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Ok so my friend is gonna play me with a henchman army in a 1500 game, and i was wondering what the best way would be to shut it down or prevent any of it from completely annihilating my squishy units.
My List
2x railheads w/ Dpods, Multi-trackers, and SMS

3x pirhanas w/ dpods, fusion, and flechettes

6x pathfinder squad w/ dpod devilfish

2x 6x FW w/ one devilfish

3x Broadsides with team leader, 3x targetting array and target lock on leader

1x fireknife shas-el w/ targetting and 2x shield drones

2x fireknife shas'ui team leaders in different squads w/ targetting and 1x shield drone apiece

He most likely will run Coteaz with 3ish squads of death cults, with a few crusaders sprinkled about for wound shenanegans. For antivehicle he will most likely use a group of psykers for the S10 ap1 large blast along with some crusaders to protect coteaz. And they will all be in either chimeras or rhinos. I dont like to list tailor, but do any of you know any strategies or minor adjustments (read: very minor) that would be useful in this battle?
and no i dont roll that way

Can you guys help? I kinda want to know some ideas for this battle.

It has been awhile since I ran Tau and my knowledge of the new GK book is not thorough. This being said, from my view your list looks ok. There are some minor changes that I would make. I would use a unit of 2 Broadsides rather than 3. The extra points could go toward kroot. I would also probably run 2 Piranhas rather than 3. The extra Piranha could be run on its own if you wish.

I don't know a great deal about GK (never played them, just heard a lot about them...) so I'll offer what advice I can.

The GK have a low-model count low-Armor save army... use this to your advantage.

I would get rid of the devilfish on your 1 fire warrior squad (mainly to free up points) get rid of both railheads (submunissions will do all of nothing against an army with 3+ or better saves. Then I would change all your crisis suits to helios. I would also include 2 units of 6 gun-drones to use as a fast-moving meatshield that can keep up with your crisis suits (or maybe kroot...). With spare points I would add more helios suits.

I know that you don't want major change, but there is a lot of things in your list that are a waste of points (mainly hammerheads).

All that said, I would suggest the following list:

Shas'el (TA/PR/FB/MT)
97 Pts.

Crisis Battlesuit (3) (PR/FB/MT)
TL w/ TA
201 Pts.

Crisis Battlesuit (3) (PR/FB/MT)
TL w/ TA
201 Pts.

Crisis Battlesuit (3) (PR/FB/MT)
TL w/ TA
201 Pts.

Fire Warriors (12)
120 Pts.

Kroot (12)
84 Pts.

Pathfinders (8)
Warfish
216

Gun Drones (4)
48 Pts.

Gun Drones (4)
48 Pts.

Broadsides (3)
TAs/TL w/ 2 SDs + TL
280 Pts.

1496 I believe.

You have 3 meatshields, 2 weak, yet fast, gun drone teams and a unit of kroot.

The crisis suits can wear down the toughest units while your fire-warriors and devilfish can pump lead into anything weaker.


- As I said, I haven't played them ever... so if I'm completely off on something, ignore me. XP

The Bringer wrote:I don't know a great deal about GK (never played them, just heard a lot about them...) so I'll offer what advice I can.

The GK have a low-model count low-Armor save army... use this to your advantage.

GK henchmen lists can have GEQs and thus are not necessarily low model count or low armor save. The OP seemed to indicate a HTH oriented henchman list.

I didnt make this list specifically to combat the army, as this is an all-comers list that I made to face any army that i might face, not just this specific GK one. Because of the versatility of this list, i dont want to make major changes. Plus, against an army with mostly 5++ saves like this one, i think the submunition will be invaluable, because it will wound on a 2+ and hit many of the other units. I have an aversion to kroot because they don't fit with the army's theme of mobility, which will be hindered if i take away one of the devilfish. I will consider just the team of 2 broadsides, as they are my dedicated anti-armor unit.

rockprime wrote:I didnt make this list specifically to combat the army, as this is an all-comers list that I made to face any army that i might face, not just this specific GK one. Because of the versatility of this list, i dont want to make major changes. Plus, against an army with mostly 5++ saves like this one, i think the submunition will be invaluable, because it will wound on a 2+ and hit many of the other units. I have an aversion to kroot because they don't fit with the army's theme of mobility, which will be hindered if i take away one of the devilfish. I will consider just the team of 2 broadsides, as they are my dedicated anti-armor unit.

Most people normally consider 3 broadsides overkill, however, your experience may vary. Did you give them target lock or targeting array? The lock lets them fire at different units. If you took the lock then a unit of 3 is ok. If you drop a broadside and do not want a kroot meat shield, then you could add a squad of drones. They rock if they use a marker light token. Another option would be another elite unit like 2 xv8s with missile pods.

spaceelf wrote:

rockprime wrote:I didnt make this list specifically to combat the army, as this is an all-comers list that I made to face any army that i might face, not just this specific GK one. Because of the versatility of this list, i dont want to make major changes. Plus, against an army with mostly 5++ saves like this one, i think the submunition will be invaluable, because it will wound on a 2+ and hit many of the other units. I have an aversion to kroot because they don't fit with the army's theme of mobility, which will be hindered if i take away one of the devilfish. I will consider just the team of 2 broadsides, as they are my dedicated anti-armor unit.

Most people normally consider 3 broadsides overkill, however, your experience may vary. Did you give them target lock or targeting array? The lock lets them fire at different units. If you took the lock then a unit of 3 is ok. If you drop a broadside and do not want a kroot meat shield, then you could add a squad of drones. They rock if they use a marker light token. Another option would be another elite unit like 2 xv8s with missile pods.

All 3 have arrays, but i put a lock on the team leader.

spaceelf wrote:
Most people normally consider 3 broadsides overkill, however, your experience may vary.

What town are you from? 3 broadsides is a minimum for all but specialized Tau lists. At 1500 I'd usually suggest 5+ railguns, and at 2000 9 broadsides is usually a good idea.

Having faced TWO mechanized GK henchmen lists, I am not sure what to tell you. Both kicked my ass. The shunting GKs with power weapons and psy-cannon really hurt. The low AP blasts shot from within rhinos hurts as well. GK night armies can get across the table in turn one and have your heavy hitters in CC in turn two, if not one. I have yet to figure it out. I had 3 broadsides each time. I just could could not kill enough fast enough. Also, what I learned from my second game, is don5 be distracted by dread knights. There were two on the board and I fired everything at them ignoring all else. Yeah I killed the first one in a hurry but I could have been destroying transports and exposing/killing their occupants.

The Bringer wrote:

spaceelf wrote:
Most people normally consider 3 broadsides overkill, however, your experience may vary.

What town are you from? 3 broadsides is a minimum for all but specialized Tau lists. At 1500 I'd usually suggest 5+ railguns, and at 2000 9 broadsides is usually a good idea.

I should have been more specific. What I meant was 3 broadsides in a single unit that does not have target locks is overkill. Two broadsides in a single unit seems to work better. Also, it allows you to spread out your anti tank units. 3 units of 2 > 2 units of 3.

This is all very simple. Henchmen are bad versions of Imperial Guard.

You say he is running coteaz and henchmen in 15000, lets assume there is NO Grey Knight units in this list, just to make it easier.

Smash his vehicles first. Tau do this best. You can outshoot him, and crusaders are overkill versus tau, along with deathcult. I see this as being a one sided battle in your favour.

Treat them like mechanized guard, once they are on the ground, they are done for. The Bringer wrote a good list.

Jaon wrote:This is all very simple. Henchmen are bad versions of Imperial Guard.

You say he is running coteaz and henchmen in 15000, lets assume there is NO Grey Knight units in this list, just to make it easier.

Smash his vehicles first. Tau do this best. You can outshoot him, and crusaders are overkill versus tau, along with deathcult. I see this as being a one sided battle in your favour.

Treat them like mechanized guard, once they are on the ground, they are done for. The Bringer wrote a good list.

Unfortunately Henchmen armies are not bad versions of Guard. They have cheap troops and transports that can outshoot you. They also have plenty of assault units like arco flagellents. They can be in your face early on thanks to Storm Ravens, deep striking and shunting.

Meat shields do not work as well against Grey Knights because they can shunt around them. GK also have lots of flamers that roast the meat units.