A Tau deep strike that really messes up the enemy's base in 1.5k+ points

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**Sir Arun**

So I was thinking about employing the Mont'ka to full effect in higher points games and really damage the opponent's army with one crushing blow, here's my take:

Commander Shadowsun w. Command Link Drone

leading

3 XV-8 Crisis suits w. 3 Fusion Blasters, 3 Plasma rifles, 1 Vectored retro-thrusters, 6 Gun Drones

Commander w. 2 Fusion Blasters, Stim Injector, Target lock, Iridium Armor, Neuroweb System Jammer.

leading

6 Stealth Suits (1 has vectored retro thrusters) w. 1 Fusion Blaster and target lock 'ui with Homing Beacon and 2 Gun Drones.

Finally, a Riptide with Ion Accelerator, 2 Shielded Missile Drones and Stimulant Injector

So obviously, the stealth suits deep strike first, preferably as close as possible to a tank, then Shadowsun and company can come in without scatter, as well as the Riptide and its drones.

The units are relatively resilient; the Riptide has its T6 and 2+ armor and plethora of wounds, Shadowsun makes all 3 Crisis suits and all 6 accompanying drones have a 4+ cover save in the open, can jetpack 3D6" AND all of them re-roll 1s to-hit (Command Link Drone).

The Commander can tank wounds for the Stealth suits, and him and the 'ui can direct their fire with their anti-tank weapons elsewhere while the squad targets its 5 Burst Cannons on infantry (20 S5 shots). Shadowsun can fire 1 FB at her crisis squad's target and the other to another tank, and then we also got the Riptide.

So these guys are packing enough firepower to blast light infantry, heavy infantry and tanks to smithereens when they land, and at full firepower too because they havent taken casualties yet. Plus the Commander can pick a particularly shooty enemy squad and make all their weapons Gets Hot with his Neuroweb System Jammer.

In return, if the enemy wants to shoot at the stuff that is crowding his base, he needs to prioritize. Is he going to shoot at the crisis suits? But they all have 4+ cover saves. Is he going to thin the Stealth suits down? He has to get past the commander with his 4 wounds, stim injector and T5, 2+ save. Is he going to take on the Riptide? T6, 2+/5++ there the turn he comes down, 2+/3++ from next turn onwards.

The drones are there merely for ablative wounds and positioning purposes so that I take a few casualties as possible.

All of them are bonded, of course. Current setup costs 1091 points. I could drop the 2 shielded missile drones to save 50 points.

Thoughts and suggestions? I didnt want to go overboard with the points so I only took those upgrades necessary for survival.

**Co'tor Shas**

All together it seems very good. Stealth suits are a great unit with the beacon, because they also have infiltrate, making them a great no scatter bubble.

**Pretzalcoatl**

Homing beacon needs to be on the board from the start of turn for it to work

**Co'tor Shas**

I can't remember, does it say deepstrike is sequential?

**Vineheart01**

I wish they would cookiecutter say "No" and that they cant deepstrike and still cause other deepstrikers to benefit, because nothing straight up says it to my knowledge but i know theyre still technically not on the board yet since all deepstrikes happen at once (provided the roll passed).

Its yet another rule thats awesome but almost impossible to employ. Few times i bring stealthsuits they never live long enough for that beacon benefit because my opponent goes NO YOU DONT and blows them up lol.

**Sir Arun**

Pretzalcoatl wrote:
Homing beacon needs to be on the board from the start of turn for it to work

page number?

**Saldiven**

Sir Arun wrote:
Pretzalcoatl wrote:
Homing beacon needs to be on the board from the start of turn for it to work

page number?

This is something that definitely existed in multiple prior editions of the rules, but I don't recall if it survived the transition to 6th.

**DarknessEternal**

This army has a very good chance of being wiped off the board prior to you ever getting a Reserve roll.

Also, it's not an army at all.

**Sir Arun**

DarknessEternal wrote:
This army has a very good chance of being wiped off the board prior to you ever getting a Reserve roll.

Also, it's not an army at all.

Read the thread title. It's not an armylist. It's part of an armylist for games of 1.5k and up, ideally 2k and up. And while you're right that a very large portion of stuff is in reserve, note than in my 2k armylist my firebase would consist of 2 hammerhead, 3 firewarriors teams (one aboard a devilfish), some kroot, 1 pathfinder team and a piranha, ideally all beginnin behind los blocking terrain. Plus I'm not as worried about reserves as I used to be in 5th when they only had a 50% chance of showing up on turn 2.

**Coyote81**

Instead of using Deepstrike with the homing beacon(which does indeed already need to be on the table when the turn starts) try outflanking with the position relay on stealthsuits. If the infiltrate with it near the opponents back table edge, or outflank with it (since is does not say it needs to be on the table at the start of the turn) This allows any other outflanking unit to automatically choose to come on from a table edge that the position relay guy is within 6" of. This includes the back table. This trick works very well. In addition this gets around a lot of the anti-deep strike abilities that some units have and is still very precise (since there is no scatter from units coming in from reserves)

To top it off, you can use allied characters that give a unit scout/infiltrate to outflank more units then nornal and bring them on from the back table edge. (Example: Kahandras leading a crisissuit squad)

**Sir Arun**

I still cannot find the page where it says the homing beacon only works when the unit carrying it begins the turn on the table.

**Krellnus**

Sir Arun wrote:
I still cannot find the page where it says the homing beacon only works when the unit carrying it begins the turn on the table.

That is because no such rule exists.

**Coyote81**

Krellnus wrote:
Sir Arun wrote:
I still cannot find the page where it says the homing beacon only works when the unit carrying it begins the turn on the table.

That is because no such rule exists.

Looked it up. You are correct. I retract that part of my statement. Must be thinking of space marine homing beacons.