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In Itc events it cost to many points for you to play it, or something of that nature. It looks amazing though

How do you guys feel about this small article I wrote about the stormsurge?

The Stormsurge can be equip with a monstrous str 10 ap 2 large blast template called the Pulse Driver Cannon. Or it can have a unique instrument of destruction called the Pulse Blastcannon that can become str D if the enemy is close enough! With their anchors they can shoot one of these weapons twice, both are great but which one is better to you?

Personally, I like the blastcannon which if I am not mistaken its considered the weaker option for obvious reasons. Two long range str 10 ap 2 large blast templates is something to fear especially when it has ignore cover due to marker lights but its not as good as the blast cannon. When I can afford mine I will have it magnetized and occasionally use the Driver Cannon, thats why I used the emoji because you none Tau players should be jealous and I am not saying its bad I just think the blastcannon is better 60% of the time.

Most people like the driver cannon over the blastcannon because if you are fighting the traditional way and most effective way with Tau you stay away from the enemy, and thats why the blast cannon is better! The closer they get the more dangerous this weapon becomes. Four str d shots with ignore cover bs 5 is scary to everything in the game even the wraith knight is scared to end its movement 9 inches away from a pulse blastcannon. In my mind I hear myself saying in an arrogant voice, "Thats why you stay 10 inches away from it before you charge it, OBVIOUSLY"!

I than respond to my voice,"Are you going to choose to stay further away from my gun line? If so thank you, for the extra turn of shooting and fyi my stormsurge is pulling up the anchors and now it is over 20 inches away from you or maybe closer if I feel like stomping you to death"!

My opponent might choose to stay away from me because he is afraid of 4 str D shots which if all of them hit they have a 51% chance of rolling a 6 and we all know what happens when you roll a 6 on the str D chart! People should and will fear the 51% chance and the other units around your Stormsurge will be safer because of this fear.

"The Blastcannon is amazing when in str D range but that rarely happens", this voice has a good point. The weapon potency at the other ranges are still very good in my opinion. If you haven't noticed I talk to myself and I ask myself 3 questions when I am determining if a 40k weapon is good, the first one is does it hit the target accurately? Secondly, does it hurt the target easily? Lastly and most importantly does it ignore a basic Space Marine armor save? So to me the Pulse Blastcannon is a good weapon against units within 20 inches. 4 str 10 ap 3 small blast templates is good, no feel no pain, 2+ to wound, instant death to most things, no armor save for most thingsI "Still not ap 2 and its small blast", this voice points out the obvious stuff. The voice is correct and I will not argue against it between 10-20 inches the driver cannon is better!

Between 20-30 inches the Blastcannon is at its best, despite not passing my 40k weapon test! It doesn't pass my test of being good because I created my test based off of averages and at this range the blastcannon is what we people who like stats call an anomaly! The funny part about the blastcannon at this range is that its good because as an anomaly it forces the law of averages to work!

Four str 9 large blast templates on one unit will force your opponent to roll so many dices that the law of averages will happen and you will like the results. Sometimes anomalies happens and 5 terminators die instead of 2 when you roll 12 dice! At that range it synergizes with the stormsurge's other weapons, 8d6 str 5 attacks combine with 4 large blast str 9 templates will force a lot of saves. Now, Ethereal Kenpachi who is the pupil of Aun'va will help you fear the str 9 large blast template and help you realize why you should join the Greater Good! I didn't write that last sentence sometimes the voice can take control of me don't worry about it though!

Yes, you should worry and I will explain, typically Commander Recardo uses 2 marker light hits to boast his stormsurge bs up to 5, because your armor save is better than your cover save he use the two marker lights that is usually reserve of stripping you of your futile cover to increase our glorious warriors bs up to 7 now the template will not scatter on an average dice roll. I favor Kauyon over Mont'Ka and as a result of this Commander Recardo uses a technique called coordinated firepower. Your army is no longer alive which is proof of its power but because Astartes are supposedly on the way you resist. Can't you see its futile with this technique the stormsurge's bs is up to 8 at worse it will scatter 4 inches and you must add the 10 str 5 shots and 4 str 7 shots from our brave fire warrior squads. Let me give you an estimation of our devastation because we have face your armored warriors before!

Damn, lost control again I am back lets be conservative and say the Driver Cannon template covers 4 models with each hit. With 4 templates you get 16 hits that wounds on a 2+ which is around 13 saves. The cluster rockets on average should pump out 28 str 5 shots add the pulse rifles your looking at 38 str 5 shots at bs 8 which will on average against a marine forces 22 saves if you add the turrets your looking at 25 saves all of these calculations are conservative estimates but your soldiers deaths are testaments, now do you want to continue to wait for these so called Astartes or join the Greater Good?

Thats why I like the Pulse Blastcannon over the Pulse Driver Cannon but thats just my opinion what is yours?

Never used the stormsurge, so can't really comment too much. Strikes me as a good bullet magnet that also can represent a stomp threat to anything that gets close. Played against it once, was fairly brutal with markerlight support.

Speaking of which, with death from the skies out for a little bit, do people rate the skyray as a bit more important, or does the special rules of the drone formation win out? I'm always on the fence, about using a drone net and having spare points for other toys, or using 3 skyrays. Currently I take the latter, and they do a good job I feel, fairly versatile and tough for their cost.

Flyers are a bit more niche though, either people seem to take none at all, or they take a few.

Firestorm from the ethereal works during your opponent turn because it says player turn. I am trying to think of ways to abuse fire warriors and sniper drones and charging into over 50+ sniper shots and 50+str 5 shots sounds like it hurts because of the extended range of Fire Support using the formation. What do you guys think or know?

I use Aun'Va. A lot.

Firestorm from the ethereal works during your opponent turn because it says player turn. I am trying to think of ways to abuse fire warriors and sniper drones and charging into over 50+ sniper shots and 50+str 5 shots sounds like it hurts because of the extended range of Fire Support using the formation. What do you guys think or know?

I'd imagine your best bet would be to use a Hunter Cadre in some capacity so you can take advantage of the extended Supporting Fire range. That seems like a huge pain to charge through, indeed! That said, I wouldn't plan on your Ethereal party enjoying too much success in a competitive environment. Those extra VPs can really make a huge difference, and without the help of IC rules, they're going to be high priority targets, to say the least.

Back after a long break end of 6th, early 7th. I'm thinking of running a Crisis bomb list, here's the reader's digest version since this isn't the Army List section:

FSE CAD

Buffmander with everything
9x Crisis with double 15 point weapons and TLs
Monat

2x Stormsurge, Shields+EWO

Tau CAD

Shadowsun
Obligatory Troop
Obligatory Troop

1850

1) Can this work without a) marker support for the surges b) gun drones for the bomb, c) much dedicated scoring?

2) If I do run the bomb with or without surges, what's the optimal breakdown of weapons? I was thinking 10x Plasma, 4x Fusion (since Shadowsun is there too), 4x MP

3) How many Gun Drones would you bring along if I ran a list without surges and therefore had points to spare? 20 seems like a lot, but then again they'd be BS5 TL and have the buffmander to take some of the heat while they dakka.

4) Did Obsec make the bomb better? Or does D and the proliferation of ignores cover make it still worse on balance?

less crisis suits inthe star would not hurt you

Would you use that for some marker support for surges? Tetras maybe? If I lost 3 suits I could go something like this in the FA slot:

2 Tetras
2 Tetras
1 Tetra

Unless you have a fluff reason for personally taking the double CAD, Shadowsun can now be taken as part of a farsight detachment.

Drop the two troops in the 2nd CAD, grab some marker drones & controller for the bomb.

EDIT:

This is how I currently run my bomb, pretty much a bully list. I know some people run the buff stuff on a normal suit and just take Shadowsun as the lone HQ, saves a bunch of points, but makes the unit less resilient and more liable to blast weapon sniping. On the other hand, it is a heap of points, that can be used to fill some gaps, like a Culexus. Never tried it myself, so can't comment too much.

Tau Farsight Enclaves CAD


HQ’s

Commander Shadowsun =135pts

Commander W/C&C Node, Multi-spectrum Sensor Suite, Puretide Chip, Iridium Armour, Stimulant Injector, Neuroweb Disrupter, Shield Generator & Vectored Retro-Thrusters =207pts

Troops
9 Crisis Suits =512pts
5 Crisis Suits W/2x Missile Pods, Target Locks & Bonding Knifes
2 Crisis Suits W/2x Plasma Rifles, Target Locks & Bonding Knifes
2 Crisis Suits W/2x Plasma Rifles & Bonding Knifes

Crisis Suit W/Bonding Knife =23pts

Heavy Support

Skyray Gunship W/TL Smart Missile System & Blacksun Filter =116pts

Skyray Gunship W/TL Smart Missile System & Blacksun Filter =116pts

Skyray Gunship W/TL Smart Missile System & Blacksun Filter =116pts

Optimised Stealth Cadre

3 Ghostkeels =445pts
Ghostkeel W/TL Fusion Blaster, Cyclic Ion Raker & Early Warning Override
Ghostkeel W/TL Fusion Blaster, Cyclic Ion Raker, Target Lock & Early Warning Override
Ghostkeel W/TL Fusion Blaster, Cyclic Ion Raker, Target Lock & Early Warning Override

3 StealthSuits =90pts

3 StealthSuits =90pts

Total= 1850pts

I actually proposed a similar list on the previous page, Mr. Shrike. My thought was to use marker drones in the bomb as support for the Stormsurges, but Tetras are certainly a viable alternative. Given that you have such easy access to BS5 marker drones, though, that's sort of hard to pass up. It's also nice for grav protection and ablative wounds for the bomb.

I've been considering the viability of a close combat-oriented unit of battlesuits. Take a Commander, give him Fusion Blades, Iridium Suit, Shield Generator, possibly Stims, but could take Vectored Retro-thrusters instead, and possibly the Onager Gauntlet, just in case the Blades cut out. Give him a unit of Crisis suits or bodyguards with flamers and VRT's. I feel like the Commander has a decent statline for CC, if nothing to write home about. Marines should be wary of him with his S8 AP1 CC attacks.

Shield drone is cheaper than a Shield Generator, and can LO, S! on a 2+.

SJ

After a deeper look I found a formation that I really like its the Ranged Support Cadre.

3xPathfinder Squads
3xBroadside Units

Each marker light from the pathfinder squad has double the value if used by one of the broadside units. The pathfinders also have shrouded and infiltrate as long as they don't move or fire something besides their marker lights! The thing I like the most is that the broadsides can provide overwatch for the pathfinders at any range as long as their weapons are in range! So basically it takes my idea of overwatch from hell to another level!

This is what I am thinking.

3 x 5 Pathfinder squads
3 x 2 Broadsides High Yield Missile Pods Smart Missiles 4xMissile Drones Counter Fire Defense System

The pathfinder squad on average will have 2-3 hits that is enough to make the moving broadsides hit on a 2+ or 4+ and ignore cover. The best part is during overwatch if 1 of those five marker lights hit the broadsides will hit on 3+ because of counter fire defense system and the marker light counting as double! With this formation I basically have mass strength seven covered and because of shrouded and infiltrate the pathfinders are really good!

I need some form of Ap 2 to go with all this dakka, I am thinking riptide wing or warp hunters! What do you guys think?

Whats better Riptide wing vs 3 Warp Hunters?

Warp Hunters have a 36 inch range D3 +1 small blast barrage weapon that is str D with a -1 on the chart but its still str 10! Or it can be a template weapon str D with a -1 on the chart.

What do you tau players think?

 CKO wrote:


What do you tau players think?

Warp Hunters do not = Tau. Therefore I would go with Riptide Wing, but I do not care for running more than one Riptide. I would suggest looking for another alternative. Not sure what. But then again I prefer to run CADs or a well rounded group of units with lots of variety. We have so many cool models that I like to use as many of them as I can.

How do I deal with the 2+ armor save 3+ invulnerable save 2+ feel no pain chapter master? Or thunder wolves those are my two nemesis that I really dislike. Warp Hunters laugh at them and I am finding it hard to find something as effective besides the 400 point tower of doom that is our LOW!

Well, you can get rid of the FNP with double T. Probably he has Eternal Warrior, so you can't insta-gib him, but he'll be restricted to his 3++ most likely (as S10 weapons in Tau are usually AP2 or better).

But yeah, I wouldn't feel bad about taking a Stormsurge, at all, if your opponents are bringing wolfstars or SmashFether Chaptermasters whom I imagine are tanking for Gravcents.

An anchored Pulse Driver Cannon should do the trick.

I've been tinkering with my Crisis bomb/dual SS list and figured I'd post it up for critique. My group is typically pretty competitive (but with beer!), so no worries about curb stomping some hapless fluff list. Accordingly, I'm aiming for as competitive a list as possible.

FSE CAD
Commander – NSJ, Onager, C&CN, PEN, MSSS, iridium, stims, VRT, drone controller – 195
Shadowsun – 135
2x Stormsurge – shield gen, AFP, EWO – 840
7 Crisis – 2 weapons (probably mix of plasma and CIB), TL – 399
9 Marker Drones (wargear for bomb suits)– 108
3xCrisis Suit – 5 flamers total – 91
required bonding knife rituals - 11

Culexus – 140

1850 in total

It's intended to be a hyper-aggressive list with suits and Surges in the opponent's face ASAP. Marker support for SS comes from the BS10 marker drones in the bomb, and while it's certainly possible the bomb will have difficulty seeing juicy targets for both itself and the Surges, I doubt it'll be too huge of an issue. I'm toying with dropping a flamer suit for VT and/or pulse drivers on the Surges. Any thoughts there?

I'm building a similar list for my competitive games, so I haven't actually played it yet. So, take my advice with a grain of salt.

That being said, I wouldn't switch to the pulse driver if you plan on being aggressive with the surges. 1) you need as many scoring Monats as you can squeeze 2) you're not anchoring.

Now, if you want to get VT on one of them as insurance against tyrant spam, et al; then just run 2 of the Monats naked. 7-8 games out of 10 it doesn't matter anyway. They hide more than they shoot. To put it another way, you'll miss the Flamers less than you will the VT if you run into an Air Force.

I don't think you need 9 markers for two surges. Only having one marker source, means they can nuke one target and share the markers.

I'd say the surges combine well with the crisis star, as they carry a good (stomp) combat threat, one issue I have using the OSC & a Crisis star, is that neither like facing very fast & durable assault units. For example, in the case of a chapter master in a command squad, or wolf lord leading thunderwolf Cav, that is a tough unit to deal with. They add in some psychic support, and it is realistically going to take stomps or playing around them. If they have electrodisplacement and you are playing it non nerfed, cry in the corner.

How do you find the culexus? Always tempted by one, but the lack of a delivery mechanism for Tau makes me wary. On the other hand, heavy psychic armies, give me all kinds of trouble.

Actually you need EIGHT maerkerlight hits to make sure your StormSurge acts at maximum usefulness. this requires a fair number of Markerlights to begin the show and is why I attach a Buffmander to my Drone Swarm.

Casualties are a thing as well in 40k; so even if he's got a couple more than necessary, that could mean the surges are operating at max efficiency for longer.

Jancoran wrote:Actually you need EIGHT maerkerlight hits to make sure your StormSurge acts at maximum usefulness. this requires a fair number of Markerlights to begin the show and is why I attach a Buffmander to my Drone Swarm.

The Shrike wrote:Casualties are a thing as well in 40k; so even if he's got a couple more than necessary, that could mean the surges are operating at max efficiency for longer.

What they said, basically. I want to ensure at least 1 Surge gets to blow his load at maximum efficiency, and I plan on using the Drones as grav armor for the bomb (and as otherwise ablative wounds once the Buffmander gets beaten up a little). 9 didn't seem like terrible overkill for those tasks, but if I find myself with a bunch of drones hanging out with nothing to mark, I may reduce the number in favor of another lone Crisis Suit or VT or whatever.

Fair enough! Either way, the list is brutal and should be effective.

Could someone please inform me on how to use a mobile Stormsurge with the Blastcannon? I'd like to try out the stompy Surge.

 Verviedi wrote:
Could someone please inform me on how to use a mobile Stormsurge with the Blastcannon? I'd like to try out the stompy Surge.

Move 12" every turn while shooting at targets, charge the closest target that did not die to shooting, then stomp it to death.

SJ

The trick is to charge things you can stomp to death in 2 assault phases so you can unload your crazy shooting again in your next turn. It seems like a shame to lose the double shooting phase, but the stomps and D shots are a worthy trade.

The best part about the D storm is you are trying to get that 6 either on the d chart or the stomp roll. Either way you are happy with the results. Even if you charge a death star you get your 4+ invulnerable save and 5+ feel no pain save and all you have to do is roll a 6 and bye bye!

Just FYI, I tried out a 1500pt version of the above list yesterday with mixed results. (For reference, it was basically one less Stormsurge and 2 Broadsides instead of a Culexus since I rushed out the door without my assassin.) Despite only having a few units on the board, I used the Crisis bomb poorly and got stuck within charge range of a Knight on turn 2. A couple 6s on stomps and a sweeping advance later, half my army bit the dust. That said, in one turn of shooting, they whittled 3 HP off an Atropos and wiped a unit of Skitarii Infiltrators, so it wasn't a total loss. I'm not sure why I brain farted so hard with their positioning, but I'll clearly have to be way more careful with them next time. On the positive side, the Stormsurge kicked butt all over the board, including finishing off the weakened Atropos and clearing out his numerous Vanguard. I was also impressed with the flamer suits, which managed to notch a few kills in addition to flying madly around the board taking objectives for me. In the end, I pulled out a narrow victory with him having a Knight with 5 HP on the board, while I had 2 flamer suits and a 5-wound Surge. We played an ITC mission, and I edged him out on board control, though if I hadn't gotten myself assaulted, it probably should've been a turn 3 tabling for me.

Crisis bomb is fun but not competitive. There are too many things that can destroy it. Even a not competitive list can destroy crisis bomb in one turn. 2+ cover safe is over rated when many army can have devastating weapons that ignores cover. taking no EWO on that bomb is asking for trouble when many list now and in the future can assault on the turn they arrive.

I have tried many list for tournaments and i found that Hunter contingent MSU is by far the strongest tau list. For Tau, MSU is an absolute must considering how low the ld is and having opponents preferring to use deaths start against tau to get into cc. Also, out psychic defense is non existence. A tau death star would be too vulnerable to psychic. With the current meta, psychic power is the key to most competitive non tau list.

Anything below 10 marker sources is also non competitive. My hunter contingent use 24 marker source and even that may not be enough at certain tournaments, i.e. against invisible death star. I don't use collexus since it destroys the game sense. no collexus in 40K will ever agree to help xenos. The key to tau list is suitability and removing your opponents key pillars. Every list has a weakness, study their weakness and remove it from play. Many tau players prefer crisis due to their fire power, but to me crisis is a horrible unit if they are not deployed as single model troops with obsec. Their survivability is too low in many cases, relying on deep strike too often to get in range and having to use deaths star formation to be effective. Its never about maximising fire power, its about precision and quality of fire power to remove key pillars.

Of course if your excuse to not play hunter contingent is about being too boring of a gunline list then ignore what i wrote above. After all having fun is much more important than winning.

My excuss in not playing Hunter Contingent is that I want to play Mobile Suit GunTau, not Call of DuTau.

Dawn Blade Contingent for Life! #DBCfL

SJ