TACTICS TALK: THE BUBBLE WRAP

So if you have been playing for any length of time I’m sure you’ve heard the term “bubble wrap”, but you might not know exactly what that refers to.  Well, this article is for you cause I’m going to talk about how to use it, and how to get around it.

Bubble wrap, in game terms, is exactly what it sounds like, using something cheap and expendable to protect something far more important, and usually more expensive.  Every army has a unit that can be used as bubble wrap to some degree or another, whether it’s Scouts, Termagants, Kroot, Guardians, or Nurglings.  I play Chaos Space Marines so most of the units I will be using in the tactics will be of that variety.  I will try to make it as confusing as possible.

There are 3 main ways that bubble wrap is used, protecting characters with under 10 wounds from being targeted by shooting, protecting units from being assaulted, and preventing deep strikers from getting too close or in your back field.

The first one seems obvious, just put your bubble wrap in between your character and the enemy army.  Well that works, but if you have something like Scouts or Nurglings you can put them off to the side out of your deployment zone but still close enough to the enemy to disrupt their fire patterns.  Now this still works if the bubble wrap unit cannot even be targeted by the shooting unit, due to special rules, LOS, or if the bubble wrap unit is currently in combat.

This Contemptor would love to shoot the Warpsmith before it can repair the Vindicator, but the cultists are closer.

Even the cultists in the ruins will interrupt the Contemptors ability to shoot the Warpsmith, even if they are not visible.

It's easy enough to kill the Cultists out in the open, but the one in the ruins are a little tougher to shift. You will need something that can get around to the other side of the building like some fast moving bikes, or something that can deep strike in behind and take them out so the Contemptor will have an open lane.  Alternatively you can use weapons that don't require LOS like "barrage" type weapons.

Protection from assault is a big deal nowadays, with units like Genestealers and Berserkers that can do some serious damage, having some expendable units out front will act like a speed bump, giving you a second chance to wipe out that charging bull.  Again, it’s not just as simple as putting a cheap unit in between your unit and theirs.

Bubble wrap unit is too tight

You can see here that the Possessed will not be able to charge the Vindicator with the Cultists in the way but once the cultist are dead the Possessed will be within 3"(shown in red) to consolidate into the Vindicator, preventing it from being able to shoot.  Not even all the cultists will have to die in order for the Possessed to be able to consolidate into the Vindicator.  Before you say anything, I know the Possessed will not be able to kill enough of the cultists on one turn to threaten the Vindicator, the models are just there to show the idea of the tactic.

More distance prevents consolidation tie ups

Another thing to remember is to make sure that the gaps in-between your bubble wrap are not big enough for the threat to squeeze through and get to the target.  You can also move your bubble wrap unit closer to the threat during your turn to limit the enemies movement, keeping it back another turn and forcing him to charge your bubble wrap further away from your target unit.  If your bubble wrap happens to survive combat you can have them fall back so you can shoot the threat.  Or even better, use your Morale phase to remove the couple bubble wrap models that are within 1" of the enemy so they don't have to fall back and can add what little damage they can do.

It's hard to avoid hitting the bubble wrap if your opponent does it right.  The main thing you can do is to use your consolidation to surround one of the bubble wrap models so they will not be able to fall back.  Since models cannot move through other models, if there isn't room for a model to move they will be stuck in combat protecting the threat unit from getting shot.  Then, hopefully the threat unit will be able to finish killing the bubble wrap and charge the main target next turn.  Do not make base contact with the enemy models on the initial charge, you can continue to move your models around with your pile in and consolidation moves as long as you end up closer to the closest model.  Meaning you can 3" around the closest model as long as you are closer to it after moving, even if it's a fraction of an inch closer.

The wall doesn't work vs Fly

You can't form a wall against a unit that can fly as it can move or charge directly over top of your bubble wrap.  You also need to be aware that threat unit with fly can land amidst the bubble wrap so you need to make sure that there are no gaps in-between the bubble wrap for the threat unit to land.  This is easy with big monsters like Daemon Princes but gets more difficult with Assault Marines.

Don't forget about that 3" consolidation move

The thing about this is that the cultists really need to spread out, but stay fairly close to the Vindicator so the Prince can't just fly overtop.  This ensures that the Prince will likely have a good shot at making the charge to the target if you can take out the cultists with a different unit in the shooting phase.  Again, all of the cultists won't have to die for the Prince to make it to the Vindicator, if you can remove some from the sides the Prince could charge both units and land in behind the cultists next to the Vindicator.

Last, but certainly not least, is the deep strike protection.  This one is far more obscure, and usually looks far more ridiculous as the bubble wrap will be stretched out all over the damn place striving to make a no land zone.  My examples are far more simple and easy to understand.

Using those old red whippy sticks you used to get with the starter sets, I cut them to 9" lengths to show the "no land zone".  No deep striking unit will be able to get within 12" of the Vindicator, which is the sweet spot for double tapping, deep striking plasma guns.  Cultists are cheap enough that taking a couple units of them just to put them on the flanks of your army to prevent any deep striking units from landing anywhere behind you is worth it.  I strive to make sure that my enemy stays in front of me at all times if I can help it.

This shows the distance that you can put between your units and still have a no land zone.  18" away form each other will prevent a deep striking unit from landing there.  In the above pic the cultists in the ruins are 17" away from the cultists in the open on the left, yet the closest area anything could land from reserves would be a small area in the middle bottom of the pic right along the edge of the table.  Perhaps big enough for a single unit, which you could use as bait tempting your opponent to drop in a single, unsupported unit with very few juicy targets to take out.

This no land zone gets increasingly more difficult to keep intact as the game progresses.  Those cultists will need to move to grab objectives, or hide, or add some firepower no matter how little it might be.  Patience is key here, let your opponent move his defensive grid and allow you drop on in, be wary of the bait hole that looks like a glory hole.

So there you have it, my first tactics post.  Let me know what you think.  Do you want more?  Did you already know everything here?  Is there something you would like me to go over or into in more detail?  That's what the comment section is for.

Until next time, keep them dice rollin.

Hey, I have another sponsor!  Well, really it's a good buddy of mine who has a model painting and furniture re-upholstery business.  So if you have a unit of Marines you want painted and your hobby chair is starting to look a little worse for wear, he can fix both of those issue for you.  Of course if you don't live in the Ottawa, Canada area, then shipping your hobby chair might be a little expensive.  Here are a couple pics of some models he has painted, all of which I took right off his Facebook page.  Also, they might be a little hard to see well, but most of the models I use in my examples are all painted by him.

These are but a few of the models he has painted.  Contact him for a quote and a timeline.  You can find a link to his webpage and Facebook page on the front page of this blog