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I wanted to discuss the possible threats a TAC list would need to consider before playing in a large competitive 7ed tournament.

Some of my thoughts;

AV13 Wall of Necrons or any other army that can mass high AV armor eg IG or AV14 spam.

Eldar.

Bike Marines.

Drop Pod Marines.

Daemon Factory or any army that can amass psychic powers.

IG Blobs or any army that can throw 100+ bodies on the field eg nids or orks.

What other powerful lists are out there that one would need to be aware of when building their TAC lists?

You forgot Tau. TRipride is still a thing and just regular Tau crisis suits and broadsides will be seen in high numbers. Just be ready for an army that can have high volumes of fire from long range.

Nidzilla, flying bakery, serp spam, av14 spam, death stars, mass infantry blobs, lords of war, 2+ armies. It is impossible to plan against all - a tac list will lose against extremes. (I think the closest dex to being able to counter most of these is the crons.)

However, against non extreme lists, a tac force is viable and often works to the advantage of the tac player.

All-mounted armies will be a thing again, I think. Since a rhino is now an extra 35 point scoring unit with objective secured, I predict we will see lots of them.


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Plus you can't insta-drop most vehicles anymore. TAC lists that used to spam missile launchers may have to either find a way to take more, expecting to need 3 hits per enemy vehicle to take them down, or invest in lascannons for the chance at a pop.

 Spellbound wrote:
All-mounted armies will be a thing again, I think. Since a rhino is now an extra 35 point scoring unit with objective secured, I predict we will see lots of them.

I know what you mean, I am actually debating now if I should pull my rhinos back out and shelf my drop pods.

I understand also that a TAC list can't be ready for every competitive build, there are just too many drastic variations between them, but going into it knowing what is out there and trying to prepare for the worst of it was my immediate goal. After some of the bigger tournaments conclude everyone will have a better idea of whats going to be at the top.

Well, in maelstrom missions, I think that drop podded (or Rhino heavy) Marine armies will do very well.
Since troops are objective secured, the enemy has to kill a lot of Marines (and their transports) to score.

TAC is almost impossible, TBH...

Too many rocks.

Your list has to deal with hypothetically:

10+ Drop pods (AV12 with at least 10 squads of marines, maybe more depending on combat squads).

10+ Rhinos/Chimeras.

Double Blob guard with psychic and artillery backup.

Seer council eldar, who can now also summon FMCs.

Beastpack deathstars.

AV13 Necrons, especially the deceptively awesome CCB.

AV14 Objective secured spam
.
6-9 Serpent lists.

Daemon lists abusing cursed earth/invisibility/summons.

5 Imperial Knights.

You see where I am going. There are literally too many extremes to build a list that has even a 50/50 vs anyone. Take a list that has few bad matchups, mostly good ones and hope that you get paired against good matchups.

I'd advise that all players bring more anti-mech. CC is a particularly good way to kill mass transports, so I think FA Daemons/CSM are actually a bit underrated. Bring as many OS bodies or transports as possible. And make sure you have a great deal of mobility.

A list designed around the win conditions is your best bet for a TAC list.

Mobility
Objective Secured

If you can cover both of these outside of kill points you will be able to win as long as you play well.

TAC is a logical fallacy, what we are after is a TMC, or Take Most Comers list.

There are so many extreme lists out there, but most that are going to be fielded aren't quite out there. The goal is to take a list capable of playing the missions and matches up well enough vs most opponents. Mobility and Objective Secured units are crucial here.

A good TMC list is one that isn't going to outkill the killy opponents, outmaneuver the fast opponnets, etc but is going to be strong enough in the areas the others list are weak in and capitalize on it.

For example, over the course of the game Marneus Calgar or Vulcan and 18 Objective Secured units drop onto the Objectives. That is ~1500pts and leaves enough room for a couple of support units for Air support as well. Most lists are just flat out going to have trouble killing 6 AV12 OS Vehicles and 12 5 man PA squads. Its certainly not a killy army, its certainly not an alpha strike army, but man, can it play the missions.