Generally, it's that simple: Being superior to your opponent is the way to win a game of WHFB. Well, to be honest, if you have a closer look, it isn't that simple. Being superior to your opponent in every possible way can hardly be achieved (unless you like playing against the kiddie-noob from the next gw-store all day, of course). Below, I've listed some different ways of whfb-superiority, and tried to analyze them. Take your pick, choose what seems to be most important to you, and … be superior J

I've divided warhammer armies into 5 different types - the fast ones, the shooty ones, the strong ones, the ones who just outnumber the enemy, and the "wise" ones with tons of magic. According to my gaming experiences, I set up the chart below: It should illustrate which army composition works well against which enemy.

	Faster	Shootier	Stronger	More	Wiser
Faster		-	+	+	-
Shootier	+		-	-	+
Stronger	-	+		+	-
More	-	+	-		+
Wiser	+	-	+	-

Unfortunately, it's hard to predict which tactics your enemy will rely on. Of course, enemies like dwarves won't go for the "Faster" or "Wiser" style, and Skaven will more likely be "More". Chaos will be "Stronger" more surely than "Shootier" - you get the idea. But, when facing an Imperial/Elven opponent, you might just have to guess.

I'll now have a closer look at the 5 types of army compositions - tactical thoughts, army list thoughts, which armies are suited for this tactic. Let's start with my favourite, the
"Fast" armies: Cavalry, fast troops. Chase your enemy down, initiate combat, do not allow your enemy to charge your troops. The basic idea behind this army is to be more maneuverable than your enemy. Fool him, trick him, make him move over the whole battlefield. But watch out - your troops will be highly expensive, so a shooty opponent can cause heavy losses in his shooting phase.

Can be used with: Any kind of Elves, the Imperium, Bretonnia, Chaos
"Shooty" armies: Often considered beardy. Field as many ranged combat units as you can afford, don't move, and give the enemy a hard time during the shooting phase - and pray he won't make it to close combat. Great against small, expensive, yet fragile units. Concentrate on one target until it is completely destroyed! Do not divide your fire if not necessary! Learn to guess ranges!

Works great with: the Imperium, Dwarves, Any kind of Elves, Chaos Dwarves, Orcs
"Stronger" armies: Use one - or more than one - dead-hard breaker regiment to crush the enemy's lines. Field the toughest troops you can find in your army list, protect them against incoming fire and move forwards! Keep in mind that breaking through your enemy's centre is risky - you might get stuck and be countercharged, so try breaking his flank first - then wade through the rest.

Try this one with: the Imperium, Dwarves, Bretonnia, Lizardmen, Chaos, Vampire Counts, Orcs "More": Mass troops. Quantity over quality. Your enemey may crush a single unit - but if you only lose 50pts for a goblin regiment, it shouldn't hurt you too much. Concentrate your best units on the toughest enemy, hold him up with the unnecessary part of your army. Calculate losses.

Lots of troops in the following armies: Skaven, Imperium, Orcs
"Wiser": This one requires a lot of luck, but no tactical knowledge. Simply get as many mages as you can, equip them with items to use even more magic, and protect them. Using 13-15 energy dice in a single round won't make your enemies dispel scrolls last for long. An important thing, still, is, to concentrate your magic on certain regiments (Lore of the Heavens, for example). Try to eliminate a target completely until you move on to the next. Don't get stuck in HTH combat - without close combat heroes, you won't stand a chance.
Possible with any army that can field mages...

Conclusio: If you know what type of army your enemy is about to field, simply choose an army type that should work well. Problems start when you're not sure about your opponent's army, or if you want to participiate in a tournament.

Thou shalt be superior in more than one way!

Constructing an army that fits into only one of the above criteria might work for some time, but as soon as your enemies find out your weakness, they will go for it. So, it might be a good idea to combine two - or even more - criterias to make your army more effective. To illustrate this way, I'll talk about my standard 2000 pts High Elven tournament Army.
2 repeater bolt throwers and 20 archers (2 regiments) don't make the army a "shooty" one, but are a nice backbone for long ranged fire support. I've seen them completely eliminating a dwarven clan-warrior regiment (20 dwarves) in a single turn (I admit, magic was involved J ). 2 Level 2 Mages support my army with 4 dispel scrolls (heavy magic use in Austrian tournaments…) and eventually even manage it to successfully cast a spell. Silver Helms, Dragon Princes, Eagles, Chariots, Shadow Warriors, and a close combat High Elven Prince make sure the main focus of the army is Mobility. Since the Dragon Princes, accompanied by the Prince have quite a "punch" in close combat, you could even say this one's a "strong" regiment.
As you see, I didn't care about outnumbering my enemy - that, for sure, won't work with elves. I generally tried to be faster, to maneuver him out and weaken him with bowmen/bolt throwers. Until now, it worked perfectly J
Be sure to combine at least 2 of the above shown criteria in your army (2 that go together well J). If you know your enemy's weaknesses and your own strength, winning the game is only half as hard..

May the Dice be with you,
Bernhard