Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.
2012/06/15 08:01:04
Subject: 2K Competitive - Mechguards vs Crisis Tau (Completed)
My next battle report, and maybe my last one before 6th edition, will be a homage to an army that I haven't played with in quite some time....my mechanized Imperial Guards. My opponent this time will be Gus' Tau. I've played against Gus' Tau a couple of times now. In my first battle against him ever (with my Purifier Grey Knights), the result was very decisive (battle report here). We then played again (my Purifiers against his Tau) at the Ard Boyz tournament (battle report here) to what was a very tight game. I'm not sure what it is, but Gus' Tau always give me some problems, both with his dice and his generalship. This time, however, will he be able to handle my powerful guards?
We will be using regular book missions for this game.
Hammerhead - Railgun, Multi-Tracker, Disruption Pod
Hammerhead - Railgun, Multi-Tracker, Disruption Pod
3x Broadsides - Advanced Stabilization System (Slow and Purposeful), 1 Team-Leader with Target Lock and 2x Shield Drones
This will be an awesome one...I'm not too fond of the Tau list, but all those Missile Pods will give the IG a run for their money. Can't wait to see the outcome!
Imperial Guards: Even though I have scary firepower, this isn't going to be an easy battle for me. Why? Take a look at the terrain we will be playing on.
Now that's a lot of BLOS terrain for those annoying crisis suits to hide behind and do their little JSJ moves (jump-shoot-jump back behind terrain). However, my main advantage is that I have a lot of troops to take objectives with.
Gus really needs to watch out for my alpha-strike because I am willing to sacrifice my veterans to kill his suits and tanks if given the opportunity. And believe me, I will get right up in his face. A ranged fire-fight is more beneficial to my opponent. I need to flush his suits out of their hiding places....actually, no. I'm going to just ignore his suits and focus on his troops and mobility. Is that the right tactic? We shall see.
Tau: Gus has actually got a scary amount of AT that rivals that of my own. Actually, it may even be better than mine because 1) he will target the AV10 side armor of my chimeras, 2) JSJ is just such a pain in the arse and 3) pathfinders will negate my cover. If this was Annihilation, I'd actually say that I was the underdog as I feel that he can easily kill my armor. Fortunately for me, we aren't playing Kill Points so I will say that he is the underdog.
One thing that I will say, he needs to watch the Movement phase very carefully. That is because I am going to show you how my strategy of Positional Dominance will work to my benefit here. What that is is to basically play aggressively in any objectives-based games. I put him on the defensive by going all-out aggressive and bumrushing him. In the meantime, I will also be swarming the objectives and thereby establishing the more advantageous positions. If he doesn't make a play for the objectives early, he's going to be boxed in inside his own deployment zone (most likely) and won't be able to reach the objectives. If I can do that, then he can destroy all the tanks he wants. It won't matter because he won't have any of the objectives (well, 1 maybe)....
....unless he uses his kroots wisely. I think the key to breaking my Positional Dominance is what he does with his kroots.
The 3 objectives (side view of the map). We both make mistakes here. I put my objective near the edge but didn't take into account outflanking kroots. Gus then overloads that edge by putting another objective there but doesn't take into account Spearhead deployment.
I then win initiative and take the table quarter (side of the table) with the 2 objectives, leaving Gus with the side with no objectives.
My deployment. I'm actually starting 3 of the vets in the vendettas. The infantry squads will then be hopping into their (the veteran) empty chimeras on turn 1.
Oops! I left some of my multi-laser turrets at home. That's why you see a bunch of turretless chimeras here.
Gus' deployment....absolutely nada. He reserves his entire army. Kroots will out-flank.
I make my vendetta flat-out scout moves.
I don't think he tries to steal the initiative and we begin.
I know exactly where my opponent is going to bring his army in and head straight for his deployment edge.
Vendettas move flat-out again towards his left flank. I am hoping to draw some of his units this way (and away from the objectives).
Tau 1
Spoiler:
The Tau are having one last BBQ before the big battle.
Imperial Guards 2
Spoiler:
My tanks advance again. The demolisher and 1 chimera pop smokes.
My CCS (Company Command Squad) and meltavets hide behind the impassable terrain and prepare for a counter-attack. My manticores also move behind the building to get out of LOS.
Tau 2
Spoiler:
My opponent starts off well with his reserves with his first 4 units that he rolls for coming in - both railheads, the pathfinders and 1 unit of fire warriors.
His reserve dice then goes take a sh*t and nothing else comes in from reserves. Lol.
He then disembarks his gun drones from each of the devilfish.
In the Shooting phase, he is unable get through any of my cover.
Imperial Guards 3
Spoiler:
Overview of the top of Turn 3.
My CCS chimera moves 12" and out disembarks the CCS for some hot melta-luvin'.
2 vendettas move 6". 1 moves 12".
My shooting is dismal and my opponent's cover saves were .
I fire 2 manticores, 7 twin-linked lascannons, 1 demolisher blast (point-blank no cover), 4 melta shots (point-blank no cover) and several multi-lasers.
I only manage to wreck 1 railhead, stun another railhead (with 4 meltas and no cover!?!) and shake the pathfinder devilfish. Oh yeah, I also kill 1 gun drone.
Absolutely horrible shooting for me. I was expecting to incapacitate all 4 of his transports.
So now if he gets a good chunk of his reserves in next turn, I think he is still in the game.
Tau 3
Spoiler:
Not only does my opponent get good reserve rolls this turn, but he actually gets everything but 1 unit of kroots in!
Kroots outflank and come in from the side that they wanted (near my objective).
His whole entire army comes in where his units already are at. 1 suit takes 1W to dangerous terrain.
Man, this makes me wish I had brought a deathstrike....or 3.
The Tau then moves whichever vehicle that can be moved. Pathfinders disembark.
Lol. I just love the irony of it. Tau going to block off assaulty Imperial Guardsmen? Going to block off my meltavets with vehicles?
His shooting hurts 2 chimeras, immobilizing and taking off the turret of my PCS flamer squad and shaking/taking off the turret of an infantry squad.
Broadsides wreck the demolisher. 12 fire warriors rapid-fire into my CCS. I go-to-ground and escape with just 1W on my commanding officer. He also shakes their chimera.
Finally, his suits immobilize and shake my lead vendetta.
Not a bad turn of shooting actually.
Imperial Guards 4
Spoiler:
Overview of the top of Turn 4.
I've got him where I want him now....castled up in the corner and away from the objectives. However, I need to deal with his kroots as they are still a viable threat to contesting my objective (BTW, all my chimeras have heavy bolters instead of heavy flamers). Fortunately for Gus, he immobilized my flamer PCS chimera.
I do a risky maneuver. I perform a series of successful tank shocks with 3 chimeras against his kroots. Now why is it risky? Because I will be exposing the fragile AV10 side armor of my chimeras to his shooting next turn.
I then trap his kroots and destroy them because they cannot fall back towards their board edge without doubling back.
My chimeras pop smoke.
Meltavets disembark from the immobilized vendetta. My other 2 vendettas then advance 6".
The shaken CCS chimera pulls back behind cover. My meltavet chimera then advances 12" and drop off those veterans, making sure to screen out my pinned CCS.
In shooting, I stun his fire warrior devilfish.
Deathstrike fires at the railhead and kill 10 fire warriors. Meltavets (no cover) and 1 vendetta also fire at his railhead. His hot cover and my cold shooting continues as I only manage to re-stun his railhead.
The other vendetta fires at his crisis team and they would not fail a single save.
Finally, my other meltavets (from the immobilized vendetta) fire at his devilfish with no cover....I only manage to shake it.
This is getting real annoying real fast. I can't kill his tanks!
Tau 4
Spoiler:
His last unit of kroots come in and outflank on the side that he wanted.
His devilfish then tank shocks my CCS and veteran squad. The veterans break!
The rest of his forces move.
Pathfinders go to screen out my vendetta (and meltavets).
His crisis team then blows up my lead vendetta. The unit inside is alright, but the meltavets who disembarked last turn loses 2 to the explosion.
His gun drones then shoot down 1 veteran.
He wrecks my PCS chimera (the one that was immobilized and weapon destroyed last turn). Kroots then rapid-fire at them (only 4 were in range to shoot) and kill 2.
Crisis team kills another chimera. My infantry squad gets pinned.
Overall, another decent turn of shooting for my opponent as he takes down 1 vendetta and 2 chimeras as well as other minor damage. Also, he sends one of my vet squads falling back.
The Tau are proving to be highly annoying.
Imperial Guards 5
Spoiler:
Overview of the top of Turn 5.
My last mobile vendetta with veterans still in it moves flat-out towards the central objective.
A chimera tank shocks his kroots, but this time, they pass morale.
My other chimera moves 12" towards the PCS on my objective and they hop onto it.
I use another chimera to tank shock his pathfinders but they pass morale as well.
My CCS issues the order Get Back Into the Fight! onto the veterans who were falling back and they regroup, consolidating 5".
In shooting, my meltavets (who had just regrouped) blow up his devilfish (which was on top of my demolisher wreck). 1 veteran dies and my senior officer from my CCS takes another 1W.
My CCS (and perhaps my immobilized vendetta) then fires at and immobilizes his railhead as well as destroys its railgun.
I then fire 2 manticores at his kroots. To my chagrin, 1 scatters right off the board. The other only manages to kill 3.
Finally, my veterans take out his 2 gun drones who were on their way to contesting my central objective.
Tau 5
Spoiler:
As this may be the last turn, the fire warriors in devilfish go to claim the Tau objective.
Tau movement.
Kroots make a play for my objective.
His suits continue their tank-killing ways. They stun the chimera on my objective and shake an infantry chimera. Kroots then fire at my PCS chimera (the stunned one) but fail to glance it.
More carnage as the Tau wrecks another chimera, pinning the unit with the commissar (I forgot that I could kill off the sergeant for the re-roll), kill 2 from my meltavets and reduce my CCS unit to just the commander.
Pathfinders (I think) then finish off my commander.
Finally, his lone gun drone (yes, he still has 1 left) goes to contest my objective with his assault move.
Currently, he's got his objective. I've got the central objective, and he's contesting my objective. It's a tie if the game was to end now.
We roll to see whether it continues and.....
Imperial Guards 6
Spoiler:
This will be the last game turn as the store is closing.
My chimera tank shocks both the pathfinders and crisis team. Both pass morale.
Both vet squads go after his pathfinders.
My infantry squad goes after his crisis team.
Chimera unsuccessfully tries to tank shock his kroots again. My infantry squad with flamer then disembarks.
My PCS also disembarks to deal with his lone contesting gun drone.
My manticore fires at and kills 6 kroots. More importantly, they fail their morale and get pinned.
Now I don't have to worry about the kroots anymore.
The other manticore blows up his fire warriors' devilfish.
Finally and most importantly, my PCS takes out his contesting gun drone (via assault!).
Imperial Guards: Well, that was a tough game. I didn't kill a single suit or broadside! Lol.
That's the power of the Movement phase. I won this one strictly in the Movement phase. Of course it did help that I had a lot of menacing (though not very effective) threats. But if you want to win in high level play, you need to dominate in more than 1 phase. Just being good in the Shooting phase (i.e. gunline IG) is not enough anymore IMO to beat other good players with balanced lists. If you want to do well in tournament play, you need to be good in at least 2 phases IMO. That's where meltavets come in. With such short-range, you actually have to play them more aggressively and advance towards the enemy in order to do any damage. Thus, in a sense, playing veterans forces you to play a more mobile and aggressive game. It forces you to move which is what I like.
I just couldn't believe that with all my firepower, I couldn't have done more damage. And I'm glad that this wasn't a KP game.
Like I said earlier, my goal wasn't to kill off his firepower. My goal was to kill off his mobility and scoring units. Basically, I wanted to prevent him from contesting my objectives by forcing him to kill my tanks. In that regards, I think I achieved my goal.
Tau: Reserving his army was both a blessing and a curse. It did prevent me from my alpha-strike. However, it did limit his firepower as well until Turn 3. And while it did protect his units from the brunt of my damage, it also didn't give him enough time to try to reach my objectives IMO with anything but kroots. Well, one of those sneaky gun drones did make it, but otherwise, I made sure nothing else can.
Tau firepower sure is scary. Despite my AV12 wall, he still managed to destroy most of it. However, it is my opinion that he should have played his suits more aggressively and moved them to try to contest my objectives. I guess you can blame that on old Tau habits.
Man, I'm loving the fact that his pathfinders, one of the units I despised playing against most in the game (probably after Eldrad, Runes, Holofields and most things eldary ) didn't get to fire a single markerlight shot.
It was a great game and I'm sure we will be seeing each other again....only the next time, he's going to have to deal with my wraithwing crons.
This message was edited 8 times. Last update was at 2012/06/19 16:06:36
Yarrick's_Evil_Eye wrote:I love the board and all the scenery this was played on! Do you have a blog following how you made it?
Great battle report so far! You really left us hanging! Think it could go either way at this point but I still think IG will win.
The board was donated a very long time ago to the store we play at , is part of like 10 settins we have, they range from lava volcano field , iceworld, industrial , jungle , eldar/tau looking. next time i see J i will ask him to take pics for you .
2012/06/17 06:40:51
Subject: 2K Competitive - Mechguards vs Crisis Tau
AHHH being a Mech IG player myself i cant wait to see this concluded!!!!! Good report bro!
NorCon 2010 - Best Overall
NorCon 2012 - Best General
Alight in the Grimdark invitational 2012 - Best General
NorCon 2013 - Player Choice
LVO Primer Tournament 2013 - Best General
NorCal 2014 ITC associate Tournament league - 1st place Know No Mercy GT "A second chance" 2016- Best General
Clash of the Titans 2015 - 2nd place
Contest of Campions #2 2015 - Best General
RageCon GT 2015 - 2nd Place "first loser"
Clash of the Titans 2016 - 2nd place... doh "Ill get it one day"
Contest of Champions #1 2016 - Best General
Contest of Champions #3 2016 - Best General
Know No Mercy GT 2016 - Best Daemons :-) "ROCK ON DAEMONS ill miss you D thirster"
2012/06/17 07:58:44
Subject: Re:2K Competitive - Mechguards vs Crisis Tau (Completed)
Funny thing is that those legos probably cost more than the actual model itself considering some of the parts need to be special ordered.
I've also got a friend who made a thunderhawk in an Apoc game of ours completely out of lego.
Yarrick's_Evil_Eye wrote:I love the board and all the scenery this was played on! Do you have a blog following how you made it?
Great battle report so far! You really left us hanging! Think it could go either way at this point but I still think IG will win.
rodfarruguia wrote:
The board was donated a very long time ago to the store we play at , is part of like 10 settins we have, they range from lava volcano field , iceworld, industrial , jungle , eldar/tau looking. next time i see J i will ask him to take pics for you .
Yeah, that terrain belongs to the store. They've actually got some nice terrain there which you will see in many of my battle reports.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2012/06/17 14:08:54
NorCon 2010 - Best Overall
NorCon 2012 - Best General
Alight in the Grimdark invitational 2012 - Best General
NorCon 2013 - Player Choice
LVO Primer Tournament 2013 - Best General
NorCal 2014 ITC associate Tournament league - 1st place Know No Mercy GT "A second chance" 2016- Best General
Clash of the Titans 2015 - 2nd place
Contest of Campions #2 2015 - Best General
RageCon GT 2015 - 2nd Place "first loser"
Clash of the Titans 2016 - 2nd place... doh "Ill get it one day"
Contest of Champions #1 2016 - Best General
Contest of Champions #3 2016 - Best General
Know No Mercy GT 2016 - Best Daemons :-) "ROCK ON DAEMONS ill miss you D thirster"
2012/06/18 02:07:32
Subject: Re:2K Competitive - Mechguards vs Crisis Tau (Completed)
I haven't posted much on this forum yet, but I've been hanging around for a good while, and I always enjoy your battle reports, jy2. They're very nice for learning more about how the game is played at higher levels, which is invaluable to me as a newbie.
Gushing aside, a great battle on both sides. I had thought you had it wrapped up in the very beginning, when just four of his units came onto the board, but the dice gods decreed that such a battle had to be played through to its finish. I'd have though the Tau would have had a much more difficult time than that in such close quarters, particularly with what looks to be a terrain-heavy battlefield, but it looks like Gus is a much better Tau player than I am.
"Sometimes it is better to light a flamethrower than to curse the darkness."
- Terry Pratchett
Foolamancer wrote:
Gushing aside, a great battle on both sides. I had thought you had it wrapped up in the very beginning, when just four of his units came onto the board, but the dice gods decreed that such a battle had to be played through to its finish. I'd have though the Tau would have had a much more difficult time than that in such close quarters, particularly with what looks to be a terrain-heavy battlefield, but it looks like Gus is a much better Tau player than I am.
Tbh this would have been a very one sided game if some of the Chimeras had Heavy Flamers (imo they all should). Its weird to see jy2 talking about positional dominance (aka board control/holding the midfield), which is one of the least understood areas of playing IG (but one of the most important in top level play), but not having Heavy Flamers everywhere to back this up. A well built Guard list intends to move forward (or at least wants to stay mobile), which means only one weapon firing, so Heavy Bolters barely get used and it certainly seems like this was the case in this game.
2012/06/18 03:43:43
Subject: Re:2K Competitive - Mechguards vs Crisis Tau (Completed)
Masos wrote:More IG reports! But seriously great job bro.
Thanks! I haven't been playing my IG for quite a while (since the IG codex first came out until the Space Wolves dex came out) but it feels good to alternate armies once in a while for some variety.
BTW, I had wanted to go to your tourney at Redding but work prevented me from doing so.
Foolamancer wrote:I haven't posted much on this forum yet, but I've been hanging around for a good while, and I always enjoy your battle reports, jy2. They're very nice for learning more about how the game is played at higher levels, which is invaluable to me as a newbie.
Gushing aside, a great battle on both sides. I had thought you had it wrapped up in the very beginning, when just four of his units came onto the board, but the dice gods decreed that such a battle had to be played through to its finish. I'd have though the Tau would have had a much more difficult time than that in such close quarters, particularly with what looks to be a terrain-heavy battlefield, but it looks like Gus is a much better Tau player than I am.
Yeah, I though I would have destroyed those 4 measley tanks, but with disruption pods (and bad dice on my part), they were quite resilient. Thank goodness this wasn't a KP game.
Tau can definitely fight close quarters if done right. That means a lot of screening units. He used almost everything he had as screening units for his suits - the devilfish, his railheads, the gun drones, even his pathfinders! It's so ironic that they didn't fire a single markerlight shot. Lol. And I think the buildings actually helped a little, as he could JSJ from behind them. Finally, Gus is a very, very good Tau general. He made it to the Ard Boyz Semi-finals last year and recently just won one of our local tournaments. Gus is one of the few players that consistently gives me a tough fight with his Tau.
But next time, I will destroy his Tau with my crons. Heh, heh.....
Powerguy wrote:
Foolamancer wrote:
Gushing aside, a great battle on both sides. I had thought you had it wrapped up in the very beginning, when just four of his units came onto the board, but the dice gods decreed that such a battle had to be played through to its finish. I'd have though the Tau would have had a much more difficult time than that in such close quarters, particularly with what looks to be a terrain-heavy battlefield, but it looks like Gus is a much better Tau player than I am.
Tbh this would have been a very one sided game if some of the Chimeras had Heavy Flamers (imo they all should). Its weird to see jy2 talking about positional dominance (aka board control/holding the midfield), which is one of the least understood areas of playing IG (but one of the most important in top level play), but not having Heavy Flamers everywhere to back this up. A well built Guard list intends to move forward (or at least wants to stay mobile), which means only one weapon firing, so Heavy Bolters barely get used and it certainly seems like this was the case in this game.
Yeah, it is strange to play aggressively but not have heavy flamers on the chimeras. But there are reasons for this.
1) My chimeras (most of which were from ebay) came with heavy bolters on them. I wanted to be as much WYSIWYG as possible.
2) I didn't write down that they had heavy flamers in my army list. To me, it would've been cheap after seeing my opponent's army and then declaring that all my tanks had heavy flamers on them.
Next time, I will list out the heavy flamers on my army list before I know who and what I will be playing against. Then it would be kosher.
I was really happy to see the Tau hold up as well as they did! I thought the game was over when you blocked him in on Turn 2, but was impressed that he came out swinging, your bad dice aside. That was a fun report to read, and the painted models and terrain were really nice to look at. Also, that Lego Hammerhead is pretty awesome. Nice report!
Check out my Youtube channel!
2012/06/19 01:05:24
Subject: 2K Competitive - Mechguards vs Crisis Tau (Completed)
Nice paint job and rep! Its to bad only one of you got a turn 6, and the game didnt get to officially finish. It's a good thing for him you got such bad dice and weren't able to down those tanks. That's why I never take HH, i really don't like them as much as broadsides, especially in a competitive list. An for 2000 points he could have had multi tackers, another HQ, or even added a TA to those HH. Non twinlinked 4 up to hit? waste
I will...never be a memory
2012/06/19 16:29:31
Subject: 2K Competitive - Mechguards vs Crisis Tau (Completed)
mega_bassist wrote:Oh boy, I thought the Tau were done for by turn 3...looks like the Disruption Pods and bad rolling really helped!
Good job on both sides! I really enjoy Tau/IG battles
They should have been, but they're just too damn tough!
I actually quite enjoy playing against Tau. They always give me a good fight.
Brother SRM wrote:I was really happy to see the Tau hold up as well as they did! I thought the game was over when you blocked him in on Turn 2, but was impressed that he came out swinging, your bad dice aside. That was a fun report to read, and the painted models and terrain were really nice to look at. Also, that Lego Hammerhead is pretty awesome. Nice report!
I think Tau can still be very good if you know how to play them. They do have some some bad matchups (like in multiple-objectives games) and against certain builds (very fast and resilient armies like daemons, wraithwing or FNP assault BA), but they handle most of the newer armies quite well actually. I'm not surprised at all at how well they did. As a matter of fact, I thought that he could outshoot me.
Yeah, our LGS has some good terrain on it, though shooty armies will have a fit on that table due to the amount of BLOS terrain on it and the fact that it is very easy to get cover. I'm sad to admit that I actually didn't spend that much time on my guards in terms of painting, not since Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Tyranids, Grey Knights and Necrons came out after them (all are armies that I play).
darkcloud92 wrote:Nice paint job and rep! Its to bad only one of you got a turn 6, and the game didnt get to officially finish. It's a good thing for him you got such bad dice and weren't able to down those tanks. That's why I never take HH, i really don't like them as much as broadsides, especially in a competitive list. An for 2000 points he could have had multi tackers, another HQ, or even added a TA to those HH. Non twinlinked 4 up to hit? waste
We actually did play his Turn 6, but it was just such a rush-job that I didn't put it into the report. Basically, we looked at what can affect the outcome and ignored everything else. The only thing he could really do was to shoot down my contesting vendetta to go 2-1 (otherwise, I would have won 2-0). He couldn't shoot at my other 2 troop choices on objectives due to BLOS terrain and he couldn't reach them to contest.
There's a couple of advantages to taking HH. First is that they are cheaper than broadsides, thus giving him more points to take more suits and perhaps more troops. Secondly, they are the only unit with a large blast in the army. It really depends on what you want more out of in your list. I've also got a friend who runs 9 suits and 9 broadsides in his 2K list!
darkcloud92 wrote:Nice paint job and rep! Its to bad only one of you got a turn 6, and the game didnt get to officially finish. It's a good thing for him you got such bad dice and weren't able to down those tanks. That's why I never take HH, i really don't like them as much as broadsides, especially in a competitive list. An for 2000 points he could have had multi tackers, another HQ, or even added a TA to those HH. Non twinlinked 4 up to hit? waste
We actually did play his Turn 6, but it was just such a rush-job that I didn't put it into the report. Basically, we looked at what can affect the outcome and ignored everything else. The only thing he could really do was to shoot down my contesting vendetta to go 2-1 (otherwise, I would have won 2-0). He couldn't shoot at my other 2 troop choices on objectives due to BLOS terrain and he couldn't reach them to contest.
There's a couple of advantages to taking HH. First is that they are cheaper than broadsides, thus giving him more points to take more suits and perhaps more troops. Secondly, they are the only unit with a large blast in the army. It really depends on what you want more out of in your list. I've also got a friend who runs 9 suits and 9 broadsides in his 2K list!
ya i prefer the 9 suit 9 broadside list for 2k. I guess it just comes down to different tactics. I prefer to use mass firepower to take down large units, rather than blast templates. I manage to fit in abt 13 suits at 2k, counting double HQ and some bodyguards. Then all the leaders have multi trackers as well as TL weapons. Did he kit his army just for your IG? B/c using only Death Rain dosn't seem like such a good idea for an all comers Tau list.
I will...never be a memory
2012/06/19 21:14:08
Subject: 2K Competitive - Mechguards vs Crisis Tau (Completed)
darkcloud92 wrote:ya i prefer the 9 suit 9 broadside list for 2k. I guess it just comes down to different tactics. I prefer to use mass firepower to take down large units, rather than blast templates. I manage to fit in abt 13 suits at 2k, counting double HQ and some bodyguards. Then all the leaders have multi trackers as well as TL weapons. Did he kit his army just for your IG? B/c using only Death Rain dosn't seem like such a good idea for an all comers Tau list.
No, that's really his TAC list and he does quite well with them usually. He beats most of his opponents. The only problems he has is with my armies and Janthkin's nids. We're probably the only 2 with winning records against him.
His trade-off is the more expensive fireknives and broadsides for more dakka in the form of missile pods and S5 pulse rifles. He sacrifices on MEQ-killing power with more volume-of-fire. While his list isn't as optimized in dealing with MEQ armies as a fireknife-heavy list, it's probably more balanced overall against the other races and his a little more staying power with more bodies as well as a little more mobility with transports.
jy2 wrote:
No, that's really his TAC list and he does quite well with them usually. He beats most of his opponents. The only problems he has is with my armies and Janthkin's nids. We're probably the only 2 with winning records against him.
His trade-off is the more expensive fireknives and broadsides for more dakka in the form of missile pods and S5 pulse rifles. He sacrifices on MEQ-killing power with more volume-of-fire. While his list isn't as optimized in dealing with MEQ armies as a fireknife-heavy list, it's probably more balanced overall against the other races and his a little more staying power with more bodies as well as a little more mobility with transports.
Oh ok I can see that, just a different way of using volume of fire. I am really surprised to see he is able to take advantage of the Fire Warriors pulse rifles. Most people just take the mandatory 6 and leave them hiding somewhere. An I use more fire knifes because meq is what I am up against 90% of the time lol
I will...never be a memory
2012/06/19 23:38:37
Subject: Re:2K Competitive - Mechguards vs Crisis Tau (Completed)
I'm more in the camp of the fireknives with min-squad fire warriors as well. I like SabrX's Tau list where he uses Shas'el, 9 fireknives, 9 broadsides, 1 pathfinders, 1 min-sized FW's and 60-80 kroots. But it seems like deathrains work well for Gus. The first time I played against his Tau, it thought it wasn't really a competitive build due to the lack of plasmas, but he's convinced me that they are a viable TAC build by giving me some damned tough battles. But in the end, what's probably more important than the list itself is knowing how best to utilize it.
.....Bay Area Open GT 2013 - Best Tyranids 
.....LVO GT 2014 Team Tournament - Best Generals
And if you're drinkin' well, you know that you're my friend and I say "I think I'll have myself a beer" 
2500 
4000 
4000 
5000 
2500 
ninja'd
7K Points of Black Legion and Daemons 
5K Points of Grey Knights and Red Hunters 
.
) didn't get to fire a single markerlight shot. 
