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.

hi gang,

I've got a campaign game coming up vs. tau, which I've never played against before. I know my opponent has a riptide, some crisis suits and goes light on troops. I also know that the campaign mission will heavily penalize anything airborne (dangerous terrain tests each turn if you're zooming, etc.), so I'm leaving my stormtalon at home. I think vehicles will also be subject to more dangerous terrain tests than normal, hence the dozer blades everywhere. here's what I'm thinking so far:

HQ - 190

vulkan

Elites - 155

5-man LotD w/MM, meltagun and combi-melta

Troops - 540

5-man tac squad w/flamer, combi-flamer, melta bombs, rhino (dozer blade)
10-man tac squad w/plasmagun, combi-flamer, rhino (dozer blade)
10-man tac squad w/plasmagun, combi-flamer, rhino (dozer blade)

Fast Attack - 95

5-man assault squad w/2 flamers, drop pod

Heavy Support - 418

3-man centurion dev squad w/grav-cannons, omniscope
6-man dev squad w/4 plasma cannons

Inquisitorial Detachment - 100

coteaz

that works out to 1498 points. coteaz goes with the dev squad, vulkan probably goes with the cent squad. the cents focus on the riptide and any suits they can get within 30" of. the devs lob plasma at suits with prescience from coteaz and 2 extra bodies to soak up wounds. the rhinos advance up to midfield and then provide mobile cover (if they live that long). the drop pod squad will target path finders or whatever troops it can get to and roast them turn 1 (if it survives interceptor fire). LotD will go for targets of opportunity. I'm not honestly sure if they fit in this list, but they're durable, pair nicely with vulkan and can back up the cent squad in case they fail to drop the riptide.

does this look reasonable to face tau with? I also have the following models available:

5-man tactical termie squad
termie captain
biker command squad (kitted for close combat, but I can probably proxy them with whatever wargear I needed)
biker captain
land speeder
5-man sniper scout squad
a handful of heavy bolter, lascannon and missile launcher marines
I can convert 2 of the rhinos to razorbacks
I can convert the 3rd rhino to a predator
ADL w/quadgun

cheers!

Eerm, can Coteaz join the dev unit due to being allies of convenience? Maybe proxy some sternguard and a drop pod to kill the riptide turn 1 shooting 30 combi grav shots at it.

Other then that I can't really help you much without knowing what he has other then riptide and a few suites.

Well playing against Tau you are going to lose those Rhinos in short order.

I do not see the value off-hand to the LotD, they are S&P and the 3++ is nice but they are expensive. If you do take them then capitalize on their strength, Deep Strike and flame away, they can take both a flamer and heavy flamer.

The Devs are fine with the PCs although at least one LC may be good for the extra range.

I would also take melta on the Tac squads. Flamers are absolutely boss, but if you are playing against a Farsight army with lots of suits the meltas are the sure route.

You are going to see a whole lot of Tau missiles. The nice thing is that they are AP4 but the bad is that most will be S7 twin linked and the rest will be S5 ignore cover. Throw in the Riptide and you may see a S8/9 AP2 large blast or two.

Grav guns will eat up a Riptide but they aren't very Salamanderish.

@arbiter: as part of an inquisitorial detachment (not grey knights allies), coteaz, or any other inquisitor, can join any squad. they're treated as battle brothers for any imperial army and don't take up an FOC slot. wonky, but there ya go

@cuthbert: yeah, I'm expecting the rhinos to die but even if I only get one turn of movement out of them that hopefully puts me in bolter range turn 1 vs. having to foot slog and eat fire for 2-3 turns. the tables we play on generally have a good amount of cover, but very little LoS-blocking terrain. I expect the cover to be useless to me.

my buddy has played this guy before and said it was all missiles, all the time. so, since I can't rely on cover, I'm just going to have to hope that I roll hot on my armor saves. I'm expecting an uphill battle, for sure.

the LotD is a holdover from my normal list, where I use them for anti-armor. I'm not really sure what to put in their place, given the models I have available. I could drop them and replace the 5-man tac squad with a 10-man sternguard squad in that same rhino, maybe. not sure how much bang I'd get out of them, though. I could also swap the LotD for a small bike squad with 2 grav-guns and a combi-grav. that might be a better option, now that I think about it...

It's a great list.

Shame every imperial army takes Coatez the omnipresent, that guy must have some kind of personal teleporter to get to all the battles he's in. (*I tottaly understand why he is in)

So if Coteaz can join any unit like your taking space marines allied with orks and then allying with Coteaz, Coteaz can hop in the unit of ork lootas? Because 15 lootas with prescience behind an aegis defense line would be awesome.

@arbiter: inquisitorial detachments are battle brothers with any *imperial* units. so, you cannot attach coteaz to orks. you could, however, attach him to space marines in a space marine/ork army. honestly, I think the whole inquisitorial detachment thing is a bit goofy but prescience is just so hard to pass up :p


Automatically Appended Next Post:
here's another pass at my list, now that I'm home. the major change is swapping the LotD for a 5-man bike unit with grav-guns. I also swapped the flamer on the 5-man tac squad for a meltagun.

HQ - 190

vulkan

Troops - 545

5-man tac squad w/melta, combi-melta, melta bombs, rhino (dozer blade)
10-man tac squad w/plasmagun, combi-flamer, rhino (dozer blade)
10-man tac squad w/plasmagun, combi-flamer, rhino (dozer blade)

Fast Attack - 245

5-man assault squad w/2 flamers, drop pod
5-man bike squad w/2 grav-guns, combi-grav and melta bombs

Heavy Support - 418

3-man centurion dev squad w/grav-cannons, omniscope
6-man dev squad w/4 plasma cannons

Inquisitorial Detachment - 100

coteaz

this gives me both mobile (bikes) and durable (centurions) grav on the field. should do well vs. suits and riptides. I'm a bit torn on a few things, though:

1. should coteaz roll with the plasma devs or the grav centurions? my original thinking was with the plasma devs, but if he gets forewarning that could make the centurions even more durable with a 4++ (I expect them to draw a lot of fire).
2. who should vulkan roll with? normally I run him with the centurions to tank a few wounds and deter assaults. I've got room in the rhino with the 5-man tac squad, though, so that's another option. I'm not even sure if he really fits in this list, as it's pretty light on melta overall. he's fluffy, though, so eh... ?
3. for the plasma tac squads, I can't decide if I'm better off with combi-flamers or combi-plasmas on the sergeants. combi-plas gives me a one-time punch at range that will ignore armor (but not cover) vs. the assault deterrent and twin-linked ignores-cover template goodness of the combi-flamer. I'm leaning towards the combi-plas because I expect to see a lot of suits and the flamer won't hurt them much, but I could be wrong about what he'll be bringing.

thoughts?