Farsight Bombs Revisited Part 2

For some stupid reason the comments section is not working for me at the moment, so the idea of this post is to respond to the comments in the last one.

@Franco - Your'e probably right about Shadowsun. The reason I wanted to run it as an Enclave list is to get the Talisman. Next tourni I know I'll be playing at least 2 good Demon players and I thought this would help. However, I guess the 2+ cover save will help just as well against psychic shooting.

@Melvin. It's OK to run Shadowsun with Farsight as long as its and Empire list rather than an Enclave list.

@Arrgyle - Check the wording on the Enclave Supplement - it says p88

"Any character in your army that may select Signature Systems may not select from those in [the Empire book] but may instead select from the [Enclave Book]."

Bodyguards are not characters so the prohibition on taking Sig Systems from the Empire Book doesn't apply to them. Accordingly the Bodyguards are drawn from the Empire Book and can take Empire Sig Systems.

The pods are important. Because of the stupid FAQ introduced last year, a unit can only kill models up to the maximum range if its weapons. So if there are only 18" weapons in the bomb, and it drops in 17" away from a unit of boyz, it can only kill those models within 18", which would wast a lot of shots. However, if there is one weapon in the unit with a longer range i.e. the Missile Pod, then the 18" Pulse Carbines can kill everything up to 36" away. This is pretty crucial, as you want to keep the bomb at max distance to void being charged. Stupid rule, but it is what it is!

The pods also make the bomb more flexible, allowing it to reach out and "touch" more distant targets. This is important, because the bomb (after the Skyrays shoot their missiles) is the only real shooting unit in the army. It needs to be as flexible as possible.

Sorry, but I disagree about the Sniper rounds as well (!) - the last thing I want anybody to think is that the Kroot are a threat. The list has very weak scoring. The fewer guns being turned on the Kroot the better.

EYIG

Farsight Bombs Revisited.

A while ago I wrote an article questioning how effective a Farsight Bomb might be. The conclusion I reached was that it wasn’t that effective. Well, I was wrong!

A couple of weekends ago I played against Franco from 40k Global at Dark Millenium in Stirling. He played his Farsight Bomb (I played my bikes) and I must say I was impressed (great game BTW – I won the Primary objectives, but Franco dragged it back on Secondary’s for the win). The biggest problem I saw was keeping so many points off the table to deep strike down on (hopefully) turn 2. What I hadn’t really thought through was using an SM Libby with Gate of Infinity to “gate” the bomb around the board, benefiting from Farsight’s “no scatter” rule each time. I knew it was possible of course (there is a “little” rules issue over whether Farsight’s ability works with gate, but most TO’s are ruling it does), but I hadn’t really appreciated how powerful it was. I got a demonstration from Franco.

Tournament List, Counter Attack 2013

This weekend a buddy and I are off to Counter Attack a 5 game, 1750pt, Forge World allowed Tournament in Edinburgh.

In my continuing quest to take something a little different (!), I’m taking Tau, with no Ethereals, no Firewarriors, no Riptides, and no Batman Commander. Trying out a Farsight XV8 army.

Something a Little Different

My next tournament is at the end of October, 1850pts with no allies allowed. I want to try something a little different, and thought I would post it up for your thoughts.

As I’ve explained here in the past I have a new found love for Fire Warriors, particularly in Devilfish, driving around and jumping out to kill stuff. However, I've been finding that they tend to stay in theri Devilfish for fear of being blown off the table. So, I’m wondering if there might be an alternative way to provide a Cadre with mobile torrent of fire, and flexible scoring units.

Farsight List - does if really work?

Just because I don't think the bomb works, doesn't mean I wont paint the model!

Using Commander Farsight to create a large unit of suits that deep strikes into your opponents lines is a classic Tau List – often called the “Farsight Bomb”. Firstly I should say I have never used this sort of list. In the old codex the problem was that Farsight gimped your FOC, in that he limited the other choices you could take. As well as that, I always doubted the wisdom of (a) keeping so many points off the table for possibly 2 turns, and then (b) delivering it (including your warlord) into your opponents lines – sure he’ll kill 3 units, but what happens next? Most armies will have enough left over to retaliate effectively.