1500 vs. Tau

[Prophecy]

I'm playing a game in about a month against an old friend of mine I haven't seen in forever. All I know is that we'll be playing at 1500 points, and he'll be playing Tau. I don't know if he'll mech up, or go pure stealth or what. Unfortunately, I've never played vs Tau with my wolves (except for one experimental game where a friend proxied 11 devilfish and hammerheads using old VHS cassettes. His flagship Hammerhead was "Annie: the Movie of Tomorrow!").

 

Since I don't know what I'm going to be facing, I'm not looking for a specific Pup list. More, I'm just curious to hear from those of you who see Tau on a regular basis. What units work, what units don't, what tactics do and do not work? What's your strategy, both in deployment and through the game? What do I need to watch out for?

 

I'm pretty familiar with the codex, just not how it interacts with other armies. Any insight you all can give me would be appreciated!

 

(And before anyone asks, yes, I did a search. There is no Tau tactica in our pup forum that I could find)

[Thunderpup]

Broadsides are Anti tank, Fire Warriors are anti infantry, everything else is really support. These two unit types will be doing the bulk of his killing.

 

Pirahnas may seem bad, but you can rapid fire/ assault easily.

 

Hammerheads with railguns are really only good against hordes, imho, and if he has the ion cannon on it it'll be looking for your marines. (AP3)

 

A quick look at how he loads out his crisis suits will tell you what they're going after.

 

Not sure if that helped.

 

Pup.

[Spacefrisian]

The Tau really like when you pod amidst them in full force. It gives them a change to show of their great close combat abilities.

[Prophecy]

That's a very good point, SF. Unfortunately, I don't have any pods. Getting straight up in his face is definitely the way to go (as long as you avoid those nasty flechette launchers on the vehicles), but if he's smart I assume he'll hold everything in reserve and DS in where it is most advantageous. To that end, I should probably castle up behind my rhinos, but of course that results in me eating a turn of range: ridiculous, S10 AP1 shots. I do not expect my vehicles to survive. I think a good cav and biker force would stead me well, the question is more whether I can fit them into a 1500 points list and support them correctly.

[Brother Anchelos]

I would recommend two units: Skyclaws with Wolf Priest with Jump Pack and Swiftclaws with Wolf Guard on Bike. Skyclaws shoud get to the fight without many loses (even if there is a case when 8 out of 10 die, they will still be able to put up a good fight against Tau, especially with this Wolf Priest). Swiftclaws turboboost in the 1st turn and they can assault Tau in the 2nd turn (and they have big chance of surviving with 3+ cover save after turboboosting).

Of course Wolf Scouts with Power Fist Wolf Guard will also be invaluable with their behind enemy lines they can easily engage multiple Tau units in combat and simply run them over with sweeping advance / or they can assassinate some Crisis Suits or Broadsides.

 

-Anchelos

[SpaceWolf13C]

fenrisian wolves love tau

[Aeddon]

Rune Priest with JotWW would be good too.

[AcidBurn]

In my experience against the Tau my opponents have always had loads of nasty tanks which they rely in heavily for cracking armor. I threw a few wolf scouts with melta bombs into the mix along with a wolf guard with a thunder hammer and storm shield and watched the look on my opponents face as i destroyed 2 broard sides and a maxed out squad of fire warriors over 3 turns

 

lol good times

[Ludo]

I've played one game with SW; a victory against a small tau force.

 

He had 3 crisis suits, 2 fire warrior squads and 2 devilfish.

 

I had Njal, a drop-pod, 4 WG (3 in TDA), some grey hunters and some blood claws.

 

Dropped Njal and 2 WG into his lines, took out his commander and an entire fire warrior unit before they got shot to pieces. (Turn 2).

 

Whilst the tau were taking him out, the rest of the army took the objectives, then sat on them. Had the fire warriors come close, I'd have charged them. Tau fire warrior shooting would have outranged and outshot me all other things being equal.

 

Biggest threat was the massed fire warrior fire. An S5 shot for a troop unit is pretty powerful. It was the last terminator putting his power fist to good use that finally saved the day, by wiping out a devilfish that was contesting the objective.

 

JOTWW was the best hitting attack. Tau initiative means that it does serious damage. It was one of those situations where you start apologising to your opponent for the damage you've just done to his battle line. It is a bit cheesy, but Njal only has 2 wounds; getting him close enough to the tau to do some damage puts him at risk.

[Prophecy]

That's twice I've seen Jaws mentioned. What are you all using it against? All the crisis suits have jetpacks, and the vehicles are immune. Aside from the small squads of firewarriors, kroot (which are hardly a threat in any case), there doesn't seem to be anything to toss JotWW against. Am I missing something?

[Decoy]

Having Jetpacks != Being Jump Infantry. Jaws works on Suits of all Tau types, to my knowledge.

[Rune Priest Vladimar]

Having Jetpacks != Being Jump Infantry. Jaws works on Suits of all Tau types, to my knowledge.

 

The codec indicates it works against MC, beasts, cavalry, bikes and infantry, so it doesn't look like it would be very useful against a heavy tech army.(Or does cavalry include vehicles?)

[bareserker]

O.B.E.L. Scouts are a must against Tau,I ran a W.G.with mine armed with Claw and Melta/ Combi.The squad had a power weapon,melta & plasma. Jump pack Johnies also, with W.G. (Claws), the boys with same payload as scouts. I would also run 1/2 empty Rhinos to act as a mobile wall for the J.P's to take cover behind if there is not enough cover.Finally I always had a Ven Dread with TwinLink Las/&Miss Launch. Nowadays drop pods would be handy as well ,and them wolves/Cavalry. Why I always prefered J.P's to Bikers is that they can go over obstacles instead of round em ! You get there fast and furious mit dem J'P's

GOD bless............V

[Ludo]

As far as I know, JOTWW still takes out jump infantry. As with the FAQ stating that jetbikes are affected as they are a type of bike, I'd assumed that jump infantry (and hence the powerful tau units) were affected as a type of infantry. If they were immune, I'd expect the rule would state it. (As it does with vehicles).

 

Given that the fluff involves jump infantry bounding around the battlefield, rather than flying, it seems reasonable as well.

 

That said, murderous hurricane did more damage to the firewarriors camped in some ruins. Furthermore, although Njal wreaked havoc, his main role was as a distraction. I knew he'd be a complete bullet magnet, which allowed me to get to the objectives and take cover. Whilst using him in this way sounds cheesy, tau shooting will tear him to pieces. A couple of plasma rifles and massed pulse rifle fire against a model with T4, W2 and a 2+/4+ save will (and did) do the job nicely.

[Sarapham]

One thing that Jaws very clearly kills well is broadsides though, which can be a pain to bring down otherwise.

[Jonas Stromclaw]

Best thing to do in any case is have a force in his face turn one. Tau HATE that. Get a pack of wolf scouts or two and then my favorite tactic is a dreadnought with a multi melta in a droppod. Drop it right behind his railhead and blow it up. Your dread pays for itself in one turn and any killing after that is just extra. :devil:

 

Secondly, fast assaulters are a must. I like skyclaws with a wolf priest 'cause they're cheap in $ but swiftclaws may actually work better. Just depends on what you have. Long Fangs with missile launchers are nasty too if you can put them in cover, anything else requires a transport. Good luck!

 

Oh, and whoever said not to worry about the railhead's template, it'll kill about 1 in 3 of the marines it touches, and thats if Murphy's Laws are feeling generous. I've lost six greyhunters to the thing in one turn before!

[Lumdin]

JOTWW does not effect jump infantry. Jump infantry is not a subset of infantry. While jetbikes is a subset of bikes and that is why they are effected.

 

Jump infantry has their own category and is not listed as one of the categories that JoTWW can effect.

 

 

But it is very useful against kroot and broadsides. Have taken many out with the power.

[Prophecy]

Yes. Jetpacks are a subset of Jump Infantry. Jump Infantry is not a subset of Infantry. Good point with the broadsides though, they don't have the jetpacks. And I do believe that some Wolf Scout modeling is in order, that will be nice to hop behind their lines and melta bomb/powerfist up some broadsides/hammerheads/skyrays.

 

Personally, I'd prefer to go with the swiftclaws, as you can put a WG with them, but I only have three bikes, and I have something like 20 jump packs.... Is the general consensus that a Wolf Priest is the best option to lead them?

[Ludo]

How annoying. You'd think the rulebook would have made that clear. Whilst jump infantry aren't listed as a specific target of the unit, it seems reasonable to assume they are a subset of infantry, especially given the fact that jetbikes are affected. I gave the codex to my opponent to study, who interpreted in the same way.

 

Oh well, that's one apology to my opponent, and new tactics for Njal. That said, murderous hurricane is still pretty devastating, and tempest's wrath combined with Lord of Tempests should be a thorn in the tau side.

[MagneticFreak]

Agaist Tau, its pretty simple. Sit on the objective, and wait for turn 6.

 

If any Fire Warrior or Suit becomes agressive, just growl. They will flee.

 

:)

[Prophecy]

How annoying. You'd think the rulebook would have made that clear. Whilst jump infantry aren't listed as a specific target of the unit, it seems reasonable to assume they are a subset of infantry, especially given the fact that jetbikes are affected. I gave the codex to my opponent to study, who interpreted in the same way.

 

Oh well, that's one apology to my opponent, and new tactics for Njal. That said, murderous hurricane is still pretty devastating, and tempest's wrath combined with Lord of Tempests should be a thorn in the tau side.

 

Ludo, if have the BRB, go to the page marked "Unit Types", pg 51, I believe (I only have the small AoBR book with me. I think it's the same though). It lists all the different unit types. In order, they are:

 

Infantry (not listed in this section. all the other rule sets are described as how they differ from regular infantry)

Monstrous Creatures

Jump Infantry (Jet Infantry is a sub-type on this page)

Bikes (Jetbikes are a sub-type on this page)

Beasts & Cavalry

Artillery

Vehicles

 

I'm not listing any rules, so I don't believe posting that is against any ToS. Please let me know if I am in error, though.