Mech Tau

So the first list I want to go through is a Mech Tau list.

I’ve always tried to build “all comer” lists with my Tau armies. Tau were the army I took to most tournaments all the way through 5^th, and in the first few months of 6^th, and I still think an all comer army is the way to go for tournament. The problem has been in 6^th that building an all comers list is harder. The sheer variety of armies, with allies thrown in, and of course flyers has made it much harder. However, of all the Codices in 6^th, I think Tau has the best chance of doing this… so let’s see.

This is going to be a pretty detailed post, so you might want to get a cup of tea. What I’m trying to do is run through my thought process when creating the list so when you rip it apart you know why I’ve included the units I included, and can suggest alternatives. The hope is that I can refine the list with your help.

The list is a Mechanised one. I’ve always liked the thought of a Mech Tau List, and that’s what I started out with. However, I eventually came to the conclusion that suits were better, and resorted to playing a very suit heavy list towards the end of 5^th. When 6^th came along I started playing with full squads of fire warriors in D’fish again, and, with marker light support, had some success with Fish of Fury tactics. Could this work in in the new ‘dex?

To be clear I’m not restricting this list to no suits at all, that would be silly. However, it has to be mobile and fluid in its play style. What I want to avoid is a static gunline list that stands and shoots. So the core of the list will be Fire Warriors in D’fish who press forward, jump out and kill stuff.

I briefly thought about using Pathfinders in this role. With a Pulse Accelerator Drone they can double tap out to 24”, and they can taks special weapons (Rail Rifles and/or Ion cannons). However, I decided that there were big draw backs – they are more expensive, they only have a 5+ armour save, and most importantly they don’t score, meaning you would need to take more troops, making it an even more expensive option. So Fire Warriors it is.

First decision is on Pulse Rifles or Pulse Carbines for the Fire Warriors. In this role I think Pulse Carbines are better. Being able to double tap at 18” allows you a little more flexibility. The only reason to take Pulse Rifles is if you plan to take an Ethereal with you to give the Fire Warriors another shot at half range. I must admit a squad of Fire Warriors jumping out of their ‘Fish and shooting 36 shots at 15” is tempting, however the idea with this list is that you will be using your Fire Warriors aggressively and pushing them forward. By including an Ethereal you’re putting him in harm’s way, and risk giving away that extra Victory Point.

So, for now I’ll go with Fire Warriors with Pulse Carbines. The only other upgrade I might consider is a Shas’ui. Leadership 8 is better than leadership 7!

Next up the Devilfish. I plan to keep the Gun Drones. The reason is 2 fold, first I can move the D‘fish 6” and fire both the Drones and the Burst Cannon (the Drones count as passengers, an SMS is another weapons system that would need to snap shot), and secondly you can get the Drones off and use them to give your Fire Warriors a cover save or to block assaults. The only other upgrades I’ll give them are Sensor Spines and a Disruption Pod. For 5pts, being able to ignore cover is great for D’fish that press forward! D’pods on ‘fish are controversial, and if they were still stopped working under 12”, I wouldn’t take them. But an “always on” 4+ save (often 3+) is too good to pass up, even at 15pts.

If points allow I might be tempted by Flechette Dischargers, or Point Defence Targeting Relays. I will be using the ‘fish to block assaults after all, and the more they can do to discourage assaults the better, but in reality these upgrades will do minimal damage to assaulting squads.

So 12 Fire Warriors and a ‘Fish with Spines and D’pod is 208pts. I’ll take 3 of them for now. But that’s not enough scoring so I’ll also take two 10 man squads of Kroot with a Kroot Hound in each giving them acute sense if I decide to outflank. Five reasonably mobile scoring units is OK, especially when 3 of them are in AV12 skimmers.

The Fire Warriors will kick out 72 S5 shots, which makes them reasonably flexible. They can deal with hordes reasonably well, and can pile wounds on MEQ and TEQ, hoping for failed saves. They can deal with light vehicles in a pinch. However, they can’t deal well with Monstrous Creatures, Flyers or, at all, with heavier armour. They are also BS3 so half those shots will miss! So we need some marker lights and some heavy weapons.

First Marker Lights. As explained in my article on Maker Lights, if points allow, I would like to take a unit of Pathfinders, a unit of Marker Drones and a Skyray. This gives me multiple platforms, one that is cheap, but will most probably die turn one (Pathfinders), one that is a little more survivable (the Drones), and one I can use to start a Marker Light Chain Reaction if needed (the Skyray), and more interestingly can start a Skyfire Marker Light Chain Reaction. So lets take 8 naked Pathfinders, 10 Marker Drones and a Skyray with D’pods and Black Sun Filter.

That would bring points up to 1,113, and we have dealt with inaccuracy across the board, can threaten Flyers, and have 6 S8 shots to threaten heavier armour and Monstrous Creatures. However, we need more heavy weapons and more anti flyer.

At this point I need to make a decision, the most obvious answer is to take 3 Skyfire Broadsides with HYMPs, 12 missile drones, and stick them behind an Aegis Defence Line with a Puretide Commander on a Quad Gun. That would give me excellent anti flyer, would murder Monstrous Creatures (whether flying or on the ground) and deal with anything up to (at a pinch) AV13. However, the ADL and the Broadsides “anchor” the army and move away from the mobile Mech “theme”, and the unit (with the ADL and quad gun) costs 437pts!

So while it’s a very effective unit, and fits the bill perfectly, I’ll skip it for the sake of the theme (!). So lets take another Skyray, and again for the sake of the theme, a Railhead, with Submunitions, a D’pod and Longstirke. This gives me a reasonable chance to kill heavy armour at range, and another threat to flyers. In fact there are now 3 threats to Flyers. The 2 Skyrays and then the Railgun, guided by the Skyray’s, Skyfire Maker Lights, or if necessary I could bring in the Marker Drones, and use the Skyray’s Marker Lights to start a Chain Reaction.

So that brings us to 1,434pts. I have deliberately left the HQ and Elite slots till last as they’re what a Tau Cadre uses to fill gaps. So lets review the list I have at the moment, and see what gaps need plugging.

12 Fire Warriors, Devilfish, D’pod, sensor spines

10 Kroot, 1 Kroot Hound

8 Pathfinders

10 Marker Drones

Skyray, Black Sun Filter, D’pod

Hammer Head with Railgun, Submunitions, Longstrike, D’pod

For a total of 1,434pts.

So lets review the threats Abuse Puppy talked about in his article

· Multiple Flyers - Can I deal with 2-3 AV12 flyers, or 3 – 4 AV11 ones – i.e. Vendettas, Night Scythes or Stormravens. Or 2 Winged Hive Tyrants? Can your army shoot them down, or can your army ignore them and still compete?

Almost … ! The Skyrays are pretty Resilient (AV13, with at least a 4+ cover save) so should survive a Flyer alpha strike, and be able to fire back. Twelve BS5 S8 missiles have a reasonable chance of killing 2 AV12 flyers in one round of shooting. With a couple of Marker Light hits, the Railhead has a pretty good chance of doing the same. I’m reasonably confident I can take down 2 Flying Hive Tyrants before they can get me. Bloodthirsters might be trickier, with their invulnerable saves.

· Guard Blobs. Can I kill 40+ T3 models, who may have FNP, or a 2+ cover save?

I’ve got lots of Marker Lights to strip cover, and volume of fire from the Fire Warriors. Combined with the HH’s submunition I’m reasonably confident I can kill a blob.

· Deep Strikers. Can I deal with 3-4 drop pods in your face turn one, or maybe Deathwing?

Hmm. Might need to work on this one! A couple of Ironclads coming out of Drop pods are a worry. Not so worried about marines or terminators as I have volume of fire to kill them, however my vehicles would be very vulnerable to podding melta guns. I’ve got a couple of Kroot Squads to bubble wrap them, but it’s not really enough.

· MEQ Horde. Can I kill 60+ marine that are advancing on your objectives?

The Fire Warriors will help, but not really.

· Monstrous Creatures. Can I kill 3 Tervigons?.

Hmmmm, not really. I could probably kill one by combining both Skyrays, but what about the Winged Hive Tyrants, and the other 2 Tervigons?

· Deathstars. Can I kill a squad of TH/SS Terminators – Nob Bikers – Paladins – Harliestars? What about a squad of Wraiths with a destroyer lord tanking wounds up front, while not quite a deathstar, he’s probably got 2 more of them!

Reasonably confident here. With Marker Light support the Fire Warriors provide huge volume of fire. With 6 marker lights I can put 40 wounds on T4 models.

· Mech. Can I kill 3-4 AV11-12 Vehicles?

Depends if they also have flyers! If not, then I should be OK as the Skyrays will deal with them. However, if I need to save the Skyrays seekers for Flyers….! So a guard army with 3 Vendettas and 3-4 AV12 Chassis would be a problem. So the answer is “no”!

· Hordes. Can I kill enough orks to stop being overwhelmed by a green tide – can you kill enough Seekers or Khorne Hounds to stop them wiping you turn 3?

Again, reasonably confident here with the Fire Warriors’ torrent of fire.

· AV13 and 14. Land Raiders, but more common, at least in UK based Tournaments, 3 Annihilation Barges.

Longstrikes HH helps here, but the answer is not really! Again, especially if there are flyers, so a typical Necron list of 3 Anihillation Barges, and 3-4 Night Scythes would be a problem.

So I need to boost my anti MEQ, anti Heavy and Light Armour and my anti Monstrous Creature. I also need a more effective way to deal with deep strikers, and if I can boost my anti flyer that would be good… oh and I still need an HQ!

Happily, I have a choice between Riptides and XV8s, sadly I only have about 400pts to play with!

First XV8’s, with the new FAQ clarifying that they can take single weapons, without being twin linked, they are even more flexible. A squad of Double Pod Deathrains kicks out 12 s7 shots per turn. With 2 Marker Lights, that should put 6-7 wounds on a Tervigon, or kill a Chimera. Two more Marker Lights and the Chimera doesn’t get a cover save. If they can pick up 2 Skyfire Marker Lights from the Skyrays, then they have a pretty good chance of taking down an AV11 Flyer, and should at least take a couple of hull points off an AV12 one.

If I take another squad of XV8s and kit them out with a plasma rifle and a fusion blaster each that will also help with anti MEQ and TEQ. At close range it can deal with Heavy Armour and MC’s. If I give them Early Warning Overrides, then they would also help with deterring close deep strikers.

Finally, I need an HQ. An XV8 Commander to support the suits is the obvious choice. Give him the Iridium Armour to tank wounds, the Puretide chip to give the Deathrains Monster Hunter and Tank Hunter, and a Command and Control Node and Multi Spectrum Sensor Suite to make all the pods twin linked, and give them Ignores Cover. Finally, a Drone Controller so he can attach to the Marker Drones and boost their BS if necessary. Almost forget…he also needs some weapons. It’s got to be a Plasma Rifle and a Fusion Blaster to take advantage of his BS5!

The way I see these suits operating is as close support for the Fire Warriors, advancing with the Devilfish, hiding behind them, jumping out to shoot stuff, and then using their thrust move to hide again.

Sadly this takes me way over points. What can I drop? Well, with taking the 2^ndSkyray I have additional marker light support, and with the commander taking the Drone Controller he can attach to the Drones making them BS5, and twin linked. If I drop the pathfinders, and 3 Fire Warriors, that comes to 1,844pts, room for another Kroot!

Next Riptides. I could take 2 of them with Fusion Blasters, Ion Accelerators, Early Warning Overrides and Velocity Trackers. This pretty much gives me an answer to all the issues! I can drop S8 AP2 pie plates on MEQ and TEQ, shoot MC’s (flying or otherwise) with 6 S7 AP2 shots and (hopefully!) drop S9 AP2 Ordinance pie plates on armour. I can intercept flyers, and anything that wants to deep strike close will eat S8 AP2 large blasts.

As an HQ I think I might take an Ethereal. The XV8 Commander doesn’t really synergise with the Riptides in the same was as he does with the XV8s, he helps, but not as much. Also, he’s way more expensive than the Commander and Riptides are not cheap! The Ethereal would go in with the Firewarriors, so I would swap the Pulse Carbines for Pulse Rifles. That also gives me the option of hanging back and shooting stuff at a distance. The other change I might make is to take out the Marker Drones. Without the chance to boost their BS with the Commander they’re not nearly as attractive. I’ll drop them for 2 squads of Pathfinders. By dropping a couple of Fire Warriors (need to drop one anyway to make room for the Ethereal in a D’fish) that brings me to 1,845pts, room for another Kroot Hound!

So, with XV8’s it looks like this

Commander, Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, Iridium Armour, Puretide Chip, Drone Controller, Command and Control Node and Multi Spectrum Sensor

3 XV8s with 2 Missile Pods Each

3 XV8’s with a Plasma Rifle, a Fusion Blaster and an Early Warring Override each

11 Fire Warriors, Devilfish, D’pod, sensor spines

11 Kroot, 1 Kroot Hound

10 Kroot, 1 Kroot Hound

10 Marker Drones

Skyray, Black Sun Filter, D’pod

Hammer Head with Railgun, Submunitions, Longstrike, D’pod

With Riptides it looks like this

Ethereal

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

11 Fire Warriors, Devilfish, D’pod, sensor spines

12 Fire Warriors, Devilfish, D’pod, sensor spines

10 Kroot, 2 Kroot Hounds

10 Kroot, 1 Kroot Hound

8 pathfinders

9 Pathfinders

Skyray, Black Sun Filter, D’pod

Hammer Head with Railgun, Submunitions, Longstrike, D’pod

Frankly, I’m not sure which is best – thoughts?

EYIG

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