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In another thread about Necrons, someone commented that Tau (my first army) are good at "gun lines." Now, I picked Tau for the "highly mobile mechanized force" list, which was fun to play, but hard to win with (now I play DoA). Anyway, I don't think I'll enjoy this "gun line" thing as much as I will my mobile and assaulty Blood Angels or the mobile mechanized Tau I originally wanted to play, but if it's a viable way to use my models, I want to hear about it.

So, what's a "gun line" and how do I play it?

It's when you get a bunch of guys with guns and just shoot as much as you can. You try to kill as many people before they reach you.

Because everyone in the squad has to be in range you end up forming a line of dudes

Great White wrote:It's when you get a bunch of guys with guns and just shoot as much as you can. You try to kill as many people before they reach you.

If you want to be blunt, yes. You have to balance anti-infantry vs anti-tank, make sure you have enough firepower at different range bands, plan and try to control where and when the enemy will assault you, spread-out firepower versus concentrated and expensive, what's the AV balance on your list, etc etc.
Just trying to figure out how much firepower per point you can get mean you'll lose, frequently.

There's probably 2 different versions of this term floating around.

version #1) "the parking lot gun line" - essentially the imperial guard or tau with alot of units that can't move due to heavy weapons like las cannons or markerlights and the goal is to just park it there and mow down people with as much firepower focused at something or ther other. (thinking of very long range bombardment with like rail guns and ion cannons but most noticibly the markerlights) Think of stuf that is 36-48+' firepower.


version #2 ) "Mobile gunline" something like what you were thinking about with moving and shooting units, howver this movement usually involves loss in firepower but gain mobility to stay away from or get closer in some cases to with others. For tau, this would most likely be some sort of crisis suit list where you are hopping around. GK and necrons also do this well with good firepower at range (can also stand and shoot but not that much loss in power with movement as most are mid ranged shooting) Think of weapons that are good at 24-36' ranges and should usually allow you to fire them for good effect even if you moved like Jump shoot Jump portable weapons.

I was talking about a balanced gun line a mix of both give me a sec and i will find my old list.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
1 Commander Shas'o (HQ) @ 261 Pts
Cyclic Ion Blaster; Fusion Blaster; Drone Controller
Hard-wired multi-tracker [5]

1 Drone @ [10] Pts

1 Bodyguard Shas'vre @ [72] Pts
Fusion Blaster; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker

1 Bodyguard Shas'vre @ [72] Pts
Fusion Blaster; Plasma Rifle; Multi-Tracker

11 Fire Warrior Team (Troops) @ 140 Pts
Pulse Rifle (x11)

1 Shas'ui @ [30] Pts
Markerlight; Pulse Rifle

11 Fire Warrior Team (Troops) @ 140 Pts
Pulse Rifle (x11)

1 Shas'ui @ [30] Pts
Markerlight

12 Fire Warrior Team (Troops) @ 132 Pts
Pulse Carbine (x12); Photon Grenades

12 Fire Warrior Team (Troops) @ 132 Pts
Pulse Carbine (x12); Photon Grenades

1 Hammerhead Gunship (Heavy Support) @ 150 Pts
#Targeting Array; Tank; Skimmer; Landing Gear; Railgun; Burst Cannon (x2)

1 Hammerhead Gunship (Heavy Support) @ 150 Pts
#Targeting Array; Tank; Skimmer; Landing Gear; Railgun; Burst Cannon (x2)

1 Sniper Drone Teams (Heavy Support) @ 240 Pts

1 Spotter @ [80] Pts
#Targeting Array; Networked Markerlight; Pulse Pistol; Drone
Controller
#Stealth Field Generator [0]

3 Sniper Drones @ [0] Pts
#Targeting Array; Rail Rifle & Target Lock
#Stealth Field Generator [0]

1 Spotter @ [80] Pts
#Targeting Array; Networked Markerlight; Pulse Pistol; Drone
Controller
#Stealth Field Generator [0]

3 Sniper Drones @ [0] Pts
#Targeting Array; Rail Rifle & Target Lock
#Stealth Field Generator [0]

1 Spotter @ [80] Pts
#Targeting Array; Networked Markerlight; Pulse Pistol; Drone
Controller
#Stealth Field Generator [0]

3 Sniper Drones @ [0] Pts
#Targeting Array; Rail Rifle & Target Lock
#Stealth Field Generator [0]

5 Pathfinder Team (Fast Attack) @ 170 Pts
Pulse Carbine & Markerlight (x2); Rail Rifle & Target Lock (x3)

1 Devilfish @ [80] Pts
Marker Beacon; Burst Cannon

2 Mounted Gun Drones @ [0] Pts
TL Pulse Carbine

5 Pathfinder Team (Fast Attack) @ 170 Pts
Pulse Carbine & Markerlight (x2); Rail Rifle & Target Lock (x3)

1 Devilfish @ [80] Pts
Marker Beacon; Burst Cannon

2 Mounted Gun Drones @ [0] Pts
TL Pulse Carbine

5 Pathfinder Team (Fast Attack) @ 160 Pts
Pulse Carbine & Markerlight (x3); Rail Rifle & Target Lock (x2)

1 Devilfish @ [80] Pts
Marker Beacon; Burst Cannon

2 Mounted Gun Drones @ [0] Pts
TL Pulse Carbine

Models in Army: 91


Total Army Cost: 1845

I played that army for awhile it did me good