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.

This is the 2nd game on my trip to SoCal. The first game I played against Blackmoor and his paladins:

1750 Superbowl Match - Hive Fleet Pandora vs Blackmoor's Paladinstar Grey Knights

For my 2nd game, I played against none other than dakka's very own, Yakface. For those who don't know, Jon is very well-known in the gaming community. He is the co-owner of dakkadakka. He was also the main man who published the INAT FAQ's back in 5th Edition. Those FAQ's were the standard (after the GW FAQ's) that was used in many of the major tournaments here in the US, including Adepticon and the Bay Area Open.

Yakface is not an overly competitive person. However, he is (or rather, was) a regular in the tournament scene, having gone to Adepticon almost every year as well as the Bay Area Open last year. He is also a very good tactician and player who really understands the game. His team - Dakka Detachment One, which also included Janthkin, Blackmoor and Centurion99 - won Best Team Tacticians at Adepticon in 2006 (out of 76 teams, or 304 players) and have done consistently well at Adepticon. Last year in the 2012 BAO, he teamed up with Janthkin and they took 1st place in the Team Tournament. I must say that Tau (Yakface) and Tyranids (Janthkin) make for a terrifying combination but this was back in 5th. If only 6E had allowed Tau and Tyranids to be allies. Sigh....

Currently, Yakface is in a transitional period. He hasn't really gotten into 6E yet, having played just a handful games early on and then stopping for other endeavors. However, just for me, he's busting out his in-your-face, smash-your-head-in, dance-around-your-corpse-and-spit-on-your-grave ultra-uber Tau-orks!


-------------------------------------------------------------------


1750 Hive Fleet Pandora (Jy2)

Flyrant - 2x TL-Devourers
Flyrant - 2x TL-Devourers

Doom of Ma'lantai - Mycetic Spore
3x Hive Guards
2x Zoanthropes

Tervigon - Adrenal Glands, Catalyst, Cluster Spines, Onslaught, Scything Talons, Toxin Sacs
10x Termagants
Tervigon - Adrenal Glands, Catalyst, Cluster Spines, Onslaught, Scything Talons, Toxin Sacs
10x Termagants

15x Gargoyles - Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs

2x Biovores
2x Biovores



1750 Tau Orks (Yakface)



Shas'O - Missile Pods, Plasma Rifle, Multi-tracker, Blacksun Filter, Drone Controller, 2x Shield Drones

2x Crisis Suits - Missile Pods, Plasma Rifles, Multi-trackers
2x Crisis Suits - Missile Pods, Plasma Rifles, 1x Multi-tracker, 1x Flamer, 1x Leader w/Multi-tracker + Blacksun Filter
15x Lootas

12x Fire Warriors
12x Fire Warriors
20x Shoota Boys - 2x Big Shootas, Nob w/Power Klaw, Bosspole & Eavy Armor
20x Shoota Boys - 2x Big Shootas, Nob w/Power Klaw, Bosspole & Eavy Armor

Tetra - Targeting Array
Tetra - Targeting Array
Tetra - Targeting Array

2x Broadsides - Blacksun Filters
2x Broadsides - Blacksun Filters
1x Broadside - Blacksun Filter


* Yakface unintentionally brought an illegal list. He is missing a HQ for his allied orks. However, we didn't realize this until well into Turn 2. But due to time constraints (I had another appointment and a plane to catch afterwards), we just played on. It really wasn't that big of a deal, though had he remembered about his HQ, he would have brought a Big Mek with Kustom Force Field.


-------------------------------------------------------------------


Battle report will be out tonight.

Good to see another veteran player fielding the Tau-Ork combo. I've been tinkering at the idea of fielding Lootas in my own list. I look forward to seeing Yakface's list in action against Jy2's formidable Nids.

Dropping the solo Broadside and downgrading the Shas'O to Shas'el could free up points for Big Mek with KFF with 13 points to spare.

Yeah, so in all the dozen+ games I played of 6e when it first came out, they were 1,500 point games, so I had a pretty standard Tau/Ork list worked out that I used (with a KFF Mek).

Well, fast-forward to months later now and jy2 wanted to play a 1,750 point game, I went back to my old 1,500 point list to add some points on to play and in the interim I apparently forgot that to take allies required an allied HQ choice, so I screwed up and removed the Mek...whoopise!

But in all fairness, the replacement for those points was basically a 2nd Crisis Suit team, which ended up doing pretty much bupkis for the game anyway, so really I would have loved having back the KFF Mek to give me cover saves against those damned Biovores.

So long story short, I don't think the illegal list changed the outcome of the game, but obviously if I am able to pull it off, the victory has to have a big old asterisk by it for stupidity.


Oh, and where's the poll? Are you stopping that for reals?

It's a shame all of you guys live in California. Seem like a great bunch to play with. Looking forward to reading this one.

I vote Nids

Man I have been toying the idea with allying my Orks with either IG or Tau but I havent broken down quite yet. I am very interested to see the outcome of this battle report but if I had to pick a winner (even though the mission is unknown) I would go with Jy2 based on his experience with his army list and this edition. I think Yakface will be able to bring down a few of the big bugs but once they hit the lines its going to be an uphill battle. The biovores will have fun sniping out the nobs in the boyz squads and once they are gone it wont take much to break the boyz units.

Sorry, but it's been a hectic day today due to the Asian New Year. I've been in and out and I don't think I will be able to write the report today. If I have time, I will write the report tonight and answer questions tonight.

@Yak,

Thanks for the game buddy. Regarding the list, it's not really a big deal. We all mistakes, especially when we've been out of it for a while. The first time I played my bugs in 6E, I thought my zoanthropes were independent like they used to be back in 4th Ed. Tyranids (never really used zoans)! Lol. But it's better to make the mistake in a practice game than in an actual tournament.

Yeah, the poll will be up. I just like to give the readers a little more info like Mission type, deployment, who went first and my Pre-games before putting up the poll so that they have more information for their voting. I didn't have time (or my notes...besides your list) this morning to do so, but now I do.


-------------------------------------------------------------------


Mission: Bay Area Open Scenario #5 - Purge the Alien (4pts) & The Scouring (3pts)

The way the BAO scenarios work is this. There are always 2 book missions, one worth 4 points and the other worth 3 points. There are also the 3 bonus points - First Blood, Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker - for a possible total of 10 points. Whoever gets the most points wins. In scenario #5, Purge the Alien is worth 4-points and the Scouring worth 3-points.


Deployment: Vanguard Strike


Initiative: Tyranids


-------------------------------------------------------------------


PRE-GAME ANALYSIS:

Tyranids:
This is going to be an interesting game. I really like Tau and think that they are a very good army, just like my tyranids. And just like bugs, they are often under-estimated and perceived to be "weak" when in actuality, they are anything but weak. A good Tau army run by a good general can compete with most of the competitive armies out there. Just like tyranids, they aren't perfect and have weaknesses that can be exploited. However, they do have 1 advantage that the bugs don't....they can bring in allies.

I really like the combination of Tau and orks. They are a very synergistic combo and complement each other almost perfectly. The only other better ally for Tau would be Tau and Tyranids, but unfortunately, that combo just isn't possible outside of a Doubles-tournament. In any case, I guess great minds think alike as both Yakface and SabrX feel the same way also.

But what really makes Yakface's army stand out IMO is his inclusion of the Forgeworld Tetras. These guys just bring Tau to a whole different level, and they will be one of the first units that I will target (especially since they are Fast Attack scoring units in the Scouring mission). Normally, multiple-objectives-based missions is a Tau weakness, but with fast scoring skimmers, it isn't so bad.

But as much as Tau has improved in 6E with allies, my dual-flyrant nids are going to give him a lot of problems. They're going to soak up a lot of fire and I will get the alpha-strike and an almost guaranteed First Blood. Now if I can get Iron Arm or Endurance for my flyrants, my opponent may just be in trouble. And then I've got the Doom going up against a foot-list with a lot of low Leadership units. Bubble-wrapping may help, but I can also blow holes in his bubble wrap with biovores and my flyrants. Overall, I think this is going to be a tougher matchup for Tau than it would be for my bugs. His chances for a victory is going to depend on how fast he can ground my flyrants. If he can't, then I think I've got this game. If he can ground them early, then it will be an uphill battle for my much slower units.


-------------------------------------------------------------------

PRE-GAME ANALYSIS:

Tau:

Well, what can I say except that I don't like what I'm seeing in his army list. To me, it looks like he has the perfect counter for everything I'm taking.

His Biovores are perfectly suited to pulp my Orks and Firewarriors (especially since I didn't take my KFF Mek), his Hive Guard can ID my Crisis Suits and totally ignore my Tetras' 3+ cover save (jink+shrouding via disruption pods), his two Tyrants basically can shoot and/or assault anything they like with impunity and the Doom is the absolute icing on the cake, especially against the generally low Ld of the Tau (great for nuking Broadsides). Of course, if the Doom manages to get Iron Arm, then that alone will probably be the game. And of course being Tau + Orks I have absolutely no psychic defense against his seemingly limitless amount of psychic powers.

So what do I have going for me? Well, I certainly have enough firepower (and markerlights via the Tetras) on hand to do some serious damage, especially if I go first before he can get his psychic powers up and running, but that's purely a 50/50 shot I have no control over!

Other bright spots would be:

• He only has 3 Hive Guard, which is a huge relief to me since these guys are so devastating against my Crisis Suits and Tetras.
• I did take a Shas'o with 2 Shield Drones. His Ld 10 will protect that unit against the Doom a bit, and his ability to LoS wounds onto the Shield Drones will hopefully allow the unit to withstand a bit of fire from the Hive Guard.
• The Orks are in big enough squads that if the Doom comes down early they probably won't take that much damage.
• I have 5 S10 twin-linked shots, which have a decent chance of IDing the Doom if they're still alive when he comes down.
• Lucky for me we're playing Scouring, which makes my Tetras scoring units...of course they're also worth a VP each if killed, so I just have to make sure I keep them away from his Hive Guard and Tyrants and they should be pretty durable with their 3+ cover save.


Sadly, in order to win I think I need a bunch of these things to happen that all happen to be luck-based:

1) I need to go first so I can shoot before Feel No Pain is activated across the big bugs of the army and the Tyrants get all swoopy.
2) I need the Doom to not get Iron Arm, not show up early, and fail a 3+ Invuln save quickly when hit by a Broadside.
3) I need the Tyrants to fail their grounding tests ASAP.

I'm not sure how many of those things exactly I need to happen in order to have a chance, but I do know that I don't like my chances going into the game.

Deployment:




--------------------------------------------------------------


Tyranids 1




Torks 1




Tyranids 2




Torks 2




Tyranids 3




Torks 3




Tyranids 4




Torks 4




Tyranids 5




Torks 5

Can't wait to see how this battle turned out. I find myself hanging on the edge of my seat for all of your battle reports!

 SabrX wrote:
Good to see another veteran player fielding the Tau-Ork combo. I've been tinkering at the idea of fielding Lootas in my own list. I look forward to seeing Yakface's list in action against Jy2's formidable Nids.

Dropping the solo Broadside and downgrading the Shas'O to Shas'el could free up points for Big Mek with KFF with 13 points to spare.

He would have dropped one of the units of 2 suits.

 djones520 wrote:
It's a shame all of you guys live in California. Seem like a great bunch to play with. Looking forward to reading this one.

Consider coming to the Bay Area Open next year. You will find a lot of very cool and very, very good players to play against.

 y0disisray wrote:
Man I have been toying the idea with allying my Orks with either IG or Tau but I havent broken down quite yet. I am very interested to see the outcome of this battle report but if I had to pick a winner (even though the mission is unknown) I would go with Jy2 based on his experience with his army list and this edition. I think Yakface will be able to bring down a few of the big bugs but once they hit the lines its going to be an uphill battle. The biovores will have fun sniping out the nobs in the boyz squads and once they are gone it wont take much to break the boyz units.

Do it! They work great together, almost as good as Eldar and Dark Eldar.

BTW, PK nobs are very bad against my bugs. They either get challenged and then insta-killed before they can even strike, or they just hide in the crowd not contributing at all.

 Brock79 wrote:
Can't wait to see how this battle turned out. I find myself hanging on the edge of my seat for all of your battle reports!

Thanks. I should be able to finish it today, though it will come out in chunks throughout the day.

I had the Warlord trait that allowed my Warlord and units within 12" the ability to roll an extra D6 when running and pick the highest.

Not like it matters cause I always forget about Warlord Traits anyway!

Lol at Torks. Looking forward to the report!

 jy2 wrote:

 djones520 wrote:
It's a shame all of you guys live in California. Seem like a great bunch to play with. Looking forward to reading this one.

Consider coming to the Bay Area Open next year. You will find a lot of very cool and very, very good players to play against.

With a bit of luck I'll be living in Europe next year. Alas, it'll probably never be. I'll just continue to live vicariously through your batreps.

Is the river impassible? If so, that single bridge is a really nasty choke points and will disrupt many horde armies.

 SabrX wrote:
Is the river impassible? If so, that single bridge is a really nasty choke points and will disrupt many horde armies.

Nope, just difficult terrain that provides no cover save unless the riverbank itself blocks LOS from the firers (in which case its a standard 5+).

No terrain is mysterious, BTW (just the objectives are).

The rocky sections of the hill are also difficult terrain to move up or down.

Any rocky hill edge that was taller than 1" we decided to play like vertical terrain (where you had to pay the penalty in inches to move up and down it). So if you look at the rocky hills in the center, for example, going up the 'lipped' section would just be normal difficult terrain, but going up the high sides would actually cost you 2" of movement.

Battle report completed.

Nice report!

Result:

wow, torks do look like a strong army.

Great report, thank you. Some very unlucky charge rolls..

My favourite part of the report though was the giant blue capsicum spore!

POST-GAME ANALYSIS:

Tau:

First-off, I'll totally take my unofficial win and my official draw...I thought I was going to get smeared anyway, so anything besides that is a huge bonus!

I do completely think that had I taken the legal list I, I actually would have done a bit better, as I would have had my KFF protecting my Orks (and debatably my Tau non-vehicles as well) instead of that Crisis team that jumped down on his side of the board and killed one Gaunt squad and one Biovore at the cost of their lives.

But back to the outcome of the game: let's be honest, luck was probably the most important thing I had going for me in this game. The amount of charges he failed that were 6" or under was utterly ridiculous, and if even one or two of those had been successful a LOT could have changed. jy2 only mentioned one turn where the Tervigon tried to charge my Commander and Crisis suits, but I think he actually tried to charge them two turns in a row. Yeah, they were LONG changes (like 9 or 10"), but if either of those had succeeded, that might have been it for me too.

Beyond that luck, the Doom not getting Iron Arm and not coming down until turn 4 was also massively huge for me. And when he did land, I rolled, really, really well on all my Ld tests for him and then jy2 went and failed that very first 3+ invuln for the Doom...pretty much exactly what had to happen for me to win. And he didn't even note that he used his Hive Guard firing at my Commander and Crisis suits 2 turns in a row and managed to cause NO damage each time as I was able to LoS all the wounds onto my Shield Drones and pass every single 4++ save they had to make.

Of course, there was some non-luck involved too. Jy2 knows the critical moment of the game really came down to him choosing to shoot with his Flyrant at my Orks before charging it. I know I was surprised at the time when he did it, but like he said he didn't realize how few Orks were actually left. Perhaps he wasn't sure where one Ork mob stopped and the other started or he thought maybe they started 30 boyz strong (instead of just 20), but whatever the case, there was no way he should have shot that mob before charging it...and that really was the only major error he made.

If I had to try to find something else that he didn't do perfect, I think his choice to go after my right flank with his Flyrants was perhaps not the best choice. The way he set up his Flyrants (before my deployment), maybe the only really good shots he would have on the first turn were on my right flank, but I think the key to my whole ability to kill him really turned out to be the Lootas, who were champion shooters the entire game (especially on the Tervigons). He defintiely could have flown his Flyrants up behind the hill/building in the center of the table and I would have not been able to shoot them and then on his turn he could have glided out with one Flyrant to charge my Orks on the left flank while his other Flyrant could have swooped for a 2nd turn and lit up my Lootas, which would have decimated them to the point where they wouldn't be much more of a factor (or even run off the board).

Also for the rest of the game he kept firing his Biovores at my regular boyz for the most part instead of going after my Lootas. I think he was perhaps going for the richer targets (because if the blasts scattered towards me they would have hit my Lootas), but I still think the Lootas were a much more dangerous target and should have been the target of pretty much everything at first.


For my own mistakes, putting my 2nd squad of Crisis Suits into Deep Strike was a bad mistake. I regretted it when I did it, and then I kept regretting it more as the game went on. He just had too many squads hanging out in the backfield for them to really have any chance of disrupting any of his objectives...on the other hand, I DEFINITELY could have used their additional firepower against the Flyrants in the first turn. I was just really afraid of the Hive Guard, because that 2nd Crisis squad had no shield drone to protect them (and so would be insta-gibbed pretty easily)...but I think I definitely could have kept that 2nd unit on my extreme right flank the whole time and never had them within range of the Hive Guard, so lesson learned!


In the end, it was a fun game, but I felt really bad for jy2 and his terrible luck this game. I had commented about how lucky he had seemed in other Battle reps, so I guess it was time for him to prove firsthand that he's not always the lucky bastard!

Wow, I'm astonished by the number of fail charges. This game turned into a meat grinder with the advancing Nids taken out one piece at a time. Exhausting those Tervigons was also unfortunate. Good rolling on Yakface part for taking out the first Flyrant. It easy inflicting 4 wounds on a FMC, especially with Crisis Suits held in reserves. Tough game, Jy2. Perhaps your luck average out and you'll do better in BAO.

Fire Knife + Tetra combo has peeked my interest. I'm still hesitant fielding suits in a competitive environment. Terrain is typically sparse with lack of TLOS blockage.

Yakface, what's your opinion on trading Aegis Defense Line or Bastion for a squad of Lootas? Do you find defense more beneficial or added firepower helpful in most games?

Thanks Yakface, both for the game and also for your insights and commentaries in my battle report. It's refreshing to get my opponent's perspective on the game once in a while.


POST-GAME ANALYSIS:

Tyranids:
The game started off really well for me. I was able to kill what I wanted - the tetra - though I was really hoping to kill 2 (however, Yak's deployment of his other tetras made that impossible on T1). I also wiped out 1 unit of fire warriors when they ran off the board. That was 2 scoring units down as well as 1 shooty, offensive unit. But then on Turn 2, things started to spiral downwards for me. It started off with what I felt was my only mistake in the game - my Warlord assaulting his orks. The plan was to assault them, stay locked in combat for 1 turn and then finish them off on his turn. However, I was not careful enough and didn't keep track of how many boys were left (I thought that they were still well above Fearless). Only after I killed 5 of those boys did I realize my mistake....that he was at around 10-11 remaining only. What I probably should have done was just to shoot with 1 set of devourers (or don't shoot at all with the devourers) and cast Life Leech to try to regain my wound back.

Losing both flyrants hurt, but what put the nail in the coffin was my failed charges. I actually failed 5 charges from 6" or less - 3 at about 5-6" and twice I rolled snake-eyes on 2 very close charges:


I believe this was one of my failed charges, though I don't quite remember what I was charging (and hence did not put it in the report).

Now I'm not saying that I would have won those combats, but each failed charge resulted in a unit out in open who got shot down by Jon's forces. That meant I gave up 5+ VP's on failed charges alone, not to mention I lost valuable scoring units in the process. Also, the Doom coming in on Turn 4 didn't really help. Had he came in earlier, then my opponent may have possibly had to divide up his fire between the Doom and my flyrant.

My strategy in this game had always been to kill off his scoring units. Flyrants were supposed to kill off his tetras and then his orks. I was actually planning to use his own orks to protect my flyrants from his shooting. Then biovores were to pin/break his fire warriors and to "soften up" his orks for my gargoyles to charge (it was only due to scatter why I killed 5 lootas with my biovores). If you were to notice in many of my games, I tend to ignore the "deadly" units such as broadsides, vindicators and other heavy supports in favor of going after the scoring units (unless we were playing Big Guns).

Also, Yakface was rolling pretty well with some of his saves and I was rolling somewhat below average with my offense. I didn't really mention my hive guards, but for the most part, they were firing at his suits (and also because I never had range to his tetras). Yakface made all his saves against them. My biovores could have probably killed more, but I was scattering wildly with them, with very few direct hits until the end (where they wiped out his unit of 5 fire warriors remaining). But the dice that really killed my chances for any type of victory were my failed charges. Everything else pales in comparison.

I like Yak's Tau-Orks a lot. I was thinking of a very similar build early on in 6E - Tau firepower combined with 2 screening units of shoota boyz. I feel that is one of the most efficient Tau builds, with the other being a Green Tide ork list with some allied Tau firepower (like SabrX's). I'm glad I got to play against his army and to see that my hunch was right on the money. People, don't make the mistake of under-estimating the Tau. Just like with my tyranids, Tau can still be very competitive under a competent general and can even dominate certain matchups. You have been warned.

Thanks for the game, Jon! Hope you come back to 40K6E one of these days.

 SabrX wrote:
Wow, I'm astonished by the number of fail charges. This game turned into a meat grinder with the advancing Nids taken out one piece at a time. Exhausting those Tervigons was also unfortunate. Good rolling on Yakface part for taking out the first Flyrant. It easy inflicting 4 wounds on a FMC, especially with Crisis Suits held in reserves. Tough game, Jy2. Perhaps your luck average out and you'll do better in BAO.

Fire Knife + Tetra combo has peeked my interest. I'm still hesitant fielding suits in a competitive environment. Terrain is typically sparse with lack of TLOS blockage. Trading Aegis Defense Line or Bastion for a squad of Lootas might be a good idea. Lootas provide good anti-air depending how many D3 shots they fire.

Yeah, I played with essentially this army at 1,500 points (with a KFF Mek, of course) in a few local tournaments when 6e hit and did pretty well with it.

If I were really going to seriously try to play it competitively, an Aegis line would make ALL the difference in how the army performs, for sure. Either that or a Bastion. The Tetras are really what makes this army truly dangerous.

I've found one unit of Crisis Suits w/ a Commander + 2 Shield Drones to be really survivable. If you have the points, getting the extra wound with the Shas'o is amazing to have because you basically use him as a soaking shield, passing off any S8 wounds onto the Shield Drones. And honestly, most armies don't have the ability to bypass LOS blocking terrain, so against those armies you can just sit and shoot each turn and keep hopping back behind cover. The 2D6" thrust move in the assault phase is soooo much better than the flat 6" they used to have (at least that's been my experience).

I tend to play it safe, having my Shas'el Warlord join a squad of Broadsides w/ Target Locks. 2+ meat shields is nice, but I suppose promoting a Broadside to Shas'vre and giving him couple of Shield Drones for more 2+ saves could also work. I don't think GW has address the issue of Shield Drones copying unit type of their bearer, so a each Shield Drone could also be a character (which is great for challenges).

What are your experiences with PK Nobz in 6th ed? Does yours usually make their points back?

 SabrX wrote:
I tend to play it safe, having my Shas'el Warlord join a squad of Broadsides w/ Target Locks. 2+ meat shields is nice, but I suppose promoting a Broadside to Shas'vre and giving him couple of Shield Drones for more 2+ saves could also work. I don't think GW has address the issue of Shield Drones copying unit type of their bearer, so a each Shield Drone could also be a character (which is great for challenges).

What are your experiences with PK Nobz in 6th ed? Does yours usually make their points back?

I'm trying to think back. I've only played about 15 games of 6e, and none in several months besides this one. The Nobs are obviously very situational, and there are a LOT of combats where they obviously have no chance when challenged. But once you dump the Nob you make them completely vulnerable to certain units and your enemy knows it and I don't like having that situation. I like at least the shot of the enemy whiffing their challenge attacks and me taking out their one character with his PK and then being back in the thick of it in future rounds. That and the Boss Pole turns out to be absolutely crucial every now and then.

I certainly could experiment playing without them, but given that they are a combat deterrent, having that added kick provided the enemy doesn't have a powerful character in their unit, I do like having them as a safety blanket.

I find that 30 shoota boys on overwatch is a pretty good combat deterent as well

I've essentially dropped nobs from my builds. Anything that truely threatens the mob like abbadon or some other super death star of assaults (D.lord + wraiths or harlistar come to mind), I'd just ignore by running away if possible and/or just shoot them with the enhanced power of the tau guns. 30 ork shootas is a lot of death. good odds of taking out a 5 man space marine squad in one go at the very least and is only 180 points of nearly impossible to budge objective camper. (almost no matter what you do, it'll take a pounding and still be on an objective or by the time they are so widdled down and finally run away, it's usually done more than enough damage or sucked up shooting from enough things to allow the other squishy tau to live on)

I tend to stick the commander in with some fire warriors to boost their Ld so I don't fail as hard vs stuff like the doom or even just taking a few casualties. With target lock, I can still have him engage other things from the squad. Also, I generally get the "sarge" for my fire warrior squads taking the BSF, so my warlord won't have to.

I think no matter what this would have been a bad matchup for the Nids, the Tetras + so many broadsides would have killed a monstrous creature a turn, and shootaboys are a match for all the little stuff. Lootas need to be taken out asap, to many high str shots.

Ok failing charges is crap and makes you loose battles, but I think the late arrival of the Doom is another one, as he is a defining aspect of the Nid strategy, having Hive commander to get that +1 would not be bad.

Absolutely love Dooms mycetic spore
Very interesting rep overall, very unlucky with some of the charge rolls.

I've been reading jy2s bat reps for a long time now-consistently entertaining, well written, & v v informative!

This is the first time I've been tempted to post though-as yakface is running a similar list to the one i've been running since the start of 6th. Its so rare (i've only come across 1 other person in the UK tournament scene who ran anything even close to similar), its always useful to get someone elses experiences.

have you tried running the commander with iridium armour? I've found its been an invaluable upgrade, especially when you have the 2 shield drones too (they have the same armour save as the commander)

how are the 12 man fire warrior squads performing? they weren't really mentioned in the bat-rep (apart from being pinned), im tempted to start maxing mine out.

Do you need that many broadsides? I've found that 3 has been enough in the UK tournament scene, but our meta might be different (mech is pretty dead at the moment)

i've been running this list at 1850:

Shas'o Commander: Plasma rifle, missile pod, shield generator, HW multi-tracker, HW drone controller (2 shield drones), HW blacksun filter, Iridium armour

3x Crisis suit team, missile pods, plasma rifle, multi-trackers

6x fire warriors
10x kroot
10x kroot
2x Sensor towers (forgeworld)

2x tetras, 2x targetting arrays, 1x target lock

3x broadsides, multi-trackers, team leader, HW blacksun
2x hammerheads, plasma turret (forgeworld), gun drones, disruption pods, blacksun filters

Aegis defence line

allies:

Ghazghkull

10x lootas

26x ork shoota boys

for 1750 I drop the aegis, the shas'o upgrade & the gun drones on the hammerheads. (going forward I think ill be dropping the aeigs & shas'o upgrade in the 1850 too, swapping them for 3x ork lobbas)

the sensor towers can twin-link & give night vision to any unit within 6", including the orks. Twin linked lootas are amazing! the fireknife squad usually uses the second tower. the plasma hammerheads are brutal (dakka dread stats, but ignoring marine armour, and for the same price as the ion-cannon), and having the gun drones as scoring in the scouring mission can be game winning (and they wont give a vp away unless detached first)

Plus Ghazzy in a big squad of boys as a counterattacking/ bubblewrapping unit is a whole lot of fun!