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H3ct0r wrote:In my 1500 point list I currently have 6 broadsides and 2 teams of Pathfinders (8 man strong), one of my favorite tactics I have found is taking a target lock on 2 of the Broadsides in each team and split firing at up to 6 targets. In fact, If I am not mistaken you can markerlight a target and by firing one Broadside at it, the whole team benefits from things such as BS increases. These two in tandem make your Broadsides far more effective and usually eliminates the possibility of overkill, ensuring that each damage result is affecting a fresh target.

I am also a big advocate of "Aggro Tau". An aggressive Tau army where you rush your opponent can be very effective, although I have more recently found that an army where you can stand back and deal with menacing targets at range, allowing you to follow up with a rush to deal with the remainders is more effective and adaptable.

Not sure what your are talking about. Are you refering to a glitch in the rules that allows the whole team to benefit from the effect when only one is firing at the marked unit?
I can see the argument in how the rule is written but I would have a hard time trying to apply such to a game. IHMO, It seems exploitive.
What units do you fill out the rest of the army with? How do you prefer to deploy them?


As far as the Aggro-tau go- Yeah I often deploy somewhat forward, but it depends on which army I am facing. Against Eldar, many players are used to the Tau falling back. I move forward and see if I can immobilize the Wave Serps and get units on the back door to force the emergency disembarkation. The emergency disembarkation leaves even marines helpless, but you have to block 3 sides to pull this off.

Look forward to hearing more about your tactics.

Later

I've just started playing Tau again. But I use a mix.

Gunline-Make the opponent make tons of saves from railrifes

Broadside spam-Field 4-6 of them in order to take out the beasties

Mech-Piranha's for anti tank and to take shots and Hammerheads with railguns that are more versatile(solid and submunition)

Crisis suits- MP, PR, and multi-tracker.


This is just my build. I add to or remove from depending on the size of the game(generally play 2.5-3k)

I've finally pulled my tau back off the shelves, and have had some great success.

I run a mostly mech build with no kroot or piranhas

2498 Points

HQ---------
2x Shas'el and Body guard - Both FireKnife


Elites---------
2x Deathrain/Flamer (2 MP, Flamer) Squad of 2 - One Team leader w/ TL
4 Man Stealth Team w/ Targeting Arrays

Troops------------
4x 10 man Firewarriors w/ Shas'ui in Warfish (SMS, Disrupt Pods, Multi-Tracker, Target Array)
One 10man Firewarrior Team w/ Shas'ui (no fish)

Fast Attack---------
6 man Pathfinder team w/ Shas'ui and Warfish

Heavy----------
2 Broadsides w/ Shield Generators (Team Leader w/ TL and 2 shield drones)
2x Railheads w/ Burst Cannons, Disrupt Pods, and Multi-Trackers

Mobility is great and so is the aggressive nature. I base my fish on the tall stand so I can still Fish-O-Fury if I need to. Real killing power is in the Crisis suits and Stealth Suits. I can spread the board or castle as needed. I can also rush or play defense, it is just really versatile and can adapt quickly.

One of the best tactics I use is what I call death pods. I run a Fireknife team behind a Devilfish. When the devilfish unloads, I use all three units to devastate whatever is nearby. Running two of the sets of units up the flanks or up the middle can really cripple an opponent's forward momentum.

Hey focusedfire, the list in full is here http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/302892.page . It should explain the basics of how I run the list, for example I run the death pods tactic that Omega_Warlord here runs as well, although it is to provide mutual survivability rather than overwhelming fire on a single target.

Deployment is usually Broadsides and Pathfinders in cover or behind other units in cover, Kroot doing whatever I need at the time (giving cover, blocking a flank, holding an objective, outflanking etc...) and Fire Warriors with the Crisis suits in cover, ready to either embark on transports and get moving on turn one or to fire for a while first.

In regards to the Markerlight trick, I wouldn't go so far as to call it exploitative. To me it is just one of the things the rules allow, nothing broken but VERY very useful when up against a multitude of enemy vehicles etc...

If we are really getting into specific tactics I may have some I could share, at least on the subjects of cover, split firing, markerlight usage and some very basic blocking/unit synergy. I should post something up later.

Edit to fix the link

Snowman90 wrote:I've just started playing Tau again. But I use a mix.

Gunline-Make the opponent make tons of saves from railrifes

Broadside spam-Field 4-6 of them in order to take out the beasties

Mech-Piranha's for anti tank and to take shots and Hammerheads with railguns that are more versatile(solid and submunition)

Crisis suits- MP, PR, and multi-tracker.


This is just my build. I add to or remove from depending on the size of the game(generally play 2.5-3k)

Good to see another returning Tau player. I have a couple of quick questions for you.

1)When you say gun-line rail-rifles, "Are you talking about using Pathfinders and Sniper Drones or did you mean to say Pulse Rifles in reference to using a Fire Warrior gun-line?

2)What tactics and deployments are you finding that work for this list?

3)What would you say is you build philosophy and playstyle?

4)What do you find to be the strengths and weaknesses of your lists?

I look forward to hearing more about your strategies in detail.

Omega_Warlord wrote:I've finally pulled my tau back off the shelves, and have had some great success.

I run a mostly mech build with no kroot or piranhas

2498 Points

HQ---------
2x Shas'el and Body guard - Both FireKnife

Elites---------
2x Deathrain/Flamer (2 MP, Flamer) Squad of 2 - One Team leader w/ TL
4 Man Stealth Team w/ Targeting Arrays

Troops------------
4x 10 man Firewarriors w/ Shas'ui in Warfish (SMS, Disrupt Pods, Multi-Tracker, Target Array)
One 10man Firewarrior Team w/ Shas'ui (no fish)

Fast Attack---------
6 man Pathfinder team w/ Shas'ui and Warfish

Heavy----------
2 Broadsides w/ Shield Generators (Team Leader w/ TL and 2 shield drones)
2x Railheads w/ Burst Cannons, Disrupt Pods, and Multi-Trackers

Mobility is great and so is the aggressive nature. I base my fish on the tall stand so I can still Fish-O-Fury if I need to. Real killing power is in the Crisis suits and Stealth Suits. I can spread the board or castle as needed. I can also rush or play defense, it is just really versatile and can adapt quickly.

One of the best tactics I use is what I call death pods. I run a Fireknife team behind a Devilfish. When the devilfish unloads, I use all three units to devastate whatever is nearby. Running two of the sets of units up the flanks or up the middle can really cripple an opponent's forward momentum.

Welcome back,

Again, good to see a returning Tau player and thanks for the detailed post. This covers most of what I like to see in a post. Only thing I might ask for is what you consider the lists weak points.

Again thanks and please post more details about how you use this list and its strengths and weakneses.

Thanks

H3ct0r wrote:Hey focusedfire, the list in full is here http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/302892.page . It should explain the basics of how I run the list, for example I run the death pods tactic that Omega_Warlord here runs as well, although it is to provide mutual survivability rather than overwhelming fire on a single target.

Deployment is usually Broadsides and Pathfinders in cover or behind other units in cover, Kroot doing whatever I need at the time (giving cover, blocking a flank, holding an objective, outflanking etc...) and Fire Warriors with the Crisis suits in cover, ready to either embark on transports and get moving on turn one or to fire for a while first.

In regards to the Markerlight trick, I wouldn't go so far as to call it exploitative. To me it is just one of the things the rules allow, nothing broken but VERY very useful when up against a multitude of enemy vehicles etc...

If we are really getting into specific tactics I may have some I could share, at least on the subjects of cover, split firing, markerlight usage and some very basic blocking/unit synergy. I should post something up later.

Edit to fix the link

Thanks H3ctor, what you are proposing to post are the things that I am looking for. If a tactic hasn't already been covered or if you can provide new information on an existing tactic then please post it here. I am sure that many if not most current Tau players are familiar with line-blocking and splitting fire, but it is good to have these spelled out for those who may not be familiar or are looking for more information on how these tactics are holding up as the game changes.

I started the threas off by discussing some of the build philosophies. I do not wish to limit people to these but offered them up as to the paths and focus of previous lists for use as a reference tool and hopefully to encourage new philosophies and tactics. This is why I am asking for Tau Players to please add to this thread.

Again, thanks and look forward to your assessment of the tactics you mentioned. The only thing that I ask is that posters give both the Pro's and Con,s of any tactic so that people that try them don't get nasty suprises.

focusedfire wrote:

Snowman90 wrote:I've just started playing Tau again. But I use a mix.

Gunline-Make the opponent make tons of saves from railrifes

Broadside spam-Field 4-6 of them in order to take out the beasties

Mech-Piranha's for anti tank and to take shots and Hammerheads with railguns that are more versatile(solid and submunition)

Crisis suits- MP, PR, and multi-tracker.


This is just my build. I add to or remove from depending on the size of the game(generally play 2.5-3k)

Good to see another returning Tau player. I have a couple of quick questions for you.

1)When you say gun-line rail-rifles, "Are you talking about using Pathfinders and Sniper Drones or did you mean to say Pulse Rifles in reference to using a Fire Warrior gun-line?

2)What tactics and deployments are you finding that work for this list?

3)What would you say is you build philosophy and playstyle?

4)What do you find to be the strengths and weaknesses of your lists?

I look forward to hearing more about your strategies in detail.

1. I ment Pulse rifles. Had a brain cramp, it happens more often than I'd like.

2.Generally I use my armor to pull the big shots. I dont expect them to make it past the first, or maybe second round. If they do, thats even better, I just dont count on them making it. Even if they do get blown up, you still pulled the attention away from your other heavy hitters to strike back.

3.Honestly, I dont understand what your asking with that one.

4.The strengths would be that you can lay down tons of fire in a short time(I've wiped the board by the end of turn 3). You dont really have to pick and choose your targets because you have so much firepower that you can just take out the biggest part of squads, then move on. Come back and clean up later. The weakness would be if the opponent makes it to your gunline, its going to be hard as hell to fight it off. But thats what i use my kroot for. So i can hold up certain squads in assault that way they dont get into my line before i want them to. It's worked out well so far for me. But that may also be just the way i play. My group of players adapt the strategy around the list, not the other way around. I mean when I play, I get a basic outline of what i want to do. But as to a indepth strategy, I dont have one past first turn.



EDIT: going to play a 2500 Tau IG nightfight in about a hour. In the next day or so, I'll put my list up, and how it worked out. If you'd like you can take a peek at it, and ask some questions or whatnot

The real weakness of the list is it's slight reliance on crisis suits. I play a buddy of mine rather regularly and once he figured out that I can only make so many 4+ cover save against rockets and lascannons, I started winning a lot less. I draw with him very often though.

Another issue I face is target saturation, but I don't know if it is the list or just my local meta-game.

Target saturation would be the example of a guy who has a full mech guard lists with something like 29 or 30 tanks (mostly chimeras), or the Tyranid guy with a lot of big bugs, most of which are rather speedy. I can take down the big hitters quickly but there are so many chimeras or Trygons/Tervigons that I can't effectively deal with them before they isolate parts of my army.

My mobility really helps me out of these situations, but I find I lose a turn or two of shooting the priority targets in doing so. I still win the majority of my games, I just don't clear the table like I used to in 4th ed.

Has anyone tried to spam rail-rifles? I know that they are expensive weapons and are generally regarded as inferior weapons but you can pack 18 of them into a list which with no markerlight support means you are killing 7.5 MEQs a turn when not in cover.

I haven't run it yet, but I'm going to give it a try when I pull my Tau off the shelf next month

Sgt_Scruffy wrote:Has anyone tried to spam rail-rifles? I know that they are expensive weapons and are generally regarded as inferior weapons but you can pack 18 of them into a list which with no markerlight support means you are killing 7.5 MEQs a turn when not in cover.

I haven't run it yet, but I'm going to give it a try when I pull my Tau off the shelf next month

Actually, most people think the Rail Rifles are pretty good, they just don't like what they lose to get them.

My experience with spamming the Rail Rifles was that it is a classic trade of increased firepower for a corresponding loss of mobility. It works well when teamed with Broadsides but the increased costs limit other parts of the army. They would work well with deep striking fusion suits except that, usually by the time the Crisis teams come in from reserve the Gun-line is already under assault. I didn't like the loss of mobility, it wasn't my style.

Currently I am working on a Vespid list in an effort to bring a combination of mobility, Fire power and increased deployment options. Everyone tries to deny the inevitable, that most enemies will get into assault range. I am working on a way of exploiting this rush to get into assault range by making a list capable of both the counter-punching to take out those units and the mobility to turn the game onto the long edges.

The Vespid list I am working on is over here:http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/304732.page

Please keep in mind that it is a work in progress.

I've posted a list up in the Army List section for a rail rifle heavy list. It is a hybrid list - tell me what you think.

I've just put a batrep up of a variance of my list against some marines. Click

I've noticed a lot of people breaking out old Tau armies and running purist footsloggers or full mech lists lately.

I want to ask, "Have any of you have noticed anything similar?"

If so, "Are there any new/old builds that have suprised anyone?

I wrote a tau list built with commander O-Shovah in mind. I know hes shunned, but he suits what I plan to do.

Pretty much a firewarrior/ninja tau crysis battlesuit deepstrike spam supported by a hammerhead and some broad sides. It looks like its going to work incredibley well. Advanced stabilization system on broadsides really is the icing on the cake. Ive always wished for a heavy weapons team i can move and fire with.