Heavy armor, Flyers and You: Tau in 6e

A Couple of builds led by a Solid HQ Choice are emerging.

Tau are masters of shooting, Kroot, Firewarriors all have the ability to pour out torrents of fire to lay into infantry so I’ll skip that.  I want to talk about the Tau’s new weakness, heavy armor and heavy (AV 12 flyers).  Yes the masters of Landraider-slaying are no longer.

1) HQ with Broadside Detachment.

This is a great combo unit against flyers and medium to low armor.

Take a full broadside team with the high yield missiles and interceptor.

Take an HQ with Iridium Armor and the Puretide Chip and missile as well.

Also take a full complement of Missile drones.

This means when a flyers, Drop Wolves, etc comes in you can shoot 16 twinlinked missiles at them.  Sure you need a 6 to hit, but it’s twinlinked and you can reroll failed pens.

2) The Assassin with Passion Shadowsun!

Shadowsun is even better in 6e.

While Tau can get Melta from Piranhas, Crisis Suits or Riptides, you have to be close enough to make it count.  Shadowsun can infiltrate.  In fact all Stealth Suits can infiltrate.  Also, they can take Target Lock.

As deployment zones are not that huge armor tends to clump up.

Take a maximum Stealth Squad with 2 Melta Guns and Target Locks (200) points.  Join Shadowsun (with her C&C drone of course).  You start 18 inches away unless you can grab some great cover so it’s not a true melta shot, but you can probably side armor shot 3-4 targets, with a reroll from the drone.  Additionally those Strength 5 shots of which you have 20 are excellent for laying into troops.

For added lols take the Serg/Vre upgrade on a Burst Cannon with the markerlight and target lock..

Paint another armored target.  In your Fast Attack take a Piranha with 2 Seeker Missiles who can move 30 inches and use the Markerlight to fire it.

Pathfinders and 6e

So I denounced them last post.

Here's why I was wrong.
Yes, 4 sexy sexy markerlight drones for 56 points is amazing.

Pathfinders come in packs of 4, like a good micro-brew with Markerlights for 44 points each.

So it's better.

Also BS3 Pathfinders vs BS2 Drones.

The Pathfinder weapons are kind of bad, and the drones are too limited to be useful, but dang, 11 point Markerlight @ BS3? 
Thanks Great Good!

Tau are the New Sexy in 6e (Tau Tips)

Tau and You in 6th Edition

Executive Summary for Non-Tau players: Take Land Raiders.

The days of 9 10/1 shots are over.

However, I'll take it as there are now so many, many options.

The Broadside is dead, long live the broadside.

Nerfed down to 8/1 weapons, they now are missile batteries.

High Yield Missile Batteries + Smart Missile Systems + Missile Drones = Holy SHIT THAT'S A LOT OF MISSILES!

Unfortunately this means a choice between Missile Batteries and Hammerheads.

Hammerheads are the new sexy

10/1 with a 1 point Black Sun Filter and a Submuntion upgrade for 5 points.

They're the new AV 13/14 killer.

Set us up the Bomb

Farsight is back. 

Why is this important?  His 7 Samurai can take unique (and kind of weird) support systems.

Also there is one called the Donkey Punch, no seriously.  Onager Gauntlet, you're getting Donkey Punched.

Ones that let the unit reroll all to hit if the bearer doesn't shoot or one that denies cover saves, again if the person doesn't shoot.

And here's the sexy, one of them lets me deny shooting to a squad within 12 inches.

And here's the C-c-c-combo:

Farsight's Minion denies your ability to shoot.

Vespids Assault (after shooting AP3 guns.)   You can't over watch.  Hammer of Wrath from the Vespid, I6 Attacks and hit and run.

If you see Farsight and a massed amount of Vespid you are about to lose Close Combat against Tau.

You've lost close Combat against the Tau and now you have to live with that.  See you Space Cowboy.

Anti-Air

Not great. And by not great I mean balanced.  Interceptor + Skyfire is really, unkind vs flyers (and yes the Dragon is OP, we all know that) but gunning down your flyer before you get to use it is lame.

Tau can take systems to get Interceptor or Skyfire, but it's really hard to take both.  In fact the only Units who can take both are HQ Suits and the Riptide.  And that's a waste.

Pathifinder
Are bad.  And that's okay.  All the categories have great stuff, Pathfinders have really overpriced weapons.

Kroot
Are typo'd the italic text says their rifle is close combat weapons but they've lost a point of strength and an attack in close combat.  They're great for outflanking Krootoxs or once they can take cheaper Space Marine HQs, but for now, either take all of them or none.

-Gundam John

Battlegrounds 500 Batrep

This was one of the best tournaments I played in as skill is more important at low levels and it didn't last 12 hours!

Recap: Tabled 3 Opponents.  Got tabled once


Grats to Ben on his victory!
Today was awesome.

Game 1: 21 Minutes
Vic’s Tau
Deployment: Hammer/Anvil with me going first and taking the high ground and 5 objectives

You know it’s going to be an easy match when I correct my opponent’s illegal list and help make it better.
His list: 6 Firewarriors, 1 Hammerhead, Kroot, 2 man team of C. Suits with 2 drones, 1 suicide suit

Turn 1:  Move up the Razorbacks to get line of fire on the drones, Split fire off the lascannons dropping the templates on the Kroot and removing the Hammerhead quickly.
Inflict 18 wounds on the Kroot but he makes enough cover saves to have some Kroot left.
Kill the two drones.

Leadership time, of which the Tau are legendary and now is no exception!  
The Suits fail and flee off the board.
The Kroot run 11 inches to safety off the board.

His suit shows up, scatters, melta shots my Razor, misses and then get 3 inches in assault away.
I disembark 1 troop on to an objective and they open up on the suit who explodes.

The Heavy Weapons finish off the firewarriors.

Vic went on to get 1st in the 3rd bracket.  I then told him my philosophy on the Tau in 6e.  He took notes.

Game 2: Chaos Marines 12 inch deployment, 2 objectives.
2 Squads of Cultists, 1 Squad of Obliterators, 1 Hell Drake.

We trade fire with my missiles pound the cultist removing one squad completely by turn two.
His obliterators take out my Razors on turn 2.  And get assaulted by the Obliterators on Turn 3
I park my remaining Razor back with the back armor directly against terrain.

Turn 3 the Drake shows up.  If it had arrived turn 2, completely different story.
Turn 3, it toasts on of my Long Fang squads.
Turn 4 it takes out the top rank of the other squad leaving a missile launcher and lascannon on the bottom.
Turn 4, Assault with the obliterator finally ends and my 1 remaining Grey hunter flees right on to the objective.  More cultists are gun down.
Turn 5
The Drake vectors and flames my Razor.  The Razor survived!  This wins the game.
I put a Lascannon up it’s back side and it dies.  My Razorback heavy bolters down the last Obliterator and with 3 Cultists left on the board he concedes.  This was the tightest match of the day.

Game 3: 
It happened.  

Game 4
Tyranids
List: Pooper, the Flyer, 11 Termegants.
I deployed like shit with my Long Fangs.  I deserved to lose this game and I did.  It was the Tyranid Flyer and the one that poops Termegants.  I only lost by 100 victory points as the Termegants I set on fire counted double.  As plucky as the Space Marines were, I got tabled.

Game 5  12 inch deploy, 3 objectives
Chaos
This was the most balanced match of the day.  He had a Razorback with 7 dudes, a Champion with a Plasma Gun, Cultists, Dread-Rifleman, A Terminator HQ.

Turn 1, I immobilize his Dreadnought and take the Havoc Launcher off the Razorback while sniping Cultists.

Synopsis.  I sneak my Razorback around, set fire to all the cultists while my heavy weapons take out his Chaos Marines.  My Long Fangs and his Dread exchange fire for 5 rounds until I glance it to death.
With my Razorback in his backfield holding the objective safe from all fire table him.

Tau and Space Wolves Allies @ 1850

The Tau shooting was doing great.  But against Marines, it needed more AP3.
Plasma Suits are point inefficient and require up-close and personal engagement and Markerlight Support to be useful.  Enter Space Marines!  Specifically the Space Wolves as their Psychic Powers are the most shooty!


ShadowSun and the Ethereal mean the army stays on the board and it has 8 scoring units!
 
Any feedback is welcome!

List Tau-Marine Hybrid 1850

HQ 1
1 Shadowsun

HQ 2  
Ethereal with 9 man Firewarrior Squad

Aegis Defence Line
 Quad Gun

Troops
Squad 1 11 FireWarriors
Squad 2 11 FireWarriors
Squad 3 11 FireWarriors
Squad 4 11 FireWarriors
Squad 5 11 FireWarriors
Squad 6 11 FireWarriors

Fast Attack 16 Pathfinders
 Devilfish w/ Disruption Pod

Heavy 1
Broadside W Targeting Array
Broadside W Targeting Array
HWBSF + HWDC + 1 Shield Drones

Heavy 2
Broadside W Targeting Array
Broadside W Targeting Array
HWBSF + HWDC + 1 Shield Drones

Space Wolves
Rune Priest with:, Living Lightning, Jaws of the World Wolf
5 Grey Hunters
Long Fangs with 4 Plasma Cannon

WIP Iron Hand Apothecary

Picked up the GW apothecary.
It's extremely lackluster.
And I decided, old Gundam John can do better.

It's Mad-Scientist meets Surgeon.

Instead of a normal Chain Sword or Chain Axe it has a circular saw arm great for operating or melee!
I sliced off the heat vents from the backpack and replaced it with a drill on one side as 41st Millennium surgery isn't delicate and it has a nice "Repo" feel.  For the monitor/sensor I used a Target Lock from the Tau empire.  The other arm is magnetized.

Now to think about the legs and find an appropriate head.
Any ideas?

Tau Expansion: Allies

Expansion

In 6e, the Tau Codex is rocking.

But it suffers from Older Codex-itis at high point levels.
Though by high point I mean over 1500 but below true 2000.

I've posted my list building else prior, so here's what I'm using for allies:

Codex Shopped Vanilla Marines, Blood Angels, Eldar, Dark Angels and finally came to Space Wolves.

Why Space Wolves?
Aside from being 1 point cheaper than their brethern they have great heavy support.

Madness you may cry from behind your keyboard, Tau have amazing Heavy Support!

Kind of.  Hammerheads are now good with a 2+ save but with the wane of mech on the table everyone wants to burst their melta all over my armor 13.

Broadsides are still amazing, 10/1 will never be bad.  In 5e I packed everyone I owned into a list.
But after they Demech your opponent or blast the Land Raider or Monolith back to the Craftworld, they're really expensive snipers with 1 shot each.  The Hammerhead's pie plate is better but not twinlinked.

I've scaled down from 3 squads of 2 because there is just less armor to nuke. 

What Tau are lacking in a point efficent manner is MeQ killing power.

Plasma-Flamer or Plasma Missile suits are great, but for the plasma to be effective you need to be up closer than you want.

64 Points per 2 shots of Plasma for a Crisis Suit @ 12 inches away.

That's expensive.  Which is Why Space Wolves!

Cause they can take Plasma Cannons in a Dev Squad.
Also a Librarian with Jaws of the World Wolf and Living Lightning.

So instead of taking an ally that can give me assault protection, I'm taking an ally for more shooting.

Hail Beserker Space Viking Werewolves!