How to cope with 5 Riptide Tau

[Axagoras]

plasma and grav shots needed to kill a riptide (assuming fired by a bs 4 model)
riptide with just a 5++ save: 16.7 plasma / 13.5 grav
riptide with 5++ and fnp: 25.3 / 20.25 grav
riptide with 3++: 33.75 plasma / 27 grav
riptide with 3++ and fnp: 50.6 plasma / 40.48

assuming the riptide gets its invul up or has fnp those number looks really bad for the sheer amount of plasma or grav shoots needed to kill it since even a biker command squad with 5 grav guns doesnt fire enough to do the job

 

[Jolemai]

Librarian with Bike, Force Axe and Biomancy should do the job. I would also go for a heavy alpha strike list but I may be bias as I play C:BA.

[Lysere]

I give a buddy of mine a hard time for playing his Riptides en mass in local games, I know he wants the army to be competitive but I simply have no fun fighting more than two Riptides. When he does pull them out I tend to find it's better to just tarpit them with a unit that can actually harm it and focus on the rest of the Tau forces. If you want to kill it you need to hit it hard and fast, if you don't kill it outright you might as well have shot or assaulted something else.

[knife&fork]

Like all Tau they are really really bad at CC. They're 'only' T6 as well, so any marine unit making it into combat should eventually sweep it or kill it. 

[Toldavf]

That's just not true it will drive off any marine unit without a powerfist comfortably.

[Toldavf]

Just seen forge worlds latest variant makes the regular riptide look tame if you ignore this one you will have a bad day. http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/New_Stuff/TAU_XV109_YVAHRA_BATTLESUIT.html its also a fast attack choice because reasons I miss the days when anything with this kind of fire power was heavy support.

 

So who wants to fight a bound list with 9 riptide suits?

[Sheesh Mode]

It also has a maximum range of twelve inches. Keep that in mind as you move to assault it. 

[Toldavf]

What assault? it just swooped.

[Axagoras]

um read it again bro... for a movement phase it moves like a FMC, then it lands to shoot and stand there during your turn. its main gun with ripple fire will 1 shot ANY vehicle in the game (besides supers) with 4-6 krak missiles that inflict haywire hits as well... But, with just 4 wounds and only a 4++ save AT best vs shooting its a fair amount easier to gun down. Especially with grav guns cause at 18 inches its only got a 5++ save so even with fnp 5 grav guns will nearly kill it. and bound armies with 9 riptides come in at 2150 points for NO upgrades, a etheral and 4 naked crisis suits to fill the troops requirement (1 of 1 and 1 of 1) and at that point level I can easily run 3 scout squads in storms , a libby with 5 snipers, a reaver titan who fires 8 D shots a turn and ignores haywire on a 4+ with a imperial knight lancer. That is a bound army too.

[Toldavf]

It moves as swooping all the swooping rules apply and there's nothing to say otherwise ther then vector strike.

 

Most of the swooping rules specifically name flying monstrous creature (it isnt one) can't wait to see what raw enthusiasts do with that (im aware its still experimental im not suggesting that pretty much an entire page of rules don't apply to it, though some will) 

 

Consider that they don't for a moment you have a MC that can assault turn one and has blistering and I mean blistering fire power.

 

As for tank busting you'd use this unit to decimate your opponents elite so cracking it ceases to be possible.

 

Guess I am fear mongering a bit and its probably not as bad as im making out but its still really threatening.

[Axagoras]

well your also right in the same sense of its tau, and just like eldar both codices are stupid broke. Personally I just run a list that is meant to beat tau and eldar and when I fight other codices my list usually can handle it and thats how i deal with them. cause if you arnt prepared to deal with them then gg

[Toldavf]

That's what i try to do to cant wait till necrons and blood angels are out of the way so they have a chance to bring them in line.

[Sheesh Mode]

well your also right in the same sense of its tau, and just like eldar both codices are stupid broke. Personally I just run a list that is meant to beat tau and eldar and when I fight other codices my list usually can handle it and thats how i deal with them. cause if you arnt prepared to deal with them then gg

From personal experience and Torrent of Fire results, I have learned Tau are not broken. They have difficulty against heavy mechanized and hoards unless their lists are more focused to combat those armies. Lack of template weapons and poor ballistic skills. It takes a lot of support for Tau heavy weaponry to work effectively thus we can take advantage of that by using powerful vehicles, a multitude of units, or infiltrate and eliminate their support. It all depends. 

 

I am going to ask our local tau player to proxy this monster for our next game together. I will judge for myself whether or not it is nearly as disgusting as people claim.

[Lysere]

That's just not true it will drive off any marine unit without a powerfist comfortably.

 

It'll take it multiple turns to kill any marine unit in close combat even with above average rolls, literally any unit can hold up a riptide in assault for several turns at the very least and it has no way to get away. If it's a Farsight Riptide with the upgrade then it'll take it even longer to kill anything since it would need 5s to hit pretty much anything except other Tau in CC. Also a Sergeant with a simple Melta bomb or power axe/fist can easily start taking off a few wounds while you wait for either him to break, or your unit to finally die.

[Axagoras]

well lets assume no power axe or the such since no one i see runs power weapons on marine sgts. the krak grenades do .5 wounds to the tide and if theres a melta bomb it does anywhere from .12 to .37 wounds a turn. and the riptide will do 3 attacks and kill 1.25 marines a turn for 2.5 every game turn. Now that sounds like a great way to tie one up but thats assuming 10 guys survive long enough to charge AND dont die to interceptor/supporting fire. I would only waste scouts to tie up a riptide because by the time you grind it out unless all 10 made it into cc the riptide had cleaned the squad up.

edit: math has a power axe on a vet sgt with a pistol doing .11 more wounds a turn over a melta bomb

[BassWave]

You know, Forge World has done a good job in keeping things in balance recently. The exception has been their riptide variants. Seriously, what the hell?? Their first variant was also extremely absurd when it's experimental rules were released. Thankfully it was nerfed to sane levels. I expect the same for this new variant. For only 230 points you get an extremely tough nut to crack that can fly, has a ton of armor ignoring/vehicle melting shots, and it can jump out of close combat... What a giant middle finger to everyone who plays against Tau. Also, it's leadership 9 with BS 4? Why? Is the brain of a space marine Sargent implanted in their somewhere??

[knife&fork]

It doesn't really matter if the average wound output is poor.

You'll most likely stay in combat until the unit is gone and the riptide only needs a few bad rolls to get swept. Grinding down all the wounds is not what we hope for unless it's already damaged or we assaulted with some kind of dedicated CC unit.

Poor ws, average ld and low number of attacks is a really bad combination if you get the chance to catch in assault. 

 

Losing 1-2 marines a turn to a riptide is a fair trade for keeping it busy. Even better if the combat happens on top of an objective.

[Axagoras]

well this riptide is really easy to kill with ranged fire compared to the normal one, 1 less wound and a 5++ or 4++ withen 12 at best vs shots. So im happy that it doesnt have a 3++ save vs shooting lol

[Sheesh Mode]

Fellows look, read this:

 

Vectored Thrust Array

At the beginning of any of the controlling player’s Movement 

phases, a Y’vahra battlesuit may  choose to move as though it 

was a Swooping Monstrous Creature for that phase. As this 

move represents a long bounding leap rather than true flight, 

the Y’vahra battlesuit does not gain the Vector Strike special rule 

while moving in this fashion. This special movement may not be 

used in two consecutive turns.

 

 

I have no doubts I will be able to assault it without issue. It's short range and relatively low wound-count ensure it will die fairly quickly to most things my army can mobilize against it. 

[GreyCrow]

The way I see it is that you can't expect to kill all 5 Riptides in 2 turns, even with very dedicated firepower.

 

Since you play Scars, the idea I could see working would be to get them to move in order to break his gunline, destroy the rest of the army (especially his pathfinders or marker drones that buff up the Riptides like crazy) and make sure to focus fire to kill one or 2 Riptides tops, but the ones that are most annoying. If you're marked, Jink won't help at all unfortunately.

 

Because you're fast, aim to get to close combat as soon as possible, especially against his weaker units, heavily using Hit & Run to decide when and where you are in combat. He won't be able to shoot at units that are in melee so you'll deny some of his firepower that way. In addition a squad of 10 marines can tarpit a Riptide for 4 to 5 turns, so you could shoot, go to melee, die a bit for 2 turns, hit and run the next turn, shoot and go back.

 

Try to set the pace at which the battle goes, and use late game objective grabbing with Troops choices bikes to zoom through the table. If your board is terrain heavy, make sure the Riptides have to come get you so you can break his gunline. Finally, if terrain is light, use each Riptide to block the line of sight of the others to force them to move : they are towering machines that take up a large part of the field of view, especially if they are close to one another !

[Sheesh Mode]

 Finally, if terrain is light, use each Riptide to block the line of sight of the others to force them to move : they are towering machines that take up a large part of the field of view, especially if they are close to one another !

I used this strategy to force Tau into a corner of the map, thereby limiting their mobility and ability to attack a target from multiple angles. It worked beautifully. 

[Axagoras]

they can fire from any point on the model per non vehicle rules, so if a ankle can see you they can shoot and you just get a 5+ cover save

[Sheesh Mode]

That's cool. If they are going to go to all the effort to hide from my army I will busy myself with more important targets, like objectives and enemy troops.

[crazyterran]

Invisible Grav Cents with Tiggy and a Chapter Master? Throw in Coteaz and/or a Ordo Xenos inquisitor.

 

Fight cheese with cheese.

[Kaedes Nex]

they can fire from any point on the model per non vehicle rules, so if a ankle can see you they can shoot and you just get a 5+ cover save

 

Damned xenos and their ankle blasters.