DISTRACTION CARNIFEX

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"Remember - SHOOT THE BIG ONES."

– Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer on Tyranids

"All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near."

– Sun Tzu, The Art of War

DISTRACTION CARNIFEX!

EVERYONE START SHOOTING!!

DISTRACTION CARNIFEX is a psychological wargame tactic that originated from Warhammer 40,000 armies and has since spread to numerous other tabletop games. The short version is that you plonk a huge, scary-looking model in the middle of the table, which draws a tremendous amount of enemy gunfire, while the real threats make it up the field relatively unmolested. Basically like an RPG tank.

It's named after the Carnifex, one of the big monsters of the Tyranid faction, because the DISTRACTION CARNIFEX was one of that faction's most popular tactics after their 4th edition codex. Many models other than the Carnifex can be used as a DISTRACTION model; in that case, it might still be called a DISTRACTION CARNIFEX (even if it isn't a Tyranid), a DISTRACTION <WHATEVER> (e.g. "DISTRACTION RIPTIDE"), or simply a DISTRACTION. The use of all caps is NOT optional.

DISTRACTION TACTICS

First, choose your DISTRACTION model. A DISTRACTION model must have the following properties:

• Physical size. Remember, you want the DISTRACTION to get shot. You still want it to stay alive so, by all means, chase after cover saves as best you can, but if there's ever a ranged threat on the table that can't see the DISTRACTION, then you're doing it wrong.
• Toughness. DISTRACTIONS don't necessarily need offensive punch -- they're actually fairly likely to die before they hit melee -- but you need them to grip the table for as long as possible.
• Scariness. Remember that DISTRACTION is a psychological tactic; the bigger and scarier your model looks, the better your chances are of it pulling enemy gunfire.
• Low(ish) points cost. The DISTRACTION is a support model (indirectly) -- it should not be hogging your army points. By all means, give it all the toughness-boosting wargear you can get, and maybe one really scary-looking melee weapon wouldn't go amiss, but you want the rest of your army to be able to compensate for the loss of the DISTRACTION in the early game.

Second, choose the rest of your army. Anything that can boost the DISTRACTION's toughness without being too vulnerable itself is a must. Aside from that, try to build your army with a focus on smaller models and glass cannons -- if the DISTRACTION is taking fire, you don't need to worry so much about the little guys.

When you're deploying your army on the table, put the DISTRACTION down first, and put it right in the middle of the board (unless there's an obstacle in the middle, in which case you should put it in the longest unobstructed lane from front to back). Alternatively, you can deploy the DISTRACTION model through Deep Strike, but only if you have a Drop Pod or some other method for guaranteeing that it'll enter from reserve by Turn 2 at the latest.

• As of 8th Edition rules, deep strike rules and all their mishaps and issues (e.g. scattering and delays) no longer apply, but you can only deep strike units outside of your own deployment zone starting on Turn 2, and even then the deep striking has to be at least 9" away from enemy models. As a result, it's best suited for things which either have a way to reroll charges or have something to shoot with in case they don't make the charge.
• You could also plonk your DISTRACTION down last, after building an intentionally-there hole in the middle of your army. Make it nice and memorable, and the other guy won't even remember you put the rest of the army there to begin with.

During the battle, move the DISTRACTION either first or last in your turn order, and keep it in front of the rest of your force to keep its alleged threat fresh in your opponents' minds.

If the DISTRACTION pays off, the battle will go something like this:

• Guard turn 1: Everything shoots the DISTRACTION CARNIFEX.
• Tyranids turn 1: Tyranids advance.
• Guard turn 2: Everything shoots the DISTRACTION CARNIFEX.
• Tyranids turn 2: Tyranids advance.
• Guard turn 3: Everything shoots the DISTRACTION CARNIFEX. DISTRACTION CARNIFEX finally dies.
• Tyranids turn 3: Remaining Tyranids eat everyone else's face.

How to counter a DISTRACTION

To be honest, if you can recognize a DISTRACTION play, you already know how to counter it; don't dedicate your entire army just to killing the DISTRACTION. If you spread your firepower in a vaguely sensible way, then you can weaken the DISTRACTION and the rest of the opponent's army. For example, if you have some weapon which only hurts the DISTRACTION on a 6+ and doesn't break its armor, maybe don't shoot the DISTRACTION with it.

• In 8th Edition, many larger single-model DISTRACTIONS now have degrading statlines that significantly weaken their offensive presence if they drop a tier or two on that. If ignoring the DISTRACTION isn't fully an option, simply slapping it down a peg to gimp its stats is enough to safely prioritize more important aspects of your enemy's army.

• 9th Edition has set a new standard in power creep that further reduces the viability of DISTRACTIONS. While monsters/vehicles can now fire their (non-Blast) ranged weapons while in melee at the target's they're in combat with (at a -1 to hit penalty if said weapons are Heavy), many weapons received not insubstantial buffs that make taking down single-entity targets like monsters and vehicles significantly easier (looking at you, Multi-meltas). New units like the Space Marine Eradicators can turn a DISTRACTION CARNIFEX inside out with a single shooting phase and in the (unlikely event) the DISTRACTION survives, it still likely has to deal with dramatically reduced stats thanks to the damage table mechanics introduced last edition.

Is it really a DISTRACTION model?

People often confuse DISTRACTION units with Death Star units. To alleviate these misconceptions, we'll give a brief run-down of each role:

• DISTRACTION - a DISTRACTION unit, is large, menacing, and most importantly expendable. It needs to serve as its namesake suggests: as a DISTRACTION. It's not meant to be a line-breaker (although it can certainly act as one if given the chance), it's an assistant to your line-breakers, by re-directing damage from them that would otherwise gimp your front line. A DISTRACTION unit doesn't have to be heavily armed or be an avatar of destruction, it just has to be cost-effective enough that it seems menacing that your opponent can't leave it alone for too long (as it can still do a number to their units if it got close enough to be effective), but at the same time: cheap enough that losing it doesn't cripple your chances of victory.

• Death Star - like the Star Wars superweapon it's named after, Death Star unit(s) are typically large (in body or bodies), destructive and expensive. They will typically (not necessarily always) encompass a significant portion of your army list, if your list wasn't already just tailor-made to support the Death Star unit(s) you're bringing. Where a DISTRACTION doing any real damage to your opponent's forces is simply taken as a bonus, a Death Star's entire purpose is to decimate your opponent's armies with impunity. Because of this, Death Stars aren't expendable and losing them early on can irrevocably cripple your army for the rest of the game (if you don't just lose shortly afterwards). As such, this is where your cost efficient DISTRACTION units come into play; DISTRACTIONS advance and tie up your opponent's army and attention while your Death Star gets into position and burns through their forces.

It should be noted that there are cases where the line between a DS and a DISTRACTION starts to get blurry, either because the unit is far more powerful than its cost would suggest or because the rest of your units are almost as expensive as the unit in question. While very rare, such hybrids are by far the most effective DISTRACTIONS of all since if they're not killed immediately, they place an opponent in a no-win situation where ignoring the DISTRACTION is as likely to make them lose as falling for the DISTRACTION. Primarchs stand out in particular, as they are always lethal and usually tanky enough to make their points back against anything other than another Primarch (if not table the opponent entirely given enough time and a particularly bad matchup).

Some good DISTRACTION models

Warhammer 40,000

Tyranids

• DISTRACTION CARNIFEX: The original, but not really the best any more, because the Carnifex's point cost and access to toughness-boosting abilities have bounced back and forth a bit between editions. It was essential in 4th Ed, impossible in 5th Ed, and possible but not great in 6th, was up to the RNGs 7th, but work fairly well for the role in 8th and 9th. Scythefexes can do a huge amount of attacks at S6 for their relatively low points cost (and if you splurge for Screamer-Killers instead they get a LD debuff aura and an improved Bio-Plasma that messes up MEQs/TEQs), and Dakkafexes can put out absurd amounts of S6 firepower with much better accuracy than other Nids and some other armies might get: A full brood of Dakkafexes with two Devourers each can put out a whopping 72 S6 AP-0 shots, hitting on 3s with enhanced senses; their Thornback cousins don't get quite as many shots due to only getting one set of Devourers, but their Stranglethorn Cannons still give them a bit of punch and they ignore cover with all their shots. You bet people are gonna put firepower into them. Because they'll have no choice as your Dakkafexes will turn their infantry into mulch otherwise. Also you need it, because 8 and 9 (before codex updates) are the horde editions.
  • They can also get a built-in -1 to hit via Spore Cysts for only 10 points per 'fex. Needless to say, it's totally worth it since it frees up your Venomthropes to protect other units.
• DISTRACTION HARUSPEX: A 6th Ed beast that seems to be practically made to fill the DISTRACTION role, especially since it can regain wounds by killing models in melee (if it gets there). So the new unit replaces an old one that can't do its job any more -- JUST AS PLANNED. AS of 8th, they've kinda fallen out of favor in favor of cheaper models or more powerful models, but it retains its melee power and self-healing effect.
• DISTRACTION STONECRUSHER CARNIFEX - Same as the Carnifex above, but it absolutely annihilates enemy vehicles, as opposed to making mincemeat out of medium infantry.
• DISTRACTION HIERODULE - Your Tyranid Knight equivalent. Massive damage sink and can be buffed to be nigh-invulnerable. For ~400 points, they put out titanic amounts of hurt and can absorb just as much.
• DISTRACTION ABOMINANT - The Genestealer Cults have theirs too! He hits like a tank - he's got a solid 3 attacks with a S12 (he's S6 x2) AP-3 D6 hammer that has a rule which makes it always roll a 3 or higher for damage - plus exploding sixes. He's also rocking a 5+ Feel No Pain, -1 to incoming damage to a minimum of 1 and he regenerates D3 wounds every round. Granted, his save's nothing special, but he hits hard. Combine that with Cult deepstrike shenanigans and maybe a squad of Aberrants with Hammers (they get his -1 damage and FNP anyway, and his exploding sixes are an aura) and you've got a hard-hitting distraction for not too many points - the Abominant's only 105, himself, and a squad of Aberrants with all Hammers (always take a Hypermorph for this configuration) is only 175 - the squad's unnecessary, but it makes for a harder-hitting deathball. This guy works especially well for this in smaller games, where he's bigger relative to everything around him.

Imperium

• DISTRACTION AXE DREADNOUGHT: Again, drop pod one of these guys face first into the opponent's army and watch your opponents cry as your Dreadnought shrugs off even the strongest of attacks with its 3++ save on top of its AV12. Be careful though, if they get your back armor you're dead.
• DISTRACTION CELESTINE: Celestine is at first glance unimpressive in this department, what with T3 W6 Sv 2+/4++, plus two flunkies with T3 W6 Sv 2+/4++. The fun, however, begins with the abilities. On top of having a 12" move with FLY and 6" Heroic Intervention, all attacks automatically go to the flunkies, who don't force morale tests. Thanks to Armor of Contempt, she has a functional 1+/4++ against attacks with AP. If worse comes to worst, you can always force a successful save with miracle dice. Then, any damage dealt to Celestine is reduced by 1. She can then skip her movement and shooting phases to resurrect a flunky and heal all her wounds. And if you somehow manage to get through all this, the first time Celestine dies, she comes back on a roll of anything but one. Keep a Hospitaller nearby for a feel no pain if you really want to hammer it in.
• DISTRACTION DEATHWING KNIGHTS: Put Belial with them, deepstrike them right next to all the most dangerous units in your foe's army, and watch them squirm to murder them all. They may all die either by the sheer amounts of firepower or melee directed towards them, but it's worth watching your foe ignore Devastators, Deathwing Terminators, Ravenwing, and other such unit, just for the sheer infamous reputation that the Knights have gained.
• DISTRACTION DREADKNIGHT: Take a T6 W4 Termi with a weapon for ~170 points and see the enemy focus him without really damaging him fast.
• DISTRACTION OGRYNS: 10 Ogryn with 2 Primaris Psykers (faq stated each get 2 rolls) with biomancy for toughness and allied dark angel psyker for rerolls on everything and 4+ invulnerabilities. Watch it absorb loads upon loads of fire as your tactical units sneak up on the enemy.
• DISTRACTION LONE WOLF: Give your Lone Wolf 2 Fen Wolves and Terminator Armor and just let him roam. If you feel generous, slap a Chainfist on him. The fact that you gain points by letting this guy die means you can expend him without much consequence.
• DISTRACTION SKITARII VANGUARDS: To be honest, this only really works against someone who hasn't played against your army much, if at all (which, since it still isn't very common, should mean this works quite often). Barebones vanilla vanguard will run you 100pts for a ten-man squad and with their basic guns can put a serious smackdown on anything with a toughness value; add plasma calivers for extra distraction, though realize that this will make the unit a prohibitively expensive meat shield. That being said, if your opponent is targeting one vanguard squad with plasma calivers while the other three are closing in with a plethora of haywire and rad-weaponry unscathed then you're doing it right.
• DISTRACTION KASTELANS: T7 W3 FNP 3+/(5++ against shooting) robots, take 4+ and a Techpriest Dominus with the Relic Pimp Cane in formation for extra hilarity. Give one of the Datasmiths the Robes of the Technomartyr for the sweet, sweet boon of giving everyone Cognis. Their ability to severely hurt assaulters on Overwatch will perturb your opponent even more
• DISTRACTION CUSTODES: The entire army is basically Terminators on Steroids (albeit lacking in anti-tank) at the bare minimum. Special mention goes to the Telemon Heavy Dreadnought, which is devastating in both melee and ranged combat, can take a heavy beating, is able to deep strike via From Golden Light They Come, and pretty much forces the opponent to either focus fire on it or die. And given that your other units will be moving up while the Telemon does its thing, the opponent may very well die even if he doesn't fall for the distraction.
• DISTRACTION CULEXUS: While this sounds as though it shouldn't work (the Culexus model is human-sized), the eighth-edition target priority rules force the enemy of an all-assassin army to shoot the closest model, even if that model is an invisible (hit on a 6+, always) culexus assassin. With a low cost (they're cheaper than most armies' infantry squads), five wounds apiece and a 4+ invulnerable save, they're almost impossible to kill too. Thankfully no longer possible with the Beta rules for targeting characters.
• DISTRACTION DEMOLISHER CANNON: Historically the Vindicator and its cousin the Leman Russ Demolisher bounces back and forth between DISTRACTION and actual killing tool. The sheer power and potential of the Demolisher cannon meant that players would focus fire on them and be at risk of over committing, especially with the Leman Russ's high armor. At the same time, if ignored they could get their points back just by shooting once. They become DISTRACTIONs because if left alone they can ruin an enemy's plan, allowing them to flip back and forth between DISTRACTION and asset almost at will. Sadly the lack of templates in the latest ruleset weaken their killing power, shifting them more toward DISTRACTION as their reputation from ages past means a player with any amount of beard will have had it drilled into them not to ignore them.
• DISTRACTION ROGAL DORN: The newest tank the Guard has access to has Toughness 9, a 2+ save, and 17 wounds. While it isn't core, it doesn't always matter. The Industrial Efficiency regimental doctrine lets it ignore AP -1. Nab the Knight of Piety Tank Ace for a 5++ and 5+++ versus mortal wounds, or Mechanical Pack Rat for a 1-3 Transhuman. Keep a Primaris Psyker nearby to require a 4+ to hit, and an Enginseer to heal it and apply a 5++.

Chaos

• DISTRACTION MURDER SWORD: Chaos Space Marine one. Give a MURDER SWORD to a (random champion (NOT LEGAL Exalted Champion...)) chaos lord, or DAEMON PRINCE(illegal too (Nope, Daemon Princes can take it NO, you really can't. A Hellforge sword is NOT a "powersword")), stick it in a nest of Cultists, and laugh as the enemy targets it for the rest of the game because they don't want it getting within 400 clicks of their special snowflake character, though you are fucked if the enemy has good snipers, fucking Vindicaires... or artillery... or any decent amount of guns AH FUCK IT! This one doesn't work! Still decent for removing faggots like papa smurf. NOPE! Calgar has Eternal Warrior, making him immune to the Sword's ID. Better have the dice gods at your back. Almost makes us wonder how this thing can be a threat to a Primarch.
  • (clears throat) "Look Out, Sir!" - on a 2+ for special characters. Even against Vindicares (but with a -2 penalty so ICs get 4+ LoS while everyone else gets a 6+) and Precision Shots. Yes, I checked before posting.
  • (punches previous speaker in the throat) As the power creep goes on, even the Cultist ball gets stomped on (literally) by the new Knights as Stomp results of 6 remove all models from under the Blast. Yes, Removes. No saves, 2++, FNP or Look out Sir. Just pick those models off the table and put them into your bag. Even then, it wasn't that scary as a single turn of decent shooting can wipe your MURDERER before he gets near the corpse.
  • Then again, the fact that the MURDER SWORD gets shot off the table means something else get is not getting shot at, so as far as distractions it's working.
• DISTRACTION NURGLINGS: Take 6-9 bases of these cute little shits, infiltrate them as close to the enemy as possible behind ruins, enjoy a tasty 2+ cover save while your army moves up. Just pray they don't have flamers or ignore cover weapons.
• DISTRACTION DAEMON ENGINE: A Forgefiend, Maulerfiend, Defiler, Kytan, or Heldrake will be a guaranteed fire magnet. Fortunately, they all have It Will not Die (tied for second best name for a 40k rule ever with He Has A Plan, only recently dethroned by the arrival in 40K of WHFB's best named rule, My Will Be Done), and the Drake has the added bonus of being a flyer when Skyfire is still a relative rarity. The reputation of the Defiler and Heldrake in particular will ensure that literally everything the enemy has will be hurled at you, including the models, the table, the dice, the players at the WHFB table, and chairs. Lots of chairs.
• DISTRACTION MUTILATOR: Pretty much the only use for Mutilators with the new CSM book, Deep Strike one behind the enemy (bonus points if it's a Tau or Guard gunline) and it will die in style as the enemy wastes a turn of valuable shooting which could have been better spent trying to bring down that Land Raider full of Terminators, or the rampaging Maulerfiend in the corner

Eldar

• DISTRACTION WAVE SERPENT: The Eldar's (in)famous transport, Wave Serpents will often immediately draw your opponent's eye, especially if you loaded it up with something threatening like Wraithguard, Howling Banshees or Fire Dragons. The part that'll piss them off, however, will be how unyieldingly difficult it is for someone to crack it open; no matter what gun they point at it, nothing is scratching that wave serpent's paint on a wound roll of 1-3 and even then, you still have a 3+, 5++ profile to deflect what actually does make it through. In a bind, Lightning Fast Reflexes can make this tank yet more challenging to crack open as well. If you need to give your opponents a little more incentive to try to focus fire on the Wave Serpent, the Twin-Linked Bright Lance will punch holes in other vehicles/monsters while the Twin-Linked Scatter Laser/Shuriken Cannon will chunk most squads of infantry quite rapidly. Probably your most practical DISTRACTION, you probably were bringing one anyways.
• DISTRACTION WRAITHLORD: It's big, scary, has a 3+ save, is T8, subtracts 1 damage from multi-damage hits and is capable of fucking shit up. For the best results, make sure that you spring for the Ghostglaive; if your opponent wasn't taking your Wraithlord seriously before, they sure as hell will once that statue tears through one of their Leman Russ tanks or an entire squad of Space Marines like they're nothing. Even better, this thing is a core unit, so the full swath of psychic powers like Protect and Fortune can further enhance this thing's durability while Jinx and Doom can enhance the Wraithlord's lethality.
• DISTRACTION WRAITHSEER: It's also big, scary, has a 3+ save with a 5++ just in case, subtracts 1 damage from multi-damage hits, is T8 and capable of fucking shit up. Its Ghostspear wrecks face at S10 AP-3 Dd3+3 and it can take a D-Cannon to slam enemies with a d3 S12 AP-4 Dd6 blast weapon that ignores line of sight. They're also full-blown psykers these days and can toss a Smite or two around, or just trade it out to turn its Ghostspear into a Dd3+5 weapon, make enemies trying to fend it off subtract 1 from their hit/wound rolls against it or just cause some general psychic shenanigans. They also don't suffer from degrading statlines anymore, so even if it gets horribly maimed, it'll keep doing its job fantastically until the bitter end.
• DISTRACTION WRAITHKNIGHT: Its bigger, scarier, and has more D than the average pornstar. It's not cost efficient at all these days (3CP and 325 points minimum), but the unwary opponent who doesn't know better or someone still caught in an episode of 7th-Edition PTSD may get intimidated into overly committing firepower into it. That's not to say it isn't dangerous though. If you really want your opponent to pay attention to it, give it the Heavy Wraithcannons or Titanic Ghostglaive and evaporate one or two of their heavy support units.
  • All of the above have access to healing through the Tears of Isha stratagem and Bonesinger (when allowed) support to make them even harder to kill.

Dark Eldar

• DISTRACTION TALOS PAIN ENGINE: The best part about DISTRACTION TALOS is that nobody plays DEldar. Therefore, the majority of the player population has no idea what to expect. Player: "Wait, Toughness seven?!" You: "Yep." Player: "With 3+ and FnP?!" You: "You betcha. Oh, also, enjoy haywire and Shred." Your enemy then proceeds to unload everything they have at your slow, dead 'ard, floating scorpion beast while your gunboats, Scourges, and Reavers tear them several new assholes. For better results,(aka:something that can also function as a threat) add a cronos with a spirit probe. "4+ FnP!?!?!". If you have the Haemonculus covens supplement then take the dark artisan formation and give your heamonculus the nightmare doll for a 3+ FnP, if you make him your warlord then you get a 3+ FnP re-rolling 1s.

Orks

• DISTRACTION DEFF DRED Just kit it out with a few scary looking weapons, let it stumble forward with the boys. This is really effective when your enemy takes less anti tank because you are playing a mainly infantry army. This is also better used in smaller games, as this thing looks like a scary, choppy hulk of metal (which it is).
• DISTRACTION BOYZ Let’s face it, as 8th is Horde Edition, a good old-fashioned Boyz mob and a Weirdboy using the psychic power Da Jump means you can deposit said Boyz Mob (almost) exactly where you want it. Just make sure the mob is 20-30 strong and they might actually survive past the DISTRACTION period. Also make sure you have several more 30-Boy mobz heading across the board. Kommandos also make an excellent DISTRACTION unit, especially being (in 9th) only 3 points more expensive than Boyz; a deep strike and first turn charge in the backline is pure cancer to Tau and IG gunlines.
• DISTRACTION THRAKA - Ghazghkull is now the definition of absolute unit, being both dead 'ard and dead choppy - he's got a S14 melee weapon with -4 AP and 4 flat damage, plus a 2+ to hit - and, since he is a GOFF ORK and his captain aura benefits GOFF ORKS, he's re-rolling ones. He also takes a maximum of 4 wounds a turn, he's rocking a 2+ save with a 4+ invuln, and - with Makari - a 6+ Feel No Pain on top of all of that. Ghaz can go toe-to-toe with Guilliman and win somewhat consistently - he's most definitely a DISTRACTION if he wants to be. Granted, he's got a steep points cost, but if you stick him in the Tellyporta, he'll DISTRACT the hell out of his enemies and then proceed to krump the closest Knight.

Tau

• DISTRACTION DARKSTRIDER: Enemy has a charging focused army and you only took one Pathfinder squad, stick this guy in there with a Grav-Inhibitor Drone and laugh as your opponents thrashing, snarling wave of hate never comes anywhere close.
• DISTRACTION STEALTHSUITS: Dirt Cheap and pretty durable for their cost (T4, 3+ armor, 2W apiece and you can mount shield generators on the lot of them). Infiltration lets you deploy them right on top of relics and capture points, which will certainly draw the enemy to them. With a minus 1 to hit debuff that they benefit from all the time, your enemy will have a hard time hitting them. Plus you can mount some Fusion Blasters on them for added scariness.
• DISTRACTION GHOSTKEEL: The stealth field grants a -1 to hit with shooting attacks. The drones an additional -1. Most infantry will only be able to hit this thing at 6+, Marines at 5+ and Conscripts/Boyz can't hit it at all. This will goad them into charging into melee. 2 flamers are recommended to prevent reliable charges. Slap on a target lock for accuracy and a shield generator for survivability. Infiltration will allow you to place it right in the enemy's face, perfect for baiting them into wasting their firepower. Oh and you can easily field 2 of these for the cost of one riptide.
• DISTRACTION STORMSURGE: Its big and has even bigger gun. Slap it somewhere centerline and in plain sight behind some cover and perhaps drone or three and you have fine DISTRACTION that can sometimes hit something with said big gun.

Necrons

• DISTRACTION C'TAN SHARD: Now you have several flavors of C'Tan shards to use: The Nightbringer, Deceiver, Void Dragon, and Transcendent C'Tan. All very dangerous and capable of dealing tons of damage if left alone. They also can only take three damage per phase. An opponent will have to dedicate themselves to attacking them three phases in a row in order to deal the 9 wounds required to defeat them.
• DISTRACTION MONOLITH: Use only if you are retarded. "Could" be used to quickly cut line of sight on more important units and has a few nifty tricks up its sleeve, as a DISTRACTION MONOLITH can turn into a DISTRACTION BLOB if it's allowed to use its gate, but in practice it's more like syphilis.
• DISTRACTION TOMB STALKER: Deep strikes reliably, doesn't deteriorate with damage, has good weapons and durability, and can carry a gloom prism to screw with psykers. Deep striking a T7, 9 wound MC that can make Deny the Witch rolls directly on top of your enemy's backline is sure to cause a stir.
• DISTRACTION SKORPEKH DESTROYER: Cheap, fast, and capable of eating heavy infantry, monsters, and even tanks alive in melee, they bring a 3+ save and 3 T5 wounds per model, letting them hit that perfect sweet spot of being tough enough to survive your opponent's attention for a few turns while still being fragile enough to keep your opponent from feeling like they're wasting their shots.
• DISTRACTION DOOMSTALKER: Size matters, and at 6 inches tall this is one of the biggest regular units in the game. This thing absolutely towers over the battlefield, and it's topped with an ECKS BAWKS HUEG gun that will surely delete everything in sight if it gets a good roll. 12 wounds isn't all that much for a tank so it's a tempting target, but T6 with a 4++ invuln and Living Metal will soak up a tremendous amount of infantry fire and damage brackets don't affect shooting stats. It even gets to cover nearby friendlies with a free overwatch shot from its main gun. All this for only 130 points.

Warhammer Fantasy Battles

• DISTRACTION HELLPIT ABOMINATION - A giant scary monster, which can wreck whole hordes of infantry with some luck. Due to it's ability to regenerate, any sensible enemy will focus it down... Except it also has a chance to RISE FROM THE GRAVE, which forces the enemy to continue focusing on it until it dies for good.
• DISTRACTION TREEMAN - Being worse than it was in last edition, it is still big and tall, and is a fine monster killer, and its shooting can wreck small elite units, so it is likely to attract much dakka (vs very inexperienced player). Beware of fire, or Treebeard's cousin becomes kindling.
• DISTRACTION WYVERN - Just fliess behind enemy units the whole game. Wrecks chaos very easily, assuming the enemy doesn't realize that it's just a distraction.
• DISTRACTION MONSTROUS ARCANUM MONSTERS - Exactly as it says on the tin. The supplement gave players a whole lot of monsters to add into their armies, but some are essentially tailor-made to be effective distractions. From the Dreadmaw, the Dread Saurian, Rogue Idol, Khemric Titan to the gamut of creatures that have the word dragon in their names, there is a wide choice for players. And most of those monsters are ridiculously powerful to boot.

Warmachine and Hordes

It can be done here too!

• DISTRACTION CENTURION - The Cygnarian Heavy Warjack Centurion is made for this - Though reasonably killy in and of itself, it's main job is absorbing stupid amounts of fire and hits while your shooty army gets into place, and with defensive buffs up the arse, Cygnar can easily make it even tougher.
• DISTRACTION BERSERKER - Khador is nothing but inventive - Though the Beserker Heavy Warjack is unstable and technologically weak compared to its predecessors, it can still majorly fuck up some unlucky sod with its twin axes. That is not why you use it, though - It is because it have a tendency to explode when given focus. It is fairly cheap too, so send it after whatever you want and watch as it gets blown up by anyone on the field - Your enemy if they manage to bring it down, or you, for the lulz.
• DISTRACTION GHORDSON BASHER - This might just be the epitome of distraction - A rather fast Heavy Warjack made for one thing, smashing things with its head. Really. That is what it does. Throw it into the enemy and watch as it bounces the enemy about like gravity went on a break.
• DISTRACTION AVATAR OF MENOTH - Arguably the best of the Character Heavy Warjacks (The Cryx Deathjack being the only other real contended for the title), it is big, scary, hits like an a freight train and is hard enough to endure the return fire. Throw the Choir Hymn of Passage, the Vassal of Menoth's Enliven and, if you are playing Grand Scrutator Severius, put Defenders Ward on it for a 12/23 monster that's immune to non-magical shooting, can move after taking damage and can lock enemy units in place/force them to move towards you for your next turn when shit is going to get fucked. This is literally the Sain Distraction Carnifex as it forces the enemy to move towards it instead of doing anything productive, and combined with Harbinger of Menoth's feat you either force the enemy to stay still, or get blasted by instagibbing Fire damage roll.
• DISTRACTION COLOSSAL - Basically every Colossal is a giant distraction tool to draw fire. Especially against inexperienced players who vastly overestimate their threat value.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar

There a few rather eye popping units that get many players scrambling to throw everything and the kitchen sink at them.

• DISTRACTION GOTREK - Considering the sheer volume of Mortal Wounds this bugger can throw out, the re rolls to hit and wound, and reducing all multi damage and insta kill attacks done to him to one damage, many players may have a tendency to panic and throw everything they have at him.

• DISTRACTION MEGA-GARGANT - The newly released (and over priced) Mega-Gargant can be allies into any army in a similar manner to Gotrek. Each of the three variants is a colossal model that can stare down the Everchosen and is immune to insta-kill abilities. Naturally, this tactic is less effective when running their own faction Sons of Behemat, where everything is a big scary monster.

• DISTRACTION GOD - Most AoS factions have access to some God or Demigod level character, and befitting such characters, they often include some mixture of monstrous combat dps, insane magic abilities, game bending shenanigans, or a bit of everything. So naturally, most opponents will try to single out this threat.

Total War (Historical)

Cavalry. Always cavalry. Regardless of the version, cavalry in Total War exists to be the distraction. On their own, cavalry tends to fare poorly against anything but missile infantry. But a cavalry flank attack against already engaged infantry will cause all but the most elite units to collapse instantly. If the AI has anti-cavalry units on the field expect them to brainlessly follow your cavalry around. In Shogun Total War however, Cavalry stood no chance to samurai's 1000-fold katana of destruction that they only exist to snipe artillery or generals, not for prolong combat.

Total War: WARHAMMER

Due to how differently total war's vision for warhammer is when comparing to it's tabletop version (no toughness stats, regen has limit, poison is a debuff, physical resists gets countered by magic attack, character entity deals splash damage instead of having many attacks, etc...), while adding some Total War trademark mechanics like fatigue, and wounded (added in game 3 where single target unit gets weaker the less health they have), many units that were known for their DISTRACTION CARNIFEX status on the tabletop may have subjected to changes. Not to mentioned Total War is a video game that does not have the same "use dice to determine your unit's fate" RNG" gameplay like the tabletop. Without toughness and wound, monsters instead have high hp per model, reign supreme against the infantries with their AP damage and splash attacks while routing them with fear and terror. Infantry do have some advantages by giving halberd and spear unit anti-large, which sort of works, but still not enough since monster units can splash damage and terror route those poor fuckers. Sword or anti-infantry infantries are purely garbage and snacks to the superior monsters.

Variations

There are a couple variations on the DISTRACTION Carnifex theme.

• High Axe Low Sword - Used primarily in fantasy wargames, especially pre-Age of Sigmar Warhammer, although it can be applied elsewhere. The idea is to place several Distraction Carnifexes on one side of the field, forcing you opponent to overcommit to one side with their "tough" units. On the other side of the field, a fast, hard-hitting unit or units is placed, allowing that group to strike before proper defense can be mounted.
• Magician's Left Hand - The magician's left hand is the opposite of a Distraction Carnifex. It is valuable, innocuous, and fragile. Typically it's worth far more points than it appears and can inflict massive damage if ignored. Small, elite units with attached characters often fit into this category (although they aren't tough enough to be Death Stars). Distraction Carnifexes are almost mandatory with these types of units, as it allows them to function properly.
• Space Created - Stolen from video game MOBAs, the term refers to a player character acting as a Distraction Carnifex. This generally allows that player's team to secure an objective or just deny the opponent farm, often at the cost of the player's life. Also used facetiously to refer to a player faffing about.