Countering Tau Hammerheads

[SecretStamos]

A friend of mine is starting a 1500pt Tau army. By completion, he plans to have an army consisting of Crisis suits, a Fire warrior squad in a Devilfish, a Kroot Squad, and two Hammerhead tanks with Railguns.

My army consists of two 10 man Tactical squads, a 5 man Sternguard Squad, a Razorback, a Captain, and a Librarian, numbering at 1000pts. For my 1500pt army, I'm also adding two Vindicators and a Terminator Squad.

How can I counter his army? For one thing, I hate tech-armies because they manage to slay my soldiers with few losses. (I'm thinking of cutting back on my tactical marines in favor of another tank for this reason.)

How would I go about killing his Hammerhead tanks? I've considered replacing the Librarian with a Master of the Forge, armed with a conversion beam. At 42-72", the weapon fires the same as a railgun, except it has a template. The Hammerheads will also be equipped with Disruption Pods, furthering my plight.

[templargdt]

One solution would be a drop pod for your sternguard and meltagun one (don't expect the SG to survive the next shooting phase.) Alternatively, give your libby gate of infinity for the sternguard and gate them next to a Hammerhead for meltagun love. You can also deep strike your termies and hit the HH with the terminators heavy weapon (I prefer the cyclone.)

 

If he's not bringing pathfinders or marker drones, cover and smoke will help keep you safe from railgun shots until you reach close combat and demolish the Tau in close combat.

 

Give your sergeants powerfists to insta-kill crisis suits and trash his vehicles in CC.

[Jackelope King]

One solution would be a drop pod for your sternguard and meltagun one (don't expect the SG to survive the next shooting phase.) Alternatively, give your libby gate of infinity for the sternguard and gate them next to a Hammerhead for meltagun love. You can also deep strike your termies and hit the HH with the terminators heavy weapon (I prefer the cyclone.)

 

If he's not bringing pathfinders or marker drones, cover and smoke will help keep you safe from railgun shots until you reach close combat and demolish the Tau in close combat.

 

Give your sergeants powerfists to insta-kill crisis suits and trash his vehicles in CC.

You don't need power fists against Tau. Seriously: you're better off getting stuck in close combat with them, where they can't shoot you.

 

A good Tau player will have slapped Disruption Pods on a Hammerhead, which means constant 4+ cover saves for all your ranged attacks. They're nasty, tough, and hit hard. Above 1500, I sort of prefer Broadsides myself, but I'll always have at least 1-2 Hammerheads in most armies.

 

Now what are they vulnerable to? Honestly, not much. With two Kroot screening, you won't get into melta range until the Kroot are dead (so turn 3 or so). Shoot at them like they're Eldar tanks and shoot to glance. You just want to silence their Railguns, not necessarily kill the tanks, so that means spraying missile launchers and autocannons into the Hammerhead's side armor when it's vulnerable. You're unlikely to get many side armor shots against a good Tau player. If the Tau player doesn't screen adequately with Kroot, and there are gaps for you to park Landspeeders, I think it's a wise idea to fly a MM/HF Speeder or two straight at the Hammerheads. Melta is hard to bring against a Tau army with an adequate Kroot screen, but stand ready to exploit mistakes the Tau player makes.

 

That said, if your opponent is investing a lot of points in Fireknife battlesuits (Missile Pod + Plasma Gun + Multitracker), and if he thinks like I do when I play my Tau, he'll be tickled pink if you start investing a lot of shots in destroying Hammerheads. They're obscenely tough when equipped properly, and can soak up a lot of fire that'd otherwise threaten Crisis Suits. Those are the major killing-power of a Tau army.

[SecretStamos]

I don't want to waste the Sternguard Squad, since their weapons negate 4+ armor saves. I'm thinking that if I send two Vindicators forward and have a Master of the Forge snipe with his conversion beamer, the Hammerheads will be unable to stop either the Vindicators or the Conversion Beamer.

[Gearhead]

I mainly play Tau, so let me help here. His list looks a little different than mine tend to, looks like he's favoring Crisis and Hammerheads more than I do, as I tend toward warriors and Broadsides.

 

Tau laugh at tanks, spamming mech is probably not the greatest idea. Mobility helps a lot, just don't expect it to live too long. Tau have a hard time dealing with large amounts of Power Armor due to a general lack of AP3. Getting in a firefight is not going to go well (unless you're a dedicated Firepower army, like some guard), so smashing face in combat is going to be a good idea. Getting there will not be a good time; as a Tau player, I try to make that part of a fight as slow and painful as possible.

 

Saying he has suits is kind of vague, they're pretty versatile. There's three common setups I'll refer to in more imperial terms; Aggressive, General, and artillery. Aggressive carries a Plasmagun and Meltagun, and is meant for hunting marines. General carries a Plasmagun and Autocannon, and mostly relies on range. It's pretty expensive though. Artillery carries a Twinlinked Autocannon, sometimes a Flamer as well. You need to watch yourself around the Aggressive ones, they can move into their 12" sweet spot, fire, and then jump back. Bikes or Assault marines will catch them though. The other two tend to stay back, so you'll need something fast to catch them since they won't be heading for you. Krak missiles hurt these guys bad; they'll loose both their wounds and get no armor save. The same can be said of Meltaguns, which have an additional use I'll note later.

 

A single Fire warrior squad isn't too much to worry about, mostly used for drop n' pop tactics. Without Markerlight support, a full squad rapid firing gets 12 hits and nine wounds. You'll loose three statistically, but they'll be in assault range. The "Fish of Fury" tactic involved putting the Devilfish in the way and firing under it, but this requires modeling the 'fish higher than normal (and enabling you to shoot back no problem). On that note, anything with a Heavy Bolter statline is a Tau eating machine. Whirlwinds were my least favorite thing as a Tau player.

 

Kroot are pretty good for the buck, and really benefit from cover saves. Even as the Tau's "Assault unit", they're not that good at it and tend to be used as a pillbox unit. With no save and a reliance on cover (and T3), flamers eat them alive and again the Whirlwind comes into play. Assaulting them isn't a bad proposition. They are S4 and have two attacks, but you'll be hitting before them and with T3 and no save, you'll kill quite a few. Even if they cause casualties back, you'll probably still win and their Ld starts at 7. They're not an expensive investment though.

 

Hammerheads are trouble, no question there. They're pretty heavy duty for skimmers and carry some mean guns. I'll tell you something special about D-Pods though; they don't work within 12". What's the range of Meltaguns and the sweet spot for Multi-Meltas? What's the fastest way to get some Melta up in someone's grill? Melta Attack bikes to terrible, terrible things to tanks, and Tau tanks, even with D-pods, are no exception. For this reason, biker armies in general are not good for Tau. Even with a Hammerhead, if melta gets anywhere near it I tend to write it off as a lost unit and adjust my strategy. Aside from D-pods, Tau have no defensive shooting upgrades.

 

Vinidcators work really, really well on most armies; but they'll be a priority target here and they won't be in range for a while. A few turns of Railgun shots will not be their favorite thing. If the brings the Agressive suits, Terminators will only have slightly more protection than regular marines due to their invulns. Bringing Assault Terminators might help out, but they will certainly be overkill in combat versus damn near anything. The Librarian will loose a little utility due to not having any Psychic powers to block, but he'll be able to cast with near impunity. Sternguard are one of the few units that can win a firefight with Tau; Kraken rounds are pretty much purpose made for it. I've fought a beamer MotF before, solved the problem by closing the gap. If I get close, I still get S10 AP1, the beamer does not. Even as much as I don't like seeing them on the table, the Mm/HF Land speeder will wreck us if it gets close. It has the Melta range to get inside the D-Pods and wounds and kills warriors on 2s with the HF. Typhoons likewise cause problems, since they outrange warriors with their anti-infantry shots and can damage tanks pretty well. Tau have no Access to AV 14 whatsoever, and rely on shooting to get damage done. Consider it an accomplishment to even get a glance, since it'll shut down some of his shooting and get you some breathing room.

 

With what you have, this could be tough. You need some serious speed.

[Marshal Wilhelm]

Getting into a shoot out with a Railhead is a bad idea.

 

The disruption pod gives cover when >12" away

The multi-tracker allows it to shoot as a fast vehicle, meaning that it can keep moving 12" away from you so you never close the D-pods range.

 

You really need to get in its face [which is ideal against anything Tau, really]. You can do this by podding. Gate allows for DSing too.

Maybe pod in some Sternguard, wack one and then Gate them over to the other one?

 

DSing Speeders with MM also are solid [and I think a serious contender for a spot in any all-comers list, bring a HF too]

 

Just watch out for getting plasma rifled by the Crisis suits ;)

 

Btw, don't bring Dreads. Railguns eat them.

[Gearhead]

Wilhelm mentioned podding, which is a weird thing for me tsince they rely o forget considering how much it makes my Tau panic. Tau don't respond well to alpha strike, taking out a few key units (the hammerheads, in this case, where all his heavy anti-tank is) will severely cripple the army. Tau can only get special weapons on suits, and heavy weapons on vehicles and broadsides. On that note, the only source of railguns is heavy support. If you silence those slug throwers, you'll have a much easier time. Suits are tricky, but technically slower than bikers or Jump Packers.

[Grey Mage]

A friend of mine is starting a 1500pt Tau army. By completion, he plans to have an army consisting of Crisis suits, a Fire warrior squad in a Devilfish, a Kroot Squad, and two Hammerhead tanks with Railguns.

My army consists of two 10 man Tactical squads, a 5 man Sternguard Squad, a Razorback, a Captain, and a Librarian, numbering at 1000pts. For my 1500pt army, I'm also adding two Vindicators and a Terminator Squad.

How can I counter his army? For one thing, I hate tech-armies because they manage to slay my soldiers with few losses. (I'm thinking of cutting back on my tactical marines in favor of another tank for this reason.)

How would I go about killing his Hammerhead tanks? I've considered replacing the Librarian with a Master of the Forge, armed with a conversion beam. At 42-72", the weapon fires the same as a railgun, except it has a template. The Hammerheads will also be equipped with Disruption Pods, furthering my plight.

Why, why in the emperors name, are you considering fielding MORE tanks against the best anti tank guns in the game?

 

No, you want to start taking out Your enemy Hammerheads early? Get yourself a Venerable Dreadnaught with a MM in a DP- itll run you around 210pts, but with a heavy flamer is effective against infantry, itll wreck the hammerhead at close range- where the disruption pod is ineffective- and be a threat to his home objectives.

 

Then proceed to use your tac squads and your third troops choice to outmaneuver him, wreck his kroot, and win 2/3 games because hell be unable to hold objectives.

 

For the next 500pts with what you have there I reccommend:

 

Vendread- MM, EA, HV, DP- 225pts. Death from above!

Whirlwind- 85pts. Trash his kroot even in cover, slay whole fire warrior squads outright!

5 Scouts- PF- 100pts. Cheap, Scoring, Killy- what more could you want?

Landspeeder Storm- HF-60pts. Get those scouts into assault turn 1!

EA for both your tac rhinos- 30pts. Stop worrying about those pulse rifles slowing you down.

 

500pts.

[Mysticaria]

If you decide to ignore the hammerheads early and focus on the rest of the army, you might want to consider Tactical Terminators. With CMLs they are awesome against Tau. You'll be the hardest CC unit on the table, and you'll have lots of krak missiles that instakill suits and can also splash frags at any kroot, pathfinders, or warriors that are bunched up. Of course, once you get in range of the storm bolters you are going to make a real impression on any kroot or fire warriors. With proper spacing they aren't even hurt too bad by railguns. You also have the option to Deep strike if you wanted to, although I imagine that would be rare. This is one of those matchups where tactical terminators really shine.

 

Anyway, I like the missile spamming strategy against Tau. With Typhoon and CMLs, plus any tactical squads and other support,you could play a pretty decent amount of missiles. Like J/K said, glance the hammerhead and you are good to go for that turn shooting at everything else. That's how I usually win against Tau, kill all their troops. During the course of the game I'll usually end up getting lucky once or twice and knock one down, but I've had games where I've killed everything on the table but the lasy hammerhead.

 

-Myst

[DerekLee688]

In my army and MY collection I'd pick two: bikes, MM-attack bikes, sternguard in pod, or 2 sets of 2 typhoons(one on either side of board).

Even the lame C:SM 1 attack SM bikers are monsters to firewarriors and such. The only two things that typhoons can't get a decent side shot on are land raiders and monoliths.

 

In my limited experience, a gating Librarian isn't relaiable enough to catch a hammerhead. If you try, keep in mind they may drift out of range and take one or two turns to get back into action. That wouldn't be so bad if this was an unlimited turn game.

[Brother Captain Ed]

DerekLee688 has a good point with bikes. Admittedly, the only Tau player in my area is less than skilled, but I generally run a full squad of fast attack bikers with 2x Meltas and an AB w/MM against him. Between regular cover and 3++ from flat out, you can weather the Tau shooting better than you might think. Also, you can put melta guns where you want them (i.e. insta-killing suits and shooting at hammerheads and such).

 

But, the best thing about them is that, if you're lucky, you can catch and annihilate his troop choices. Tau don't like marines of any kind in CC, but T5 marines are nearly invincible. Once thier troops are gone, go to ground on the objectives and wait it out. It's hard to win games without scoring units! :)