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So I took my Tau to another tournament yesterday and overall had a really great time. I've been very happy with how my Tau have been showing at tournaments thus far, as this was my second tournament I have taken my Tau to in the past two months and have placed 1st in both events. Just thought I'd share a brief overview of my list, the games I played, my opponents lists and a few of my thoughts. The tournament was 2k with double force organization (First for me outside of Adept) and 3 rounds. My List was as followed:

HQ:

Shadowsun
- Warlord


Bodyguard (2)
- 2 Fusion & Target Lock x2
- 2 Shield Drones

Commander
-Iridum Armor
- 2 Missile Pods
-Early Warning Override
- Velocity Tracker
-Puretide Neurochip
-Webb

Shadowsun and the Commander both joined the bodyguard squad and infiltrated. All three games, this squad proved irreplaceable. Tank Hunter works really well on the Fusions obviously, but made my Commander an anti-flyer beast.

Elites:

Riptide
- Ion A.
-TL SMS
-Early Warning Override

Riptide
- Ion A.
-TL SMS
-Early Warning Override

Riptide
- Ion A.
-TL SMS
-Early Warning Override

Not much to really say here. These guys are really the backbone of my army and are extremely effective at killing light and heavy infantry and can be effective anti-tank killers too. They're also extremely hard to kill. And like my last tournament, they did more wounds to themselves then any of my opponents did to them.

Troops:

Kroot (10)

Kroot (10)

Kroot (10)

Kroot (10)

Everyone underestimates Kroot. They have no save and are T3, but can be be very annoying when deployed and used right. Their lack of armor is never really a problem for me as I am smart enough to never just leave them completely out in the open. They're also more competitively versatile then firewarriors.

Fast Attack:

Pathfinders (6)

Pathfinders (6)

Pathfinders (6)

Markerlight Support. Still have to be careful when deploying these guys though. Don't want your opponent getting first blood

Fortification:

Aegis Line
- Quad Gun

Fuegon goes here. BS7 + Tank Hunter + Crack Shot (Ignore Cover)= Enough Said.

Allied Eldar Deatchment:

Farseer
- Runes of Warding
-Doom

Psyker defense and some added support for my shooting with Doom.

Fuegon, The Fire Dragon Phoenix Lord

Mans the Quad Gun and provides a very interesting yet effective combat dynamic to my backfield.

Dires (5)

Dires (5)

Secondary scoring units. Extra shots.


The Games:[b]

Bare with me on this, I don't know all my opponents lists by heart and can't really remember many specific items.

Game 1:

Opponents list: Dark Eldar

Archon w/ Shadowfield
Archon w/ Shadowfield
Incubbi (8) w/ raider
Trueborn (5) w/ blasters & Venom w/ cannnons
Trueborn (5) w/ blasters & Venom w/ cannnons
Trueborn (5) w/ blasters & Venom w/ cannnons
Warriors (5) w/ Venom w/ cannons
Warriors (5) w/ Venom w/ cannons
Warriors (5) w/ Venom w/ cannons
Warriors (5) w/ Venom w/ cannons
Jet or Bomber
Ravanger
Ravenger
Ravenger

Game Type: The Emperors Will
Deployment: Vanguard
1st Turn: Dark Eldar
Tau seize: Yes
Night Fight: Yes

General synopsis of terrain: Probably 13 pieces of terrain evenly spread across the table with 8 of the pieces being solid buildings that had stairs on the sides leading to the tops. Was definitely more of a city map.

Quick notes: I royally screwed my opponent seizing the initiative and the game swung heavily in my favor after my 1st turn. On the first turn, I exploded 3 Ravengers and 3 Venoms . This was mainly due to all three of my riptides successful Nova for St 9 ordnance and at least two marker lights for each to ignore cover in collaboration with my Commander and Quad Gun. On his 1st turn he then killed my quad gun (smart ) and a Kroot from two different squads and a shield drone from my command unit. My second turn I then killed 3 more Venoms and the raider carrying his two Archons and Incubbi, then lit them up with marker lights and shot two squads of BS 5 rapid firing Kroot into them. When the dust had cleared there was one Archon and one Incubbi fleeing. He then Conceded as he had only a flyer in reserve, a venom with 5 warriors, and two squads of two trueborn left on the table.

Results:

Tau 9
Dark Eldar: 0

Game 2:

Opponents list: Imperial Guard

Commissar Lord
Infantry Platoon 2 heavy bolters
Infantry Platoon 2 heavy bolters
Vets w/ 3 flamers
Vets w/ 3 flamers
Vendetta x3
Vendetta x3
Vulture w/ Punisher cannons
Manticore
Manticore
3 Hydra Platforms
Ageis Line

He was using the rules for the Hydras out of the Aeronautica, aren't the most up to date rules for the hyrdas out of the new IG imperial armour 1? I'm pretty sure he has to us the most up to date rules right? If so, that would have had a huge impact on not just our game, but all his games in general (no interceptor rule in newest book).


Game Type: Purge the alien
Deployment: Dawn of War
1st Turn: IG
Tau seize: No
Night Fight: No

General synopsis of terrain: The board was a lot like the last, except the buildings weren't solid and were more like ruins area terrain with lots of windows and doors and a few solid walls here and there.

Quick notes: Before I go any further, I'd like to point out that this individual I have played only once before and he is not a person that either a friend of mine that has played him twice or myself like to play at all. He is a really nice person off the table, but on the table he is a straight up sore looser that's completely full of himself. Also it's worth noting that the last time we played, I went 1st and he went 2nd and when we came to the end of a full turn there was 15min on the clock and he said we had time for another turn, I really didn't think we did, but being nice agreed and his turn ended up going 25 min over time being called and as a result of that turn lost the game 9-5.

This game he deployed his hydras behind the aegis, Manticores behind buildings and as many guardsmen out of site as possible. He also combined squads and made 2 squads of 20 and put the two flamer squads in dettas. I deployed my tides behind ruins, pathfinders and quad out of LOS from his platforms, and put all my Kroot and Dires in reserve. First turn he sniped a squad of pathfinders with the platforms which I spent a good ten mins moving around during deployment making sure he couldn't see ( ). And then when he hit another squad of pathfinders with his Manticore, tried to argue with me that at the beginning of the game he never agreed that we said everything with a base is area terrain and then all the building that obscure a model is ruins (but he clearly did agree) and after a good 10min arguing with me I finally compromised and won a roll off. I was able to kill a 20 man squad and a command squad that was out of site using my TL SMS and Nova from the riptides. When his flyers came in I was able to kill off two before they fired, one with each anti flyer element. The one thing I did forget about which for sure would have made a difference was webbing his vulture before it shot my commander unit (only killing 1 drone from 13 hits as they were in cover). he for sure rolled at least 3 one's. By the end of the third turn we had only 8 min left on the clock. At the end of my turn I naturally reached out across the table to say good game and got a "what do you mean good game?" At this point it is important to also point out that all the other games were finished as well, so any further play was only going to slow the next game. He then proceeded to argue with me for 25min about how we have enough time for one more turn and at one point just ignored me and starting playing anyways. Finally, when to TO got involved, he asked how many units each of us had on the board and looked around and noticed everyone was done, and while he was thinking what to call, my opponent began to say how he gave me moves or let me off easy and stuff of that nature, then began to talk about our last game and say how he beat me then and I just don't want to lose to him again and all this stuff that just made him look like what he is, a complete sore looser. All while the TO was thinking and he was going off I offer at least three time to roll off on if we get another turn, which he denied all three times. And then finally the TO said he had to side with time as we've only complete 3 turns in 2 hours and 12 mins (each game 2:20.00) and there's no way a 4th would fit into 8 mins.

I actually just emailed the TO and asked him about the hydra rules, he indeed had to use the IG imperial armour rules.

Results:

Tau: 6
IG: 5

Game 3:

Opponents list: Eldar

Eldrad
Farseer
Phoenix Lord Karandras
Harlequin Troupe
Dires
Dires
Dires
Pathfinders
Pathfinders
War Walkers
Nightwing bomber
Nightwing fighter
Warp Hunter
Hornet
Hornet

Game Type: Relic
Deployment: Dawn of War
1st Turn: Tau
Eldar seize: No
Night Fight: No

General synopsis of terrain: The board was more open and had more of a natural terrain feel, with a lot of fantasy like terrain. Mountains, hills, a few stone walls and a few GW craters.Still had about 11-12 pieces give or take.

Quick notes: This was a good friend of mine that came with me to the tournament and we were fighting for 1st place. He knew from experience just how devastating my first turn shooting phase can be, so he knew to make this a for sure good match, he would have to seize or I would have to roll extremely bad the first turn. Unfortunately, neither happened and my first turn he lost his warp hunter to my commander with missile pods (w/ the help of two marker for the cover), a hornet, a squad of Dires and almost a squad of pathfinders. From there on out it was a lot like the first game with each round more devastating than the last. However, because he is my friend and wanted to give me a hard time and spite me and because he hates Tau with a passion, on turn 4 the only model left in his army was Eldrad and it charged my command unit, and after 4 combats killed the whole unit and then the game ended at the end of the last combat .

Results:

Tau: 5
Eldar: 1


Conclusion: In the end I still had a great time (despite my second game). My Tau have proven yet again their effectiveness in a competitive setting. This was my first time allying with Eldar though, it seemed to work out really well. I think outside a double force org. and in a normal game, or really even both, in the future I'll drop Fuegon and just take 5 fire dragon with their champion w/ tank hunter and crack shot. Does the exact does same thing for me vs. flyers and gives me more shots against other target if need be for about 100 less points. Also been looking into maybe a squad of war walkers each with two scatter lasers and then give the Farseer guide. Normally I take two squads of missile sides for my anti flyer support, but these three games really showed how effective these other two combos can be.

Let me know what you guys think and if you have any questions. Thanks for reading!

Congrats. IMO Tau is a top-tier codex, easily able to win tournaments. I think your list is going to be 1 of 2 dominant competitive Tau builds. The first is a mobile, "wandering" Tau list such as yours and Farsight builds. The 2nd is a more static, Ethereal-fire warriors based list such as the one in my recent battle report.

Either way, you're going to see at least 2 and usually 3 riptides in those lists. Heck, one of my opponents is thinking of a 4-5 riptide list in a double-FOC tournament we have coming up.

I thought long and hard about taking 5 riptides, but it just came down to me not having enough versatility I suppose. I guess an argument could be made though that the extra two could be kitted to help handle flyers, but I still wasn't sold. It's funny your first comment mentioned two kinds of Tau lists. My other type of list which I considered running and play tested was a farsight list and at the tournament there was another tau player that ran the farsight list too. So in the end your philosophy of the two kinds of lists was dead on.

Interesting games, although I do think that Jetbikes would be better than DAs in the ally slot.

I'd be interested to read more description on the battle reports, sounds like you had some quite nice match-ups (particularly first game with all the paper planes). I'm not too impressed by the second one though, particularly you basically calling your opponent a cheat in the opening line, and saying you don't like playing your opponent, well he probably doesn't like playing against you either. There's always 2 sides to every argument, it'd make a better report if you tried to be more detached in writing it, for example "we only got 3 turns in, had a disagreement about there being time for a 4th turn and the ref ruled we didn't have time" rather than the paragraph you put in calling your opponent a sore looser.

I don't think more than two Riptides will be all that competitive. They are not very good in melee... Might not seem like a big deal in this edition but there are plenty other awesome units in the codex that are much cheaper. For example sniper drones are really good but you don't hear much about them. Spamming Riptides is at best a very simple way to play Tau now.

How did you get 2 eldar hqs? was that two allied FOCs?

Congrats on the win! With Eldar allies I'd prolly take Jetbikes troops instead of Dires. Their mobility would allow you to take Fire Warriors instead of Kroot in your main detachment giving you some firepower besides just 3 Riptides.

Does infiltrate work like that?

 hippesthippo wrote:

Does infiltrate work like that?

From what I have seen it depends on where you play. Not sure what Adepticon ruled but the GW store by my house allows the character to pass off infiltrate to the squad, but the local non GW game store has ruled against it.

 jy2 wrote:


Heck, one of my opponents is thinking of a 4-5 riptide list in a double-FOC tournament we have coming up.

Could this be the dawning of Tau-zilla?


I'd have to agree with you Jy, Tau are becoming top dogs right now, I have yet to see a strong Tau list lose, and I've seen them against some of the most brutal armies going around.

I could see Tau losing to Grimoire dogs.

 hippesthippo wrote:
Congrats on the win! With Eldar allies I'd prolly take Jetbikes troops instead of Dires. Their mobility would allow you to take Fire Warriors instead of Kroot in your main detachment giving you some firepower besides just 3 Riptides.

Does infiltrate work like that?

From concensus here on dakka, the answer is no:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/523802.page

 hippesthippo wrote:
I could see Tau losing to Grimoire dogs.

Daemons are arguably one of the toughest matchups for Tau. They are fast, highly resilient and don't care about cover. Unless the Tau ally in some eldar, they also won't have an answer to daemon psychic powers and grimoired units.

bagtagger wrote:
How did you get 2 eldar hqs? was that two allied FOCs?

Yes. By doubling the force org I was then allowed two HQ from the eldar, but had to field two troop as well, thus the 2 dire squads.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 CaptainJay wrote:
I'd be interested to read more description on the battle reports, sounds like you had some quite nice match-ups (particularly first game with all the paper planes). I'm not too impressed by the second one though, particularly you basically calling your opponent a cheat in the opening line, and saying you don't like playing your opponent, well he probably doesn't like playing against you either. There's always 2 sides to every argument, it'd make a better report if you tried to be more detached in writing it, for example "we only got 3 turns in, had a disagreement about there being time for a 4th turn and the ref ruled we didn't have time" rather than the paragraph you put in calling your opponent a sore looser.

I see your argument and agree with it, but in this case I just don't have much respect for this individual anymore and calling him a sore looser is being nice. If I didn't have the original bad run in with him before, this honestly probably never would have happened the way it did. And It's not just me who had bad experiences with this person either. My close friend who was also present on Sat. had played him twice before (as mentioned) and tied him both games. Apparently, his reaction to the ties were similar.

Sometimes it's just the role of the dice when it comes to match ups. In this case, I'll admit that my 1st match up was definitely in my favor and me seizing the initiative honestly was like hammering the nail in the coffin. The last tournament I went to last month, where I placed first with my Tau as well was definitely more competitive. There I played demons ( monster flyer spam), orks(bike and dakka jet spam), and then eldar (meq).


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Dozer Blades wrote:
I don't think more than two Riptides will be all that competitive. They are not very good in melee... Might not seem like a big deal in this edition but there are plenty other awesome units in the codex that are much cheaper. For example sniper drones are really good but you don't hear much about them. Spamming Riptides is at best a very simple way to play Tau now.

I own at the very least multiples of 3 for every unit choice in the book and I can promise you through play testing that riptides are hands down the best elite choice, are well worth their point cost, and are incredibly hard to kill and to get lock into combat with.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 jy2 wrote:

 hippesthippo wrote:
Congrats on the win! With Eldar allies I'd prolly take Jetbikes troops instead of Dires. Their mobility would allow you to take Fire Warriors instead of Kroot in your main detachment giving you some firepower besides just 3 Riptides.

Does infiltrate work like that?

From concensus here on dakka, the answer is no:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/523802.page

 hippesthippo wrote:
I could see Tau losing to Grimoire dogs.

Daemons are arguably one of the toughest matchups for Tau. They are fast, highly resilient and don't care about cover. Unless the Tau ally in some eldar, they also won't have an answer to daemon psychic powers and grimoired units.

I always abide by the rules of the tournament and TO. If they say I can't infiltrate like that, then I won't, it's not really a big deal for me anyways, but I do not see anything wrong with it (lets not start a rules debate here).

I agree completely with the daemons notion. That's honestly my top reason for taking an eldar farseer with warding. The tournament that I went to last month and placed 1st at as well, my first game I think I won only because I went first. I played a monster flyer spam list (daemons) and was able to kill 2.5 princes and put 2 wounds on a bloodthirster and 3 on the one important bird flyer that helps with warp table and grim can give it 2++, simply because they hadn't moved yet.

ajsnips44 wrote:

bagtagger wrote:
How did you get 2 eldar hqs? was that two allied FOCs?

Yes. By doubling the force org I was then allowed two HQ from the eldar, but had to field two troop as well, thus the 2 dire squads.

I'm lazy and out of practice, about to dive back into it.

I thought you needed to have a Double Primary to have a double Ally?
Might be mistaken as I'm knocking my dust off lol.

He has double primary with 2 HQs and 4 Troops, Shadowsun HQ no1 w/2 kroot and Commander HQ no. 2 w/2 Kroot

 CaptainJay wrote:
He has double primary with 2 HQs and 4 Troops, Shadowsun HQ no1 w/2 kroot and Commander HQ no. 2 w/2 Kroot

Only saw the 1 HQ, List format is different from what I'm used to reading.

ajsnips44 wrote:
I've been very happy with how my Tau have been showing at tournaments thus far

Glad I was sitting down when I read that shocker!

 Blackmoor wrote:

ajsnips44 wrote:
I've been very happy with how my Tau have been showing at tournaments thus far

Glad I was sitting down when I read that shocker!

Don't be jelly