The game of Warhammer Fantasy Battles can be broken down into two distinct and equally important phases. These are:

• Designing Your Army
• Playing the Game

Hereafter, I will refer to them as the design phase or the game phase. It is important to understand and master each phase, for they are interdependent. If you make a poor army design without a clear objective in mind, you will find it difficult to execute during the game phase against even a moderately experienced opponent. Conversely, if you make a great army and execute poorly, you will similarly find failure.

When reduced to its most basic elements, the game of Warhammer is won by eliminating your enemy's units. There are two ways to do this. You can destroy the unit outright, or you can cause it to flee the table. You can cause casualties by ranged attacks, such as bowfire, or cannons, or magic. By causing these casualties you can either reduce the unit to zero troopers (highly unlikely for all but the smallest of units), or cause enough casualties to make the unit panic and flee the battlefield. The most direct way, and the most important way for the Chaos general, is to eliminate enemy units through close combat. You can either slaughter the unit to a man (the more satisfying, but less likely conclusion), or you can cause the unit to flee. After the unit has fled, you can either run them down, or ensure they flee off of the battlefield.

Ultimately, if the 'dice gods' are against you, you will not succeed, and if they are with you, you cannot fail. Your objective in both the design and game phases is to minimize the importance of the dice. To do this you must stack the odds in your favor. In the future I will refer to this concept as tactical advantage. Tactical advantage is gained by manipulating the various elements that influence the combat result. There are several elements that we should consider:

• Statistical Advantage - The use of higher stats, like WS, S, and T to gain a combat advantage over your opponent. This is mainly a function of troop selection in the design phase, because the stats are not variable (in most cases) and are not controlled by the player. However, it also encompasses knowing which units should take on which enemy units, to ensure that statistical tactical advantage.
• Positional Advantage - The use of mobility and position to gain a combat advantage over your opponent.
• Numerical Advantage - The use of sheer numbers to gain ranks and outnumbering advantages over your opponent.
• Range Advantage - The use of ranged fire to cause damage, or the superiority with ranged attacks, be they weapons, war machines, or magic.
• Psychological Advantage - Another 'built in' advantage that utilizes fear, panic, or other psychology effects to gain tactical advantage. Also the immunity to the effects of psychology is a psychological advantage.

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