September 2, 2009

Taking the Tau to a tournament


Greetings,

as the title tells, Trotzki and me are going to participate in a local tournament and I will play with my Tau.

The tournament will be at the first weekend of november, so there is still pretty much time left, but I will need a bit time to finish the army and get everything painted in the first place and secondly I will have to practice a lot.

1650 points will be played with normal FOC, forge world stuff is allowed too and there will be some special rules which are still to be announced.

I have considered something like this list:


1650P Tau Army list:

Shas'O
XV84 suit, plasma rifle, missile pod, shield generator, hardwired multitracker, stimulant injector, hard wired drone controller with 2 shield drones
bodyguard with plasma rifle, missile pod, targetting array, hard wired multitracker

XV8 team (3) with TL missile pod, flamer, team leader with bonding knife

Stealth team (3), all with targetting array and burst cannon

(2x) 6 fire warriors
Devilfish, smart missile system, targetting array, multi tracker, disruption pod, flechette dischargers, sensor spines

20 kroot

(2x) Hammerhead with railgun, smart missile system, multi tracker, disruption pod, flechette dischargers, target lock, sensor spines

Sky ray with smart missile system, targetting array, multi tracker, disruption pod, flechette dischargers



These are my first thoughts, so there is a lot of space for changes. One thin is the sky ray, actually I am not sure if he is that valuable. The marker lights are nice though. But Another hammerhead could be nice too, be it a railhead or an ionhead.
I could kick all sensor spines out as well, thereby freeing 50 points.
And considering that more then half of all players seem to play MEQ, I think I will need a bit more punch against power armour.

My list needs me buying (and painting) at least 2 more crisis suits at the moment and if I take a third hammerhead I will have to paint the gun and turret. And the hammerhead with the green camo is at the painting table again to match it up with the rest of the army.

So tweaking of this list and of course painting more tau miniatures is on the schedule for the next weeks.

And of course I'd be glad, if someone leaves a comment on the list.

5 Kommentare:

Jason said...

You mention the sensor spines, and I'd agree with you. It only allows you to avoid the effects of dangerous terrain with 5E, and unless you plan on going through a lot of dangerous terrain, it's not that useful. Of course, by saying this, you'll be plagued by dangerous terrain results of 1.

The Flechette dischargers are also rather expensive. You have 50 points spent on them. Have you found them to be useful? Consider that you're anticipating going against a lot of MEQ, most likely in Rhinos, I don't know if the FD's will earn their points. Besides, the enemy has to be assaulting you, and that means they are already to close. Remember, if they are within 12", they are too close for your DP to be useful, but close enough for a meltagun to fire.

That would give you 100 points more to spend.

Granted, I'm not at all that experienced with Tau yet, so I could be completely off base here. =)

Managarm said...

You are right, both equipments are rather expensive and their usefulness is sometimes a bit weak.

Regarding the sensor spines: I found it useful when it comes down to ojective grabbing when you can fly unscathed onto an objective that is placed into terrain. And with them I can fly around as I see fit and movement is important for Tau.
On the other hand I think there won't be that much terrain at this tournament.

You are also right about MEQs assaulting my tanks. When they are able to get that close, the tank is as good as dead.
I considered the flechettes more as an useful upgrade against orks, gaunts and lesser daemons or even guardsmen. Hitting mostly on 6s and getting 50% of the assaulting unit wounded could make the enemy re-think assaulting this tank.
Admittedly this is more about a psychological effect. If this is worth 10 points...I don't know.

I seriously need to playtest those things!
And thanks for your comment!

Sholto said...

A tournament that allows Forgeworld? That is a novelty.

If you can, take some TX-42s - they are probably the best FW Tau unit for the price. You can do some evil things with Drone Turrets and Markerlights, as well.

Your bodyguard are fine. I prefer Iridium Armour to the Shield Generator, especially when taking shield drones as it increases their armour save to a 2+ as well. For free!

The targeting array on the Stealths is actually cost-neutral. You get the same hits from adding another model for the same price. Since you have markerlights in your list, I suggest you get another model in there instead of the targeting arrays. Also, do you need more S5 shooting? I count 38 S5 shots per Turn in that army, without the Stealths. Should be enough.

Against MEQ you will need more plasma. Your XV8 team is the obvious place, but another team might be better instead of the Stealths.

I agree with Jason that your vehicle upgrades are too much. I would be inclined to put more killy on the table than to spend points on upgrades.

As for the Skyray, it is a decent tank and I use one on occasion. I would keep it and see if it works for you in some practice games.

Best of luck!

Sholto said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Managarm said...

Thanks for the advice, Sholto. I really have enough of Str.5 shots. The TX-42s seem to be great but unfortunetaly I have none.

I'll be working on a revised list this weekend!