The Road to Cally

The Caledonian Uprising is one of the most competitive tournaments in the UK Calendar. Traditionally it’s also one of the biggest. This year it has 180 people registered. I don’t think there are any other tournaments in the UK that will exceed this. 

It's held in the North West Gaming Centre in Stockport near Manchester (I think .. my English Geography is a bit limited). It’s a bit of a drive (around 3 hours) but there is a bunch of us making the trip south so it will qualify as the closest thing I get to a “boys weekend” these days. Really looking forward to it.

Common Ground Tourni 10 November

Went to a fun tournament at Common Ground Gaming in Stirling  at the Weekend.

Took a list that I thought would be “fun”, but it turned out to be just really bad!

Farsight

Commander, Twin Fusion, target lock, Stim Injectors. Warscraper Drone

Riptide, HBC, ECPA, Talisman, VT, EWO

3 - XV8s. One with twin Fusions and Target Lock, 2 with Twin Plasma, one with a positional relay and the other with Vectored Retro Thrusters

3 XV8s all with Twin Burst Cannons and Stim Injectors.

2 Skyrays

Allied Tau Commander with all the toys

2 packs of 10 Kroot, plus a hound.

List For Rapid Fire

I’ve almost settled on my list for Rapid Fire, and thought I would throw it out there for comments.

As I mentioned in my last post, I wanted to try something a little different from the list I ran at the Warrington GT. The GT was pretty brutal, and I was spanked 3 games out of 6. I’m not expecting Rapid Fire to be quite so bad, although I think it’s being used as one of the qualifiers for the Scottish ETC team, so the top tables will be tough.

What I wanted to change” were the Fire Warriors in Devilfish, which were a little lack lustre at the GT. To recap, the problem was that they would hang around for 2-3 turns, before jumping out and killing something, and then dieing to return fire pretty easily. It was also sometimes hard to work out where they needed to be, and often they were hopelessly out of position, particularly if their Devilfish was killed or immobilised.

Beating Drop Pod Lists.

There’s lots of chatter on the intertubes about Tau being the new “broken” army, and more talk about building lists that will counter Tau. 

Now I’m sure things will change as people adjust to the new codex and get used to playing Tau, but my fear is that my beloved Tau will become the new “hate dex” like grey knights used to be, or demons before their new dex, or like cron air is now. That would make me sad!

So on that note, I would like to give a shout out to the 40k Global pod cast, and their web site (operating under the delusion that people reading my obscure blog won’t have heard of them!). They have put up a few posts on “how to beat tau” that I think are great. In particular this week’s pod cast has a battle report by BJ where he would appear to have smashed a Tau army using drop podding wolves.

However, in the interests of continuing the arms race, here are a few thoughts on how I would try and counter a podding wolves list!

Independant Characters and Infiltrate

I’m seeing this all over the internet and its just wrong!

ICs with infiltrate can not confer infiltrate to units that do not have it. There is no grey area, it simply can not happen. It’s got nothing to do with the Infiltrate rule and whether of not infiltrate confers. The rule says that it does. However, there is no way to attach an IC to a non infiltrating unit which will allow the combined unit to take advantage of the rule.

It's all About the Tau - Marker Lights

I've already posted this on Warhammer Tau, but thought I would also post here for completness.

Marker Lights are very useful. They can do 3 things 

·      Any unit can use a Marker Light hit to boost their BS by one point, this works on snap shots, and for other Marker Lights.

·      2 Marker Lights hits can grant any firing unit Ignores Cover, and

·      You can use a Marker Lights hit to fire a Seeker Missile.

So in an army when most units are BS3, and in a game where many death stars use (abuse!) boosted cover saves, that’s pretty useful. This post is about Marker Lights and how best to field them. But first…… do you need them at all?

It's all About the Tau. Part 3 - Troops.

Troops are the core of any codex, and in the old ‘dex Tau troops were particularly weak (I once read a forum post claiming that Fire Warriors were the best troops in the game, yes really! Arrant nonsense. Fire Warriors were pretty poor, they got better in 6^th edition, largely because of the changes to rapid fire weapons, but better isn’t good!).

There are 2 troop choices – Fire Warriors and Kroot. They’ve changed a little, but not by much.

Fire Warriors

Four things have happened in the new Codex that make Fire Warriors better (maybe even verging on good!). Ironically only one of them actually happened to Fire Warriors!

Basic stats stayed the same – WS2 BS3 S3 T3 W1 I2 A1 Ld7 Sv4+. They still come with a Pulse Rifle as standard but now also come with Photon (i.e. defensive) Grenades. They can upgrade to a Pulse Carbine for free and can get EMP grenades (which interestingly now count as Haywire Grenades) for 2pts per model. They can get a Shas’ui for 10pts who can take a target lock and a markerlight for 15pts, and a couple of Drones. Finally they can take a Devilfish transport.

The first thing that makes Fire Warriors better is the points drop to 9pts. I’m not persuaded that Photon Grenades are a boost. If my Fire Warriors get charged I want them to die horribly so their buddies can rapid fire the assaulting unit next turn. EMP grenades are intriguing. Some Tau geeks talk about EMP Commando Squads – fire warrior squads who assault vehicles with EMP grenades. Now that EMP grenades are proper haywire grenades these squads would be better, but the problem remains getting them close enough to assault the vehicle in the first place.

The second  thing that make Fire Warriors better are the buffs to their shooting provided by the Fireblade and the Ethereal’s Storm of Fire power. With these buffs they can push out a horrible number of shots.

The third thing is the change to Pulse Carbines. They increased from Assault 1 to Assault 2. While this doesn't necessarily make them better than Pulse Rifles, they are at least an option now. In particular if you're running a mech Cadre with F’warriors in D’fish, being able to jump out and fire 2 shots up to 18” with the Pulse Carbine, rather than rapid firing 2 shots at 15” with the Pulse Rifle, is something to think about.

And finally, the forth thing is that the Devilfish got slightly better.

Devilfish

One of the major disappointments in the codex is that D’fish didn’t get a price drop. They did get better (marginally) but they should IMHO be 10pts cheaper. The ‘Fish is a Tank, Skimmer, Transport BS3 F12 S11 R10 HP3. It comes with a Burst Cannon (R18” S5 AP5 Assault 4) and 2 Gun Drones as standard. It can take up to 2 seeker missiles for 8pts each and swap out the Gun Drones for a Twin Linked Smart Missile System (SMS) (R30” S5 AP5 Heavy 4 Ignores Cover, Guided (i.e. does not need line of sight)) for 10pts. It also has access to the Vehicle Battle Systems list.

·         Blacksun Filter. Give night vision (for 1pt!)

·         Decoy Launchers. A 4++ from interceptor shots.

·         Automated Repair System. Repairs stuff on a 6+ i.e. pretty pointless.

·         Sensor Spines. Move through cover for 5pts…. Yes please!

·         Flechette Dischargers. At initiative step 10 a unit with at least one model in base to base with the fish takes a S4 AP- hit for each model in base to base.

·         Point Defence System. The vehicle fires overwatch with S5 or less weapons, and has the Supporting Fire rule (i.e. can fire overwatch at any unit assaulting a friendly unit in 6”).

·         Advanced Targeting System. Any to hit roll of a 6+ is a precision shot.

·         Disruption Pod. Now just stealth rather than shrouding and 15pts rather than 5. However, it is no longer cancelled out if the shooter is within 12”.

There are 2 things missing that really irritated me. You can no longer buy a Targeting Array to boost the BS to 4, nor can you buy a Multi Tracker to allow the fish to fire like a Fast Vehicle.

Lets be clear from the outset, taking a Devil Fish is probably a "style" choice. By that I mean it depends on the sort of army you want to play. If you're asking me whether taking one builds the most effective Cadre, I suspect the answer would be "no". Putting Fire Warriors behind an Aegis with an Ethereal and a Cadre Fireblade is probably more effective. Leaving the D'fish behind gives you more points for other stuff. You really only need D'fish if you want to play a mechanised Cadre, pushing F'warriors forward. 

So, with that out of the way why is the fish better? Well because the Burst Cannon is Assault 4 now, rather than assault 3, and because the Pulse Carbines on the Gun Drones are Assault 2 rather than Assault 1. That means the standard fish gets 8 S5 shots rather than 5. In addition, even although you can’t get the Multi Tracker, you can still move 6” and fire both the Burst Cannon and the Drones, because the Drones fire as embarked passengers.

As for the Battle Systems, I think the only one that’s a must have are the Sensor Spines. Being able to ignore terrain is great if you’re moving forward aggressively with your Fire Warriors. The D’pod is not the must buy it used to be, but a 4+ cover save is better than a 5+, particularly now that it's not ignored for firers under 12”. That was a big draw back in the last ‘dex, if you were moving forward aggressively with your D'fish.

The only 2 other systems I might be tempted with are Flechette Dischargers and the Advanced Targeting System. If you’re moving forward with your Fire Warriors, and getting them out to shoot, then you’ll be using the D’fish to support them and block assaults. The Flechette Dischargers and beign able to Overwatch with the ‘Fish might help.

Then again, a ‘Fish with Sensor Spines, D’pod, Dischargers and the ATS would cost 120pts……!

In the past I ran D’fish (when I did run them) with a D’pod and sensor spines. In the old ‘dex  that cost 95pts in the new one 100pts. For those extra points, I get almost twice the fire power, but one point less on my cover save, although I get it all the time, and not just outside 12”.

So like I said, slightly better, but still not good!

Kroot

Kroot got cheaper by 1 point, but lost an attack and a point of strength. They gained a 6+ armour save (!). Kroot hounds also got a point cheaper and also lost a point of strength. You can add up to 3 Kroot Oxen for 25pts each. The Kroot Ox is S6 and comes with a Kroot Gun (R48” S7 AP4 Rapid Fire). You can upgrade one Kroot to a Shaper (most important thing is that he gives them Ld8, up from Ld7). And finally, for 1pt per model you can make their Kroot Rifles sniper rifles….! Better still, they can choose which round to use every time they fire, so can still move and shoot their Rapid Fire rounds, rather than teh Sniper Rounds which are "heavy". Even better, their standard rounds are "pulse" rounds which means they are affected by the Ethereal's Storm of Fire power.

All Kroot come with Infiltrate, Move Through Cover and Stealth (forests). The Kroot Hounds come with Acute Senses. Squad sizes are 10 – 20 Kroot to which you can add up to 10 Hounds and 3 Oxen. One of the most bamboozling things in the new 'dex is that Kroot Hounds are Beasts....but you can only buy them in squads of Kroot, which are infantry! What's the point in that!

However, the more I think about Kroot the more I like them. They are still good at what they excelled at previously – bubble wrap, blocking and just getting in the way (and they are 1pt cheaper!). They still infiltrate, outflank and score. That’s pretty much all I used them for in the past. Any idea that they were an assault unit was an illusion – on occasion they did extraordinary things (have I mentioned I once killed a Greater Demon with a squad of Kroot!), but their job was to die for the greater good. So, to the extent that they can do everything they did in the past, and are a point cheaper, I’m happy. However, they can now do so much more!

First of all, with only one Hound attached, they can re-roll the side they come in on when they  outflank. One of their key rolls is to come in off a board edge and grab an objective. Being able to more or less choose which side them come in on is pretty good. Next you can now bring along 3 S7 AP4 rapid firing Kroot Guns when you outflank or infiltrate. While you could always take Kroot Oxen in the past, you couldn’t infiltrate or outflank with them. Now you can, and they are 10pts per model cheaper. 

Lots and lots of possibilities present themselves – infiltrating sniper teams with Kroot Guns picking up marker lights from Sniper Drones, big packs of Kroot (with some hounds) outflanking on pretty much on any side you want. Teaming up with infiltrating stealth suits with a Positional Relay to bring the Kroot in on your opponents board edge. Maybe this is the army to take Shadowsun ….. attach her to a big pack of Kroot to give them a 2+ cover save!

Yet again, Kroot are the ultimate utility players.

Summary

IMHO Tau troops got better, but I'm not persuaded (yet) that they're "good". However, they are cheaper and way more flexible than they were before. 

My initial impression is that there will be broadly 3 ways to play them - Fire Warrior gun line, with Fireblades and Ethereals, a Mechanised Cadre, with Fire Warriors loaded in D'fish moving forward aggressively, or a Shadowsun Ghost Cadre, with loads of Kroot, and maybe a couple of squads of F'warriors in the back field. 

Which is better, remains to be seen - but at least we have choices now.

EYIG

It's all about the Tau - Rumour Review.

OK, so I’ve calmed down. Still excited, but calmer!

So, what do we have rumour wise at the moment? Well, here’s what I’ve read (note I have no inside sources, just what I read on the internet)

 

Riptide – Jump Monstrous Creature (so guessing S6, T6, W4,  Armour 2+, will probably have an invulnerable save judging by the shield the model has in the picture, maybe a 5++? So something like a Dreadknight, although the stats might be higher, given it’s size in comparison) . Has a primary weapon, and 2 secondary weapons. Comes standard with 2 Railcannons – (i.e. the new S10, AP1 version of the Railgun) and plasma rifles for 165pts. Has some sort of “super charging” rule which allows it to super charge its save (maybe to a 4++), its weapon or its stats. Can be “upgraded” with an Ion Cannon which is something like Heavy 3, S7 AP3, or Large Blast S8 AP2. Suspect that the second stat is the “super charged” version of the weapon (query – might that mean there’s a super charged version of the Railcannon – maybe with the Lance, or beam USP?).

Flyer – Bomber and Fighter. Bomber doesn’t have bombs, but builds up a “plasma charge” that it drops like a bomb (might this be the rumoured plasma charge that has a lingering corrosive effect?). It also has 2 drone fighters that can detach from the bomber to see off other flyers (how cool is that! – finally a use for my Remoras!). The fighter has some sort of Ion Cannon on a turret mount, and will probably have missiles as well.

Broadsides – What’s clear (!) is that it has a “downgraded” Rail Gun – S8 AP1 (now called the Railgun, as opposed to the S10 AP1 version which is now the Railcannon)…however, it has the Skyfire USR, but, while not having Interceptor, can still fire at ground targets at full BS. What’s not clear is whether the S8 AP1 Skyfire is an option – i.e. whether it retains the S10 AP1 when shooting at ground targets. Sadly, most of the rumours suggest it does not. From the leaked WD pictures, it looks like it can also have a seeker missile, and can be loaded out with SMS only. Other rumours I’ve read is that it’s T4 W2 and Armour 2+. You can take plasma rifles or SMS as well as the Railgun, and the SMS is twin linked. Cost 60 pts base and 85pts with the Skyfire upgrade.

Fire warriors. There is an upgrade character, and/or a piece of wargear that can boost their BS to 4, increase the pulse rifle’s range by 6 inches at full range, and, in combination, gives the pulse rifle 2 extra shots…..so 3 shots at 36” and 4 at 18”! Oh and if your buddies get charged, you can help by overwatching the unit charging them…..!

Some people have speculated that, given there is no 2^nd troop choice in the battleforce box, stealth suits may be  troops.

Pathfinders have “experimental” ion weaponry, and don’t need to take a D’fish. Nothing about whether they are still the main platform for marker lights.

One marker light hit increases the BS of anything shooting at the target. The 2^nd hit strips all cover….!

There are 2 new special characters, one an ethereal, and one Kroot (there are contradictory rumours on this one)

We’ve heard nothing, or very little, about Kroot, Vespids, XV8s (or indeed XV9s) Devilfish, Piranhas, Skyrays or Hammerheads.

Well…. What do I make of all this…! Firstly, what comes next is all entirely pointless – we don’t have the codex and we can not possible know how it’s all going to fit together. But that wont stop me…!

First up, I think the Riptide looks awesome, and the rules sound fun. What I’m not so sure about is the role it has in the army – is it a super durable long range weapons platform, or is it a “get up in your face” short range disruption unit! If it’s the latter (and it deep strikes – Jump MC, remember), deep striking 3 of them into your opponents lines would be fun!

 

We really don’t know enough about the Flyer’s stats to come to any sort of view on their effectiveness, however I’m intrigued by their intended role.  The bomber is obviously air to ground. But if the Broadsides have the rumoured S8 AP1 Skyfire weapons, you don’t really need a flyer for anti air. What then is the fighters role? Maybe the bomber is air to ground anti infantry, while the fighter is more of an anti armour gunship?

I’ll be sad if the Broadsides lose their S10 AP1 Railgun…but not that sad if they get the S8 AP1 with Skyfire. That would make the double Helldrake lists sweat! But I’m intrigued by the seeker missile you see on the Broadside in the leaked picture. There are no suit mounted seeker missiles at the moment. Might this mean that Seeker Missiles will be reworked to become more like Stinger Missiles i.e. ground to air missiles. Might that be the reason for the skyfiring broadside rumours (and they still keep the S10 AP1). That would give the Skyray a purpose. And maybe, just maybe, the fighter is a marker light platform for guiding the new seeker missiles to their targets! That would be kinda cool!

The rules for Firewarriors sound border line broken, and I can’t believe they’re correct (or at least perhaps for only one squad). My worry however is that the rumoured rules lend themselves to a very static gunline play style, with lots of fire warriors behind an Aegis for example. Not really the way I want to play them.

Really want to find out more about how marker lights work, and what platforms they come on. Marker lights and their use have been key to playing tau in the past, and I hope that’s retained. The rumours we have are just silly broken – 1 hit to boost BS all round, and one more to strip all cover saves! That can’t be right, unless access to marker lights is very restricted and/or very expensive points wise.

And finally, what about Kroot, Devilfish and Hammer heads – 3 iconic units that we have heard very little about? The only thing I’ve read about Kroot is that there’s a Kroot special (or maybe upgrade) character and that their strength is being reduced to 3, although they get furious charge. All I’ve read about the Hammerhead is that it retains the S10 AP1 Railcannon, and I’ve heard absolutely nothing about the D’fish.

Anybody know anything about Hammerheads and Devilfish?

On and Vespids….anybody know anything about Vespids?

EYIG

Building my Dream Cadre

Building the Dream Cadre.

With a new Tau Codex on the Horizon (hopefully!), I've been thinking about the position of my Cadre in the twilight of its old Codex, and with rumours beginning to come out, thinking about my dream Cadre, and what I would like to see inthe new Codex.

As regular readers know, while I dabble with other armies, I’m a Tau player at heart – why Tau? Well, that’s a tricky one. I find in 40k that either an army appeals or it doesn’t, and it’s often difficult to put your finger on why. It’s usually a combination of the models, the fluff and the “style” of play. For me, I enjoy playing the “good guys”. I could never play Dark Eldar  of Chaos. It’s just not me. I also like the “greater good” philosophy, as opposed to the oppressive authoritarian ethos of the imperium. I prefer the Tau’s technology based approach to solving the galaxy’s problems, rather than the mystical, semi religious nonsense of the imperium.

But here’s the contradiction, my friends would probably call me a “tournament player”. Now I’m far from a hard core a win at all costs, tournament player (if I was I wouldn’t play Tau!). What I suspect they mean is that I play by the rules, I play optimised lists, and I do go to a lot of tournaments (over 12 two day tournaments last year), and in most of the Tournaments I go to I play Tau. 

So, why do  I drag one of the oldest, most out of date codices to all these tournaments?

I used to have a friend who dated a girl who was horrible (bare with me!). She was manipulative, domineering, and down right unpleasant. One day I confronted him, and asked why he put up with her. He paused, looked into the middle distance and explained that, on occasion, she was delightful, engaging and so alive and sparkling that it made his heat sing, and for those moments he put up with all the rest.

And, if you will forgive the somewhat laboured analogy, that’s how I feel about my Cadre. Most of the time it’s frustrating and unrewarding, but now and again, when everything comes together, it’s a joy! To my mind a Tau army is, and should be, a subtle army, relying on synergy, movement and careful thought to win. It should be unforgiving and you should lose way more than you win until you have mastered it, but when you’ve mastered it ….. it should be a joy to play, and a terror on the table top!

And that is perhaps my greatest disappointment with the state of the current Codex – an effective Tau army is becoming more and more like a club, with which one bludgeons ones opponent to death, rather than the rapier I would like. And that is a function of the Codex, what works and what doesn’t work. Let me explain……..!

The problem is, the Codex has some real stand out units (wait, what!) – Broadsides are probably, the best anti armour unit in the game, and Crisis suits are the ultimate “swiss army knife”. You can fit them out to do almost anything. The problem is, everything else is pretty rubbish, and that leads to “mono” builds maxing out on Broadsides and Crisis Suits, and ignoring most other things. In turn that leads to gun line armies, with limited mobility, and limited flexibility. A classic Tau army is a delayed gun line army, i.e. most of your points are spent on guns, at the expense of most other elements, with the exception of bubble wrap and blocking units to delay anything getting to your gun line.

I’ve almost got to the point where, if I build an effective Tau list, I build a list I don’t enjoy playing, because its static, does only one thing (albeit it does it well), and has very limited tactical options. Where’s the fun in that?

And that’s the biggest problem with the Tau Codex – it is inflexible and pushes you down the route of building a (reasonably) powerful army, which is pretty one dimensional and a bit boring to play!

So, what do I want from a new Codex? At a high “concept” level I want a Codex that’s dynamic, that allows the army to play to the fluff – it should have a “special forces” feel to it, fully integrated, very mobile, very hard hitting, but then melt away from the counter punch. It should come at you from all angles, from the flanks, from infiltration, from the deployment line and from deep strike. And it should be fully interdependent, needing synergy among all units to play at it’s zenith!

I have an image of a Tau Cadre fighting an engagement like a gathering storm. At first their opponent doesn’t know the engagement has begun. They may catch a glimpse of a Kroot Kindred moving in woods, but dismiss it as imagination. They may see light shimmer as it distorts around a Stealth Suit’s stealth field generator, but think it’s a heat haze.  In the distance they may see a small speeder moving between areas of dead ground, but only for an instant. And then suddenly, like thunder crashing  in the skies, Hammerhead Gunships lock onto the Stealth Suit’s marker lights and rail gun slugs hammer into enemy armour.  The Kindred break cover and, screaming, tear the enemy command squads to shreds. Crisis Suits lock onto the stealth suits locator beacon and deep strike into the middle of the enemy formation, taking out a key objective. Devilfish appear from nowhere, embarked Firewarriors jump out and (supported by marker lights placed by another stealth team) unleash a devastating volley of pulse fire, destroying enemy infantry formations. But, just as suddenly, the weather clears, the Hammerheads disappear behind the brow of a hill, the Kindred melt into the woods, dragging off their next meal, the Crisis Suit jumps behind a ruin out of sight and, mission accomplished, the surviving Firewarriors re-embark and head for the Manta support ship.

I know it’s a dream – but an army that could play like that would be awesome.

The question is, how to achieve this on the table top? Well, it’s not a million miles away as it stands….!

Next post, some thoughts on how a new Codex might achieve this dream army….!

EYIG

Caledonian Uprising 2013

Back from Cally. Great weekend (even with all the snow!) My aim for the weekend was to do better than last year (2-0-4), and better than at the GT Heat (2-0-4).

Usual format, brief Bat reps and an overview.

Points were 1850, 5 games with primary and secondary objectives scoring slightly differently. It’s the qualifier for the Scottish ETC team – top 4 scots qualify automatically, the rest are picked by the captain.

Game 1

Game one was the scouring and vanguard strike. Up against grey knights. Coteaz, 2 strike squads, 3 dakka dreads, 5 razorbacks with psybolt ammo (3 of them with 3 man henchman squads), aegis with quad gun and 10 terminators. It was a very “5^th edition” list. My 5^th edition Tau list (6 Broadsides, loads of missile pods) would have ripped it apart, my “new” 6^th edition list, not so much. It’s still a good counter, but not the hard counter it would have been in 5^th.

I got first turn, and gave it to him. I wanted to see whether he was going to deep strike his terminators so I knew whether to set up a deep strike defense or not. He deployed everything behind his Aegis. That meant I was able to deploy in a more open formation, giving me more flexibility of movement. So I set up as far away as possible, hiding the Tetras behind a building, and getting the Hammer Heads out of range of his Preds. I gambled on him simply advancing his termies across the table (what else was he going to do with them and their 24” range!), so I reserved the Firewarriors in their fish, hoping that they would come in turn 2, hop our, and dakka down the termies.

Well, everything went to plan. The Railguns killed the armour, the Plasma Cannons killed the strike squads, the Tetras refused to die (must have passed about 20 2+ saves on them!)  and the fire warriors came on, jumped out and (with marker light support) blew away 6 terminators in one round of shooting. The remaining termis promptly failed their leadership tests and ran for it. While they rallied next turn, it stalled their advance, and I was able to kill them all before they got anywhere near my gun line.

A 19 – 1 win to me.

Game 2

As always, the problem with winning your first game is that you are then on the top tables! Next was a combination of the relic and Emperors will. I was up against an odd army of Eldar and Dark Eldar. Farseer on a bike with a 7 man seer council, two 9 man squads of reaver jet bikes, 2 squads of 3 guardian jet bikes, a Phoneix bomber and a jet wing fighter, and some foot sloggers who where just there to camp the home objective.

I was at bit at a loss to know what to do against this army. It’s so fast I didn’t think I could stop him snatching the Relic. And he could “lurk” at the other end of the board until turn 5 and then snatch it. Hmmm…!

So I decided that there was very little prospect of me getting his objective, and that getting and keeping the Relic was pretty impossible. The plan (such as it was) was to deploy everything in range of the relic, try and get first blood, hold my own objective, and kill anything that goes anywhere near the relic.

It didn’t really work! The problem was the phonix bomber. My opponent had explained what it did, but I didn’t really listen well enough. It’s missiles decimated the orks and the Fire warriors, and the reavers did the rest. In the end I was lucky. I eventually killed the seer council, and the reavers, and the guardian jet bikes broke and ran off the board. So in the end, nobody had the relic, he held his home objective, and I managed to pass enough leadership tests on orks and fire warriors to hang on to my own objective with one remaining ork! So a loss, but not a huge one. Think it was 17 – 3.

Lesson learned – do not get fire warriors out of their fish until absolutely necessary! They are just too fragile to start on the board.

Game 3

Kill points against Guard with space wolves. He had Company Command Squad, Platoon Command Squad, Primaris Psyker, 50 man blob with Axes and melta bombs, 3 Vendettas, 2 Rune priests, 2 squads of grey hunters with Wolf Guard and a Hyperion Missile Battery. He rolled on divination and got the power which grants a 4+ invulnerable save!

Hmmmm….. my list really has no answer to Vendettas and a blob squad with a 4++. So the plan was to kill everything else and ignore the Vendettas and the blob.

And that’s what I did….. but he killed 2 units more than I did. I made one huge mistake which lost me the game.  I hadn’t clocked that the blob had melta bombs, and I got a Hammerhead and a Devilfish too close. He assaulted both and killed them (small conciliation was that I killed a bunch of guardsman in the explosion!)

Lesson learned – blobs are even more terrifying than I thought, and I really need something in the list that will deal with AV12 flyers and guard blobs. The difficulty is what!

Game 4

Eldar and dark elder again. Eldrad, 10 Wraithguard, Harlies with a shadowseer, the Baron and 2 Venoms with kabalite warriors, 3 squads of Guardian Jet Bikes and 9 (9!) war walkers. Mission was Crusade with 5 objectives, Dawn of War.

On paper I should win this one. He has nothing that can damage my Hammerheads at range, and he can only glance the Devilfish. As long as I keep away from the Wraithguard and the Harlies, and kill the bikes and the Warriors it should be good. I’m a little concerned about the weight of fire the War Walkers can put out, but not really. My main concern is the Barron tanking wounds for the Wraithguard on his 2++. However, the TO ruled that fortune doesn’t effect the Baron, so it’s not too bad.

He gets first turn and takes it. He sets up Eldrad, the Wraithguard, the Hariles and both Venoms and leaves everything else in reserve (just realised he had too much in reserve, ah well!). Oddly, he does not set up the Baron to tank wounds. The Walkers are outflanking. I set up the Broadsides in the middle behind the aegis, surrounded by orks. Everything else is on my left. I thought about lining  that board edge with infiltrating  to Kroot stop him coming on there, However, he had that covered by his 2 venoms which would have toasted the Kroot, so instead I put the Hammerheads there, with a plan to move them up the board edge and outflank the Kroot, hoping they would come in on that edge to block the rest of it.

I then seized the initiative! So taking advantage of the Wraithguard not being fortuned, I pour everything into them in that first turn, killing 6 of them. A good start. In his turn 1 nothing really happens, I think his venoms kill some orks. My turn 2 one squad of Kroot come on, but come on on the wrong side! They are isolated way over on the right, so I bring them on, on my side of the table and hide them. I move up the Fire Warrior’s ‘Fish. The plan is to strip the Harlies cover with the Tetras, and blow them away with rapid firing, pulse rifles next turn.  I kill 2 more Wraithguard, but my shots are then stalled by Eldrad’s re-rollable 3++. I think I take a hull point of a Venom, the Broadsides failing miserably to kill paper aeroplanes!

In his Turn 2 all the War Walkers come on. One squad comes on, on the right, and 2 on the left. He keeps his bikes of with his warlord trait (the one that allows you to re-roll reserves). And then disaster, he opens up with everything on the Broadsides, kills 2 Drones and they fail a leadership test and run off the board, giving him first blood and kill the warlord….bugger!

It was a bit of a blow! I was beginning to feel I had this one in the bag, but without the Broadsides it was going to be tricky, and giving up first blood and kill the warlord was a disaster! But, I swallowed hard, sucked it up, and pressed on with the plan!

Over the next few turns I managed to squeak out the narrowest of wins. Highlights were one squad of Firewarriors jumping out their ‘Fish, and killing 2 War Walkers, getting charged next turn by the remaining Walker, and killing it with Overwatch! The other squad of fire warriors getting charged by the Baron, blowing away his Shadow Field with Overwatch, and then slapping him down in the ensuing combat!  And finally, a pack of Kroot holding up a squad of jet bikes long enough in assault, so they could not snatch an objective

When the smoke settled, I held 2 objectives and he held one. However, because he had slay the warlord, first blood and line breaker, we drew on tournament points 10 each. However because I also had line breaker (gun drones FTW) I won on 6^th ed VPs 7 -6. The very (very) narrowest of wins.

Lessons learned – don’t panic! But also – I wonder if it is worth that extra 25pts for the Shas’o and his leadership 10!

Game 5

Big guns never tire, hammer and anvil, against Space Marines. Captain on a bike with a squad of scoring bikes, 3 pods, one with a tac squad and 2 with Ironclads, 2 more tac squads (one in a Rhino) and 2 Thunderfire cannons.

Hmmm… when I saw his list and the mission I knew I would have to try quite hard to lose this one (or be very unlucky!). I gave him first turn, so I had last turn to grab some objectives, and set up the 30 orks to bubble wrap my gun line.

He podded in one ‘clad and one tac squad, and killed some orks. In my turn I killed the tac squad and immobilised the ‘clad.

In his turn 2 the second ‘clad came in and managed to immobilise one of my Hammerheads (a very risky deep strike right on the edge of the board which I did not think he would go for!). His scout squad outflanked on my side, and ran into a ruin, and his bikes moved up. He killed some more orks. In my turn 2 I killed the ‘clad, and most of the bikes. The small squad of orks and one of the Kroot squads came in and failed to kill the scout squad (it went to ground in a ruin for a 2+ cover save).

In his turn 3 he killed some more orks, and a shield drone. The remaining bikes failed their charge on a pack of Kroot. In my turn I moved up both ‘fish heading for the central objective. I killed the remaining bikes, but not the captain. The Kroot charged the scout squad and wiped them out.

In his turn his quad gun fired at one of my ‘fish, he rolled a 6 to pen, I rolled a 1 to failed my 2+ cover save, and he then rolled a 6 to blow it up. He then smacked the Fire warriors with the Thunder fire cannons and the survivors ran…..! A blow, but not a disaster as the other fish moved up to reach the objective in my turn. His captain also charged a pack of Kroot, wiping them out, but he was not able to consolidate into cover. In my turn 4 I killed his captain and the remaining devilfish moved onto the 2^nd objective, with the Firewarriors ready to hop out and claim it in turn 5. At that point we were running out of time, and we agreed turn 5 would be the last turn.

In his turn five I had an anxious moment. He killed enough shield drones to force a leadership test on my Broadsides who were holding the home objective…but they passed this time! In my turn 5 I claimed the middle objective, and finally killed a Thunderfire cannon for an extra point!

A 16-4 win to me!

This game was closer than I thought it was going to be – the problem were the Thunderfire cannons. I just could not risk getting my Firewarriors out their fish as they would have been pounded by the cannons. Without their fire power, it was trickier putting down the captain (with his artificer armour) than it would have been if they could have simply torrented him away.

So, I went 3-0-2 and ended up with 55 tournament points, enough for best Tau general. I also came 23^rd out of 87. Very pleased with that. Sadly however, I was not in the top 4 Scottish players (think I came 5^th or 6th, but not sure) so didn’t qualify for the ETC team…..!

List analysis

This list performed much better than at the GT, but it still has problems.

The reason for improved performance is partly greater experience in playing the list. I played a much more fluid game, and really only castled up in game 5, to counter the podding Dreads. I still made mistakes of course (deploying the Firewarriors out their fish in game 2, allowing the melta bomb wielding blob squad to assault my vehicles in game 3), but I had more comprehensive plans for all my games than at the GT.

However, the list was also improved. The biggest change was the quad gun and fewer orks. The quad gun was OK, but is laughable against AV12 flyers. Fewer Orks was a big improvement. The 30 “man” mob was ideal for bubble wrapping when needed, and was much more manageable than the 2 30 man mobs I took to the GT. Interestingly, one change made a big difference – the sensor spines on the D’fish. I put them there as an afterthought really, but when you don’t need to worry about terrain, it makes deploying the Firewarriors so much easier.

The other thing was that the Firewarriors worked much better this tournament. In game one they blew away a 6 terminators, in game 3 they blew away a pack of Grey Hunters, and in Game 5 they killed the War Walkers (and the Baron in assault – although that was a bit of a fluke!). They are still very vulnerable once thet are out their ‘fish (Game 2 and Game 5, where they stayed in their ‘fish almost the whole game for fear of the 2 T’fire Cannons). But if you get your timing and your positioning right, they’re OK (still not great, but OK).

Having said that, I was kinda lucky in my match ups. I didn’t play Wraith Spam Necrons, nor flamer/screamer spam demons. Against Demons I think I might stand a chance, providing I managed to get the ork bubble wrap right. Not sure what I would have done against Wraith Spam however.   

I also have no answer to AV12 flyers, nor really to a guard blob.

Further thought required.

EYIG

GT List Performance

The list needs work. Some things worked, but others didn’t.

What worked

·         Tetras. Adding the sensor spines was a great move. Being able to move in and out of terrain at will, without worring about immobilization, was invaluable in all my games.

·         Plasma Cannons. I’ve fallen back in love with Hammerheads. The Plasma Cannons synergise so well with Tetras. With a few marker light hits, anything that doesn’t have a 2+ save just evaporates, whether it’s in cover or not.

·         Broadsides. They did their job very well as always. In game 4 I was on the receiving end of 6 Broadsides, and it’s not a lot of fun! Again, they synergise really well with Tetras. However, I’m glad I only had 3. There was a marked lack of armour, and I suspect that might be more common.

·         Dpods. Having a 3+ cover save on an AV13 tank is just great! But…you need to be careful to keep more than 12 inches away, and flyers can close that gap really easily.

What didn’t work

·         Orks. Or at least the 2 big mobs.  There were 2 problems, both of which I’ve mentioned before – first they take up too much space, and second they hold too long in combat. It was a pain to move them around, and it was a pain to move things around them. The number of times they were just “in the way” was annoying. The second problem probably lost me Game 6, and Game 4 , but it was a concern in other games too. If I’m using a squad for bubble wrap, they need to break, so I can shoot assaulting squad in my turn. And boys are rubbish in combat if they don’t get the charge (I2, S3 – really S3 for an Ork!). And they just take too long to play in a tournament setting. If Game 6 had gone onto turn 5 I might have won, but we only got to turn 4 largely because combats where you are throwing 50+ dice just take too long.

·         Fire Warriors. It makes me really sad to admit this. I thought I had cracked how to use fire warriors, but I haven’t. In all the games I played they made a significant contribution once. In game 5 they jumped out their fish and blew away a 5 man strike squad. In all their other games they either didn’t get out their fish at all (Game 6), got out, didn’t do very much and were massacred and/or ran away (Game 4), or were blow out their fish and mostly died in the explosion (Game 2). Part of the problem was positioning. With all the Orks around it was difficult to get them into the right place at the right time to jump out and shoot stuff. The other problem was fragility – once they’re out their fish a stiff breeze blows them away. In addition, to get them out into optimum range, you’re Devilfish is exposed to fire that is usually under 12”, so the Dpods don’t work. I think ‘Warriors in ‘Fish have their place (maybe in a highly mobile army where they’re supported by SM  bikes?), but it’s not in this army.

·         Flyers. I need something other than Twin Linked rail guns to deal with Flyers.

·         Plasma rifles on the Broadsides. I only used them once, in Game 5. Generally speaking stuff didn’t get close enough. I think this was a function of stuff getting caught up in the boyz.

·         Commander with the Broadsides. He sort of worked. The additional shield drones, the additional body with 3 wonds and a 2+ save, and (in particular) the Advanced Stabilisation System were good, but I think he fired his plasma gun and Fusion Blaster maybe 2 or three times all tournament?

So, back to the drawing board.

My initial thoughts are to keep the Tetras the Hammerheads and the Broadsides, but to replace the Firewarriors with Deathrains. However, the big question is over the Orks. Are they the best allies for Tau?

If I’m keeping the Orks, then one option would be to cut the squad sizes to perhaps 15 boyz. I could then perhaps take a dakka jet or maybe some Nobs as a counter assault unit. An interesting alternative might be a squad of burna boyz to hang out behind the Aegis line, but just in front of the Broadsides. Most units will think twice before charging them!

However, the most intriguing option might be Space Marines.

One option might be a couple of Tac Squads and a Librarian. The Tac Squads do what they do, and give me 2 very sound scoring units, and a degree of bubble wrapping. The Librarian however, could attach to a big squad of Kroot and grant them And They Shall Know No Fear and Leadership 10. Also if he took Force Dome he could give them a 5+ invulnerable save. Couple this with Null Zone, and it would help against Demons! Finally, a Techmarine could attach to the Broadsides giving them leadership 10, ATSKNF, and 2 power fist attacks! That would free up the XV8 Commander so he doesn’t need to baby sit the Broadsides. If I gave him Vectored Retro Thrusters and attached him to the Kroot Squad, that would give the squad Hit and Run….at the Librarian’s initiative.

So my Kroot Bubble wrap has a 4+ cover save behind the Aegis (2+ if I go to ground), a 5+ invulnerable save from anything that ignores cover and leadership 10. If the scary stuff assaults it they take 40 S4 shots on Overwatch (assuming everything is in rapid fire range). If they lose combat, they fall back but immediately regroup and fire at full effect. If they win combat (which might just happen – each of them has 2 WS4, S4 attacks, and I could mix in some Kroot Hounds at initiative 5, much better than Orks) the Commander allows them to hit and run out of the combat, so I can shoot the scary stuff in my turn.

The only problem might be mobility. Foot slogging Tac squads aren’t very mobile. However, something occurred to me during the tournament. I only need mobile scoring units in 1 out of six book missions. In Purge the Alien I’ll do what Tau do best and kill stuff at range. In Big Guns, I have my Hammerheads and Broadsides. In the Scouring I have the Tetras. In the Emperors Will I go for First Blood and Kill the Warlord then bunker down. And in the Relic I just rage quit ‘casue it’s such a stupid mission. Only in Seize Ground (or whatever it’s called now) do I actually need to go and get an objective. Maybe I could take a couple of drop pods?

A crazier option would be to take a Master of the Forge (to go in the Kroot bubble wrap), an Iron Clad Dreadnaught in a Drop Pod as an elite choice, another one as a Heavy Support Choice, a Scout Squad, a Tac squad in a drop pod and give the Tau Commander a Positional Relay. The scouts baby sit the home objective (hopefully in a bolstered ruin)  both Ironclads come down first turn to “distract” the opposition, the Tau contingent shoot the shit out of everything, staying safe behind their Kroot bubble wrap, while the Tau Commander’s Positional Relay keeps the Tac squad off the table until turn 4 when it can drop onto an objective!  

Now that sounds like a plan!

EYIG