Strategic Reserves & Reinforcements

[nidnewbie]

I am still using a Trygon Prime in my list. Do I need to use CP to not put it or a unit of Warriors on the table? Does the spending of CP dictate how the units enter the table? What I mean is, do I need to decide before the game begins if the units will use a tunnel or enter from a board edge?

Thanks!

[piersonsmuppet]

In Match play games, Strategic Reserves and any units not starting on the battlefield are declared after choosing deployment zone and before placing models on the table (step 10: declare reserves and transports). You may not switch a units declared location after this step. So no, you do not have to choose prior to battle, since the choice is during deployment.

[bigpig]

By letter of the law, in a way yes, but only if using *strictly* strategic reserves generic rules. ....but in real life that matters to all of us in practice, no.

Any unit may be placed in "strategic reserves" with the spend command points function you are referring to. Units placed in strategic reserves may only enter from restricted locations, basically progressive board edges, as outlined in the rules. Certain other units may be placed in a special type of "not on the board" reserve that typically use special deployment rules and typically do not cost command points. The Trygon Prime is one of these. The Prime's ability allows it enter from anywhere outside 9" (not just a progressive board edge)and does not require it to spend command points. Further, it can bring another unit(warriors in your case) along with it for no cost. As mentioned above, this is decided and announced during the reserves/transports step of deployment. It costs NO CP.

Now... the caveat only for full rules understanding. If you wanted to instead use the standard strategic reserves walk on from a board edge rule you could for both the Prime and the Warriors. This WOULD cost command points. ....but in practice there is no reason to do this. In most all situations, if there is room to walk the unit on to a board edge, then there is room to use the much more versatile and FREE tunneling ability of the Trygon. Hence there is arguably never a reason to put them in gneeric strategic reserve instead of tunnel because tunnel could appear anywhere that strategic reserves could while giving more choices and not costing CP.

So, in simple answer; You always put them in tunnel and can basically do both for deployment without paying CP. I hope that helps

[beetlejuice]

Feb 16, 2022 7:09:29 GMT bigpig said:

By letter of the law, in a way yes, but only if using *strictly* strategic reserves generic rules. ....but in real life that matters to all of us in practice, no.

Any unit may be placed in "strategic reserves" with the spend command points function you are referring to. Units placed in strategic reserves may only enter from restricted locations, basically progressive board edges, as outlined in the rules. Certain other units may be placed in a special type of "not on the board" reserve that typically use special deployment rules and typically do not cost command points. The Trygon Prime is one of these. The Prime's ability allows it enter from anywhere outside 9" (not just a progressive board edge)and does not require it to spend command points. Further, it can bring another unit(warriors in your case) along with it for no cost. As mentioned above, this is decided and announced during the reserves/transports step of deployment. It costs NO CP.

Now... the caveat only for full rules understanding. If you wanted to instead use the standard strategic reserves walk on from a board edge rule you could for both the Prime and the Warriors. This WOULD cost command points. ....but in practice there is no reason to do this. In most all situations, if there is room to walk the unit on to a board edge, then there is room to use the much more versatile and FREE tunneling ability of the Trygon. Hence there is arguably never a reason to put them in gneeric strategic reserve instead of tunnel because tunnel could appear anywhere that strategic reserves could while giving more choices and not costing CP.

So, in simple answer; You always put them in tunnel and can basically do both for deployment without paying CP. I hope that helps

The only reason to put them in strategic reserves instead of other types of deep strike is being able to walk on from your board edge into engagement range and count as charging (which is not possible for other rules that require 9” from enemy). Super niche and almost never worth it. Save your CP and tunnel in.

[piersonsmuppet]

Feb 16, 2022 7:09:29 GMT bigpig said:

By letter of the law, in a way yes, but only if using *strictly* strategic reserves generic rules. ....but in real life that matters to all of us in practice, no.

GT Rules for spending CP for Strat Reserves or using stratagems to set-up somewhere other than the battlefield is during deployment, so the decision is never made prior to the battle. The only CP spent prior to battle, since it needs to be annotated on your army list for tournament purposes, are CP spent for WLTs, extra relics, Nid Physiologies, etc. during Muster Armies.

[bigbadbalou]

If you want to put the trygon in strategic reserve, you could always use the CP function to do it I guess, but like other people have said here, that would be useless since it have a build-in ability which is strictly better and cost no CP.

But if you spend CP to put the warriors in strategic reserve, in a way it will indeed dictate from where they will come from (board edge). Meaning that in your case, you will have 2 choices before placing the models on the table : Either you use 1 CP to put the unit in strategic reserve and it will come from the progressive board edge thing on it's own. Or you can choose to put the unit in strategic reserve via the Trygon's tunnel ability, which will cost no CP, but the unit must then arrive at the same time as the trygon and at the same place.

In short, you always get to decide from where the warrior units arrives, but once you decide at the beginning of the game, you will not be able to change your mind during the game. In my mind, the only reason you would want to put the warrior's unit in strategic reserve via the CP spent, is if you want both units to arrive on the board from different position or not on the same turn. If you want them to show up together, there is no real value in spending the CP to do it.

[bigpig]

Feb 16, 2022 13:00:28 GMT beetlejuice said:

Feb 16, 2022 7:09:29 GMT bigpig said:

By letter of the law, in a way yes, but only if using *strictly* strategic reserves generic rules. ....but in real life that matters to all of us in practice, no.

Any unit may be placed in "strategic reserves" with the spend command points function you are referring to. Units placed in strategic reserves may only enter from restricted locations, basically progressive board edges, as outlined in the rules. Certain other units may be placed in a special type of "not on the board" reserve that typically use special deployment rules and typically do not cost command points. The Trygon Prime is one of these. The Prime's ability allows it enter from anywhere outside 9" (not just a progressive board edge)and does not require it to spend command points. Further, it can bring another unit(warriors in your case) along with it for no cost. As mentioned above, this is decided and announced during the reserves/transports step of deployment. It costs NO CP.

Now... the caveat only for full rules understanding. If you wanted to instead use the standard strategic reserves walk on from a board edge rule you could for both the Prime and the Warriors. This WOULD cost command points. ....but in practice there is no reason to do this. In most all situations, if there is room to walk the unit on to a board edge, then there is room to use the much more versatile and FREE tunneling ability of the Trygon. Hence there is arguably never a reason to put them in gneeric strategic reserve instead of tunnel because tunnel could appear anywhere that strategic reserves could while giving more choices and not costing CP.

So, in simple answer; You always put them in tunnel and can basically do both for deployment without paying CP. I hope that helps

The only reason to put them in strategic reserves instead of other types of deep strike is being able to walk on from your board edge into engagement range and count as charging (which is not possible for other rules that require 9” from enemy). Super niche and almost never worth it. Save your CP and tunnel in.

Agree 100%.

[bigpig]

Feb 16, 2022 18:43:25 GMT piersonsmuppet said:

Feb 16, 2022 7:09:29 GMT bigpig said:

By letter of the law, in a way yes, but only if using *strictly* strategic reserves generic rules. ....but in real life that matters to all of us in practice, no.

GT Rules for spending CP for Strat Reserves or using stratagems to set-up somewhere other than the battlefield is during deployment, so the decision is never made prior to the battle. The only CP spent prior to battle, since it needs to be annotated on your army list for tournament purposes, are CP spent for WLTs, extra relics, Nid Physiologies, etc. during Muster Armies.

Of course. When OP says "before the game begins" I get the impression he's saying "before we start moving units, rolling dice, and playing" as opposed to "during army construction" which is before you show up to the table. Thanks for helping clarify my comment from a different perspective

[tomb]

As an alternative view.

Spending cp to reserve troops is a key strategy to playing missions in 9th ed. Potentially more so in the new mission pack.

Gaining access to board edges or your opponents back field has potentially game changing effects. However, gaining such effects can be costly, cp investment, effectively playing without those units for 1-3 turns, effectiveness of reserved units within the reserve rule parameters (can't move, miss the command phase etc) are all variables worth weighing up.

Are warriors and a prime worth reserving, potentially. Do they cost a lot of cp to reserve, yes due to power levels, can you fit a big unit into the space you want them to come on the board, maybe, can your opponent screen them have they left a juicy charge open for them etc? Can you save points in army construction by planning reserve plays and not paying for tunnellers or drop pods, yes.
Can a utility unit such as warriors turning up in your opponents back field be a threat, yes, can it potentially change thier game plan, yes. Can you score secondaries with reserves, yes.

Nids do have strats that can help a unit coming on from reserve such as Hunters Drive (if I remember right). Opponents can usually more easily screen the central areas of the board from 'deep strike' leaving the edges for reserve plays.

Experiment, find what works for you against different opponents and different armies. You don't need to pay the cp until you effectively get to the table so have some reserve plays in your bag.

I hope this helps!

[nidnewbie]

Excellent feedback, thank you! After a few more games, I think I'm ready to scrap my Trygon prime and spend those points on something more effective for me. Back to the list drafting board...