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Im sure I am not original with this, but has anyone used a tankmander (commander, iridium, stims, prolly missile pods) attached to aunva? Stick commander out front to absorb ap3+, passes ap2- to aunva. just to give perma double buffs?

Seems silly, and not in any way competitive, but could be amusing?

List Used: 1750 Tourney:
HQ
Commander, iridum armor, neuroweb jammer, puretide chip, x2 twinlinked missile pods, target lock, drone controller, x2 marker drones 194
Aun'va 100

Troops
x6 Fire warriors, shas'ui, emp grenades 76
x6 Fire warriors, shas'ui, emp grenades 76

Elites
x3 crisis suits, x6 fusion guns, x2 target locks 166
x3 crisis suits, x6 fusion guns, x2 target locks 166

Fast Attack
x5 remora drone fighters 450

Heavy Support
x9 sniper drones, x3 marksmen 174
x9 sniper drones, x3 marksmen 174
x9 sniper drones, x3 marksmen 174

TOTAL:1730

Yeah, I have considered something like this a few times. More specifically I have considered taking a part of the farsight commander unit and sticking them into Aun'va's unit. This would give them a higher average toughness, all the import buffs (Hit and run and tank/MC hunter being the biggies) and an extra save based on AP...thus AP 2 would have to pass through 4+, 5+ FnP, 2+ before wounding and AP1 is automatically saved.

What I have determined so far is that Aun'va is too slow so the unit just cannot get to objectives and react to situations in a timely manner. The unit also lacks firepower.

Now if you were running unlimited detachments perhaps a commander+drones + aun'va unit could make enough use of this to be truly nasty. Still an expensive and slow deathstar though with little psychic protection.

Yeah I mean, I would just run those two, no deathstar. Just a missile tankmander to harass and tank as mentioned, and just have aunva sitting in back on perma double buff duty.

Just thought this would give players a helluva time trying to get slay the warlord, and a proper army with storm of fire and any of the others could be mean, not to mention spread LD 10 and rerolls to all leadership checks

I'm sure it was considered, and judged to be easier to just bring another ethereal.

Yes, its a nightmare to remove, but its also very expensive for what it eventually does-and his buffs won't help when the rest of the army is braking apart.

Could you fit in a drone controller and maybe some marker drones as well to supplement the slowness with some markerlight support for your other units?

That WOULD render the squad less ineffective, but also increases the footprint to such size Aun'vas buffs will have a harder time to work.

Honestly, I see no way to make him work other than hiding behind an LOS blocked in the center of a gunline formation.

The best way to protect aun'va would be inside a imperial bunker

Welp I will find out tomorrow if the combo is just silly, or silly but remotely effective, hahahaha.

I will be using:
Commander, iridum armor, neuroweb jammer, puretide chip, x2 twinlinked missile pods, target lock, drone controller, x2 marker drones 194
Aun'va 100

He is only so expensive because I needed to fill the points, but otherwise should be fun to see peoples reactions!

So? How did if fair?

It did great! Went 3-0 against wolfstar/flyers, white scars bikes and wolves/AM droppods. I must say, Aun'va is very underrated. Here is the list I brought:

HQ
Commander, iridum armor, neuroweb jammer, puretide chip, x2 twinlinked missile pods, target lock, drone controller, x2 marker drones 194
Aun'va 100

Troops
x6 Fire warriors, shas'ui, emp grenades 76
x6 Fire warriors, shas'ui, emp grenades 76

Elites
x3 crisis suits, x6 fusion guns, x2 target locks 166
x3 crisis suits, x6 fusion guns, x2 target locks 166

Fast Attack
x5 remora drone fighters 450

Heavy Support
x9 sniper drones, x3 marksmen 174
x9 sniper drones, x3 marksmen 174
x9 sniper drones, x3 marksmen 174

It was 1750pts, and as I said, I mostly run silly lists so I decided to try a full sniper drone team list with Auny. WELL, it faired incredibly well. Aun'va giving permanent double buffs PLUS leadership boosts PLUS reroll failed tests was just silly. Means each sniper drone team could move and fire, or move, run and snap shot (which was no longer snaps with markers) and 27 rapid fire shots at 24" per squad with precision shot AND AP2 on 6s, all at BS5 or better was pretty disgusting. Having the tankmander with Auny did something amazing. Once people understood what his staff did, and what it granted the Tankmander at the front, that unit ended up being totally ignored all 3 games. Like "Well, f#$@ that" ignored. I never had my warlord slain, the unit only ever took 1 wound in 3 games, it was amazing. I also didn't realize that the storm of fire buff lasts until the start of the next Tau player's movement phase, which means it works for overwatch...with supporting fire... which is 81 sniper shots in overwatch.

Everything performed as I thought it would, remoras killed entire command squads in 2 games, suits hunted vehicles, but Aun'va's group surrounded by 3 sniper drone teams did most of the work. And best of all, it shocked the hell out of people hahahaha. People just weren't prepared for the sillyness.

A full remora squad to boot?

You list is borderline madness XD

I did not expect THAT kind of list to work in a turny against serious lists. just goes to show that the meta is not always right.

I think that is the only reason WHY it worked, it was just so far outside the meta, that most competitive lists don't know how to address it. Teehee

Lel i dub thee Champion of the Silliness

Re-read the Paradox of Duality rules. It applies to the whole unit, not just Aun Va. The Buffmander wouldn't even have to pass the AP2 wounds off, they'd just get auto discounted.

Been having issues with the local tau guy attaching OVesa to AunVa for a near invincible riptide.

Yeah, and that would be because they still havent addressed the whole "monstrous creature that is also independent character" dilemma. Simply making them characters would solve that issue, but oh well.

AP2 doesn't get auto discounted, they are discounted on 2+. You must fail a save first for the paradox ability to go into effect, this is important.

Oh right yeah, had AP1 on my mind. Those get auto discounted.

Still, the mere fact AP2 is even less useful than AP- is amusing. (for the ovesa combo at least, as he got an invul too)

And AP1 is the worst thing possible, followed by AP3 (you need to fail a 2+ save, than a 3+ "save")

Am I correct in that only the sniper drones have relentless - nt the farsight marksmen? So if you move they do not get to fire.

Well "do not get to fire" almost doesnt exist anymore, but yes, they do not have relentless, and therefore can only snap fire if they move. But this is where having 3 units is great, because you have the squad that moved fire AFTER a squad that hasnt, so they can use the markerlights to greater effect

So how would you deal with the DE fear bomb of archangel of pain and armour of misery ?

What does the fear bomb do? mechanically speaking.

Because if it does what I suspect by name alone, nothing will have to BE done.

Anu'va has a Ld10 and grants all tau rerollable fear, moral, pinning and regroup tests.

It is psychic shriek and/or DE grenade launchers which cause wounds with no AP but ignore cover and armour saves based on how many points you fail a Ld test at -4 (with the -2 armour of misery and -2 with archangel of pain).

Well yeah, it could hurt if I am not spread out and I roll badly. Nothing will fall back luckily with LD10 rerollable though, and right after the DE player does that, Ill blow that unit off the board.

I wouldn't expect to see it that often though, since half the armies in the game are immune to it. At least in the competitive scene. With half the armies immune to fear, you just wont see this in winning strategies. AND MAN is it an expensive combo.

 ansacs wrote:
It is psychic shriek and/or DE grenade launchers which cause wounds with no AP but ignore cover and armour saves based on how many points you fail a Ld test at -4 (with the -2 armour of misery and -2 with archangel of pain).

That's...nasty...

What's the range on that thing?


Ok, the grenade has quite the range, but agaist LD10 he's not a great threat alone.

The archangel is a single use within 9". the misery is 6" bubble.

So, I just need to make sure there is no clear landing zone within 6" and you can't use that nasty attack, not THAT harsh, I dont need to fill every gap, just assure there isn't on big enough to fit a model without it coming 1" of my models until the unit deepstrikes, than blast it away.

Its a nasty combo, especially with WWP (can come in 135 points on an archeon for a suicide bomber) that can tear me a new one if Im not ready, but if you see it coming, its quite easy to block.

If you bunch up too much with your sniper drones , you have no ral defense. Yes it is a singl one shot artifact BUT ... even at 9" irt can hurtv lot of units. Aun"Va has no effect against soul shriek/fear combo. It costs all of 50 pts to add those artifacts to your HQs - it is not that expensive.

Without the -2 form the armor, the threat becomes minor.

Even on a 12 against the temp Ld8, its 4 wounds. can be allocated to the meat shield bodyguards.

sealing off a 6" bubble for a few turns until the unit hit the board is not amazingly difficult. will be a spanner in the works, but not a great deal.

And given how these does not seem to work on marines, I don't think we'll see them much anyway.

If am correct in thinking but wouldn't they be all but immune to the fearstar?

Because Aun'va can use two Invocation of the elements and one of them is stubborn, all tau within 12 of him use his leadership for all fear, morale, pinning and regroup tests, as well all tau on the table get to re-roll the test too.

I completely forgot that "water" is stubborn.

XD

So yes, the penalties don't even work and I just need not to get FnP until the morablbomb drops, then blow it to pieces.

But the LD bubble and global reroll does not offer any protection, the attack is not a test of the noted kind.
So its just no penalties, and the command team itself with a score of 10.

Stubborn has no bearing whatsoever. Neither armour nor archangel are morale or pinning tests. You suffer the full - 4 LD ...

Yeah it is possible that it could do some damage to the army, or to aunvas unit in my army, it wouldn't kill it, but would hurt for sure. Thing is though, it could also not hurt at all (something like a 30-40% chance of no damage) and since it has no effect on marines, the most prevalent army BY FAR, I just don't see it as an issue. Someone I play uses it, welp damn, they break the mold.