Warhammer 40k - Tau advice.

[Dectomax]

Well, I'm jumping back into the scene again, but after reading the new rules i'm a little upset. My Dark Angel army ( 1st/2nd edition models ) seems to be, less effective than I'd like now.

after reviewing the races again, I've deemed the Tau to be more to my liking - I generally sit back and blast away from range, or position myself so I can see the objective and shoot anything moving for it.

I've heard the Tau infantry have 30" range? Which will be a godsend, because my group are going: Necron and Chaos, so obviously staying out of the way would be good for me.

I've looked at their army list ( slightly ) and have decided on this as a starting force:
2 Fire warrior battlegroups
1/2 Kroot packs
4/5 Stealth suits
2/3 Battle suits
1 Hammerhead Tank

I'm pretty sure that is a half decent army, but my experience with the Tau is limited. So, I would appreciate advice!!

 

[Thaluikhain]

Well, I'm jumping back into the scene again, but after reading the new rules i'm a little upset. My Dark Angel army ( 1st/2nd edition models ) seems to be, less effective than I'd like now.

Wheel turns, army is unbeatable, wheel turns, army is nerfed. And you've suddenly gone from the defenders of humanity to despicable traitors. And Dark Angels Green isn't dark green anymore.

 

[ChicagoTed]

http://tauofwar.blogspot.com/

Read this guys blog

 

[Dectomax]

-snip-

Umm? Yes?

 

[Dectomax]

Well, I'm jumping back into the scene again, but after reading the new rules i'm a little upset. My Dark Angel army ( 1st/2nd edition models ) seems to be, less effective than I'd like now.

Wheel turns, army is unbeatable, wheel turns, army is nerfed. And you've suddenly gone from the defenders of humanity to despicable traitors. And Dark Angels Green isn't dark green anymore.

:O Wow? I feel, abused?! My Dark angels?! WHY!

 

[RuralGamer]

Well, I'm jumping back into the scene again, but after reading the new rules i'm a little upset. My Dark Angel army ( 1st/2nd edition models ) seems to be, less effective than I'd like now.

Wheel turns, army is unbeatable, wheel turns, army is nerfed. And you've suddenly gone from the defenders of humanity to despicable traitors. And Dark Angels Green isn't dark green anymore.

Yeah, one of my mates has gone Blood Angels because of their ridiculous Furiouso Dreadnaughts combined with Astrogath the Grim; I'd suspect they'll nerf them next update, but that'll be years away. Now they're all a bunch of mad or to-be-mad vampire-like folk.

OT: If your group are going Necron and Chaos, I can only advise you might want to consider going for a bit more Kroot or Kroot-related stuff; Chaos fast attack and teleporting units are really good at wrecking your shit. Depends though on what Chaos they have; if its heavy melee, maybe not such a problem, but some Daemons and Raptors used properly can really mess Tau up, unless they're headed off by Kroot. As for Necrons, just plaster them to prevent them getting into range; Warriors WILL destroy fire warriors, but not if they can't get to firing range in one piece; their infantry speed sucks (wish I'd known that before I originally went for them >.<). It also depends how many points you play with. Admittedly I haven't ever used Tau, so most of my knowledge of them comes from a mate; he was always dreading the deepstriked melee troops.

But as a starting force, that sounds pretty balanced; wish I could get something like that as I just got back into it; Tyranids have so much awesome new stuff, but I'll need to save up some money before I can go for it.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Well, I'm jumping back into the scene again, but after reading the new rules i'm a little upset. My Dark Angel army ( 1st/2nd edition models ) seems to be, less effective than I'd like now.

I did warn ya!
If you play with normal SM rules they do make a good army... but then that's just SM with a fancy dude on a fancier bike (I want my Armour14 Land Speeder!).

And Dark Angels Green isn't dark green anymore.

Isn't it... I know I'm colour blind, but really??

OT: Yeah, Tau doesn't play particularly well these days (they can work fairly well, but you need clever target choice if you go battlesuit heavy). Most players run with 3+ Fire Warriors all in Devilfish (or Kroot up and a lot of hounds), put in as many rail rifles (to get easy wounds and pinned enemy squads) as possible and a couple of Hammerheads. Thing is, they suck as much as IG in combat, have better guns, but fewer, and can't muster the feet on the ground enough to make up for their shitness in a fight.

Personally, if you want something new, go Orks, 'cos they play quite easily, especially if you want to ease back into the game. Also, there are any number of tactical methods you can use (say hello to a Speed Freek). They may suck at shooting, but 'fun' wise, it just doesn't matter, and they stick around in a fight and who doesn't love roaring 'WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!', eh?!

snip

I don't know whether you're a priest gone crazy on whatever drug is popular on Cadia or what...

 

[Dectomax]

Well, I'm jumping back into the scene again, but after reading the new rules i'm a little upset. My Dark Angel army ( 1st/2nd edition models ) seems to be, less effective than I'd like now.

I did warn ya!
If you play with normal SM rules they do make a good army... but then that's just SM with a fancy dude on a fancier bike (I want my Armour14 Land Speeder!).

And Dark Angels Green isn't dark green anymore.

Isn't it... I know I'm colour blind, but really??

OT: Yeah, Tau doesn't play particularly well these days (they can work fairly well, but you need clever target choice if you go battlesuit heavy). Most players run with 3+ Fire Warriors all in Devilfish (or Kroot up and a lot of hounds), put in as many rail rifles (to get easy wounds and pinned enemy squads) as possible and a couple of Hammerheads. Thing is, they suck as much as IG in combat, have better guns, but fewer, and can't muster the feet on the ground enough to make up for their shitness in a fight.

Personally, if you want something new, go Orks, 'cos they play quite easily, especially if you want to ease back into the game. Also, there are any number of tactical methods you can use (say hello to a Speed Freek). They may suck at shooting, but 'fun' wise, it just doesn't matter, and they stick around in a fight and who doesn't love roaring 'WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!', eh?!

snip

I don't know whether you're a priest gone crazy on whatever drug is popular on Cadia or what...

My plan was to hog all the cover xD

I'm debating whether to focus on more infantry, or more heavy firepower.

Friends armies:
Necron:
2 x Monolith
x3 Warriors
Necron Lord

Chaos:
2x Chaos space marines
world eater
dreanought
Raptor Squad

So I'm just trying to base my units on how to effectively counter that really.

 

[SckizoBoy]

My plan was to hog all the cover xD

I'm debating whether to focus on more infantry, or more heavy firepower.

Friends armies:
Necron:
2 x Monolith
x3 Warriors
Necron Lord

Chaos:
2x Chaos space marines
world eater
dreanought
Raptor Squad

So I'm just trying to base my units on how to effectively counter that really.

Hmmm... sounds like 1000pts.

Go for as many XV88's as you can, as nothing else will deal with the monoliths (Hammerheads don't have as good a chance of hitting), have one minimal FW squad in a Devilfish, two larger FW squads occupying cover/an objective (they make very good defensive units, as that 30" range on the standard weapon tells a lot). I'm reluctant to go with stealth suits, because to tool them soaks up the points quickly and they don't make as much of an impact (or at least I've found). Kroot in reserve is a good idea as they can race & outflank late on in the battle and they are cheap as chips. HQ + Elites, a small bunch of a Crisis-BSs to give you at least an inkling of CC ability, and they can keep warriors/CSM's busy enough for a few rounds of combat (if there's wargear for Hit'n'Run, take that too).

Uh, sorry, don't have my Tau codex at hand so I'm not sure what else to recommend. Anyway, hope that helps and remember, have fun!

 

[Raikov]

Ethereal
3x FW squads
2 small Kroot squads
at least 4 XV88:s
remaining points go to the suit commander and shield drones for the ethereal and FW:s.

Nwcron is easy, railgun his monoliths and see what happens, then kill as many models with 'phase out' as you can.

chaos is a bit trickier. you may have to sacrifice some troops to tarpit him a bit.

 

[Dectomax]

My plan was to hog all the cover xD

I'm debating whether to focus on more infantry, or more heavy firepower.

Friends armies:
Necron:
2 x Monolith
x3 Warriors
Necron Lord

Chaos:
2x Chaos space marines
world eater
dreanought
Raptor Squad

So I'm just trying to base my units on how to effectively counter that really.

Hmmm... sounds like 1000pts.

Go for as many XV88's as you can, as nothing else will deal with the monoliths (Hammerheads don't have as good a chance of hitting), have one minimal FW squad in a Devilfish, two larger FW squads occupying cover/an objective (they make very good defensive units, as that 30" range on the standard weapon tells a lot). I'm reluctant to go with stealth suits, because to tool them soaks up the points quickly and they don't make as much of an impact (or at least I've found). Kroot in reserve is a good idea as they can race & outflank late on in the battle and they are cheap as chips. HQ + Elites, a small bunch of a Crisis-BSs to give you at least an inkling of CC ability, and they can keep warriors/CSM's busy enough for a few rounds of combat (if there's wargear for Hit'n'Run, take that too).

Uh, sorry, don't have my Tau codex at hand so I'm not sure what else to recommend. Anyway, hope that helps and remember, have fun!

Yeah, I'm toying with a few more battlesuits/Kroot&FW instead of the stealth suits. I only planned to use them to compliment the FW's anyway. I may bolster the Kroot - to compensate for CQB...other wise If Space marines get in close I'm screwed.

 

[Dectomax]

Ethereal
3x FW squads
2 small Kroot squads
at least 4 XV88:s
remaining points go to the suit commander and shield drones for the ethereal and FW:s.

Nwcron is easy, railgun his monoliths and see what happens, then kill as many models with 'phase out' as you can.

chaos is a bit trickier. you may have to sacrifice some troops to tarpit him a bit.

i like that army build. I'm more of a defence player, so I'd like the ability of putting rounds down with the hammerhead early on, but the more infantry which would compensate for that, would probably decimate his units before they got close.

Chaos is tricky. He's attempting to have a fast attack army, with a few heavies. Which would ruin my army.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Yeah, I'm toying with a few more battlesuits/Kroot&FW instead of the stealth suits. I only planned to use them to compliment the FW's anyway. I may bolster the Kroot - to compensate for CQB...other wise If Space marines get in close I'm screwed.

Just advice, mate, all in good spirit. For stuff like this, it's a good idea to go with a scenario in mind (Necron death world stirs, Chaos comes a-knockin' looking for an artefact etc. and all that fluff!).

As with Raikov, the Necrons will be an easy fight and 4+ Broadsides is the way to go.

Anyway, with the talk about these army lists, I was wondering if anything could currently deal with Mordrak + his Ghost guard: 400 pts of ***** (plus, he becomes an UPGRADE character, which everyone forgets about), that Deep Strikes in turn 1 without scattering... joy...

 

[Dectomax]

that Deep Strikes in turn 1 without scattering... joy...

Damn?! I remember many a failed deep strike. Terminators there...Roll scatter dice, they fall off the table. -_- I'm not sure on that either? I've never looked into the Grey Knights army list before!

 

[Biodeamon]

I've got a tip...switch to chaos

 

[SckizoBoy]

Damn?! I remember many a failed deep strike. Terminators there...Roll scatter dice, they fall off the table. -_- I'm not sure on that either? I've never looked into the Grey Knights army list before!

Well, it was only released last month, and it is one of the broken before picked up lists. I'm honestly struggling to find ways to beat it (in a balanced competition list). At the moment, the only thing I can think of is massed Eldar jetbikes (because they can zip in and out of charge range and still shoot) + Seer Council on jetbikes as heavy support. And stay out of combat for the entire battle!

If anyone's got a better idea, I'd dearly like to know!

EDIT:

I've got a tip...switch to chaos

GUARDS! SIEZE HIM!!

 

[The Afrodactyl]

Ethereal

Oh, dear god, no. The ethereal is a terrible choice.

Find some inspiration here - http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/forums/show/14.page. Just put "Tau" into the search bar

 

[Dectomax]

I've got a tip...switch to chaos

Never! For The Emperor! or, failing that? For the Greater good!

 

[Vesuvius Hetlan]

Despite what everyone, including myself, says the Tau aren't actually all that bad in CC. Photon grenades can screw with most assault forces and WS 2 isn't actually that bad. They just fear masses of attacks and power weapons. I2 is a bit of a problem tho'.

 

[Dectomax]

In all fairness, this is more a secondary army. If the group starts getting competitive, I have a 10,000pt Dark Angel army at the ready