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Curious what all the tau players/people who have played against tau's opinion of the following would be...

Running a mech list, yet having a positional relay on HQ. Then holding 1 squad of Fusion blaster suits in reserve to deepstrike on light/medium/rear armor turn 2.

Essentially run everything as normal but hold this 1 squad in reserve (obviously only against armies that its needed) to plop behind something on turn 2, buying the rail guns more time to finish their AT job.

Obviously there would be marker beacons to get another chance if the scatter is not to my liking..

Ninja tau tactic, but not running a ninja tau army, running mech.

I wouldn't. It's not necessarily that it's a bad idea, it's just that Tau are probably the best army in the game at killing armor at long range, no reason to take suicide units when you have a better alternative.

In other words...

grankobot wrote:I wouldn't. It's not necessarily that it's a bad idea, it's just that Tau are probably the best army in the game at killing armor at long range, no reason to take suicide units when you have a better alternative.

In other words...

lol agreed, but was just curious if say, going up against a SM army with a couple dreds and a couple land raiders as dedicated transports the extra burst in Anti Armor kill at turn 2 could sometimes be worth it (rail guns on raiders for a couple turns, drop in the team to pop a dread), my list is already running 5 rail guns, 3 twinlinked.. not that i really NEED the extra kill in most scenarios, but as an all comers type person was curious if its a handy tool to use if the situation were to call for it.. OH your running a ton of heavies..ok ill hold this 1 squad in reserve.. otherwise i could use it as a normal team deployed from the get go.. of course it wouldnt be equipped just for a suicide mission...would give it load out that would give it some viability if it wasnt needed for that extra burst..

I do some of this without the positional relay. If I recall correctly, its 42 points - take a single suit, give him a fusion blaster and a flamer and put him in reserves. If you're going to take two, make one a team lead and give him a target lock so that the unit can target two separate tanks. Since its a one shot deal and you probably aren't going to give it markerlight support, you might want to twin-link the fusion blasters after all...but definitely a target lock to take two tanks in the rear.

I am reluctant to sacrifice suits. If you are really concerned about armor, take more broadsides. 2 squads of 3 with a team leader with target lock will let you shoot 4 tanks a turn. I prefer broadsides to railheads - in high point games I run 3x3 with ass, tl, and shield drones. Shoot 6 tanks a turn.

It is not a horrible idea, but if you think about it, the broadsides shoot heavy armor and the deathrains shoot transports. There isn't a big need for deep striking tank killers.

Just toying with the idea, will play around w/ making a list tomorrow when i have army builder infront of me to make things easier.. tho the current list is running 1HQ, 9 suits, 2 hammer heads, and 3 broad sides.. so its just figuring out what to shift where and if the sac in all around killiness is worth it...or if this is lost in the suits, where would i make up for it in other places?

Inigo Montoya wrote:I am reluctant to sacrifice suits. If you are really concerned about armor, take more broadsides. 2 squads of 3 with a team leader with target lock will let you shoot 4 tanks a turn. I prefer broadsides to railheads - in high point games I run 3x3 with ass, tl, and shield drones. Shoot 6 tanks a turn.

It is not a horrible idea, but if you think about it, the broadsides shoot heavy armor and the deathrains shoot transports. There isn't a big need for deep striking tank killers.

those 9 broadsides are probably going to be about 800-900 points (estimate). Unless you are playing against some sort of tank spam list, I don't think this is a wise use of points. Even dropping one suit per squad will let you keep shooting at 6 tanks per turn, which is a decent option to fit more into your army, but choosing hammerheads which are a lot more versatile is a better choice in a balanced list.

thats not to say dont field broadsides. They're great. Its just that filling up all your slots and points with expensive and narrow-focused units will leave the rest of your army weak against many opponents.