Tactical Tasks: Words Have Meaning

 Introduction

While there are many instances of good leadership throughout the military (or any profession for that matter), there are just as many examples of poor leadership. We can, however, still learn quite a bit from bad leaders, so it is important to not always write people off. I had one such experience in my career from a military instructor, let's call him Major Flowers. He'd always say, "Words mean things," which upon first glance sounds pretty... stupid. But after I was exposed to more challenges and experienced some pitfalls of inadequate language, I appreciated what he meant all the more. 

I do not recommend listening to most of what Major Flowers said, but he was onto something there. With this in mind, we will examine the US Army's use of a particular vocabulary: Tactical Mission Tasks. As always, I don't think you should be drafting mission analysis slides during your games of Warhammer. Quite the contrary, this guide is a continued attempt to help develop a framework to expedite how you analyze the battlefield and, as the kids say, "git gud." I'll be trying to make these a bit less formal and more to-the-point after some recent and valid criticism. That being said, if you enjoy this content, I'd really appreciate a follow and/or share. If you didn't enjoy it, I would love to know how I can make it better. Let's begin today's discussion.

Background (the "so what?")

In real-world operations, one of the greatest challenges is overcoming the hurdle that is variance in how people interpret information. Something may be crystal clear to you as you explain it, but may incomprehensible to your audience. To combat this, the Army has adopted a very specific vocabulary do describe their operations. One set of this vocabulary is known as "Tactical Mission Tasks." This creates a universal and explicit set of words that don't have room for interpretation. 

Age of Sigmar 4.0 (and Warhammer 40K before it) is also seeming to try and achieve a similar end state by incorporating more explicitly defined keywords and language in our rules. This makes for a more functional and, in the case of wargaming, enjoyable experience. The reason we are going to review tactical mission tasks in the context of Warhammer is so we can better understand how we are committing our resources and ensuring we are pairing the right tool for the job. Any efficiencies we can create to take up fewer brain-bytes enables us to make better decisions and win more games.

Relevant Tactical Tasks

Let's look at which tasks are most relevant to our endeavors in Warhammer:

Defeat, Destroy, and Neutralize

Each of these sound quite similar, no? Well, they each have a specific definition as tactical tasks. This is because sometimes you do not have the resources to destroy (physically rendering a force combat ineffective, to damage a combat system so badly that it cannot perform any function) a unit, you may opt to neutralize (rendering enemy incapable of interfering) it. Defeating and element occurs when an enemy force has temporarily or permanently lost the physical means or will to fight, this is a broader and more abstract term that can be accomplished a number of ways. 

Your aim is to defeat your opponent by creating dilemmas and giving them no recourse to outscore you. You destroy their units by inflicting casualties and making them combat ineffective so they cannot perform their intended function. And finally, you could neutralize a shooting unit by engaging in melee with them so they cannot interfere with you by shooting at targets of the enemy's choosing. 

Breach

We've discussed screening as an essential task to maintain security of our own formations. The enemy will certainly be making the same efforts. A breach is a tactical task that seeks to break through or secure a passage through that screen. 

Contain

"To stop, hold, or surround forces of the enemy to center activity on a given front," (ADRP 1-02 p.1-9). The unit archetype of "tar pit," such a Horrors of Tzeentch or Dryads close enough to overgrown terrain are effective performing this tactical task. Essentially it is a way of move-blocking your opponent to keep them off objectives or otherwise containing their ability to influence your scheme of maneuver.

Canalize

The tactical task of restricting enemy movement "to a narrow zone by exploiting terrain coupled with the use of obstacles, fires, or friendly maneuver." We will get into a "fun" concept called Engagement Area Development (EA DEV) some day, a concept that capitalizes on effective canalizing of the enemy. For now, let's use an example: You can canalize the enemy into unfavorable position by arraying your forces (friendly maneuver) in conjunction with terrain and resources like endless spells (obstacles). This puts them at risk for counterattack and juicy, overlapping engagement ranges for shooting units (fires). 

Disrupt

The use of your resources to "upset an enemy's formation or tempo, interrupt [their] timetable, or cause [their] forces to commit prematurely or attack in piecemeal fashion," (ADRP 1-02 p.1-13). Armies that want to get into your face quickly to concentrate and mass their forces depend on tempo and creating conditions for their plans to be effective. You disrupt them by giving them a problem, or at least a speed-bump, to deal with. 

Fix

"A tactical mission task where a commander prevents the enemy from moving any part of [their] force from a specific location for a specified period of time," (ADRP 1-02 p.1-17). This is particularly useful to set up follow-on operations, or to simply stall your opponent so you can pull ahead on primary objective points and create the necessary deficit. 

Demonstration

A form of attack designed to deceive the enemy as to the location or time of the decisive operation by a display of force. You may commit some forces to become decisively engaged in a demonstration, but it is merely a ruse for you to perform your decisive operation. 

Feint

A form of attack used to deceive the enemy as to the location or time of the actual decisive operation without becoming decisively engaged. This is particularly effective with high-mobility armies. Being able to "flip the board" by massing your forces asymmetrically, then rapidly redeploying or maneuvering them to the opposite end can keep your opponent out of position so you can create more favorable conditions.

Exploitation

An exploitation force follows a successful attack to take advantage of the opportunity you just created. This task limits your opponent's ability to reconstitute their forces and ability to respond in a meaningful capacity.

Frontal Attack

The most unga and bunga of all forms of attack, the frontal attack does exactly what it says on the tin. You push your dollies toward your opponent's and let the fates decide. Generally this is only recommended if you are trying to accomplish another tactical task, or if you enjoy numerical superiority or overmatch.

Envelopment

A form of maneuver in which an attacking forces seeks to avoid the principal enemy defenses by seizing objectives to the enemy rear in order to destroy the enemy in their current position. In short, this is what is generally considered "flanking." This is generally regarded as superior to a frontal attack because you suffer fewer casualties and maintain a better tempo for your operations.

Conclusion

Hopefully with this you can build a vocabulary in your mind to have a more clear and defined approach to your plans. In a game of dice and variability, having a means to control the chaos can be extremely valuable. Part of that is having a framework to work within. Furthermore, if you can build on this lexicon amongst your play group or friends, you can have a better foundation to build a shared understanding. These are the key components of what you use to build a mission statement. "My leftmost unit of 10 Dryads will move to the northern portion of the leftmost objective to fix the enemy Horrors of Tzeentch in order to enable the decisive operation." The decisive operation in your mind might then be, "The unit of 6 Kurnoth Hunters will conduct an envelopment in order to destroy the enemy Lord of Change." 

You need not go to these extremes, but if you are having trouble decided what to do, this can help you formulate more definitive plans. Not having intentions for how you commit your forces is going to leave it up to the dice to decide. Or worse, it will allow your opponent to pick you apart at their discretion. Hopefully this is something you can use to build up your playbook of possible operations you can employ successfully. Perhaps I am just like Major Flowers and this has been a complete waste of your time. If that's the case, then let me know so I can get better. Thanks again for joining us at Sparkle Strategy. Don't forget to sign up for email notifications, follow, or to give us any feedback you might have. Stay sparkly, my friends.