Reserves - the waiting game or stalling?

[Kaiserdean]

A tactic of quite a few players in my area have been dumping a lot of their army in reserves at the start of the game and roll them out over time. In fact, I've seen players only deploy a heavy choice or two and leave everything else off the table.

Of course, this give your opponent less time to shoot up your army and the added bonus of being able to swoop in late in the game and claim objectives and it seems like the late deploying armies are winning more games than players who start off with units on the table.

Is this tactic very effective elsewhere?

I know one player conveniently forgets to roll for his BAs until turn 4 (which seems to be a huge advantage with all of his movement and hes able to claim/contest or make a late game assault with a full strength unit).

[Sinistermind]

not really around here, at least not with any regularity,in tournies the players judge it depending on mission/opponent/field of battle

[Sure]

Reserving is really a game-by-game decision. Not counting units that must reserve (odd numbered drop pods, al'rahem, etc) the question is whether you really think the tactic is effective. Against most Guard lists it is a bad idea to reserve, it just creates the opportunity for that massive shooting to eat your units as they trickle into play.
Against an army using drop pods, especially if it's dreadnoughts dropping, reserving can deny that alpha strike and give you the chance to force the other player into falling back on a plab B (which many players don't bother to have).
While you're playing games THINK. And if you're not sure, experiment. what's the worse that can happen? oh no, you lose! But maybe you learn something that makes playing more fun or even stumble into something that had not occurred to you but for the experiment.

[DaveLL]

Some armies do it better than others, really. A particularly slow army or one that has absolutely no influence on the deployment rolls is generally a poor choice for reserving everything. And yes, it also depends on which army your opponent fields.

The more control you have over the reserves dice, the better off you are, though you're supposed to pay significant points costs for that control through various special characters. That does mean that the guy who "forgets" his rolls until late in the game is giving himself an advantage. Unless, of course, he's actually forgetting - in which case he's probably still accidentally giving himself an advantage.

[thecactusman17]

One of the guys who took second in the BAO doubles tourney this year plays his Tau like that, thanks to the positional relay system. 1500 of 1850 coming in on turn 5 is pretty disgusting, especially since it is 100% legal.

[Soups]

If it means living past turn 1, I will do it. But in addition being a game by game basis, your army does have to handle it. My BA's do, only because everything of mine is fast. I can roll on the board, kneecap or hamstring the things that can shoot me off the board, and proceed from there.

My nids play with reserves anyway, due to everyone else's shooting phase, and i love me some hive commander.

It's not stalling either. games where people reserve usually end quicker than normal.

[Nick Soapdish]

I'm an Eldar player and I reserve in some situations. Lately with my current list I have two 3 man squads of jetbikes. I like to reserve these so that they don't get blown away, are in a better position with the range of their weapons the turn they come on, and to grab objective at the end of the game.

It seems like in my group that the xenos players have gotten into the habit of reserving at least a few of their troops like this. We really don't see full reserve much anymore.

[robrodgers46]

It's why I love my Regimental Advisors. The Officer of the Fleet and Astropath can really give you an advantage in the reserve game. The OotF especially, nothing messes up those deep striking Blood Angels like coming one per turn.

BB

[Yabanjin]

The risk you take holding most of your army off the table is that you can be taken apart if you arrive piece-meal. You're going to have units coming in fresh but they'll find most of their buddies might have already been pummeled into the ground by the time they arrive, you're risking a situation where you are always outnumbered and giving your opponent position on the table.

On the other hand, this can create opportunities to take an enemy in the flank depending on table set up and deployment zones. It can also help you dodge a debilitating first turn by avoiding an alpha strike and coming in once the enemy has commited their force to objectives/parts of the the table.

It's very much a situational decision.

[marsdonut]

Whenever I play against drop podding marine lists, I tend to get sick when they plop down on top of the objective and give me a classic **** eating grin. (And then promptly heavy flaming my dudes)

Reserving has saved me more often and not from early attacks in various forms, that I rely on it when I want to play my game, not be forced to play theirs. I especially hate it in Dawn of War type games, that not deploying anyone feels like the better option if my army is mobile enough.

[Cavematt]

A tyrant with hive commander means that most reserves hit turn two, and I've never played a game myself where they weren't all in by three. And I think the best reserve unit the bugs have are the Ymgarl. Put them one piece of terrain away from where they need to be and when they jump out they are in prime position to eat HQs, or any other unit that HAS TO die.

[kellyj]

This can also be a huge back-fire depending on the army types being played (note the immortal picture of the guy who reserved his entire bike army...no outflankers...only to have his opponent infiltrate his Kroot across the entire board edge. The bikes were unable to come on the board and he lost the game before turn 1 even started.
Lots of drop pods or deep-striking units? Against Grey Knights? Imagine a giant board wide warp quake buble that only gives you a few inches in the corners to land in. With Psiflemen and StormRavens waiting to kill you should you happen to stick the landing.
Not to mention it always seems to be the 500 point mega death star unit that never arrives until turn 5.

Ultimately, a time and place for everything, but if the local meta is trending towards lots of units going in reserve...play the list that can nerf that setup (lots of shooty guard that kills units as they arrive in batches) or keep the DS army off the table (GK troops with warp quake). Eventually people will get tired of losing to you and adapt a new meta to try and beat you.

[Drakkan Vael]

As with every other tactic, it depends on terrain on the table, opponent (army an army composition of your opponent), your playing style and your own army composition and the mission you play.
As others stated before keep an open mind for different approaches. A singular tactic alone will most certainly fail at some point if your opponents adapt to it. Change you battle plan frequently. Reserve if needed, outflank if needed, know how to counter it. Try playing with all reserves, try with none, workout what works and what does not (yes, it sounds boring, and time-consuming, but it will reward you in the end).

Playing Tau, Tyranids, Eldar and Necrons I use reserves most of the time for certain units (Crisis suits, Kroot, Trygon, Mawloc, 'stealers, Jet-bikes, Swooping Hawks - yes I sometimes use them :), Deathmarks, Monolith - yes, him as well, veiled units, etc.).
If played right, this works quite well.

[WH40kgamer]

I play DE and I find that I use no reserves if the deployment is DOW or spearhead, as I know I won't get hit or by much atleast first turn. I only tend to use reserves if I don't get first initiative or if the deployment is Pitched Battle. Also it depends on the army type I am fighting as well. Such as Necrons and they are using Imotek, then I might use reserves.

I find people using reserves against me mostly when objectives are in play or they know they don't have a chance to begin with and try something new and see where it gets them.

[Wolfshade]

It is really a gamble. On the one hand by reserving alot of your units it enables them to be put where you need them, e.g. dropping a dreadnought behind a line of tanks. On the other hand, it does leave you at the start of the game with very few units on the board which can be overwhelmed (unless playing a fully reserved list). Also, it means any assault units arriving via deepstrike/teleporting are left out in the open and unable to assault that turn, which with close clustering could make them vunerable to blast markers