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If you're taking Fire Warriors (which you have to), then putting
them in Devilfish makes a lot of sense. First of all, they allow
you to quickly move troops into better firing positions. Secondly,
they help you easily avoid assaults from troops that can't move
12" or more. Thirdly, they let you move out from under enemy
ordnance and fire arcs. Finally, they let you move in to take
objectives in the last turns of the game. Of course, you have to
be careful with them. Enemy transports can match your mobility
and wreck your plans, while enemy anti-vehicle weapons can destroy
Devilfish in a heartbeat (though Decoy Launchers and moving more
than 6" really help with survivability). If you field Devilfish,
you should target the enemy's transports first and heavy weapons
next.
One tactic that gets mentioned on a few forums is called "Fish
of Fury" (thanks, Mech Tau guys). The idea is that you load
up a Devilfish with Fire Warriors. You
move up your Devilfish so it faces an enemy unit (that can only
move 6"), so the Devilfish's back ramp is precisely 10" from
the enemy unit. Then, deploy the Fire Warriors from the back of
the transport within 2" of the access point, which places
them all within 12" of the enemy unit (that's Rapid Fire range).
Since you're behind a Skimmer, it doesn't block your line of sight.
However, the enemy must take a Leadership check to shoot at the
Fire Warriors instead of the Devilfish. Plus, since the enemy can't
move within 1" of the Devilfish and still assault your Fire
Warriors, they have to go way out and around the transport to get
to you. When you throw in the Devilfish's weaponry, you get 29
shots, two of which might cause Pinning if they wound. You can
get in another 24 shots against them if they decide to run around
the Devilfish to assault your Fire Warriors, or you can hop aboard
and get out of dodge if your targets are still alive.
An alternative approach to this tactic is to use two Devilfish
to make sure you don't get assaulted. All you do is set them up
with their back ramps 2" apart, parallel to the enemy line,
with 11" between their farthest thrusters and the enemy unit.
Disembark the Fire Warriors out the side access points facing away
from the enemy. If you're really worried about the assault, detach
each Devilfish's Gun Drones and place them next to the noses of
each transport to extend the area of 1" non-movement coverage.
Another way of doing this double-approach is to replace one of
the two Devilfish with a Hammerhead tank.
You can also use Devilfish in a more static manner to protect
your line of Fire Warriors. Place each Devilfish in front of their
teams, just like you would do in "Fish of Fury." When
the enemy closes, you now have a barrier to shield your Fire Warriors
from early assault, which might help you get in a round of Rapid
Fire before jumping aboard. Also, since the Burst Canon and Drone
Pulse Carbines have a range of 18", and a Devilfish is about
6" long, it can start helping the Fire Warriors when the enemy
is 24" away from the team with an additional 5 shots. That
might be enough to whittle down a charging enemy. Lastly, a sneaky
trick you might be able pull here is to wait for the enemy to close,
Rapid Fire, jump in your Devilfish in your next move, and then
Tank Shock
whatever is left.
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