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.

Let's get straight to it. I play Tau, and my brother Imperial Guard and we are teaming up for a doubles tournament organised for a group of friends of both of us, and we have a personal vendetta against two other players, who are teaming up as Eldar and Chaos Daemons. They are INCREDIBLY cocky as they never lose. But this is the first time I've teamed with my brother for a doubles against them. It's 1500 an army, so 3000 per side. So why do we keep losing ? Well, partly it's because the Daemon codex is such a bitch to understand when having a first glance over it. Combined with a Monstrous Creature spam, with 3 Flying Daemon Princes, Keeper of Secrets and the Fateweaver when we had a 7000 a side game (but with different teams). I thought during the whole game the Fateweaver was casting Grimoire on itself, only finding out a Prince was doing it later. I thought the whole time it was giving itself a 2+ invun (which is rerollable thanks to extra rules) and they certainly had done nothing to dispel this belief. Only during the last few days have I dissected the Daemon codex. And revealed where the player had been making mistakes (psychic mind bolt power shooting 4D6 instead of D6+4, anyone ? And assaulting a different unit once having shot? Yeah).

And these two seem to look down on me when I question the rules, like I'm an idiot, even when I'm right. An Ork tank tank shocked my Riptide of the board and I was told that if I tried to jump out of the way it would fall of the board. Failed Death or Glory. And it turned out the tank moved before tank shocking, in order to avoid a blown up tank, which is not allowed. And then I'm told I wouldn't necessarily have jumped off the board. I question these rules, and yet apparently it's still dead. The Ork player took a dangerous terrain test to see if the shock would of gone through the tank, and passed, but that isn't the point. You can't just reverse your move once you've realised you're wrong. And these two players backed him up. All the while my Necron teammate is elsewhere having been insulted by the Eldar player. and the IG player chucking darts having admitted defeat. Yeah. Talk about fair. So I need to destroy these two, through better knowledge of their own codex, of the rulebook, and an optimized list.

And I believe we have the potential to destroy it utterly, as we aren't idiots when building lists. So here's the stuff these two players like to take:

Wraithknight: With its Suncannon deleting Broadside units off the board with ease, the principle of ignoring it and working on killing troops or other things definitely doesn't work, so it needs to die.

Plaguebearers: With the Nurgle Herald giving FNP. When I first played against them, I didn't realise instant death would get rid of the FNP, but I (for some reason) recall him saying they have toughness 5? Yes, the herald does, but the majority toughness is 4, sonny jim. Tends to have a big blob and deep strike them close to my lines.

Daemon Princes: While he probably won't take 3 with only 1500pts per army, they are a bastard, and the real meat of our opposition, considering they maul Riptides in melee. Didn't realise that they didn't all have T6 and only those that have Iron Arm can manage this (and they have to roll for it). And they all like to fly.

Wave Serpent: One redeeming factor of the player is that he doesn't spam Serpents, and just uses one. However, it's always used for something important, such as tank-busting Fire Dragons, or Wraithguard.

Bastion: While only a fortification, it's placed in the deployment of the team, and is used to protect the Guardians that hold the objective in his deployment.

Farseer+Biker Squad: Apparently the bikes are troops, and the Warlord Farseer likes casting Maledictions and Blessings on stuff. He used to think he could do these in the shooting phase, and probably still thinks he can use the same power more than once a turn. I'm going to write a list of all the rules these two get wrong and keep it handy for when I play them.

Eldar Flyer Thing: It has two Bright Lances and Vector Dancer, and is a flyer (but I can't remember the name). This thing likes popping important tanks, 'nuff said.

Fire Dragons: Already explained. Pop tanks.

Fateweaver: 2+ invun rerollable thanks to an improvement by Grimoire means it's a hard nut to crack, but actually knowing it doesn't cast it on itself is a development. Staff of Tomorrow seems to be the only use the players make out of it when 3 Daemon Princes take care of the combat, but it might still appear in their tournament list, with less Princes, so it'll have more to do.

Prism Tank: With it's lance it can mess with our tanks.

And here's what the Alliance can field in response ! :

SHADOWSWORD: My brother thought it to be too many point, but I think it's essential for taking out an army that is essentially held up by strong singular models. Will be targeting the Wraithknight fast to stop it deleting my Broadsides and Riptides.

RIPTIDES: Two of them, both with Ion Accelerators. Will give them Stim.Injecs. and Velocity Trackers, for grounding Princes and taking more hits. And banging squads up with large blasts.

BROADSIDES: Two squads, one with HYMP, one with HRR. The HYMP will probably be tasked with intercepting deep strike units in our back field, especially killing the Eldar Flyer, spamming fire with EWO, before it gets to the Shadowsword (which is a given, as that's what it does in every other game). The HRR will be grounding moar Princes, as well as inflicting an extra wound or two on top, considering more hits will connect thanks to twin-linked guns (compared to the Riptide) and better strength shots. Assisting a Broadside squad will be my COMMANDER, handing out Monster Hunter to the squad that needs it (most of the time, the HRR squad) with the Puretide Chip. All my Broadsides and one Riptide all already have Tank Hunter thanks to the FIREBASE CADRE dataslate. My HRR rifle squad hopes to be behind an AEGIS DEFENCE LINE, considering that with the Commander it's an important unit.

LEMAN RUSS BATTLE TANKS: Two of them. While the Riptides and Broadsides will help ground 'em, the Battle Tanks will be one of the units to mop them up once they've fallen. I'm thinking that I could focus fire on the closest Prince, ground it, kill it, then move on to the next one, rather than spreading our shots. These have been chosen because of their high strength weapon and their superior range, which can match that of the Riptides, outshooting the opposition before it gets too close.

HAMMERHEAD (with Longstrike): With the strength 10 and 72" railgun, it can insta-kill any Daemon Prince without Iron Arm. Can also deal with the Prism tank with ease (which gets a jink save which is improved to 4+ with an upgrade, so maybe not so easily). It also has a disruption pod, improving it's jink to 4+.

DEMOLISHER: With 2D6 armour penetration, this is one for cracking up the Bastion, and stopping the enemies hold on their objective. Large blast I believe so good at taking infantry out as well. If needed it will take some shots at the Prism tank.

EXECUTIONER: With 3 small blast's coming out of this thing, it'll be useful to take out blobs of troops. Shorter range, so less dependable when killing stuff we don't want getting too close in the first place.

TROOPS: A mixture of IG and FW's will help us with capturing our objectives, while the carnage rages between the larger models. Realistically we hope to field 2 squads of 6 FW's to meet Force org requirements, with 3 or 4 squads of IG troops being the more dependable troops.


I thank you if you have reached this far. Lots of information. These aren't the exact lists, but an idea of what we plan to take. The IG force is set in it's purpose, while the Tau can react to a wider range of scenarios without too much trouble thanks to Support Systems. So do you have any idea of how we could change our lists ? How well do you think our army will stack up against theirs ? Any advice on tactics or the army list would be great. Sorry about how long winded this is, when I start strategizing I can't stop. Thank you !