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Hi folks. Just looking for some guidance. I'm going to a tournament this weekend with lots of players. I am bringing a necron list with D Lord, 18 wraiths, 2 annihilation barges and five flyers.

There are a LOT of Tau armies going. Lots of 3 riptide, O'Vessa star, Skyray heavy lists. Almost half the lists have Riptides it seems. Half of the rest are Wldar with four wave serpents. I think I know my tactics here better....

How can I counter this?

What's my best deployment style against this? (I've been toying with deepstriking some wraiths?)

Any advice gratefully received.

Tau, unfortunately, are a really good counter to necrons. I havn't had too many problems with Eldar mainly due to their str.6-7 focus, but Tau are indeed tough.

The focus is to try to not only get to them fast but try to spread them out. Because of the supporting fire rule too many units clustered up means any charge can be quite costly due to so much overwatch.

I'd almost switch out the Annihilation barges for another D.Lord and/or more flyers.

Best of luck and post the results of the tournie.

Controversial.

Can't change my list now. Was submitted before Christmas. All list published.

First round I face space wolves with two Jaws priests... The Tau will come later.

The worst thing is I bought a Tau army and now I feel a bit like before I've even painted it up or anything I already feel like it's a That Guy army... I just liked the giant robots.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thanks for your thoughts btw. I'll let you know how I get on.

"That Guy" is more about attitude and not necessarily about the army.

Are you planning on taking 4 riptides? No? Then you aren't "That Guy".

How you counter those lists though depends on the mission. Target priority is key. On the objective ones, start by clearing all of his troops off the board. He can't win if he can't score. So make sure you know exactly what his scoring units are before you place a single model on the table.

The question about deep striking or not is going to depend in part on whether you go first or not and what you intend to use them to do. Wraiths can scoot pretty well across the board, so if you are going first you might consider just getting them up on the line. If not, you might consider simply hiding them depending upon what LOS ignoring options he has. Their saves ought to keep them pretty safe for awhile. Also, the drawback to deep striking is that you have the possibility of your army coming in piece meal; which is rarely a good thing... unless you are reserving your troops to walk on for claiming objectives or even leaving them in the flyers to be air dropped on top of them. Next, don't be afraid to throw them into a combat that you can't win.. as long as it means you get something out of it. For example, if his riptides are locked in combat then they can't shoot.

Also, 18 wraiths is a pretty "scary" thing to face. They will likely draw a lot of fire early on. Use this to your advantage, if he's shooting at them he's likely not shooting your troops. Which, again, objectives are almost always what will win you the game.

That said, objective placement is key. Think about where you want the battles to occur. Do you want him to try and cluster his guys? Then put them close together. Do you want him to spread out? Then as far apart as possible. Lots of choices here.

Given that wraiths are pretty good in CC AND are pretty fast, you might consider using them to tie up anything with interceptor in order to make sure your flyers make it successfully onto the board. Also, remember to stay focused. If it takes 3 fliers to drop a single riptide, then use those three flyers to do it. Identify the number 1 target and use your entire army to make it disappear. Rinse and repeat. A dead unit is one that can't shoot back, whereas just wounding a unit doesn't do anything to its effectiveness.

Good luck!

Kholzerino wrote:
The worst thing is I bought a Tau army and now I feel a bit like before I've even painted it up or anything I already feel like it's a That Guy army.

It's funny because Wraith/Scythe-spam is considered very That Guy-ish.

clively wrote:
"That Guy" is more about attitude and not necessarily about the army.

Are you planning on taking 4 riptides? No? Then you aren't "That Guy".

How you counter those lists though depends on the mission. Target priority is key. On the objective ones, start by clearing all of his troops off the board. He can't win if he can't score. So make sure you know exactly what his scoring units are before you place a single model on the table.

The question about deep striking or not is going to depend in part on whether you go first or not and what you intend to use them to do. Wraiths can scoot pretty well across the board, so if you are going first you might consider just getting them up on the line. If not, you might consider simply hiding them depending upon what LOS ignoring options he has. Their saves ought to keep them pretty safe for awhile. Also, the drawback to deep striking is that you have the possibility of your army coming in piece meal; which is rarely a good thing... unless you are reserving your troops to walk on for claiming objectives or even leaving them in the flyers to be air dropped on top of them. Next, don't be afraid to throw them into a combat that you can't win.. as long as it means you get something out of it. For example, if his riptides are locked in combat then they can't shoot.

Also, 18 wraiths is a pretty "scary" thing to face. They will likely draw a lot of fire early on. Use this to your advantage, if he's shooting at them he's likely not shooting your troops. Which, again, objectives are almost always what will win you the game.

That said, objective placement is key. Think about where you want the battles to occur. Do you want him to try and cluster his guys? Then put them close together. Do you want him to spread out? Then as far apart as possible. Lots of choices here.

Given that wraiths are pretty good in CC AND are pretty fast, you might consider using them to tie up anything with interceptor in order to make sure your flyers make it successfully onto the board. Also, remember to stay focused. If it takes 3 fliers to drop a single riptide, then use those three flyers to do it. Identify the number 1 target and use your entire army to make it disappear. Rinse and repeat. A dead unit is one that can't shoot back, whereas just wounding a unit doesn't do anything to its effectiveness.

Good luck!

Thanks for this advice. Yeah - I try and be fun to play with, and I've learned that it can be unpleasant to bring too strong a list to a friendly game. But I like playing competitive matches against other players who are being tactical and trying to win. At the same time I want to have fun and like my opponent to have fun, and that means that you both have to be signed up for the same sort of experience.

I am still fairly new to the game and the learning curve is quite steep. I really appreciate the advice, especially what you are saying about target priority. How many wraiths can I get across the table alive is the problem. I only have five units for him to focus on: two annihilation barges and three units of wraiths...

Hope there is lots of terrain! Think For Hammer and Anvil I will defo deep strike one or two units of wraiths...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 skoffs wrote:

Kholzerino wrote:
The worst thing is I bought a Tau army and now I feel a bit like before I've even painted it up or anything I already feel like it's a That Guy army.

It's funny because Wraith/Scythe-spam is considered very That Guy-ish.

I know! Well I do like to play a competitive army. The big robots attracted me to Tau. I very nearly bought a Grey Knights army (Dreadknights, Coatez and Joakeros - might still do it next) but instead I bought Broadsides and Riptides... sigh...

I wouldn't bother deep striking wraiths, they are cheap and durable, just let him nuke them while you focus on winning the match. Ask what upgrades each Riptide has and make sure to prioritize e.g. kill skyfire ones first.

Also if yoi get 2 units of wraiths into charge range but one is damaged heavily, multicharge with the damaged one first against your primary target and any other units within 6" (they will overwatch anyway with supporting fire so might as well charge them)

I'd probably focus on charging the skyrays since they can stand still and unload all thier missiles at once with skyfire

Yeah. The units I will be most worried about (providing I can go second) are either 3 sky rays or else 2 units of 3 HYMP broadsides with EWO. Most of the lists seem to have one or the other. Thats why I was thinking about deep striking them in. Yes. Its a turn three assault, but so is running them across the table, probably. And they will have been shot to hell by the time they get there. Plus one unit has a destroyer lord (my warlord) in it - so they will likely focus on killing that unit (which a well placed Tau army can do unless there is a LOT of LoS blocking terrain...

Well, you need to consider the objectives in the first place. The Wraiths should close the gap between your deployment zone and that of the Tau army as fast as possible. Going first would help here, since Tau will then have only one round of shooting before the Wraiths are in charging range.
Its good when enemy focuses on your Wraiths. Then your troops can concentrate on the objectives. Maximum threat overload is key.

All the missions have an element of Purge The Alien within them (either primary or secondary). I just don't know yet what a three riptide list will do to my wraiths per turn of shooting...

Kholzerino wrote:
All the missions have an element of Purge The Alien within them (either primary or secondary). I just don't know yet what a three riptide list will do to my wraiths per turn of shooting...

Not sure either about the Riptide, since I mainly faced Tau with my mech Eldar. And in those games, I first went for the Pathfinders (marker lights) in the first round and then took on the rest of the army (with Broadsides and Crisis) at highest priority, since FWs cannot scratch Serpents from the front. Here I largely ignored the Riptides. In each case, after five rounds the game was over with Tau almost completely annihilated.

Yes. I think it's like Wraithknights. One you ignore, but when the damage output builds maybe you have to try and engage.

As soon as my troops hit the table he can wipe them out. That's for sure.