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 raverrn wrote:
And to contribute instead of just taking offense to others, here's the top Tau list from Adepticon. Ignoring the fact it's an illegal build, I really wish I'd have seen it in action. The markerlight distribution is really strange, but I kind of love the mass of OS missile suits.

Just to clarify, apparently Kenneth himself posted in Tournament Discussions saying that this wasn't his list and BoK posted something totally bogus. So we don't know exactly what the top Tau player brought and his list might not have been illegal.

Played two 1850 games today vs Grey Knights with allied Severin loth and lots of rapier batteries, with three Dreadknights running as the shock and awe, plus a terminator unit with a Libby throwing gate and sanctuary out plus some other stuff for the fun times.

Was my 1st time running the OSC, with the three keels and 6 stealth suits, so was a bit nervous to face a fast army of teqs with lots of barrage and those knight flamers. The Ghostkeels did alright in both games, I basically moved them up the middle both times and ran them aggressively. In the 2nd game the shortfall of the formation was apparent, when an invisible Dreadknight caught them after a meh jet pack move. in hindsight, maybe I should try the stealth suits out as blockers for the keels against fast assault armies?

But overall, the Ghostkeels were pretty impressive! They soaked up fire until my opponent gave up on that idea. I was able to place the drones to avoid the worst of the heavy flamers and everything else snap fires for three turns. I ended up using the stealth suits as objective takers, which is an alright tax I guess for the formation bonuses.

Won both games, mainly due to my two scary units, the three Ghostkeels and a crisis suit unit of 9 suits with dual missile pods and target locks, + a tanky buffmander. Had to play that unit pretty careful with those batteries lobbing tons of barrage blasts. Still, can't sniff at a troop choice that puts out 36 twin linked st7 shots, ignoring cover and a choice of monster/tank hunter. Even against the 2+ saves of Dreadknights, I found with some marker support, they torrented them down.

Pretty set on getting a culexus into the list, to help at least give me more options then "run away from the invisible guys".

Dreadknights could be very scary to a Ghostkeel, mainly due to the fact that if you roll snake eyes for a thrust move you are a sitting duck, and if they get the charge your Ghostkeel unit is dead, dead, dead (S10 fists love to use T5 MC's as punching bags). Indeed, Dreadknights and centurions are why I like plasma rifles over missile pods on my Crisis units.

Well, the jump and charge ove of a DreadKnight is abut 19 inches on the average so only a 30" move would put it within a real threat range right? But that gives you a round to kill it. So i dunno? obviously if this actually all happens perfectly for the DreadKnight I agree. But there is a pretty fair amount you can do about it as the JSJ army that the Tau are.

 Jancoran wrote:
Well, the jump and charge ove of a DreadKnight is abut 19 inches on the average so only a 30" move would put it within a real threat range right? But that gives you a round to kill it. So i dunno? obviously if this actually all happens perfectly for the DreadKnight I agree. But there is a pretty fair amount you can do about it as the JSJ army that the Tau are.

Just run a heavy burst riptide wing, they love Dreadknight's

An invisible Dreadknight up in your face isn't immune to fire, but with three other units also up in your grill, the invisible unit I just ignored and hoped for a good jet pack move! Didn't quite work out.

So what are your thoughts on the new psychic powers and how they are going to affect things like drop lists and JSJ (Both of these things are what I was going to use in my army, and the new powers seem scary to me, because dangerous terrain everywhere.

That and we have little defense against psychic powers other than like a talisman.. Or is a culexus going to become mandatory?

Sicarioos wrote:
So what are your thoughts on the new psychic powers and how they are going to affect things like drop lists and JSJ (Both of these things are what I was going to use in my army, and the new powers seem scary to me, because dangerous terrain everywhere.

That and we have little defense against psychic powers other than like a talisman.. Or is a culexus going to become mandatory?

Be a tau (I guess?) and build enough MLs into your list to fire at bsf5/ ignores cover with everything. The hunter contingent makes this rationally possible. This is our answer to the psychic phase... rule the shooting phase....

...and GW just gave us that power, for the exact reason of actually cornering ourselves. Darkstrider (in a hunter contingent) now lets railhead squads ID riptide squads, easily. And don't even get me started how easily he helps kill stormsurges.

i literally dont know a single person that rules the Coord Fire as sharing unit-wide rules. Its way, way, WAY too broken if it does (Buffmander for everyone!!)

Except for NOVA?

The funny part is, if you do the math, Darkstrider buff tau RUINS the MC/GmC meta. Which was exactly what GW intended, IMHO. People are fighting it because it was given to the wrong faction, as far as they see it. I see it differently. With ignore cover as abundant as it with us, we are at the top of the list to ruin this meta with railheads firing at twin linked, monster hunter, ap1, str10. Deathrains wound riptides on 2s...

But... I also expect GW to do a complete 180 in the time until the next edition. I think they will bring back first turn assaults across the board, to a point where shooting seems hard to achieve, and I'm ok with this... I miss 3rd or 4th (?) 1st turn charge armies, even as a tau. It just makes the game so much more interesting. I think this will be 8th, and if so, I will play tau all the way through it, as I have all editions I've known.

Had an awesome game practicing for NOVA yesterday against a Tzeentch Demon list.
2x herolds on discs
Belakor
9x (3) Flamer units
9x (3) Screamer units

It was actually pretty scary, so much MSU, and the super annoying "demons hold objectives until you contest them", special rule.

TLDR Batrep - Tau won, but it was closer then one would think just watching. Stormsurge was a boss, first game i actually dropped anchors and wow.. Can't complain about riptides either, counterfire into CC they killed belakor and many flamers and heralds. My drone commander toughed it out and smashed heralds in the face.

Great game overall!

I had a tournament yesterday with my Tau. I ran a Hunter Contingent, with only a Hunter Cadre and an Optimized Stealth Cadre. Here's the list I used:

I felt like I had a strong list, but I didn't do that well overall. My first game was against a player with Blood Angels and Ultramarines allies. I destroyed him badly enough that when his Ultramarines assault squad didn't come in on turn 3, he conceded the game, as he only had like 2 Ultramarines bikes on the table at that point (I had already nuked his Sanguinary Guard and Death Company units). For my second game, I was facing a nasty Chaos list with a Murderhorde (Herald of Khorne and 8 squads of 5 Khornedogs), a Daemons CAD (Fateweaver and 2 Nurgling squads), as well as a Renegades & Heretics detachment (4 units of 2 Thud guns, a battery of 2 Earthshaker cannons, and a Medusa, as well as some Zombies and a Command Squad). He went first and shot up my markerlights pretty badly with all those barrage weapons, which gimped my response pretty badly as well. I was only able to kill a few dogs before the rest were on me. The Stormsurge managed to stomp one unit of dogs down, and actually I had a couple of other units actually win combat against them, but in the end I lost very badly, although it managed to be fun anyway. My third opponent played AdMech War Convocation, something I still have not figured out how to beat. I think I deployed very poorly and underestimated the range on some of the weapons, leading to a rough first turn. I spread out too much and as such was destroyed piecemeal. Oh well, lesson learned for next time. There was another Tau player at the tournament as well, but his list was very different from mine. He had a Heavy Retribution Cadre, a Ghostkeel wing, and a Drone Net. He won 2 of his games.

While there was very little I could have done in that second game (that list went 3-0 at the tournament and is likely going to be what that player runs at the ATC later this year), I feel like in the third game I should have done better. I deployed like a moron and paid dearly for it. I should have deployed more bunched up and rolled up one flank, picking off stuff on that side as I went. Unfortunately I ended up with a bunch of his units controlling the ruins in the center (we were using True Line of Sight and so I could not see through any solid walls, although they could be moved through as difficult terrain), namely some Infiltrators and Ruststalkers. Also, I'm not sure I should have been trying to use the Tau warlord traits, but should have used Strategic instead. Oh well, live and learn...

Do you remember what missions you were playing for your games?

The strength of the Hunter Contingent lies within the use of the buffmander to spread buffs\abilities. If you are not using that then stay away from the Hunter contingent as it is in my view inferior to other lists because you need to spend points on stuff that doesn't contribute that amazingly.

If possible go then full buffmander hunter contingent with double stormsurges and Optimized stealth cadre as auxiliary. If not the go CAD with Double SS and Riptide Wing or Heavy Ret Cadre with Riptide Wing.

I'm thinking of putting a Riptide Wing or Optimized Stealth Cadre into my Necron army. Are these formations self-sufficient enough? How should one kit out the suits?

Requizen wrote:
I'm thinking of putting a Riptide Wing or Optimized Stealth Cadre into my Necron army. Are these formations self-sufficient enough? How should one kit out the suits?

Gross. Yes, both formations are pretty plug and play ready for other armies. Not sure on the "ally" matrix of necron and Tau so keep that in mind.

I think the Riptide wing is more plug and play then the OSC. I say this because the OSC can provide benefits to the rest of your tau army through the stealth suit units (via markerlights, locator beacons, etc) and the riptide wing is fully self sufficient (obviously made better yet by other tau support troops)

I field my riptide wing as HBC, SMS, Interceptor, Counter Fire and find it to be extremely effective. However, you may find that the ap2 Ion Riptides complement your Necron force more so.

Common setup for the optimised stealth cadre is cyclic ion raker, tl fusion blaster and early warning override on the Ghostkeels, target locks if you have more then one ghostkeel.

I keep the stealth suits to a minimum 3 members in both squads. Seems to be the common consensus.

If you go for the full three Ghostkeels, you also get an additional +1 bs for that unit, making them bs5 effectively in the shooting phase. Not necessary, but a nice bonus.

Haven't used the Riptide Wing, but I imagine it is fairly plug and play as well.

OSC seems to be a little more survivable with all the grav and D in the game. Mass cover saves and forcing snap shots seems good. But the Wing seems to have better damage output.

Does anyone use a Homing Beacon in the OSC to perfectly drop the Ghostkeels?

Necrons lack AP 2 so i definitely think they would benefit most from the Ion Accelerator Riptides. But those treally need Marker Drone support. So...

 Jancoran wrote:
Necrons lack AP 2 so i definitely think they would benefit most from the Ion Accelerator Riptides. But those treally need Marker Drone support. So...

They don't need drones as if they shoot the same target they get +1 BS and Ion can be pie plates so no roll
in the wing if they are close they also reroll nova reactor rolls

 raverrn wrote:
Do you remember what missions you were playing for your games?

Some kind of modified ATC primer missions. I'll list them:
Mission 1:
Objective 1: King of the Hill: Score points each turn starting with turn 2 equal to the turn number at the beginning of your turn if you control a 12" radius circle around the center of the table (no points for contesting).
Objective 2: The Emperor's Will: Score points at the end of the game for controlling these two objectives. Each player put one in their deployment zone. Points = last completed game turn for own deployment zone, double that for opponent's deployment zone
Secondary Objectives: First Blood (2 VP), Overkill (2 VP for killing 3 or more enemy units in any single turn), Marked For Death (2 VP for killing an enemy unit chosen by you at the beginning of the game before deployment)
Mission 2:
Objective 1: Divide and Conquer: 2 objective points, one closer to you, one closer to your opponent. Gain 2 VP for controlling yours, 4 for opponent's, with half points for contesting, each turn. 12" radius circles from objectives for controlling.
Objective 2: Kill Points: 1 VP for each enemy unit destroyed
Secondary Objectives: Alpha Strike (2 VP for destroying a unit during the first game turn), Slay the Warlord (2 VP), Linebreaker (2 VP)
Mission 3:
Objective 1: Meat Grinder: 2 objectives in middle of table equally far from each player's deployment zone. Normal control radius. 2 VP per turn per objective controlled (none for contesting).
Objective 2: Crusade: 2 objectives in each player's deployment zone (4 total) near the table corners. 4 VP each for controlling yours, 8 VP each for controlling the enemy's.
Secondary Objectives: First Blood (2 VP), Overkill (as mission 1), Marked for Death (as mission 1)
In addition to the listed secondaries, players scored 1 VP for every 3 hull points/wounds taken from a superheavy/gargantuan creature.

We've done these missions, with very slight changes to the secondary objectives, for several months now and I always struggle with the third one.

I got handled by my buddy's wife's Decuricrons + KDK the other day. I was trying out a Taudar Cheese list and felt that I had little or no answer for her 3 GhostArcs. I think i still need to learn more about proper Marker deployment. Lots of LOS blocking on my table.

My list:
-Ethereal
-5× Strikers
-5× Strikers
-2× Surges EWO, Pulse Driver, 4++
- Drone Net 12 Markers and 4 Shield
-4x3 Scatbikes
-Warlock EJB
-2×5 Warpspiders (Marines Count as)

Its the cheesiest list I could come up with, and I couldnt dent her. Drones trickled in from resrves. Probably my biggest F-up. Can DMissiles be fired at a marked Target if out of LoS?



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Deployment



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This last pic with the scythe in my backfield is actually a heldrake. The thirster died to overwatch (bwahahaha) . Got seized on. Over all... I was unimpressed with my play.... or list?

Drones can jsj so always have them on the table behind blos. With this list should have preformed better I would say but you played gun line tau?

I think the Eldar really gimped you. A Riptide Wing would have put out a similar amount of fire, but would have survived against the Heldrakes that presumably killed the bikes.

Also, if you're looking for a Ghost Ark counter, look no further than the Optimized Stealth Cadre.

Absolutely no further. =)

Not looking to counter Arcs specifically, but it expised a significant weakness in the list. I mean what happens when I face 5 Knights?

The reason I chose the bikes was for Maelstrom Objectives as we play ITC pretty much exclusively. Riptides wouldve done well I think, but they wouldve meleed the arcs I think.


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Also, I have one ghostkeel and 3 stealsuits painted, but I think that with the current ITC meta they may be less good. Looking back at the last few pages though, it seems as if theyre favored on this thread?

Just wanted to include you guys in a little anecdotal scenario that happened to me last night in a tournament prep game; all three Riptides in my Riptide Wing failed their rerollable Nova Charge in my first turn... one of them continued to fail for the next three... in total, I think I failed 8 or 9 rerollable Nova charges that game. If it hadn't been for my Invisible sword and board Wraithknight 6'ing out my opponent's Renegade Knight Gallant's, I would not have won.

 doktor_g wrote:

Also, I have one ghostkeel and 3 stealsuits painted, but I think that with the current ITC meta they may be less good. Looking back at the last few pages though, it seems as if theyre favored on this thread?

I've been running a ln OSC instead of the second Stormsurge in a few ITC events and I've been extremely satisfied with it. Really great against Knights and FMC.

Ghostkeel Wing. Probably my favorite formation.

That stealth bubble is insane. I love fielding fire warrior lists with the GWing to keep them alive.

Well, I rematched her this morning. Briefly...

+TURN1+
ITC #5. Vanguard. BGNT. Deployment.Tau v Nekhornes.
Necrons seized a-fraking-gain...