BAttle Vs Tau

[Emperors Immortals]

Greetings fellow BA, stoic defenders of the imperium that you are,

 

I have a very close army friend arriving in town in a few days as opposed to xmas time with a tau force as opposed to a tyranid force and well be havinga 750 pt encounter to start and considering i know tau are CC-phobic - my questions are ;

 

1. What sort of T value and Ld should i expect to encounter?

 

2; should i take a LR or a couple of dreads considering he says he can take out about 4 vehicles with lucky roles?

 

My army so far is ;

 

Rec

Ras

Tac

DRead DC

DC

2xPriests

 

maybe VV or SG if i havr pts left

 

 

 

PLEASE leave your opinions ESPECIALLY with reall life examples - thankyou brothers :to:

[capnbeer]

I recently massicred a 2000pts combined tau and ultramarines army, 1500pts tau and 500 pts marine.

 

Best thing to use against tau, assualt marines with priest and reclusiarch, over two turns i mutilated calgar, and then the tau players 400pts+ commander and body guard plasma squad of death. Never underestimate fnp and the ability to hit first and hit hard, in that whole engagement i lost 1 marine to calgar shooting and 1 to the plasma squad of death. Give the sergeant a fist for destroying tanks and hope that the dice gods are shining.

 

Im hoping to give these guys a re-match but at 2750pts, including my death company and mephy to see what they can really do.

[Mudpuppet]

I can imagine an all jump pack list would be great against tau, especially vanguard veterans being able to pop next to a powerful ranged unit and then charge it before it even gets the chance to shoot at you.

 

Mudpuppet

[thundrchickn]

there's a lot of different ways to play this. I'd probably take 2 squads of marines with a rhino/razorback with meltaguns power weapon with a librarian and sang priest. Give the libby shield of sang to give your vehicles a 5+ so you have a better chance of your tanks surviving and closing the distance. taking razorbacks will give you the ability to outmanuever him and get some side/rear armor shots.

 

Fire warriors and kroot are jokes compared to RAS so the only thing to worry about are his crisis suits. They'll more than likely open a vehicle or 2 and then give zero armor saves to your troops. That would be another reason to take the libby. In a 750 point game, I can't seem him bringing a hammerhead but maybe a broudside. taking las/plas razorbacks can help negate those armor saves and the las can instant kill them i believe.

 

If you run a lot of tree cover on your tables you can possibly run an all jump army and be competivite as long as you use any and all cover. You wont have to worry about him getting lucky and popping your transports and make you footslog to him. you're gonna soak up a ton of shooting but thats what buildings and trees are meant to block.

 

I'm personally an armor fan myself but at low point games you can only get so much out there and if you only have 2-3 tanks to get shot well he's probably gonna unload a lot into those 2-3 targets.

[Stefoserpent]

I had a battle yesterday against a Tau player. He used the old classic static firepower list , with 48 fire warriors , 6 Broadsides , 8 Crisis and Commander in Crisis battlesuit and one of their tanks with Railgun

 

I used 20 assault Marines , 10 VV ( in 2 squads of 5 marines ) , 5 terminators , 2 Sang Priests , Astorath and 2 predators

 

The VV totally ruined him , they dropped at turn 2 next to his broadsides , totally chopped them , also 3 crisis , the commander and after 2 turns of shooting , the last survivor assaulted and killed 12 fire warriors alone. The rest of the army got chopped by the Assault marines. The Predators were used mostly as" bait" to take away the railgun fire

 

These static tau lists r easily won , cause its a matter of time before the BA Assault marines reach them. Sanguinary Priest's FNP and FC r just overkill against tau , but make sure you reach their lines with minimum loses , and do maximum damage :P

 

I have heard that the tau players in 5th edition have abandoned the Static firepower tactic and insted use the mobility of devilfish etc....I havent played agaist such list , but I believe that the assault marines will reach them eventually :P

 

All things considered , the Tau r one of the easiest opponents for BA. Just keep in mind the orkish saying : Shoot the fighty stuff , fight the shooty stuff , and its all gonna be alright!

 

--EDIT--

 

I forgot to say , that the truly menacing things r those Markerlights...watch out for them and dont over-expose your units to the alien shoots

[Lokied]

I can imagine an all jump pack list would be great against tau, especially vanguard veterans being able to pop next to a powerful ranged unit and then charge it before it even gets the chance to shoot at you.

 

Mudpuppet

Don't do this. If you're friend has any real skill playing Tau, he will realize this tactic and make you pay for it in spades.

 

I have played several games with my Tau against other BA lists (BA on BA just doesn't seem right....). I have not lost an army to them yet. I have 'lost' to them via objectives, (coward BA generals hiding his units from my guns...) But even then I killed over 1500 of his points to my 205.

 

Realize one thing. The BA aren't bringing anything new to the fight against Tau (some of you may not think this, but its true). All the armies out there already make a Bee-line straight for Tau lines with the idea of punching them in the face. Your basic Tau list is designed to beat this type of army. A good Tau player will have a list to slaughter such a force. Especially with the low model-count you get with all them expensive jump packs.

Speaking of all jump pack army: BA army wiped out to the man. Tau took 200pts casualties (mainly from flame preds which were on table at start of game). Nothing else with exception of 1 or 2 marines and 1 boxed (weps blown off and imobile) dred lasted for longer than the turn they deep struck in.

 

Don't do what he will expect. Vary, diversify. Confuse him, then you'll win.

[daboarder]

want a BA list that hurts tau, both mech and footsloggers. My mate litteraly thinks my list is designed to carve through his army.

 

HQ: Libby+JP

Elites: 2xSP,JP,Pw

Troops:2x10RAS, PF, 2xMelta

FA: 2xLS, HB/TML

2x 6xVAS, JP, PF, 2xPW

 

Regularly monsters everything, the trick is to choose how to deploy correctly. against footslogers I'd deploy the RAS,SP and Libby on the board and drop the VAS. Against something like tnak heavy IG I'd Combat squad the RAS into 2xmelta and Priest+Serg and drop everything. Against an army like mech tau or eldar I'd keep the Ras together and drop it all.

 

As for the above comment about nothing new being brought against the tau your forgetting that our VAS are vastly more accurate on the drop and when they come in allowing them to be used to pin down those pesky crisis suits.

[Abraxes]

VV fair well against Broadsides and Crisis...and really, both of those suit marks should be your prime concern. Massed groups of firewarriors can certainly hurt, but they are extremely vulnerable once their mobile armor support is either tied up in CQC or destroyed altogether.

 

If you plan on using marine armor to cross the field, then I suggest taking as much as you can. Tau suit weaponry will make shredded tinfoil of any marine tank if it's caught out in the open for too long. The only exception is a LR, which I've personally had survive 3 full rounds of shooting with 3 Broadsides only to come out on top.

 

If you're not going to go for the CQC kill on his side of the table, then stock up on Las and ML (I have no luck with Plasma) and fire at will. Basic Crisis and Broadside suits only have T4 for defense if I recall correctly. So any hits lucky enough to land may result in insta-kills (of course he may have shield drones to invul-save). Devastators with 4 ML easily fit the bill here and can be added on the cheap (for the most part).

 

Whatever you decide to take, just make sure you don't get caught in the open for too long. Move from cover to cover with whatever you've got and then seize the initiative and keep the pressure on.

 

Kill the alien!

[Crynn]

I can imagine an all jump pack list would be great against tau, especially vanguard veterans being able to pop next to a powerful ranged unit and then charge it before it even gets the chance to shoot at you.

 

Mudpuppet

Don't do this. If you're friend has any real skill playing Tau, he will realize this tactic and make you pay for it in spades.

 

I have played several games with my Tau against other BA lists (BA on BA just doesn't seem right....). I have not lost an army to them yet. I have 'lost' to them via objectives, (coward BA generals hiding his units from my guns...) But even then I killed over 1500 of his points to my 205.

 

Realize one thing. The BA aren't bringing anything new to the fight against Tau (some of you may not think this, but its true). All the armies out there already make a Bee-line straight for Tau lines with the idea of punching them in the face. Your basic Tau list is designed to beat this type of army. A good Tau player will have a list to slaughter such a force. Especially with the low model-count you get with all them expensive jump packs.

Speaking of all jump pack army: BA army wiped out to the man. Tau took 200pts casualties (mainly from flame preds which were on table at start of game). Nothing else with exception of 1 or 2 marines and 1 boxed (weps blown off and imobile) dred lasted for longer than the turn they deep struck in.

 

Don't do what he will expect. Vary, diversify. Confuse him, then you'll win.

 

 

By expensive jump packs, he means 2 points on assault marines so yeah they are just sooo expensive. with sang priests they laugh at pulse rifle fire. don't use vehicles they can be taken out to easy. if you take no vehicles those broad sides and rail heads are pretty much a waste. chaplains libs ruin tau, meph is a one man murder machine against them, they just have no cost effective counter for him. There is a reason tau dont finish at the top of tournaments, because they just aren't that competitive, in fact i would wager you could out shoot tau with blood angels. just tacs sternguard devs and sang priests.

 

Take lots of assault marines and vanguard vets

 

Best of luck,

Crynn

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I agree that jump infantry is the best way to go, especially if the Tau is running lots of vehicles. VV are the perfect choice to snipe crisis suits as well. If you take a mechanized army expect to get shot up as that is what Tau do the best. As stated about using the Sanguinary Priest means you can laugh at their pulse rifles. Should be a walk in the park.

 

0b :)

[jeremy1391]

Sternguard in drop pods at full strength so u can combat squad when u land.

Imagine

3 ten man sternguard squads combat squadding into six units of five each with a combo weapon ...... So u can pump out sixty shots with special ammo or dump whatever one shot weaponry they have which can cripple his army :(

[shan vener]

believe me as a veteran against fighting tau here's all you need dante, 10 man DC with lemartes, and 10 assault marines that's it. none of this fancy stuff. just assault them and all they can really to is hit you with a whiffle bat.

[BigBaals]

Wiped up some tau this morning. vanguard vets, heroic intervention for a dual assault with support from the ten man assault squad/priest/librarian to grant +5 cover/feel no pain/furious charge. My opponent lost his big gunned vehicle to a lascannon shot from a lc/ac pread turn 1, and his squad of 3 rail gun fellas to vanguard on turn 3. Vanguard are absolutely my favorite unit in our codex right next to priests and assault cannon razorbacks. Assault cannon spam and hard hitting assault will dismember a tau opponent.

[donnyb]

believe me as a veteran against fighting tau here's all you need dante, 10 man DC with lemartes, and 10 assault marines that's it. none of this fancy stuff. just assault them and all they can really to is hit you with a whiffle bat.

I agree with this man. The simpler the plan the easier it is to accomplish, and it doesn't get any simpler than this. Jump into the tau engage in CC, game over.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I think that's a bit of an over simplification. Sure those are strong units but two jump squads lead by one HQ is not going to beat a fully costed Tau army unless you are playing versus a complete newb. Jump infantry is the way to go though in my opinion.

 

0b :blush:

[shan vener]

actually the DC was on foot. but they werethe only thing I started with on the table. but there was also sanguinary guard, they didn't do much though.

[Whitefireinferno]

Hmm this is weird I have had no probs with facing BA with my Tau mainly because I know prettymuch what the BA players plans are and my Tau are fully designd to take down MEQ and somebody said Tau have no cost effective way of dealing with Meph? Then what do you call rail guns? But sure the Tau are not the Most compeditive army about *Untill they get a new Codex then say hello to mega beat face shooting of doom* But they can still beat Meq armies rather easily. But as somebody else said BA really do not bring anything New to the Table sure a couple of slightly different tanks that are a bit faster and slightly more Assault marines a smart Tau player should still be able to do what The Tau do unhindered.

[Jonas Stromclaw]

Well, I'm no blood angels player, but tau are one of my most common opponents, particularly at this 750pt level. The two things you have to worry about the most are fireknife armed crisis suits and his hammerheads. Now, being a jump pack crazy son of sanguinius, you'll have no problem running the XV8s to ground, but those hammerhead pieplates are nasty on expensive infantry (yeah I know they aren't AV3, but they kill just from sheer number of hits caused). My favorite trick is to droppod a nice cheap MM dread on the first turn, land it right behind his precious railhead (at 750pt he'll have one, two at most). With a little luck, you can kill it before it ever fires. Even if you don't manage to kill it you then have a unit in his deployment zone to distract him from shooting your army as it crosses the field. Just an old wolf's two cents.

[daboarder]

Well, I'm no blood angels player, but tau are one of my most common opponents, particularly at this 750pt level. The two things you have to worry about the most are fireknife armed crisis suits and his hammerheads. Now, being a jump pack crazy son of sanguinius, you'll have no problem running the XV8s to ground, but those hammerhead pieplates are nasty on expensive infantry (yeah I know they aren't AV3, but they kill just from sheer number of hits caused). My favorite trick is to droppod a nice cheap MM dread on the first turn, land it right behind his precious railhead (at 750pt he'll have one, two at most). With a little luck, you can kill it before it ever fires. Even if you don't manage to kill it you then have a unit in his deployment zone to distract him from shooting your army as it crosses the field. Just an old wolf's two cents.

 

Hence combat squading to give 5 RAS with 2 Melta's that kill a tank on the drop.

[Mudpuppet]

I felt quite bad when i said i thought jump packs would be good against Tau being the newb that i am. But i feel slightly exonerated now after all the comments, so im happy.

 

Mudpuppet

[SnorriSnorrison]

Having faced Tau several times, I don´t think that combat squadding your assault squads is a good idea, except when deployed via drop pod. If you deploy them per deepstrike(JP) you should stick them together. Just like Orks or Nids, Tau will eat combat squads with their massed fire(in case of Orks or `Nids, exchange "fire" with "close combat choppiness").

 

But I agree with the other frater, JP-heavy forces are a nice way to deal with a Tau army - especiall deathcompany. There´s nothing in a Tau force they can´t kill.

 

 

Snorri

[daboarder]

I've seen half a tau army fire at a 5 man combat squad with priest in cover and do scrap all for 2 turns. The idea with cobat squading is to drop the tanks and have enough targets that he cant kill them all. If you have 2 large assualt squads you're going to get those tanks but its not hard for a tau player to kill off a large squad.

[daboarder]

I've seen half a tau army fire at a 5 man combat squad with priest in cover and do scrap all for 2 turns. The idea with cobat squading is to drop the tanks and have enough targets that he cant kill them all. If you have 2 large assualt squads you're going to get those tanks but its not hard for a tau player to kill off a large squad.

[Brother_Kluft]

I have a rather sizable Tau army (around 4-5k ish) and a similarly sized BA army.

 

Tau are no match for BA.

 

I played a Tau player in round 1 of ard'boys and massacred him badly. BA are almost unfair against Tau, especially if you get first turn.

 

Tau need markerlights to be effective, markerlights are massively overpriced in comparison to the new codices. The only cost effective way to field them en masse is with pathfinders. Drop pod dread with a heavy flamer will cripple them.

 

Tau kill primarily by massed str 5 fire. A single sanguinary priest DOUBLES the resilience of a unit vs s5 ap 5 weapons.

 

If the Tau player spreads out his force, drop a unit of jump packers on a flank with a sang priest, , the only thing that can give them reasonable difficulty is a squad of crisis with plasma (very expensive unit) but truthfully not taht effective (you did kill the marker lights right?) One sgt with a fist will wreck a whole squad of suits.

 

If the tau castle up, then use vehicles to give cover and crush him with a focused rush. With 18 inch move rhinos he cannot get away.

 

Something funny to think of

 

Tau BS = 3 Str of rifle is 5 so..

 

1/2 chance to hit x 2/3 chance to wound x 1/3 chance to fail save x 1/2 chance to fail FNP = 0.055 wounds per shot

 

= 18 shots to kill one marine

= 198 shots to kill 10 RAS + priest

= 198 firewarriors (1980 pts) at long range or 99 firewarriors (990 pts) at rapid fire

 

With numbers like that, is it any wonder that Tau have a hard time with BA?

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Tau used to be one of the strongest armies back in 4ed. same as with eldar. Their skimmer tanks were insane.

 

0b :D