Can an army win by dominating the movement phase?

We all know that most armies win by dominating one phase of the game. They either dominate the shooting phase, or the assault phase. Yes, there are armies that are well rounded, and armies that are very durable, but for the most part armies win by dominating one of those two phases of the game. 


So my question to you is can an army win by dominating the movement phase? Can you create a small and very fast moving army that can win a game? An army that can out-maneuver other armies, and hit where they want to, and then move on. Something like how a boxer can stick and move instead of throwing hay-makers, and instead of going for the knockout, just throw jabs at the enemy and win through finesse. 

I was thinking about this type of army with my harlequin army. It is small and elite, but it is also very fast. I was thinking about building it around Jetbikes that can move 18" a turn and turbo-boosting 24". Add to this Falcons with Harlequins that can move 24"+12" with Star Engines.

Against shooting armies it will try to get to them in one or two turns, and then try to get in the middle of them and try to wreak havoc. For example a leaf blower-type armies do not like to have models in the middle of it wreaking vehicles, and then using them as cover. It operates by killing at range and taking out anything before it gets close. Especially if you can kill the transports in the shooting phase and assault the contents. 

Against assault armies it will work by moving fast and hitting at the sides of the army so the other units can't support them, and taking out chunks by striking first, and striking hard, and then moving on and repeat the process. 

So my question is can this be done?

Blackmoor’s Harlequin Army

There has been a lot of talk about the Harlequins on the blogs these days and they are an army I have been thinking about playing for a while now. I like the look and the fluff (Yeah, I said it!) of the army.

 

What re-ignited my interest in them was that I found 10 harlequin jetbike face plates at a reasonable price over on E-bay. Normally they sell for around $10 each and I picked them up for around $3.50 each.

 

Since I am a big fan of Fritz over at The Way of Saim Hann and on his blog he has been running a Harlequin based army and I took a look at what he has been doing. He runs an army based around Harlequins, with Pathfinders as troops, and Wraithlords as heavy support. This army would have been great in 4^th edition as a point denial army, but in 5^th edition it is a bit fragile and lacks some punch. I would like to see some more batreps to see what this army can do. Horde armies seem like it is a big weakness as well as mech armies.

 

My Harlequin army will try to stay true to the 3^rd edition Harlequin army that was in the Citadel Journal issue #39. It was a trial list so that is why no one ever real saw it in action. Another of the reasons why you never saw it was that it was not a really good army.

 

Here are the units that were in it, and how I will try to adapt them to the new elder codex:

 

HQ

The Great Harlequin

This guy was the head of the Masque and he can could kick some rear.

4^th Edition equivalent: Autarch, Phoenix Lord

 

Shadowseer

This is the psycher of the masque

4^th Edition equivalent: Farseer

 

Elites

Solitaire

This guy is an army of one. Use to be able to take a unit on by himself.

4^th Edition equivalent: Phoenix Lord (Karendras), Autarch

 

Death Jesters

1-3 guys that are like a heavy support option and are armed with Missile Launchers and Brightlances

4^th Edition equivalent: Dark Reapers

 

Troupes

Harlequin Troupe

They don't need an explanation

4^th Edition equivalent: Harlequins of course!

 

Fast Attack

Harlequin Jetbike Squad

Harlequins on bikes!

4^th Edition equivalent: Jetbikes, Shining Spears

 

Heavy Support

Venom

A Venom was a modified Vyper that was able to navigate the webway. In the game it was able to carry 6 passengers, and had a Vyper's stats.

4^th Edition equivalent: Falcon (Up gunned, and up armored version)

 

So to sum it up these are the units I can use:

HQ

Aurtarch + (Yriel)

Farseer + (Eldrad)

Seer Council

Phoenix Lord

 

Elite

Harlequins

 

Troops

Guardian Jetbikes

 

Fast Attack

Shining Spears

 

Heavy Support

Falcons

Dark Reapers

 

That is not much to go on.

 

So in our next chapter I will come up with some lists based on those units, and how in the heck am I going to win with a small expensive army against the heavy hitters of 5^th edition.

I have been tabled!

 
So I was playing in a "Soft Boys" event that used the 'Ard Boyz scenarios for those that did not qualify for the semi-finals. The winner wins a $200 voucher for the store. So whenever there is big money on the line, I try something stupid. I am beginning to think that I like to lose. Wonder how much money in winnings I could get if I ever really tried, and what is it about me that does not want to win? Why am I not working on a Space Wolf army?


 
So it is time to try out an assault based footslogging Eldar!


The army list and more after the jump:

My Demon list

Well with the new demon models coming out, I thought I would try my hand at a demon list.

  
Since I am a Tzeentch player in Warhammer Fantasy and in Chaos Space Marines, I see no reason to stop now. So that means that I am going mono-god which everyone knows is much harder than the multi-god builds. Especially without the crutch of Bloodcrushers every other list is not going to be as good.

So here is my list...

Foot Eldar Battle Report #2

So I went and finished up the 5^th and final Broadside Bash Battle report. You can see them all here:

Game #1

Game #2

Game #3

Game #4

Game #5


 
Broadside Bash recap

So I finished 4-1 with a Minor Loss, Minor win, Major Win, 2 Massacres


 
Out of 47 players I finished 20th. I got hit hard in the soft scores. I was comped poorly (I guess they do not read the internet to know how bad foot eldar is). My Comp score was 22 which was the same as Reese's 3 Land Raider Space Wolf list. And here is the funny part, Hulksmash scored 27 points in Comp with a Razorback and Long Fang spam Space Wolf list. And people think comp is not broken?


 
Now as far as real scores goes, I got 72 battle points and finished in 7th place.

Foot Eldar battle report!

Like I have been promising, here is the 4th part of our 5 part series on the Broadside Bash.

I played in it back in Feb. 2010 and wrote up the batreps, but did not do the time consuming addition and formatting of the pictures.

Since I do not want to write it again, I will just post a link to it here:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/298730.page

You can go down 2 posts if you want to see the first 3 batreps.

Batreps for my Foot Eldar

Here are the batreps for major events that I took my Foot Eldar to for the past year. 

Now I am only posting events that I played in that had 20+ players. I attended some smaller RTTs and won there was well, but they are not worth the time and effort it takes to write up a report. Also I play many armies, and I did not take Foot Eldar to every event that I attended (I should have taken them to Adepticon, but I was in a chaos mood at the time).

2009 'Ard Boyz: July 2009 Mesa, AZ
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/250049.page
I went 2-1 (In the loss I was massacring my opponent and the game ended on round 4 giving him the win). I also beat the guy who will go on to win the AZ 'Ard Boyz Semi-Finals in game #1.

Slaughter in Space: Aug 2009 Los Angeles, CA
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/262581.page
I went 3-0 and won the event
I only wrote up a batrep for game #1. Game #2 I beat an Ork army and Game #3 I beat Tyranids.

Wild West Shootout : Oct. 2009 Mesa, AZ
http://www.40konline.com/community/index.php?topic=191410.0;topicseen
I went 5-0 and won the event

The Broadside Bash: Feb. 2010 Los Angeles, CA
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/281069.page
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/281688.page
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/283230.page
I finished 4-1 and ended up 7th in Battle points out of around 50 players
Note: I might write up the final 2 batreps this weekend.

2010 'Ard Boyz: May 2010 Mesa, AZ
http://blackmoors40k.blogspot.com/
I had 2 Massacres and 1 draw

To sum it up I went 16-2-1 in the past year in big tournaments, and winning 2 out of 5 events.

Stelek is off his meds

I was going to write a long post about how Stelek is wrong on all his points and back it up with posts and proof.


I could do that, but why bother arguing with some guy who never leaves his basement? I am out there actually playing in events and winning tournaments, and seeing what goes on. 

Why respond to a guy who has not played in a real tournament in 2 years? What the heck does he know about anything that goes on outside of his house?

He can say all he wants about me, but I will be out there among the people playing the game and having fun. I don't sit around all day thinking about 40k, but I am out there playing it.

I hope so see and play against you all at a tournament soon!

That crazy Stelek!

In this post Stelek once again attacks me:

http://www.yesthetruthhurts.com/2010/06/ah-humor.html

And so I go through what he said and picked it apart and showed his hypocirsy. No personal attacks, nothing that wasn't the truth that I proved by posting links (that I did) and what did he do? He deleted it.

See, Stelek is a legend in his own mind, and he might be one in his basement, but when I showed he were he is wrong over and over he gets angry.

I have to go to work but here is just one gem:

Stelek wrote "Brian could not have beaten me.  Brian did not start in reserve.  Sorry, does a unit of outflanking War Walkers count as 'in reserve'?  Oh right, another red herring,#3."

Let's take a look at Stelek's own battle report:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/217737.page

This is what he had to say there:
"His Wraithlords he kept in reserve, and it cost him the game (I can't kill them easily)."   

So I repeat what he said in his own battle report and I and the one who is wrong?