In parts 001-003 we chose our Star Marine / IDF / Grunt army and in parts 004-006 we ran through some Battlefield Tactics cards that would compliment each one. Now it’s time to look at a few useful techniques you can employ to help you get the most out of your more expensive units!
Why No ‘Wounds’ or ‘Hit Points’?
One of the design decisions made during development was to avoid ‘wounds’ or ‘hit points’ for regular units. Generally speaking, it is not necessary to grind down powerful units with multiple hits before finally removing them from the battlefield; they may fall to one salvo of fire! The reasons behind this decision start with a desire to keep things motoring along at a decent pace. A game of Encounter can be completed in under 45 minutes if you don’t hang about and this makes it extremely convenient.
Another reason for omitting wounds is it keeps the stakes high at all times. If your IDF Main Battle Tank that cost 1/5th of your total army’s cost can be taken out with one roll of a single dice, it really ramps up the tension level!
The final reason relates to Encounter’s extreme scaleability and a desire to keep the core rules absolutely consistent no matter how big your battle. Consider that you might have a few vehicles and expensive units in your 100 point and around 30 of those points will be spent on the Supreme Commander (who is a special case and can use Hero Tokens as ‘wounds’). Now pump up the army size to the 400+ points planned for Encounter: Phase Two and you suddenly have the potential to field regiments of tanks. Nobody wants be tracking wounds on 18-odd tanks!
How To Mitigate Risk
There are a number of things we can do to stop our expensive units from dying during the opening moments of battle. We will start with the most obvious and work our way to more advanced techniques.
1. Make use of cover
Cover applies only to infantry taking ranged fire in Encounter: Phase One, but it is useful indeed. For example, any enemy unit attempting to hit infantry in a building will be subject to a -1 hit modifier. If they do manage to hit, the infantry benefit from a +1 save modifier. So an expensive unit of Heavy Star Marines would be saving on a 3+ in a worst case scenario, and they would be impervious to the majority of weapons the enemy can bring to bear.
2. Take advantage of range
Any enemy unit attempting to hit infantry at more than two hexes are subject to a -1 hit modifier, meaning they will hit on a D6 result of 5+. If the infantry also happen to be in a building, the hit modifiers stack and the attacking unit needs a D6 result of 6+ to hit.
3. Use LOS to your advantage
Line of Sight(LOS) affects all units, so taking advantage of it is a great way of keeping your tanks alive. Be mindful of which enemy units have LOS to you and ideally try to open up LOS to one target at a time. When you do open up LOS between your ranged unit and an enemy ranged unit, try to ensure you deal a killing blow before they can strike back. In addition to “in LOS” and “out of LOS” there is a straightforward condition for partial LOS and this incurs a -1 hit modifier.
3. Use smoke
The Battlefield Tactics card Smoke Grenades ensures all factions have access to at least one smoke canister. IDF Mortar Teams can also fire smoke instead of regular explosive rounds, meaning IDF forces can put up as many smoke screens as they need throughout a game. Any unit attempting to shoot through smoke will be subject to a -2 hit modifier. As with all modifiers, they are cumulative so attempting to hit a tank through smoke with partial LOS is extremely unlikely. Attempting to hit infantry in a building more than two hexes away through smoke is, well, impossible.
4. Use a Battlefield Tactics card
There are several cards that help your unit survive longer:
- Flash Grenades subject enemy units to a -1 hit modifier in an engagement.
- Dodge subjects enemy units to a -1 hit modifier when attacking the formation that uses the card.
- Medic! allows you to re-roll a save on an infantry unit with a +2 save modifier.
- Battlefield Repairs allows you to re-roll a save on a vehicle with a save +2 modifier.
- Heroic Actions allows a unit to use Hero Tokens, and part of that is the ability to use a token instead of rolling to save an incoming hit.
Card effects stack, so you could use Flash Grenades and Dodge at the same time to subject enemy units to a -2 hit modifier. The last card listed, Heroic Actions, can be extremely powerful. You could spend a few points on additional Hero Tokens (or just use your default pool), and use the card on something like a Star Marine Assault Mech. Then, send the Mech on a merry path of destruction, safe in the knowledge that you can automatically save all incoming hits provided you don’t run out of Hero Tokens!
5. Bring a meat shield with you
Because of the way hits are allocated in Encounter, it is often possible to save expensive units from being hit when an enemy formation attacks. When rolling to hit on 1D6, any unmodified hit result of up to 5 is allocated by the defender and any result of 6 is allocated by the attacker. This means it is more likely the defender can choose which units in a formation have been hit. Rather than group expensive units together or making a formation from a lone tank, it is sometimes preferable to include some cheap infantry units to soak up hits. In fact the Grunts have a unit made especially for this role; Snots! Snots not only soak up hits, a hit on a Snot does not generate a Blast Marker. So your expensive unit won’t die and won’t break either.
6. Tank hits with a Hero
This is similar in principle to the previous tip in that you allocate incoming hits to a preferential unit. Only this time, the unit is not destined to die; they perform a heroic feat and save the day! The IDF are especially good at this because they can take a Commander(Hero) for a very reasonable 10 points. If you put a Hero in the same formation as, for example, a tank, you can allocate some incoming hits to the Hero and use Hero Tokens to automatically save them. The is a caveat with this example: it is harder to hit infantry at range than it is to hit vehicles, so the Hero would not always be eligible to take the hits. This caveat also applies to the meat shield tip!
7. Prevent enemy units from attacking
Sometimes the best form of defence is offence! Rather than attempting to affect your attacker’s hit modifier or better your save modifier, you could use fast attack troops like CQ Marines or Jumpy Grunts to swoop in and tie up a powerful ranged unit that is threatening to destroy your valuable assets from afar. Or you could screen your IDF Snipers with Muscleheads, commanding the dedicated close combat troops to rush forward if the enemy tries to take out the more fragile sharp shooters.
Wrapping up
So there you have it; seven tips for keeping your expensive units alive for longer! Let us be honest; most troops in Encounter are destined to die. Hopefully die a courageous death and they go down swinging, but these tips just might help you to keep them alive long enough to tip the battle in your favour…
At Gigaton, we have created a useful Army Builder tool to aid you in your discovery. This allows you to play around with units and formations and share them with friends or export them to a print-friendly list for future reference.