The crude vehicles rumbled loudly down the beaten roads of the lost Imperial Sector, the sun rising in the distance to light the shadowy city. The smell of Ork fuel was easily distinguishable, not that it was a necessary marker with the sight of several greenskins protruding out of the topless compartments. The column came to brief stop upon sighting the scouts, but that brief moment was superseded almost immediately by war cries and the revving of engines. The Orks had found a target and would like nothing less than to engage it and tear it to shreds.
The Burnas were the first to reach their target, igniting flames that had proven effective at pushing back the avian forces they had faced earlier in the campaign. Massive swathes of burning fuel cut into the improvised cover of the creatures, killing a handful of the scouting party. Instead of a fleeing party, however, the Burnas were met with furious growls as wolf-like creatures pounced out of the mangled building and tore into them. The Burnas fell back under the onslaught, only to be caught and torn to shreds. The vehicles and their cargo were undeterred by the canines, thundering forward nonetheless.
The next instant can only be described as an explosion. A tremor shook the road, and the dust and soot of battles past obscured the road, shielding the scouts from view. Before the pollutants could fully clear, a bright bolt of energy struck outwards. It connected with the foremost Ork vehicle, reducing it to a smoldering wreck in the path of the Ork advance.
The origin of the blast appeared in the smoke. A hulking walker appeared, much like common weapon platforms of the Ork’s enemies, with a few striking differences. Great wings protruded from the suit, and a large spout of green energy spewed violently from its right fist. The walker was crowned in a helmet-like array of odd technology, including odd smoking areas to the sides of its sensor suite.
The Walker’s voice boomed loudly through its speaker suite, assuming a simplistic but effective Ork tongue, “Enemies of the Empire! This planet is the property of the Tau Empire. There is a cost for your trespass and belligerence, and you shall play it in blood!”
The road was lit by a plethora of lights, followed swiftly and lethally by a burst of plasma and a plethora of missiles. There would be no victory for the Orks that day.
In the post before this, I talked about competitive lists VS fun lists. I thought it would be worthwhile to post my preliminary idea of what such a list would look like, how it would work, etc. This may be the path I take with this army, for better or for worse.
So first, the list:
HQ
Fireforge Crisis Commander- Shas'el w/ TL-MP, FB, HWTL -85
Fireforge Crisis Commander- Shas'el w/ TL-MP, FB, HWTL -85
ELITE
Fireknife Crisis Team- Shas'ui TL w/ PR, MP, MT, HWDC; 2x Shas'ui w/ PR, MP, MT; 2x Gun Drones -211
Fireknife Crisis Team- Shas'ui TL w/ PR, MP, MT, HWDC; 2x Shas'ui w/ PR, MP, MT; 2x Gun Drones -211
TROOP
Fire Warriors- 6x Shas'la -60
Kroot-10x Mercs; 7x Hounds -112
Kroot-10x Mercs; 7x Hounds -112
FAST
Piranha Squadron- Piranha w/ FB, TA, FD, DP; Piranha w/ FB, TA, FD -165
Pathfinders-6x Shas'la; Devilfish w/ SMS, DP -177
Pathfinders-6x Shas'la; Devilfish w/ SMS, DP -177
HEAVY
Broadsides- Shas'ui TL /AdvSS, HWDC, HWTL; 2x Shas'ui w/AdvSS; 2x Sh. Drones -280
Hammerhead w/ Railgun, SMS, MT, DP -175
1850
The list has a lot of synergy in it, and I'll be describing it by layer to help illustrate this.
The outmost layer will be a wall of Kroot, joined by one of my Fireforge Commanders. The attached IC will make them harder to run off, which will be helpful as they won't have too much staying power bar lucky terrain and tricks (see below). The Commander adds a little melta and a tankshock deterrent (I will actually put him directly in front of/assault a tank so they must TS him or go around... which is an auto melta-hit).
The second layer is completely identical except for the fact that their cover is nearly assured by the forward unit. Same deal with melta and such. This unit can function as counter-charge if it needs to, but will mostly stay in place.
Layer three are the Suits, who will be jumping in and out of my castle, ensuring cover for themselves whilst avoiding the enemy gaining the same favor. Their role is rather simple; shooting. Broadsides will sit pretty center stage and blast transports to pieces.
Piranhas will start a little behind the suits, and move out early on to block enemy movements and provide cover for my Kroot; it is unwise to underestimate the durability of AV11+cover; and I can see them absorbing a large amount of shots. If neither role is necessary, they will sit back for contesting duties. Flechettes allow them to be a pain to both hordes and vehicles in their quests to disrupt movement.
Seeing as how Markerlights only need to see a sliver of their target and there is no cover from the Valkyrie's Mark, they will sit farther back, and light targets of priority. They will stay still as long as possible, being my last unit to move into a blocking position, bar the suits. Fire Warriors who refuse to stay in reserve will sit with them as well.
Finally come the vehicles; they sit back and provide minimal fire support, but have two important goals. First and foremost, they will act as outflank blockers, covering my sides from enemy attacks if I am forced into a corner deployment. Secondly, they will act as mobile bunkers and objective takers. In KP games, heavily wounded units can shelter in them, and in objective games, they will pickup any maimed Kroot units or my reserved Fire Warrior squad and ferry them to an objective.
Against mass barrage IG or the such, this entire idea kind of goes in the toilet. I have to play loose in such a case; Kroot Outflanking, Suits moving with a escort Devilfish for cover, Pathies in cover, Broadsides making a big lure of themselves while hitting everything they can, Commanders DSing... not as static of a plan in that case, but I'll do what I can.
That's my take on it at least. I am rather new to the idea of kroot wall armies, so if I missed something big or you have a suggestion, please toss it into the comments.
4 comments:
This list is good. I would bring it fully into the foot-slogging realm by trading the hammerhead for a unit of 2 broadsides with drones (around 200 points). That's my preference at least. Hammerheads have been become something of a lackluster unit these days with everyone building lists around beating mech. Plus its the only real tank on the board so he'll be blasted pretty quick. just a thought. Trading the hammerhead for broadsides fits better into the kind of list you're going for in my opinion.
Otherwise I like it. Tank shock is a concern so fusion on the commanders is smart.
1. The Broadsides are great, but I prefer the Hammerhead for two reasons:
a: It allows me to block tankshock and other movement, which you stated correctly is a problem.
b: Hordes hate submunitions and markerlights.
2. As to the Commanders, a preliminary game showed that Broadsides and Pathfinders suffer from more leadership problems than Kroot. I thus may change the two Commanders into a Shadowsun stand-in, to give max leadership to all my squads, but I'm iffy on giving up Missile Pods.
Keep the missile pods. They can't tank shock you when they haven't got any tanks left hurr hurr.
This list should do well, I would just track the effectiveness of the Hammerhead. As that's the only thing in there that is over-priced and you might need to re-access later.
It's solid and I'm sure you'll crush people with this army.
That's the thing though; I kind of wall of Land Raiders and take out all the late tanks... but twice I've then had to deal with a near invincible tank-shocker late game... where the MP won't help.
Also, the leadership boost isn't for tankshocking exactly... I've had one game where my 'sides fled at the loss of their drones, and my most recent one saw my Pathies fire no Markerlights due to getting shot off the board. Shadowsun would solve both these problems, but then I'm afraid my walls might run...
I might replace the Hammerhead with either more Broadsides or, in a rare change, a Skyray. Broadsides are the obvious choice, but the Skyray allows me the Seekers and 'lights while keeping the chassis... I just don't want to buy and paint a Skyray turret (old one is on my COmmander's back!).
And yes, I check my comments at 2 AM.
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