An army that harnesses the abilities to deploy forward, move before the first battle round, and deploy from reserves gives their general a flexibility to react to any situation that an army's competitiveness will increase rather than decrease due to their inclusion. Similarly, special unit rules not related to deployment make an army more competitive too. In fact, 3 special rules exist that I look for to put in my army every time I play. The 3 rules I look want to add to every list consist of: the fly keyword; line-of-sight ignoring ranged weapons; and ignoring over-watch abilities because they give lists more of a fighting chance by their inclusion.
The fly keyword evolves frequently in 8th edition Warhammer 40,000 as the rules do as a whole. In its current form as of the September 2019 Big FAQ, fly units may interact with terrain and units in a manner that benefits their controllers and strikes fear in the hearts of their targets. A fly unit may bound over a tall terrain piece, leap over battle lines of body guards to attack buff characters in the rear, and even fall back to shoot without penalty. Fly units also tend to move faster than an average soldier too making them perfect for turn 1 charges or late game objective grabs. Commanding units that fly grants a player the ability to feel liberated during their movement phase regardless of terrain or the player's army when the alternative would require micromanaging at a scale that would make an ant blush.
Terrain not only presents a challenge to a player in the movement phase but also in the shooting phase. Terrain grants the other army cover bonuses to their armor save or worse blocks them completely from view. Due to the challenge of terrain in the shooting phase, I always believe that ranged weapons that ignore line-of-sight blocking terrain make my army better. Units hiding on objectives in the far corners of the map behind a wall or in an enclosed building where my monsters and Imperial Knights may not enter suddenly feel exposed. When compared to the monsters and knights, the ability to ignore these terrain features in the shooting phase exudes power. It becomes even more powerful when combined with the ability to target characters with less than 10 wounds like the Space Marine Eliminators. Units a player expected to sit safely out of sight all game may end up deployed out of position and remain so for several turns while the player tries to remove the threat of line-of-sight ignoring weapons from the game. Or, the player rushes forward to the attack hoping that their backfield units survive the barrage long enough for their assault units to clear out the threat. Either way, I am creating an situation where I influence decisions in the game to my benefit more than terrain does to my detriment thanks to my ability to ignore line-of-sight in the shooting phase.
Ignoring line-of-sight in the shooting phase may seem like the best form of ignoring normal shooting rules in the game but in my opinion that honor resides with the ability to ignore over-watch. Some units come with this ability inherently like Asuryani Howling Banshees but more often than not a spell like the Genestealer Cult Mass Hypnosis or a relic like the Blood Angels' Angel's Wings confers this ability to a unit. Though tactical use of terrain mimics this ability, terrain never seems placed where I need it the most or never tall enough to hide from a towering Imperial Knight. A built-in over-watch denial essentially acts as a mobile bunker in the charge phase. An Astra Militarum Hellhound goes from a terrifying war dog to a helpless puppy when denied its auto-hitting overwatch. A T'au Sept army loses their entire sense of purpose without the ability to over-watch on 5 ups and fire together due to the overall Tau ability, For the Greater Good. The power to strip a unit of its role as a charge deterrent, an Deathwatch Kill Team toting auto-hitting frag cannons, to rendering entire armies, Tau, ineffective resides in over-watch denial. For this reason, I try to find ways to get at least one unit with over-watch denial into my armies because it makes my army more competitive.
Bailey
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