How best to survive a drop pod assault as Tau

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**Martel732**

Units that can't disembark trigger "emergency disembarkation". They lose a turn, but don't die.

**Dakka Wolf**

Martel732 wrote:
Units that can't disembark trigger "emergency disembarkation". They lose a turn, but don't die.

Judge's ruling on this one was "Removed from play as casualties" they had nowhere to disembark to and weren't allowed to get back in the Drop Pod, closest the Space Marine player could put them down was well over a foot away from the Pod.
Seemed fair to me and Drop Pods are a big part of a lot of my tactics too.

**rawne2510**

Martel732 wrote:
Units that can't disembark trigger "emergency disembarkation". They lose a turn, but don't die.

If you can´t place a model in base contact with the vehicle then you can´t emergency disembark and the unit dies. If you can place some models then anything that you can´t place within 3" of the vehicle & stay in coherency can not be placed dies but not the whole unit.

**Martel732**

I think 7th ed changed that but maybe there's a phrase i'm missing. But i remember reading that there is an out for models that can't disemark.

**rawne2510**

The first line for emergency disembarkation is that you place a model in base contact with the vehicle. The only time this doesn´t happen is if you blow up the vehicle.

**Martel732**

rawne2510 wrote:
The first line for emergency disembarkation is that you place a model in base contact with the vehicle. The only time this doesn´t happen is if you blow up the vehicle.

Okay. It prevents the clogging the exit port cheese, not total surrounding cheese. So the real beneficiaries are Eldar. Silly me.

**rawne2510**

I guess until a unit of daemonettes charge a vehicles and a unit of seekers run next to it and surround the remainder of the vehicle. Its like watching a drop pod land in the single spot surrounded by models where your opponents has allowed the drop pod to land with 1" gap everywhere but no where to but the models coming out.

Its an evil way to get first blood but is a little funny when it happens and the opponent realised that it has happened.

**Martel732**

I have tendency to use rhinos as walls, and so it's not that easy to get to the other side of the wall legally. Obviously jumpers, but those are actually pretty rare now.

**rawne2510**

be aware with daemon players then as we have screamer and I use very fast seekers. 12" move 12+D6" run (formation bonuses and dirty slaanesh)

**Martel732**

I'm always paranoid vs demon players because they basically play a different game.

**Jancoran**

Screamer Star is one reason I started experimenting with the Precision shot upgrade on my Stealthsuits. I basically lost second place at a GT because I couldnt kill the one guy that makes the screamer star anything special. the second time i saw that guy, i pumped him full of precision shots and ganked him. There is luck involved there...but then, when is their not? having zero chance to kill that central dude is obviously notthe path to success. Having A CHANCE is a better path to success. In my case I ganked him with the Precision Melta which was sweet because He Look Out Sir'd FIVE wounds... but not that one!

**Tsol**

pumaman1 wrote:
Tsol wrote:
As other have said Interceptor and the overwatch boost is the way to go.

As primarily a Marine player, if I know I'm fighting tau, I do a few things.

I max out my squads 10 man squads whenever possible. Veteran Sargents, with powerswords or lightning claws and melta bombs. Take lots of flamers and heavy bolters. Give them drops pods (usually 4 full squads) and bullrush anything and everything.

Expect command squads with psykers or Captain (probably in a drop pod). The command squads will probably be kitted out with apothecaries (FNP) and then special weapons (probably grav or melta). Don't bother shooting at those with small arms fire, just shoot your plasma at them. As they are equally good at shooting you as well as meleeing you.

Assault Marines. I would take two maybe even 3 full squads. Flame throwers and evisorators, plus meltabombs.

If the marine players are worth their salt, they will have their entire armies in melee or charge distance by turn 2. If I were you, I would do several things. Take fortifications and turtle up. Tau are stupid strong in shooting and will easily overwhelm marines at the shooting game. So make his life hard, make it hard for them to deepstrike well, create killzones in your deployment zones and take lots of dangerious terrain upgrades like barbred wire. It will funnel the marine players and make it difficult for them to assault you, charge you and deepstrike onto you.

Stay in terrain, its very unlikly that you'll win any melee, but if he has to charge into your terrain, you attack at the same time.

Crisis Battle Suits piss me off. So take lots of those. Their melata and missles and number of shots plus good armor save and T5 are a pain in the ass.

Hope that helps. Also Rail guns.

only 1 crisis suit or commander per army can be t5, the rest are T4, even broadsides are t4. its a "signature system" or psuedo-relic that gives +1T 2+ armor

but yes, SM drop pod pressure can be especially devastating when you are playing objectives, because your men are strong enough to damage/tie up my army long term, but you can also score with your units, while mine stay turtled up fighting to survive.... Riptide wing excluded

Also. probably never rail guns.

May I ask why never take rail guns? My biggest agitator when fighting Tau is marker lights and rail guns. S10 AP1 often rerolling to hit is really annoying.

**MilkmanAl**

Gunrigs are great. Hammerheads are not. Neither are Broadsides, now that they have railgun impotence. The HYMP is better in just about every circumstance.

**Martel732**

Single shot high STR weapons are bad in 7th because of hull points, MCs, and the vehicle damage table.

**Jancoran**

Gunrigs are really cool.

**Cptn_Snuggles**

Let's see in 8th edition how rail guns shape up... they could make them the superior scary gun they were when Tau first came out.