Joe Neet, our resident Warpath expert, offer some advice in the first of his new tactics articles. Make sure you check the Mantic blog every week for Tactics Tuesday!

Suppression, that is a term that you will hear a lot when you are playing Warpath or Firefight. Everywhere you look units are being shot at, charged or being run over by tanks. How do you keep your units active and effective through this relentless assault?

While there are more rules for Protection in the game, this point above I think it the most important. Being grounded in Firefight (or Warpath for that matter) is horrible. When grounded your units cannot make any actions, fight in assault, give orders or make charge reactions. On top of that, you must make a Recovery Check which can see your unit fall back or loose even more models reducing its combat effectiveness.

Protection eliminates that concern, and offers a way for your battered units to continue the fight. Models with the Protection rule will have a unit type that benefits from its protection. Be mindful when choosing your force that your units are near a model with Protection that benefits their type.

In my Plague force I have two large units of Plague Zombies (20 models each) that I run as a way to lock my enemy down and help me control areas of the table. With that goal in mind I don’t want them to be pinned down by suppression markers. When combined with their Unflinching Rule (no suppression taken from being shot), and Inspiring (+1 Nerve within 8’’) from one of the two 1st Gen Mutants, my opponents have to expend a lot of resources to reduce their effectiveness on the table.

Top all of that off with Subject 901 who provides Protection (Regular Infantry), which means that I will never be unable to move or perform actions with these two key units. Here is what my Plague Zombie contingent of my army looks like:

• 1st Gen Mutant – 150pts
• 1st Gen Mutant – 150pts
• Subject 901 – 90pts
• 20 Plague Zombies – 130pts
• 20 Plague Zombies – 130pts

This 650 core force allows for me to have table control so that my faster and more aggressive units can move more freely across the table. So remember that Suppression is a very big part of Firefight, and should always be considered when making your list. If your list has access to models with Protection I suggest you make good use of it and take them!

Joe will be back next week with another Tactics Tuesday. If there’s anything you’d like him to cover, let us know in the comments below. And if you want to start your own Warpath army, check the army deals on our website.

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