One of the hardest things about the Warhammer 40K CCG is figuring out where to place your units. Should you match your opponent’s deployments? Should you pile on one sector to solidify your chances of victory? Should you be sneaky and build up a force on that lonely fifth sector over the course of a game?
I believe these answers are all dependent on a wide range of factors. But, what if I told you there was a way to play outside the rules of the game, and cheat the rules of deployment?
Enter the power of sector movement.
I have been an Eldar player on the tabletop and in the 40K CCG since day 1. As a race that is both fragile and dependent upon leveraging synergy between its units, Eldar commonly have a high learning curve no matter the gaming medium. As a result, I remember suffering my fair share of losses while learning to play them in card form.
In the 40K CCG, the Eldar’s main strength by far is their ability to move between sectors. How does this mechanic help you win?
- In an unwinnable battle, you can move away units that would otherwise have been destroyed or discarded, essentially reusing them and potentially adding enough flags to another sector to capture it
- In an overwhelmingly winnable battle, you can move away excess units to aid in capturing other sectors
- With the right units and command lines, you can safely go all-in on a single sector, knowing you have a means of distributing them elsewhere
- You can infiltrate and move away units to assemble unit combos at specific sectors
Over time, you will eventually amass unit superiority across a number of sectors. But in the case of Eldar, because you are commonly outnumbered and outgunned in the early game, the tricky part is making sure you haven’t lost the game by the time that happens. Sometimes you will need to give up a sector or two to ensure you lock up the rest of the game, and that’s where you need to balance upon the knife’s edge.
Sector movement is also especially valuable for synergy-dependent races like Eldar. You will likely not be able to craft the perfect fighting force over one deployment phase (especially compared to Space Marines or Chaos), but by manipulating your units across each sector, you can eventually build a combo-tastic force that can be nigh unstoppable.
Other races win through superior stat lines or sheer numbers: all forms of inherent card advantage. Sector movement is just another form of card advantage—just one that requires careful planning and forethought. Perfectly suited to Eldar!
Pandora Prime Recon 