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My last few games have been against a 4LR BT list, SW Wolflord deathstar with 3+ invul dreads, and I have a few upcoming Knight Titan games. Anyone have any strategies for tau involving beating such large, high volume, high AV or low invul, units? Including drop pods? It seems like Tau are better situated facing Rhinos, chimeras, bikes, footsloggers, etc.



Things that have worked well:

Longstrike in a Hammerhead as he's very good at taking out large vehicles that rely on cover.
Spamming enough Broadsides with missiles and missile drones while having tank hunters and ignores cover (doesn't work vs. LR and isn't particularly good vs a 3+ knight titan or dread though)
Farsight Enclaves suits with double fusion, especially if you buff their BS. I find they have to be DS'd though or else they just get too highly prioritized.

Things that have not worked well:

Stealth teams trying to sneak melta, too points intensive for what they do
Seeker Missile spam, doesn't do much vs. spammed AV14-13-12 but are good to use if you have excess markerlights
Heavy 12 cannon Riptide with ECPA, I like this unit for shooting at marines or lower AV targets but relying on a rend that happens 1/6th of the time does not seem to be worth its points if the unit is shooting at a high AV target or flyer.
Broadsides with TL HRR, I really like the look of these, much cooler than the missiles but their rules are not very good, especially in comparison with a TL HYMP.

Things I am considering:

Commander shadowsun, she seems pretty good ruleswise and the 2 fusions are great, as is the command link drone. I'm just disappointed in the lack of drone controller as I like my non-buffmander to be with a large number of marker drones.
EMP spam? I have honestly never tried this but it seems like a good tactic. The hard part is getting in range to charge that stormshield dread or knight titan. What are the best units to give grenades to? Pathfinders?
O'Vesa, his rules seem cool and I like his look but I'm not sure how well he would do vs. LR's et al.
Has anyone had experience with this giant? http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/R/Rvarna15-1-2014.pdf http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Tau/TAU-BATTLESUITS-AND-DRONES/TAU_XV107_R_VARNA_BATTLESUIT.html


As someone newish to Tau I could use some expert opinion/advice. Thanks!

a 4 land raider list? what else does he run, and how many points do you typically play in a game?

 carldooley wrote:
a 4 land raider list? what else does he run, and how many points do you typically play in a game?

2k total. If I remember correctly it was:

4x landraider
2x vindicators
4x min marine troop squads riding in LRs
1x Emperor's Champion

and a few other smaller things

The YVahra is better at taking vehicles like that because it shootd a LOT of haywire AND str 8 shots while nova charged. Look at thay model.

Multi level ruins and cover in general is a knight Titan's biggest enemy after fliers. They can't charge you if they can get into base to base, and none of their guns ignore cover.

Riptides have access to smash, and will hit vehicles on 3's. a single Str 10 AP 2 hit isn't a sure thing, but it's not terrible.

I'd be putting EMP's on firewarriors personally since pathfinders are expensive, fragile and a priority target anyway. Most people will try to get into charge range of your firewarriors anyway. Let them, they'll be in for a nasty surprise.

DS fusions suits is always a winner, as is outflanking fusion suits with shadowsun.

Piranhas with fusion can be a high risk-high reward strategy, easily quick enough to get in close to the LRs or failing that DS them. Normally low enough down your opponents target priority to survive Turn 1, but also pretty cheap if they don't.

Barring that, suicide fusion suits or spam fire warriors with EMP (this is simply hilarious when done right)

As your opponent uses a lot of high-AV vehicles... melta. A lot of it. Y'vahra and Crisis with melta are your best options.
EMP Pathfinders/Fire Warriors aren't a good option. They're squish and Devilfish isn't an assault vehicle. They'll be decimated before even coming close to their target.

 Drasius wrote:
as is outflanking fusion suits with shadowsun.

According to the new FAQ, you can't do that anymore. ICs with Infiltrate can only join units with Infiltrate (so only Kroot or Stealth Suits) before first turn.

Since when is outflanking infiltrating? yes an ic cannot confer infiltrate before the game starts, but I don't see why they can't outflank.

DirtyDeeds wrote:
Since when is outflanking infiltrating? yes an ic cannot confer infiltrate before the game starts, but I don't see why they can't outflank.

because you can't join Infiltrate ICs with non-infiltrate units during deployment anymore. Before the FAQ, only the opposite was true; now, it's a two-way limitation.

Darkstrider, having Scouts, can outflank fire warriors and pathfinders. Shadowsun can only outflank with kroot or stealth suits