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.

Hiya all

I was just wondering what setup poeple use when fielding their Broadsides. I've tried many combinations with success and failure and was hoping people would post there own varients and possibly comment on the ones I currently use.

1x Broadside with Railgun and SMS, Adv Stabilizers(slow an purposeful), team leader upgrade, bonded, drone cont with 2xShield Drone all for 120pts (Tested in lots of games and works exceptionally well)

1x Broadside with railgun, SMS, Shield generator all for 90pts (tested in two battles so far, one guy died on first turn, second in close combat turn 5)

2x Broadside with railguns, SMS, 2x Shield generators, team leader, bonded, drone cont with 2xShield Drone all for 220pts (New one Im testing)

The reason I often use shield drones with the Broadside is I usually find that my opponent takes a few pot shots at them, finds out how tough they are and then leaves them alone unless he can get it in Close Combat or is able to get multiple instant kill weapons on the team to make me take lots of 4+ inv saves.

I always use bonding if it has 3 or more models as for 5pts it can be a life saver, more especially if I have an Etheral with LOS.

Cheers All

The best combos are
3 guys, all shield drones, team leader with target lock

2 guys, all with ASS, team leader with 2xshield drones.
(lets the shield guys take the first hit and still keep 2 guns)

1 guy, same as your first guy.

The ASS is a very usefull thing. The ability to move and fire will give you so many options that are otherwise not there.

Yes, I do find the ASS very useful and at other times a complete waste of points, it depends wether you want the option to always be able to move and shoot which is very useful, or you want to run the risk of being able to place him in a ruin or woods for the whole game and not move.

I would normally like to say that ASS is worth the risk, but with my first varient, 3 lascannon hits with wounds from a devastator squad and he is dead as he has to take one of those lascannon hits himself.

Hmmm, I like the 3xbroadside team. might not be moveable but its very durable and lots of options available so you can shoot other things. Will definatly test this varient out in my next battle. Sounds good

If you are burning the heavy slot to take the broad sides, you might as well take several. Since you can buy upgrades to split fire, there's very little reason not to. The ability to move and fire, in general, is worth it's weight in gold. It can be used to help you stay out of hand to hand for longer as well as move to see targets that you otherwise couldn't see.

The build that I've decided I like is the following (please forgive that I can't remember all of the names of the upgrades, it's been a while since I last played tau):

2x Broadside (TL Railgun, TL Plasmagun), ASS, team leader upgrade, 2x shield drone (TL), target lock (TL), <the upgrade that lets you fire two weapons at the same time> (TL), bonded (TL).

I normally play with two squads just like this.

Surely Bonding is pointless on a 2-man team because it takes effect when the team strength drops below 50%.

 

Hang on... Drones! Now I understand.

I've usually played two single broadsides with the drones and placed them on opposite sides of the table to get the best firing arcs. A Hammerhead with railgun or Ion cannon in the middle is always good.

It does appear that people tend to agree that Shield drones and ASS upgrade are the best upgrades to take. 2teams of 2broadsides each would make a formidable amount of firepower, enough to make me wonder wether a Hammerhead is worth taking, and if it is then It would have to be an Ion Cannon with Smart Missile Systems.

Thanks everyone for the responses

For me the only vaild upgrades are target locks and shield drones.

ASS doesnt appear worth it for me. If you have set up your Broadside suits so that you have to move to unmask your guns you have deployed them incorrectly. They should be in a position to see large parts of the battlefield, in cover and protected by shield drones. Between all those advantages you have a very good chance that they will absorb their points worth even before you calculate the damage they do.

Also ASS won't help you flee and the random d6 movement limit might not be enough to take you to a better place. If an opponent is on the edge of your LOS one suit will often be able to fire. If both are blind then the ASS may not move you far enough to make a difference. However a target lock allows the suit that can see to shoot, while the other fires at something else.

If the enemy hides from you completely you still get good mileage out of them by firing the SMS missiles instead of the railguns. Again this requires a good rear central firing position to take advantage of their 24" radius LOS free fire zone.

I dont bother with multitrackers because the railguns and SMS have different roles, ranges and fire methods. The next question for me is how many shield drones I add, two or four?

Two drones means a team of two suits, one with target lock one with drones. As the team size is four no bonding is required. To take four drones I have a team leader with bonding knife and hardwired target lock.

While four drones helps against the three lucky lascannon hits, that won't happen too often. Devs don't normally take lascannon, Preds tend not to last long enough and guard anti tank squads need to be lucky. Also a reasonable cover save stacks the odds further in your favour. Fire Dragons could score enough hits to ignore your drones but if the Eldar have aspects that close you are dead anyway and ASS won't help you run away.

Consequently I recommend a team of two suits, no team leader, with a target lock and two shield drones.  

I think every high-placing Tau army in the GT final used move+fire broadsides. Stompzilla and I fought it out for top Tau place and both of us had identical Broadside units i.e. 2 Broadsides, ASS, team leader w/ two shield drones, bonding. Its a killer unit.

The bonding is well worth it as when you retreat S&P you move at half rate. I never actually required the bonding, but Stomp rallied his broadside with it.

As you may remember torgoch, I am very happy to bond my Tau. But a single broadside on his lonesome without any drones is just another casualty. Given ten points spare ( five for the team leader) I could be encouraged. But I would first rather bond Pathfinders, Ta'ro'cha Crisis and full sized Fire Warrior teams, and don't normally get around to bonding them all.

Nice to see you have made good use out of 'move and fire' broadsides, but I have never seen the need for them. I just use depoyment similar to that for a Dev squad and blast away. I dont see a need to move them, so why move Broadsides? Stabilisers are a lot of points for nothing in my opinion.

If you can give an indication of why stablisers make such a difference, I would be happy to give it a go.

On occaision I have set up my broadside so that it can see only half the battlefield and another broadside can see the opposite side.

The Ass ability means that once I have eliminated all my targets I can relocate to get more targets.

Also, if the enemy advances towards them you can move them further away whilst still shooting to either keep them alive a little longer or to move away from the main force so that they can't be hit in a sweeping advance once the broadside has been gutted and slain.

I've just thought of a flaw with my fave setup at the top. a unit that is bonded can regroup if below 50%, however, using my setup for a broadside and two drones, he would be allowed to rally even if his drones had been killed but he would also be subject to the last man standing each turn. Does kinda make it hard for a broadside to rally.

On the plus side. a fleeing broadside would be allowed to fire his railgun if he has ASS equipped

Perhaps I use a lot more terrain than most people, but on the tables where I play, there are not generally overwatch positions where I can place broadsides and cover the whole table.

The ASS is invaluable on such a table because I can move as my opponent moves, reacting to his use of cover. Properly placed at the beginning of the game makes them not terribly reliable on movement, but I have not played on a table that will really allow me to stay in one place the entire game.

On the SMS vs TLP debate, I choose the TLP because the role of railgun and TLP is similar. With the multitracker on the TL, I can put out 3 TL AP2 shots at 24", and 5 at 12". Given that I don't usually face a lot of armor (but do face a lot of MEQ) it has been very valuable to me.

Does anyone else used the plasma rifle upgrade for Broadsides? If so, how do they fair compared to using the SMS, and do you use different tactics when swapping between the two? Example, I keep my broadsides at the opposite corners and mostly stay stationary unless needed. If I used plasma's I'd proberly place them a little further forward to tempt the enemy onto my AP 2 weapon.

I've always tended to keep the SMS as I use a lot low AP weapons in the rest of my army anyway, so the 4shots of the SMS can be useful. If your opponent gets to close you can move around a building and continue to shoot them to help get him out of trouble.

In one table quarter game I would have been forced to draw, as my opponent had a squad contesting one of my quarters hidden behind a building, I couldn't shoot it, couldn't assualt it. But I managed to get my broadside just within range to use its SMS, knocked the unit down below half so it couldn't contest.

After that little episode I've never really used plasmarifles on the broadside.

If you use plasma but you also need multitrackers, and than means deploying Monats only if you still want stabilisers.

I prefer to stick with smart missiles. If for some reason I dont have LOS to a worthy target the Broadsides become anti infantry indirect fire platforms. Nothing wasted. Plasma makes your suits all or nothing. Leave it on XV8 Crisis instead.

I like to use both the ASS and the twin linked plasma. This is mainly do to my army's compostion. I play a close-combat oriented tau army. It sounds silly, but it works.

Basically, I use Commander Shadowsun and a unit of stealth suits to distract, harrass, confuse, contribute fire support, and take out basilisks and the like.

I use the manditory Firewarrior unit as a stationary fire line.

Most of the rest of my points are used for Ankgor Prok, TONS of kroot, and two great knarlocks. These guys will shred even MEQ with Ankgor Prok's help

The rest of my 2,000 points I put into Broadside suits. As you can see I have a severe lack of anything lower than AP 5. So I need to make them as mobile as possible and have them be my heavy vehicle/ fast vehicle/ heavy infantry killers.

 

I find this army to work wonders, plus it is funny to see people scratch their heads wondering how they got out assaulted by Tau.

I have the Ankhor Prok miniatures, but have never seen his rules, can you post a link to them please.

Never mind, found them. GW ambiguous wording strikes again, does he have the ability to once allow rerolls in close combat for every squad within 6", or once per squad at any time?

getting back to the broadside topic i've found everyone i seem to play against always has at least something they deepstrike, & use it so they can tie up my broadsides in CC . w/A.S.S. hopefully they can move away & shoot in the same turn, & if i have a leader w/plasma & a multitracker (hardwired) it's alot of points, but it has kept terminators away sometimes. hope that helps ?!?

You sound as if you've been a bit unlucky

I don't think my broadside have ever been deep striked, partly due to our hatred of deepstrike but also because I nearly always have two teams of crisis suits behind the lines with enough fire power take out half a squad of termies.

The only times my broadside has ever gotton into close combat is when the enemy has managed to push into my rear lines or I've used the broadside to assist a combat that wasn't going well. That 2+ save 5strength is enough to swing the battle in my favour provided theres no instant kill weapons.

I agree with your thoughts, a braodside with ASS can still shoot whilst moving into or away from possible close combat. Thats why I'm torn between keeping the ASS or giving him a shield.

Will be play testing this setup
2xBroadside team.
(1.Broadside with Railgun, SMS, Shield Gen, Team leader, bonded, target lock, 2xShield Drones)
(2.Broadside with Railgun, SMS, 2xShield Drones)
Costs 235pts.

Theres a lot of models so thought that the ASS would end up being a problem more than a helpful tactic. Also their a 4drone and a shield gen capable of taking instant kills so I'm more likely to keep them in the open to get better shots so I wouldn't want to move them anyway.

The only other possible extra would be to get a multitracker in there, preferably for both of them but can only give it to the team leader as all the slots are taken up on the non-team leader member.