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A friend and I are entering a doubles tournament next month. We want to be competitive and do quite well. We both took our separate armies to a tournament in the same meta a month or so ago and placed 5th and 6th. So we'd like to improve on that.

He is taking his Tau. His list is a Buffmander, 2x Riptides with EWO. 1 is burst cannon, 1 is IA, 2x 5 fire warriors, 3 missilesides with 6 missile drones and a skyray. I think it's pretty strong. But I'm struggling to write a list that works well with it. So I'm looking for some help. This is what I've come up with. Only allowed 1 Lord of War per pair.

HQ - Farseer, bike, spirit stone.

Troops - 5x scatter bikes.
Troops - 3x scatter bikes.

Fast Attack - Crimson Hunter Exarch, lances.

Heavy support - 3x dark reapers, 1x exarch, star shot missiles, EML on exarch.

Lord of War - Wraithknight, Sword & Shield, 2x Statcannons.

I'm not sure this is optimal. I had 2 min squads of scatters, no flier or reapers and added in a pair of prisms.

Here's what I have available other than what's in the list.

2x farseers on bikes with spears,
2x Warlocks on bikes,
Footseer,
Spiritseer,
3x shuri bikes,
5x fire avengers,
10x Wraithguard with D-Scythes,
6x fire dragons with exarch,
6x swooping Hawks with exarch,
Wraithlord with bright lance,
Wraithknight with 2x D cannons,
2x Fire Prisms,
2x Wave Serpents with TL SL & SC,
Vyper with dual cannons.

I'm not sure this is the best list. I always expect Hawks to underperform and they always surprise me. Dual cannon knight is always underwhelming. I love prisms. But they tend to be disappointing. I know spiders are incredible, but I don't own any yet. Can't bring myself to buy those models.

Anyone happy to help me??

No help?

Do cannons on the WK instead of Sword and Board. Also, if you wanna get REAL competitive at 1000 pts, you're gonna need some forgeworld. Hornets and... i believe they're called lynx, are amazing. Tons of warp spiders work too. As for the other options listed, i don't see a huge power increase from anything over anything else.

Warp spiders would be a strong addition I agree. Over the reapers I suppose? Not sure how much more they'd give me.

I'm not 100% sure forge world is allowed.

What are the tourney rules? ITC? Some other format?

I'm assuming 40k BrB rules and that you have 1000p to spend on your part of the army. This would be a good list if you cannot do ForgeWorld. Not sure you have the models but if you do try it.

Eldar CAD

HQ
Farseer [Skyrunner, Shuriken Pistol, Witchblade]

Troops
3x3 Windriders [Scatter Lasers]

LoW
Wraithknight [2x Scatter laser, Two Heavy Wraithcannons]

Aspect Host [+1 Ballistic Skill]
Warp Spiders [4x Warp Spider] + Warp Spider Exarch [Death Spinner]
Warp Spiders [4x Warp Spider] + Warp Spider Exarch [Death Spinner]
Warp Spiders [4x Warp Spider] + Warp Spider Exarch [Death Spinner]

Farseer supports the wraithknight, also focus on objective grabbing with the bikes while the spiders go to work. Your friend could do with an update to his list with maybe a Riptide Wing and/or the Optimized Stealth Cadre. If he ain't got the models for those formations then he should go for the hunter contingent with the buffmander.

It does look pretty strong....but I don't currently own any warp spiders, and I don't see me getting my hands on 15 in the next month AND getting them all painted.

Fair enough, i don't know your meta or the tournament you are attending but you wanted to be a bit more competitive and do well so you might consider getting additional models. Anyways check if you have the points to exchange the Aspect Host for 2 units of wraithguards with D-scythes in Wave Serpents. That should work pretty good also.

If it is too many points then take the two Fire Prisms and see if you can squeeze in a few more scatter bikes for troops.

Other than that sure you can just mix and match what you have or feel like playing. The thing to focus on is that you have access to very some very mobile obsec troops with good shooting to boot, so that should be your primary focus. That in combination with the bulletsponge that is the Wraithknight and some more mobile and shooty units (warpspiders etc) will be your best asset in combination with Tau. Tau will (hopefully) bring massive firepower so that should be their focus.

I do infact intend to buy spiders, I just haven't got enough time for that list.

So here's a thought for this one -

HQ - Farseer, Bike
HQ - Warlock, Bike

Troops - 3x scatter bikes
Troops - 3x scatter bikes

Elites - Wraithguard x5, D-Scythes, Wave Serpent with TL SL, and SC.

Lord of War - Wraithknight, Sword and shield, 2x starcannons.

Perhaps better damage output?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As for tournament rules, it's relatively simple. Normal BRB rules apply. Each player must take a legal CAD. Only 1 Lord of war per pair. That's about the only restrictions I'm aware of. So no nerf to ranged D or to invis. I'd imagine I'll fish for invis for the Wraithknight. But I'm not sure. The other option is to hunt for doom and fortune. As doom can buff the whole army essentially.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and they're pretty much all maelstrom missions.

Looks good. Might consider Ghostwalk Matrix and\or Vectored Engines on the serpent. If you are not desperate for more objective contesting units consider buying the warlock as an addition for one of the scatterbikes, then join the farseer and the whole unit benefits from warlock buffs (conceal etc). While the farseer can support the Wraithknight with invis/Guide/Prescience or doom etc as you wrote. I would exchange the starcannons for Scatter lasers though as a personal preference.

I would exchange them had I decided to magnatise the guns. But for some unknown reason I decided that super glue was the way forward.

Ghost walk and vectored would both be nice. But I don't know where to get the points from. Everything I've selected is as modelled and I've already had to drop the spirit stone from my 1850 list to be able to squeeze this in at under 1k.

The warlock idea is interesting. Something I always used to do and was regularly told not to. The problem with conceal is it encourages a jink. Which if it's just the seer then a 2+ cover save is pretty awesome. But if it's scatter bikes then snap firing really reduces their effectiveness.

Yeah there are both pros and cons of having the warlock in the unit, If you need the ablative wounds from the troops together with the Conceal\Protect from the Warlock for the Farseer it can be worth it. e.g. conceal, protect + cover save is quite good.

Yeah. I see your point. I've done some theory thinking and for us I think I'm going to keep them out of the bike squad. I should have enough static units and scenery to hide behind to guarantee me a 4/5+ cover save. And conceal to that and the seer should be pretty survivable too. With the WK, Scythe-guard, tides and sides there should also be enough threats that the seer gets left alone. Unless I go for invis. Then I'd imagine he'll draw a lot of fire.