DRAICH - Dark Rider Tactics

[Daeron]

Preamble

TOW is still relatively new, and I find that I still have to learn and explore many facets of the game. I thought it would be interesting to revisit the Dark Rider tactics, both to update the article that highlights their value, and as an exercise to go over the rules and details.

The previous article that detailed their tactics is here:
https://druchii.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=71009


Dark Rider basics

Musicians

Musicians still give +1 to rally. If you plan to use flee tactics with dark riders, it might be beneficial to get a musician in there for the Ld9 rally.

Open formation, skirmishers and changing formation

Dark Riders can use an open formation or skirmish formation.

The Open formation offers:

• A possible rank bonus, for larger units of dark riders.
• Marching column, tripling the march move
• The ability to disrupt the enemy's ranks

The skirmish formation offers:

• Nearly complete freedom of movement in any direction without any wheeling required.
• 360 degrees of vision
• Dynamic front rank for fighting purposes

At first glance, it looks like the Skirmish formation is the most flexible and adaptable formation. The main benefit of the open formation seems to be marching column which might help the cavalry across the board even faster with 27" movement.

Changing formation requires a reform that prohibits any other movement, but you can get a free reform during a rally. Since dark riders will occasionally flee and rally, that free reform can be used to change formation.

Swiftstride

Swiftstride adds a d6 modifier to charge, flee and pursuit moves. As I read the rules, it looks like the modifier is applied separately from the roll.

For example, the charge roll requires you to roll 2 D6 and discard the lowest result. You now get an additional D6, potentially giving a minimum charge move of 9"+1"+1"= 11" and a maximum charge move of 9"+6"+6"=21".

Some probabilities

2D6 rolls
Roll..Chance..Cummul
02...02.78%...100.0%
03...05.56%...97.22%
04...08.33%...91.67%
05...11.11%...83.33%
06...13.89%...72.22%
07...16.67%...58.33%
08...13.89%...41.67%
09...11.11%...27.78%
10...08.33%...16.67%
11...05.56%...08.33%
12...02.78%...02.78%

3D6 rolls
Roll..Chance..Cummul
03...00.46%...100.0%
04...01.39%...99.54%
05...02.78%...98.15%
06...04.63%...95.37%
07...06.94%...90.74%
08...09.72%...83.80%
09...11.57%...74.07%
10...12.50%...62.50%
11...12.50%...50.00%
12...11.57%...37.50%
13...09.72%...25.93%
14...06.94%...16.20%
15...04.63%...09.26%
16...02.78%...04.63%
17...01.39%...01.85%
18...00.46%...00.46%

Charge distance, roll 2 D6, discard lowests
Roll..Chance..Cummul
01...02.78%..100.0%
02...08.33%..97.22%
03...13.89%..88.89%
04...19.44%..75.00%
05...25.00%..55.56%
06...30.56%..30.56%

Charge swiftstride: charge roll +d6
Roll..Chance..Cummul
02...00.46%..100.0%
03...01.85%..99.54%
04...04.17%..97.69%
05...07.41%..93.52%
06...11.57%..86.11%
07...16.67%..74.54%
08...16.20%..57.87%
09...14.81%..41.67%
10...12.50%..26.85%
11...09.26%..14.35%
12...05.09%..05.09%




The basic flee to stop an enemy unit

The basic move is to a unit of dark riders close to the enemy unit, so they are limited in their movement, if not stopped completely.
They can try to clear the path by charging the dark riders, which can flee and rely on swiftstride to run beyond the charge reach. If succesful, the enemy's charge will fail, halting their advance.

The Dark Riders will be forced to rally in your following turn, but with a musician they do this at Ld9. When they rally, you can alter their formation between open order and skirmish and they can move freely to continue their blocking strategies.


Turn 1 Scouts
The tactic can be used from turn 1, if you pay for the scouts upgrade. This brings them close to the enemy, and while a charge is prohibited on your end it does not prohibit you from running very close to the enemy.


Turn 1 marching column
If you deploy your unit in open formation and a marching column, this tactic can be applied on turn 1. With triple the movement, you have 27 inches of movement to run up to the enemy and block them immediately. You could keep the unit out of the 24" shooting range of enemy fire while having enough running distance to block an enemy unit.

The basic flee to stop multiple enemy units
The tactic above can also be used to block multiple units, if your frontage is wide enough. This might be easy to achieve in skirmisher formation, where your individual riders may twist to show their flank. This will still count as a front charge, but expand the line to block multiple units.

All charged have to be declared first, so your opponent has to choose in advance how many units to commit.

[Daeron]

When using flee tactics with multiple units, we can push these tricks to a point where rolls become irrelevant.

The double flee before the counter charge

Two units of dark riders can screen a combat unit, preventing it from being charged. For example, you can screen a black guard unit by placing 2 dark rider units in front of it, in base to base contact. Both Dark Rider units, and the mandatory 1" distance from the enemy will let the black guard get up to 5.7" distance from the enemy unit.

The enemy can not charge the black guard, but it can charge the front dark rider unit and redirect it to the second. Both units will flee over the black guard, putting them out of reach of the enemy unit. After the failed charge, the black guard can charge in.

Th enemy might consider not charging, hoping to lock you up. Make sure your Black Guard have line of sight, so leave a gap in the skirmish formations of the dark riders. Additionally:

• If the enemy unit is equal or wider than the black guard unit, then you can invoke the rules of multiple charges to maximize contact for the BGs.
• If the enemy unit is narrower than the black guard unit, you may be forced to be put the black guard on the side of the charge. This may increase the number of models that can attack the (weaker?) dark riders, so be cautious not to give away points.

Turn 1 March Blocker and double flee

Here's a special trick during deployment: deploy 1 unit of dark riders in skirmish formation, and 1 in open formation in a marching column of 2 models wide and 3 models long.
In Turn 1, the marching column has 27" inches of movement and can run straight up to block an enemy unit. The second dark rider unit can be positioned right behind it, just under 2" distance from the first dark rider unit.

The distances are:

• A little over 1" from the enemy.
• The marching column is 180mm, about 7"
• A tad under 2" distance with the second dark rider unit.
• 60mm, or a little over 2" from the second dark rider unit.

If the first unit has to flee from the enemy unit, then do not use swiftstride rule. Even with a roll of 2, it will land on top of the 2nd unit and thus continue to run until it lands behind it. It will obtain a distance equal to the sum of the above, being over 12". This is out of range for infantry up to M6.

The second unit is at about 10" to 11" inches from the enemy unit, and is likely to be charged on redirection. Do not use swiftstride, even a roll of 2 should bring the unit to safety. This unit is likely to land on, and behind the marching column.

When rallying the dark riders, keep in mind you can now change their formation to Skirmisher formation and keep using them this way throghout the battle.

Diagonal flee

You can position one dark rider unit along (just outside) the line of sight arc of an enemy unit to control the flee distance of another dark rider unit.
The dark riders that block the enemy should be positioned in such a way that the flee direction will fall along the diagonally positioned dark rider unit.

There's an important catch however: the length of the diagonal line must be long enough to ensure the blocking unit flees out of charge distance.
You could also block the enemy with any other kind of unit. Dark Riders are just adept at the positioning with their long march.


Using Dark Riders to force units off the table

When a unit flees and lands on an enemy unit, it keeps on running and lands behind that unit. We can use that to launch enemy units off the table.
When charging an enemy that you expect to either break, or force a fallback in good order on, you can position a unit behind that to increase their flee distance.
We can achieve this with any unit, but harpies and dark riders excel at this with their flexible movement and skirmisher formation.

Because this also works on fall back in good order, it will also work on high leadership armies.

A single unit of 5 dark riders in skirmish formation can cause a flee distance of:

• 2" distance from the enemy, minimum flee roll
• ~12" from the dark rider bases
• 4" distance between the dark rider models, 1" per time.

That's roughly 18". Add in the enemy unit footprint and it's easy to force over 20" of running distance.

You could, in theory, add a second unit for another 16" run and don't forget the mandatory apology to your opponent.


Boxing in a fleeing unit

Perhaps a rare situation, but you may find an enemy unit fleeing in your remaining moves. Maybe it fled a charge, and you had a juicy redirection. Maybe it simply outran a charging unit.

Should that unit rally, it will be allowed to reform and move or march as usual. Rallying units can be quite a threat to your battleline in this manner. However it is not allowed to charge that turn! We can use that to our advantage to box in the unit and without risk of being charged if it rallies.

If you play the game strictly, and if you have enough models or a 2nd dark rider unit, you can lock it in its current formation and limit its orientation when it reforms. Personally, I don't think I'd play it that strict against a friend, but the rules permit it.

[Daeron]

Blocking the Line Hammer

Although I doubt Line Hammer will become a thing, it's been the topic of many online debates. I think a single dark rider unit can block such a unit quite easily.

This tactic differs from regular flee tactics, in the sense that it relies on using the angle of the flee direction to ensure that the enemy unit can not catch the fleeing dark riders.

This is the ideal setup:

The dark rider unit is positioned just at 1" distance, but in such a manner that the enemy unit can not march past it, nor wheel away from it. To get clearance, it is forced to do a complex maneuver or declare a charge.

The charge and flee direction from center to center is angled in such a manner that a wide unit has to wheel to reach the dark riders, where its wide formation will prevent it from reaching the target.

My geometry is a little rusty, so I hope I still sound sensible.

The "most" optimal solution is obtained by having a dark rider unit at 1" from the enemy unit, measured with a 45 degree angle with its front line. The Dark Rider is placed perpendicular to that angle, and close enough to hamper a wheel maneuver.

After the flee, the quickest route for the enemy will be to wheel as little as possible, so it can run along the blue line to reach the dark riders.

The calculation requires a tad of math.
We calculate where the DR unit's front line crosses the enemy's wheel arc. This gives us an exact position of the unit, and in turn the center.
Then we can calculate the angle of the flee direction, which gives us the new position. From the new position, we can calculate the angle the enemy has to wheel and distance they have to cross.

I'm a little rusty on my geometry, so I recommend some trial and error for validation!

But these are the results of my calculation, assuming a 2" flee move from the dark riders (not using swiftstride for additional control!)

• Enemy unit with base 25mm
  • 8 models wide
    • Wheel: 6.9"
    • Move: 4.2"
    • Total: 11.1"
  • 10 models wide
    • Wheel: 7.8"
    • Move: 4.7"
    • Total: 12.5"
  • 12 models wide
    • Wheel: 13.1"
    • Move: 3.8"
    • Total: 16.9"
• Enemy unit with base 30mm
  • 8 models wide
    • Wheel: 7.3"
    • Move: 4.7"
    • Total: 12.0"
  • 10 models wide
    • Wheel: 13.0"
    • Move: 3.8"
    • Total: 16.8"
  • 12 models wide
    • Wheel: 27.4"
    • Move: 3.7"
    • Total: 31.0"

You can see that the success (or distance the enemy has to move) increases dramatically with the width of the unit. This was something that might have been an edge case in previous editions. I don't think it will apply often in this edition either, but should a player try his luck with linehammer, it's good to keep this in mind.



A sub optimal strategy

Since the strategy is highly dependent on the width of the enemy unit, how robust is it? Can it be used in a less than ideal situation?
One of the "worst" edge cases is when you can't get that far to the side. So, you don't place the dark riders in an angle.

As a result the flee angle is far more reasonable (from the enemy's POV).

While this has a lower chance of success, it should still be enough.
note it assumes only a 2" flee. you can increase the odds by using Swiftstride to get a minimum flee distance of 3".

So for smaller units, it's worth optimizing. For comically wide units, it doesn't even need to be optimized a lot.

• Enemy models with base 25mm.
  • 8 models wide
    • Wheel:3.4
    • Move:5.8
    • Total:9.2
  • 10 models wide
    • Wheel:4.5
    • Move:5.8
    • Total:10.3
  • 12 models wide
    • Wheel:5.6
    • Move:5.9
    • Total:11.4
• Enemy models with base 30mm.
  • 8 models wide
    • Wheel:4.2
    • Move:5.8
    • Total:10.0
  • 10 models wide
    • Wheel:5.5
    • Move:5.9
    • Total:11.4
  • 12 models wide
    • Wheel:6.8
    • Move:5.9
    • Total:12.8

[Daeron]

Retrospective of old tactics that don't work anymore, incoming

[Daeron]

I'm still working on the following parts, please be patient
It might take me a few days.

[Bobba Looba]

Very interesting read up. Thanks for the effort you're putting in. Looking forward to more.

[Daeron]

Part 2 is up, synergy between multiple units.

[Wnerv]

When You say flee as a charge reaction, my unit moves Full charge roll.
So, for example, if u say flee with raiders, and say another flee with 2nd raiders, i go full speed and if i contact the enemy, its a charge. So that BG unit would get to be charged.
RB, page 131, Accidental Contact When Running Down The Foe.

You only fail the charge when You roll not enough to get in contact.

[Daeron]

Thank you so much for reviewing it. That's a very good point. The Accidental charge rule is going to lead to some surprises and peculiar situations.
The distances will play a big role here.

The distances in the setup I described are:

• 5.7" between the enemy unit and the black guard, at minimum.
• If the BG are in 3 rows, that's close to 3" distance.

In the worst case scenario, the 2nd dark unit has to end up right behind the black guard, to give 9" charge distance, which is quite feasable for many units.

This would require the first dark rider unit to leave a gap. This means it would have to flee

• 60mm from 2nd DR unit
• 75mm from BG unit
• 60mm a gap for the 2nd DR unit
• 60mm from its own lenth

This requires a flee roll of at least 10". If it rolls less, then the 2nd DR unit can leapfrog over it to reach safe distance.

Then the 2nd DR unit has to roll below:

• 75mm from BG unit
• 60mm gap

Or at most 5".

So it is not an infallible strategy. I will update the post above later, to point this out.

[Cihan]

Very interesting read. Instead of buying the musician, Id rather straight up buy that unit the Fire&Flee Upgrade. Costs less, auto rally and does some shooting. You can take one FF Dark Rider Unit per 1k points. Should be enough.

[Clockwork]

Very interesting read. Instead of buying the musician, Id rather straight up buy that unit the Fire&Flee Upgrade. Costs less, auto rally and does some shooting. You can take one FF Dark Rider Unit per 1k points. Should be enough.

I can’t see where the auto rally is coming from can you point me in the right direction?

[Wnerv]

Very interesting read. Instead of buying the musician, Id rather straight up buy that unit the Fire&Flee Upgrade. Costs less, auto rally and does some shooting. You can take one FF Dark Rider Unit per 1k points. Should be enough.

I can’t see where the auto rally is coming from can you point me in the right direction?

They dont autorally. To auto rally You need Feigned Flight special rule.

[Cihan]

Very interesting read. Instead of buying the musician, Id rather straight up buy that unit the Fire&Flee Upgrade. Costs less, auto rally and does some shooting. You can take one FF Dark Rider Unit per 1k points. Should be enough.

I can’t see where the auto rally is coming from can you point me in the right direction?

I was actually mistaken. I thought the "Fire & Flee" charge reaction gave an auto rally after the reaction itself. Which it doesnt. This actually means that a musician is a good idea in Dark Riders. I learned something. Thanks for checking!

[Daeron]

I added another strategy: blocking the linehammer
post 941318

The link to the calculations:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing


It might be worth noting that, with a skirmish formation or marching formation, you can increase the length of the dark rider unit to improve the angle further

[Angelizdark]

Great work. I only recently realised a rallied unit can act normally the turn it rallies, so before that I thought fast cav were dead in the water.

[Fr0]

Glad to see you back in action, man.
Always appreciated these.

ToW is just awesome, hope everyone is enjoying it.