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Hi guys and girls. As the subject states i will be attending a tournament in about two weeks time that will allow the use of:
All current codex older than a month
Forge world 40K approved*
All GW Dataslates*
Supplements
Escalation* (D weapons are treated as S10 AP1)
Stronghold Assault*
Death from the sky
* To play these you‘ll need the original models no proxys allowed.

and I would like some C&C on the below list that I'm planning to use:

Eldar Primary

Farseer - Jetbike, Stone of Anath'lan
5 x Dire Avengers in Serpent with Scatter lasers and Holofileds
5 x Dire Avengers in Serpent with Scatter lasers and Holofileds
3 x Windrider Jetbikes
3 x Windrider Jetbikes

Wraithknight (stock)

Tau Fire Support Dataslate

Riptide - HBC, SMS, Interceptor, Skyfire
3 x Broadside - HYMP, SMS, Interceptor
3 x Broadside - HYMP, SMS, Interceptor

1497pts

The plan is to deploy the farseer attached to the Riptide to provide prescience and hopefully ignore cover if I roll those powers. The dataslate gives all the Tau in the formation preferred enemy space marine and tank hunter which will be great against most of the field as I expect the majority of the top players to be running marines of some sort, Daemons and Necrons. I do not own any Forge world stuff or fortifications but do have access to most Tau and Eldar stuff to improve the list. The Tau formation will be my AA and AT while the Eldar will support and capture all important objectives.

Any C&C will be appreciated.

Cheers

*Edit 1: removed spear from Farseer and Shas'vre upgrade on broadsides. Replace shuriken cannons with holofields and add stone to Farseer

I would drop the spear on the farseer and get an Ion for the riptide instead. You have enough dakka from the missilesides and serpents, but need some heavier hitting aside from the knight.

Keep the SMS, I love them on a riptide.

I'm personally not a fan of shuriken cannons on serpents unless I have points. I would rather invest in Ghostwalk Matrices before taking cannons. Anything that eliminates the need to roll a di is a good thing in my eyes.

 Rypher wrote:
I would drop the spear on the farseer and get an Ion for the riptide instead. You have enough dakka from the missilesides and serpents, but need some heavier hitting aside from the knight.

Keep the SMS, I love them on a riptide.

I'm personally not a fan of shuriken cannons on serpents unless I have points. I would rather invest in Ghostwalk Matrices before taking cannons. Anything that eliminates the need to roll a di is a good thing in my eyes.

Thank you for the comments:
I have been running my riptide with ion since day one but have heard that most of the forgeworld stuff and super heavies can be countered with flyers and most Daemon list around here contains multiple FMC therefore had changed to the HBC and included skyfire in anticipation of that counter in this tournament. Also the HBC has done remarkably well as AT when Nova charged. Will still reconsider it after more testing.

I too love SMS and will not leave home without it.

Still undecided on nose cannons as I have been running without them and only recently decided to include it in my list. I think you might be correct to rather include the Ghostwalk. What is your opinion on Holofields?

Also do you know of specific Forgeworld units at this points level that might give me problems that I need to consider? By the way all missions will be from the BRB.

Cheers

Hey i would definitely swap your 2 shuriken cannons for holo fields, play the serpents defensively, but use the shield aggressively unless you are close to melta or anti tank.
Ghost walk matrixes are not an issue because your WS's will be in the back at 36" the whole time, not advancing into cover really until the last turn or so to take objectives.

Why are you using the Burst cannon? spend the points and take advantage of the bad BS skill of the Riptide and cast guide on it with the farseer, you now have a 2/3 chance to direct hit a S8 template. 3 ammo types vs 2, much better for only 5p. I would put a Fusion gun on your riptide, you could use some melta in your army for anti av 14.

Point per point a riptide is better than wraithknight, if you have another riptide i would use it and swap force orgs' so tau is the main army.

If you dont have another, I really like warp spiders, dark reapers and my most highly recommended unit, D-cannons with a warlock. A shrouded S10 T7 unit with 12+1 wounds is ridiculous for under 200 total. Move it to center field and toast what ever comes in range. Dies to CC though.

Keep jetbikes in reserve as long as possible. When they come in keep them out of line of sight until the last perceived turn. Then rush them on objectives.

Also how are you bringing 2 squads of broadsides in an allied detachment? You are limited to one squad from each FOC type accept troops which you may bring 2 of in an allied list.

Hope this adviced helps.

I am currently unbeaten with my Tau-dar army in my meta so you can do it too!

Although i think its a bad idea to trade shuiken cannons for gwm, it is advisable to trade them for holos. If you can find points get the cannons though... everytime they shoot they make back there points.

@corpse commander its because hes using the tau dataslate.

Unless you play a ton of tau, holofields will always be worth it.

Also I agree about the IA but keep the SMS.

 CorpseCommander wrote:

Why are you using the Burst cannon? spend the points and take advantage of the bad BS skill of the Riptide and cast guide on it with the farseer, you now have a 2/3 chance to direct hit a S8 template. 3 ammo types vs 2, much better for only 5p. I would put a Fusion gun on your riptide, you could use some melta in your army for anti av 14.

Point per point a riptide is better than wraithknight, if you have another riptide i would use it and swap force orgs' so tau is the main army.

I have only changed to the HBC for this tournament in anticipation of more flyers which will be used to counter some of the Forgeworld stuff - (this might proof to be completely wrong and I will miss the Ion big time). And I must admit that I kind of like the results I have been getting. With 8/12 S6 shots instead of 3 x S7 specifically against flyers I have seen better returns. I agree that the Ion is very versatile but I'm looking to fill a specific role of AA in this tournament - heck the Ion single handily won my some games on turn one in tournaments last year but times are changing........

On the matter of SMS vs Fusion, I will stick with cover ignoring no need for LoS shots for now, because I'm taking the Wraithknight as my anti AV14.
I also feel that the WK is more versatile as he is a good shooter and CC. I can play him aggresive to punish static elements or hold him back as counter assault if it gets to it.

Also I prefer to keep Eldar as primary to take advantage of the super usefull serpents and incredible speed of the bikes at a bargain price - this is needed in low point games such as this 1500pts tourney.

I agree on the Shuriken Cannon for Holofields change and made the change for my practice game vs.

Gunline IG with Marine allies.
My opponent had lots of heavy weapons teams, 2 x Vendettas with melta gun vets, Void shield generators with 3 shields, Tigurius with scouts and devastators.
Mission: Kill ponts
Deployment: Hammer and Anvil

I had first turn but he siezed, however due to night fighting did very little damage. My first turn I fire the WK and one broadside unit to destroy the shields and then killed two heavy weapon teams and a couple of Infantry models, netting me first blood. His turn 2 both Vendettas show up from reserve but due to a nice big LoS blockking piece of terrian in the middle of the board thay are able to hide from the Riptide and one Broadside unit. The remaing broadside unit intercepts but only cause one hull point as he makes two jinx saves. The vendettas kill the unit broadsides in return. The rest of his army cause a couple of wounds to the Riptide and WK. My turn 2 I kill a chimera and some infantry models. I moved the riptide to take bead on one vendetta but again only cause one hull point as i failed my Nova charge and prescience from farseer. Turn 3 one vendetta goes into reserve as it is shaken and the other drops its metla vets next to a serpent and takes aim at the remaining broadsides. Shooting sees the serpent killed and the braodsides. My turn 3 I shoot the Vendetta down with the Riptide as he fails to save any of the glancing or penetrating hits while both Nova and prescience goes off for me. The WK assaults the melta vets and wipes them out.

Now this is where it finally comes together for me - on his turn 4. The Vendetta comes in from reserve and this time the Riptide is in position. The intercepting shots from HBC (Nova'd and Prescienced) drops the vendetta and the melta vets inside all gets killed in the explosion leaving my opponent with a command squad, one heavy weapon team, some infantry, Tigurius and scouts left. He does kill both the WK and Riptide in turn 4 but its not enough to catch me on kill points. Turn 5 is very uneventful as I only boost my bikes which have been hiding all game to get linebreaker and the game ends.
Score 9 - 6 for Eldau

I did not mention it before but on turn two all three void shields came back on line and on turn 3 two. Which stopped me from doing more damage to his gunline with all the SMS and serpent shooting. Also of note I did not make a single holofield/jinx save on my serpents the whole game and had only the one left with one Hull point in the end.

I will update my list in the first post with suggestions and as I played it in this game.

Please C&C.

Cheers

Congrats on the win (even if your dice were not hot)!

Regardless I would keep the list the same, your bound to make a few 4+ covers!

Thanks. I agree that the list is now set and I need to get a couple of practice games in before next weekend.

My only other concern is that there is now some debate amongst the TO's about the legality of the list anyways.......I'll await there ruling wether I need to run Tau as ally before I can take the tau datasheet.

Well there's nothing in the actual rule set that would invalidate your list. Dataslate formations are outside of FOC restrictions. This list would even be legal at an event like the BAO or LVO, and both of those tournaments place restrictions on lists that are not in the actual rule set. So, if what you're playing is indeed a no-holds-barred- tourney, you should be fine.

And as for the functionality of the list, it looks pretty damn nasty. I wouldn't want to be across the table from it with any of my 1500pt daemons or tyranid lists.

Definitely keep the holofields on the serpents. That 4+ cover save has kept me from killing more serpents than I'd like to admit.

I think you definitely have it right with the HBC riptide. I'm a huge fan of the utility they bring and with prescience, the fact that it gets hot pretty much becomes a non-issue. I'm torn on the fusion blaster vs SMS debate on the riptide, but seeing as you don't have any other reliable ignores cover in your army, the SMS is probably your best bet. Speaking of. . . emperor pity the poor soul that plays against you when your farseer rolls perfect timing. . .