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.

So at my FLGS monthly tournament they are allowing us to use the VSG. One of my opponents at last weekends tournament ran a sky shield landing pad. We both run similar Tau lists with the pretty much the standard 3 riptides with a buff commander. The shield worked ok for him. A 4+ invuln is better than a 5+ after all. So would a VSG be a better buy at 75 points for a double shield? I was thinking I could just kinda like set everything around it in a circle - two sky rays and three riptides. Maybe even place an objective behind it for when my fire warriors run on the board. I'm also running crons with the list so my flyers could also potentially benefit at least during a pass anyway. In order to purchase the VSG I'd have to drop my anni barge and if I snagged 10 more points I could have a 3 shield VSG.

The VSG is just some ablative wounds that come back 1/3 of the time and require your opponent to be able to glance AV12.

If your opponent can reliably put 3 hits that glance AV12 first, he's negated your VSG and the remainder of his guns shoot you normally. In subsequent turns he only needs one such shot. 4++ is 4++.

Now if your opponent was planning on putting out lots of say S7 AP2 fire, the shield will eat 9 hits. If he can't break the shield the rest of his guns are useless that turn.

Honestly the VSG probably works best when maxed out.

I agree with Mavnas, the void shield really starts to get nasty at huge volumes.

Take the pseudo formation, place 3 near each other and enjoy overlapping shields and put something behind the shield that does too much damage to be ignored (broadsides).

Yeah I was thinking about maxing out one just because the FLGS frowns upon players who overly abuse the game. Most 'stars are not welcome at our tournaments which is actually kinda nice. So three may be asking for a talking to by the TO.

The big network is not as good on the table as on paper. Overlapping 3 shields only covers a tiny area and you have to bunch up to do it. The single shield is usually much better as offense is always better than defense, with 3 shields on one platform you get the best shields per point.

The skyshield is incredible for Tau. It gives you an elevated firing position and makes assault a bit harder to get into with Tau.

I would never take multiple VSG with Tau as most opponents are faster and would prefer a close range fight with the Tau. Multiple VSG not only doesn't help but in fact will block your own return fire when the opponent gets into your bubbles.