Matchup analysis → Take and Hold mirror
Take and Hold mirror — Battlefield Dominance
Warhammer 40,000 11th edition · GDM 2026 matched play · primary mission matchup
Take and Hold and Take and Hold come out dead even.
| Force disposition | Primary mission card | Edge |
|---|---|---|
| Take and Hold | Battlefield Dominance | 10 |
| Take and Hold | Battlefield Dominance | 10 |
The matchup in a nutshell
Both of you hold the only card in the game that pays rent on your own home objective — 3 VP a round for a unit that never moves, and it unlocks +2 VP on every other objective you hold. Nothing separates you but armies and nerve. The whole mirror comes down to one question: whose home breaks first.
| Take and Hold (side 0) | Take and Hold (side 1) | |
|---|---|---|
| Card | Battlefield Dominance | Battlefield Dominance |
| Scores at | mixed | mixed |
| Hold window | 1 enemy turn | 1 enemy turn |
| Exposure | 11/20 | 11/20 |
| Activation cost | 13/20 | 13/20 |
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 Take and Hold
Your card: Battlefield Dominance. Scoring checkpoint: mixed. Hold window: 1 enemy turn.
How you score
Garrison home and never let go. With home in hand every other objective is worth 5 VP instead of 3, so 2 objectives pay 8 and three pay 13. That is the entire card. Round 1 and 2 also hand you 2 VP for simply being ahead on count, which is free if you took home first.
What it costs you
Your scoring checkpoint is your Command phase, so everything you grab has to live through a full enemy turn before it pays a single point. You are not taking objectives, you are renting targets. Budget for a unit that can eat a round of shooting, not one that merely reaches the marker. Exposure 11/20, activation cost 13/20.
How you break them
Go for their home. You score nothing for holding it, and it does not matter — contesting it deletes their rider. A three-objective opponent drops from 13 VP a round to 6 the moment their home is contested. One cheap fast unit parked in their back line is worth more than any objective you could take instead. Do it by round 3, before they have spare bodies to clear it.
What your list needs
- A cheap, tough home garrison you are happy to never move — objective control matters more than damage here.
- Two mid-board units that can survive a full enemy turn standing on a marker; wounds and saves beat damage output.
- One fast, expendable unit whose entire job is to reach the enemy back line by round 3 and refuse to die.
- A screen against deep strike: your home objective is worth 5 VP a round to them if they take it from you.
Playing Take and Hold
Your card: Battlefield Dominance. Scoring checkpoint: mixed. Hold window: 1 enemy turn.
How you score
Garrison home and never let go. With home in hand every other objective is worth 5 VP instead of 3, so 2 objectives pay 8 and three pay 13. That is the entire card. Round 1 and 2 also hand you 2 VP for simply being ahead on count, which is free if you took home first.
What it costs you
Your scoring checkpoint is your Command phase, so everything you grab has to live through a full enemy turn before it pays a single point. You are not taking objectives, you are renting targets. Budget for a unit that can eat a round of shooting, not one that merely reaches the marker. Exposure 11/20, activation cost 13/20.
How you break them
Go for their home. You score nothing for holding it, and it does not matter — contesting it deletes their rider. A three-objective opponent drops from 13 VP a round to 6 the moment their home is contested. One cheap fast unit parked in their back line is worth more than any objective you could take instead. Do it by round 3, before they have spare bodies to clear it.
What your list needs
- A cheap, tough home garrison you are happy to never move — objective control matters more than damage here.
- Two mid-board units that can survive a full enemy turn standing on a marker; wounds and saves beat damage output.
- One fast, expendable unit whose entire job is to reach the enemy back line by round 3 and refuse to die.
- A screen against deep strike: your home objective is worth 5 VP a round to them if they take it from you.
The three layouts
Take and Hold mirror 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 | 6/20 | 1% | 84% | 0.4% |
| Layout 2 | diagonal across the short axis | 5/20 | 0.5% | 63.2% | 3.8% |
| Layout 3 | diagonal halves | 6/20 | 0.9% | 88.7% | 1.7% |
- Layout 1 — diagonal across the long axis, openness 6/20. The middle is free real estate: there is a legal spot within range of a central marker that only 1% of the enemy deployment zone can see. Home markers are a fortress: taking one means standing in front of 84% of their deployment zone. No-man's-land markers sit at 0.4%. Almost anywhere you stand near a marker (92% of legal spots) can be put fully out of sight.
- Layout 2 — diagonal across the short axis, openness 5/20. The middle is free real estate: there is a legal spot within range of a central marker that only 0.5% of the enemy deployment zone can see. Home markers are a fortress: taking one means standing in front of 63.2% of their deployment zone. No-man's-land markers sit at 3.8%. Almost anywhere you stand near a marker (94% of legal spots) can be put fully out of sight.
- Layout 3 — diagonal halves, openness 6/20. The middle is free real estate: there is a legal spot within range of a central marker that only 0.9% of the enemy deployment zone can see. Home markers are a fortress: taking one means standing in front of 88.7% of their deployment zone. No-man's-land markers sit at 1.7%. 70% of the legal holding spots can go fully out of sight — pick the spot, not the marker.
If your plan needs enemy ground, Layout 2 is where it is cheapest (63.2% exposure against 88.7% on Layout 3) — the same raid can be a bargain or a suicide depending on which board you drew.
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 1 — home first, count second. The 2 VP for being ahead is nice; losing home to grab it is not.
- Round 3 — if their home is still unraided, you are playing for a draw. Send something.
- Rounds 4-5 — count objectives at the END of their turn, not yours. That is when your score is locked in.
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 Take and Hold) | 10/20 | high | theory | Mirror: both players hold the same card, so the edge is decided by army and execution, not by the mission. |
Take and Hold (side 0)
| Metric | Score | Confidence | Basis | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ceiling | 17/20 | medium | theory | 3 objectives including home pays 3x3 + 2x2 = 13 VP per Command phase, the highest sustained hold rate in the matrix. |
| floor | 13/20 | medium | theory | Home alone still pays 3 VP per round with no action, kill or marker requirement. |
| tempo | 5/20 | medium | theory | The whole engine scores at the end of YOUR Command phase, so what matters is what survives the opponent turn, not what you grab on yours. |
| complexity | 6/20 | medium | theory | One clean rule to track (objective count plus the home rider); the difficulty is board control, not bookkeeping. |
| exposure | 11/20 | medium | theory | The engine pays rent on your own home objective, which is the cheapest square on the board to occupy — but every other objective must be physically held through an enemy turn. |
| activationCost | 13/20 | medium | theory | Objectives are held by parked units; the rider on home means 1 unit is committed there for the whole game and never fights. |
Take and Hold (side 1)
| Metric | Score | Confidence | Basis | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ceiling | 17/20 | medium | theory | Mirror: both players hold this card, so the profile is identical on each side. |
| floor | 13/20 | medium | theory | Mirror: both players hold this card, so the profile is identical on each side. |
| tempo | 5/20 | medium | theory | Mirror: both players hold this card, so the profile is identical on each side. |
| complexity | 6/20 | medium | theory | Mirror: both players hold this card, so the profile is identical on each side. |
| exposure | 11/20 | medium | theory | The engine pays rent on your own home objective, which is the cheapest square on the board to occupy — but every other objective must be physically held through an enemy turn. |
| activationCost | 13/20 | medium | theory | Objectives are held by parked units; the rider on home means 1 unit is committed there for the whole game and never fights. |
Playbook
Playing Take and Hold (side 0)
- 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.
- Go for their home. You score nothing for holding it, and it does not matter — contesting it deletes their rider. A three-objective opponent drops from 13 VP a round to 6 the moment their home is contested. One cheap fast unit parked in their back line is worth more than any objective you could take instead. Do it by round 3, before they have spare bodies to clear it.
- Take and Hold needs: A cheap, tough home garrison you are happy to never move — objective control matters more than damage here. Two mid-board units that can survive a full enemy turn standing on a marker; wounds and saves beat damage output. One fast, expendable unit whose entire job is to reach the enemy back line by round 3 and refuse to die. A screen against deep strike: your home objective is worth 5 VP a round to them if they take it from you.
Playing Take and Hold (side 1)
- 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.
Applies to both sides
- Battlefield Dominance is the only primary card that pays for your own home objective (3 VP), and holding home also unlocks +2 VP for every other objective you hold.
- Losing home is a double hit: minus 3 VP for home itself and minus 2 VP for every other objective held. A three-objective player who loses home drops from 13 to 6 VP per round.
- Raiding the enemy home is the highest-leverage play in the mirror even though the card pays nothing for holding it: contesting it alone erases their rider.
- Trading your home garrison away to grab a fourth objective is usually VP-negative once the rider is lost.
- 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 6/20 for openness, Layout 2 (diagonal across the short axis) reads 5/20 for openness, Layout 3 (diagonal halves) reads 6/20 for openness. Taking a home marker off the opponent costs 63.2% deployment-zone exposure on Layout 2 and 88.7% on Layout 3 — the same play, priced very differently. Central markers stay the safest ground on all three, bottoming out at 0.5% on Layout 2.
Frequently asked
Who is favoured in the Take and Hold mirror match?
Take and Hold and Take and Hold come out dead even.
How do you stop your opponent scoring in the Take and Hold mirror?
Go for their home. You score nothing for holding it, and it does not matter — contesting it deletes their rider. A three-objective opponent drops from 13 VP a round to 6 the moment their home is contested. One cheap fast unit parked in their back line is worth more than any objective you could take instead. Do it by round 3, before they have spare bodies to clear it.
What units does a Take and Hold list need for this mission?
Take and Hold needs: A cheap, tough home garrison you are happy to never move — objective control matters more than damage here. Two mid-board units that can survive a full enemy turn standing on a marker; wounds and saves beat damage output. One fast, expendable unit whose entire job is to reach the enemy back line by round 3 and refuse to die. A screen against deep strike: your home objective is worth 5 VP a round to them if they take it from you.
How does the Take and Hold primary mission card score?
Battlefield Dominance is the only primary card that pays for your own home objective (3 VP), and holding home also unlocks +2 VP for every other objective you hold.
What are the common mistakes in this matchup?
Losing home is a double hit: minus 3 VP for home itself and minus 2 VP for every other objective held. A three-objective player who loses home drops from 13 to 6 VP per round. Trading your home garrison away to grab a fourth objective is usually VP-negative once the rider is lost.
Related matchups
Take and Hold vs Disruption — Determined Acquisition / Death Trap
Disruption holds the slight edge here.…
Take and Hold vs Priority Assets — Inescapable Dominion / Secure Asset
Priority Assets holds the slight edge here.…
Take and Hold vs Purge the Foe — Immovable Object / Unstoppable Force
Take and Hold holds the slight edge here.…
Take and Hold vs Reconnaissance — Purge and Secure / Reconnaissance Sweep
Take and Hold 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/take-and-hold,gdm:primary/take-and-hold/battlefield-dominance. - Machine-readable: JSON · Markdown source