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Post by xorl on Feb 27, 2009 14:29:59 GMT -5
i think it would be beneficial to know this.
seeing as i have a... "skim-head" friend who would love nothing more than to destroy my entire army. i have no idea how to combat them, and any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2009 16:07:48 GMT -5
A flippant answer would be, 'With a big stick'.
Battle suits do not like deepstriking veterans armed with meltaguns. I'd go infantry heavy, as Tau have a bucket load of anti-tank weapons.
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Post by xorl on Feb 27, 2009 16:15:06 GMT -5
coolio.
i'll see what i can do with that.
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Post by Mighty Muffin on Mar 1, 2009 11:35:08 GMT -5
Well since I have been playing with Tau for 3-4 years I might give a couple of pointers.
Tanks. More than likely every tank in Tau army will have Disrution pods (obscured target) so be prepared to use lot of guns to bring one down. With certain upgrades they can fire like a fast vehicle so dont be surpised about their fast speed. Hammerheads with railguns are really scary. Best long range tankbuster in the game and they also shoot big pie plates/submotion rounds cabable of instakilling almost everything IG has without giving you armorsaves. Ouch. Best way to destroy them is a close-range Melta shot (they dont benefit from disruption pods at that range).
Broadside battlesuits (robots with railguns on their shoulders) also like pulverizing your tanks (thanks to twin-linked, its quite easy). They also have Smartmissiles which can munch up your deepstrikers easily (unless they are stormtroopers who can take their armoursaves). They also might have shield drone or two (all lascannon/plasma shots etc... will kill these drones first before you are able to hurts Broadsides themselves.
Troops. Dont get close to Fire Warriors. Their long range Pulserifles make mockery of IG troopers. Place your men in cover and fill Fire Warriors with Heavybolter/autocannon shots and watch how fishmen die. Their Devilfish transports can put out devastating amount of anti-personel fire. Tau Devilfish drive-by can destroy one Guardsman unit easily (7 shots from Devilfish itself and rapidfiring Pulserifles from the passengers->dead men). Kroot carnivores are the only close combat unit Tau have. They can infiltrate and have 3 attacks on a charge. They have almost non-existant armour and Toughness of a Guardsman so shoot them up. Kroot are not very usefull IMO.
Battlesuits. These are the main gimmick of Tau Empire: XV15 Stealthsuits and XV8 Crisis suits. Stealhsuits have Burstcannons, (shortrange, lots of shots and, as always against Tau, you dont get an armour save), they can iniltrate and deepstrike and every third member can have a Fusion blaster, their version of melta. Whatever you have, these guys can destroy it. They have power armour-like saves, 2 attacks and strenght of 4. Despite their low ws, they can hold up on their own agaist a weakened Guardsman unit. Destroy them in close range firefights or attacks with your closecombat armed command squads. Or just shoot them with a Leman Russ (if any are still functioning). Crisis suits are powerfull. They can have almost every weapon in Tau arsenal. Flamers, Meltas, Plasma you name it. They also have formidable statline and only lack of power weapons is keeping them as ranged unit. They can also deepstrike. Destroy these as fast as you can. You dont want these guys running around your backline butchering everything. My last game with Tau(me) was againts Space Marines. Crisis suits deepstriked into Space marine backlines. In single turn I destroyed 2 Predators, Dreadnought, Rhino and 10-man SM squad was reduced to 4 men. Crisis suits also can have experimental weapons like Airbursting fragmentation projector (short range, large blastmarker, wounds guardsmen on 3+, no armour saves for normal guardsmen or cover) or Cyclic Ion Blaster (5 shots, even stormtroopers dont get armoursaves againt this).
Tau can be a nightmare against IG with their devastating amount of firepower and deepstriking battlesuits. You are in a tough fight my friend.
*Wall of text critically hits IGMB*
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Post by Rolling Thunder on Mar 1, 2009 13:03:26 GMT -5
The Griffon- park it out of sight and drop mortar rounds on Fire warriors.
Deepstriking specialists- them battlesuits hate melta like we hate airbursts.
Autocannons are fish-prangers.
Don't bother with russes. They'll die.
Massed, entrenched infantry is the way to go, and ensure you've deepstrikers to take objectives.
Kill the ethereal.
Hellhounds kill all infantry. Dead. Instant-dead.
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Post by knight (M.I.A) on Mar 2, 2009 10:32:23 GMT -5
With the butt of a lasgun and a bayonet. Those fishes hate close combat and will lose allmost all the time vs Guardsmen move from cover to cover with heavy anti-infantry support (heavy bolters and mortars). Park basilisks and Griffons out of sight and shoot with that stuff too.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2009 11:00:32 GMT -5
Fighting Tau is all about one thing: Range.
The Tau only have two weapons range greater than 36" - the railgun and the ion cannon. He's unlikely to bring the ion cannon as you ain't SMurfs. That leaves the railgun. I'd therefore recommend the following loadout:
Front row: Multiple troops squad armed with melta and heavy bolters @ 36" - deploy in cover and prepare to take a lot of flak. Use small remnant squads with flamers (36 pts) to attack kroot and gundrones. Ratlings in are terrain near command squad with good field of fire.
Front row (hidden): Platoon Command squad with mortar and melta guns out of Line of Sight (LOS). These are you're objective grabbers.
Second Row: Autocannons and Missile Launchers @ 48" - target the crisis suits or piranha when available, otherwise pummel the troops.
Back row: 6 + Mortars (out of LOS) which will target main Tau entrenched clusters.
Vehicles: Basalisk
With the following deployment: Make him go first, Build a castle in a corner, deny a flank with a corner build up (no stealth flankers) and then pummel him at range.
Fire warrior sergeants are over priced and rarely taken - the same go for kroot, so they only have Ld 7. Watch out for pathfinders and kill imediately (autocannons rock at this). Do not walk within 30" of tau gunline - you'll die.
Reserve Basalisk and bring on turn 2. move 6" and fire. Target Broadsides with Basalisk.
Average view of stealthsuits is 21" so ignore them until within 18". Only 36" missile pod has 'mobile' range on crisis suit.
Use deepstriking melta on the Tanks, otherwise take las-cannons.
Hellhounds are too 'hot' for tau, as are battle cannons - they're LOS makes them too vulnerable. If you want to beat Tau stay outside 36" and outside LOS (or in area terrain) of their heavy weapons. Rough riders are too hot, as are Ogyrns - none of them will get anywhere near his lines. Force him to come to you.
If he takes an Ethereal, kill it - but he's unlikely to.
Otherwise these are your biggest threats:
Pathfinders (in range)
Hammerheads
Crisis Suits
Be aware of the following: Every pathfinder 'markerlight hit' can: give you ld -1 (I've used this to rout Autarchs), cover saving throw -1 (goodbye Turboboosting Jetbikes and Eldar Pathfinders), BS+1 (the least useful). Pathfinders are disgustingly useful - KILL KILL KILL!
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Post by knight (M.I.A) on Mar 3, 2009 1:03:07 GMT -5
I always lose shootouts vs Tau and therefore I highly recommend close combat. Remember that you hit the general Firewarrior on a 3+ and wound them on a 4+ in close combat and that you have an armour save in close combat
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Post by Mighty Muffin on Mar 3, 2009 4:42:56 GMT -5
My friend borrowed my Big Black Book so I'm just trying to remember this but Firewarriors hit normal guardsman on 4+ (Do I remeber correctly?) but Firewarriors also have better armor save. Also you have to get your guardsmen over there. Loads of Chimeras might do the trick but some of them will get destroyed
I think the easiest way to beat Tau is just stand outside the range of a pulserifle and fire away.
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Post by Helmian (M.I.A) on Mar 3, 2009 5:04:59 GMT -5
2 words: Drop Troops
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Post by Mighty Muffin on Mar 3, 2009 5:24:40 GMT -5
/facepalm. Of course. It's cheaper and carries less of a risk of a huge number of guardsmen being dead in front of a Tau gunline. Still theres a risk of getting only a squad or 2 per turn from the skies and getting shot to pieces (pray to the Dice Gods!). Or Tau just mount on their 'fishes and take off (if 'fishes survive the meltas that is)
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Post by blackarmchair on Mar 3, 2009 9:28:05 GMT -5
I am much in agreement with suneokun. Your absolute BEST bet against Tau is to set up two to three entrenched gun lines and abuse our 48" range.
Anything with indirect is beautiful (i.e. mortars, basilisk, etc). If you charge them, you're dead; plain and simple. I've had SOME luck with drop troops but as someone else already said you need a bit of luck for that to work.
All in all, your best bet is to get some gunlines in cover and load up as many shots on the XV8s and Broadsides as you can.
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Post by ssgtdude (M.I.A) on Mar 4, 2009 8:48:52 GMT -5
Wait until they fall asleep then you sneak up to them and push them over.
Tau tipping.
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Post by Hetfiltrator on May 13, 2009 11:27:13 GMT -5
i say armoured wedge drive into a single point of their line and spread out isolating elements of their forces
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Post by Julian Sharps on May 21, 2009 8:54:43 GMT -5
I advance under cover and assault whenever I get the chance. It's worked almost every time.
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Post by aeonian on May 21, 2009 12:46:29 GMT -5
To top everything off that has been said here, I'll say that outflanking Penal Legionnaires and rocket launcher sentinels that outflank are great. If the disruption pod tanks is close ot edge of the bored, outflank 3 of them and watch as if blows up. Also, fire warriors can't take the Penal Legionnaires. They arrive in cover, and no matter what ability they have, they'll kill a lot of them.
Especially if they have the fleet and furious charge rule! Death to the Xenos!
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Post by Hetfiltrator on May 21, 2009 19:20:04 GMT -5
also deathwind droppod will make hell if there are enough targets
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Post by Julian Sharps on May 22, 2009 10:06:31 GMT -5
The solution to fighting Tau: Kill it WITH FIRE!!!
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Post by Ymmot (M.I.A) on May 22, 2009 10:25:34 GMT -5
I drop squads of battlesuits with krak missiles all the time...
its only a matter of time before my opponent starts stacking up on shield drones.
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Post by The Envoy (AWOL) on May 22, 2009 11:14:27 GMT -5
That's why I always burn drones off with lasguns and flamers before launching a Krak Assault.
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Post by Rolling Thunder on May 24, 2009 17:35:46 GMT -5
Solution: bring more missile launchers. They may cost more than shield drones, but once you've killed the battlesuits, you can use them to bomb his infantry into oblivion.
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Post by blackarmchair on May 24, 2009 19:05:36 GMT -5
If he's dumb enough to DS his suits or if he just keeps them closely knit make sure to load up ordnance. It allows you to hit the entire squad meaning that he must take saves on the suits as well as his drones - if the ordnance is strong enough there won't even be any saves to speak of.
That's how I like to handle shield drones anyway...
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Post by Hetfiltrator on Jun 1, 2009 13:36:25 GMT -5
snipers too keep those pesky broadsides or kroot or vespids pinned
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Post by RedsandRoyals on Jun 1, 2009 13:38:52 GMT -5
snipers too keep those pesky broadsides or kroot or vespids pinned Well, yes, that could work. Aside from the fact that snipers really do suck in 5th Ed.  Reds |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2009 7:48:33 GMT -5
Anything S8 or higher instant kills suits. I love to snipe suits/Broadsides with Lascannons, personally, as all it takes is one failed 4+ invulnerable and his fancy commander becomes a fried fillet looking for a side of chips. Just make sure to get rid of the drones with smaller/cheaper weapons first.
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