General musing (plotting) on the concept of synergy

Synergy is the working together of two things to produce a result greater than the sum of their individual effects. [quote]

Greetings fellow trolls of the webway. Tonight I would like to broach the subject of synergy and how it relates to our units of choice, be they optimal or simply fun.

I, like many of you, have spent far too many hours wandering the web, searching for tidbits and inspiration to help me guild my kabal to greater pain and prosperity. But, like many of you I see much of the same advice/math-hammer data talking about the specifics of comparing one units greatness over another. And I am not here to dispute these gems of wisdom and arithmetic. I'm sure you are right. However, when I ready tactica's I find the word synergy used often as a must for building a list as well as how to use your forces on the field. Yet it seems the general advice is "if ones good, two is better and three is... better than two." Again, I am not here to argue against this logic. What I want to know and discuss is how do you, personally, synergize different units to greater affect than their lump sum.

As an example let me discuss the ways in which I like to use our red-headed step child, the mandrakes (I always liked the red heads). Not that I am suggesting that anyone should use them, nor are these competitive uses. Just examples of different units working together to cause greater mayhem.

Most of my games I play against my foe who got me into this hobby in the first place. He commands the forces of the Greater Good, power-armored Chaos, and the Waaaaaaaaaaaagggghhh! And sense I am still very new to warfare I tend to have to take most, if not all, of my forces when I embark on a raid for slaves and entertainment. A sample of the force I took against my foe most recently:

Archon (Lord Duddley DoRight) HB, SS, SF, CD
Heamy (Old man Cragger) LG

8 whyches (Duddley's Dames) HG's, Hex, Ago, PGL
-Raider, NS

8 whyches (Cragger's Helpers) HG's, Hex, Ago
-Raider, NS

5 Wracks (Cragger's kids) Acoth, LG
-Venom, SC

9 Mandrakes (Cousin Wilber and crew) NF

Ravager

Now, in this list the Mandrakes serve a couple of different rolls depending on who I'm playing and how the terrain appears. Against the fish-headed tau I deploy them as far forward as I can in some terrain with infiltrate. Sense ALL of my opponents gill breathers' weapons can hurt my elegant pleasure crafts, I gladly position my poor, gullible cousins right in harms way. For here they still provide a real threat to, well anything he has (except for the Broadside which once squished them all). It is a must answer threat even though he would much rather be shooting my raiders he can't ignore the fact that these rather soft-headed simpletons will get a second turn charge and tie up or outright destroy one to two of his units. In other words they are my small arms tanks. Against his green skinned hordes I use my drakes to tank as well, but against their masterful overwatch to allow my lovely whyches a safe path to strut their way to pleasure. Against his forces of Chaotic shoulder-pads and towel slapping, I like to use them as area denial (str 4 can still glance a tin can, and enough bodies can surround said glance-able tin can....) as well as I've had fun using them to escort Lord Duddley, although provided Duddley brought them a treat from Mr. Cragger. If this is my plan for them Duddley he also takes a PGL, they like pretty lights. They act kinda like Harliquins Lite, a less filling but doesn't taste as good alternative (which, however, gets use out of the the pain and suffering Duddley helps provide).

In short they are my cheap and disposable bullet fodder that help the rest of my list last longer. And sometimes they like to party with my Archon who likes to slum it from time to time (most of the time).

What do you use and what roll does it play in your list? How does it help, synergize, with the rest of your list?

May you wake with the pain of a thousand souls,
Leo

I love these threads! I get to use my limited experience of Dark Eldar in 6th edition to pretend I know what I'm talking about.

Leobruno wrote:

What do you use and what roll does it play in your list? How does it help, synergize, with the rest of your list?

Here is my current list (used in my last three battle reports):

HQ
Archon, blaster, venom blade, shadow field - 110

TROOPS
7 Warriors, blaster - 78
Raider - 60
10 Warriors, blaster, cannon - 115
Raider - 60
10 Warriors, blaster, cannon - 115
Raider - 60
10 Warriors, blaster, cannon - 115
Raider - 60

FAST ATTACK
9 Reavers, 3 blasters, arena champion, venom blade - 258
9 Reavers, 3 blasters, arena champion, venom blade - 258

HEAVY SUPPORT
Ravager - 105
Ravager - 105

Total: 1499

What synergies does it have? By synergy I mean how do elements of the army support each other. Well first it is normally split into two elements. The reserve element (the two large reaver squads) and the main element (everything else). How do these two elements have synergy with each other? Well the main element draws my opponent in, it's effectively bait, making them spread out their forces. This means that when the reavers come in they can take on my opponents army piecemeal. The main element has a distinctive lack of assault units, making it all the more tempting to close in with.

I like going second, as a general rule people like to go first especially against Dark Eldar (glass cannon), this suits me. What synergy does going second have with the rest of my army? Well it means my opponent has at least two turns to spread out and make a mistake before my reserve element comes in. My reserve element will also avoid at least two turns of my opponents shooting as opposed to one. Finally it means my army has a better chance of successfully denying objectives come the end of the game.

What unit synergy does this list have?

My ravagers draw fire away from my raiders.

The ravagers/raiders are there to destroy transports in order to guarantee that my reavers have a valid target to bladevane, and to ensure the warriors have something to shoot at. The ravagers/raiders are also there to take out major threats to the reavers (normally things that ignore cover) before they come in: Landspeeders with heavy flamers, whirlwinds, thunder-fire cannons, etc. In doing this they support my reserve element and ensure that the reavers can do maximum damage on arrival.

The warriors are there to soften units up with ranged splinter fire so that when the reavers come in they are almost guaranteed to get a pain token by bladevaning or shooting an infantry squad that has been whittled down to 2-3 men. An early pain token on two large squads of reavers changes them from a moderate threat to a serious problem.

The reavers will then rip up my opponents back field tying up ranged support units and hunting down back field objective holders. This generally splays my opponent's army across the board as it tries to deal with multiple threats.

The Archon might come across as a bit of an odd choice, but the idea behind him is to provide a BS7 blaster shot whilst staying out of harms way and staying alive. At the same time he makes the bait all the more alluring, and forces my opponent to come to me if he wants to earn the slay the warlord victory point.

Finally when it comes to denying objectives there is synergy between ranged shooting and the denial unit. A good oponent will spread out on an objective in such a way that it will prevent your denial unit from getting within 3". Shooting lets you clear a space in order for your denial unit to deny the objective.

Hope that's useful.