1000pts - Plasmech vs Tau

[lockinvar]

So my friend and I play every weekend and he plays Tau. I don't necessarily want it to be a list that would be tailored for fighting tau specifically because sometimes other people join our games and I bump up to 2000 points or something. He doesn't usually bring tanks, the only units of note are a big unit of broadsides with drones and his riptide with drones and the I am hard to kill commander tanking wounds for the unit. There are some firewarriors and such but those are meh.

Anyways to the list:

CCS - chimera, lascannon, Kurov's Aquila, grenade launcher
210

Tempestus Platoon:
tempestous command - 4x plasma gun
145
tempestous scions(5) - 2x melta guns
90

Veterans - Chimera, Grenediers, 3x plasma
185
Veterans - chimera, demolitions, 3x melta

Leman Russ Executioner, plasma sponsons
185

1000 on the dot. GL in CCS to use up the remaining 5 pts

So this is it. I am worried that I do not have enough boots on the table, but I think thats because I am used to playing with at least 2 infantry platoons. Still I think that I will have to make a choice with the first shots from the executioner whether to put serious hurt on broadsides or to put hurt on the riptide unit. Kurov's for rerolls on gets hot for everything that will be sticking close which I will try to keep at least the tank close so it doesn't kill itself. I am worried about the tempestus as I haven't really used them but I think that If I drop them in for close support they will be okay.

Let me know what you think!

[nutty]

It looks good, I don't have any experience with scions but deepstriking them near high threat targets could help. Just keep in mind that a lot of Tau players upgrade their riptide to have interceptor.

I have played Tau since fifth edition, so some tips from the xenos side:

Personally I would try and fit in a second Russ: a "cheap" one like an eradicator or exterminator would help a lot.

Tau excel a putting out a load of s7 shots, so they will chew through a pair of chimera's in a turn or two. But they don't have a lot of options to deal with av14 at range.

An eradicator can target pathfinders or markerdrones to take out his source of markerlights making his shooting far less effective, or take out his firewarriors. An exterminator has a decent chance of wounding suits and killing off their accompanying drones. So either one is a viable threat to his army.

The only way for Tau to reliably deal with a Russ is to get into melta range: forcing them to come close and near your plasma guns. So even if he wrecks the Chimera's the vets can continue on foot and protect the tanks.

[lockinvar]

So I actually did a rework of the list to make it more efficient in my mind.

CCS - chimera, Kurov's Aquila. 2xPlasma gun, Officer of the fleet, meltabombs on CC(5points were left over) 240

Tempestus Platoon:
tempestus command - 4x plasma gun 145
tempestus scions(5) - 2x melta guns 90 235

Veterans - Chimera, 2x plasma 155
Veterans - chimera, demolitions, 2x melta 175

Leman Russ Executioner, lascannon, plasma sponsons 195

total: 1000

The changes get me the plasma guns on the CCS as well as the officer of the fleet. The reasoning for them was that I assume I will be moving with the executioner every turn and I will be moving with the CCS chimera every turn as well so the lascannon will be wasted. I also wanted the Officer of the Fleet to help ensure that my tempestus strike goes off. I am slightly worried about this list though as everything is kind of fragile, I just hope my offensive output is enough to down the units I want to down. I am also hoping that the extra shots from the lasgun arrays and the multi lasers on the chimera will be targeting marker light squads, but we will have to see how it goes.

[nutty]

Have you gotten the chance to test this list against your buddy yet?

If you are worried about the list being to fragile you could look into dropping/switching some things around.

CCS: it's a very expensive unit to just buff one tank, and the chimera can be taken out by the broadsides or riptide very quickly. You could consider dropping the CCS for Pask, this will give you a second Leman Russ. You could run a second exterminator like the one in your list, if you run two regular scion squads instead of a command squad. Or you could grab a cheaper variant if you want to keep the 4 plasmas. This would leave you without the Officer of the fleet though.

So you could try something like this:

HQ

Tank Commander (Pask)
+ Punisher
- Hull Heavy Bolter
+ Executioner
- Hull Lascannon
[375]

Elite:

Scion Platoon
+ (5) scions
- 2x plasma
+ (5) scions
- 2x plasma
[200]

Troops:

Veterans
- Chimera
- 2x melta
[145]

Veterans
- Chimera
- 2x melta
[145]

Veterans
- Chimera
- 2x flamer
[135]

Total: 1000

Alternatively you could scratch the chimera for the 3rd vet squad and have them sit on a backfield objective with an autocannon, giving you 65 points to either replace one of the scion squads with a command squad with 4 plasma guns, or put some sponsons on the tanks. Or you could take the third squad out altogether, and do both + give your two remaining veteran squads some upgrades.

The Pask/Punisher combo is a common sight, and can be considered to be a bit cheesy... But so are riptides and big units of broadsides protected by a commander
He can really lay the hurt on broadsides/commander and the riptide, and is far more durable against Tau shooting than a CCS in a Chimera. The riptide is the only enemy unit that can hurt your tanks: missilesides won't do a thing vs AV 14 and are to slow to reposition. So the riptide will have to flank them, or overcharge/novacharge and hope for an 'explodes' result. If you can keep your front towards the broadsides, and your rear away from the riptide you should be golden. Use the punisher to whittle down the broadsides, and splitfire the executioner at the riptide.

Giving the meltaguns to the scions instead of the vets would make the list more effective against other armies, but as they will likely get shot to bits the turn after they arrive... the extra shots will help them do some damage against the broadsides/riptide. And the chimera's will help get the melta's in range against other armies.

Having the flamer vets rush towards his pathfinders will put them high on you opponents priority list, which should give your other veterans some time to take up position. Popping smoke will help them survive, or force your opponent to either use markerlights to get rid of them or shoot them with his broadsides to bring them down with weight of fire.


Hope it helps,

Nutty