Backlining = false security

[JoeGuardsman]

I play fire-fight armies pretty exclusively, so why will you never see my armies back-lining(deploying as close as possible to your own table edge)? There are many reasons that the simple and obvious tactics aren't neccessarily the best.
First we will start with movement; when you back-line yourself you submit half the board in turn 0. A squad of foot slogging infantry cannot move 24" to you opponents deployment zone if you stop to fire your weapons more than once and factor in difficult terrain and you can't stop at all. Maybe you can blow away your enemies entire army but oops...it was Alpha-Recon and you just had a 1,500 to 85 victory point draw.
Second is the shooting phase; armies that are most inclined to back-line are the Tau and Imperial Guard. The problem with these armies back-lining is that they are trying to protect their infantry from assaults, when the main infantry weapon will be out of range to shoot. Contrary to popular belief putting distance between you and the enemy can cause you to lose shots.
Third is close-combat; this is simple. You denied yourself most of the board so you packed your units together, when they do get to you they will sweep through you on 1" massacre moves. Once again this defensive strategy destroys your defense.
Finally I will tackle the leadership problems; when backlining you are vulneralbe to losing entire squads after taking a paltry 3 casualties. Sure Guard have their leadership bonuses and Tau have ethereals and bonding, but you will fail Ld checks re-roll or not and those are free points for you opponent.
All I'm saying is; sure it is a game, but it is a game of strategy battles. Looking to exploit the numbers of the game is poor practice and will have you lose to a savy player. Good defensive tactics for deployment include setting up multiple firebases with overlapping feilds of fire. Now doesn't that sound so much cooler than "I'm gonna set all of my guys really far back, yay!"
Last note - Never ever, set up 12" out on the board with a firefight army. Set up atleast 11", but be prepared for cheaters or sloppy movers and set up 10". This doesn't stop you from shooting your basic weapons after an opponents movement phase, but it does stop 1st turn assaults.

Thought for the Day
"Timidity begets indecision; Indecision begets treachery."

[Perturabo]

Well said-I agree with that last bit particularly.The 10" set up confuses a lot of opponents and can lull them into all sorts of traps and can eliminate that first turn anxiety

[Librarian_Tigurius]

You make many valid points but that is not to say you shouldn't backline with any units at all... i must say it is a very powerful ally with vehicles such as the leman russ battle tank (with the battle cannons 72" range you can still do a lot of damage) and the whirlwind/basilisk/anything with a minimum range it is almost a must... with it you increase the amount of range the enemy must run to get under your umbrella of support fire and you will still have most of the table covered in most cases

but as you said it is a horrible strategy for your basic infantry who serve best up front