Unit Roles

 Introduction

Even outside of wargaming, most folks would be able to understand that certain units or weapons platforms would have specific roles or purposes on the battlefield. One would not reasonably expect to destroy an enemy radar facility with a K-9 Military Police Unit, just as one would not expect an A-10 to maintain a security checkpoint. This concept is also pretty consistently important in Warhammer. Today we will discuss some of those unit roles and also discuss how they might change throughout the game.

Background

The following will be a general list of some of the basic archetypes in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. We'll define each role and give some examples as well as how you would traditionally use them in a scenario. Those archetypes are chaff, hammers, anvils, support, and prospectors. Some units can have multiple roles but typically won't excel in each of those as much as a dedicated unit. 

Chaff

Don't let the name mislead you, this is arguably the most important unit role in the game. The tactical task of a chaff unit is to disrupt, delay, turn, or block the enemy to shape your offensive operations. Chaff are typically cheap, "disposable" units that exist to make the enemy's job of destroying key pieces of your army that they see as high-priority targets. Each army will have a different approach to this. Some chaff, such as Dryads, accomplish this simply by delaying an enemy by giving them wounds to chew through. Others, such a Gossamid Archers, disrupt the enemy's momentum but not become decisively engaged. Sometimes chaff is just a speedbump for your opponent. But if you waste even one of the enemy's combat activations, you're reducing that unit's output by as much as 20% throughout the game (if they can deliver that effect for all five turns). 

Hammers

On the flip side, hammers are the units you want to deliver to degrade, neutralize, or destroy the enemy's forces. Again, each army will accomplish this task with differing techniques. A common paradigm is a high quantity of lower-quality attacks vs. a low quantity of higher-quality attacks. each has its own benefits and drawbacks. Your job as a general is pairing the right damage-dealing hammer to the right target to maximize your opportunities to remove key pieces from the game that give your opponent options. Having multiple capabilities/types of hammers is often prudent as well. Generally, the types of lists that are most well-suited for success have flexibility in the types of damage they can inflict. Pairing into Nighthaunt is a great example: fewer, high-quality, high-damage attacks are more susceptible to variance because Nighthaunt ignores positive and negative save modifiers. No matter the rend, they'll have a 50% chance to negate each of those attacks, which is impactful when each of those attacks inflicts large quantities of damage. However, Large quantities of attacks, no matter the rend, are spreading that variability across many attacks. 

Anvils

Anvils are similar to chaff in that their role is to deny the enemy access to your key assets or terrain. However, they differ in that they look to remain in a positive to retain key terrain rather than displacing or providing only temporary use. Anvils are also useful for securing objectives and denying the enemy from scoring primary objective points. Again, this role is accomplished with multiple avenues. Some anvils are wound sinks that can recur models as casualties mount. Others have high armor saves or ward saves, thereby increasing their effective health. Primary objective points make up the greatest quantity of points you can score each round (60% of all points you can score in a game). Anvils are a way to lock down a portion of the board with less risk of losing your ability to continue to score these vital points. Maggotkin of Nurgle accomplishes this with several units that have a large wound base and a ward save to give their opponent a lot of wounds to chew through before they can gain control of an objective.

Support

Much like Medical Service, Logistics, and Military Intelligence, support roles enable maneuver forces (the military units that engage directly in combat with the enemy) to do their job. "Without supply, bullets don't fly," is the old saying. Warhammer also has these support roles, often in leaders or other "power pairs" that provide synergies or unlock abilities to make a unit more effective. Most often in Warhammer, we see this with Hero units that issue buffs through abilities such as magic or prayers. Some units support one another, such as Kroxigor and Skink units in Seraphon. This unit role improves the performance of another unit.

Prospectors

A newer term that I've heard in the wargaming community is the "Prospector." These units serve more specific roles to accomplish secondary objectives (Battle Tactics in Age of Sigmar). The closest parallel here may be Special Forces that bring a capability to insert into remote, austere locations to accomplish specific goals. Units with superior movement or the ability to be set up on the battlefield are great for getting to those specific locations to accomplish tactics such as Take Their Land or Take the Flanks. The best Prospector units can accomplish these tasks and continue to evade the enemy or be such a low-priority target that the enemy will not pursue them. Frost Sabres are a common Prospector unit taken in Ogor Mawtribes because they are not visible to the enemy unless they can get to within 9" of the unit. This can force the enemy to take valuable ranged or melee assets away from your key assets while you use them to farm secondary points. 

Changing Roles

While it is important to understand these roles in list-building and at a conceptual level, it is just as important to understand that they are not static. A good general will constantly evaluate the board state and be ready to adapt and reconstitute their forces for the task at hand. A great example is that something you might consider to be a key support role can become chaff as the game progresses. It can seem entirely contradictory to send the piece you've worked so hard all game to protect into the fray, but some situations call for it. Based on their relative board position, enemy disposition, and the path to victory, a squishy wizard hero may be all you need to move block an enemy from moving onto a key objective or scoring a battle tactic. Is there a spell that you need to cast? Is there a target for that spell to even go onto? These are the factors that can transform a unit's role throughout the game.