Matchup analysis → Reconnaissance vs Disruption
Reconnaissance vs Disruption — Surveil the Foe / Smoke and Mirrors
Warhammer 40,000 11th edition · GDM 2026 matched play · primary mission matchup
Reconnaissance holds the slight edge here.
| Force disposition | Primary mission card | Edge |
|---|---|---|
| Reconnaissance | Surveil the Foe | 12 |
| Disruption | Smoke and Mirrors | 8 |
The matchup in a nutshell
The marker war. Smoke and Mirrors is its decoys — every line but the flat hold depends on them being on the board. Surveil the Foe pays 5 VP a turn precisely for there being none. One player's scoring action is the other player's off switch, which is why the theoretical edge sits with Reconnaissance — with a caveat we state plainly below.
| Reconnaissance | Disruption | |
|---|---|---|
| Card | Surveil the Foe | Smoke and Mirrors |
| Scores at | mixed | mixed |
| Hold window | 1 enemy turn | 1 enemy turn |
| Exposure | 13/20 | 15/20 |
| Activation cost | 14/20 | 14/20 |
A hold window of 1 cuts both ways, and most players only think about one of them. It means your grab has to survive a full enemy turn before it pays — but it also means you get a whole turn to shoot theirs off the marker before they bank it. Denial is not a side quest on this card; it is half the card.
Playing Reconnaissance
Your card: Surveil the Foe. Scoring checkpoint: mixed. Hold window: 1 enemy turn.
How you score
4 VP at the end of your turn for surveilling enemy units. At your Command phase, 4 VP for holding anything and 4 VP for holding more objectives than them. And 5 VP at the end of your turn if none of their operation markers are on the battlefield.
What it costs you
Marker hunting is a full-time job for at least one fast unit, and the markers will not be somewhere convenient. The two Command-phase lines, though, are ordinary board play. Exposure 13/20, activation cost 14/20.
How you break them
Every marker you clear is 5 VP for you and roughly 4 VP a turn denied to them — plus their 10 VP finish, which needs 4 objectives decoyed at the end of battle. That is the best two-for-one on the board. Prioritise markers in your own territory, because those are worth double to them. And their hold line is flat, so out-holding them by one is worth 4 VP to you at no extra cost.
What your list needs
- One fast, expendable marker hunter. Not three — the objective game still pays 8 VP a round.
- Enough board presence to stay 1 objective ahead.
- Reach into their half, since that is where the double-value decoys sit.
- Nothing exotic: this card rewards a normal army that can travel.
Playing Disruption
Your card: Smoke and Mirrors. Scoring checkpoint: mixed. Hold window: 1 enemy turn.
How you score
2 VP per decoyed objective, plus 2 VP more for each decoyed objective in their territory. 4 VP at your Command phase for holding anything. And 10 VP at the end of battle if four or more objectives are decoyed.
What it costs you
Placing and protecting four decoys is most of an army plan, and the double-value ones sit in their half where they are hardest to keep. Exposure 15/20, activation cost 14/20.
How you break them
Their 5 VP marker-denial line is all-or-nothing: it needs every one of your markers gone. So spread them — a decoy they cannot reach this turn is worth more than a decoy in the perfect spot, and a single survivor denies the whole 5 VP. Their surveillance line is also negated when the surveilled units sit near objectives with markers in range, so cluster defensively. And match their objective count to deny their second 4 VP line.
What your list needs
- Speed and spread — decoys must be placed where 1 turn of movement cannot clear them all.
- Some decoys accepted at half value in your own half, because they survive to the end of battle.
- A holder for the flat 4 VP.
- Reach, not guards — their removal trigger is any move that ENDS within range of the marker, so a bodyguard changes nothing and a doomed charge still strips it. Buy the distance instead: place decoys outside their move-and-charge envelope.
The three layouts
Reconnaissance vs Disruption is played on one of three boards, and they are not the same game. All three are transcribed and measured below.
| Board | Deployment | Openness | Centre exposure | Cost to raid a home marker | No-man's-land |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Layout 1 | diagonal across the long axis | 5/20 | 13.8% | 38.3% | 0.4% |
| Layout 2 | diagonal across the short axis | 6/20 | 5.8% | 61.5% | 11.5% |
| Layout 3 | diagonal halves | 7/20 | 19% | 56.5% | 7.9% |
- Layout 1 — diagonal across the long axis, openness 5/20. The middle is contested ground — the best holding spot on a central marker is still visible to 13.8% of the enemy deployment zone. Raiding a home marker costs 38.3% exposure — real, but payable with one screened unit. No-man's-land markers sit at 0.4%. 67% of the legal holding spots can go fully out of sight — pick the spot, not the marker.
- Layout 2 — diagonal across the short axis, openness 6/20. The middle is free real estate: there is a legal spot within range of a central marker that only 5.8% of the enemy deployment zone can see. Home markers are a fortress: taking one means standing in front of 61.5% of their deployment zone. No-man's-land markers sit at 11.5%. 77% of the legal holding spots can go fully out of sight — pick the spot, not the marker.
- Layout 3 — diagonal halves, openness 7/20. The middle is contested ground — the best holding spot on a central marker is still visible to 19% of the enemy deployment zone. Home markers are a fortress: taking one means standing in front of 56.5% of their deployment zone. No-man's-land markers sit at 7.9%. 76% of the legal holding spots can go fully out of sight — pick the spot, not the marker.
If your plan needs enemy ground, Layout 1 is where it is cheapest (38.3% exposure against 61.5% on Layout 2) — the same raid can be a bargain or a suicide depending on which board you drew.
Reconnaissance and Disruption must survive a full enemy turn before banking a grab, so Layout 1 (openness 5/20) is the board where that plan is cheapest, and Layout 3 (7/20) the one where it bleeds.
Numbers are measured on the transcribed sheets: every legal spot within control range of each marker is tested, and the best one is reported — the way a real player looks for the safest place to stand, not the middle of the marker.
Decision points
- Round 2 — Disruption chooses spread over value, or value over spread. Spread usually wins.
- Rounds 3-4 — Reconnaissance decides how many units the hunt is worth. One fast unit, not three.
- Round 5 — the 10 VP finish is checked; Reconnaissance needs a clean board on its last turn.
Ratings and why
Every score is an integer out of 20. For edge, 10 is dead even and the score is given for side 0; the other metrics are absolute, per side. How these are derived →
| Metric | Score | Confidence | Basis | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| edge (for Reconnaissance) | 12/20 | medium | theory | Surveil the Foe strips operation markers on ANY move that ends within range — no control, no survival, a doomed charge does it — so the denial is close to unstoppable and the 5 VP clearing line stays live. Reconnaissance also banks 9 VP a turn from its own half against 6 and runs 30 past the cap against 5. The dataslate that pushed the central terrain into the far territory narrowed this, which is why the reading is held at medium. |
Reconnaissance
| Metric | Score | Confidence | Basis | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ceiling | 15/20 | medium | theory | 8 VP a round of hold lines plus 4 VP surveillance and 5 VP marker denial. |
| floor | 13/20 | medium | theory | The hold and parity lines pay regardless of the marker war. |
| tempo | 11/20 | medium | theory | Surveillance and marker denial check at the end of your turn. |
| complexity | 13/20 | medium | theory | The marker war runs alongside the objective game and both have to be tracked. |
| exposure | 13/20 | medium | theory | Clearing enemy markers means going to where those markers are, which is rarely safe ground. |
| activationCost | 14/20 | medium | theory | Marker hunting is a full-time job for at least one fast unit. |
Disruption
| Metric | Score | Confidence | Basis | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ceiling | 16/20 | medium | theory | 4 VP per decoyed objective in enemy territory, capped by a 10 VP finish for four decoys. |
| floor | 11/20 | medium | theory | Decoys are cheap to place but the finish needs four of them to survive. |
| tempo | 12/20 | medium | theory | Decoy scoring checks at the end of your turn and can be rebuilt. |
| complexity | 13/20 | medium | theory | Decoy placement has to anticipate a dedicated marker-clearing opponent. |
| exposure | 15/20 | medium | theory | Decoys are worth double in the opponent territory, and they have to survive there until the end of battle. |
| activationCost | 14/20 | medium | theory | Placing and protecting four decoys is most of an army plan. |
Playbook
Playing Reconnaissance
- Surveil the Foe pays 5 VP at the end of your turn when NONE of the opponent operation markers are on the battlefield — the same action that scores also switches off the Smoke and Mirrors engine.
- Surveillance itself is negated when the surveilled units sit within range of objectives that have operation markers near them, so the marker war cuts both ways.
- This card moves its checkpoint during the game, so the same grab costs a full enemy turn early and nothing late — price the grab accordingly before committing a unit to it.
- Every marker you clear is 5 VP for you and roughly 4 VP a turn denied to them — plus their 10 VP finish, which needs 4 objectives decoyed at the end of battle. That is the best two-for-one on the board. Prioritise markers in your own territory, because those are worth double to them. And their hold line is flat, so out-holding them by one is worth 4 VP to you at no extra cost.
- Reconnaissance needs: One fast, expendable marker hunter. Not three — the objective game still pays 8 VP a round. Enough board presence to stay 1 objective ahead. Reach into their half, since that is where the double-value decoys sit. Nothing exotic: this card rewards a normal army that can travel.
Playing Disruption
- Smoke and Mirrors doubles for decoys placed in the opponent territory (2 VP plus 2 VP) and finishes on 10 VP for four or more decoyed objectives.
- This card moves its checkpoint during the game, so the same grab costs a full enemy turn early and nothing late — price the grab accordingly before committing a unit to it.
- Their 5 VP marker-denial line is all-or-nothing: it needs every one of your markers gone. So spread them — a decoy they cannot reach this turn is worth more than a decoy in the perfect spot, and a single survivor denies the whole 5 VP. Their surveillance line is also negated when the surveilled units sit near objectives with markers in range, so cluster defensively. And match their objective count to deny their second 4 VP line.
- Disruption needs: Speed and spread — decoys must be placed where 1 turn of movement cannot clear them all. Some decoys accepted at half value in your own half, because they survive to the end of battle. A holder for the flat 4 VP. Reach, not guards — their removal trigger is any move that ENDS within range of the marker, so a bodyguard changes nothing and a doomed charge still strips it. Buy the distance instead: place decoys outside their move-and-charge envelope.
Applies to both sides
- Both players can over-invest in the marker war and lose the objective game that quietly pays 4 to 8 VP a round to whoever bothers.
- Measured across all 45 transcribed layouts: a central objective can be held from a spot only 4.6% of the enemy deployment zone can see (best board 0%), while taking an enemy home objective means standing where a median of 47.7% of their deployment zone has line of sight, rising to 91.7% on the most exposed board. Cards that pay for enemy home objectives are charging you that difference, and the board decides the price.
- All three boards for this pairing are transcribed and measured. Layout 1 (diagonal across the long axis) reads 5/20 for openness, Layout 2 (diagonal across the short axis) reads 6/20 for openness, Layout 3 (diagonal halves) reads 7/20 for openness. Taking a home marker off the opponent costs 38.3% deployment-zone exposure on Layout 1 and 61.5% on Layout 2 — the same play, priced very differently. Central markers stay the safest ground on all three, bottoming out at 5.8% on Layout 2.
Frequently asked
Is Reconnaissance or Disruption favoured in this matchup?
Reconnaissance holds the slight edge here.
How do you stop Disruption scoring when you are playing Reconnaissance?
Every marker you clear is 5 VP for you and roughly 4 VP a turn denied to them — plus their 10 VP finish, which needs 4 objectives decoyed at the end of battle. That is the best two-for-one on the board. Prioritise markers in your own territory, because those are worth double to them. And their hold line is flat, so out-holding them by one is worth 4 VP to you at no extra cost.
What units does a Reconnaissance list need against Disruption?
Reconnaissance needs: One fast, expendable marker hunter. Not three — the objective game still pays 8 VP a round. Enough board presence to stay 1 objective ahead. Reach into their half, since that is where the double-value decoys sit. Nothing exotic: this card rewards a normal army that can travel.
How do you stop Reconnaissance scoring when you are playing Disruption?
Their 5 VP marker-denial line is all-or-nothing: it needs every one of your markers gone. So spread them — a decoy they cannot reach this turn is worth more than a decoy in the perfect spot, and a single survivor denies the whole 5 VP. Their surveillance line is also negated when the surveilled units sit near objectives with markers in range, so cluster defensively. And match their objective count to deny their second 4 VP line.
What units does a Disruption list need against Reconnaissance?
Disruption needs: Speed and spread — decoys must be placed where 1 turn of movement cannot clear them all. Some decoys accepted at half value in your own half, because they survive to the end of battle. A holder for the flat 4 VP. Reach, not guards — their removal trigger is any move that ENDS within range of the marker, so a bodyguard changes nothing and a doomed charge still strips it. Buy the distance instead: place decoys outside their move-and-charge envelope.
How do the Reconnaissance and Disruption primary mission cards score?
Surveil the Foe pays 5 VP at the end of your turn when NONE of the opponent operation markers are on the battlefield — the same action that scores also switches off the Smoke and Mirrors engine. Surveillance itself is negated when the surveilled units sit within range of objectives that have operation markers near them, so the marker war cuts both ways. Smoke and Mirrors doubles for decoys placed in the opponent territory (2 VP plus 2 VP) and finishes on 10 VP for four or more decoyed objectives.
What are the common mistakes in this matchup?
Both players can over-invest in the marker war and lose the objective game that quietly pays 4 to 8 VP a round to whoever bothers.
Related matchups
Disruption mirror — Outmanoeuvre
Disruption and Disruption come out dead even.…
Priority Assets vs Disruption — Extract Relic / Locate and Deny
Priority Assets holds a clear edge here.…
Purge the Foe vs Disruption — Punishment / Delaying Action
Disruption holds the slight edge here.…
Purge the Foe vs Reconnaissance — Consecrate / Triangulation
Purge the Foe holds the slight edge here.…
Reconnaissance mirror — Gather Intel
Reconnaissance and Reconnaissance come out dead even.…
Reconnaissance vs Priority Assets — Search and Scour / Vanguard Operation
Reconnaissance holds the slight edge here.…
Provenance
- Status: draft — ratings carry their own confidence and basis above.
- Written against the GDM 2026 matched play data snapshot pinned as
2026-05-09 23:42:21. - Subjects analysed:
gdm:disposition/reconnaissance,gdm:disposition/disruption,gdm:primary/reconnaissance/surveil-the-foe,gdm:primary/disruption/smoke-and-mirrors. - Machine-readable: JSON · Markdown source