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FlingitNow wrote:That's cool just playing devils advocate to ensure you've thought everything through.

Thanks for the help.

derek wrote:What weapon(s) are you running on the Buff Commander that babysits the Centurions/Broadsides?

None. The Signature Systems require him to not fire in order to use them.

 FlingitNow wrote:

 derek wrote:
What weapon(s) are you running on the Buff Commander that babysits the Centurions/Broadsides?

None why would you take weapons on a buffmander?

Ah, I thought Tau had a rule about filling every possible thing. Is that a previous book?

 derek wrote:

Ah, I thought Tau had a rule about filling every possible thing. Is that a previous book?

Not that I'm aware of, but then again the buffmander didn't really exist in previous editions.

I got to play a few games with the updated list against Screamerstar. I'm making a full report, but I really like how the list is balanced so far.

Chapter Master did okay, missing out on FnP is definitely noticeable. Army-wide invulnerable save means that his Thunder Hammer and Orbital Bombardment aren't nearly as useful, but he still managed to cause 150+ pts of damage with it every time.

The Librarian flopped, every game. First game he died T1 due to Daemonic Possession (and giving away first blood that I otherwise would have gotten). Second game he cast Dominate, only for them to make every leadership check, and Psychic Shriek, only to fail or be denied. Every turn. Literally. Not impressed. I like Blessings much, much better.

Tau Commander was fantastic. The ability to hop between the Broadsides/Centurions is very nice. PEN feels really limited though, since it's basically only useful for Monster/Tank Hunters, which the Centurions don't really need. So it's basically only useful for when the Commander is with the Broadsides, and that's only when they're shooting MC/Vehicles (which so far, has been 1 turn per game).

Bikes were solid, of course. I didn't miss the extra Grav-guns and it was nice to have a back-up for tank-hunting in case the Broadsides didn't bring it down. Kroot basically infiltrated on to an objective and stayed there the whole game. They really don't have a good target to pick on in the Screamerstar list. I really want to get them sniper rounds, as I often find them staying at the 20-30" range and not moving.

Centurions were very solid. Absorbed a surprising amount of damage and volume of fire is just impressive. Even when Grimoire'd, they threaten the Screamstar with reliable ID wounds and ~4 Grav-cannon wounds on average. The potential precision ID wounds really seem to get the Daemon player's attention.

Broadsides were okay. They put out a high volume of shots, but really had trouble wrecking anything. 22-24 S7 shots just doesn't do much to AV 13, even with TH. Between their saves I need 2 rounds to glance it to death and that's just not impressive. Interceptor was beautiful though. Plowing DS'ing units before they get to attack was a huge advantage.

The Thunderfire cannon... has been a disappointment. I'm not quite sure what the problem is, since pre-6th ed codex I was using 2 of these quite happily, and they've only been buffed since then. But I just can't get them to pull their weight any more. More and more often my opponents are spreading out heavily, and 2-3 S6 hits are not worth 100 points.

The Screamerstar is even worse than I thought. Insane amount of poor AP shots make my 2+ armor save not nearly as useful, and I can't assault it to avoid taking damage as nearly everything has AP2 attacks. But that's why I asked to play against this list - it's my worst match-up, I think.

I've been following your threads closely Ricter. I'm interested to know how you would change your list now that you have played some experienced opponents. Sorry I don't have an advice, just an observer

Well, here's one of my battle reports about a test game:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/570884.page#6389505

Here's my tournament results with the updated list: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/579418.page#6541419

I guess the issue is delivery. 6" movement and 24" range, right? I don't know much, but I know that the things that can hurt that unit (lascannons, iontides etc) are staying out of your range for the game and shooting that unit. Or else the whole army is shooting your troops. Not sure how you take the fight to your opponent. You need gate or some such really. The hardcore cent dev star has Severin Loth for auto gate...

I'm not sure if this has been already stated but just make sure you remember that Tau and Inquisition are (Desperate Allies) as of the new inquisition dex.

Kholzerino wrote:I guess the issue is delivery. 6" movement and 24" range, right? I don't know much, but I know that the things that can hurt that unit (lascannons, iontides etc) are staying out of your range for the game and shooting that unit. Or else the whole army is shooting your troops. Not sure how you take the fight to your opponent. You need gate or some such really. The hardcore cent dev star has Severin Loth for auto gate...

Lascannons, Iontides, and "etc" are generally a lot less scary that you'd think at first. Since the unit is T5, S9 weapons like Lascannons and Iontides don't ID, and the squad has access to 3++ invulnerable from the Chapter Master and frequently had 4+ cover. Even an Iontide with all the trimmings would usually hit 2-3 models, which is lucky to put just a single wound on the Chapter Master (who is always out front and tanking for the unit).

Playing the out of range game is all well and good in theory, but at the end of the day you have to close for objectives. I beat two good players at the LVO simply because they tried to stay out of range of the Gravstar. Sure, you can stay out of 30"... and I'll just park them in the middle of the board and you never can leave your deployment zone. You have to be careful about clumping, however, or else the TFC and OS will wreck you. The Broadsides are another bubble you have to stay out of, because almost every vehicle doesn't want to get within 36" of them. In the meantime, I got every objective, and one game I even got the Relic completely uncontested.

Unless you're (Dark) Eldar, you're not getting past the Gravstar to shoot at my Troops. And even then, that would require very careful movement, since you have to account for my 6" move and you can't clump anything that's vulnerable to an OS or TFC.

Noctiscoma wrote:I'm not sure if this has been already stated but just make sure you remember that Tau and Inquisition are (Desperate Allies) as of the new inquisition dex.

Yes, I'm aware. It means, at minimum, the Inqusition can't cast psychic powers on Tau units. Which is fine. There was a discussion about it in YMDC, and generally the conclusion was that the rules about ICs joining units don't really consider allies. However, since there's nothing that says you should consider a unit to be of mixed type or mixed codex, the RAW conclusion is that a Space Marine unit joined by a Tau character is still a Space Marine unit. Feel free to contribute to the thread if you know something that they missed. In the end, you should speak to your TO before you try to run this list (or any, really).