I love it when a plan comes together

Over the last few weeks I've been trying to hone my game and get a grasp of some of the finer points of 40k. I've been doing lots of reading and testing to try to come up with some standard formations that I can deploy on the fly based on what I'm up against. I haven't come up with a plan of attack for every situation, but here is what I've come up with so far.

These formations are designed to work with my 2000 point list for Ahriman's Renegades. Now my list has some decent firepower at range with 5 twin-linked lascannons, 3 battle cannons, and 3 havoc launchers. I also can use 3 bolts of change from 24" so as enemies approach I've got some nice killing power also. My general plan is to milk my range attacks and soften up the opponent. I know versus some of the new armies like IG and wolves I will still be at a disadvantage, but its the best I can do with my Thousand Sons theme :)

Formation #1 - Phalanx

Usage - Spearhead deployment missions.

There are two different ways to use this formation with my army. First, before you decide how you will line up you must look at what you're up against. The main thing to look out for when you are a castle up and fire kind of army imo is outflankers toting melta. They can really rain on your parade.

If the enemy DOES have and outflanking element or you suspect that they will be reserving a good amount of their forces I deploy like this.

Here you can see the object is to stay away from the table edges to create the maximum amount of distance between you and enemy outflankers. You will also want to deploy your objectives accordingly if this is your plan by trying to make sure that at least half of them are located somewhere near the middle of the board.

You move your forces into the center of the board and prepare to receive the enemy all the while firing off the long range shots to take out any enemies down range. When the outflankers to arrive you have the troops engage them supported by the defilers.

The Dreadnoughts press into the enemy mid-field and deployment zone if you can, they are basically a distraction for the enemy and hopefully they can even manage to knock out some pesky reserve units.

The second way to use this formation is if the enemy is not going to be fielding outflanking troops. You would deploy your forces like this and attempt to move up your flank keeping your main force together and away from the enemy.

The goal here is to change the flow of the game. Normally you will be fighting along the short table edge (48"). At this range pretty much all of the enemies weapons will easily be in range. When you move your fire base up the flank of the board what you're doing is changing the flow of the game to the long table edge. This army has lots of long range weapons that can reach out and touch the enemy from 72". So use it to your advantage. You should be getting off a good 2 to 3 turns of shooting before they get near you, then you can unload your troops and terminators to meet the assaulting forces. Backed up by defilers, even Thousand Sons are nasty in combat.

The other nice thing about this is now your foe has to basically redeploy his entire force because in just one simple turn of moving you've just shut down his entire right flank as they are very far away from you. You will create a traffic jam if he has lots of vehicles and could even land some side armor shots if you're really lucky.

The one weakness of this is if your opponent reserves a lot of his forces. They will be coming out right ontop of you. Now, this may not be a bad thing because you will have your forces all in one block. You should still be able to bring a great deal of hurt on them. But it is a risk.

I will be looking at some other formation types in the future. These are meant to help me with my game. I'm finding that when I am going into matches sometimes I do poorly because of bad deployment. This is meant to give me a plan of action as the battle begins so that I can more clearly direct my forces. I really need this with my overpriced and under performing units. I've found the only real way to get them to be effective is to have them work together as best they can.

Do you guys have a plan of action coming into the game? Or you a fly by the seat of your pants kinda player? Let me know your tactics and strategies!