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Hi,

I'm looking for any reasonable tactics / army list for tau that can defeat someone I play against regularly. He pretty much always plays Belial and a full 2k/2.5k worth of death wing terminators. Nothing else.

Any suggestions on a good tau army / tactic to get around this would be great.

My best plans are to also deep strike as much tau as possible in fish / suits / stealth

Thoughts?

Probably not a great idea. He will come in all together turn 1 or 2 while you will be force to come in piece meal.

What are you working with? How do you feel about the interceptor upgrade? Do you have 3 riptides?

If 2 and 3 are; like them and yes then you are set.

Overall castle in a corner and counter attack the termies after they land. You can keep a low damage output scorer in reserve if you do not feel you can keep them alive otherwise.

The best suggestion I can give you is to force the terminators to take their invul save as much as possible. I currently have a Dark Angels army and my friend has a tau army and the only way he can really beat me is if he can make my terminators take their 5+ invul save. They are a force to be respected and are quite tough to kill but they are not unstoppable.

Castling in a corner and trying to control the fire lanes (possible deep strike areas) in front of you with as much fire power as possible is a valid strategy if he only has termis. It is important that the squad belial comes with first round has no ground behind your lines to deep strike in and especially behind your vehicles. Keep in mind that he cannot use belials teleport homer the round belial comes in and it is important that you have cleared out the DW assault debate (50% or all of them in reserves).

A couple of riptides with the ion cannon and the interceptor upgrade should be a nice deterrent to any deepstriking termies, as they come in nicely bunched up for you to hit them with a S8 AP2 large blast or two, or three if you are feeling nasty.

If they do not deepstrike, it should not be too hard, as deathwing struggles to put down enough firepower against maneuverable armies. Just concentrate on scoring units and try to keep your scoring units out of the fight.

I can pretty much piece any army config together needed.
3 x riptides / all assortment of troops / whatever is needed to defeat my insane friend

so you think turtle in? ageis defence line or similar, maybe conga kroot, then LOTS of my troops will be within 6" for supporting fire? lots and lots of marker lights.

I am still thinking of fielding Farsight with 7 battlesuit bodyguards all with fusion + plasma + target lock, so the termies dont get armour saves.
deep strike in the turn after him, no scatter and then get a 15" range away and see if i can take out a squad of termies.
Them maybe 1 stealth team deep striking to claim objectives while he hammers me and engages me in melee. The thing is he will come with 6 or 7 squads of terminators ... damn belial :(

The worst thing you can do is get into melee with them. Yes they mainly strike last with power fist, but if you dont kill them off that str 8 ap 2 is not going to feel good at all. Keep you range on them and blast away with all those low ap weapons tau has

Great ideas on the riptides and S8 AP2 blast.

Can you expand a little on the DW assault debate and 50% in reserve? Im not aware of this. Does this mean he has to keep 50% back? and 50% on table @ start? That would be godly!
Also, he can ofc decide to bring belial in on turn 1 or 2 now. Does that mean its belial DS turn + 1 then the teleport homer (no roll for other termies coming in) to be used. Else he has to roll to come in?


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I can keep him at range, as long as he doesn't DS all his stuff next to my face 1" away on turn 1 or two ...
I need a way to either tie him up with crap units so the rest can either fast or jetpack to range

I'm liking the sound of lots of small Fire Warrior units, kept close together. He can only engage one per turn, but is likely to destroy that unit, leaving the Termies in the open. Meanwhile, you get supporting fire from nearby units on each charge - all of it S5, and you can use markerlights to increase BS.

I wouldn't bank on AP1 or 2 shots thanks to storm shields, unless you know he won't bring them. Instead, force lots of wounds so he'll end up rolling 1's anyway.

Lastly, suits and Riptides are great given they can put out lots of wounds too, but more importantly they can run rings around Termies so you can easily avoid combat.

Yeah im with you.
The issue is, he brings belial + 7 or squads of termies, that is serious damage, not only that. I know he will upgrade all to have thunder hammers and storm shields as its only 5pts per model *sigh*.
This gives them a +3 inv save! even if you do hit and wound with AP1/2 weapons ... joy

The sheer quantity of termies raining down means he can engage lots of my troops pretty much on turn 2. He is a chief troll and wants to wipe out my army in 3 turns ... thats why i sugggested a conga kroot line, or something meaningless at the front.

The only options i see is getting lots of suits and fast moving units, that can after he's DS'ed on my movement turn, haul ass out of dodge and shoot from range.
I'm not thinking a small number of troops deployed at start huddled in a corner and then deepstrike farsight + guard in the rear of the termies to toast 1 squad, as well as lots of fw's in devilfish on turn 2 or 3.

Yes your opponent can only keep 50% in reserve rounding up the others have to begin on the field it's in the BRB under reserves.

He cannot use the teleport homer the turn it arrives it has to begin the turn on the table so if belial ds turn 1 he wouldn't be able to use it till the beginning of turn 2


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Also crisis suits with fusion and plasma and interceptor would be nice

Sir, you are a god!

Not sure if you want to go with Allies, but a Libby with Null Zone will help.

Or coteaz and a squad of plasma servitors and plasma guardsmen. Pump out three blasts and 6 plasma shots at anyone deepstriking.

But as for Tau tactics, a great way to take down terminators is just torrents of fire. Try a pathfinder squad with the accelerator drone, darkstrider, and three rail rifles. Pump out a bazillion shots, (at the now T3 terminators), and have six AP1 (now instant death) shots as insurance. He will also have a really tough time getting in combat with that squad.

And of course, if you aren't in range for the pulse barrage, you also have a squad full of markerlights to use.

Also suits with plasma and interceptor.

lucasbuck wrote:
Hi,

I'm looking for any reasonable tactics / army list for tau that can defeat someone I play against regularly. He pretty much always plays Belial and a full 2k/2.5k worth of death wing terminators. Nothing else.

Any suggestions on a good tau army / tactic to get around this would be great.

My best plans are to also deep strike as much tau as possible in fish / suits / stealth

Thoughts?

beware Belial dsing in with a heavy flamer attached. The turn he DSes it is twinlinked to boot. Will BBQ firewarriors.

Other than that, I wouldnt worry too much. You should be able to jump away, shoot, jump away with your suits. If he gets you into combat you are dead, but how is that different than with most things. The other shooting will be a bunch of missile launchers(watch your suits) and a bunch of storm bolters(who cares)

kelewan wrote:
Yes your opponent can only keep 50% in reserve rounding up the others have to begin on the field it's in the BRB under reserves.

He cannot use the teleport homer the turn it arrives it has to begin the turn on the table so if belial ds turn 1 he wouldn't be able to use it till the beginning of turn 2


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Also crisis suits with fusion and plasma and interceptor would be nice

The 50% reserves applying to DWA is HIGHLY contested. If you do not want some major arguments I would probably avoid it.

The above idea of MSU firewarriors is not bad either.

Termies are very weak to MSU as they can at best engage 1 unit a turn and they are very low model count.

Also SS termies get expensive very quickly for a DA army as 5 pts over 30 models is 150 pts which is close to another squad of termies. If he prince a bunch of SS then you should be happy as he cannot TL bolter your firewarriors to death and you can just keep moving out of charge range. Set up in a blobb of MSU firewarriors and kroot in the middle of your board edge if you bring enough you should be able to space out enough to make him drop almost back on his board edge. Then you can just contract backwards and away from his guys. Suits are great for this as with move+JSJ termies can never catch them. An ethereal could help with torrent of fire if you go MSU firewarriors.

Let him bring the SS/THs. It wont matter one bit under a sheer volume of fire. He only gets one save. Also there is the one 60pt HQ that allows his unit to fire an extra shot if they dont move, and I think one of the Ethereal/Aun'va abilities let you fire another shot at 1/2 RF range. Thats quite a volume of Str5 shots. Another possibility was a Tau buddy of mine likes to alliy with Eldrad and I saw him tear up 1500 pts of DWA with minimal firepower and just using that malediction that forces them to re-roll saved saves. That turns their 2+ into a 4+... was much crying that game.

Bring Kroot to bubble wrap and abuse supporting fire. Drown him in saves. Use the Ethereal + Fire Warrior abilities. 10 FW at 15" with Ethereal can pump 30 Str. 5 shots. Don't worry about taking Plasma. Just worry about forcing him to take as many saves as you possibly can. You should be fine.

So dual foc's vs. terminators. Bring 3 riptides and 3 TL Fusion/PR XV8 teams. 2-4 commanders w/ bodyguards w/ same loadout and markerlights. Sprinkle in a couple squads of firewarriors. Shouldn't be a problem. Keep your distance and drop a squad at a time. Force him into choke points and don't be afraid to sacrifice a small unit to move further away. He just wants to get you into assault. Biggest thing is finish off a squad, don't leave 1 hangin'. Today's BOLS rep was proof of that.

Psh, with proper firepower you should be able to drop 2-3 squads a turn. At 1850, i'm able to drop 30+ marines in a turn..

If you want to troll him really bad, then forget about any of the high-end tactics and advance units.

Drown him in troops.

Terminators have the downside on not being able to engage too much too quickly, a massive army of fire warriors, led by ethereals will shoot SO much, that his armor wont be even relevant.

2+ is nice and all, but not when outnumbered so much that if you deepstrike next to the enemy, you will still get butchered by all the units you could not engage that turn, and not when the enemy can afford to just walk away from you with no hard to his shooting ability.

Also, as he replaces ALL weapons with hammers and stormshield, he can only do ANY damage on the assualt, and with the number of warriors you can bring even overwatch will be bound to drop a few, at least. remember that any squad with at least one member in 6" from any member of the assualted squad can all shoot as well, careful placement can make five or six squads overwatch at once.

You can do the following-it will make a fool out of him, but if he brings ANYTHING else, it may fail horribly.

Assuming 2000 points and by such double force charts, you just pack your two ethereals, pack a full host of 12x12 fire warriors, then 3x6 stealth suits, and you got some point left to spend on whatnot upgrades. (fusion guns on suits just in case he brings armor will be nice)
There will be WAY too much pulse fire for termies who come in small nmbers to ever hope to survive, and way too many bodies for them to remove.
You have no AP2 so the shields would be wasted, you got nothing that needs hammers to brake so they are wasted. in effect he has given up his shooting for nothing and paid for it.

If you're only trying to tailor then...

3 riptides with ion, stim and early warning system, add in two battlesuit HQ units with helios teams, toss in some markerlights, add an ally of space marines with a drop pod, librarian, tactical marines and take null zone as one of the powers.

Interceptor Ion Riptides kill them good.
Well, if you really want hard counter, bring GK strike/interceptors with warp quake plus Corteaz/plasma cannons along with that.

overcharge ions and win.

kelewan wrote:
Yes your opponent can only keep 50% in reserve rounding up the others have to begin on the field it's in the BRB under reserves.

He cannot use the teleport homer the turn it arrives it has to begin the turn on the table so if belial ds turn 1 he wouldn't be able to use it till the beginning of turn 2


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Also crisis suits with fusion and plasma and interceptor would be nice

Don't give false information; there is no consensus on this result until the FAQ comes out. Adepticon 2013, the biggest 40k Tourney in the world, has ruled that DW can first-turn deepstrike their entire army. Make of that what you will. I usually just d6 it before the game begins.

Also, keep in mind that the Longstrike upgrade for a Hammerhead allows it to over watch and supporting fire, and it can even be used more than once per turn. Pathfinders with Darkstrider and the grav inhibitor drone an also be good bubble wrap against a assault heavy army. Between the consolidation move and the drone, you can effectively strip an avg of 5.5 inches off your opponent's charge, while nearly your entire army gets overwatch shots against the assaulters.

I agree that riptides with ion and interceptor is the way to go. [Edited to correct my mistake.]

milo wrote:
Also, keep in mind that the Longstrike upgrade for a Hammerhead allows it to over watch and supporting fire, and it can even be used more than once per turn. Pathfinders with Darkstrider and the grav inhibitor drone an also be good bubble wrap against a assault heavy army. Between the consolidation move and the drone, you can effectively strip an avg of 5.5 inches off your opponent's charge, while nearly your entire army gets overwatch shots against the assaulters.

I agree that riptides with ion and interceptor is the way to go. I don't believe there are any rules which say you can only use interceptor once per turn, so you should be able to put three templates on EVERY squad that deep strikes.

Just no, reread intercept and know that you get to do it once and it uses up your shots next turn.

 ansacs wrote:

Just no, reread intercept and know that you get to do it once and it uses up your shots next turn.

Ah, my bad. That's what I get for posting from my breakfast rather than my rulebooks. Still, the interceptor upgrade is really inexpensive, and still allows you to fire other weapons the next turn.

Plasma Rifle/Fusion Blaster Crisis Teams make my Deathwing disappear.

Farsight Bomb too.

You must rely on the old ork philosophy of "More Dakka'

That's literally the only thing that works against TH/SS termies, except for something that causes the opponent to reroll saves. More dakka also works on normal termies just as well.

So yeah, etherials, fire warriors, dakka dakka dakka!

Or, literally more dakka, take some 30 man ork boy squad's in your allies, and watch him struggle to chew through them for a few turns, while you shoot whatever diddn't assault your protective wall of boy'z.