Soooo....Tau?

[Brother-Sergeant Bohemond]

would whirlwinds actually start to be useful? 

 

Or taking Landspeeders with HF?

[Chaplain Lucifer]

A whirlwind is always staple choice in my lists,it's very well priced.

As for countermeasures I don't think riptides are that big threat. they only have BS3 after you  take out markerlights and a simple 5 men unit can tie one in close combatfor turns on end.

[march10k]

Yep, I've had WWs in my lists since 3rd edition, while almost nobody around me did...and now they're everywhere, all because of a 20 point haircut...I'm pretty sure that means they're undercosted...maybe 75 points would have been ideal?

 

 

 

Quote

 

Commander Shadowsun

She will join the XV8 crisis team. She then grants the stealth and shrouded (due to her experimental suit). She can also fire her dual fusion blasters, not as twin-linked, meaning two shots meltagun. She can also shoot at different units/targets. Fusion blasters are 18", so beware! Add the JSJ (Jump Shooth Jump) ability the Jet packs have, the range is 24"!

Her warlord trait is that her JSJ in the assault phase is 3D6, instead of 2D6. She grants this to her unit as well of course.

 

XV8 Crisis team

Joined by Shadowsun. The sergeant (Shas'ui), has no weapons. But this doesnt make him useless! He grants re-roll, ignore cover save for the whole unit and anyone joining them.

Together with Shadowsun, they have 2 plasmas, 4 fusion blasters. At range 24" they have 6 AP2/1 shots, and at range 18" they have 8 AP2/1 shots.

In the unit there are 6 Gun drones. They will probably soak up wounds, and add additional shots with their pulse carbines. So there is a chance there will be pinning tests.

 

Team purpose

They will infiltrate, so their position wont be exposed to enemy fire. They will keep safe in between the Riptides, slightly behind them if there are flyers present. This due to a tactic I will cover later.

Using their JSJ, they will be able to shoot from a fairly safe distance (from close combat), and able to jump back into cover. Any cover will do really, as they have stealth and shrouded! So expect 2++ cover save.

Ignoring cover saves, and combined with low AP weapons, makes this unit deadly even if not supported by marker lights. The Commander XV8 will join this unit now and then, when the situation permits it.

 

Counter measure

A unit that is hard to get, in my army atleast. You can't really deep strike behind them, as the two riptides are closeby with their interceptor weapons. Its a risk to deep strike next to them basically.

Long range shooting with massed fire is probably the way to go, or if you have, weapons that ignore cover saves of course (and AP3).

There is no point in wasting low AP weapons on them. Lascannons and such might kill them instantly, but the drones will soak up those wounds.

Heavy bolter teams, plasma cannons, dakka banner with boltguns etc, is what will bring them down. Basically, same thing that brings down terminators when you lack low AP weapons.

Another option is of course close combat. Reaching them with fast units, such as any unit really, would do the trick. Problem is... since this unit is in between the riptides, and probably close to other units, such as the fire warriors with pulse carbines, these units will use supportive fire, meaning they will help in "overwatch".

 

~snort~

 

Nothing my  [PFGed, venerable] crusaderload of deathwing knights fears.  Drive up the center and unload in their face.  A pair of twinlinked plasma blasters won't slow me.  And when the knights are munching the prize in the middle, the Riptides'll be crabbing sideways to ensure that only one of them can be the next meal.

 

Something nobody has really spoken about is how the tau have become any less terrible at capping objectives outside their deployment zone, so...have they become less terrible at that?

[Vash]

Yep, I've had WWs in my lists since 3rd edition, while almost nobody around me did...and now they're everywhere, all because of a 20 point haircut...I'm pretty sure that means they're undercosted...maybe 75 points would have been ideal?   Quote

Commander ShadowsunShe will join the XV8 crisis team. She then grants the stealth and shrouded (due to her experimental suit). She can also fire her dual fusion blasters, not as twin-linked, meaning two shots meltagun. She can also shoot at different units/targets. Fusion blasters are 18", so beware! Add the JSJ (Jump Shooth Jump) ability the Jet packs have, the range is 24"!Her warlord trait is that her JSJ in the assault phase is 3D6, instead of 2D6. She grants this to her unit as well of course. XV8 Crisis teamJoined by Shadowsun. The sergeant (Shas'ui), has no weapons. But this doesnt make him useless! He grants re-roll, ignore cover save for the whole unit and anyone joining them.Together with Shadowsun, they have 2 plasmas, 4 fusion blasters. At range 24" they have 6 AP2/1 shots, and at range 18" they have 8 AP2/1 shots.In the unit there are 6 Gun drones. They will probably soak up wounds, and add additional shots with their pulse carbines. So there is a chance there will be pinning tests. Team purposeThey will infiltrate, so their position wont be exposed to enemy fire. They will keep safe in between the Riptides, slightly behind them if there are flyers present. This due to a tactic I will cover later.Using their JSJ, they will be able to shoot from a fairly safe distance (from close combat), and able to jump back into cover. Any cover will do really, as they have stealth and shrouded! So expect 2++ cover save.Ignoring cover saves, and combined with low AP weapons, makes this unit deadly even if not supported by marker lights. The Commander XV8 will join this unit now and then, when the situation permits it. Counter measureA unit that is hard to get, in my army atleast. You can't really deep strike behind them, as the two riptides are closeby with their interceptor weapons. Its a risk to deep strike next to them basically.Long range shooting with massed fire is probably the way to go, or if you have, weapons that ignore cover saves of course (and AP3).There is no point in wasting low AP weapons on them. Lascannons and such might kill them instantly, but the drones will soak up those wounds.Heavy bolter teams, plasma cannons, dakka banner with boltguns etc, is what will bring them down. Basically, same thing that brings down terminators when you lack low AP weapons.Another option is of course close combat. Reaching them with fast units, such as any unit really, would do the trick. Problem is... since this unit is in between the riptides, and probably close to other units, such as the fire warriors with pulse carbines, these units will use supportive fire, meaning they will help in "overwatch".

 ~snort~ Nothing my  [PFGed, venerable] crusaderload of deathwing knights fears.  Drive up the center and unload in their face.  A pair of twinlinked plasma blasters won't slow me.  And when the knights are munching the prize in the middle, the Riptides'll be crabbing sideways to ensure that only one of them can be the next meal. Something nobody has really spoken about is how the tau have become any less terrible at capping objectives outside their deployment zone, so...have they become less terrible at that?

You got nothing to fear then mate. Getting there is no problem for you either. I guess tau can just lay down and die :)

Everything has its weakness and its good you found yor way to deal with a shadowsun unit. I have no idea what a PFG venerable does to be honest and why he would secure your success.

Drive up the centre and I guess nothing has a chance to take you out. Immortal vehicle or unit?

Then again the syndrome every player has on paper is that he is facing a vacume.

 

Tau are better at holding objectives. While not much better, they are. Tau isn't as static as before. Pulse carbines are now assault 2 and will be more used for units that is made for claiming mid field objectives.

 

Honestly. I don't know what tau players you have met in the past. But they must be pretty bad. Since tau can be played very aggressively in the old dex.

Static gun line got pretty much crushed in 6th editon.

Even in fifth it had its toll.

[Tiger9gamer]

Ironically... one of the best things to fight tau may be the dark talon. With their low initiative, the Rift cannon can blind them all game.

[cielaq]

...and with Blacksun filter they ignoer Blind rule. ;-)

[Raven Angel]

While I haven't finished reading the Tau dex yet my first impression is that the main tactic they will use is to try and saturate the field with more viable targets then we can quickly kill. I think the key to fighting them will be as much about board control as about target priority. With their poor overall leadership value with should be fairly easy to force the Tau to fall back. Keep them out of the center and press them hard and you should be able to run them off the board. Something else to consider is forcing the Tau player to make the same hard choices. In that DA is uniquely equipped for the task.  Our Deathwing and Ravenwing troops can get across the board fast enough to get into charge range forcing the Tau to shoot them or risk getting rolled up. Pair that with Vindicators, Whirlwinds, and Land Raiders to hit hard from range and you should be able to setup a nice Hammer and Anvil situation. If they shoot the tanks you charge them and roll them up. If they shoot the termies and bikes they might not die and the tanks will pound them flat. If they split their fire it is unlikely they will kill alot in 1 round and you get to pound them and charge them.

They other thing to watch for is the Tau squads breaking  after the first round of combat and hanging our squads out to get shot in the next Tau turn.

[Brother-Captain Stacius]

Ok have played the new tau and yeah. Ouch. Riptide with nova charged large blast str 9 ap 2 gun equals deep striking term unit being picked up fairly quickly. Hammerhead with longstride equals foul rail gun to face antics, ethereal giving extra shots to units within 12"?

Super dakka banner. I found the force to be hideous to engage in combat.

[Vash]

Ok have played the new tau and yeah. Ouch. Riptide with nova charged large blast str 9 ap 2 gun equals deep striking term unit being picked up fairly quickly. Hammerhead with longstride equals foul rail gun to face antics, ethereal giving extra shots to units within 12"?

Super dakka banner. I found the force to be hideous to engage in combat.

And thats just scraping the surface.

The ethereal ability is half range +1 shot. meaning 15" which is the rapid fire range of pulse rifles.

There is actually no need to nova charge the Riptide with the Ion Accelerator.

The normal shot or rather blast shot is S8 AP2. Nova charge grants S9 and Ordnance. Not necessary against terminators

Better would be to use the shoot twice with support weapon. If he had plasma rifle at rapid fire range... 4 shots would have been fired, + the Ion accelerator.

[Pbenner]

As a primary Deathwing Player, Tau scares me for this reason:  So much shooting and it falls into 2 catagories (High Volume and High Str/Low AP) - the two things that can really eat Terminators for breakfast.  It'll be fun to play against.  

 

 I think the Farsight Enclave mixup will hurt badly - Commander Farsight and his pack of up to 7 Crisis Suits bodyguards deep striking in with lots of Str 6 AP2 and Str 8 AP1 Melta will also be painful as a precision strike.  I don't see much to do with controlling arrival, but he could come down and eat a 10 man unit of Deathwing with just shooting if kitted right.

 

Every list will see a unit of Pathfinders - Probably 2 of them minimum for most lists.  Longstrike will be common (He's nasty).  High Volume of fire at 15" and with the group Overwatch thing, you're gonna see a lot of incoming fire on the charge from Transports and other units alike.

 

It should be fun to play against - I've guiltily collected Tau for a little bit now, because I like the models, and this gives me a reason to build and play with them a bit.  Oh well.  

 

Best,

 

Paul

[Tiger9gamer]

...and with Blacksun filter they ignoer Blind rule. ;-)

well, shoot the ones without it then! what, are they like frak grenades?

[IndigoJack]

...and with Blacksun filter they ignoer Blind rule. ;-)

 

so shoot firewarriors, pathfinders or kroot. There are plenty of units that don't have blacksun filters.

[Vash]

As a primary Deathwing Player, Tau scares me for this reason:  So much shooting and it falls into 2 catagories (High Volume and High Str/Low AP) - the two things that can really eat Terminators for breakfast.  It'll be fun to play against.  

 

 I think the Farsight Enclave mixup will hurt badly - Commander Farsight and his pack of up to 7 Crisis Suits bodyguards deep striking in with lots of Str 6 AP2 and Str 8 AP1 Melta will also be painful as a precision strike.  I don't see much to do with controlling arrival, but he could come down and eat a 10 man unit of Deathwing with just shooting if kitted right.

 

Every list will see a unit of Pathfinders - Probably 2 of them minimum for most lists.  Longstrike will be common (He's nasty).  High Volume of fire at 15" and with the group Overwatch thing, you're gonna see a lot of incoming fire on the charge from Transports and other units alike.

 

It should be fun to play against - I've guiltily collected Tau for a little bit now, because I like the models, and this gives me a reason to build and play with them a bit.  Oh well.  

 

Best,

 

Paul

Yes for Deathwing players (and Ravenwing players) Tau are a hard nut to crack. This due to your statement, high amount of high strength low AP weapons. The ability to shoot as we arrive from reserve doesn't help us much either. 

 

Pathfinders, yes, in my list I do include 2 units and a marker drone unit as reserve. The general Tau player atm are including two units. 

Longstrike, while he is good, he wont be overused as you might think. The BS upgrade is costly, and the abilities he brings are mainly overwatch. If the enemy has reached your Tau hammerhead in close combat... something has gone wrong or will real soon :)

Its a great character anyhow. 

 

As deathwing I don't really know what to do. I have no real experience with them against Tau. I do not dare to deep strike, unless I deep strike with so much it overwhelms them. 

[march10k]

You got nothing to fear then mate. Getting there is no problem for you either. I guess tau can just lay down and die

Everything has its weakness and its good you found yor way to deal with a shadowsun unit. I have no idea what a PFG venerable does to be honest and why he would secure your success.

Drive up the centre and I guess nothing has a chance to take you out. Immortal vehicle or unit?

Then again the syndrome every player has on paper is that he is facing a vacume.

Tau are better at holding objectives. While not much better, they are. Tau isn't as static as before. Pulse carbines are now assault 2 and will be more used for units that is made for claiming mid field objectives.

Honestly. I don't know what tau players you have met in the past. But they must be pretty bad. Since tau can be played very aggressively in the old dex.

Static gun line got pretty much crushed in 6th editon.

Even in fifth it had its toll.

PFG: power field generator. "venerable" = deathwing vehicle...it's basically the same as venerable when you face anyone but chaos marines (against them, it's better)

So it's a land raider with a 4+ invulnerable save that rerolls on the damage table. Pretty hard to take down (not quite immortal, but it only has to survive one round of shooting to do its job) before it delivers the terminators....and I have two of them in my all-comers list (the PFG is shared, it's a 3" bubble around the bearer)

I am glad to hear about the pulse carbine fix, half of my own FW have them... That does help them with OBJ capping a little, but the 6th edition scoring transport nerf hurts more than that helps, so...they're better than a month ago, but worse than a year ago, overall, I think.

I did play agressively in the old dex...more agro that the idiot "JSJ from long range" crowd, my suits were mainly helios. But my scoring units were kroot (who were mainly just assault screens for the suits, they rarely lived to score) and reserved fish with 6 shas inside. And with 6th gimping the scoring fish...I dunno, maybe units of 12 with carbines are viable...

In any case, I think DA don't have to worry about tau being able to hold an objective...they still can't!

As deathwing I don't really know what to do. I have no real experience with them against Tau. I do not dare to deep strike, unless I deep strike with so much it overwhelms them.

I haven't played against the new tau dex, yet, either...but my standard list is designed to focus my whole army against a carefully chosen portion of the enemy list after two turns of giving the enemy nothing to shoot at except for the aforementioned pair of "augmented" land raiders. I think the best thing to do might be to focus on the scoring units. They're weak, and without them, the tau are left in the precarious position of playing for a tie. My list pumps out four TL assault cannons, four hurri-bolters, and 8 TL stormbolters on the bottom of turn 2, followed by an assault from two squads of termies....normally, I'd focus all of that against the enemy's most killy unit or two (like your shadowsun unit), but against tau...maybe I'd send just the crusaderload of knights that way, and send the other crusader (with belial and assault termies, including a heavy flamer) shas-hunting? The two DWAing terminator squads could almost certainly drop where they're out of range of "shoot them on arrival" plasma/FB fire, but still within 24" of a scoring unit. In any event, I see myself ignoring the XV teams in non-KP games, at least until the scoring scrubs are erradicated.

For more conventional DA, though...I think the key is your heavy support slots. Two WWs to remove infantry in job lots, and a lascannon dev squad to nuke the big mechs from range. That and pray that they buy into the flyer hype and choose the ability to shoot fliers over the ability to shoot arriving reserves!

/edit/

Oh, and the farsight bomb...it would nuke one of my crusaders for sure...and promptly be mulched by the crusader's passengers. Advantage...DA!

[Raven Angel]

Like I said in my earlier post yes take it to them. If you can get DW or RW or both in close and have some good heavy firepower in the back like Land Raiders or Vindicators your opponent will be stuck with a bad choice; kill the stuff about to assault him or kill the stuff about to blow the pojees out of him. If he spreads the fire around he's not likely to do either so make him sweat. put the bikes and termis down on his flanks and run the tanks out of cover up the center after they land. All of the sudden he will have 7 or 8 things he needs to shoot at all at once and will need the rolls of the century to actuality have enough firepower to go around.

[Vash]

Thing is. 4+ save might not do it all the way. The fusion blasters are range 18" now. While not notable on paper it does have a big impact on the field with crisis suits.

And for what I can see there are many fusions in the new tau standard lists. Railheads are not as common anymore. Still there but many opt for ion hammers as they got a boost now.

 

Focusing on troops is of course good. But many new tactics with tau is based on them just hiding. So tau ain't good at objective holding no. But they are more focused in objective grabbing late game or denying with fast/mobile units.

 

My old tau from the old dex also had helion setup and all fire warriors with pulse Carbines. This caught my opponents in a confused state. "Why are they moving forward so aggressively?"

[Aromir]

I must admit i have gotten the completely different impression of the new Tau codex.

 

I haven't tried to play against it yet with my deathwing list (march10k's deathwing list), but I suspect it will be more frustrating for him than it will for me.

 

I mean in the new codex Tau has a serious lack of high strength shooting. They only have two weapons in their entire arsenal that fire shots above the famous strength 8 mark and those two weapons are only available to one unit each.

 

One of them is the good old Rail Gun, which these days are only available to Hammerheads. Tau Players like the Ion Cannon head just as much as the Rail Gun one, due to the AP 3 Large Blast, so unless your opponent knows that he is facing Land Raiders, I doubt you will ever see more than one of these.

 

The other weapon is the nova powered Ion Accelerator, that the Riptide can get. So that means that in order to use it they have to charge up the nova reactor and use the power to charge the weapon. I have no idea how common the Ion Accelerator will be compared to the other weapon options that the riptide has, but i don't see more than one or two pr army.

 

That means that worst you will 3 shots that can hurt your Land Raider, which compared to average of 6(?) lascannon shots you get against space marine and guard, is pretty light.

 

Broadside are out of the game, AP 1 is useless when it only has strength 8, they can never get to the penetration table.

 

Unless they are going to try and glance them to death, Tau really only has a shot at killing Land Raiders up close and personal. That can only be to our advantage.

[Shiodome]

"That means that worst you will 3 shots that can hurt your Land Raider..."

 

it's not reasonable to just discount the large amount of 18" melta weapons.  which are what will actually kill LR's (repeatedly).

[march10k]

 

"That means that worst you will 3 shots that can hurt your Land Raider..."

 

it's not reasonable to just discount the large amount of 18" melta weapons. which are what will actually kill LR's (repeatedly).

Let's do the math. The effective range of 18" melta is 15" (move 6, shoot 9), because without the bonus penetration, AV14 just burps and keeps rolling. So a land raider that's 16" away is effectively immune. Now here's the other side. That land raider can move 6", have terminators disembark 6", and then those terminators can charge...with measuring, it's dead simple to ensure that you never need roll more than a 5 on 2D6 to charge the fusion blaster wielding unit from outside its own effective range. Is that realistic? No. The fusion blaster unit will always want to be more than 20" away at the end of its own turn to deny the charge. It can't get into shooting range of a land raider without first spending a turn in that deadly interval where it can't shoot, but the termies can charge. So, no, FBs are not a threat except when they deepstrike without scatter (farsight bomb). Depending on the unit wielding the FB, even an empty land raider might be able to kill it before it can fire melta at the tank.

 

/edit/

 

Note that I think the FB's range boost is extremely dangerous to the enemies of the tau. It's only the 6" charge range advantage of an assault transport combined with AV14 that makes the land raider immune. Everything else should be scared to death, because it gives FB-armed suits a lot more room to dance around without fear of being charged while pouring on the fire.

[Aromir]

 

"That means that worst you will 3 shots that can hurt your Land Raider..."

 

it's not reasonable to just discount the large amount of 18" melta weapons.  which are what will actually kill LR's (repeatedly).

 

Well they still need to within 9" to actually penetrate. That is what i call up close, if they nail a LR at that distance they unleash a horde of termies on themselves. Getting a fusion blaster within range in turn 1 is pretty hard so, they only come into effect after you have brought you teminators within range their lines, by then killing LR effect your strategy much less.

 

Also Melta weapons are dangerous, but remember Melta weapons first needs to hit, which will in most cases only be half time, then you need to penetrate and for that to happen you need to roll at least 7 and if you brought a PFG that will sort away another half of those hits. Only rolls on 4+ will on the damage table will kill the LR and you can force them to reroll those. So a Melta shot on close range is far from a sure kill.

 

Edit: Just saw march10k's answer, and he said it even better than me.

[L30n1d4s]

Well, one thing to note.... If your Tau opponent has Shadowsun attached to the FB unit, then the Battlesuits can JSJ 3D6" away... That averages just over 10", so if you engage at 9" + 10" for JSJ, the Tau Battlesuits are now 19" away, on average, making them much more difficult to charge with the DW who disembarked from the destroyed LR.

 

I think they ket for DAs here is presenting fast moving threats that Tau can't run away from.... RAS, black knights, and even ASMs come to mind here.

 

@march19k I see your point about being in that "dangerous 15" window before the Tau turn, but sometimes the LRs have to actually move themselves closer to that Tau. I.e. not within charge range, but closer, which then brings Tau into that 15" bubble without being charged. Also, Tau can bubble wrap their FB unit with Kroot, thereby absorbing any Terminator charge with the akroot squad and then still jumping in to kill the LR.

[Aromir]

Well, one thing to note.... If your Tau opponent has Shadowsun attached to the FB unit, then the Battlesuits can JSJ 3D6" away... That averages just over 10", so if you engage at 9" + 10" for JSJ, the Tau Battlesuits are now 19" away, on average, making them much more difficult to charge with the DW who disembarked from the destroyed LR.

 

I think they ket for DAs here is presenting fast moving threats that Tau can't run away from.... RAS, black knights, and even ASMs come to mind here.

 

@march19k I see your point about being in that "dangerous 15" window before the Tau turn, but sometimes the LRs have to actually move themselves closer to that Tau. I.e. not within charge range, but closer, which then brings Tau into that 15" bubble without being charged. Also, Tau can bubble wrap their FB unit with Kroot, thereby absorbing any Terminator charge with the akroot squad and then still jumping in to kill the LR.

 

True but they need to get to the Land Raider as well, and that is a problem in itself, unless the LR has moved, in which case the termies that get out may not be in range of Shadowsun, but they should be in range of a Tau unit and the LR has done it's job.

 

Why would anybody move the LR but not move it within charge range?

[Tanhausen]

Thanks for the effort and time Vash, interesting insight from your comments...specially the counter ways for the units.

[march10k]

 

@march19k I see your point about being in that "dangerous 15" window before the Tau turn, but sometimes the LRs have to actually move themselves closer to that Tau. I.e. not within charge range, but closer, which then brings Tau into that 15" bubble without being charged. Also, Tau can bubble wrap their FB unit with Kroot, thereby absorbing any Terminator charge with the akroot squad and then still jumping in to kill the LR.

Nope.  On one turn, you bring the land raider (crusader, in my case, accept no substitute!) to 15.5" from the FB.  Now he can't get 2D6 pen.  If he's smart, he flees.  If he's dumb, on the next turn, you roll up and eat his lunch with the termies.  And the two hurribolters and the twinlinked assault cannon will shred the kroot screen, by the way. 

 

Land Raider Crusaders were made to herd melta units around the board.  To threaten a land raider with a melta weapon, you have to have scatter-free deepstrike or a bike.  Anything else is too short ranged.

[Vash]

Thanks for the effort and time Vash, interesting insight from your comments...specially the counter ways for the units.

 

No worries. It is actually benefiting me too. I play both Ravenwing and Tau (and GK). So I learn much from listening to both sides. 

 

 

On to the landraider. 

While we are focusing on one Crisis unit with FB, this is true that it wont be enough to secure a dead landraider. 

But I won't agree on that a "smart" tau player won't go into "charge range" to take out the LR. Thing is, in a vacuum the crisis won't, but... the crisis are supported by other units. So, if we "sacrifice" our crisis to blow up the LR, the supporting units will help to take out the cargo inside. 10 Terminators is tough indeed, but it needs to be dealt with no matter what the Tau player does. Running away isn't the answer, as the board will run out of places to hide. 

 

As L30n says, with Shadowsun the unit will probably have 3D6 JSJ move. Making the fusion blasters effective at 15" away and able to retreat probably further than their starting position. 

So in an optimum setting for Tau with Shadowsun, 15" away from the LR, shooting with (in my case 4-5 FB's with re-roll, in supported cases 6 FBs or more) X number of FB's, then retreat around 10" back. Thats a 25" coverage the LR and it's cargo needs to catch if they don't get blown up. 6" move from LR and 6" deployment = 12", + 12" maximum charge range... it isn't enough. 

 

Now this is only the case with Shadowsun attached to a unit. 

And I do know that all this asumption is based on the optimum setting for the writer. We say we do this and it will work, and someone else will counter answer etc. 

Yes, we could stay 15,5" away (or secure that we have 15.5" away). But what stops the Tau from Deep striking? They can still use their JSJ move in the assault phase (if I am not totally wrong about this). Is it a risk for the Tau, yes, but if he has no other options, he might consider it. 

We must also consider the fact of terrain. This means Line of Sight!

We can't charge what we can't see, and Tau will use this to their advantage with their JSJ rule. 

 

I will agree that the PFG LR is a great tool when reading it here. 

But I must ask what that kind of army consists of at 1750 pts. 

a LR isnt cheap :( and neither are the Deathing knights. And if you have two of those units, it sounds like it all eggs in one basket (two in this case). 

 

I am still curious what to do with my Ravenwing though. My general idea was based around outflanking. And if my predictions are right, there will be little room for that. 

The Pathfinders will and have to be my Ravenwings priority target for my bikes to stay alive. Range for Ravenwing is no issue. So what ever can reach the ravenwing, with marker lights (hmm pathfinders not drones), the ravenwing can reach too. 

 

My take on Ravenwing, is that they need to play really aggressively and dare to lose more than usual. Outshooting the Tau wont really happen with Ravenwing.