It has been brought to my attention (by being mocked by my mates of course) that I complain about tables too much. Which in fairness I might do but thats because I have strong dislike for impractical terrain and on events I seem to play on tables that could have been set up better. That said, after post-game thinking I do find that set up and assessing tables is not my strong suit. So idea came to my mind about new type of articles.
I want to try have a look at different tables with a tactical eye and assess their advantages and disadvantages as far as the mission, Deployment Zones and how they will play out later in the game. I hope it will help me assess tables before games and make smarter choices. If this also helps any of you, even better!
As of right now what I look for at tables and base my choices around are four things; 1. where is the highest vantage point, 2. what cover does the Deployment Zones offers, 3. which side has better routes for my army to get to objectives (or out of the Deployment Zone), 4. the placement of objectives.
I try to keep those points in mind when deciding if I select a Deployment Zone or if I'll take Initiative (I might have been taking first turn too often lately). Now lets have a look at the tables I played on in Day 1 of UK Masters and try assess them tactically.
Table 1 - Mission: Supplies
On this table the extra thing to keep in mind is the Mountain Terrain. Depending on your and your opponent's army, it could be better to give them the side with more terrain. If their units do not have Multi-terrain or Mountain Terrain, they will be slowed down by it. Neither side has a higher vantage point but the lower side (from photo's perspective) does have more terrain to spread your army behind.
Each side has multiple paths between terrain to move out, though the lower side does have more open space on the left between terrain which could mean too much movement spent without cover. The top side does have faster access to the big warehouse (which has doors on both sides), which could make for a good cover to advance through.
As for objectives, the one on the left is hidden from both deployment zones (for Prone troops at least), probably more so from the top side. The middle objective is behind the tower, making it fully hidden from the lower deployment zone. On other hand the objective on the right is hidden from the top side. Which makes both sides more or less equal in this regard.
For the sake of this article, lets assume your army doesn't have many (or any) Infiltrators to just deploy next to the objectives. Access to the objectives during the game seems easier from the top. You can advance behind the big warehouse building to get to the middle with only small alley between the tower and the building being open, likely small enough to allow Cautious Move. From the tower, or advancing behind terrain on the top left you can get to the left objective. You'll also have access to the right objective through the warehouse.
From the bottom, the safest way way to advance seems to be from bottom right, towards the warehouse or through the objective room building and behind the tower. The bottom left section is very exposed once you get pass the buildings and there is plenty of line of fire from the top half.
My verdict: For this mission the top Deployment Zone does seem to have advantage as far as getting to the objectives from your DZ. While the bottom is likely to offer more deployment options for your troops. If I was made to pick a side, I would go with the top.
Table 2 - Mission: Antenna Field
The first thing I noticed about this table was that it had no high vantage points, or at least relevant vantage points. You do have double stacked containers and a tower on the far right but those are in the mission's Exclusion Zone so you can't Infiltrate on any of them. The Objective on the right is on top of the crates, near the tower so its worth keeping it in mind but depending on your army, it might simply be too many Orders to make use of it. Most of the table is quite equal leveled, though if you are feeling brave and have troops with Camouflage or other Equipment to make them hard to hit, they can just stand on terrain to get high ground.
But it is more likely most of the fighting will happen on the ground level. Deployment Zones appear to be similar as far as terrain density but I would say this table is deceiving. The lower Deployment Zone does not actually have that much useful terrain, at least that was how I felt during deployment. The lower right corner has very impractical advertising signs and the rest has lots of flat walls, no roofs and too much space between terrain.
While on other hand, the top Deployment Zone has lots of small scatter which makes it likely lot harder to fully hide troops without going Prone, but it is very dense so it should be easier to stay in cover. The mission is also very Order intensive so it could be more forgiving to have troops not fully hidden. I would expect people to focus more on getting to Objectives. The dense scatter terrain is also better for Fireteams, you can keep all the members close together without being behind the same wall. Additionally, if you are playing the walls at top left as fully opaque, it makes good full cover.
As I have found out, getting out of your Deployment Zone and to the objectives is also better from the top. There is more terrain that gets you to the Objectives and offers more opportunities to set up defenses. The objective in the top Deployment Zone is sort of in the open but you can just hide Prone hind it and then on left and in the middle, you can have troops around those brown-white buildings (or lanterns?) to protect the troops who will be on the Objectives.
Going from bottom, however, you have to run into the open quite soon after leaving your Deployment Zone, which might end up being a death-trap if your opponent went first and set up AROs. That was exactly the scenario I faced in my game. And my opponent even denied me the objective on a roof in the lower Deployment Zone by having a sniper standing on terrain that I couldn't outshoot.
Lastly, even the objective on the right on top of containers proved to be accessible better from the top. You can get behind those containers quite easy and then climb. While going from bottom, there is again lots of open ground to cover to get to the containers.
My verdict: My game on this table really made me think I should assess tables better into later turns, not just look at Deployment Zone. My opponent used the terrain well to his advantage and during the game I seen the lower Deployment Zone was not the best choice. The top side had better defense options for later turns.
Table 3 - Mission: Comms Centre
This table felt very much the opposite of the previous table. It had lots of roofs and levels, with the highest vantage point being double stacked building on the left side, though it was outside of the deployment zone. Both sides were more or less equal in heights but the top side actually had better access to a good vantage point. You could have deployed on lower level of the white-orange building or just behind it, and then walk up (probably by Prone to avoid AROs). It would give your troops quite nice overview of most of the board.I was quite keen on the highest vantage point though, getting all the way up there would let me see the the whole board. It would have been perfect for Infiltrating Snipers.
Both sides had a nice mix of terrain in each Deployment Zone, though the open spaces were not so terrible because the area between the green hedges (with the trees) was Low Vis and Saturation. What I thought would be useful by deploying on the bottom size was the seemingly easier access to building in the middle. I did not make proper use of it during the game but it does have good access to four objectives. It is close enough to them that you can go out, activate them and go back in to get cover and wait for the enemy.
When it came to movement outside of the Deployment Zone, I felt like the bottom half of the table had move cover and terrain to use for defense. The road running diagonally across the whole mat seemed more detrimental to the top Deployment Zone because you had to cross the open space to get to objectives while you could use the middle room for cover from the lower Deployment Zone.
Plus the long building on the top left had doors facing the edge of the board and then another doors leading into the top Deployment Zone. Which I did use during the game and it turned out to be a good attack point. Same could be said about the middle building though, you could rush from top and it would lead you straight to the lower Deployment Zone and your troops would have good cover.
The objectives seemed to be spread mostly even as far as cover and access. Though the top Deployment Zone had a lot easier access to an objective on a roof (which I realize only now I had a trooper there the whole game that could have at least active it!). The objective on white-red building I think was about the same, how safe the access stairs would be would really depend on the set up and troops positioning.
My verdict: I still feel like the lower Deployment Zone was the better choice but I did not utilize it properly. I think an aggressive army would benefits from good access routes into the top Deployment Zone through the building on top left and in the middle. However, a defensive army could make good use of the nice overview the top level of the white-orange building could provide.
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