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.

I know there is already a thread similar to this, but I was wondering if anyone could help me with some specific units that would be great when playing against Marines and/or Grey Knights. I played with the previous edition of Tau, but haven't played at all with the new rules or the new codex, so I'm not sure what sort of units work well.

As an Allied Force to some Ultramarines, I only need one HQ and one Troops choice in a force of 1500 points. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

I think you want an ion riptide. It's an elites choice (and an expensive one), but when used properly it makes marines wish they had just staid in bed that morning.

Also, I feel this image is relevant enough to justify including:

Helios( PR + FB) suits are great. 3 man team in Helios configuration is only 156 points, but can reliably take down TEQ, MEQ, and even tanks.

The unit pumps out:

6 S:6 AP:2 shots

3 S:8 AP:1 melta shots

Put a Commander (Helios, C&CN + MSS) with em and you have a unit that scares your opponent out of his pants.

Lucarikx

The ionhead is just beautiful for infantry. In a pinch, it works just fine against med/light armored tanks, but when you use a few markerlights to twinlink the overcharge and ignore cover you just eat squads of marines. Especially if they're in single level terrain.

You also double out the toughness of pesky things like BA.

For troop choices you either have Firewarriors or Kroot, Firewarriors didn't get much change since last edition. Kroot can get a very cheap upgrade for sniper rounds and kroot hounds now give acute senses. A 20 man blob with snipers and a kroot hound is only 145 points and gives a fair amount of versatility in deployment options and damage output.

Heavy support seems like the toughest call for me. I recommend the Ion Hammerhead. It's 125 and comes with an AP3 large blast. I think that's all that needs to be said.

For Elite I strongly recommend the Riptide for it's durability and damage potential. The only downfall is that it really tends to require marker support, which don't help your main army and are generally pricey and fragile.

Twin Plasma Crisis suits. These guys excel against MEQs and TEQs.

Each suit has 2 plasma rifles and a choice of third hard point (could be fusion to add tank killing abilities, twin-linking one plasma, target locks for split fire, flamers for overwatch, ATS for sniping etc.) so a unit of 3 suits is putting out 6 S6 AP2 shots at ranges 12-24" and 12 shots at ranges 12" and under.

That is a lot of armour ignoring goodness.

What about running two suits with double plasma and one suit with double fusion. Gives you two suits that do the majority of damage against MEQ and TEQ, while one suit is has the necessary anti-tank capabilities to make the unit versatile while still assising the plasma suits. Plus it gives you one suit that you know you can lose first if you run out of tanks.

If you do that, you would waste the rest of the squad when you are shooting at AV13+ tanks.

If you put through the points for ATS on all of the Helios suits, getting lucky and getting precision shots with FB is great.

Lucarikx

Well I was also going to go with a target lock on the fusion suit so it can shoot seperately from the unit. That way all plasma can go towards TEQ/MEQ and all fusion can go towards a tank so no shots are wasted on a less than preferable target.

I don't think the ATS is worth it though. With the amount of wounds the unit is getting, hoping to get a few lucky shots on rolls to hit of 6 and most likely LOS rolls for the models you really want to hit with S8.

 Savageconvoy wrote:
Well I was also going to go with a target lock on the fusion suit so it can shoot seperately from the unit. That way all plasma can go towards TEQ/MEQ and all fusion can go towards a tank so no shots are wasted on a less than preferable target.

I don't think the ATS is worth it though. With the amount of wounds the unit is getting, hoping to get a few lucky shots on rolls to hit of 6 and most likely LOS rolls for the models you really want to hit with S8.

Precision shots are not great for killing ICs or even normal characters thanks to LOS, so don't use it for that. I find it more worthwhile to put wounds through precision shots on enemies with special weapons, especially if they're packing something which can ID my suits (Missile Launchers, Lascannons, Meltaguns etc.). Course now you don't need S8 for ID you're better off with it on 2 plasma guns for number of shots and therefore better chance of rolling a 6. Only thing you want that S8 ID precision shot for is T4 with FNP and multi wound T4 units.

Take out the special weapons of many units and they lose a lot of their threat. A Tac squad with a missile launcher is quite a big threat to XV8s thanks to that S8 AP3 krak missile. Take it out and they're left with bolters and maybe a meltagun which is easy to avoid unless you completely fluff your thrust roll.

Of Course the Iontide/ IonHead has been mentioned, but do not forget straight up volley fire.

My Favorite set up on Crisis suits from 5th is the Bladestorm, (Burst Cannon/Plasma) dementedwombat is also a fan of this suit configuration.

I usually like to combine it with the Thunderknife Commander config from 5th as well( Airburst/Plasma).

Also maybe look into getting an Ethereal or Cadre Fireblade for your fire Warriors. The Ethereal's Storm of Fire gives you an additional shot with your pulse weapons at rapid fire range, cadre Fireblade gives everyone in his squad an extra shot with pulse weapons if that squad stands still.

It is always easier to use an ap1/2/3 weapon to kill a MEQ, but if you throw enough firepower at a marine, they'll die just like anyone else. And thankfully with the new codex, we can throw some serious firepower around.

For a small and self contained unit that doesn't really need support the fireblade is probably best. Fireblade with firewarriors, maybe some piranha, a Riptide, and two HYMP broadsides with VT.

Anything that says AP1-3 is a marine killer. Plasma rifles, ion cannons and ion accelerators are probably the best marine killers. Because we can pump out so much high strength low AP shots it is really easy to tailor a list that crushes marine list, the more expensive the marine the better.

Pretty much everything except Missilesides and Burst cannons that you would even think about taking pen MEQ armor. And those two exceptions are shooting so much gak anyway it doesnt matter lol.

Ionheads, Riptides with Ion Accelerators, plasma-suit drop teams, or hell even kroot spam are viable (possible rendings and weight of fire for kroot). I'd be more worried about thinking on what to use to counter storm ravens and/or land raiders than the general MEQ lol.

Thank you all for your feedback, I'm certainly seeing some trends that I shall pick up on.

 Iur_tae_mont wrote:
Of Course the Iontide/ IonHead has been mentioned, but do not forget straight up volley fire.

My Favorite set up on Crisis suits from 5th is the Bladestorm, (Burst Cannon/Plasma) dementedwombat is also a fan of this suit configuration.

I usually like to combine it with the Thunderknife Commander config from 5th as well( Airburst/Plasma).

Also maybe look into getting an Ethereal or Cadre Fireblade for your fire Warriors. The Ethereal's Storm of Fire gives you an additional shot with your pulse weapons at rapid fire range, cadre Fireblade gives everyone in his squad an extra shot with pulse weapons if that squad stands still.

It is always easier to use an ap1/2/3 weapon to kill a MEQ, but if you throw enough firepower at a marine, they'll die just like anyone else. And thankfully with the new codex, we can throw some serious firepower around.

Also a fan of the Bladestorm, and now for fun SS/TH killing a simple dual BC suit. It's getting a 3++ any so make him roll a bucket of dice.

barnowl wrote:

Also a fan of the Bladestorm, and now for fun SS/TH killing a simple dual BC suit. It's getting a 3++ any so make him roll a bucket of dice.

That is a perfectly valid point. If you're getting a 3++ there's no reason to take high AP weapons, since 2+ isn't really that much different from 3++

More precisely: the mathematical way to look at it is that if you can get a weapon with twice as many shots that allows 2+ then it's more effective at killing TH/SS than a weapon that allows 3++. i.e. a plasma fires 1 shot (or 2, in rapid fire range) so a burst cannon will be significantly more effective from 12-18" outside rapid fire range and equally effective inside 12".

Also, I'm really honored to be cited as a source for a suit config. Thanks ur_tae_mont Be careful though, most of my advice is either math/theoryhammer or else based on limited experience in non-competative games. All I can tell you is either what I've found that works, or what the math tells me should work.

 dementedwombat wrote:

barnowl wrote:

Also a fan of the Bladestorm, and now for fun SS/TH killing a simple dual BC suit. It's getting a 3++ any so make him roll a bucket of dice.

That is a perfectly valid point. If you're getting a 3++ there's no reason to take high AP weapons, since 2+ isn't really that much different from 3++

More precisely: the mathematical way to look at it is that if you can get a weapon with twice as many shots that allows 2+ then it's more effective at killing TH/SS than a weapon that allows 3++. i.e. a plasma fires 1 shot (or 2, in rapid fire range) so a burst cannon will be significantly more effective from 12-18" outside rapid fire range and equally effective inside 12".

Also, I'm really honored to be cited as a source for a suit config. Thanks ur_tae_mont Be careful though, most of my advice is either math/theoryhammer or else based on limited experience in non-competative games. All I can tell you is either what I've found that works, or what the math tells me should work.

NP. I've been a hardcore fan of Bladestorms since I started Tau in 5th, but since you mentioned them recently it only seemed fair to credit you as well.

I always rolled plasma/missile pod....no idea why. It's a popular combination for some reason but I honestly can't think of a configuration that compliments each other less. Even fusion/missile made you a tank hunter.

Now we have HYMP I don't think I will ever put a missile pod on my crisis suits again.

 dementedwombat wrote:
I always rolled plasma/missile pod....no idea why. It's a popular combination for some reason but I honestly can't think of a configuration that compliments each other less. Even fusion/missile made you a tank hunter.

Now we have HYMP I don't think I will ever put a missile pod on my crisis suits again.

I think the only thing people like is the range it offers, but i feel mostly the same way. The only suit i will put missile pods on is my Mark'O because that give me the opportunity to stay 36" away from everything and still be effective.

 dementedwombat wrote:
I always rolled plasma/missile pod....no idea why. It's a popular combination for some reason but I honestly can't think of a configuration that compliments each other less. Even fusion/missile made you a tank hunter.

Now we have HYMP I don't think I will ever put a missile pod on my crisis suits again.

This has always been my suit combo too. I think I like it because it gives me a little bit of everything. Missiles provide ranged anti-light-tank, plasma is good at punching out heavy infantry. Then they have this bit of overlap. The plasma is... something against light vehicles, while the missiles can still put some wounds on heavy infantry. And close up gives me four shots a piece when I need to thin out a large squad.

Nowadays though I've been using two suits with twin missile one plasma with one support suit. I still have the versatility, but now the number of TL ignores cover shots is awesome at murdering both skimmers and infantry. Added: I also don't have broadsides and I'm maxing my heavies with one of each tank. I generally play under 2k.

Back on topic, these suits I find are great for disposing of things like rhinos and then the guys inside.