TACTICA for Daemon hunter players out there!

Disclaimer: I had not written these tactics,I have just ripped these from somebody who ripped it from various sources, so there! Carefully study it and ADOPT to your playing style, remember a huge percentage of this document are advices for playing probably THE most (challenging?) elitist army in the warhammer universe. As always, the advice I'd heed most when it comes to DH is: Tread wisely and shoot true.

Here's the tactica (verbatim):

Daemon hunter tactica:

There is one big question in 40K: What is it that my army does better than my opponent?

INTRO:
I went through countless pages and found some amazing information on tactics against several different armies when playing daemon hunters and compiled it on one page and referenced who helped add to this article. Someone had to do it, I was getting tired of seeing the same articles posted time and time again, and I figured it would help me learn a bit, becoming a better player. This thread is open to all sorts of suggestions. If you have general tactics knowledge and would like to add, or comment on something not being as good as it is stated, please do so, I will edit the post, add your name to the references if not already added, and make sure it is updated. We all helped to create this, so we will all be credited equally.

Also I figured I would note that some armies have more descriptive tactics presented then others. This is due to the fact that I can find numerous army references for some, but not a lot of the other armies; therefore, their descriptions will lack a bit, but can be added to by those who choose to post here.

Enjoy

References: (people who helped make this possible, if you have said something that I found useful and put in my word pad while collecting this data, your name is sighted below)
Diggums Hammer, mEGALOMANIAC, Valerian, Hasten, number6, Lord Nemesis, Captain Snowball, The Outisder, Bruiser117, MiketehFox, jamsessionein, ProfessorCurly, SilentTempest, nichodemus10, The Salmon Thief, Inquisitor Solexus, Helbrecht, Inquisitor Hause, Madeinchina7285, Firedrake28, JuliusGaiusCaesar, Lord Yossanrion, general jigger, bebe, LordCreampuff, Arishnakoger, Undead Bonzid, and last but not least, The Outsider

28 people made this possible! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS GIVEN ADVICE ON LO!!

(Disclaimer: I take NO CREDIT what so ever for the production or compilation of the knowledge presented here. I have not written any of it, nor have I thought of any of it. All I did was give some general tactics used against several armies a cool name and made it a bit clear to understand, I hope! Also a bit of an apology here, I didn’t want to reference someone’s name to each particular piece of info that they contributed, so I just put their name in the reference section. I am sure no one will mind as I have referenced each name as one of the contributors toward this article, but if anyone is upset about this, I am deeply sorry that I did not reference you correctly under the information sourced that you provided. However, since you posted each item with no copyright, I took the liberty of just compiling the information so that others did not have to go looking, thus I will not remove the information you may or may not have contributed. With this though, if you message me, I will take your name out of the references should you not want to have your name posted in it. Also, any spelling errors or grammatical sentence structure can be easily changed. Just pm me with the correction and I will make it as soon as possible. Thank you!)

Definitions: To make things easier, instead of copying and pasting a lot, some of the general tactics are used a lot. So I am going to give them a generic meaningful title and give it a definition. After the definition section, once we get into the different armies, refer to the definitions section if it gives a definition.

Shoot, Shoot and Shoot some more… - Deploy at end of deployment zone furthest from your table edge and shoot as much as possible. When enemy approaches move back or to the side until at the edge of the table or corner is reached and then engage in hand to hand combat.

Blitz! - Just full out rush with tanks if you have them, or footslog as fast as possible. You basically want to get into base to base as fast as possible.

Deepstrike - Where it is highly recommended to use your deepstriking abilities.

Psych Out! - Use a lot of psycannons, they seem to work wonders against these armies.

Target - Will be followed with what models should have target priority for tactical advantage.

All Your Tanks Are Belong To Us… - Our tanks get destroyed with ease. No point in using much armour, as it will get destroyed easily.

Dread Locks! - Using three dreadnoughts w/ TLLC, ML combos in puritan DH armies.

IST: M, P, or T - Using a squad of Inquisitorial Stormtroopers with either 2x meltaguns (M), mounted in rhino; 2x plasma guns (P), mounted in chimera or rhino; or a upgraded vet with teleport homers (T), mounted in a rhino. Also, a tooled up inq lord (elite) with teleport homer works wonders in this squad too, but if you want to keep it cheap, just stick with the vet with homers.

Orb Strike! - Against mech armies, this is really good psychological warfare. It gets them to move their tanks that they normally wouldn’t move. It is suggested to take the melta torpedo, due to the new rules regarding blast template weapons being cut to half str if the hole isn’t on the vehicle.

Max Out! - Make your units of PAGK and FAGK as full as possible. The more the merrier, and the more substance you army has. Against certain armies, especially if you’re playing puritan, the more PAGK and FAGK you have, the better.

Eversor - first turn tank-hunter anyone? I personally don’t recommend using him this way, but you can if you want to, it is always funny do throw him away and take out a good tasting tank of the enemies. But he is also very good at killing well armoured troops. (This is not used really in any of the armie examples, I just put it here to remind people of the assassins general usage and things it excels at)

Callidus - Good at moving enemy models after deployment to hide particular heavy weapons to delay them from destroying your tanks or for moving units or tanks into the open so you can fire at them first turn. (This is not used really in any of the armie examples, I just put it here to remind people of the assassins general usage and things it excels at)

Cover! - Use terrain to your advantage. Either by making use out of it so that you can avoid being shot at, or using it as a way to stand and shoot and then get to strike first upon being charged.

Arnold Schwarzenegger - Against some enemies, our GK terminators really shine. So take a squad of them when facing the armies they are good against and make full use of them.

Double Psych Strike! - You can deepstrike two inquisitors in with psychannons and terminator armour. It gives you 3 shots at str 6 to the rear/side of their tanks, which is enough to do some damage in the case of most tanks. They are also good at disrupting some of the opponents plans. I use these guys every game since I found out about them. It is hilarious to look at my opponents face when I drop one of these guys down and either a) take out a tank of his, or b) shoot at the back of his squads or a really close IC or a dreadnought or whatnot. Most of the time this is a hit or miss strategie though. But I still have a laugh doing this.

Ranged Inquisitor - Refering to equipping your inq with psycannon, 2 HB servitors and a plasma servitor with 2 sages, and maybe a mystic.

Nekkid Plasma Inq - Basically take an inquisitor with maybe a bolter and auspex, 2 sages, mystic and a plasma cannon servitor. What do you have? Well you effectively have a dreadnought. Low points cost for the plasma cannon with models to put to death should they be targeted. They don’t seem to pose a huge threat, so they will probably last a while. Plus your reroll can negate the overheating, and the mystics and auspex allow you to deal with models that try to pose a threat to other things. May not be as bad a mother as a dreadnought, it is still a viable option.

INDUCTION: Refers to the art of taking either IG or WH as support. Yes I realize that WH are allies and not inducted, different rules, but similar in process, so I include them under this same headline. The following is some useful units that have been discussed.

Seraphim - Dedicate this squad to tank hunting. Relatively large to make it survivable, 8+ models, and with 2x inferno pistols, and a VSS with Eviscerator.

Flying Cannoness! - Cannoness with jump pack, clock of st. aspira, maybe mantle of opheila and/or rosaries, inferno pistol, and eviscerator. She may be a non-scoring unit, but will do some really good damage for a nearly untargetable IC, and she gives 2 extra faith points to help power seraphim, who will need the 3+ invulnerable saves once or twice to survive their runs against enemy tanks.

Inquisitor Heresius - This is the idea that you can use an allied witch hunter inquisitor lord with liber heresies so that if you pass a Ld 10 test, you can pick your deployment zone. But don’t forget you have a retinue to attach of at least 3 large to this guy.

LETS FIGHT THE WORLD: a brief to descriptive look at the armies available and suggestions on how to beat them.

Space Marines (Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Vanilla, etc...)

-Blitz! (against vanilla only)
-IST: P (100 points for 8 IST and 2 plasma guns is really good considering what he has to spend to field that)
-IST: M
-Watch out for Blood Angels or just any assault marines in general with a chaplain. They can take on our Grandmaster and retinue and come out on top. This is scary for us, since the Grandmaster is so strong for us.
-Plasma plasma plasma … did I mention plasma? Honestly, this is too good against space marines. Get as much plasma, lascannons, and Missile Launchers as possible and they will do some great work at eliminating the opposition before you get charged, or charge in yourself. The reason you need all this high AP weapons is because without it, you will have a hard time doing any damage by shooting at space marines! Multiple Inquisitor units, with either a Plasma Cannon, (or even multi-meltas) or with three Plasma Gun Vets. Don’t Put plasma on the inquisitor – if he overheats, and he dies, his entire unit is removed. Put two sages on the inq squads for the reroll, which can stop an overheat, and as many mystics as you can squeeze in. (so you can shoot the deepstriking units).
-Dreadnoughts with plasma cannons will help a bit. Make sure to keep the DCCW on them so they can back you up in close combat.
-Nekkid Plasma Inq. Cheaper retinue for a quick plasma cannon that will be overlooked.
-Dread Locks! Good overall against killing power armoured troops. But also good against mech armies.
-Orb Strike! Take a lance strike, and place it somewhere central and hope that it scatters into newly-deepstriked enemy units. Since drop pods scatter as well, he can’t avoid the Lance’s danger zone as easily.
-Arnold Schwarzenegger. Don’t bother giving them anything, and don’t take a GM. Just a good sized unit of GKT with their BC and no other loadout whatsoever.
-Also a holy realic might really save your butt here, since you’ll be depending on taking out them before their initiative comes up.
-Flying Cannoness and/or Seraphim. Useful for any heavily tank based army as anti-tank units.

Chaos Space Marines

-IST: P
-IST: M
-Psych Out! If the opponent is playing Undivided and has daemons, then psycannons are your best friend!
-Don’t try and force Leadership tests against Undivided, it just is not worth it.
-Unless the CSP player has a Greater Daemon, keep your inq cheap, they just don’t stack up well against the Chaos Lords.
-Nekkid Plasma Inq. Cheaper retinue for a quick plasma cannon that will be overlooked.
-Sacred Incense seriously hurts chaos, so take it!
-Plasma plasma plasma plasma… did I mention plasma? Honestly, this is too good against chaos space marines. Get as much plasma, lascannons, and Missile Launchers as possible and they will do some great work at eliminating the opposition before you get charged, or charge in yourself. The reason you need all this high AP weapons is because without it, you will have a hard time doing any damage by shooting at chaos space marines! (this is similar to the entry made in the spac e marines part)
-Dreadnoughts with plasma cannons will help a bit. Make sure to keep the DCCW on them so they can back you up in close combat.
-Dread Locks! Good overall against killing power armoured troops. But also good against mech armies.
-Chaos are really diverse.
-Flying Cannoness and/or Seraphim. Useful for any heavily tank based army as anti-tank units.
-Double Psych Strike! Good for mech armies. A very hit or miss strategie.
-A look at the different chaos legions (so that you can get a general idea of what type of army you are facing when confronted by chaos.
Black Legion: (Mixture of Assault and Defensive orientation)
This Legion is the ‘Vanilla’ Chaos Space Marines. It has the most options, and has access to every unit in the Chaos Space Marine Codex. A Black Legion army can be good for close combat, shooting, or a mix of the two. It’s the most versatile of all the Legions.

Alpha Legion: (Assault oriented)
Alpha Legion focuses on infiltrating. You get the Infiltrate special ability at a cheaper price for some units, and access to Chaos Cultists, a hoard type unit. As the Alpha Legion is an undivided force, it may only take the Mark of Chaos Undivided. Alpha Legion has access to Daemons, which is different compared to some of the other undivided legions of Chaos. Typically, Alpha Legion is a more infantry base list mainly because of their access to Chaos Cultists. They generally have a mix of shooting and close combat units.

World Bearers:
World Bearers are an infantry, and daemon heavy force with access to all types of daemons. They may get extra troop slots, but have to give up an Elite, Heavy Support, and Fast Attack choice. The World Bearers can be lead by Dark Apostles that makes the units around him fearless. Unfortunately, the World Bearers can’t take specialized marked squads.

Iron Warriors: (Defensive oriented)
The Iron Warriors probably have the most firepower compared to the other legions. They gain an extra Heavy Support Choice, and the limitation on Obliterators is removed! You also gain access to the Basilisk (see IG codex) and Vindicator (see SM codex) tanks. You also gain access to the Servo Arm, which acts similar to the Space Marine Tech arm. . However, they must sacrifice two Fast Attack options to gain the heavy support selection, as well as not being able to select Daemons or specifically marked units.

Night Lords: (Assault oriented)
The Night Lords are swift and stealthy. By giving up 2 Heavy Support choices, they gain one fast attack choice. A Night Lord army can be fast and hard hitting with many Bikers and Raptors. They lose access to Daemons exept Furies and God specific marks however. They can also take the stealth adept veteran skill.

Khorne (World Eaters): (Assault oriented)
Khorne is a close combat oriented legion that serves the blood god. Their main daemons are the Bloodletters, and the Bloodthirster. Their main troop choice is Berserkers. Basically, they charge forward and try to get into assault, usually backed up by a Predator for some fire support. They have limited firepower, but they make up for it in close combat.
-You need a way to divert their charges to things that can either a) take the charge without being torn to pieces and hold the enemy still long enough for a counter-attack or b) can hit them hard enough to make sure that you don’t have to deal with many attacks in the first place.
-Focus on one unit at a time until it is destroyed and them move to the next unit.

Nurgle (Death Guard):
The Mark of Nurgle gives an extra toughness, gets the True Grit ability, and makes them Fearless. Many forces have infiltrating/rhino squads with melta/plasma guns blast away, and then assault usually accompanied with an AC. The main daemon of nurgle is Plague Bearers, and their main troops are Plague Marines. They are very resilient, and are overall a powerful army.

Slaanesh (Emperors Children):
Emperors Children serve the god of Slaanesh. They utilize sonic weaponry that can be very powerful. The Noise Marines are excellent at shooting and assault. Daemonettes are the daemons of slaanesh, and though they can be fragile they can be very devastating on the charge. Slaanesh are considered by some to be the best legion for doing the ‘Daemon Bomb’ tactic.

Tzeentch (Thousand Sons):
The Tzeentch have greater sorcerers, and powerful spells. They are granted an extra wound, but move slow. Because of this, Thousand Son armies tend to be slow, shooting and psychic oriented armies. Their Daemons can be impressive, by laying down lots of firepower.

-A look at the breakdown of chaos forces by force organization:
HQ: Chaos have some of the most lethal HQ units around, that are right at the top with Dark Eldar Archons/Archites, Grand Masters, Avatar, etc. You'll want to avoid these at all costs, unless you are prepared to take to battle it with, for example a grandmaster bearing a force weapon, or something of the sort. They come in two main flavors: Shooty HQ, and non-shooty HQ, both of which can be troublesome for daemonhunters.

First off, "shooty" style. These are usually equipped with d. flight and a kai gun. These are fast, and perfect for killing Grey Knights. The Kai Gun has a good strength, wounding on a 2+, and ignoring saves. Not only this, but it has multiple shots. This can easily destroy 2 Grey Knights, or MEQs per turn. The range is that of a Storm Bolter, so keep in mind that if he can shoot at you, you can most likely shoot at it. If it's a basic set-up like I said in the second sentence of this paragraph, then you should be able to take it down in close combat without having too many problems.

The next flavor, is the close combat a oriented version. These come in many variations, but will be devastating in close combat against a majority of your units. Often times they will be fast. You'll want to avoid these in combat, unless you have support. A Grand Master will go toe to toe with it, but due to the Grand Masters force weapon, you will probably come out victorious. Just keep in mind chaos have ways of negating instant kill, for example the Collar of Khorne, and Daemonic Rune.

There's also Greater Daemons which you need to worry about. These are summoned, and expensive, but they are definitly powerful in close combat. With correct positioning, they will be able to charge the turn they come onto the board, so don't be suprised.

Elites: In this catagory you have Chosen, Possessed, and Obliterators. All of which are extremely versitile, and can come in many ways. The Chosen can have a mix of multiple AC's in a squad, termiantors, possessed can have differnet daemon gifts, and obliterators can switch the weapon they wield in the middle of the game.

Chosen and Possessed are both very expensive, so don't expect to see them in smaller games. Chosen often come with terminator armor, so have sufficiant weapons for taking them down, including ranged and close combat. Possessed will probably have d. talons. This basically makes them rending. These will be very dangerous for your grey knights, as rending attacks will ignore your armor save.

Obliterators are all around very powerful. They are cheap, and can switch their weapons in game. Because of this, you'll want to try to assault these suckers. In doing so, you cut off his main advantage; that is, being able to shoot with a majority of weapons. They can also deep strike, so you must watch out for that.

Troops: The basic marines of chaos are very versitile. Most often, a smart chaos player will always put in an AC with a hidden powerfist, as well as some special weapons. Expect them to give you a match in close combat.

Chaos also have daemon packs, which are summoned. There are four types of these: Bloodletters, Plaguebearers, Horror's, and Daemonettes. The ones you should be concerned with are daemonettes and bloodletters. They will both be able to rip through your MEQ squads as bloodletters are resilient, and have power weapons, while daemonettes have rending. Countercharges are very effective verse d'ettes because it lessens the amount of rending hits they will get. They are also very weak, so after one round of combat they will die easily.

Fast Attack: The two main entries in this catagory that you'll want to worry about, are Raptors and Chaos Space Marine Bikers. Both are fast units, and excellent at tank hunting.

They are expensive, so any casulties you get on them is good. Watch your flanks, as these can easily speed up them and hit your weak sides, and armor of vehicles. They are decent in assault as well. Raptors have hit and run, so be prepared for that.

Heavy Support: Havocs, Predators, Dreadnoughts, Land Raiders, and Defilers, OH MY!

All these will throw a lot of firepower your way. Things to watch out for: Havocs w/ missile launchers will eat through your MEQs, Defiler's indirect fire, dreadnoughts w/ plasma cannons...

-A breakdown on the two main types of chaos forces that are fielded:
Against close combat oriented: This includes Khorne, some Black Legion, Alpha Legion, Night Lords, World Bearers, Death Guard, etc. When facing these army, you'll want to follow the general principle: Shoot and dwindle their numbers down, and finish off with an assault. Many times they will be infiltrating, or shoveled into Rhino's. Rhino's shouldn't be too hard to take down as their armor is weak. Also note that they can't assault right out of a moving rhino, which gives you a chance to shoot at them, and will give you the charging advantage. Infiltration can be annoying. Things like a chaos lord have the possibility of a first turn charge.

Special Note: Regarding Khorne, they have special rule called blood frenzy. One of the effects of this, is on a certain roll they move D6 towards the closest enemy units. You can take this to your advantage, by taking a fast unit and run them around the chaos units, causing them to chase you, making them useless.

Against "shooting" oriented:This includes Iron Warriors, some Black Legion, and to an extend Thousand Sons. Thousand Sons specializes in psychic attacks, and are very, very tough. With the Mark of Tzeentch, their basic trooper has two wounds!. Most times the Ac's of the squads will have a psychic power, so expect it. You'll want to either assault, or stay back and shoot them with your longer ranged weapons. Iron Warriors are extremely shooting oriented, and will have things like the vindicator, bassilisk, defiler, etc. It has many weapons, so some fast close combat, or FAGKs would be worth the buy.

Dark Eldar

-Shoot, Shoot and Shoot some more…
-Ranged Inquisitor. This helps because this squad will negate the save of almost every model in their army, and can actually do some damage against their tanks. For their points cost, they are amazing to field against this army.
-They're fast (most units have Fleet of Foot)
-highest average initiative of all armies
-they are nasty in close combat (Archons, Incubi, Wyches, etc....).
-Fortunately they're armoured with toilet paper, so they go down easily to shooting.
-What do people forget about them? Well, two things mainly. First is that the DE can shoot too. They have a lot of MECH killing weapons.
-Make sure you don't let your squads get isolated, if that happens, a smart DE player will use their mobility to gang up on your isolated squads.
-A smart DE player wont let you get any shots on his Raiders or Wyches if at all possible. But just keep trying and avoid them assaulting you for as long as possible.

-Here is a break down of their units;
HQ
Archon
Very quick (goes before anything you've got), decent number of attacks, great WS (higher than your Grand Master). But T3. They normally pack a Shadowfield (2+ Inv. save that fizzles after it fails), a power weapon that either increases their strength or always wounds on 4s, and combat drugs to make them hit more, or more often, or usually both. These guys are a nasty piece of work. Normally Raider-borne, try to shoot their vehicle down before it gets to you. If they get into combat, don't pile in to overwhelm, back off and shoot the pest with every stormbolter you've got til he goes down.

Archite
Like the Archon, but leads a Wych cult. Not altogether different, so see above for a good idea of what they're like.

Incubi
The Archon's bodyguards. Power armour, still hit at the same time as a Grand Master, with the same WS, and have strength-increasing power weapons. They're badass, but expensive (same cost as a GK). Unlike some bodyguards, these guys are just as dangerous as the Archon when they're in a group.

NOTE: The Archon can also have a Warrior retinue. See Warrior entry below.

Haemonculus
His stats aren't what make him dangerous. It's his funy weapons. Variable-AP flamethrowers, weapons that always wound on a 2+, and a pistol that can make guys explode and harm their squad-mates. They're pretty cheap and are usually used as alternate leaders for Warrior squads, or occasionally Grotesques (see below). Be wary, especially of the flamer, but your armour should protect you otherwise.

ELITES
Grotesques
Imagine 40K zombies. No armour, 2 wounds, and a funky special rule that means you need S6 or better shooting to kill them. Rule doesn't apply to close combat though. Used to be a great meatshield before screening disappeared. Not used much these days. Got a rule that says if they win combat then their opponent AUTOMATICALLY falls back. Not exactly sure how that interacts with Fearless units that never fall back, but if you lose to these guys then the dice have been pretty cruel. Even with a Haemonculus you should handle them easily (you instant-kill them with your NFWs). Only annoying thing is that they might tie you up to stop you shooting.

Mandrakes
Sneaky pests. Get a strange infiltration-style rule where they place 3 individual models on the table in deployment, and each one MIGHT be the squad. They have to reveal by the start of their third turn, by which time they've normally waltzed up the table impervious to shooting (because they're not actually THERE until they're revealed). Important to note that the player need not specify which group IS the mandrakes until he reveals them, and he can decide then. Fortunately they have no special weapons and aren't great in combat against MEQs. Often used for tying units up so their heavy-hitters can zoom in on Raiders. Hard for you to be pro-active against them. Don't be afraid of their effect, but be wary of who might be coming up with them when they tie you up in combat.

Wyches
Ouch. Just ouch. Cheap for what they do, and they do a lot. They'll halve your WS, and take away your True Grit attack. They've got uber initiative, an invulnerable save in CC, and normally a leader with a power weapon that wounds on a 4+. Also get combat drugs that gives them a random boost each game. These guys can go toe-to-toe with your GKs for half the cost. Fortunately, they're shot down VERY easily, so do your best to do just that. Second only to Archon/Incubi in nastiness. Wyches are one of the above par hand to hand units in the game, don’t mistake the PAGK for being as good as Wyches. They are not. Most of the time, the Wyches will come out on top.

Warp Beasts
Big lizards that charge like cavalry. No armour, go down easily to shooting. If they do hit, they have a decent number of S4 attacks, and a leader with an Agoniser (that infamous power weapon that wounds on a 4+). Often taken as a vessel for the Agoniser. Also a very cheap unit that some players just use as a throw-away unit. If you shoot it, you've only killed 75 points, but you have to kill it, otherwise it stands a good chance at making its points back. Just shoot it, but make sure you kill all of them, just incase that leader passes her Ld tests and hits you with an Agoniser.

TROOPS
Warriors
There's 2 versions. A big footslogging version and a smaller Raider-borne one.
Footsloggers: Rare, except to take 10 men with 2 Dark Lances as a firebase, which are reasonably common. They'll sit back and try to pick things off. Probably better to just try and avoid line of sight and hope the shrouding works, as getting in range to stormbolter them means getting closer to their CC troops.
Raider-borne ones:
Usually something like 10 men, 1 leader with Agoniser, 1 Blaster (think melta-gun style), 1 Splinter Cannon (like 2 Stormbolters) and a few others as ablative armour. They're all-rounders, being able to kill tanks with the Blaster, hordes with the Splinter Cannon and their rifles, and being able to do CC with the Agoniser. Die easily to shooting as with everything else. Better to do that than CC, as you can ignore their armour with your stormbolters.

Raider
While it's only a transport, it's very useful, so it gets its own entry. It's Fast, a Skimmer, Open Topped. Comes with a Dark Lance (think Lascannon) for a little more than the cost of 2 PAGKs. Incredibly easy to shoot down (don't forget Open-Topped adds 1 on the damage table), so they'll probably use cover as much as they can. Once it drops its troops DE players couldn't care less about if you destroy it, so they zoom it around trying to pop tanks and instant-kill characters (they'll fly right up next to them to ignore the targeting rules, since they don't care if it dies any more). Some wily players also fly them in front of heavy weapon squads to block LOS when it's shot down. Not so much trouble for GKs unless you have one of those rare Purgation squads. Can be shot down even by Stormbolters, given they die from 3 of 6 rolls on the Glancing hits table.

FAST ATTACK
Reaver Jetbikes
Used to be the only ones with Turboboost, now everyone has it. At least they still get the combat drugs like Wyches.
Two common loadouts:
Squad with 2 Blasters to kill tanks
Squad with leader with Agoniser to kill infantry (we love those agonisers!) Just keep in mind that they're
Psycannons will do a job on them, but even Stormbolters take them down due to small squad sizes (3-5 normally). Massive debate about whether psycannons ignore their invulnerable turbo-boost save. I would say they do, given that the rules don't care WHY it has an inv. save, just that it does.

Hellions
Never used them myself. They can be likened a bit to something like, say, Swooping Hawks from Eldar. They have sky boards that basically let them move as if they have Jump packs, they have hit and run, and combat drugs. Small units normally, and very rarely taken because they're just not worth it. They get a small invulnerable "jink" save, but just keep shooting and they'l go down. Also get combat drugs, but the unit size is so small they won't make good use of them.

HEAVY SUPPORT
Scourges
Like a Devastator/Purgation squad, but with Jump Packs. Can take Dark Lances or Splinter Cannons. Rare to see them with Dark Lances, as these heavy weapons negate their mobility. Normally go with 4 Splinter Cannons. Generally considered overpriced and ineffective against anything except Guard/Orks/Nids, and not great even then. Be surprised if you see them (and if you do, you know you're facing your opponent's take-all-comers list). Have heard of players giving them a leader with an Agoniser which may actually be a better deal than using them as heavies. Haven't tried it myself.

Ravagers
*chuckles cruelly* The number of times these have gotten Man of the Match in my army... These are basically gunboats. Slightly more heavily armoured than Raiders, and packing 3 weapons, either Dark Lances or Disintegrators. You normally see 1 DL and 2 Dissies, or all 3 dissies, to take advantage of its mobility. These things are MEQ killers. Capable of 9 S4 shots that ignore your armour, with good BS. Shoot them down with your anti-tank if you can, as they need to be within 24" to be fully effective, but stormbolters won't work on these ones.

Talos
A mini-Wraithlord. Not quite as strong or tough, but rips up better in CC than a Wraithlord. Shooting weapon is like 3 stormbolters, but had wierd targeting rules (targets closest enemy models, even if they're in different units, so don't have your leaders RIGHT at the front). Very slow compared to the rest of the DE, and for this reason not overly popular. Often used as a fire-magnet, as you can't let it hit your lines. Use anti-tank weapons to kill it from afar.

-The main army types you'll see:
Air Force:
Given the vulnerability of open-topped skimmers in 4th Ed, it's fallen out of favour a bit, but is still reasonably popular. Lots of Raiders carrying elite assault units and warrior squads, backed up by a couple of Ravagers. Generally rush and hope that enough of the army gets into CC (smart rushing though, using cover and the likes). Sometimes you'll see players prefer to dance around a bit before striking.

Shoot down the Raiders, this is where the threat is. Once they go down, polish off the entangled and mostly dead squads that were inside. Try to keep away from where they can dash out of cover (ie give yourself time to shoot) and make sure to stay together so squads don't get picked off. Don't let a Ravager shoot one of your squads without it being threatened at least by psycannons, or anti-tank.

Webway army
Some of the army starts on the table, but the rest starts off, and will later be deployed through a webway portal which is laid down by something already on the table. If you can kill the carrier quickly, before he lays it, then the rest of the army is just gone. That's why I've never tried this army. The basis of it is that the portal gets deployed nearer to enemy lines, so the units coming out don't get shot at so much on their way across the board. If the portal does get laid down, I do believe that things can't come in if you surround the portal. So if you kill everything on the table and surround the portal, it's over.

Army of Shadows
Similar deal to above. Mandrakes are deployed on the table, a character on a Raider carries the webway portal, but that Raider has Screaming Jets, which allows it to Deep Strike. The rest of the army is inside the portal waiting to come out. So there's nothing on the table that you can actually interact with until at LEAST the 2nd turn, when the Deep Striking Raider might come down, or otherwise the 3rd turn when the Mandrakes reveal. I'd personally just stay put, and that way they can't pick on isolated units, and their mandrakes reveal before they're close enough to charge (not that they're good for anything except tying up GK anyway)

Footsloggers
Generally derided by most DE players as totally unfluffy for a raiding army, the basis of this army is stacks of Warriors with lots of Dark Lances. Roll up one flank shooting and CCing. Shrounding should do a decent job of protecting you, and they won't move because the Dark Lances are the whole point of the army (some guys might have leaders with Agonisers, in which case you have to decide whether to CC them because of the Dark Lances or shoot them because of the agonisers. Equal evils for me really)

Eldar (MECH and non-MECH)

-Dread Locks! (used for mech armies primarily) You need something good to take out all those skimmers! And these accomplish that goal.
-IST: M
-Orb Strike!
-Alaitic Eldar have a lot of rangers so they can pin you often.
-Ulthwe have lots of psykers and BS4 guardians.
-Psych Out! These are great tools to use against this low armoured army. Also they can really hurt the Farseer!
-Assault Cannons and Autocannons are really good too. Especially if the elder player is cheesy and uses 3 wraithlords + Avatar list.
-A land raider can be an option against an Eldar force, but apparently a bright lance can make short work of it. So unless your facing a starcannon heavy list, don’t take a land raider.
-Target: Transports. Kill the transports as soon as possible. Their armies vehicle upgrades (namely Holo-field and Spirit Stones) can make the transports really hard to kill. But they should be your first priority.
-Because of all the ap2 weapons they have, you really have to stick to cover a lot with this army.
-Deepstrike!
-Flying Cannoness and/or Seraphim. Useful for any heavily tank based army as anti-tank units.
-Eldar tanks can be harder then they seem to destroy, do not underestimate them.
-For the most part, your grey knights are tougher then anything he has got for close combat, so if he charges you don’t worry. But in the same respect, that means that you want to charge him as soon as possible.
-Get a psychic hood. They are too good against an elder guy with even one farseer!
-Some good weapons to use against Eldar include: Heavy Flamers, Flamers, any kind of template weapons, heavy bolters, stormbolters, bolters, anything that ignores cover saves and anything with the above items that also deepstrikes.
-Remember that if they are not Ulthwe, their BS is 3, so even though they will shoot lots at you, the chances of them hitting with most of it is only 50%.
-Assault the ranged units.
-Don’t be assaulted or assault Banshees or Scorpians. They are good in hand to hand, just shoot these guys, they die fast to shooting.
-Try to stay out of line of sight of the dark reapers, These are one of the few static units in the elder list, so they shouldn’t be a huge problem. But none the less, assault these guys, and try not to get shot by them.
-Over the length of the game, the Wraithlord can’t dish out much damage by shooting, so try not to get too scared of these big and scary guys.
-Eldar relies heavily on cover saves. Try to deny them this through the use of flamers and the like.
-Eldar have very low toughness and crappy armour saves, use this to your advantage when equipping all your guys. You don’t have to go nuts with super nice equipment. Most of the standard guns kill Eldar fast.
-The cheapest star cannon platforms will be their vipers. These are light skimmers so can be easy to kill, most of the time. The other platforms for SCs are wraithlords (lascannons work best against these monsters), falcons (very tough to kill if equipped properly, multiple rounds of lascannons will do the trick, Once you stun it in a turn, go and wait for the next turn to shoot and kill, use your other anti-armour to shoot the other tanks that still pose a threat in the next turn)
-Guardians are an Eldar players standard infantry, with one big gun. They will probably always have a cover save from the warlock so use flamers and templates to annihilate these guys.
-Don’t forget banshees ignore armour saves, so don’t use your terminators against these guys. Terminators however, are useful against scorpions.
-If you get assaulted by banshees, don’t waste more units to charge in and fight, it is better to wait and see who wins the fight, then shoot the banshees if they win. Personally, I can see how this is effective; you will be utilizing your units to shoot at other elder instead of charging in to help your squad that is in combat with them right now. I am not to sure how well this works, I haven’t had a chance to try it, but it sounds like it works well or at least a viable option, hence why I included it.
-Watch for Crystal Targeting Matrix on his vehicles. This will allow them to shoot and then move back into cover. This makes their tanks very hard to kill.
-Double Psych Strike! Good for mech armies. A very hit or miss strategie.

Orks (Feral, Speed Freaks, etc…) (also I would play against Kroot similarly)

-Shoot, Shoot and Shoot some more…
-Facing Speed Freaks? Trukk boys can charge up to 21” . (12”, 1” red pain job, 2” disembark, and 6” charge), so keep that in mind and try not to get caught with this. If they get waagh off, that sucks for us. Watch out for looted demolishers which can hurt us badly. If a unit of Trukk boys assaults your unit, try and isolate that squad of so that the orks will have nowhere to hide after they (possibly) destroy that unit they charge. Generally they do not have a lot of troops, so you just have to really survive the first wave and then clean house.
-Max Out! The more troops you have come round 2 (when you get to fight back if you’re facing speed freaks), the better you will fair. Plus all that extra bolter fire really helps.
-Avoid close combat for as long as possible. If it comes down to close combat, always try and get the charge in as much as possible. The orks Waagh is to be feared!
-Cover!
-Terminators are not as efficient against orks. Their 2+ save can be turned to a 4+ save by the choppas, not fun.
-Psych Out! Not only are these good generally against most Orc vehicles, but it is also good at trimming down the population. Also very good agains Massed warbike armies.
-Target: Warboss + nob retinue or cyborks who invoke invulnerable saves on a regular basis.
-Target: Battlewagons, these are a large threat, usually fitted with 20 orcs and a whole lot of dakka. Use all of your anti-tank on this guy to bring him down as fast as possible. And when you do blow it up, you now have the potential to hurt a whole lot of orcs. Sometimes battlewagons can be fitted with so much weaponry that you have to take them down fast or the shear number of shots they send out will kill many many brave Grey Knights.
-If facing an ‘Iron Wall’ (killer kans & dreadnoughts wall) or a looted vehicle, just try and use the shrouding to your best advantage and shoot these buggers with all your anti-tank weaponry.
-If opponent has buggies, try and use elevated terrain to protect yourself from them. The buggies block line of sight so be careful.
-Another good point about elevating yourself is that you make the orcs have to clamber all the way into and up the building to get into a proper combat with you. That way, and getting into the building usually involves a difficult terrain test. If you are at least two floors in, you have a decent chance of getting an extra round of shooting in.
-Ranged Inquisitor. All the more shooting you have against orks, the better.

Necrons

-Target: Lords, Immortals, and Models with ‘Necron Special Rule’
-Target: Destroyers. Try and kill all of these buggers off as fast as possible. They provide some good fire support. And should be considered highest priority on the board.
-Target: Monolith. If you do try and target the monolith, goodluck. It gets target priority because if you have the tools to do it quickly, namely lots and lots of lascannons, or a few thunderhammers that you can get their early on in the game, you can ruin a whole lot of plans for the necrons. NOTE: going after the monolith is harder then just trying to make them phase out.
-All Your Tanks Are Belong To Us…
-Ignore the monolith. It will go away. Seriously, just focusing on the Necron special rule troops so that the army phases out. Unless you have like 3 lascannons and 3 missile launchers. Otherwise, with all that shooting, you can concentrate on the models. That is the general consensus.
-Arnold Schwarzenegger. One of the most deadly units taken against Necrons is the GKT. Necrons have little AP2 weaponry and NFW counting as power weapons disallow save and WBB rolls, which make them very useful. More then 6 is too many because GKT are sooo expensive.
-Max Out! If your opponent takes a monolith, and you don’t take a tank then the points deficiency in the enemy army more then makes up for the slightly higher points cost of PAGK and FAGK compared to a Necron warrior. Also worth mentioning, the fewer warriors they have the easier for them to fade out. This is also the case then they have destroyers, heavy destroyers, and immortals.
-IST: P
-Nekkid Plasma Inq. Cheaper retinue for a quick plasma cannon that will be overlooked.
-Even though Plasma does not negate the WBB roll, it does remove the save, giving you a better chance making the enemy more reliant on their WBB roll. And a Plasma Cannon (either on dreads, or in INQ shooty squads) can really work wonders.
-Focus your fire on one squad at a time. If they don’t have a buddy left, they cant make WBB rolls.
-No need to deepstrike your units. The Necrons will come to you and are more manoeuvrable then your DSing units.
-Another idea is to march up shooting all the way and try and position yourself to avoid a rapid-fire shot before manoeuvring in for the assault. Once assaulted Necrons, even immortals die pretty easily to GKs.
-Induction: Seraphim. It has been suggested that these babes are really good at searching and destroying the Destroyers. Also they can do a bit of damage possibly to the monolith once you take out the destroyers.
-Eversor. When he gets into an assault, he can be really deadlyagainst warriors or immortals. And it is also a good diversion tactic to have the necron player waste a round of firering to get rid of this nuisance, when he should be firering at our more valuable troops.
-Try and back the necrons into a corner while they try to avoid us. They need to get close to us for their double taps to really do damage, but in the end, if you can back them into a corner and assault, the better it is for us.
-Try to stay out of range of the Monolith’s particle whip or at least out of line of sight. As this bad boy weapon of theirs can give an IC in a unit a headache if it hits smack on the head of him with an AP1 hit. OUCH!
-Watch out for the necrons chain teleporting using the Monolith and if you assault them, make sure you kill them all or sweeping advance them. Because if you do not kill them, they can get free WBB rolls and come back at you and double tap their guns!

Tyranids

-Target: Genestealers. Shoot the hell out of these guys. They are terrible to get into close combat with.
-Target: Carnifex and Hive Tyrant. Shoot these guys down with all of your anti-armour weaponry.
-Weak against vehicle heavy armies and anything with high fire-rate armies. Try and accomplish this with your list when facing tyranids if possible.
-Shoot, Shoot and Shoot some more…
-Deepstrike (because they move so fast, by the time you deepstrike, you will end up deepstriking on top of them, or behind them, giving you a slight advantage)
-Psych Out!
-IST: T
-It is suggested that in 1000 point games including a Grandmaster + Icon + Psycannon and pure PAGK and FAGK is really useful. Using the GM to take on the Hive Tyrant is a good tactic. Just mainly, not much required to fighting nids, just try and outshoot them and use your GM against the big dudes.
-Watch out for gargoyles. Some lists have a lot of gargoyles which will get on you so quick and tie you up long enough for their genestealers to scuttle in. watch out.
-If the tyranid player plays a swarm army, you really have to assess the situation fast and take out the really bad targets first. If you don’t and shoot at the closest thing to you, you’re doomed.
-While using the Shoot, Shoot and Shoot some more… technique, one of the most critiqual things to assess is terrain placement. You don’t want massive forests and a hill blocking your line of sight, impassable terrain is a good thing which allows you to bottle neck the tyranids. But don’t put the impassable terrain so that it blocks your line of sight to the nids.
-Inquisitor Heresius. Suggested equipment, give him a flamer, and outfit his retinue as you did your lord. Maybe pack them a rhino, and use that to block important coradoors where the genestealers might try to assault you. Keep this unit as cheap as possible. Remember, you can’t give him a psychannon, so if you outfit this unit with lots of flamers, you got a good pre-assault firebase after exiting the rhino. Also, you can use a chimera with flamers and heavy flamers. Fun times for the tyranids!
-IST, 5 strong in a rhino with flamers is a good tactic as well, just to block those key places you need blocked from an assault. Also, you can use a chimera with flamers and heavy flamers. Fun times for the tyranids!
-Ranged Inquisitor. All the more shooting you have against tyranids the better!

Tau Empire (Mech, and not Mech)

-Target: Battlesuits, they provide the most nuisance to DH players
-Target: Hammerheads with railguns, they are really good.
-Deepstrike (so reliant on ranged weapons, trying to footslog it will hurt you badly)
-Double Psych Strike! (if facing MECH army)
-All Your Tanks Are Belong To Us…
-Blitz! (if your units don’t deepstrike, rush them… as fast as you can) You want to be in close combat as soon as possible. Did I mention close combat is like one of their biggest weaknesses? Yah…. Ok good I mentioned it! DON’T TRY AND OUTSHOOT THEM!
-Dread Locks! (used for mech armies primarily if you are running a puritan army without induced IG) Might not be as good against tau, as they can rip through armoured vehicles with ease.
-IST: M
-IST: T
-Orb Strike!
-Flying Cannoness and/or Seraphim. Useful for any heavily tank based army as anti-tank units.
-Psych Out! Tau tanks have low armour, so ap4 or better weapons can hurt them badly. Also, against non-mech armies, these do painful things to Tau players. Also notable, Heavy Bolters can really hurt them as well.
-Arnold Schwarzenegger. Tau have a lack of AP2 or better weapons. Though they do have a lot of high strength guns in their arsenal. Also, sometimes depending on the Tau player, this is not a good strategie, as they have rapid fire AP2 and assault 1 AP1 guns that hurt GKT. Worst case scenario, just DS them in, and try and get rid of the guys who can hurt your terminators first.
-Double Psych Strike! Good for mech armies. A very hit or miss strategie.
-Cover! With all the shooting the Tau do, you have to hide and advance under cover to save models lives.
-Consider bringing in Inducted IG or some IST squads to up your armies number of models.
-Broken down by unit
HQ
Almost always the Tau HQ choice will be what is called the 97pt 'El. This is probably the third biggest infantry threat you'll have when facing the Tau. As with all Tau battlesuits, it has JSJ (A six inch move, the ability to shoot (including rapid fire weapons as though it were stationary), then another six inch move in the assault phase). However, even worse, this particularly nasty bugger is an Independant Character as well. Though a nuisance most of the time, if left to it's own devices it can ruin anyone's day. Especially since Tau can have two of them.

ELITE
The XV8 Crisis suit is almost exactly like the Shas'El/O above, only not an independant character and not as good at shooting. However, definitely place this near the top of your 'things to kill' list. I'll detail this further later.

The other elite choice is the XV25 Stealth Team. It has a stealth feild; Just like your 'shrouding'. They come in groups of six most of the time, and have the ability to pump out enough str5 shots at eighteen inches to leave a dent in even the toughest of units. Plus they also have JSJ; They are even more phantomlike than the Grey Knights. You have 'the shrouding', they effectively have 'the shrouding' and 'oh hey, I'm going to shoot you then hide before you can shoot back' in one conveniant package. Do not let these guys run amok for long.

TROOPS
Our troops come in two flavors: firewarriors and Kroot.

Firewarriors come in groups of twelve, and have quite simply the best standard infantry gun in the game in the Pulse Rifle. It has enough range to almost blast the back of your deployment zone from the front of ours. Combined with it's modest Ap and respectable strength, it's a gun to be feared. However, ignore small groups of Firewarriors. They have only average BS, and require volume to accomplish significant damage.

Watch out though, for the Devilfish mounted variants. Common in mechanized lists, these bad-boys will have you doing a double take. The Fish of Fury is a tried and true combat tactic used by almost every Tau commander. 29 str5 shots are going to do damage, no matter what they're shooting at. Devilfish can be outfitted to be 'Warfish', which make respectable light tanks in their own right. Also, watch out for the nasty ability of the Smart Missile System; 4 shots, that the one shooting doesn't actually have to see you to use. The shrouding still works, but the units will often be behind line of sight terrain.

Now for the real fun; the Kroot. These guys are dirt cheap. Like Imperial Guard cheap. And their stats are only just shy of a Space Marine's. They work in hordes, can infiltrate, and their weapon is basically a bolter by a different name. However, you'll have initiative and toughness over a Kroot, always. And lets not forget the real kicker: The Kroot lack an armor save of ANY kind.

But don't let that fool you. These guys are not something to be sniffed at. Because where there are Kroot, there are almost always Kroot Hounds. These guys are exactly like Kroot... Only with an initiative higher than yours. That's right, these guys will hit first most of the time, and their WS and Str are exactly like yours. They work with the Kroot, and together are simply enough attacks to break most units of Space Marines or their Equivalents.

Kroot are bad. Do not let them charge, and if at all possible do NOT let them infiltrate into woods. Especially a large block of woods. They'll sit in and blast you without fear of retribution, and if you charge in... The Kroot are bad in the woods. A solid block of twelve Kroot have broken mobs of 20 orks in games I've played. Twice in the same game actually. He underestimated the Kroot; Do not charge in and expect to walk through them, it won't happen. I can't stress these two points enough:

Don't let them in the woods and
Don't let them get close to you.

You'll be glad you didn't.

FAST ATTACK
Gun Drones are interesting little buggers... They have the JSJ, and twinlinked assault weaposn that have the added bonus of being pinning... But horrendous BS and WS. They are an annoyance, but aren't too threatening... Though the random inopportune pinned unit is not a good thing.

Piranhas are fast skimmers that almost always have a Fusion blaster: A melta weapon. However, they're armored like a sentinal, only -slightly- better. That's all you need to know; It's got paper thin armor and it needs to die. It'll also have Gun Drones popping off of them for more random annoyances running around the feild.

Vespid... They have anti-meq weapons, move twelve inches a turn, and can re-roll dangerous terrain tests. They come en masse', and aren't terribly expensive. Now for the good news; They have a crappy save, and the range on their gun sucks. Shoot them with anything AP5, break them before they ever get to you... Or you may actually have problems. They're fast in CC, but their WS, BS, and Str are only average. Just play keep away with them, if you see them.

Pathfinders are the true threat. Their mandatory devilfish helps if he's deepstriking units, but the real danger is Markerlights. Look at the above units. Look at how I've described them. Now imagine them hitting with a BS of 5. Or your cover saves being negated. Or your leadership being lowered for pinning tests. Pathfinders aren't dangerous in and of themselves, but they make the entire rest of the army function incredibly well. Target them out and destroy them as soon as possible. Watch out though; They are often the 'bait' for fire traps. If you concentrate on them, make sure that you aren't going to get enveloped. If you do, you can probably hand-to-hand your way out of it, but... Out in the open surrounded by Tau is not safe for ANYONE.

HEAVY SUPPORT

First off, the Sky Ray. This has two markerlights, Str8 ap3 missiles (though only a limited number), and is a general pain. However, it's not so much of a direct threat as it is a well armored pathfinder. Destroy at your descretion, it probably won't be your first target though. Your first target will either...

Broadsides. Not so much a threat against you, but they have TWINLINKED railguns. Blam. You're dead. Along with other weapons that can cause problems, and a 2+ save, these guys are definite kill-or-assault targets. Luckily, they have a rather pathetic WS, and if you lock them in close combat you'll probably be there a while, if you don't win.

But now, the true king of the Tau army... the Hammerhead Gunship. This bad boy is notorious for it's combination of heavy-firepower (A gun better than the brightlance at killing armor) and an incredible amount of resiliance. It can be anti-vehicle/infantry or it can be anti-MEQ, but either way this thing has to die. Pour as much fire as you need to into it. It will haunt you if you don't. Keep in mind, it will move more than 6'' a turn if at all possible to get Skimmer Moving Fast, automatically downgrading all hits to glancing, but it will still be able to fire all it's weapons thanks to an upgrade called the Multi-Tracker.

-Common Types of Tau Armies

JSJ - The most hated special rule in all of Warhammer, the JSJ. In the hands of a skilled commander, it makes all the troops with it invincible for the most part. How are you supposed to kill something can shoot at you, but you can't shoot back at and can run away almost as fast as you can charge?

There is a trick to this: the JSJ requires Line of Sight terrain to be truly effective. This is a dead giveaway; you'll know where your opponent is probably going to put the JSJ-ers before you ever start. That's only part of the good news as well:

The two biggest threats, the Crisis Elites and the HQ Shas'El/Os have very large bases. That makes it particularly difficult to hide them, especially in groups. They also don't run in large groups, when they're in a group. If you can position your units in a 'pincer' coming around both sides of said LOS terrain, you can force out the resilient cockroach that the battlesuit is and squash it. One good round of shooting is all it should take. And though they are fast, they will eventually be cornered. Don't be afraid of them in close combat; Ever. You will own them, almost without question. The only exception to this is Commander Farsight and his assaulty-retinue of Doom. Don't let the name fool you; A Khorne worshipper he ain't, but 7 str8 ap1 shots and 14 str7 ap4 shots followed by eight suits charging into the fray will cause some damage. Don't fret over it too much though, this is rare.

You can't simply sit back and out-shoot a JSJ-er. You have to charge in and scourge them out bit by bit. The Tau are cockroaches; you can kill dozens of us and we'll still have those few that just refuse to die. Assault as best you can, but beware 'No-Man's March' syndrome. Simply lining up and marching will get you killed against the Tau. Terrain and tactics will be needed. Misdirection, intimidation. You are the Daemonhunters, the Grey Knights are at your beck and call. Make use of that; If you can get a Tau player afraid, then half the battle is already won.

Imperial Guard (Mech, and not Mech)

-Deepstrike (so reliant on ranged weapons, trying to footslog it will hurt you badly)
-Double Psych Strike! (if facing MECH army) A very hit or miss strategie.
-Blitz!
-All Your Tanks Are Belong To Us...
-Dread Locks! (used for mech armies primarily)
-IST: M
-IST: T
-Orb Strike! Forces them to move out of cover so you can shoot without them getting a save!
-Flying Cannoness and/or Seraphim. Useful for any heavily tank based army as anti-tank units.
-Cover! Honestly, with all the shooting this army puts out, you have to use cover effectively to get to the enemy with as little casualties as possible.
-Spread out. If you have PAGKs that are walking in the open, spread them out to the maximum of 2" spacing. This way if he does 'stick' a blast, you will lose the least amount possible.
-Take a Landraider Crusader. If you can get your PAGK troops into his AT units fast, your LRC will live to take out his tanks with its TL/AC and MM. A good IG player will take a few Lascannons, but blow smoke the first turn, and hopefully you will be good to assault by turn two.
-Eversor! Good placement of him, and you can take out or damage a Russ early in the game. It is usually a suicide mission, but I would trade him to take out a Russ anyday.
-Induct to some IG. A couple of Guard squad with Lascannons are a good way to take some AT firepower.


Witch Hunters

-These girls spew out tremendous amounts of firepower at close range. Witch Hunters main strength lies in their midrange and close range shooting abilities.
-Deepstrike!
-blitz!
-Against more mobile witch hunters, you need to be a bit more careful. this game needs to be played as more of a counter attack rather than a strike, so move into advantageous positions and pick off what you can on the way.
-Cover!
-Never ever try and outshoot sisters, their basic troop costs less than half that of a GK and can use acts of faith to create low AP fire.
-Target: make sure you target their Hand to hand units with your ranged and charge their shooting units. If you don’t do this, you will get slaughtered in hand to hand. As their close combat units will beat you easily should it come down to close combat.
-Make sure to keep your units spread out, as flamer templates can really hurt you.
-Two main facts make this army powerful: their enormous amount of low costing 3+ saves, and their acts of faith.
-A look at the acts of Faith:
Hand of the Emperor: Adds strength to attack but reduces initiative.

Divine Guidance: A form of rending, gives basic weapons a chance to be AP 1. (this is a WH armies bread and butter act of faith)

The Passion: Increases models initiative.

Light of the Emperor: Makes unit fearless.

Spirit of the Martyr: Units armour save becomes invulnerable.

A WH player has a set limit of faith points that their army grants them, 6 to 9 is about average for 1500 point armies. However if a unit that grants Faith is killed the WH player gains back that Faith point when they die.

-A look into the Units:
HQ:

The most common WH HQ is the Canoness. This lady can be decked out to do almost anything. Common builds are usually Independent Character Hunter and the Tank Killer. With the right load out and acts of faith this lady can basically kill anything she sets her mind to, and for a minimal cost. In a DH force lone Inquisitors and shooty Inquisitor retinues would be prime targets, as well as Independent Bro Capts and small squads of plasma IST. If she's loaded for bear she can be lethal to Dreadnoughts, Rhinos, Chimeras and even Landraiders.

Less common but still scary is the CC Inquisitor. Unlike DH, WH Inquisitors and their retinues can be tooled out to be serious CC threats. This unit is still fragile and expensive though. Best to be dealt with by shooting.

ELITES:

Inquisitors: basically the same as DH inquisitors.

Assassins: Same choices as DH. Beware and Eversor or Callidius being used against you as you would use them against others.

Arco Flagellants: Fast CC monsters. Under no circumstances should you tangle with these guys is CC, they will chew you up and spit you out. They cost a lot of points and have a poor armour save, shoot them to death but beware, they can move very fast if they want to.

Sisters Repentia: CC oriented and very deadly against armour. GK's don’t have much to fear here but its still best to shoot these girls up rather than CC them.

Celestines: The most common WH elites choice seen. Still as weak as basic sisters but with a better WS and an automatic hit to wound. Typically mounted in a Rhino and used as a bodyguard for the odd Canoness HQ that doesn’t fly. Watch out for melta guns or flamers used in conjunction with Divine Guidance (Rending type Act of Faith). No CC real CC threat to GK's, just be sure to shoot their transport out from under them so you can set the terms of the charge.

TROOPS

Battle Sisters: Very cheap and survivable troops. Very good in midrange shooting. Beware of the bail and flame tactic. Combined with Divine Guidance this can decimate entire squads in one round of shooting. Best to shoot these girls rhino out from under them to prevent this. These girls will out shoot you but you can squish them in CC.

IST's: Used basically the same way they are in DH armies.

FAST ATTACK

Seraphim: Sisters with Jump Packs. These girls are one of the most common fast attack choices in a WH army. They are ultra mobile and are typically kited out to be anti-armor (2 Inferno Pistols (Melta gun pistols basically)) or anti-troop (2 flamers). When they are specialized and properly kitted they become masters of their trade. These girls pose the biggest threat to a GK force. Their mobility and jump back rules will make it next to impossible to CC these ladies with anything but an Eversore. Keep your squads close to each other for mutual support, these ladies are well suited to picking off lone squads, but may have trouble facing multiples at once. Also remember to watch out for you’re tanks and armour, these girls can pop most anything if they want to. You will probably be left with no choice but to try and shoot these ladies to death, but that’s not to hard to do with a storm bolter given their low toughness.

Dominion Squads: Sisters with lots o' special weapons. The second most common FA choice in a WH army. These girls must be fielded with a Rhino or Immolator. Their typical load out is 4 melta guns or 4 flamers. It’s fairly obvious the threat that 4 meltas pose to armour and troops (especially GKT's) and four flamers with Divine Guidance will surely kill off any squad it targets. The best counter is just to shoot their transports out from under them and set the terms of the CC charge to favour you.

HEAVY SUPPORT

Retribution Squad: Sisters with lots of Heavy Bolters or Multi-Meltas. Typically these girls have 4 heavy bolters and they just sit back and spew out torrents of fire. Squads are usually padded with plenty of bodies so they can absorb many casualties before you start hitting their heavy bolters. A DS unit or an Assassin is the best cure for these girls as they have 0 effectiveness if they are moving or are in CC.

Immolator: A very cheap and effective transport armed with either a heavy flamer that can fire even after max movement, or a multi-melta good for anti-armour. Not as serious a threat as other Heavy Support choices but you will want to pop this guy, especially if it's carrying 6 dominions.

Exorcist: One of the top five tanks in the entire game, hands down. It has OK armour but its Exorcist Launcher can spew out a torrent of high strength low AP shot. Deadly against light and medium armour vehicles as well as terminator squads. You better kill this bad boy fast or he's going to eat up your dreads and termies like there's no tomorrow. Most 1500 point armies include two. DS and shoot their back armour or use Lascannon Dreads to blow them up from afar, whatever you do, do it fast.

Penitent Engine: Basically a Dread with 2 CCW's and flamers. Very cheap and can be taken in squads of three. Best option is to shoot these guys from far away as they can get the charge on anything close by and can flail it with a huge number of high strength attacks.

Orbital Strikes: Same as DH, nothing new here.

Common Army Builds:
Mech Sister Armies are the most common. Consists of lots of sisters in Rhinos with flamers and meltas and Exorcists sitting in the back. Sisters rush your lines, bailout and flame using Divine Guidance, you die, they repeat process. Don't let those Rhinos rush your lines, pop as many as you can early on. Mech sisters are fragile and if you can cripple them early on they can't really recover. Best counters you have are inducted IG Armoured Fist Companies with Autocannons and Chimeras with MultiLaser (Volume is you best bet to kill Rhinos that have popped smoke).


Daemon Hunters

No *Real* Tactics found for hunting these guys. (who knows, someday some daemon hunters might get corrupted and we would have to kill our own for the emperor). Feel free to give feedback for this section. Will be updated when like a full tactica is drawn up by someone who plans on wasting time like i have for this project.

Weaknesses:
Limited anti-armor.
High point cost for infantry.

Armies that give them trouble:
Vehicle-heavy armies (Mech IG, Mech Tau)
Lots of AP3 or better weapons (Eldar)

-you are exactly on even ground angainst DH, so simply put, there are no real counter strategies. just plan better, use the terrain better, and hope the enemy doesnt see through your plan. just like a good game of chess.

CITIES OF DEATH: The following is a tactica written on fighting a CoD battle using Daemon Hunters.

Although a shooty inquisitor and retinue is usually worth taking, it really isn't so much in a Cities of Death game. The plasma cannon servitor, in particular, will not be very effective unless your opponent is dumb enough to leave his models outside the cover of ruined buildings AND be in your line of sight. Not likely. Templates explode at the top level of a ruin, so as long as he keeps his models on the bottom floors, you can't touch them with the plasma cannon. Furthermore, an inquisitor and retinue are too small to hold a ruin for long. They can be quickly shot dead from a couple rounds of concentrated firepower. And since you can't both move your inquisitor retinue and shoot any of the heavy weapons ... well, I say CoD is one of the few times where you should leave your shooty retinue at home.

Not that taking an inquisitor is bad, but if you do it, make sure it is because you also intend to make good use of an assassin. Take the psycannon on your inquisitor and put him with a squad of shooty ISTs. Have them take possession of an empty ruin and defend it with loads o' hellgun, plasma gun, and psycannon fire. (A mounted IST squad is actually an excellent troop choice for CoD. They are great at taking and defending objectives, especially when the objectives all provide cover saves, and since CoD is 100% objective based, you can't go wrong by selecting one or more IST squads.)

On the benefits of assassins: CoD games are good for assassins. Lots of places to infiltrate. The callidus still rocks. The Eversor will throw a wrench into their plans. And the vindicator can really shine in such games provided the enemy has viable targets for you to shoot at. I don't know squat about Dark Eldar, but if, like marines, they have lots of models with hidden benefits, the vindicare will really help you out here. CoD strongly encourages that the tallest buildings be in the center of the board. Guess where you'll put that sniper?

Definitely load up on GK, and take the combat engineers strategem to protect them. Pay for frag grenades on your justicars. So far, I prefer to walk my GKs, even the fast attack ones. It seems to be more important to lay down as much firepower as you can and contest buildings ASAP. I'm even experimenting with walking my terminators, too, for the same reason.

Normally I love seraphim myself. Use 'em all the time. But I haven't yet with CoD. They don't seem well suited to defending a ruined building. Taking one, yes. But keeping it after wiping out the defenders ... I don't rightly know. So far, I've left them at home.

Dreads are useful if you can keep them protected. CoD is close-in fighting, so AC/DCCW dreads are generally better suited to the game than TLLC/ML dreads. Though I always take one of the latter for busting big targets early in the game.