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I'm thinking of taking 370point of Tau...


Ishagu

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I'm an Ultra player, as is known. I can't wait for the new codex, but I want to supplement my Marines with 370 points worth of Tau. I really wanted a Knight Titan but I guess it's not going to happen... I'm using the Riptide as added Anti-Air on top of general killing.

 

I plan on running the following kind of Army along with the tactical Doctrine.

 

The general gist of my army is:

 

Sicarius with 4 Plasma Command Squad in Bolterback

Tactical Squad in Rhino

Tactical Squad in Rhino

Sniper Scouts with Telion

Anti Tank Stormraven

2 Vindicators

Aegis Defence Line

 

Tau:

Cadre Fireblade

10 Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles

Riptide with Ion Accelerator, Fusion Blaster, Velocity Tracker, Early Warning Override

 

 

As you can see I plan on advancing on the enemy with the Ultras while the small Tau force and Scouts hang back...

Has anyone used the Riptide in this way, is it a good purchase? Do Tau compliment Space Marines?

 

Is this the right place to discuss allies?

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I have been running tau allies for about six weeks now I would recommend it massively as they are awesome and go well together with my Ultramarines too!

 

I would suggest a bigger Tau force and in fact taking a broadside unit in place of the riptide would make it more effective. The riptide is just one creature, it gets a couple of scary attacks a turn but over all I have found it to be quite lacking and it never does very well for me. Broadsides on the other hand, well that's a different story...

 

3 x Broadsides with high yield missile pods and smart missile system = 12xS7 AP4 twin linked shots, 12xS5 AP4 twin linked shots PER ROUND! 

You then take six missile drones with them and that gives you another 12xS7 AP4 shots which is freaking scary, so a total of 24xS7 AP4 (12 re roll) and 12xS5 shots, so its like 36 shots a round!

 

Buy a commander and stick the neuro chip in there and give the unit of broadsides early warning over ride for interceptor and tank hunters getting re roll failed armor pen on tanks (al la heldrake...) and you have a very very scary unit!

 

Thats how I run mine anyway and would suggest you do the same, take out the riptide, hold off on a vindicator and switch out the fireblade for commander to support the broadsides and hey presto you have a fire line to die for!

 

If this is not appropriate discussion for the forums since it is about Tau please delete this.

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If your army list is 2 armies currently covered by the B&C as allies then you can discuss them wherever it is appropriate for that. But if your allies list contains armies we do not cover (i.e. Xenos and Imperial Guard) then your lists and how best to use your non power armor allies will be restricted to the Tactica and Army List forums. Obviously full Xenos and IG armies won’t be allowed at all. Nor will a Xenos/IG army with Marines/Sisters/Chaos as allies. Because lets be honest, if you are allying with vile Xenos then your Chapter should be hunted down, destroyed and the ashes used to salt the earth.msn-wink.gif

You're both fine. Marine army with Tau allies is definitely allowed.

Unfortunately, having not played with or against the new Tau yet, I can't offer any tactical advise here.

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If you want to play a small static force Broadsides would be a better choice. If you want a mobile force the Riptide is probably the best choice given the limited ally selection bar none. Seriously, a well played riptide can be brutal, and on top of that he does not need a commander attached to make him a huge threat, broadsides on the other hand would. If you do take the riptide I'd suggest dropping either the velocity tracker or EWO for a Stimulant injector. Your almost better off without the velocity tracker if you want to run with the Ion Accelerator since your only good anti air weapon would be the fusion blasters.

 

I'd personally suggest the riptide so you can keep the detachment cheap by just taking a Fireblade and a FW team as the HQ and troop.

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To me, the main strength of the riptide (from having fought against them, not with them) is their ability to fire an accurate str 8 ap2 pie plate that ignores cover, and to do that requires marker lights, which requires more points from your force that only helps the tau section.

 

I think broadsides are a better choice as allies over a riptide, due to the twin linking of their weapons. That unit suggested, while costing a lot, is a lot of str7 shooting that should mess up even armour 13 vehicles (due to tank hunters), I like it :D

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No problem dude, I will be using the broadside combo in a tournament today! The commander does not always have to be attached I use him for other tasks too, such as giving him two marker light drones then target lock so he can fire at a different unit so mark something up for the broadsides then use his missile pod and fushion blaster to shoot something else, they are ace! Just do not get them into combat ha ha, they suck! I would suggest a fire line with warriors close or in front of the broadsides so you can use supporting fire and they would need to assault through the fire warriors to get the broadsides!

 

My TAU allies for a tournament today look like this:-

 

HQ1 : Commander (85) 2x Marker Drone, Neuroweb System Jammer,
Puretide Engram Neurochip, XV08-02 Crisis 'Iridium' Battlesuit,
Missile pod, Fushion blaster, Target lock, Drone controller [194]
 
Troops1 : Fire Warrior squad 10xfire warrior with pulse rifle [90]
 
Fast Attack1 : Pathfinder Team 5xPathfinders with pulse carbines and markerlights [55]
 
Heavysupport1 : XV88 Broadside Team
Broadside Shas'ui, Twin-linked high yeild missile pod, Twin-linked smart missile system, Early warning over ride [70]
Broadside Shas'ui (65), Twin-linked high yeild missle pod, Twin-linked smart missile system, Early warning override [70]
Broadside Shas'ui (65), Twin-linked high yeild missile pod, Twin-linked smart missile system, Early warning override [70]
6 x Missile drone, Boding knife [285]
 
Total [624]

 

Its pretty scary to be honest and has done me really well recently in games! I also run 10sternguard drop pod lysander, sniper scouts, tac and razorback, sky hammer talon, anti air stormraven and a vindicator!

 

Putting the commander with the broadside unit just makes it specialist killers like monster or tanks or what ever, I usually start him there and use the chip to nuke down their threat which is usually heldrakes so you can take tank hunters then he leaves the unit!

 

You can create quite a bubble around your troops with the broadsides too as with interceptor anything within 30' will get smacked with the smart missiles too which can be quite effective against heldrakes or other template flyer weapons!

 

Riptide is very good at this also as it can move about a lot so creating a moving bubble of protection for your ground troops, it can also do quite a lot of damage! It is all up to you really, I've just found the riptide lacking when needed and the broadsides beast, to be honest I will prob drop something else like the vindicator and try the riptide along side the broadsides!! =]

 

Edit: sorry for text wall ha ha!

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I've been looking at creating a Tau allied detachment just using the battleforce.....

 

Shas'O w/ Iridium armour, 2 gun drones, AFP, CIB, drone controller

Bodyguard Crisis Team with missile pods, velocity trackers

Stealth Team with 2 gun drones, burst cannons

12 Fire Warriors

Piranha with Fusion Blaster

 

The Shas'O deploys with the Stealth team, and sits out front, tanking with his 2+ armour save, whilst getting Stealth and Shrouded from the Stealth Team for a 4+ cover save in the open. Due to the presence of the gun drones, the unit is majority T4. The Piranha drops its 2 drones off, and goes tank hunting, whilst the drones sit in front of the Stealth Team for a mobile 5+ cover save, increasing the Shas'O/Stealth squad to a 2+ cover save in the open.

 

The fire warriors hunker down in the backfield, whilst the Bodyguard Team provide mobile anti-air protection.

 

This is obviously for my DA, as our anti-air is a bit naff. For Codex Marines (once the new dex drops) taking off the velocity trackers and adding a Puretide Engram Chip makes the bodyguard team much better at anti-tank.

 

A further alternative is to change the gun drones for marker drones in the Shas'O/Stealth Team, add in Target locks and let them provide markerlight support for the Crisis suits..... 8 x BS5 missiles ignoring cover and rerolling failed penetration rolls is not to be underestimated....

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Like to point out your commander can't deploy with the stealth suits as they have the infiltrate rule. Only Shadowsun could do that. Not that she's a bad choice.

 

Also never forget your High Yield missile broadsides are short ranged when compared to their normal loadout, but they mesh well with pathfinder markerlights at that range.

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Like to point out your commander can't deploy with the stealth suits as they have the infiltrate rule. Only Shadowsun could do that. Not that she's a bad choice.

Just to clarify that I didn't mean that they would Infiltrate, just that they would deploy together normally.

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