Alright...

Well, this one was a... well, female of the canid variety.  It took me a lot but I did manage to get it up and running.  So, this one is all about full-on game tactics.  So let's dive right in, now, shall we?

Part one is to visualize the board.  Just so you know, all the "tables" shown follow the scheme of blue is your deployment zone, red is your opponent's, green is difficult terrain/cover, and the lettered circles are objectives.  So let's get this image up there.

Alright, got your basic, 48" by 48" table.  for making this as basic as possible, I limited this to 4 pieces of terrain and 3 objectives, as everything else I will do can be modified from the tactics given here to deal with it.

Now, the next step is to identify the avenues of approach.  The blue blocks/lines are the horizontal, the green are the vertical.  These are going to be the main routes of movement and giving the direction for most of the game.

"Why is this important?," you may ask.  The answer is that you can use this to identify, early on, all of the paths of movement around the table, and it will help you see and block your opponent's plans before he initiates them.

The next step, for me, is to figure out where I am going to put my area denial and anti-tank units.  You want to place them someplace with good field of view, where they can be supported easily, and where they have cover saves.  In this map I "placed" two of them as shown:

Alright, this requires a bit of explanation and can look a little confusing, and for that I apologize.  The lines mean long, uninterrupted lines of sight not blocked by objectives.  The dark pink areas are areas that can be shot at by both units, and the light pink can only be shot at by 1 or the other. The lines and fans are to scale, representing weapons with 36 inch range. Now, as you can see, models on the vast majority of the disputed area are definitely within range and able to be engaged by your support.  They are in cover, and they can fire at units directly in front of each other, allowing cross-support.  They will probably never have to move for the entire game.

Next I normally figure out how I am going to deploy my troops.  I believe that your army should be built towards capturing the objectives, and as such I create my tactics in such a manner as to best accomplish that.  I have a handful of basic strategies, the Pincer, Strongwall, and SBP.

Pincer:

The pincer works best with large armies, such as Imperial Guard or Nids.  It works by splitting your forces, taking the outside objectives as quickly as you can, and swiftly attacking the middle, leaving some forces behind to to hold your initial captures.  It's strengths are that,if you have sufficient manpower, you can take two objectives right off the bat and at least contest for the third by the end of the game.  On the flip side, if you use this on a board too large, you can easily have your forces separated and eliminated.

Strongwall:

Strongwall works better with smaller armies.  you move quickly to two adjacent objectives and hold there, with any other units located in between your forces and acting as counter assault and support troops.  It's strengths are that you take (possibly) two locations at once, and your units can support each other, plus you have a quick reaction force nearby.  Basically it's easier to hold your position, and you can elect to just sit in place and let your opponent come to you.

SBP:

SBP, or Slow but Purposeful, works by moving all of your troops to one objective, taking it by mass numbers and force, leaving a skeleton defense, and moving to the next objective with the rest of your troops. Continue this process until you can only attack with one squad.  It's strength is that it keeps your attacking force unified and allows you to systematically eliminate your opponent with overwhelming numbers one objective at a time.  It's weakness is that you have to leave skeleton defenses, which can easily be retaken by your opponent.  Also, every time you take a new objective, your attacking power is reduced for the next one.

Last, we come to tank uses.  There are a lot of good tactics, so I am going to give you the basics, and the most simple of them:

Alright, not much to explain here.  Having a wedge in the middle allows you to centrally locate your armor and divert it to attack either left or right, situation depending.  The echelons allow you to move your armor behind the objectives, change direction and formation to wedge, and sweep them across the board.  Generally speaking, the wedge would be most useful with the Pincer or Strongwall, whereas the echelons more useful in Strongwall or SBP.

And, there you have it.  I believe this to be, for all its brevity, a fairly decent basic look at tactics and strategy.  I am going to take some time off, collect my notes, and start with individual army strategies, starting with Space Marines.