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Made in au
Kinebrach-Knobbling Xeno Interrogator





Looking for some advice to help against a Tau opponent.

We generally play 2500pt games on a pretty small board (The distance between my end and his is like 80")

We find the game more interesting to play blind, but I know that he will usually field:
- 2 railgun hammerheads (One with submunitions)
- Aun'va
- One unit of pathfinders with marker lights
- One Devilfish
- Around 2-3 crisis suits
- Sniper drone squad
- Two fusion blaster piranhas
- Usually between 3-6 small squads of Warriors
- One Riptide
- Shas'o R'Myr with burst cannon stealth suits
- Tau commander with a detachable crisis suit squad

I know he also has a number of Kroot, Longstrike and Darkstrider but have not seen them in action yet.

On my hand, my options are
- Named Characters include: Nork, Straken and Yarrick. There are also 2 commissars
- 1 Imperial Knight (Variant is interchangable, Warden seems best option though)
- 1 of each Assassin (though I have a second Vindicare)
- 2 Leman Russes; Punisher Pask, Vanquisher
- 2 Wyverns and a Basilisk for artillery
- Bullgryns, 3 with gauntlets, 3 with mauls
- 3 Taurox (two Primes)
- 1 AC Chimera
- 3 Valkyries: 1 w/Rocket pods, a Vendetta and a Punisher Vulture
- 1 Hellhound (A Devil Dog on the way)
- 1 Goliath Rockgrinder (Due to army fluff, agreed upon by opponent)
- 3 sentinels (not sure what to outfit them with)

As far as infantry go, I've got about 6 of infantry squads,three of which are vets, a CCS, around 6 five-man squads of scions (two CCS) 1 squad of 5 Ratlings. Last unit of note, I've got a techpriest with a squad of 4 servitors (2 plasma cannons 2 servo-arms)

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2017/04/26 15:32:22


 
   
Made in au
Imperial Recruit in Training




My first question is what do you usually take? I'll tell you my suggestions but without knowledge of your full army tactics are limited.

7th Edition Guard are no where near as potent as 7th Tau and we haven't gotten updated as recently so there is a bit of difficulty here .

From what I understand he usually plays a Tau gunline Army with Battle Suits to move in and destroy any armour you take yourself.

My first suggestion to handle his light infantry is getting Wyverns, they are cost effective death machines. Especially killing the Path Finders and eliminating his marker lights ASAP. Taking 2 squadrons of two may lead to you annihilating his infantry force and pinning any survivors in a squad then moving on to the next and by turn 3 he should be fresh out of obj sec inf. They can even damage battle suits if your opponent keeps them ridiculously bunched up.

Manticores can be useful as well with dealing with blobs and bunched up armour but are not as cost effective as Wyverns.

Cosider using the Artillery Co formation to smash apart the enemy as well as getting orders to vehicles (the likes of which ignores cover to manitcores turning them from meh to oh god why on multi-wound entrenched infantry as they can instagib toughness 5 infantry like say... the Tau Commander) Remember that barrage weapons remove from the middle of the template so his only escape will be look out sir's which will still instakill his battle suit so win win...

I get hesitant when I see Yarrick or Straken against Tau (anything expensive when it comes to single point models really) as they can precision shot, ignore cover and instagib like crazy so I would avoid. Same with Assassins they just cost too much.

The Imperial Knight can be good if it gets into melee with emphasis on the IF, it depends how much terrain you both use on a small board.

Leman Russ battle tanks are less effective against Tau as they can out manoeuvre them too easily and destroy them with their Strength 10/flanking fusion blasters. If you do take them throw them in cover and surround them with guardsmen (who are also in cover) and give them camo nets for a 4+ save.

Go big with your weapon Strength, guardsmen only hit 50% of the time so make sure that they hit hard when they do. This means Lascannon teams ordered to bring it down on the riptide/battle suits. Again throw them in cover and they will do work

While Autocannons are nice against other armies they allow armour saves on Riptides and Battle suits. This is unacceptable as you need to kill those units ASAP.

I could go on but I feel that this is all generic info. If I had a clearer idea of your workhorses I could tailor the advice.

For the Emperor Sir Ever Onwards 
   
Made in us
Locked in the Tower of Amareo




Guard can't kill riptides, but they can kill the marker lights.
   
Made in au
Kinebrach-Knobbling Xeno Interrogator





As of recently, my army has always contained an Imperial Knight (The variant changes often), 2-5 Scions, At least 1 vindicare assassin, and a Basilisk and Wyvern hiding in the backlines. I also always bring an Aegis Line with me.


I usually try to keep the armor to a minimum, restricting it to a mostly supportive role; Artillery and transport. So as of late I don't even field leman russes (Last time I did they were both immediately destroyed in the 2nd turn)

That being said, I'm wondering if there is any worth to be had in fielding a Hellhound and Devil Dog duo. How reliable are they?

I also know that he does not carry any flyers, would fielding my own be worth while?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/04/26 14:56:36


 
   
Made in us
Locked in the Tower of Amareo




Valkyries are always worthwhile.
   
Made in au
Kinebrach-Knobbling Xeno Interrogator





I've got three on hand, should I bring them all?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Martel732 wrote:
Guard can't kill riptides, but they can kill the marker lights.


I've learned that over time, but sooner or later I'll have to deal with his, what's the best method of doing it? I was thinking a Vindicare would definitely soften it up, but it seems like his talents could be better spent elsewhere.


Automatically Appended Next Post:


I don't have a giant army, but I think I've got enough to keep myself versatile, I'll update the OP with my options

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/04/26 15:16:14


 
   
Made in us
Locked in the Tower of Amareo




You don't kill them. Riptides aren't obj sec. You just outscore him. You just pretend the Riptides don't exist because trying to hurt them is folly. BA can't do it even with grav cannons, and IG don't even have those.
   
Made in au
Kinebrach-Knobbling Xeno Interrogator





Sooner or later I will have to do something about it though, I don't think I can afford to just let it run amock. It fragged my Knight last game.
   
Made in us
Locked in the Tower of Amareo




You don't really have a choice. The knight can go chainsaw one in half, though. Riptides aren't that super effective vs IKs.
   
Made in us
Death-Dealing Devastator






United States

I would re-emphasize trying to ignore it. It is very difficult to kill for guard. Lascannons are our best weapon against monsters and they just bounce off riptides. If you are dead set on killing it, mass lasgun is probably the best method of killing it. Backed by prescience and a blob ordered to bring it down, you could probably cause 1-2 wounds a turn. The safest place for you to be is to charge it. Ideally, you would lock yourself in combat on top of an object and it will keep you safe from shooting. Place objects centrally and close together so he can't use his mobility to it's fullest.

But the smarter option is to just kill his drone net (is there a tau player that doesn't take this), his broadsides and commander, and just let the riptides do their thing. Spread out and stay in cover and they will only kill a handful a turn.

2500 pts  
   
Made in us
Locked in the Tower of Amareo




Oh. Oh. If you are running blob infantry, misfortune + FRFSF perhaps can do it, but not if they pull off the 3++ save. Misfortune + FRFSF is much better vs WK, which rely on their toughness much more.
   
Made in us
Whiteshield Conscript Trooper






In my experience, the greatest advantage IG have over Tau is in the Range of the big guns. Most of the Tau firepower stands at 36'' range at most, even less for the kinds of weapons that actually do make a difference in killing stuff such as fusion and plasma guns. And the stuff with bigger range, such as the weapons on the Riptide (which, in my opinion, is not much more effective than a Leman Russ, but much more expensive, after the upgrades to make it survivable) and the Heavy Rail Rifles aren't that scary and tend to not do that much, in my experience.

With that in mind, my tactics generally revolve around making the Tau have to move as much as possible to come near me and do any damage while my long range guns (manticores, Russes, earthshakers) do the damage where it counts -- at first their markerlights, then their crisis suits, and then the rest of the army; I only kill the riptide as a last resource, they're way too hardy.
If you use enough terrain on your board you'll most certainly be able to hide your tanks and arty from his Hammerheads and other long range firepower, which will have to move to fire at you, and snap shoot for that. To protect against deep strikes I use infantry blobs around the tanks, along with a couple more units of infantry moving forwards to keep him guessing.

I find that the biggest strength in an Imperial Guard army is the cheap bodies and the board control they give you, allowing your big guns to dish out damage to the parts of the enemy's army that are dangerous to the said big guns. I can often beat the Tau players at my local club with that kind of tactics. Unless they go balls deep in formations and special detachments. That I always lose to

   
Made in ca
Hardened Veteran Guardsman





You put ignore cover artillery on their marker lights (wyverns are the cheapest way to do this), and shoot the MCs with beast hunter shells. It's an uphill battle but you do have the tools to do it, IF you take beast huner shells from the ABG list. Beast hunter shells are the Guard's only reliable way to kill a riptide.
   
 
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