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Hey everyone,
So, my friend is running a Tau list around 1500+ and he spams the ever-living heck outta railguns
He normally brings two squads of three broadsides, and two hammerheads. Between the railguns, and the 60 some missile shots they can let off, It seems to be a rather strong curtain of fire to advance through, and bringing vehicles sounds like suicide and wasted points.
Once you get through that firepower, the rest of his army is firewarriors (not in devilfish) and a small Crisis Suit team with his HQ.
My question is, how do I counter that kind of firepower?
I was thinking Veil of darkness crypteks, deep striking doom scythes, heavy destroyers darting in and out of cover. Maybe even a doomsday cannon duel with them (it does have heavier armor until you pen it, but it can scatter, so IDK

Anything other tactics that I might be able to utilize?

2 squads of broadsides and 2 hammerheads is 4 HS. That's one to many.....

Well, that might just explain a few things... =__=

Okay, say you dropped one of the broadside squads, how would you counter it?

he could be using 2-3 broadsides as a single unit then using a multi tracker to split fire
He can also only fire seeker missles if he has markerlight hits to convert into missles.

run some scarabs, keep them in cover, move up and eat his face off.

So wait. The missile systems the broadsides have on them can only be used once per markerlight hit?

He can't shoot all of those missile every single turn, and he had too many HS choices? Cheating....sonofab*tch

To be honest, the tau codex is really old and doesn't translate to the current ruleset very well and many things like seeker missles are really fuzzy (but have a FAQ). I started on tau and was doing markerlights totally wrong for like a year until I showed up for my first tourney and saw someone else use them.

I think they were a secondary weapon, like smart missiles, as opposed to seeker missiles or something?

Not trying to start a hate thread, but i'd like to be sure im not being taken advantage of.

iGuy91 wrote:So wait. The missile systems the broadsides have on them can only be used once per markerlight hit?

He can't shoot all of those missile every single turn, and he had too many HS choices? Cheating....sonofab*tch

No. The Smart Missile System can be fired every turn and, if he buys the right wargear, he can also fire his Rail Guns. But he does have too many Heavy Support Choices.

Scarabs, Lychguard, and Warriors can make short work of Broadsides. Just treat the Hammerhead like any other AV13 Tank. It saddens me that most Tau players eschew twin-linked flamers on their Suits; those things can pile on wounds if left unchecked.

But yea, keep your scarabs sipping through cover and they should be able to touch and overwhelm the Broadsides in his backfield.

right right, there are seeker missles and smart missles, seeker missles are the ones that require markerlight hits >.>

KplKeegan wrote:

iGuy91 wrote:So wait. The missile systems the broadsides have on them can only be used once per markerlight hit?

He can't shoot all of those missile every single turn, and he had too many HS choices? Cheating....sonofab*tch

No. The Smart Missile System can be fired every turn and, if he buys the right wargear, he can also fire his Rail Guns. But he does have too many Heavy Support Choices.

Scarabs, Lychguard, and Warriors can make short work of Broadsides. Just treat the Hammerhead like any other AV13 Tank. It saddens me that most Tau players eschew twin-linked flamers on their Suits; those things can pile on wounds if left unchecked.

But yea, keep your scarabs sipping through cover and they should be able to touch and overwhelm the Broadsides in his backfield.

Yeah, this is starting to make more sense, thank you
Unfamiliar army I suppose.
Well, glad I just got more scarabs, I could field 12 bases, so 2 squads of 6 zipping up the field for fun times.
Good stuff

You have access to an outflanking unit. Tie him up with them. they are cheap and useful.

Also, tell him to stop using 4 Heavy support, as was mentioned.

Also, one unit of 10 scarabs+3-6 Spyders = awesome. They are kinda like Ghost arcs for Scarabs, only better. since he likes cheese so much... That'll learn him.

Oh and an easy conversion for spyders is to use painted wire as spider legs coming off a destroyer body. =)

iGuy91 wrote:Hey everyone,
So, my friend is running a Tau list around 1500+ and he spams the ever-living heck outta railguns
He normally brings two squads of three broadsides, and two hammerheads. Between the railguns, and the 60 some missile shots they can let off, It seems to be a rather strong curtain of fire to advance through, and bringing vehicles sounds like suicide and wasted points.
Once you get through that firepower, the rest of his army is firewarriors (not in devilfish) and a small Crisis Suit team with his HQ.
My question is, how do I counter that kind of firepower?
I was thinking Veil of darkness crypteks, deep striking doom scythes, heavy destroyers darting in and out of cover. Maybe even a doomsday cannon duel with them (it does have heavier armor until you pen it, but it can scatter, so IDK

Anything other tactics that I might be able to utilize?

First tactic I would use is sit him down with his codex and make sure he know his rules. Aside from the already mentioned to many heavy support, sounds like he is also miss using the weapon systems. With 6 broadsides and 2 hammer heads the max fire volume is 8 railgun shots (72" range), and 36 missiles a turn (24" range). The SMS are a twin-link system and the Broadside Railguns are also twin-link. Make it to assault and that Army is mostly dead.

I would worry more about the Broadsides than the Hammerhead as they are more accurate do to the twin-link, and can die faster by ID. Only issue with the using swarms against him is going to be getting hit by the Hammerhead submunitions. I am pretty sure that is a big enough weapon to wipe out a small swarm in one shot.

Actually the SMS is not twinlinked, its all considered one system

Tau is probably one of the easier armies to face as Necrons.

Wraiths will devastate them. Tau really have a choice of either pouring nearly all their fire into these, or not being able to kill them. This benefits you in two ways. Either the rest of the army is unmolested, or your wraiths get into CC by turn 2, or 3 at the latest. Yes, they can be ID by Railgun shots, but it takes an average 3. That's an entire broadside squad firing at it, to kill a single wraith.


CCB are once again awesome. Sweep and destroy any vehicles they have. One of the best parts, is the Overlord can get out and assault squads in this case without any fear of being overwhelmed.

Lanceteks These ID suits, and ignore their armor save. With a 36' range, and the ability to hide in squad, they're great in any situation.

Take 1-2 squads of Wraiths, Two CCB Overlords with Warscythes, a ton of lanceteks, then you can sprinkle in whatever you want and still have a very good army.

Good luck!

I would consider running Imotekh. Let him have first turn, see how he deploys, and then take the initiative on a 4+. Even if he takes blacksun filters those are still points you are taking away from him that could be used on other things. Also the chance of D6 str8 lightning is nice and has the potential to double out his suits. I also second the wraiths and scarabs too. I had a squad of 5-6 scarabs lock down my friends tau HQ for a couple turns while I laid waste to the rest of his forces with my warriors/wraiths. Running a VoDtek with Lychguard and Rez O. Lord could be fun too. Plopping them down near his broadsides should give him something to think about and hopefully take some pressure off your other units. Against tau though, I feel that for necrons you really don't need vehicles as much as you might against other armies.

Shas'O'Siepher wrote:Actually the SMS is not twinlinked, its all considered one system

Erm, yup your right. Oops.

iGuy91 wrote:So wait. The missile systems the broadsides have on them can only be used once per markerlight hit?

He can't shoot all of those missile every single turn, and he had too many HS choices? Cheating....sonofab*tch

I have two friends who did the same thing... Although, taking Imotekh is a hilarious way to counter their "stay back and shoot" thing. It also helps when you roll four sixes in a row and decimate two units of fire warriors.

to sum it up make sure to read your opponents codex. Markerlights are Heavy 1 and move As Owner, so firewarriors can't move and use one. It seems to be VERY common for Tau players (casually, at least) to take four Heavy choices without even realizing it (or they're jerks). Also, Tau have a ton of wargear and rules that almost completely negate Night Fighting, and they have two weapons that ignore it completely (Seekers and Smart MIssile Systems).

Their codex is really old, and some of it is weird. For instance, my friends (who play Tau) just found out yesterday that "Target Priority" doesn't exist in 5th.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

WhiteWolf01 wrote:I would consider running Imotekh. Let him have first turn, see how he deploys, and then take the initiative on a 4+. Even if he takes blacksun filters those are still points you are taking away from him that could be used on other things. Also the chance of D6 str8 lightning is nice and has the potential to double out his suits. I also second the wraiths and scarabs too. I had a squad of 5-6 scarabs lock down my friends tau HQ for a couple turns while I laid waste to the rest of his forces with my warriors/wraiths. Running a VoDtek with Lychguard and Rez O. Lord could be fun too. Plopping them down near his broadsides should give him something to think about and hopefully take some pressure off your other units. Against tau though, I feel that for necrons you really don't need vehicles as much as you might against other armies.

Or DS three Monoliths in front of their gunline and dump three full units of Destroyers/Heavy Destroyers while your Monoliths Particle Whip the crap out of their Fire Warrior/Kroot blobs while a Ghost Ark comes up the flank and dumps out a nine man unit of Lords and an Overlord, all with Warscythes plus a Res Orb or three. I've had an enitre Lord unit get killed, only for them all to get back up and fudge up some Fire Warriors. It's great when your unit takes 12 Railgun shots to the face, then 45 Pulse Rifle shots, dies, then gets back up and does it again. Fire Magnet? I say AWESOME. Oh, and I've had a C'tan soak up about 1500 points worth of fire, allowing me to run up the side and deploy my deathstar.

McNinja wrote:Or DS three Monoliths in front of their gunline and dump three full units of Destroyers/Heavy Destroyers while your Monoliths Particle Whip the crap out of their Fire Warrior/Kroot blobs while a Ghost Ark comes up the flank and dumps out a nine man unit of Lords and an Overlord, all with Warscythes plus a Res Orb or three. I've had an enitre Lord unit get killed, only for them all to get back up and fudge up some Fire Warriors. It's great when your unit takes 12 Railgun shots to the face, then 45 Pulse Rifle shots, dies, then gets back up and does it again. Fire Magnet? I say AWESOME. Oh, and I've had a C'tan soak up about 1500 points worth of fire, allowing me to run up the side and deploy my deathstar.

First thing - NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER DS A MONOLITH....EVAR!!!! They no longer has safe DS - so you are potentially staring at 600 pts poofed.

Second - why are you giving 3 lords Res orbs, and how are you running 9 man squad - the MOST you can have with an overlord is FIVE...? Honestly - that is completely impossible....

Imo is a great choice - and I HATE named characters - but his ability does screw sit-back armies most of the time and he is only 200+ points as opposed to the 800+ that this tactic throws at it. There is MUCH better and more effective was to do it than this....

And how is ONE C'tan holding up against 1500 points?

I am not trying to be an out-righ jerk - but everything you listed here is either a horrible tactic or a blatant violation of rules or an exaggeration....I just want to know where you are getting these...

Amaraxis wrote:

McNinja wrote:Or DS three Monoliths in front of their gunline and dump three full units of Destroyers/Heavy Destroyers while your Monoliths Particle Whip the crap out of their Fire Warrior/Kroot blobs while a Ghost Ark comes up the flank and dumps out a nine man unit of Lords and an Overlord, all with Warscythes plus a Res Orb or three. I've had an enitre Lord unit get killed, only for them all to get back up and fudge up some Fire Warriors. It's great when your unit takes 12 Railgun shots to the face, then 45 Pulse Rifle shots, dies, then gets back up and does it again. Fire Magnet? I say AWESOME. Oh, and I've had a C'tan soak up about 1500 points worth of fire, allowing me to run up the side and deploy my deathstar.

First thing - NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER DS A MONOLITH....EVAR!!!! They no longer has safe DS - so you are potentially staring at 600 pts poofed.

It would awesome if it worked, though. If 6th works the way the leak did, awesome would be the appropriate term.

Second - why are you giving 3 lords Res orbs, and how are you running 9 man squad - the MOST you can have with an overlord is FIVE...? Honestly - that is completely impossible....

Negatory, sir. Two Overlords (or both Imotekh and Zahndrekh) can have 5 Lords each in their Royal Court. Perhaps you couldn't roll them into one squad, but still.

Imo is a great choice - and I HATE named characters - but his ability does screw sit-back armies most of the time and he is only 200+ points as opposed to the 800+ that this tactic throws at it. There is MUCH better and more effective was to do it than this....

Usually it does nothing, as rolling a six to hit isn't great, but when it hits it is hilarious. Same for the (way more expensive) option above.

And how is ONE C'tan holding up against 1500 points?

Lucky rolls for me, unlucky rolls for the Tau player. Six Railguns and forty missiles later, the C'tan still had one wound left. Another sixty Pulse Rifle shots and he's dead, but now the army is done shooting and it's my turn.

I am not trying to be an out-righ jerk - but everything you listed here is either a horrible tactic or a blatant violation of rules or an exaggeration....I just want to know where you are getting these...

it's called luck, and sometimes it's awesome.

Given how slow a monolith is you should probably almost always deepstrike it. The ability to land on stuff was only really relevant when the gauss flux arc was a 12" effect and not individual 24" guns. There's really no reason you can't deepstrike a safe distance away now and just shoot at your max 24" range, safe as a big unit of veiling tesla immortals and about the same price.

For the fighting tau example though, no, probably not a great idea as you can't pack a wall together safely like that. But 1 or 2 in the right firing lanes could still mess with los and poop ID templates on suits.

EDIT: Not that monoliths are great vs railguns anyway though, rail spam is about as tailored to monolith killing as vulcan melta spam. Wraiths and flayed ones would be the way to do it. I normally don't recommend flayed ones but 15-20 warriors with close combat stats starting the game 18" away create a threat rail tau can't really afford to ignore, and they already couldn't afford to ignore the wraiths. Whenever a rail shot is absorbed by a 3++ or knocks down a 13pt model that gets up again you should be way, way ahead.