 18%.

As a result, an average weapon firing on even a low average Ballistic Skill of 3 with a S3, Armor Piercing will do 13.5% casualties, though the overall number suffered from shooting is likely to be closer to 20%.*

With limited maneuverability, limited frontage, and limited survivability, their effectiveness as shooting shields is probably best served in the minimum unit size of 10 models with no upgrades. Checking in at a minimal 40 points, they will prove their value often enough to justify the expense only if used virtually error-free.

However, a 10 man unit with no upgrades fulfills very few other useful battlefield functions. Their close combat capability is quite limited as their kill rate is only .95.

This is not to say 40 point 10 man units do not have their uses. They are excellent for at least two things.

First, they provide cheap cover to Wizards. If you have an unmounted Wizard, placing him in a small unit of Marauders keeps him from being targeted by enemy fire and also gives him the benefit of the "Look Out Sir" rule.

Second, they are excellent for contesting table quarters and seeking out objectives. The typical Chaos army will have vastly superior targets and Marauders can often sneak by unnoticed. Even if the opponent attacks them, they have to do 5 casualties to get just 20 points and have to completely wipe them out to get a pointless 40 points. I will happily risk 40 points to gain 100.

It is therefore clear that unaugmented, minimal units of Marauders have very limited uses and only fit in a few armies.

A little tooling up, however, can turn them into a lethal force. This can be particularly effective with one of their best uses: a Static Combat Resolution bonus for Wulfrik the Wanderer.

Wulfrik has 3 excellent uses; he can attack the back line of heavy missile fire builds. His ability to enter from any table edge gives him the ability to target those deadly War Machines and gun lines that can be so problematic for the Warriors of Chaos. Second, he can seek out and often kill specific troublesome enemy characters. Third, he can come on either side of the board to threaten an enemy flank.

Alone, however, he is susceptible to being killed simply by losing combats to Static Combat Resolution (SCR). If he runs into a unit 2 ranks deep with a standard, the best he can hope to do is tie the combat as his 4 attacks would all have to slay just to equal the enemy SCR.

Marauders roaming around with him can offset the outnumbering and rank bonus deficits he would face on his own. A basic 20 Marauders with Standard Bearer is just 88 points and gives you either a +4 or +5 SCR bonus depending on whether you outnumber the foe or not.

They still have the problem of not doing damage, however. So what happens if we tool them up a little bit?

First off, you need to be able to survive long enough to strike back. That limits one to either the Mark of nurgle or the Mark of tzeentch. The latter mark gives a 6+ Ward Save meaning slightly less than a 17% save rate. The nurgle mark makes them more difficult to hit by 17%. It is therefore slightly more effective.***

Second, when you do strike back, the Marauders need help with their strength. They average slightly less than 50% wound rate since opponents average a Toughness 3.33. Therefore, an increase in strength is paramount. Giving them Heavy Weapons increases their Strength score to 5 at the cost of striking last. When they do hit, though, they become quite likely to wound, needing just a 3 or even sometimes a 2 to wound.

So a tooled up unit of Marauders with nurgle, Great Weapons, and possibly even Light Armor and Shield for options when you run into weaker horde armies means a unit of 20 Marauders with Standard Bearer is only 168 points, less than the cost of Wulfrik alone and well worth it for their ability to give him significant help in close combat. Here we find a great use for Marauders.

But there is a second use that will often be equally effective in another support role. Enter the Chaos Spawn. Spawn are often sent out to hold up tough units and maybe do a little damage on their way out the door. However, with a little support these rather sporadic troops might be able to not just hold up an individual unit, they might be able to define the events in a table quarter. Even the most expensive Spawn is just 85 points. Now, add the same Marauder unit we saw above for Wulfrik and you have a potentially devastating combination.

By moving the Marauders whatever distance the Spawn moves or as close to it as possible if he rolls 9 or above for movement, you have ready-made support troops. The Spawn is likely to hold the enemy in place long enough for the Marauders to maneuver to get in a flank or even rear charge. With their SCR and the Spawns unbreakable nature, you are likely to get a combat win with a significant modifier to their leadership (assuming they are neither Unbreakable orStubborn, of course).

This requires a bit of practice to learn how to maneuver them and you also have to be willing to watch your Marauders occasionally be the unit that is fleeing as, after all, they are still Marauders and really just cheap meat shields.

So now we have seen at least 4 regular good uses for Marauders.

1) Cheap cover for Wizards.

2) Cheap units to seize table quarters and objectives.

3) Inexpensive but potentially devastating support for Wulfrik.

4) Inexpensive but potentially devastating support for Chaos Spawn.

Ultimately, what use you generate for them will therefore depend on your over-all army composition. Use your points wisely and soon you will find Marauders in almost every list you put together.

* 100 shots needing 5s to hit (assuming over half range, move or fire, or some other -1 modifier) are going to hit approximately 33 times, wound 16.5 times, and kill about 13.5 times. Missile troops generally line up about 10 wide in our local play area, so it will take about 10 turns to cause those casualties, thus giving shots needing a 5 to strike with a Kill Rate of .74. (Kill Rate is expected casualties per full-strength turn. Simply divide the casualties caused by the number of turns it took to cause them.)

The numbers are even worse if they need 4s which will be quite common against Elf or Dwarf armies where in some cases, the number will be 3 to hit. With a 4 needed, they will be hit 50 times in 100 shots, wounded 25 times and slain 20.5 times, resulting in a Kill Rate of 2.05.

In cases where a 3 is successful, 67 hit, 33 wound, and 27 kill. This is an impressive 2.7 kill rate.

Thus we see sub-standard troops will kill Marauders on 13% of their shots whereas good shooting troops have a 20% kill rate and elite shooters have a 27% kill rate.

** They expect to hit on 50% of their attacks. Assuming an average opponent toughness of 3.333 (averaging the core unit toughness scores of all possible opponents) they will wound slightly less than a quarter of their attacks. Most troops are equipped with at least light armor with some having heavier armor, so an average armor save of 6 is not unreasonable meaning of those approximately 23 wounds, slightly less than 19 wounds per hundred will be done.

However, to strike 100 times is tricky as they will generally lose troops to opposing missile fire while crossing the field and with their Initiative of 4 they will often lose several front line troops before attacking back. With a base unit, they will generally be 5 wide which means it would take them 20 turns of attacking to do those 19 kills giving them a Killing Rate of .95 under the most optimal circumstances.

*** If an opponent hits you at a 50% clip and wounds the same, and you save 17% of the time, 100 strikes will do 20.75 kills. However, if you make it 1 harder to hit, they now are hitting about 33% of the time. Now 100 strikes result in 33 hits of which still 50% wound, or 16.5 kills per hundred. Thus it is obvious that being harder to hit is better than a Ward Save of the same percentage except the exceptions of Magic and Template weapons.

Warhammer Tactica: An introduction

A vital portion of any Warhammer game is force composition. Battles can be won or lost before the first figure ever hits the table if one General is vastly superior to the other in army composition. All the ability in the world to maneuver your troops into superior position can be pointless if those troops cannot then fulfill their assigned function.

With that in mind it is imperative to comprehend the best use for your potential troops in any given game. To a certain extent, that relies on which opponent you are going to play.

For example, if you know going in you will be facing a Night Goblin army full of 40 strong blocks of Spear-wielding Gobbos with Fanatics a-plenty, you would set up your force to draw out the Fanatics early and be able to deal with a horde army. This could include troops with high rates of fire or large numbers of attacks, template-firing weapons, or even massive blocks of your own troops.

Conversely, if you will be facing a Chaos "3+ Save" Army where every model has a 2+ save in close combat and 3+ against shooting then you would set up models with higher Strength attributes capable of penetrating that armor.

But what if you do not know what army you will be facing? We are blessed with a large gaming group that has the models to play Warriors of Chaos, Lizardmen, Vampire Counts, Ogre Kingdoms, Brettonia, High Elves, Wood Elves, Dark Elves, Skaven, Orcs & Goblins, Empire, Tomb Kings, Skaven, and Dwarfs. We also like to make it more or less random who you will face on any given day.

That requires a very balanced approach to army construction. If you set up specifically to face a Wood Elf shooting army and run into a Dark Elf monster army, you are doomed before the battle begins.

This will be particularly true in our forthcoming campaign. Once a War Banner is constructed, its composition will be more or less complete and as such, a well-constructed War Banner will be able to deal with any situation it comes across. Since we are playing on a "blind" map, we will never know what army we will encounter until the battle is joined.

As a result, flexibility in army construction is at a premium.

Over the next few weeks I will be constructing a series of articles investigating how to maximize the troops available to the Warriors of Chaos.