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Post by littlemac on Sept 8, 2009 12:40:22 GMT -5
My roommate is reponsible for getting me into 40k. He's pretty much the coolest roommate ever. He plays Tau, I play Guard, and its nice to have someone to play against at any given moment.
Here's the problem. My roommate has played probably.... 30 games or so (not all against me). He's only won like 3-4 times. At first it didn't really bother him, but now he seems disheartened. I don't think he'll quit, but a win would really brighten his spirits.
I could throw a game, but he's not dumb and would totally see it coming. So I want to suggest maybe some new strategies for him.
That's where (hopefully) you guys come in.
He typically has these units:
1 Hammerhead tank
Fire Warriors (3-4 squads of 10-12 men)
6 Crisis Suits
6 Stealth Suits
Kroot (rarely uses these)
1 Pihrana
1 Devilfish
1 squad of Pathfinders
Aun-va (never uses this)
2-3 Ethreals
I think that's about it.
Crisis Suit loadout consists of one 3 suit "Infantry-Kill" team (flamers and burst cannons) and an HQ "Tank-Busting" squad where the leader has twin-linked fusion blasters.
His overall strategy is to gunline with his Fire Warriors and deep strike his crisis suits. His pihrana harrasses things, his stealth suits infiltrate and harass, and his pathfinders just never seem to do much of anything. He used Kroot a few times, but they were really underwhelming.
Any advise or pointers you could give would be awesome, thanks.
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donte
Conscript
Posts: 40
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Post by donte on Sept 9, 2009 0:33:50 GMT -5
Ok, while I don't play Tau myself. A good friend of mine does, and I have observed him in play. A couple of pointers I can throw his way (Please bare with me as I do not have the codex in front of me atm)
Going down the list I see a few things that may help.
A Hammer Head Tank is always a good choice, just make sure he's spending the extra points for the Rail Cannon, St10 Ap1 at BS 5 = Dead Tank Also the Dispersal shot is good for massed infantry.. But I am seeing little else aside from the Hq in terms of Tank Killers.
I might advise Getting a Sky Ray and making sure that the Path Finders get into a good position With a couple of Marker Lights. In fact, try having him use 2 Pathfinder Teams with Rail Gun's and Markerlight Drones, and hit lightly armored targets with HK missiles.
Or you can have him pick up some Broadsides as well. They work nicely.
Also noticed a lack of Drones. If Kroot don't work well as filler you can use Drone's in almost any Troop formation.
I never saw much use for the Ethreals, I understand they serve a point. But neither my friend or I like them much at all.
Don't see much point to 1 Pihrana by its self. I would say Grab 2 more and make it a trio or drop it and grab more Fire Warriors.
Don't have much more to give without the Codex in front of me. Hope I helped some.
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Post by seed on Sept 9, 2009 2:33:24 GMT -5
A freind of mine plays tau and regluar destorys guard armies (theres a few at my club) basicly with one guy. He runs there leader chaps with 2 flamers the thing that gives them a 2 plus save and feel no pain. he just deepstrikes or floats over and roast the infanry while he hammer heads\board sides the armour.
edit
Just spoke to him on a IM and these are the proper names\terms
Shas'el twin linked flamers, stimulant injectors, vectored retro thrusters, iridium armour
He nasty but a stray metla\las cannon and hes dead
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Post by The Envoy (AWOL) on Sept 9, 2009 13:26:25 GMT -5
One thing I've found having been playing as and against Tau is that you need to think quickly and strike from multiple fronts to succeed.
So, as others have done, I'll go down the list and see what I can suggest.
Hammerhead: These are some of my favorite units in the list (which is why I own 3) but I've found they work best in pairs or when supported by Broadsides when using the Railgun. Remember, it is still a single shot weapon, even at BS4, you will miss every once in a while. For secondary weapons, I love putting Burst Cannons on these guys. The ability to spray down an enemy infantry unit with 6 Burst Cannon shots while popping a tank is always a good time.
Fire Warriors he's fine on. I would try to get them some Devilfish for protection, it works wonders.
Stealth Suits are one of the things I always take. I generally take a unit of 5 with all Burst Cannons and give them Targetting Arrays, then Outflank. I've had them wipe out two-thirds of a Necron Warrior squad, gunned down a Devastator and then beat another one to death in assault, and wipe out almost half of a 20 man Ork Mob.
Okay, one thing I must say, I loves me some Kroot. If it weren't creepy and weird to do so, I would likely marry my Pack. They kill everything they touch I outflank a unit of 18 with a Shaper, which means 55 attacks on the charge, which they always get. All for under 150pts. They've got 4 Carnifexes, squads upon squads of Genestealers and Gaunts, A Necron Warrior unit and the attached Lord, Warp Spiders, and a Tac Marine squad added into their kill count. I never leave home without them.
Okay, I have 6 Piranha, 3 of each kind. If you're going to use them, don't bother bringing less than 3 to the table. If you use them as a squadron, give them all the same weapons. Though it is handy to take Fusion Blasters and then detach the Drones, since you get a small unit for free.
Ethereals, I have one, but only because it's a cool conversion. Other than that, he's useless.
Now my Commander is a walking death machine. I've seen him wipe out entire squads in all phases of the game from sheer firepower to his decent combat stats. I run a Shas'O in the Aurora pattern (Plasma Rifle, Cyclic Ion Blaster) and give him a Shield Generator, Stimm Injectors and Hard Wired Multi-Tracker. I also give him one or two bodyguards (I don't run many suits) with Plasma Rifle Burst Cannons, Targetting Array, Hard wired Multi-Tracker. This unit hits pretty damn hard in shooting, and will waste squads of all kinds in a turn (I had a friend practically urine himself when my Commander gunned down half a unit before his Guards got a chance to fire). I do have five more Crisis Suits that I can use if I need them, 2 Suits with Twin Linked Missile Pods and Flamer for light vehicle/light infantry killing, and a unit with Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multi-Tracker for all purpose use.
Now, here's one thing I must add in. Don't be afraid to get up close and personal with your more heavily armored units. Crisis Teams, while a little slow and not as capable in assault, still lay down a lot of pain with their Str. 5 attacks. Yeah, you're hitting on 4's, but against Guardsmen, you're wounding on 2's, which is a big advantage when they're only wounding on 5's against your 3+ save multi-wound models. I even use Stealth Teams as assault units. My unit can dish out up to 30 attacks a turn from shooting and assault. Sure the assault attacks don't hit as hard, but they're worth the psychological factor of, "Holy nuts I just got assaulted by Tau." The thing you do have to remember though it avoid units with power fists and power weapons, as they will take you down quickly. Also, if you do assault with suits, try and pick off weakened or small units, like Devastators and other units that tend to stay back, or light infantry squads that you won't kill in one round (this prevents them from standing around while getting shot to pieces).
Well, that's all I've got for now, if you need any other advice feel free to ask.
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Post by blackarmchair on Sept 24, 2009 2:04:21 GMT -5
I have a good friend that plays Tau, I will now hand my computer over to him...
Hello, one of the greatest things a tau player can do is take a Shas'o for your HQ and give him a retinue of 2 more crisis suits and give them targeting arrays to up the retinue up to bs 4 and then you give them each 2 shield drones. i play a more suit heavy army and giving as many of them shield drones as possible, you cannot underestimate how useful shield drones are, I usually play with 2 squads of fire warriors at about 8-10 guys per squad. Taking two Shas'o is a great way to get some guys that can survive a lot. Also i would suggest giving Iridium Armor to one HQ and Stimulant Packs to the other (2+ armor and Feel No Pain). After that it really depends on what you are facing, but the squad of pathfinders is a great thing to keep, I always keep it open to taking 9 broadsides, but taking 3 sniper drone teams(a great marine killer) only take up one HS slot and cost about the same as 3 upgraded Broadsides. For facing gaurd remember that all of your basic weapons (pulse rifles and burst cannons) break their armor. Outflanking stealth suits can deal a lot of damage to guard squads. Make sure to give any vehicle you get disruption pods, 5 points that give you a cover save as long as they are a foot away. Kroot and Etherals really aren't worth, ever. That is about all i can think of right now as of 2 in the morning there is bound to be a few things that I missed just make sure to have your friend check the codex for the other things in the armory. Handing it back to the guy you refer to as "Black"(he is in fact quite white)...
Another useful tip is to ignore all hanging lures you see, no matter how pretty they may look or how much food they have on them.
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Post by The Envoy (AWOL) on Sept 25, 2009 16:45:25 GMT -5
I have a question, where is all the Kroot hate coming from?
I've never had issues with them, in fact, they have the highest kill count of any of my units. They've wiped out Fexes, Genestealers, Marines by the bucketload, 'Crons, and even a couple HQ units. I just take a unit of 18 with Shaper and then outflank. They generally get ignored until they've well earned the less than 150pts. they cost to field.
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Post by Ymmot (M.I.A) on Sept 25, 2009 16:51:36 GMT -5
Kroot seem to work out alright when my brother brings them out, nice big mob of birdmen infiltrating near my lines and causing trouble...sure they don't last too long once I start shooting at them, but they're something I have to deal with, which always tosses a monkey wrench in my plans.
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Post by Rolling Thunder on Sept 30, 2009 8:38:24 GMT -5
You make plans?
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Post by Ymmot (M.I.A) on Sept 30, 2009 12:49:42 GMT -5
Kinda,
but not really...
and I have yet to lose to Ymmit's tau.
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Post by Hetfiltrator on Oct 18, 2009 19:16:54 GMT -5
I hate kroot. If I find them near my line I don't like to let them live. This is probably my biggest flaw as I tend to light them up with everything in range until they are either dead or assualt worthy. My point being that they are incredibly cheap and distracting if you infiltrate a large mob (pack) of them infront of your enemies lines.......well hape they don't have pie plates.
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Post by The Envoy (AWOL) on Oct 18, 2009 20:26:34 GMT -5
I hate kroot. If I find them near my line I don't like to let them live. This is probably my biggest flaw as I tend to light them up with everything in range until they are either dead or assualt worthy. My point being that they are incredibly cheap and distracting if you infiltrate a large mob (pack) of them infront of your enemies lines.......well hape they don't have pie plates. That's why I usually outflank them with a 5 man Stealth Team. It makes them 10x scarier as they can't be accounted for, and the obscene amount of attacks I can get from assault makes them worth it. Sure they die once they finish assault, but that's one less squad to worry about coming towards me, and every unit that shoots at them is one less unit I have shooting at something else more important. |
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jeep
Lieutenant
Posts: 112
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Post by jeep on Oct 19, 2009 12:23:41 GMT -5
add 4 Pihrana If your going to use them. One is tissue paper target. a schoole of 5 lets you carry 10 seeker missiles to keep your pathfinders in cruise missile to marker light, it also adds a LOT more unit munching firepower after taking losses. A alternative is a skyray or two. Marker light, seeker missile spam does work. 30" range fire warriors works for most infantry, Your firepower is in fire warriors, and your suits.
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Post by Hetfiltrator on Oct 24, 2009 18:23:56 GMT -5
1 may be tissue paper, but 5 in a fire magnet. He has yet to out flank aginast me as he claims that kroot are no good against marines. I beg to differ.
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Post by The Envoy (AWOL) on Oct 24, 2009 21:23:29 GMT -5
1 may be tissue paper, but 5 in a fire magnet. I've never fielded more than 3 Piranha at any time. Not worth the points to go over 3. He has yet to out flank aginast me as he claims that kroot are no good against marines. I beg to differ. ... Kroot eat Marines like...Birdmen eating Super Human Soldiers... |
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Post by ElegaicRequiem on Oct 24, 2009 23:56:20 GMT -5
I feel like putting the 'heresy stamp' on this... but if I did, the trouble taken would validate the heresy... Meh.
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Post by littlemac on Oct 25, 2009 15:50:29 GMT -5
My roomie just got another Hammerhead to make a total of 2, I'm hoping this helps a bit.
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Post by Hetfiltrator on Oct 28, 2009 17:47:33 GMT -5
Good luck. Sh!t My marines are watching this post! Nooooooooooo!
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Post by littlemac on Nov 3, 2009 16:10:03 GMT -5
My roommate just fought a battle the other night with his new Hammerhead against SOB, mopped the sisters up but tied in the end. I was glad to see him pumped up tho.
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Post by The Envoy (AWOL) on Nov 3, 2009 16:20:03 GMT -5
I should make mention of this.
3 Hammerheads, 2 with Railguns, 1 with Ion Cannon will tear most armies apart, including all types of MEQ's.
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