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Fighting the Tau Disruption pod


MagicMan

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I don't know how many people are aware, but the Tau got a shiny new toy in this edition, their disruption pod. It gives their tanks the shrouded special rule for five points, which when combined with their jink save gives them a 3+ cover save at distances over 12''.

 

Another small upgrade lets them fire as fast vehicles, so movings to get that jink save is not a problem.

 

 

Now usually i ignore the Tau tanks to focus on their squishy fire warriors and less squishy crisis suits, 1. being objective holders and game winners, and 2. being the painful part of a Tau army.

 

 

However my regular Tau opponent has become wise to my tricks, and started putting his Fire Warriors in devil-fish, and the last game i played against him i had real trouble cracking them open to get at the fish-men cowering inside. All of my AT fire was cover-saved away, the only devil-fish that got opened was krak-grenaded by a tactical squad in close combat.

 

 

Any thoughts as to how to counter these disruption pods? I had the idea of taking a few small scout squads with combi-meltas, and trying to infiltrate them near the tanks, and go for krak grenades if the meltas fail. Or maybe an Assault squad with a power-fist that can hug cover until it catches the tanks. I don't want to drop-pod in some melta Sternguard/Dreads because they'll just get wasted by the entire Tau army and its not worth it to open a transport/destroy a hammerhead.

 

 

Thanks for reading.

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Like the fire warriors get in close, tau are dangerous now.

A fast moving suicide squad is what you need two attack bikes in will be good for popping them don't expect them to survive though.

 

Your not gonna be able to take out the tanks without paying for risking something hit the hammerhead first then the fishes and you might draw enough fire to save your battle line.

 

Just don t try and outshoot the fire warriors and you ll be fine

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Part of the problem is people are still in the mindset that you shouldt only shoot things in 40k and Yth edition made assaulting and transports rubbish.

 

Against Tau you should be closing he distance because Marines will struggle to out shoot them, especially now. This is why Marines should be balanced themed actually, since we aren't the best in assault or shooting but can turn the screw ennough in either to win against armies with less flexibilty (i.e. Most of them).

 

A couple transports can move 18" in a single turn, putting the embarkes units within easy striking distance within a turn. Close ranged fiee or assaults with wreck even Hammerheads. Remember you hit on no worse than 3s against vehicles on the rear armour, and all our units haave krak grenades.

 

That's not to say our games will be easy of course, since for 5pts that is a rediculas upgrade!

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I bought a Massine tau army when the original codex came out. It was even the first army where I had painted every model in my collection. They've been sitting on the shelf for a couple of years now because of the general suckiness of the whole army. It's because of all this love put into a this mangy mutt of an army that I say this... Your tears taste so sweet to me! :P

 

Ok, now that that's out of the way (sorry) just like dark reapers or scouts in cover there is no good, easy counter. The best I can say is to load up on AT weapons and fire away. Hammer away at one until its down and move on to the next. Tau always had some neat tricks but this is probably the first one I'd call nasty.

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Never try and outshoot a Tau tank at range. Its not going to end well. Behind proper cover, the save increases to a 2+ cover save (shrouded stacks with cover saves, and ruins is 4+ cover). Additionally, Tau tanks are front armor 13. You do not want to start a shooting punch for punch against that.

 

Instead, the go for the obvious solution. The disruption pod stops working if you are withing 12". You absolutely must close the distance against all Tau units. In fact, I have yet to find a tau unit that can take on a tactical squad in an assault. If you can charge anything, just do it.

 

If you are within 12" the save drops to a 5+, and becomes much more manageable. Melta and krak grenades work great.

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What does your army look like?

Tau tanks are a flat JOKE to my bikers and assault Marines, no matter what upgrades they take. The lack of fire points keeps those Fire Warriors from overwatching when you drive in and toss krak grenades in the hatches.

Rhino-borne squads have it harder, as they can't assault for a good two turns if they're embarked on Turn One. You're forced to rely on an 18" total Flat Out move, and then weather a turn of Tau shooting.

If you don't like that, you can turn to deepstriking units like Pod-borne Sternguard or Dreads, CML-armed Terminators, etc.

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Well generally i haven't been losing to the Tau, i played two games against them this weekend, and only lost six marines over the course of both.

 

It was just that i found trying to open his devil-fish a real pain in the arse. I thought maybe that some clever tactics had been developed. I used to love using melta scouts in a Multi-melta storm, but the storm can't infiltrate anymore. I suppose drop pods are our only way to get anti-tank up the field quickly now?

 

 

Aside from bikes which i won't be using... I just don't like the models. :)

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Dual Multi-melta speeders are a solid option, as well. They'll be having their own Jink save, and have the movement to get flank shots for better penetration. Plus, they aren't bikes, so maybe you'll like the model better.

 

AC/MM loadout is also a nice option, if you find yourself with lighter armor targets, as the 4 shots from the AC will help overload the cover saves, but it won't help much vs AV 13.

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Guest Drunk Guardian

Deep striking melta FTW.

 

A bonus of melta when dealing with Devilfish is that (especially when spammed) its very likely to cause an explosion which is significant against 12x embarked infantry at T3 4+.

 

That's going to hurt like a mofo and reduce the return fire not insignificantly.

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