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Just a very quick batrep based on a 75 power level game. I'd estimate 75 power level is somewhere around 1200-1400 points. It feels like it anyway. We ended up playing Big Guns Never Tire, and my force looked like this: So a few squads of Tzaangors, some Cultists, 5 Scarabs loaded up of course. Two squads of Rubrics, one in a Rhino. Exalted Sorc + Ahriman. The one item I was very hesitant on here but wanted some real ranged punch is the Forgefiend. He's got some serious wounds, and some serious cost associated with it, but at S8 -1 AP, it seemed like something I wanted to try in 8th. The heinous T'au, once known as the heinous Tau, were quite buffed in areas I didn't really foresee.... they play better with different units now. The T'au were basically a lot of Battlesuits (the new sauce) and a Riptide, a Ghost Keel, Jump-mander, lots of drones, a transport with Breachers, a Tide wall drone thingy (it's now a transport) with Troops in it.... it turns out the T'au list was slightly illegal as it only had 2 Troops but someone else told us he probably could have easily fit it into one of the elite style detachments at the cost of a few Command points. I ended up with first turn, and after deployment he failed to seize. I chose the deployment that has you closer in the middle. I realized he would / could far out maneuver me and out shoot me, so I wanted a chance at getting to grips with him early.... - After deployment the T'au did take an infiltration unit to deny my Deep Strike on his 'softer side', so I was forced to put my Scarabs on the right side of this picture. This made me make a stronger offensive push to the right side of the table to try to take out the Riptide with the Forgefiend enhanced by Ahriman..... whom advanced with Rubrics on foot, and ended up with Perils on a Warp Time and try to avoid it with a CP re-roll. - I surged up right side, and dropped the Scarab Occult. I simply could not wound. Wounding on 5+ is incredibly difficult. The Forgfiend had to move up to gain 36" range... this makes is WS a deplorable 5.... so Prescience was key but the shots simply bounced with only -1 AP on the Riptides 2 plus.... he still rolled 3's. - On the opposite (left) side I felt with his infiltrators he did take a risk... or so I thought, in that I could at least try to keep him occupied with softer bodies.... but I was wrong. - So a squad of Tzaangors actually gets in a first turn charge with help of Instrument. - A rhino rushes up as well... The Havok Launcher is worth it typically but there's something very different about T'au now.... they are ridiculously tougher. T5 stops me in my tracks. - The Tzaangors get the charge and I'm glad they have Tzaangor CC weapons but in truth I could could not get much wounds with that T5.... when did fish get tough? Tau turn: - Of course every unit is fixated on the Flamer Rubrics in the Rhino. I made sure my opponent knew what was in there, and at this point I realized he was taking drones and planning to absorb future charges.... and then everything I hit in CC simply "Flew" away, unimpeded. This left Tzaangors in the open. My Tzanngors (green ones) in the middle ruins were also going to be heavily targeted by heavier Battle Suits.... - The Rhino was completely health and already on his door step. I had faith in the T7 holding out a full wounds for a single turn at most... but I was wrong again... in a few salvos the Rhino went down to zero wounds before I could get to turn 2, so although it didn't explode, the Exalted Sorc and Rubrics take 3 wounds on exiting!!!! 3 wounds! Wow are vehicles tough on expensive models.... - The Rhino (I assumed) is removed from play and I had to be within 3 inches. So the Tzaangors and remaining Rubrics took a horrendous beating from a semi-circle of Tau fire lines... fire warriors in the back, shielded by drones, and suits on the outskirts. - This would be as far as I get. Somehow as it turned back to my turn I had Tzaangors punch through the middle (green) and I made some juicy 5 up Invuln saves. - The Exalted Sorc perils'd again... I ran out of command points doing this it was horrible. The whole Psychic phase was actually quite horrible. It did almost nothing. Since powers are unique, Ahriman always used Prescience on the Forgefiend, and Warp Time on the Rubrics which were loaded but too slow against Tau..... far too slow. - Back to this assault above, I killed a few drones, but that's because as the 'weakest' unit in the melee they are still T4. The suits couldn't hit back very hard, but moral isn't what it used to be for Tau. They have no trouble staying in, and the T5 battle suits laughed at my Goat attacks. - The Ghostkeel is ridiculously resilient. At times between various models he kept throwing Drones in front of Smite making Smite almost useless. So I tried to target softer units with smite but nerfed smite just can't make up for not having a punishing shooting phase. - Back on the right side of the table the Riptide would get assault by Scarabs, and the Rubrics were very, very slowly make it upwards to try and pitch in but again... wounding on 5's just kills the army's the ability to deal relevant damage. - Then things went from bad to worse.... The Rubric Sorc cast his mini Smite, Perils'd again... died, and he took 3 Mortal wounds from Perils, however I did not know if these perils wounds were supposed to spill over? Regardless I removed him from play, and took D3 wounds to the other Rubrics... killing 3 more. Ahriman took 2 wounds, and cultists took 3 wounds! And that was the most damage my psychic phase would ever do.... kill a Sorc, hurt Ahriman, kill 6 other models in my army. But there's more.... Ahriman would cast Prescience and Perils as well. And he would take 3 wounds bringing him down to 1 wound. (he never received a shot all game... so all his wounds were from some form of perils or another.) - Well now that we got all that perils out the way we can get back to the game... wait... one more..... the Scarab Occult Sorc perils'd on his baby Smite, he took only a single wound. I was actually happy.... lol - BTW: The real crappy sidenote in the Scarab taking a wound is for the rest of the game every time that squad took a wound, it always had to be allocated to him first which really, really stinks. - The army tries to recover from such horrible psychic phases and just collapses under weight of fire.... although the self wounded Scarab Sorc would guide the squad into CC with the retreating riptide (above). - Scarab occult lay down a few more wounds, but in assault things aren't very good. The Swords can't wound, and the Staff can wound but typically he saving on a 3 up, and then a 6 up (which he made a few of) FnP kind of mechanism. - The amazing thing about the T'au is I would enjoy getting in CC with the Riptides because a few wounds and they can run... but now nothing... no moral to take, so they just walk away from you and this army simply can't be tied down. - The Tau sacrificed drones as long as they could... and although marker lights aren't what they used to be, they do last the entire phase so at this point the assault element of my army was destroyed by a continuous "white scars" move of hit and run, and dakka the goats. - FINALLY in Turn 4 I have my first killed unit of Tau... the Riptide. It was a slow beating from the Scarabs who finally took him down but it took 4 turns of nearly my whole army shooting and scarabs shooting/assaulting him to kill it. So my 'first blood' would come in the last game turn. - His breacher squad which really had nothing to do all game were bored, so he got them out of the transport in turn 3-4 and the dakka'd up the rest of the cultists, and killed most of the rubrics. - By turn 4 I knew it was over. But with his one wound remaining I thought I would see what happens if I take Ahriman into the transport.... with the remaining Rubrics. Smite does 2 wounds, and Ahriman gave it one wound as well... and that was it. The scarab swords couldn't do anything, and the transport attacked Ahriman back and almost killed him! That would have been just an added touch of embarrassment! - I called it here as I had about 5 models on the table, and his army was only one unit down. Conclusions: - Lots of good T'au tips here: - Let Drones absorb critical wounds. - Let Drones layer in front of soft targets and absorb assaults. More good T'au stuff: - Battlesuits are ballersuits... Just keep to the perimeter with your suits, as drones absorb hits, come in with your suits and focus fire, let them assault you with combined overwatch, and just "Fly" away. Rinse and repeat. T-5 Suits, 3+ saves, 3 wounds... these guys are really good now. Something I said from the earliest leaks of the toughness system is I felt T5 was going to be huge and it is. The majority of 'infantry' firepower is always going to have difficulty with T5. People complained about the Riptide in 8th and I understand he had to get more expensive... when every ITC event has lists in 7th that started with "This is my Army "X", it has a Riptide wall as well". The Riptide is actually very survivable. Thousand Sons lessons of the Planet o' Perils! - I suffered 5 perils. Sure that's pretty high, but this is exactly why I thought the psychic phase would be a nightmare for me. I understand not having as much 'power' in the Psychic phase... heck I was happy to see that, but I fail t understand how it can be that soft, and potentially rip a chunk out of your army as well. That lack of mitigation from 7th was keenly felt. Keep in mind there is no possibility of a 'good' result anymore from Perils. - The Exalted Sorc felt lost. With Ahriman calling the shots, I have to confess the Aura is barely noticeable. I think you can get more mileage from other HQ's for a Battalion if you're running Ahriman as the main dude. (unique powers mean the Exalted is just Smiting.) - Forgefiend. That was the first and last game for him. The best Daemon unit I think right now is the Baledrake but I didn't want to default to him right off the bat. But I'll take that for essentially the same price over a Forgefiend any day. - Tzaangors are easily the best unit I had. It's unfortunate I went against an army that is basically T5, and can't be held in. They are so much better than cultists and the CC weapons combined with Instrument make for a great, great cheap troop. - Rubrics.... they had literally zero effect on the game. Rolling 5's to wound all game killed their overall effectiveness. And they are slow compared to Tau, so to get in 'good' range also meant subjecting yourself to a torrent of very high AP firepower that was much more potent than Warp Flamage/bolters. - Warpflame squad... no opinion they never lived to get in within range. - Scarab Occult. This is feeling a lot like 7th. I can see myself dumping Rubes for Tzaangors, and going pure Scarab Occult... feels a lot like 7th. They last longer, they have more varied loadouts, and don't have 10 man tax issues to get it. They are tough, and can also assault... and don't rely on a transport. - All is Dust. This was really hard for me to accept, but in my opinion it is nowhere near as effective as our old buff to a invuln 3+ Invuln. Not even close. I got hit continuously with Fusion and Plasma. I almost never got to use all is dust, and had to rely on 5++ way too often. Unfortunately our aura 'buff' never came in to play for me once. - Melta, and Plasma is incredibly punishing to us. As I said many times I play in a meta where there is a crapload of high AP armies. I already miss the 3++ and it was a hard reminder when I watched my Rhino go up and the squad inside with just a couple of shots. (D6 wounds is killer). - Overall this is the worst game I've ever had against Tau with my Thousand Sons. I never felt I had a chance. It felt like the Tau were playing a different game. I definitely took some lessons from the game though. Probably my biggest handicap was the Psychic phase is super fickle now. there is no way to stack it in your favour really. No way to mitigate its negatives either. The second biggest handicap I had was easily the Forgefiend. Something that has to walk and hit on 5's... is just not worth those points the odd time I could mitigate that penalty the damage/hits just didn't feel good enough at that point level.