Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

500 pt League Tau

My LFG is going to have an escalation league and I wanted to run my list by for 500 pt

HQ
102 CRISIS HQ: TL-FB, FL, HW-DC 2X SD

EL
86 CRISIS SUIT X2: TL-FL, FB

TR
113 FIRE WARRIOR X10: +UI HW-BSF
114 FIRE WARRIOR X8: +UI 8X EMP

85 DEVIL FISH: DPODS

The concept is to turtle push up with the devil fish with the emp squad in the rear incase of drop pod dreads and then to deepstrike on turn 2 with ether fusion blasters for tanks or flamers for troop

Any cc is welcome

I personally don't see how a marine player could squeeze in a drop pod dread into a 500pt game.

well i was thinking in broad terms because i have major drophobia, but in general its also to wreck vehicles too if need be otherwise just another dakka squad

 termin8r wrote:
I personally don't see how a marine player could squeeze in a drop pod dread into a 500pt game.

Drop Pod: IronClad w HF 180
Libarian 100
5 Scouts w ML 85
5 Tacticals 90

Very limited but also very doable and it does provide a decent amount of firepower. It depends on the dread too much but then again at 500 points it has a decent shock value.

The dread would hit hard but once its gone there isn't much left to save the army, and with the hull points in 6th edition it could go down with a few lucky rolls.

Not saying I LIKE the list but it is doable. As a matter of fact I would modify it to be two scout squads with camo cloaks and a ML. That gives you a definite firepower lean to hit with the dread being your one hard kill. 8 sniper rifles and 2 ML should do a pretty decent job. Then give the librarian psychic scream and it will potentially beat up anybody. It might just work.

wait a sec this is supposed to be for my tau list not a hypothetical sm army ><

We are working on your list. We are confirming there is a legitimate need for spending +3 for every warrior to have EMP grenades.

My issue is with the devilfish... 80+ points for a defensive shield. That is all you have it there for. Just think about what you could field instead. Also I am questioning the HQ crisis suits. As it stands you are going to drop all 3 on the same target at the same time. Wouldn't you be better served by a lot of independent suits instead of one mass dropping?

I see you have an HQ and 2 suits... I am still asking why not split the two suits into 2 elite slots. Unless there is some limitation of FOC slots also.

There are no foc issues with splitting the squad, only personal reasons as I like to focus fire one squad hard at a time (I play against necrons a lot) or whip em out completely (darkeldar lol) but with my suits load out its imperative that they all come together in the same place consistently. Any suggestion for low points loads outs? Though I have awful luck with fire knives and death rains

I justified the devilfish due to its los blocking size, 12 front and 2+ save while if need be scoop and scoot my fire warriors to a new location though this all comes down to tactics now. Is 1-2 suits worth the loss of mobility for your main capture unit?

You're seriously hurting in terms of medium to long range firepower. It's unlikely you'll encounter that much armor at 500pts, so I don't see the justification for three suicide suits and Banzai FW. Drop the EMP grenades on the second squad of FW, and tool out at least one of your suits with MP/TL MP. As DAaddict said, split those suits up. Also, you're wasting those mounted weapons by having no MT. If you split the suits up, make them team leaders, and slap a HW MT on them, you can fully utilize those flamers and FB. Granted, I wouldn't recommend that, as I am not a fan of mixing anti armor with anti personnel.
Personally, I'm a huge fan of the ML, PR, MT combo, as it gives great flexibility to a suit. Mobility is your friend with suits, and having all of your suits within 12" to be effective is going to cost you those suits very quickly, since JSJ is not going to guarantee you a 6" retreat move anymore. I would propose some changes with accurate points, but I'm at work, so I don't have access, but I will tell you that this list will struggle with MEQ lists and be just adequately effective against GEQ lists.

Well noted I will probably drop the emp, I am apprehensive about dropping the flamers/fusion as I tend to do better with a decisive strike vs harassing with long range pokes, and you cant argue with the price at 43 a suit with options to kill mass hoards/geq or tank hunt. I could however switch the fusion blaster to missile pods for the same price as that will give me options for long range harass if I should scatter or mishap, or even switch a few to death rain with fl.

On a side note I have horrid luck with mp/pr which is why I tend not to run them.

I just don't see enough damage out put from TL flamers to go all in on 2 suits with it for Anti-infantry. I might do a list more like this:

HQ
CRISIS HQ: 'El TL-FB, FL DC 2X SD 102 (FL actually makes alot of sense here)

EL
CRISIS SUIT X2: Burst Cannon,FL, MT 84

TR
FIRE WARRIOR X10: +UI HW-BSF 103
FIRE WARRIOR X8: +UI HW-BSF 83

IonHead: DP, Burst Cannon, Target Lock,BSF 128


This should give you better Anti-Armor do to the Ion Cannon, and Safer anti-foot thanks to the rang of the BC on the suits and give you 2 templates + 6 shots on Overwatch is you do get caught in charge range. Still don't like loading the HQ for Tank duty in such small games. Granted he should be able to one shot the Armor, but I worry about the contents.

Edit: I am assuming you will use the IonHead in a similar manner to the Devilfish's role minus the boot and scoot.

That’s a fair assessment and list and I might try out the ion because I have yet to try it/ they do allow forge world so I might opt to take a plasma cannon or something else instead

I happen to enjoy the surprise tl flamer as I did pretty good with them in the past
On average I can get 7 hits on each so 21 hits with 14 being twin linked, wounding about 14 marines after twin linked will result in about 4.5 dead marines, sometimes better sometimes worse but its all for the shock value which is always priceless.
And tzeentch help them if it’s on anything with a 5 armor save or relies on cover (lol reaver jetbikes)

But consistently with say a fireknife squad of 3 that would generate on average 6.5 hits with maybe half of them negating armor save. Its more consistent but I just don’t have the luck for it I often fail all of those rolls.

edit: oh i should probably mention, i often face a giant mix of diffrent armys but often fight de (god i hate darklances), ig, and crons,

Perhaps two broadsides if you face alot of DE.
XV88 + 2 Gun Drones with perhaps Target to up the BS to 4 or
Multitracker to allow you to fire both... That would be 200 points and give you superior firepower even to DE. 1 hit = 1 dead DE vehicle with +3 to the chart.

To do it, lose the ion hammerhead and 1 XV8. If you want a suicide suit, TL Flamers and Failsafe Detonator...

DAaddict wrote:
Perhaps two broadsides if you face alot of DE.
XV88 + 2 Gun Drones with perhaps Target to up the BS to 4 or
Multitracker to allow you to fire both... That would be 200 points and give you superior firepower even to DE. 1 hit = 1 dead DE vehicle with +3 to the chart.

To do it, lose the ion hammerhead and 1 XV8. If you want a suicide suit, TL Flamers and Failsafe Detonator...

Thought about knock a list with 2 XV88, but I don't think that will work well with his play strategy.

 Desubot wrote:
That’s a fair assessment and list and I might try out the ion because I have yet to try it/ they do allow forge world so I might opt to take a plasma cannon or something else instead

Well, if they allow Forgeworld, and you want some FB action, pick up an XV9-01. You get up to 6 melta shots on a much more survivable platform than your XV8s. Granted, you will pay a premium for it, but it definitely has won its points back plus some for me on several occasions. The XV9-04 isn't bad, either, as it belts out 8 shots with rending per turn (low S on the weapons, tho, but AP value is not bad). Both of these, however, run in the ~150 point range each, so it would limit your other choices. Luckily, though, the XV9s have T5, so you don't have to worry as much about ID as the XV8s have to. At low point value games, I've found that the XV9s are really nasty. Never once took a wound on one in games with point values below 1K. Granted, I haven't played a Tau game in 6th with my XV9s in a low point game. The assault move being 2d6 instead of 6" has forced me to be more cautious with my JSJ moves.

That aside, if you want to take a FW weapon for a Hammerhead, a friend and I rated the various options, and found that you'll get the best bang for your buck with the PC, if I remember correctly. I think the missile launcher then the fusion cannon followed after that.

500 points fresh out the codex literally 5 seconds ago

HQ shas'O burst cannon, missile pods, multi tracker

troops

12 fire warriors

11 fire warriors

heavy support

hammer head - rail gun, burst cannons

it has armour, fire power and a priority killing order which will be quite hard to achieve in a game so small as a hammer head will be out of range almost all game, also gives a template and a strong anti vehicle shot.

this is more a sit back, take out the range threats first then what ever is closest next.

Solid enough.

Thinking about what I would bring to a 500 match I would suggest that you don't isolate your hammerhead from the rest of the force even though it has the range. Ideally I would deploy it between the fire warriors with the HQ close by.

Just to shield it from deep striking terminators with combi-meltas; infiltrating troops with plasma / melta gun (striking scorpions with an exarch power glove); jet bikes which can turbo-boost towards but get out of site behind cover.