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I played against DD1 with a Skyray. For the entire tourney it killed 1 marine and stunned a rhino. In the 6 games I ran it before as practice it destroyed 1 vehicle.

Now maybe I wasn't playing it right. I fired every turn it wasn't stunned/shaken, but it NEVER came close to making its points back. The markerlights were pretty much useless whether launching seekers from the 'ray or boosting another unit's BS. The only reason I used it was because of the FOC restrictions for playing Farsight.

As for the stealth team, they're a static cheap KP target that can be wiped out if the DC is removed. A single guard squad can wipe the entire unit out quite easily. The hammerheads will always be a better option due to their armament, their upgrade options, and their mobility until GW deigns to redo the Codex.

Bikes can only turboboost down a stright line and if they do it through cover = dangerous terrain tests. They cant turboboost past/through a unit. Right? Not being jetbikers. If they dont travel far enough, no 3+ cover save.

Infiltrating kroot.

Sniper drones come with a markerlight & have these stealth fields. Its not a mobile markerlight but its a cheap way of getting one.

Any tank can be blown up by one krak missile hit. Youd only ever loose one drone. They might run away afterwards but thats beside the point. It is but shh.

Start pinning a unit with 7 or less models (reducing LD modifer w/ markerlights) and that unit will pin. If its got a warbos.. erm.. shoot it more. The drones arent amazing but their very useful & tbh is a warrior squad gets charged in conbat, it will run away unless youve got Hq's attached. Even then its not a surety.

You charge a drone squad, annhilate it. 80pts gone. Your in the middle of a tau army, the last place you want to be.

If your drone squads are being assaulted you have bigger problems.

focusedfire wrote:
We could, instead of dumping all our energy into the Nobs, wipe everything else out and leave them with only 2 squads that are most of the time gonna have to objective sit. 2 Rounds for what little is left after 2 very pts heavy squads, 3-4 rounds to bang on the bikers. If his bikers charge you, then lead them away from the objective. Focuse all of your fire on just one bike squad until it goes away.

Just an Idea

Not a very good one, sorry. Most of the nob biker games I watched, the orks tabled their opponents. The only one I've seen where he didn't the orks lost (due to an absolutely insane HTH that involved every model on the table), or was against a Dark Eldar force in a KP mission where the Dark Eldar essentially auto-lost, due to having 4 or 5 times the KP of the Ork player (who offered...5 KP.)

Then again the games youve watched the player opposing the nobs used all of his energy from the get go on the Bikers. Unless its an annihalation thats not your mission objective.
Take out the back field, giving your army a place to run isn't a bad thing as a Tau player. Once your down to just the bikers focus on one squad until it evaporates.

A fair amount of firepower and mobility is all we got.If he's fast enough to limit our mobility, tough enough to shrug off our shooting, but only a few squads strong. Then take out the easy squads first to give back our mobility and then focus everything you have on one squad. If it evaporates then Its hard for him to win with just one squad. No matter how big and tough.

@focusedfire
The problem I see with your argument is that you act as if one has the luxury of ignoring nob bikers. A C'Tan is slow, Nob Bikers are not. They are in your face assaulting you turn 2. How do you propose to ignore that? Tau have nothing that can out run them but Piranhas.

@Razerous
Yeah, 80 points and one kill point. You are correct however, in that one weapon can down a tank, but look at the odds of that. A hammerhead is very resilient and with the range of its weapons and the ability to move and shoot, can really limit the fire it takes.

But hey, if you like the sniper teams take them. I just do not think you are going to convince anyone here they are better than a hammerhead or broadside team, or even than skyrays.

sniper teams should be an upgrade to a fire warrior team as long as you have a UI. take up one slot, act as seprate unit. if you have a UI you can buy one sniper team.

whos with me??

Reecius wrote:@focusedfire
The problem I see with your argument is that you act as if one has the luxury of ignoring nob bikers. A C'Tan is slow, Nob Bikers are not. They are in your face assaulting you turn 2. How do you propose to ignore that? Tau have nothing that can out run them but Piranhas.

It's even worse than that, because that backfield squad focusedfire is talking about is probably a 25-30 model squad that's sitting in 4+ cover. You shoot, they go to ground. You have to get 15-20 wounds past a 3+ cover save, before they even start taking break checks.

Meanwhile the bikers now multiassault your ground troops, killing anything they touch. You *must* kill the nob bikers, and since Tau can only do it with shooting, that means you need to find a way to get past their cover saves and FNP saves. 9 broadsides and pathfinders means you kill one squad a turn, pretty much. Screen your important stuff so that it can't get charged, and you should be able to take out two squads/turn.

You can try to do the same thing with massed pulse rifle fire/submunitions, but you still need the pathfinders to negate the cover save, AND you need to put enough shots to get past the FNP save as well.

I'll take the rail guns.

Reecius wrote:@focusedfire
The problem I see with your argument is that you act as if one has the luxury of ignoring nob bikers. A C'Tan is slow, Nob Bikers are not. They are in your face assaulting you turn 2. How do you propose to ignore that? Tau have nothing that can out run them but Piranhas.

I recognize the speed, Just with unit placement, deep strike, and the fact that RAW says that assaulting player has to charge in using the shortest distance possible(limiting the multi-squad charge). And you can use the speed against him if he counts on turbo to get him home(on the objectives) he can't assault in that turn.

I've been playing with the thought of what if you build to be strong in two-thirds of the scenario's and bite the bullet on the KP missions. Use the old speed bump techniques. If you start with max# of squad/KPs (say14KP worth) get him to 2 squads chasing you around the table, at worst you end up with 4 squads at end of game to his 2 and both contesting objectives. Tau are never going to win in a KP mission outside of the IG or tabling the opponent.
Use gun drones for screening and/or objective denial at the end of the game. Give him to many targets to deal with. Every turn he assaults he's no longer getting the ridiculous cover save and you work on the nobs. The current ork strategy seems to count on you ignoring the guys in back, usually sitting on the objective or in cover. You take them out in an objective game and he's gonna have to pull a bike squad to cover the deep striking suits and drones.

Just something my friends and I are playing with.


PS: The grots in the back in cover? Isn't that what marker lights are for?

focusedfire wrote:

Reecius wrote:@focusedfire
The problem I see with your argument is that you act as if one has the luxury of ignoring nob bikers. A C'Tan is slow, Nob Bikers are not. They are in your face assaulting you turn 2. How do you propose to ignore that? Tau have nothing that can out run them but Piranhas.

I recognize the speed, Just with unit placement, deep strike, and the fact that RAW says that assaulting player has to charge in using the shortest distance possible(limiting the multi-squad charge). And you can use the speed against him if he counts on turbo to get him home(on the objectives) he can't assault in that turn.

You need to re-read the rules on assault moves...because the the assaulting player only has to move the "first" model in the shortest distance possible to the target unit. After that, its his perogative in what order models are moved, as long as the restrictions on movement are followed. (i.e. end in coherency with a model that's already moved, make base if possible, make 2" if making base isn't possible.)

If you know what you're doing, its easily possible to move in the movement phase and set up a situation where you can charge units that are 8-9" apart.

focusedfire wrote:
I've been playing with the thought of what if you build to be strong in two-thirds of the scenario's and bite the bullet on the KP missions. Use the old speed bump techniques. If you start with max# of squad/KPs (say14KP worth) get him to 2 squads chasing you around the table, at worst you end up with 4 squads at end of game to his 2 and both contesting objectives. Tau are never going to win in a KP mission outside of the IG or tabling the opponent.

That mindset is generally unacceptable for a tournament player. In a fun game, sure. But in a competitive game, conceding 1/3 of the missions is not really something people want to do.

focusedfire wrote:
Use gun drones for screening and/or objective denial at the end of the game. Give him to many targets to deal with. Every turn he assaults he's no longer getting the ridiculous cover save and you work on the nobs. The current ork strategy seems to count on you ignoring the guys in back, usually sitting on the objective or in cover. You take them out in an objective game and he's gonna have to pull a bike squad to cover the deep striking suits and drones.

No, the ork "strategy" as such relies on the fact that the nob bikers are fast, tough, and kill almost anything they touch.

Out of curiosity, if we're talking about objectives...why would an ork player care about deep striking suits and drones that land far away from them?

focusedfire wrote:
PS: The grots in the back in cover? Isn't that what marker lights are for?

How many markerlights are we talking about here. Reducing the nob bikers save takes an average of 6-8 markerlights per squad. You've got more markerlights to dedicate to going after the grots/boyz in the rear?

Centurian99 wrote:You need to re-read the rules on assault moves...because the the assaulting player only has to move the "first" model in the shortest distance possible to the target unit. After that, its his perogative in what order models are moved, as long as the restrictions on movement are followed. (i.e. end in coherency with a model that's already moved, make base if possible, make 2" if making base isn't possible.)

If you know what you're doing, its easily possible to move in the movement phase and set up a situation where you can charge units that are 8-9" apart.

That mindset is generally unacceptable for a tournament player. In a fun game, sure. But in a competitive game, conceding 1/3 of the missions is not really something people want to do.

No, the ork "strategy" as such relies on the fact that the nob bikers are fast, tough, and kill almost anything they touch.

Out of curiosity, if we're talking about objectives...why would an ork player care about deep striking suits and drones that land far away from them?

How many markerlights are we talking about here. Reducing the nob bikers save takes an average of 6-8 markerlights per squad. You've got more markerlights to dedicate to going after the grots/boyz in the rear?

If I believed, you there would be no way for Tau to win against the biker nobs with an all comers list. I know for a fact that isn't true. What I'm proposing isn't fool proof, but when in a bad situation play to your strengths.

I know the assault rules and it says no holding back and if he's stretching that far to get 2 squads then only at best 2 Nobs Get Their AttacksDoing that theres a chance that both squads are gonna survive or take an extra round to kill. Because when I have to react I move up to base to base. My pieces can be in contact with the first model meaning the last models don't get into base to base.

Usually, my opponent doesn't get the 2 squads because I know what I'm doing and that means not troops 8"-9"apart when the enemy gets to you.


So what if the mindset isn't "generally accepted". Tau are plain stuck out in KP scenario's. If I don't have a chance to win on the KP, then theres nothing to concede. So, why cripple my army trying to fight for something I can't win. I'd rather go for the more realistic way of winning the Annihalation mission. Tabling my opponent. Build to your strengths.

Come to think of it. Have you ever read Tsung Tsu's Art of War? If not I'd suggest you do.

No, The ork player is counting on you panicing and reacting irrationally instead of examining the weaknesse in his army. Heh, 3 units controlling the whole board. Makes me giggle to think people fall for that.

Deep striking units that are in position to jump on objectives.HHmmmm, I wonder why he might feel the need to deal with heavy hitters in his back field. His choices are:
A) ingore these guys and get caught in a crossfire
B) turn around to take these guys on, then come back to get the rest of the army. (Yes, travel that same peice of land over and over. A Tau generals dream)
C) Try to split his forces.(Which allows for greater Isolation of his units and effectivlely takes one Biker nob unit out of the mix. Leaves the other bike squad to get vaporized buy Rails,meltas and wounded buy plas.
D) Ect....

This is why its important to clear the backfield first.


A single squad of pathfinders is all I need. They go after the grots in the back FIRST along with the HammerHead Sub-munitions. They go away in first turn.(Unless I'm really unlucky with drift. But Hey you can't win em all) My Hard hitters have Targeting arrays, Jacking my BS to 4(or 5 on commanders). You'll probably say the PathFinders are only gonna be around for 1 turn. I dunno..........
As the Ork Commander, Who Do You Go After? The 2 Hammerheads?The Broadsides?The Fire Warriors in Devilfish?The Kroot?The Crisis Suits? The Gun Drones? Or the PathFinders?

After the Bikers get into the assault, coversaves go away.


I've given you enough of my tools, Have fun and good luck.

focusedfire wrote:
If I believed, you there would be no way for Tau to win against the biker nobs with an all comers list. I know for a fact that isn't true. What I'm proposing isn't fool proof, but when in a bad situation play to your strengths.

I know the assault rules and it says no holding back and if he's stretching that far to get 2 squads then only at best 2 Nobs Get Their AttacksDoing that theres a chance that both squads are gonna survive or take an extra round to kill. Because when I have to react I move up to base to base. My pieces can be in contact with the first model meaning the last models don't get into base to base.

Usually, my opponent doesn't get the 2 squads because I know what I'm doing and that means not troops 8"-9"apart when the enemy gets to you.

That statement makes no sense. Are you saying that 2 squads 8-9" apart can't be charged by a single unit? Or are you trying to say something else.

focusedfire wrote:Come to think of it. Have you ever read Tsung Tsu's Art of War? If not I'd suggest you do.

Yes.

focusedfire wrote:
No, The ork player is counting on you panicing and reacting irrationally instead of examining the weaknesse in his army. Heh, 3 units controlling the whole board. Makes me giggle to think people fall for that.

Then you don't understand the game at all, because you don't seem to understand how devastating the nob bikers can be, how hard they are to kill, how large of an area they can effectively control, or even the rules for the nob bikers. Here's a tip - they ALWAYS count as being in 4+ cover against shooting. Always.

focusedfire wrote:
A single squad of pathfinders is all I need. They go after the grots in the back FIRST along with the HammerHead Sub-munitions. They go away in first turn.(Unless I'm really unlucky with drift. But Hey you can't win em all) My Hard hitters have Targeting arrays, Jacking my BS to 4(or 5 on commanders). You'll probably say the PathFinders are only gonna be around for 1 turn. I dunno..........
As the Ork Commander, Who Do You Go After? The 2 Hammerheads?The Broadsides?The Fire Warriors in Devilfish?The Kroot?The Crisis Suits? The Gun Drones? Or the PathFinders?

That's real easy...you go after the pathfinders first, because once they're gone the Tau can't do enough wounds. Once they're taken care of, the 2 squads of bikes begin murdering everything else in your army. If you've held crisis and stealths in reserve to deep strike, then you're even more screwed. Markerlights aren't critical against the nob bikers for the +1 BS. They're critical for reducing cover saves.

focusedfire wrote:
I've given you enough of my tools, Have fun and good luck.

I'm sorry, but they're weak and ineffective tools.

Railrifles fill the ap gap between railguns and pulserifles. You generally need to have a decent amount of ap 3 firepower (as it will generally deal well with 4+ saves aswell (the standard infintry guns are ap 5 which 4+ obviously trumps)

The unit is effective at what it does, adds utility and compared to other sniper units, fairly surviveable. The heavy support slot isnt that precious and the sniper drones fill a roll (for an effecient use of points) that other roles of the army just cant.

The sniper team is a well balanced unit. At one time, they were a really good choice to make...

The edition and the metagame has changed, bottom line is... You can't really sacrifice the slot to use them anymore considering the current top lists...

An excellent, fun and flavorful unit to take, but not for serious competition

Off-Topic)

Centurian99 wrote:That statement makes no sense. Are you saying that 2 squads 8-9" apart can't be charged by a single unit? Or are you trying to say something else.

Then you don't understand the game at all, because you don't seem to understand how devastating the nob bikers can be, how hard they are to kill, how large of an area they can effectively control, or even the rules for the nob bikers. Here's a tip - they ALWAYS count as being in 4+ cover against shooting. Always.

That's real easy...you go after the pathfinders first, because once they're gone the Tau can't do enough wounds. Once they're taken care of, the 2 squads of bikes begin murdering everything else in your army. If you've held crisis and stealths in reserve to deep strike, then you're even more screwed. Markerlights aren't critical against the nob bikers for the +1 BS. They're critical for reducing cover saves.

I'm sorry, but they're weak and ineffective tools.

When charged by ork, I only have to move up to base to base. Not to unengaged models. End your movement with the squads strung out right and you consolidate around the biker on the end only. He' so strung out that his guys only get 1 man on each squad and only the guy behind is within 2 inches.

Usually, I'm good enough to "not" get double assaulted.


Really, a 4+ cover you say. Thank ya mista, Its not like I have a copy of every codex so I can know my enemy. OH, Wait I Do.

With an army of STR5 AP5 I'm not used to having my shooting halved when firing at models with Sv4+.......OH, Wait I Am.

So ya charged the Pathfinders. Now my broadsides get a second round on your squad and the tanks get to use submunitions on them. Remember I'm focusing my fire on only one bike squad and I've probably already removed the grots in the first round. If not then clean up what little is left and then take on the bikes. I'll need that area to put some units in, later.
BTW pathfinders aren't the only way to get markerlights in a Tau army. I like putting them on broadsides.

Also charging the pathfinders gives my vehicle a head start.


When you try to use a hammer for a screwdriver don't blame the tool, blame the operator.

Later and lotsa luck.



Back on topic) Still think sniper drones need to move to fast attack or rail pathfinders become body guard to ethereal.


Edited: for clarity and to get back on track.

Razerous wrote:Railrifles fill the ap gap between railguns and pulserifles. You generally need to have a decent amount of ap 3 firepower (as it will generally deal well with 4+ saves aswell (the standard infintry guns are ap 5 which 4+ obviously trumps)

The unit is effective at what it does, adds utility and compared to other sniper units, fairly surviveable. The heavy support slot isnt that precious and the sniper drones fill a roll (for an effecient use of points) that other roles of the army just cant.

I have to disagree with almost everything you've said there. Railrifles are nice, but 3 pulse rifles will generally do just as well up to 30", and better at close range. One to one comparison to a pulse rifle, the rail rifle is obviously better, but you can get more pulse rifles to make up the difference. Pinning is so unreliable as to be almost worthless.

Heavy Support slots are ridiculously precious, because they're the only way of getting the S10 AP1 goodness that is the railgun.

I'm just not seeing anything that the sniper team does, that another unit can't do just as well, more flexibly, without giving up silly numbers of kill points, and without taking up a slot that could be used to get more railguns or mobile BS4 markerlights.

Class is now in session:

focusedfire wrote:
When charged by ork, I only have to move up to base to base. Not to unengaged models. End your movement with the squads strung out right and you consolidate around the biker on the end only. He' so strung out that his guys only get 1 man on each squad and only the guy behind is within 2 inches.

Incorrect.

Rulebook wrote:"These models move up to 6" in an attemt to move into base contact with an enemy. This follows the same rules as moving assaulting models, except that models are not slowed by difficult terrain and do not take difficult terrain tests.

So you have to get as many enemy models based as possible.

focusedfire wrote:
Really, a 4+ cover you say. Thank ya mista, Its not like I have a copy of every codex so I can know my enemy. OH, Wait I Do.

With an army of STR5 AP5 I'm not used to having my shooting halved when firing at models with Sv4+.......OH, Wait I Am.

Great. So now you have to wound a T5 model, make it past a 4+ cover save at best, and then past a 4+ FNP save. So firing pulse rifles with a BS of 3, you need 16 pulse rifle shots to get one wound. Using mass fire, you need 184 pulse rifle shots to reliably cause a single casualty.

focusedfire wrote:
So ya charged the Pathfinders. Now my broadsides get a second round on your squad and the tanks get to use submunitions on them. Remember I'm focusing my fire on only one bike squad and I've probably already removed the grots in the first round. If not then clean up what little is left and then take on the bikes. I'll need that area to put some units in, later.

You're vastly overestimating your ability to wipe out the grots/boyz in the backfield. Regardless, submunition rounds are also next to useless, because of spreading wounds out. I'll assume you're not a moron, so that you're firing the broadsides first. I'm not sure what this theoretical force is, but let's say you've got 2 hammerheads and 1 broadside. I'll even be extremely generous and let you get 6 nobs under a blast template.

3 broadsides = 3 shots, 2.25 hits, ~1.9 wounds, so we'll round up, 1 cover save, and you've just killed 1 nob.

6 nobs hit by the first blast marker, so 4 wounds, 2 saved by armor, 1 more by feel no pain. 2nd blast marker does the same. Congratulations...now the broadsides are dead.

focusedfire wrote:BTW pathfinders aren't the only way to get markerlights in a Tau army. I like putting them on broadsides.

So you like to cheat? Unless you're talking about marker drones, in which case you're spending an insane amount of points to get a reliable number of markerlight hits. 60 points for every markerlight hit, and you're giving up the ability to take an ASS.

Off-topic)You keep saying that I'm firing at the nobs first and no I'm firing at the grots first unil they go away.

With proper squad placement the squad gathers around the first biker. At most 3 nobs get to hit because the closest Firewarrior can choose to contact both bases and with the length of bike bases....I'll let you figure that one out. Hint its how you move.

Your math is very faulty. You always assume an unwounded fully intact squad. Every round? Whose cheating?just joking

Markers used on grots first turn. Said it before.

In your defense of your position you jumped from grots to nobs mid way to the math. Which is it?

Ahh, the personal attack. Last resort of those who feel they are losing an argument. Of course I'm talking about marker drones and no you don't give up the ASS because with ASS "The squad may still take drones"

Lately, I don't take ASS. Leave the bait in the corner and use the points elsewhere.

Back on-topic) Sorry trying to get back on track.

focusedfire wrote:Off-topic)You keep saying that I'm firing at the nobs first and no I'm firing at the grots first unil they go away.

Not as easy as you say it is.

focusedfire wrote:
With proper squad placement the squad gathers around the first biker. At most 3 nobs get to hit because the closest Firewarrior can choose to contact both bases and with the length of bike bases....I'll let you figure that one out. Hint its how you move.

3 nobs. Lets say one power klaw and 2 choppa nobs. That's 3 S8 power klaw attacks and 8 S4 regular attacks. 8 attacks, ~5.5 hits, 4 wounds, 2 saves. Power klaw gets 2 more wounds. Fire Warriors do nothing. (12 attacks, 6 hits, 1 wound, 4+ save and 4+ FNP means .25 wounds). Just that one alone, Fire Warriors are testing on a -5.

focusedfire wrote:
Your math is very faulty. You always assume an unwounded fully intact squad. Every round? Whose cheating?just joking

Give me a 1750 list, and I'll run the numbers on a full army shooting.

focusedfire wrote:
Markers used on grots first turn. Said it before.

And I've told you...you can't do enough damage, even with the markerlights. Not without making it so you lose almost everything in the 2nd round, because a full-out multi-charge hits so many units that you're screwed.

Also, if I was playing orks (which I don't) I'd probably want a squad of boyz over the squad of grots, because the boyz can charge anything that gets by the bikers and probably win.

focusedfire wrote:In your defense of your position you jumped from grots to nobs mid way to the math. Which is it?

I never jumped from grots to nobs. I've only been running numbers on the nob bikers.

focusedfire wrote:
Ahh, the personal attack. Last resort of those who feel they are losing an argument. Of course I'm talking about marker drones and no you don't give up the ASS because with ASS "The squad may still take drones"

No, you said you took markerlights, not marker drones. I'd not initially considered marker drones a viable upgrade, because to take enough of them to make it worthwhile, you're spending an insane amount of points, and making the majority toughness of the squad T3, so the squad's easier to wound. But hey, you obviously seem to think its worthwhile.

So you've got two marker drones on the team leader, since ASS takes up a hardpoint. That means you get 1 markerlight hit per turn. Or you don't take ASS, and your broadsides are immobile, lose a turn of shooting in Dawn of War deployment, and make your army incredibly static.

2marker drones, 2 shield drones, 2 broadsides=toughness 4

Length of biker base means if I want I can place to where, should I choose for some tactical reason to allow a multi charge, that all he'll get is 2 bikers on each squad.(This is more useful to the eldar)

You want a 1750 pt army to do numbers. This is the problem.
Your only doing problem solving in a mathematical sense. Not a tactical one. As long as your stuck in the math book instead of the applied tactics book you'll never consider another point of view.

At times I may sound inconsistent. That's because of 3 different scenarios. Each with unique tactics that change according to layout of the board. One of these scenarios works so tactically against the current Taus ability that to build for KPs destroys your army. So why do it? Better to go down trying to table him and leave your army where you'll crush him in the multi objective game and have a better chance of pulling better than a tie in the 2 objective game. And more guns for the annihalation one. As it is. I build a 13 KP army and he gets 6 KPs to my 2KPs. It only matters in the KP missions. And at one point I'll table him.

Personally, I think its a bad idea to build an army against a specific foe. I prefer building an all comers list then use tactics to keep me going.

I propose that we agree to disagree

Is it just me or has everyone overlooked that if the spotter dies (much more now due to alocating wounds) the rest of the squad goes away - this to me is the biggest weakness.....then everthing else you have stated.

I usually use them if I have points to burn but i do find them useful at attempting to pin units that I don't like.

Cent: You do put forward another two kp's with the sniper drones when fully fielded, not so good. I just reckon those markerlights will live longer. They are serperate enough when deployed for the mobility not to make that much differance and being stealthy enough to out survive a tank.

3 pulse rifles, ap 5 str 5. Rail rifle ap 3. Better range. Generally better BS with its squads markerlight. Better range.

3 pulse rifles will die alot easier but possibly run away less due to it having another 7 pulse rifle friends.

MEQ's without rail rifles can stand up to withering amounts of fire from a standard tau army as all but the at-dedicated railguns can break thier saves. But, precious heavy sup squads and all that. Go for another hammerhead.

Playing tau and having first hand played a nob bikers army I'll say this:

The only way the Tau stand a chance against the standard nob biker list (2 units) is to have 9 broadsides firining on the bikers with enough markerlights to remove the coversaves. Get some cheap kroot and kroot hounds to form a wall around your broadsides and pathfinders, then start shooting. If you have two full pathfinder squads that should be 8 markerlight hits, enough to push the coversaves up and raise the BS scores. If you give the broadsides a Targeting array you have a very good chance of hitting and wounding with at least 5 shots with either a 6+ cover save or no cover save available. There goes half a biker unit.

Only problem is by turn 2 the other unit is assaulting your kroot.

If tau is a rock then the nob bikers are the paper.

Casper: I mentioned that upthread, but nobody seemed to notice, like most of my other posts.

Ive got multi-quote stuck on somhow

Why do you want to annhilate the squad.. cause 3 causutlies then try and make them either pin or break. Youve got enough markerlights for that?

You want to get rid of a squad because even at half strength a nob squad can use a boss pole and have a 50% change of passing a moral check that it failed to make.

And trust me, a 5-6 man Nob Biker squad is still very scary for a tau army to face.

asugradinwa wrote:You want to get rid of a squad because even at half strength a nob squad can use a boss pole and have a 50% change of passing a moral check that it failed to make.

And trust me, a 5-6 man Nob Biker squad is still very scary for a tau army to face.

It's worse than that, because unless you kill the warboss, the squad is ld9. Rerollable ld9 is pretty tough to fail.


And I just noticed this one, which has lots of bad and incorrect information:

Razerous wrote:
Bikes can only turboboost down a stright line and if they do it through cover = dangerous terrain tests. They cant turboboost past/through a unit. Right? Not being jetbikers. If they dont travel far enough, no 3+ cover save.

Wrong. They can't go through a unit , but there's nothing about having to travel in a straight line. They also can't turbo-boost through any kind of dangerous terrain. If they don't travel at least 18", they don't get a 3+ cover save, but they'll always have a 4+ cover save.

Fair doos, warboss & wargear suitably deals with LD issues for the most part. Causes yourself wounds though. & A re-rollable LD value of 4 (with 5 markerlight hits) isnt a sure thing, its just gonna be a difficult descion to which squad (with pinning) to give those 5 counters to.. I am an advocate of markerlights.

As for bikes and such, My bad - But it has a similiar reasoning. They have to travel through avenues of clear terrain which can be blocked with speed bumps and hampers the whole goodness of turboboosting. Its also adds in predictability on the orks side.

Having speed bumpy or point effective saraficial units in (or partially in) cover, again is quite good as if any of the nobz move into combat with a model standing in difficult terrain = dangerous terrain tests (Ive gotten back in touch with my woverly rulebooks) & fighting at I1.

Pk nobz dont care, granted..

Itll help out kroot & thier poor I

Razerous wrote:Railrifles are heavy weapons so are stactic neways.

Sniper drones are jet infantry, which are relentless, so they can move and fire, only the spotter has issues with movement.

I regurlarly use 2 teams of these with my Tau, with 2 RG Hammerheads. They work really well if you're using Pathfinders too, for completely removing fast advance assault squads etc. I do love how nice and fluffy and very Tau-esc they are. Having Stealth suits with these also works really well imo.

Wakinglimb wrote:

Razerous wrote:Railrifles are heavy weapons so are stactic neways.

Sniper drones are jet infantry, which are relentless, so they can move and fire, only the spotter has issues with movement.

I regurlarly use 2 teams of these with my Tau, with 2 RG Hammerheads. They work really well if you're using Pathfinders too, for completely removing fast advance assault squads etc. I do love how nice and fluffy and very Tau-esc they are. Having Stealth suits with these also works really well imo.

I hate to argue but under their listing sniper drones are just infantry. It's because the drones take on the characteristics of their controller. This is per conversation with GW 1year ago before they shut down the phone support. If its changed I'd love to know.