List for the Warrington GT

I’m trying to settle on a list for the Warrington GT at the beginning of September. As part of that prep the non-club is hosting a day of gaming tomorrow.

 

Three games over the day with 16 people coming along. The first game is a random draw, but after that we swiss pair. While we try and making these days reasonably relaxed, it’s a pretty competitive bunch that come along. Most of them are regular tourney goers and standards are reasonably high.

 

I’m taking 3 different iterations of the Tau list I took to Clan Wars.

 

For reference the Clan Wars list was

 

Ethereal (Warlord)

 

XV8 Commander, 2 Missile Pods, Target Lock, Drone Controller, 2 Marker Drones

XV8 Team. Shas’vre with Puretide Chip, C&CN, Drone Controller, 2 Shas’ui with 2 Missile Pods and Target Locks, 6 marker Drones

Riptide, Ion Accelerator, Fusion Gun, Early Warning Override, Velocity Tracker

Riptide, Ion Accelerator, Fusion Gun, Early Warning Override, Velocity Tracker

 

4 Marker Drones

 

11 Fire Warriors, Devilfish, Sensor Spines, D’pod

12 Fire Warriors, Devilfish, Sensor Spines, D’pod

10 Kroot, Kroot Hound

10 Kroot, Kroot Hound

 

Skyray, Black Sun Filter, D’pod

Skyray, Black Sun Filter, D’pod

 

After some thought I came to the conclusion that attaching the Commander to the Marker Drones squad didn’t really work. In most of the games at Clan Wars  I wanted him attached to the XV8 team so he could benefit from the Puretide Chip and/or to protect them with his 2+ save. That then left the 4 Marker Drones a little ineffectual. Having the Puretide chip on the Shas’vre also made it a little inflexible i.e. only the XV8 team benefited from it. If the Commander carried the ship I could, for example, attached him to a Riptide to take down a Dreadknight, or to a squad of Firewarriors to blow away a daemon prince.

 
I also think I need more anti tank in my list. I’m expecting to meet a lot of wave serpents at coming tournaments.
 

So, the first change I’ve made is to reduce the XV8 team to 2 men, getting rid of the Shas’vre, and transferring the Puretide chip to the Commander. I expect that 9 time out of 10 the Commander will start with the XV8s, but on occasion might attach to a Riptide or some Firewarriors. I lose 4 Marker Drones, but I think that’ll be fine

 

My biggest dilemma was anti tank, but with a little jiggling around I’ve come up with 3 options.

 

Longstrike

 

Ethereal (Warlord)

 

XV8 Commander, 2 Missile Pods, Target Lock, Drone Controller, 2 Marker Drones

 

XV8 Team. 2 Shas’ui with 2 Missile Pods Target Locks and 4 Marker Drones

Riptide, Ion Accelerator, Fusion Gun, Early Warning Override,

Riptide, Ion Accelerator, Fusion Gun, Early Warning Override,

 

11 Fire Warriors, Devilfish, Sensor Spines, D’pod

11 Fire Warriors, Devilfish, Sensor Spines, D’pod

10 Kroot, Kroot Hound

10 Kroot, Kroot Hound

 

Skyray, Black Sun Filter,

Skyray, Black Sun Filter,

Hammerhead, Railgun, D’pod

 
At first I thought Longstrike would be a waste of time against Wave Serpent spam … however, thinking about it again, what better way to discourage an Eldar Player from discharging his serpent shields than having a Tank Hunting Rail Gun on the table?

My concern is that to fit it in I’ve taken the Velocity Trackers from the Riptides and the D’pods from my Skyrays. It might leave me a little light on anti-air.

 

TripRay

 

Ethereal (Warlord)

 

XV8 Commander, 2 Missile Pods, Target Lock, Drone Controller, 2 Marker Drones

 

XV8 Team. 2 Shas’ui with 2 Missile Pods Target Locks and 4 Marker Drones

Riptide, Ion Accelerator, Fusion Gun, Early Warning Override,

Riptide, Ion Accelerator, Fusion Gun, Early Warning Override,

 

11 Fire Warriors, Devilfish, Sensor Spines, D’pod

11 Fire Warriors, Devilfish, Sensor Spines, D’pod

10 Kroot, Kroot Hound

10 Kroot, Kroot Hound

10 Kroot, Kroot Hound

 

Skyray, Black Sun Filter, D’pod

Skyray, Black Sun Filter, D’pod

Skyray, Black Sun Filter, D’pod

So in this list I get an extra Skyray, and an extra squad of Kroot. That provides some anti armour (at least for one turn) and the extra skyray also covers dropping the marker drones and the velocity trackers from the Riptide.

 

I like this iteration as it gives me another scoring unit, and compensates for 2 things I gave up to fit in the Skyray. My concern however is that my anti tank only increases by 6 extra S8 shots. Crucially however, the seeker missiles  can’t be outranged by the serpent shield.

 

Broadsides

 

Ethereal (Warlord)

 

XV8 Commander, 2 Missile Pods, Target Lock, Drone Controller, 2 Marker Drones

 

XV8 Team. 2 Shas’ui with 2 Missile Pods Target Locks and 4 Marker Drones

Riptide, Ion Accelerator, Fusion Gun, Early Warning Override,

Riptide, Ion Accelerator, Fusion Gun, Early Warning Override,

 

11 Fire Warriors, Devilfish, Sensor Spines, D’pod

11 Fire Warriors, Devilfish, Sensor Spines, D’pod

10 Kroot, Kroot Hound

10 Kroot, Kroot Hound

 

Skyray, Black Sun Filter

Skyray, Black Sun Filter

3 Broadsides with HYMP.

 

I’ve avoided Broadsides in my lists so far, but I really can’t do so any longer, they’re just too good. As a counter to serpent spam they are OK, the problem is range. The serpents can just hold back and shoot shield at the Broadsides…. but I guess if they do that, the Skyrays can get them! I also don’t have the points for Drones on the Broadsides making them very vulnerable to AP2 shots.

 

So there you have them – what do you think?  I will of course report back on how they go at the weekend.

 

EYIG