Applying real-world strategy/tactics to the tabletop

many 40k players assert that you cannot apply the principles of such military theorists as Sin tzu, or Von Clausewitz to the game. They cite the abstract nature of the game, or the age of the strategy compared to the setting's age and technology.

I say that this is bull. They are committing one of the greatest sins a military leader can commit: The sin of thinking within too limited a field of view. By looking at the theories in a very literal light, or by believing in the fallacy that technology can change the fundamental nature of warfare, they are allowing a useful tool to go unused.

As for the " abstraction," it is also fallacious, as all wargames, fantasy or historical, are based upon the military practice of using sand tables, along with symbolic tokens representing various units, with an expected table of organization and equipment. This practice is used to develop and teach solutions to various military problems, and to plan for warfare. Since the principles apply to the latter, with it's abstractions, they are just as applicable to the former.

Von Clausewitz's nine principles were: Mass, objective, offensive, economy of force, maneuver, unity of command, security, surprise, simplicity


Mass is as simple as having enough men at the point of contact with the enemy to overwhelm the enemy and cause teir destruction

Objective is to have a plan, and stick with it, avoiding becoming entangled in chasing opportunities that can distract and delay your forces.

Offensive is to always go on the attack.

Economy of force is to avoid committing more men than is necessary to do the job, or not using an artillery piece when a rifle will do the job equally well, but with a reduced cost in matériel.

maneuver is to place your men where they can do the most damage, or avoid damage until they can strike the enemy.

Unity of command is  to ensure that all of the components of your force are working together to achieve a common goal.

Security, is both physical, such as not allowing the enemy to infiltrate your camp, but also more abstract, such as preventing the enemy from seeing your plans.


Suprise is the goal of misleading your opponent into making false assumptions regarding your forces or strategy.

Simplicity, the best plans are those that place as little as possible to luck or timing, and therefore are as simple as possible.

In outlining the nine principles of Von Clausewitz, I simplify, but the basic ideas are preserved. The way that this is applied on the table top is to not be literal in their application, but to use them as Von Clausewitz intended, as principles to guide your conduct. Instead of building "death star" units, that usually are either too powerful and therefore are overkill, or spamming foot troops, but without any supporting elements to ensure that those foot troops manage to get to battle, Take the middle ground, wit enough manpower to still overwhelm the enemy, but still avoiding overkill that consumes points, but does not necessarily cause a commensurate destruction of the enemy.

By taking a broader view of Military theory, I believe that they can not only be completely relevant, but can vastly improve your performance on the table top, regardless of ruleset.

Jump in your wanzer, front mission is getting some love.

If you are interested in some good strategy for the nintendo ds, then then front mission is a good pick.

Front mission is set in an alternate earth, where military hardware has advanced, and soldiers fight it out in "Wanzers," or Wanderung panzers. Wanzers are your basic ungam type piloted robot armor, with some having the option of tracked legs, or hover equipped legs.

In the game, you can choose to fight for the Oceania cooperative union(for beginners), or the united continental states( yes the U.S. has absorbed all of the Americas by this point) which is the advanced options. The game takes place on huffman island, which the two factions are figting a war over.

The series has been one of my favorites since I managed to find a copy of front mission 3 years ago, The system for combat is easy to learn, but intricate enough to maintain interest. I think that squaresoft did a wonderful job of creating an interesting world, one that sucks you in and makes you care about why you are fighting. I would say that the front mission series is actually squaresoft's best product, even after their merger with enix.

The only downside the game has is the parts menu when you go to upgrade your wanzers, after going far enough into the game, the list is long, and it will take a while to upgrade all of your wanzers. otherwise, I say that it is an excellent addition to your collection.

This week in jackassery

This weeks jackass award goes to bell of lost souls for their incredibly bad judgement in regards to a "rules debate" in regards to the astral shooting power in the grey knights codex. This is little more than a thinly veiled attempt to gain consensus to justify a bad interpretation of rules in order to gain advantage.

The rule is pretty clear, if you successfully use it, you ignore LOS, and night fighting rules, no more, no less. They are attempting to claim that the wording of the part that eliminates the need for los means that they can shoot from inside a vehicle, regardless of fire points. This is not bad in and of itself, but when you consider how durable a vehicle like a land raider is, or how nimble a storm raven is, that means that the squad is effectively either in cover, but that does not mitigate their maneuverability, or allows them to have the advantage of cover, and prevents them from directly being assaulted.

Tho other effect that it has is to diminish Bell of Lost souls as a reputable site for 4ok players, as it sets a tone that they support a WAAC mentality. The waac mentality is bad for 40k, as it means that new players will shy away from the game due to having to deal with douchenozzles that cannot understand why noone plays against them willingly.

So, I nominate Bell of lost souls for jackass of the week for their monumental stupidity, since we all know they can do much better.