Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello Dakka,

I'm about to play my Tau friend next week (He uses Fire Warriors, with outflanking Kroot to slow down assailants. He also has a hammerhead and a few other things that I don't recall).

Now, I'm thinking about taking Ghaz seeing as he's an absolute beast (especially in CC against Tau).

I'm running a Battlewagon rush with 3 wagons loaded with boyz (each with a Nob with PK) and a KFF shielding them all.

Now, a KFF does wonders, but i'ts not infallible. If that railgun punches through, I could lose 1/3 of my army.

So here's my strategy:

Snikrot can come in from reserve onto any board edge with his kommandos.

I'll take the minimum # of kommandos, and 2 burnas.

Ghaz joins this squad before deployment and comes in from reserve with the Kommandos.

Ghaz seperates and the squads destroy whatever the heck they feel like, while the battlewagons are given a good distraction to get up to where they need to be and destroy the rest.

Thoughts?

It is a common and effective tactic. A lot of people do it. But Ghazzy is a little overkill for Tau I think.

Nothing new here. Ghazzy and snikrot is pretty common.

In CC tau will fall like wet cardboard. Ghaz is good, but overkill. If you don't take him, and maybe even if you do a klaw is always nice, but the burnas should cover your power damage just fine. Outflanking to the backline means you are going after broadsides most likely. Kommandos will probably get shot to pieces after, but you should do a lot of damage and divert his fire.

If you really want to toss an HQ slot away for that trick, you'll probably be better off with grotznik or a warboss. Grotznik makes kommandoz extremely durable, while a warboss does about the same damage as thrakka would, for less points.

was going to say a warboss eould tear tau apart for a cheaper plus you cant even use his waagh effectively

To be fair, two boyz and a barrel of fungus beer could also tear tau apart

one problem with your listed tactic is that ghaz cannot leave the komandoes turn one and if i read that right that is what you are planning. you get in, get one assault together and then you cna seperate them. ghaz is alot of points though, I when doing this trick like to do a warboss on a bike.

your oppenend will likely run away from ghaz and if he's smart mr. slow and purposful won't be able to reach everythingwhereas a warboss on a bike will be rocking eveything . granted wrboss isn't eternal warrior but he does coutn as toughness 6 for all purposes except instant death (rumor has it next edition he'll even count as toughness 6 for instant death purposes against shooting jus tnot cc wso in another month your warboss might basically be abel to take a hit from a railgun and shrug it off as a single wound thanks to it hitting the bike.

as for now the warboss can get in, wreck some stuff and has his own 4+ coversave so your opponent will have a tough choice... shoot the warboss or shoot snickrot or shoot the battlewagons full of sharp green pointy death.

I once ran snickrot w/ a warboss on a bike, 3 battlewagons, nob bikers and 6 rokkit buggies in a 2k point battle. I lost a boy to his kroot... and tabled the tau player turn 4 ... IE 2kvs 2k to start 1994 points on the board vs 0 points of tau turn 4 end granted i did well on my kff saves and technically i lost a few shootas on battlewagons and i think i had to have the grot riggers repair an immobalize result (i always take 2 big shootas and a kannon in case of weapon destroyed) but i don't know if i'd use the snickrot and warboss against tau again it just didn't seem sporting.

Aren't most Tau guns heavy?

Thus, if he runs, he can't shoot (stopping that railgun).

And if he runs, the battlewagons'd get him.

+ = Warboss and Crew
T = Tau gunline
0 = Battlewagon

+++++
TTTTTTTTTTT

000

i don't know on that one, i thought the crisis suits and hte grav tanks they have can move and shoot but i could be wrong.

i can't imagine a tau player putting out a guline like you listed though, IG do it because of the orders there isn't really a reason i can see to just putting tau all close together. the better tau players i've seen tend to spread out and use terrain alot and thier battlle armor suit things jump out shoot then jump back behind terrain to try and slow assaults

also yes heavy weapons running won't get you ability to fire, but it beats being run over and if a warboss is killing things near them they can run away and hope to escape. it is still tau, they are probably the weakest thing out there so i hope they get a buff in 6th or a new codex to bring em up to speed

I decided to water down Ghaz to a Mega-Armoured Warboss with a cybork body. Sill will do a LOT of crumping.

Ghaz can't seperate the turn he comes in, no one can.

As for killing power, you should get something. But after that you're dead. With such a small squad, pinning tests and moral tests will put that unit out of commission quick and any tau player worth his salt with blow ghaz away. Or simply make a kroot wall around his guys so you can't get at the important targets.

Hypothetical situation here:

Snikrot and co outflank in with Ghazzy and charges 2 broadsides, almost guaranteed slaughter... leaving Ghazzy, Snikrot and co to eat a rail head's sub-munition shot next turn, now assuming the bright side, since you've gone for a minimum squad you might have 1 kommando left standing and Ghazzy. The kommando will go down in a hail of gunfire and ghazzy.... well lets just say...


"AND THERE OFF LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! NEVER BEFORE HAVE WE SEEN THIS KIND OF COMPETITION, THE PURE LIQUID CLUNKY SPEED OF THE SLOW AND PURPOSEFUL BROADSIDE VERSUS THE SLIGHTLY CHUNKIER BUT FAAAAAAAR KILLIER, THE ONE, THE ONLY GHAZZ-KULLL- THRAKKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Que the comedy scene of both of them shuffling after each other.

My confusion is as to why your worried about railgun shots when the tau army isn't exactly lacking in ranged medium/high strength weapons, I mean the standard pulse rifle is an anti tank weapon as far as ork armor is concerned.

Save the points on the tricks and just bring more boys and vehicles to the party, probably some bikes to. Tau no likey bikey.

I don't like bikes.

I should probably have mentioned that he has no broadsides (they're the large gun-toting ones, right?).

Ork armor doesn't stop bullets, ork boyz do.
Bring more boyz.

-Matt

The only way that this tactic wouldn't line you up for obliteration (and as such killing off your extremely expensive HQ) is if you know that the opponent likes to "parking lot" his army. I.E. he clumps together all the time and a assault from the back would literally bag you 2/3 of his army. But at that point, if the person is in any inclination your friend I would tell them to stop doing that rather than exploiting it and wrecking his face.

HawaiiMatt wrote:Ork armor doesn't stop bullets, ork boyz do.
Bring more boyz.

-Matt

Well with Tau gun lines and a hammerhead that WILL be using submunitions, you actually want to think more then more boyz, because despite what most internet people say, Tau can fething butcher other armies in a shoot out.

IMO Id say if your sticking to the Snikrot trick, dont waste points on your little deathstar there, they are going to come in, kill a few things, and most likely die horrible deaths. So you should really just take a cheapO boss with a PK and keep him IN the kommando squad unless you get close enough to separate the PK boss to another unit, say, the hammer head? With the points you save doing that, you will be able to take many other things for your army. Play around with the idea, and see what you come up with

Against Tau, ghazz isnt worth it. A normal warboss will do the trick.

Boyz will do the trick. People take Ghaz because they are afraid not too. Ive only ever used Ghaz once in my entire career as an Ork boss. The times Ive lost, he wouldnt of made the difference anyways

Also remember that should you roll that magic 1,1,1 on the difficult terrain roll when coming on from the board edge you will loose the whole unit...