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My Tau Friend wanted to practice for an upcoming ITC format Tourney. I'm still trying to figure out the scenarios, but we went full competitive for the this game (ie, no 'take backs')

Necron List:
RECLAMATION LEGION
Nemesor Zahndrekh
20 Warriors
18 Warriors
18 Warriors
10 Immortals (T)
10 Immortals (T)
5 Tomb Blades (SV,N,PB)
5 Tomb Blades (SV,N,PB)
AUX
15 Flayed Ones
15 Flayed Ones

Tau List:
Commander (CCN,MSS,DC,2MD,VRT)
2xBodyguard (2PR,2SD,BK)(NSWJ,OG)
3xBroadside w/Missile Drones (Interceptor)
3xBroadside w/Missile Drones (Interceptor)
3xCrisis Suit (2x w/PR&CDS, 1x w/2 FB&TL)
Riptide (TLFB, SI, IA, Interceptor)
Riptide (TLSM, SI, IA, VRT)
10x Firewarriors
10x Firewarriors
10x Firewarriors
9x Firewarriors

*Sorry, I copied the list straight over, and I don't know what all the terms are. I'll assume Tau players will know.

He got the 'Don't Scatter Deep Strike' WL Trait on the re-roll and put all 6 Crisis Suits in reserve. I later found out that this was Illegal. He's still new, and I still won so can't complain too loud.

Tau Deployment. (His Obj is right in front of the Riptide on the right)


Necron Deployment (My Obj is the Scarab base)


ITC Mission 1
Tau win Turn 1, Failed to 'Seize'
Night Fight

Turn 1
Tau: (3,4) Scoring Unit in Opposing DZ, Kill a Unit
Cron: (1,5) Objective 1, Kill a Unit

Tau: TRIES to move the 9 man unit up to Objective one (rolled a 1,2 for Difficult Terrain). Ends up running 5" to try to contest it. Pours both Riptides, both Broadsides, and 2 units of Firewarriors into the Flayed Ones that are close to Obj 1, leaves 3 alive. (0 pts)
Cron: Warriors and Tesla Immortals blow the 9 man unit off the board. The other 2 units of Warriors and Immortals work on the other units of FireWarriors. Both units of Tomb Blades end up Turbo-boosting, one unit to secure Objective 1. 2 of the Firewarrior units break. 2nd unit of Flayed Ones runs 5". (2 pts)

Turn 2
Tau: (5,6) Kill a Unit, 3 units in own DZ
Cron: (2,5) Objective 2, Kill a Unit

Tau: 1 Unit of Firewarriors fails to rally, off board. Reserves do NOT show up. The remaining Firewarriors, Riptide, and both units of Broadsides take out the Tomb Blades on Obj 1. The other Riptide kills 2 of the Tomb Blades. (2 pts)
Cron: Zahndrekh switches Warlord trait to 'Target Priority'. Tomb Blades and Flayed Ones advance on Riptide. 3 man unit of Flayed Ones runs away to get out of range of guns. Warriors/Immortals move up to cover both Maelstrom objectives and remove all traces of Firewarriors. Tomb Blades manage to put a wound on the Riptide. Tomb Blades charge, forcing Overwatch so the Flayed Ones could charge. Flayed ones fail the charge, but they're sitting 4" away from Tau 'Emporer' Objective. 1 Tomb Blade dies in CC. (2 pts)

Turn 3
Tau: (3,5) Have a Scoring unit in opposing DZ, Kill a unit
Cron: (4,2) Destroy a unit, Objective 2

Tau: Reserves show up. He had a tough call here. He had to decide to get the 2 VP's or cover his 'Emporer' Objective. He probably had the best opportunity to get the 2 VP's since he doesn't scatter, and there was a 3 man unit of FO's in the back that he could've killed. However, he didn't want to waste all those Plasma on 3 guys and decided to fight for the objective. So they Deep Strike in the back, near his Objective. One unit of Broadsides then decides to actually move to get LoS on the Flayed Ones sitting there. 7 Flayed Ones left after all said and done. The last Riptide and Broadsides went after the 3 man unit of Flayed Ones for the VP. The combination of range, and going to ground, and LoS, left me with 1 Flayed One. He survives until end of game. The Riptide kills 1 more Tomb Blade in CC. (0 pts)
Cron: (Keep Warlord Trait) Flayed Ones changed focus, and bypass the HQ blob, and head into building to go after the Broadsides that had moved in his turn. The Warriors and 1 Immortal did some Crossfire shooting (firing at the further away targets), which worked, as it prevented 1 unit of supporting fire to the Broadsides that the FO's were intending to assault. The last Immortals put a wound on the other Riptide. The Flayed Ones charged the Broadsides, losing 2 to Overwatch from both the Broadsides, and the Crisis Death Squad. The remaining 5 survived, despite striking last and put too many wounds on the unit. The Tau chose to lose the Drones first, which meant I won combat by 4. They broke, and made it off the board. Amazingly, he failed to even hit the last Tomb Blade in CC. (2 pts, Big Game Hunter)

Turn 4
Tau: (1,4) Objective 1, Destroy a Unit
Cron: (3,4) Scoring unit in opposing DZ, Destroy a Unit

Tau: With a Riptide, Broadside and the Crisis Death Squad left, he didn't have much. the Death Squad finished off the Flayed Ones since he didn't want them near his Emporer's objective. The last Riptide and Broadsides went to work on the Warriors on Objective 1. He attempted to charge the remaining Warriors, with the intent of killing them, then consolodating onto Obj 1 for the VP. He failed the charge. Sadly, he failed to kill the lone Tomb Blade in CC with the other Riptide. (1 pt)
Cron: 1 unit of Immortals headed back to my Objective at this point, 1 unit of Warriors (which hadn't taken a single casualty at this point), just ran at the Death Squad, contesting that Objective and landing me a unit in his DZ. The remaining Warriors/Immortals secured Obj 1, and took potshots at the Broadsides. Again, the lone Tomb Blade proves too resilient for the Riptide (1 pt)

Turn 5
***** Game Called *****
We were approaching the 2 hour mark at this point, and it didn't help that we had an 'Opinionated Spectator' constantly interrupting, commenting on the things not relevant to the game, and offering advice to the Tau player (Despite several requests to not help him from both of us, since it was Tourney practice). He had also seen enough to know how both the scenario worked, and how his army functions in the format.

We did a rushed T5, I didn't write what Objectives we rolled, because it was 7,3 at this point. Mostly he wanted to vindicate himself by killing the last Tomb Blade, which he failed to on both his and my turn. The Immortals went back and secured my Objective, the Warriors that survived from the Death Squad, went and sat on the objective, while Zahndrekh and his unit were moving in to try and take it for the next turn.

It's a gg but if this tau player is looking to make it in the tournament scene he probably needs a to adjust his list some and continue to practice with it. New codex may make this advice irrelevant, and for the record I'm super not trying to be the unwanted spectator.

Firstly marker lights. Tetras are a great call here.

Second would be a firebase support cadre as he clearly has the models. Preferred enemy could have helped him kill those pesky flayed ones.

Third would be get a different troop choice. Naked fire warriors, even 39 of them, will get cut down in the current meta. They have zero surviability, and therefore are no good at holding objectives. They are glass cannons with t3 and s5 guns. Either take kroot, maybe a kroot hound, or take farsight enclaves and crisis suits as troops.

He is a new player, so when he dropped his initial investment he went with what most people had, and it's a decent start. He's been doing very well against other Cron players, just not the Metal Tide, especially with Flayed Ones. He's also still learning his rules as he goes along. This game he didn't know he couldn't have all 6 Crisis suits as a single unit. Last game, he used the Drone Controllers to up the BS on his missile drones, made them Twin-linked somehow for both shooting and overwatch. Even I'm not familiar with the Tau dex, and have to get help clarifying some things that I'm unsure of after each game I play with him. It didn't help that our 'Spectator' kept applying his thoughts to the game. Since the Dex is changing, it kinda makes it pointless to even do a Batrep at this stage. I did it because I'm having a discussion about Flayed Ones with some other Necron players and they wanted to see another Batrep with them. Especially, since the last ones took more shooting than they should have in the previous game. He also still has some basic rules that he's not 100% solid on.

He's still in the 'Weaponless Commander' giving out all the buffs phase of L2P Tau. He did bring Markerlights this time, but they're attached to the Crisis Death Squad, and he forgot to use them when they came in. While I would agree that he needs to work on his troops, the ITC forces some mobility, since the Mael Objectives require all armies to have either Mobility or Transport. His Troops were ObSec, but I completely agree that they didn't hold up to that kind of Firepower, especially after I got 'Target Priority'. I HAVE to give him some serious credit though. He knew he was playing me, and what kind of lists I run, and he STILL ran with this list, even though Interceptor and the tank-hunting Fusion Crisis suit have zero effect on me. I have his alternate list here, and it basically is the same but Drops down to 2x 8 man Firewarrior units for a third Riptide. I mentioned that a small unit of Kroot, to possibly deny Infiltrate might be worth it. Really only works if his opponent has Infiltrators, but both my Flayed One units were set to claim either one on T1. He sees the usefulness of what I did, and I'll let him make that choice.

Tetras are FW? So yeah, he's prob not getting those anytime soon, especially with Xmas around the corner. I'm sure he knows about them, he's just not sold on Markerlights (Yet!) I think like most Tau he's waiting for the new Dex to see if/how they change. Also, I don't think the 'Firebase' would've helped him much. True, he has the units to run one, but I believe it's PE(Space Marines), and would've made no difference in this game. Can a Tau player confirm? Precision shots would've made no difference, since there is only 1 character in my entire army and the units are all equipped the same. The bonus to BS when firing Overwatch might have made an impact when it came to that, but doesn't affect the Drones. I'll mention it to him at least. He did pick up a Stormsurge, the minute he saw them, so that's coming down the line soon.

EDIT: Still working on the pics...

I havent really thought of a metal tide list, i see it works. I might make a list similar to that.

(Just barely saw the reply)

The list that you see is for 'Maelstrom' games, so it's what I've been running ITC practice. It does really well in 'Maelstrom' games, but is just okay in 'Eternal War' missions.

I really dislike the ITC format, so I'm not familiar with how the missions are scored, and only just found out that I've still been playing them wrong. I thought that they were scored at the end of each player turn, just like Book Maelstroms. According to a few people, you check for the ITC ones each game turn? So I think the game would've gone a lot differently.

He is still a new player, and he won 2 out of his 3 games with what he learned when he went to the event. Now that he has a new Codex, and actual tourney experience against armies he doesn't normally see, we'll get a rematch in, and hopefully I'll have more pictures.