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I'm thinking of playing myself a few times to get a hang of the ITC missions, because apparently that's what all the cool kids are playing.
I have some terrain and enough space to play 6x4 on the floor.

My two armies are 1500 points, and this is pretty much what I can bring as restricted by my collection, even with a little proxying. I'm well aware these are not the most optimised lists, but are they valence against each other? The space marines are raptors, so raven guard and access to Liass if needs be, but I still feel like the tau are just better. Also I might have got points wrong, so please correct me when that's the case, and this isn't everything I own, so some other options are available.

SM 1494 points

Battalion

HQ 202

Captain in terminator armour (PF, WMGL, SB) 123

Lieutenant (PS, CP, AI) 79

Troops - 496

10 Scouts (TH, HB) 136

10 Tactical (PG, ML) 180

10 Intercessor 180

Elites 369

Ven dread (HPC, DCW, HF) 177

Terminator squad (PS, 4PF, 5SB) 192

Heavy support 322

Predator (PAC, HBS, SB, HKM) 167

5 Hellblasters 165

Fast attack 105

6 Assault squad (PA, CS, JP) 105



Tau 1500 Points

Sa’cea Battalion

HQ 216

Coldstar commander (4FB) 174

Cadre Fireblade 42

Troops 219

(10) Strike team (ML) 73

(10) Strike team (ML) 73

(10) Strike team (ML) 73

Elites 193

(3) Stealth Suits (3BC) 84

(3) Stealth Suits (3BC) 84

Marksman (ML) 25

Fast attack 122

(10) Pathfinders (7 ML, 3 RR) 122

T’au Battalion

HQ 238

Longstrike (2BC, IC, 2SM) 188

Ethereal (HD, PEC) 50 (Warlord)

Troops 120

(10) Kroot 50

(5) Fire warriors 35

(5) Fire warriors 35

Elites 392

(3) Crisis Suits (9 CIB) 288

Attached (8) GD, (1) SD 104

I think what a lot of the ITC missions come down to is your vulnerability to secondary scoring options.

They have a wide range of secondary objectives to aide scoring throughout the game, and people will tailor their list into forcing opponents out of easier secondaries and into harder ones.

For instance, I think there is a secondary for destroying a squad with at least 10 models in it. If your list sports 6 such of these units, your opponents will likely select that because they max out at 4.

If your list only has 3 such units... even if they wipe them all, they still only get 3 points max.

I cannot recall all of the secondaries ITC rolls with, but you should be able to get the point from that. If you look at an objective and say: well, that looks easy. Look at your list and see how easy it is versus you.

After that, it is just the typical smash-the-other-guy fest that 40k usually turns into.

Also, I think they play with more terrain, and a few extra additions to terrains like ground level ruins blocking LoS. But that won't really affect a list unless you're playing something particularly hindered by LoS.