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Sorry if this is in the wrong place. So soon my homie, gf and I are looking to have a 3 way battle. Im using Tau, she is using DE and he is using CSM. We're only using 500pts because i dont know how long i'll be able to keep their attention. Also they are total noobs and asking lots of questions. The gf has asked a few questions, rarely asking for actual advice and more asking what things do. I'll briefly explain and then she'll add it to her list if she thinks it sounds good. My buddy using chaos, is more of a girl pulling the whole, idk what do you think, rather than thinking for himself. I mean, he has A LOT of options and I have not studied his codex so im asking you guys for help to make sure they arent just going to get pummeled or anything. I want a decent match, you know?

So

GF Dark Eldar

Lelith( kind of non negotiable because she is the whole reason that she decided she liked dark eldar, they are pretty lol)

12 kabalites with 1 blaster and 1 splinter cannon

9 wyches one with razor flail

raider with disintegrator cannon, flickerfield, and night shields for the wyches and lilith

Chaos Space Marines

Lord with Mark of nurgle and terminator armor with power weapon and bolter

10 CSM with 1 plasma and 1 auto cannon

5 marines 1 plasma

5 havocs with 2 hvy bolters and 2 auto cannons

My Tau

Shas'O with TL,DC, 2x missles

6fire warriors + bonding

6 FW + bonding

Missleside with missle drones and counterfire defense

stealth team with 1 fusion

Drone squad 4 ML + 1 gundrone


There out lists for 500pts, now my chaos buddy said he wanted a somewhat tougher stand and shoot style build, so i did what i could, stayed away from psykers because its going to be his first game. The GF basically did everything on her own with my only real suggestions is to take the raider to deliver lilith and her wyches, and me im just experimenting with my new codex. Is there ANYTHING that you guys out there think that theres anything that my opponents MUST have for it to be a good/fun game all around?? Please feel free to suggest anything and everything oh and models dont matter as we are proxying just about everything

I know this isn't constructive, but this made me piss myself. Thank you.

Hahahaha at least you enjoyed your read then

I'm afraid I have to agree with our freind above, but respect for giving it a try, but you'd be better off putting them against eachother and being referee, 3 ways are never balanced, someone will get pummeled and it will put them off a great hobby

I can't comment on the lists, but play The Relic. I often play three way with my boys and this is definitely the best mission for impromptu 3 way.

Lelith is unfortunately going to massively unbalance things for your girlfriend at only 500 points. No doubt as you've seen already she doesn't leave much room to take anything else. Might I suggest trimming down the FOC so that she only has to take 1 Troops option? This is normally a good idea at 500 points anyway.

The Chaos list looks fine but pretty much anything you put in there will trounce the Dark Eldar one because of the difference in body count. So I have another suggestion... let them team up against you, and you take 1,000 points.

I'll also suggest the Relic for a mission - as Tau you'll be forced to get in close, pretty much where you don't really want to be, so it'll be a good challenge for you too.

I'd recommend limiting the rules somewhat to accommodate your low points. GW has a decent set here: http://files.meetup.com/1814972/Official%20Combat%20Patrol%5B1%5D.pdf
If you insist on 3-way action, I'd also recommend that you double your own points, and let them play together against you. That way they have relatively few points to keep track of, while still experiencing the full "battle" effect.

I cannot comment on Tau/DE, but I do have a few suggestions (based on the GW rule-set above) for CSM.

Mark of Nurgle is really great in this format, and especially on a bike squad. These will also get to your Tau fairly fast. For firing, there is Little he can do to out-shoot a Tau army, but I would definately have one squad of Havocs, and I would pick Missile Launchers. They have both a very good range, and they can pick Krak missiles for tough opponents, and Frag missiles for the bunched up, low-toughness stuff. If he insist on fire power, he could take a unit of Noise Marines with a Blastmaster. This removes both armour and cover saves, so should be fairly devastating against Tau in this format.

Yeah i realized after i played my buddy without the GF that im just going to do 2v1 that way theres less to keep track of. However he is kind of lame and cant decide on a favorite race and therefore wont spend some time learning a codex. Which just means i have to hold his hand(its like come on! ive been building lists and playing since i was 11), which really means the gf and i will probably spend more time playing just us lol which isnt really all that bad lol

2v1 seems the best way to do it. A free for all with 3 players is generally a bad idea, with the middle player getting ganged up on and generally inherent balance issues.

Getting a fourth person and doing 2v2 is also a great option.

Agreed, team battles make for great fun, especially if you can get them to team up against something.

Definitely don't give her Lelith, throw the troops in a boat (if you have them) and let her play skimmers. Footslogging is slow and can seem dull for new players, especially if anyone else gets longer range stuff (such as Tau). By the time the DE even get there, the battle will be over or they will get a scratch on the walk up and run away.

 infiltratethis wrote:
I'm afraid I have to agree with our freind above, but respect for giving it a try, but you'd be better off putting them against eachother and being referee, 3 ways are never balanced, someone will get pummeled and it will put them off a great hobby

As someone who is a great purveyor of different games types, I thoroughly agree with the above statement. 3 way FFA sucks, it's very slow and unbalanced. Go doubles instead.

Sudden idea...you could run Lelith as a counts-as Succubus, that'll cut her points right down.

 infiltratethis wrote:
I'm afraid I have to agree with our freind above, but respect for giving it a try, but you'd be better off putting them against eachother and being referee, 3 ways are never balanced, someone will get pummeled and it will put them off a great hobby

This happens a lot in three way battles... Two of the players team up early to first eliminate the other opponent - that is not any fun for the 3rd party on the receiving end. So my advice is try to structure the mission to avoid this type of situation. It's actually easy to do with a little forethought.

So shes determined to use lilith, not just the model but the profile. So i was thinking, rather than play at 1000 ill just play at like 900 since lilith is almost like 100pt handicap for her and i have zero intention on her reaching my troops lol

thats fair I suppose.

one thing I would say for a ~900 is steer clear of Riptides, I wouldnt want to fight one in my first game...

 Dozer Blades wrote:

 infiltratethis wrote:
I'm afraid I have to agree with our freind above, but respect for giving it a try, but you'd be better off putting them against eachother and being referee, 3 ways are never balanced, someone will get pummeled and it will put them off a great hobby

This happens a lot in three way battles... Two of the players team up early to first eliminate the other opponent - that is not any fun for the 3rd party on the receiving end. So my advice is try to structure the mission to avoid this type of situation. It's actually easy to do with a little forethought.

also the person that has the third turn usually is the worst off because they have to absorb 2 rounds of shots before they can fire. because you are playing beginners I would recommend that you would be the third person so on one doesn't get completely slaughtered.

Wolfnid420 wrote:
So shes determined to use lilith, not just the model but the profile. So i was thinking, rather than play at 1000 ill just play at like 900 since lilith is almost like 100pt handicap for her and i have zero intention on her reaching my troops lol

Let her win, or at least come close.

 Griddlelol wrote:
2v1 seems the best way to do it. A free for all with 3 players is generally a bad idea, with the middle player getting ganged up on and generally inherent balance issues.

Getting a fourth person and doing 2v2 is also a great option.

It's a reasonable suggestion, especially for people just starting at the hobby, although free for all games can be really fun if you approach it with the realization that it's not going to be balanced and just try to kill as much as possible before your army gets atomized. I certainly wouldn't recommend it for every playstyle/meta balance though.

500 points is really rough. To be honest I don't even know where I'd start with a Tau list at 500, there's just a certain amount of stuff you need to make good army.

2 vs 1 is probably the best option in this situation honestly. Let them team up with 500-750 pts each, and you go against them with maybe a 100 pt handicap if you're feeling generous.

 MasterSlowPoke wrote:

Wolfnid420 wrote:
So shes determined to use lilith, not just the model but the profile. So i was thinking, rather than play at 1000 ill just play at like 900 since lilith is almost like 100pt handicap for her and i have zero intention on her reaching my troops lol

Let her win, or at least come close.

lol you say let her win! I dont have to, her dice rolls always come out stupidly well! She and i have played before a few times, with my nids n wolves and her dice rolls are always above average

I play DE and I'll be honest, so are mine. Won't matter much on a footslogging low-infantry list. Give the girl some boats! Then those dice rolls may matter for the Double Splinter Cannon and Flickerfield shots. As it stands, by the time she gets there, her Lelith will shout "charge!" only to look behind her and see the tattered remains of wyches and kabbies smoking on the battlefield (that's if she walks Lelith behind the entire army and you don't mercilessly slaughter her before she gets there).

I mean, I guess if it's not her first game she understands that dice are variable and units can seem much better on paper than in-game. As far as your other friend, not much has come up about his Chaos squad. If he hasn't played, I would be more concerned about his enjoyment than the two of you. I assume if she has played a few times, as you said, she's past the point of quitting from a bad game. From your OP, he's wavering a bit and seems to want a decent army and considers you experienced and able to give him an enjoyable game.