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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

1850 and 2000 point Kauyon lists; also, the Hammerhead

HQ
Shadowsun -175
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
Deathrain Crisis Team- Shas’ui w/ TL-MP, DC; 2x Shas’ui w/ TL-MP, BSF; 2x Gun Drones -155
TROOP
Fire Warriors- 6x Shas'la -60
Kroot-10x Mercs; 3x Hounds -88
Kroot-10x Mercs; 7x Hounds -112
FAST
Piranha Squadron- Piranha w/ FB, TA; Piranha w/ FB, TA -140
Pathfinders-6x Shas'la; Devilfish w/ DP -157
Pathfinders-6x Shas'la; Devilfish w/ DP -157
HEAVY
Broadsides- Shas'ui TL w/ AdvSS, HWDC, HWTL, HWBSF; 1x Shas'ui w/AdvSS; 2x Gun Drones -193
Broadsides- Shas'ui TL w/ AdvSS, HWDC, HWTL; 1x Shas'ui w/AdvSS; 2x Gun Drones -190
1850

So, I discussed earlier with you all my growing disdain for the Hammerhead. This is what came of that. Originally, the plan was to lose the head and get either two more sides or a Deathrain team. Instead, I found the points for another Broadside AND a Deathrain team... just had to drop a few hounds and a handful of rather useless upgrades.

My 2000 point list uses similar ideas:
HQ
Shadowsun -175
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
Deathrain Crisis Team- Shas’ui w/ TL-MP, DC; 2x Shas’ui w/ TL-MP, BSF; 2x Gun Drones -155
TROOP
Fire Warriors- 6x Shas'la -60
Kroot-10x Mercs; 3x Hounds -88
Kroot-10x Mercs; 7x Hounds -112
FAST
Piranha Squadron- Piranha w/ FB, TA, DP; Piranha w/ FB, TA -145
Pathfinders-6x Shas'la; Devilfish w/ DP -157
Pathfinders-5x Shas'la; Devilfish w/ DP -145
HEAVY
Broadsides- Shas'ui TL w/ AdvSS, HWDC, HWTL; 1x Shas'ui w/AdvSS; 2x Gun Drones -190
Broadsides- Shas'ui TL w/ AdvSS, HWDC, HWTL; 1x Shas'ui w/AdvSS; 2x Gun Drones -190
2x Sniper Drone Team -160
2000
The Sniper Drones add some extra anti-infantry firepower and a net gain of one Markerlight. I am thinking of instead going the route of upgrading the Deathrains to Fireknives (48 points) and buying something nice instead, but I don't really see what would be worth buying. So it is Sniper Drones for now.


As to the loss of the Hammerhead, I have a few things to say on the matter:
-The Railgun does not pull it's weight as a flanking, threatening anti-tank platform.
-The submunition is terrible. I'll get to that below. 
-The contesting ability is useful, but it is easily melted at these ranges and ins't fast enough nor sneaky enough to pull it off against more intelligent players.

To 1&3, you will all probably nod your head. But 2? How can I say that the pie plate of doom is bad?
Let's look at some comparisons. First off, against a spread enemy formation (you know, the types good players use when they see templates?) the template can only really hit 3 enemies. Let's just assume, for the sake of argument, that you always get a hit with it.
So the Hammerhead gets 3 hits with S6 at AP4.
Now let's take the output of the Deathrains, shall we? They hit approximately 4.5 times, with higher Strength, and same AP. They have less range, but it will rarely come into play. Note that even with the ablative Drones (which I didn't take into account for shooting) the Deathrains still come out cheaper than most Hammerheads.

Now the Sniper Team. Assuming the same as before:
Hammerhead hits three times.
Sniper Drones (6 shots between teams) hit 3 times.
Wounds the same amount.
But SDT has AP3 and a chance to pin. 
Remember this is all assuming no scatter.

So the Hammerhead cannot match the firepower of these units. In addition, its only advantage is its speed, which is the same speed as the Deathrain and whilst being faster than the stationary Sniper Drones, rarely comes into use until late game contesting.

Thoughts/Comments/Critiques?

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Hammerhead Tank? SMS? List musings.

I've been working with my list lately, and I've started to notice... my Hammerhead tank is not pulling its weight. With the points I throw into my Hammerhead, I can almost afford another two Broadsides without Shield Drones, or I can definitely afford a squad of Deathrains, fully equipped, both of which would add to my firepower immensely.
Furthermore, the SMS on my Pathfnder Devilfish hasn't really come into play... not that I expected it to, I only tossed it on because I didn't have anywhere real to put the points. If I drop those as well, the prospective Broadsides can grab some Shield Drones and other goodies. Alternatively, the prospective Deathrains can bloom into fully armed Fireknives, giving me a massive amount of anti-infantry weaponry.

What to do? I'm leaning towards the extra Railguns from the Broadsides right now, as 5 Railguns in addition to all my missiles will solve any tank problem I have. It could be argued that the Crisis Suits bring effective anti-tank as well, with more infantry killing power, but I'm not sure that I feel entirely safe with only one unit holding Railguns. Despite cover, Shield Drones, and leadership boosts, I am terrified of my Broadsides being singled out and me losing my best way to deal with heavy tanks. With two Broadside squads, I can finally play a dual firebase list effectively as well.
On the other hand, against all but high AV vehicles, the missiles are more effective overall. The plasma would be an excellent addition as well, as it would make my offensive force overwhelming powerful.

My feel now is that I should take the Broadsides for the extra AT, and the Deathrains or Fireknives at 2000. I could easily reduce a Kroot unit to find the points for firepower..
Thoughts? I'd love suggestions here, I feel I'm close to maxing out my firepower.

I'm torn right now.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Battle for Savation

After careful deliberation, I have decided not to participate in Battle for Salvation. The amount of money and time I would have to put into my army to get it fully ready and painted for the tournament is beyond my capability at this time and registering now whilst my army is incomplete seems wrong to me; I may take someone else's spot who is .
That being said, I may still go to the tournament. I enjoy watching games almost as much as I like playing them, and it will be a nice way to meet fellow bloggers. I may not be going for sure, but I will do my best to plan ahead and get there.
Good luck to all the players who are participating!

Laying traps: DOW Deployment 2 (2nd Turn Deployment)

Scenario: Dawn of War (or similar), Any mission type
Enemy forces: Anything that wants to assault you. So anything.

This deployment option attempts to form your castle as quickly as possible, just like in every formation. The downside to this one is that you can be pushed back early on, giving you problems of space,especially if the unit pushing you back is an offensive threat (guess what particular HQ I'm thinking about).
Anyways, it starts out fairly simple; you move your Kroot into the outer shell of the castle, and wait:

Your opponent then gets a choice; should he fall back or attack you with his deployed unit? If the enemy falls back to regroup, he gives you time to build the full castle, which is bad. So in the next picture I assumed he ran up and attempted to rapidfire the first line. This would draw fire as his other nits came on board, and hopefully run off my first Kroot.
In the above picture, I assume he does not run off the Kroot, as it statistically is unlikely, but the formation doesn't suffer too greatly from the loss of the first wall. The proximity of the attacking enemy allows an almost certain death, even through night-fighting.



Your vehicles can't fit behind the wall nearly as well, due to your original castle being pushed back to 6" tall. Instead, they come in on the sides, and f you can gain midfield, they'll slink back into place. Piranhas move forward to get ready to melt or blockade part of the incoming force.
Blow the close by enemy to hell. It isn't as if you'll get anything else thanks to night-fighting.
The castle than practically plays as normal, save for a little less space.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Marshal Wilhelm

Marshal Wilhelm has brought up some very good points in the recent comments section about Dawn of War, and I think that the length and thought put into them deserve both credit and response. Marshal Wilhelm said:
"You don't like DoW?
Interesting.

With Templars, it is very annoying. You are a mêlée army you have to cover much of the board to beat face.
That makes Annihilation hard against someone who has no reason to close with you.
C&C is also frustrating. Joe Foe has his objective all but off the TT and you have to cover 48" to get there, unless he hasn't killed your 2 TROOPS + HQ, which can reduce the distance to 24-42" away.
This makes Seize Ground the only desirable mission for a mêlée army.
With a shooty army, DoW can be good. Very good.

If you deploy first, you push his guys back to within 6" of his edge.
You have gained 6" more than you would with Pitched battle set-up against his initial forces, and 12" more against the rest.

T1: Kroot long shoot they enemy TROOPS [providing they are foot]
The rest of your forces come on.
12" for Fish chassis. 24" for Piranhas [if warranted] 6+d6" for Infantry.
Suits 12+d6"
End of T1, his stuff is in position [12ish" on] and so is yours. Night fight done with.
You have 24+" between you and him, just like if you deployed via Pitched Battle.
As most guys rush-to-crush Tau, one less turn for them to cover the TT.
Not good or good?

If he deploys first, his initial force gets mugged by your whole army,
AND
you come on so you can be in range of his initial force with Suits and Fish chassis but also as far away from the bulk of his subsequent forces.

For example, playing against Templars:
Imagine a clump of Rhinos in the middle.
1] He brings his guys on to the left of them. So you attack his Rhino clump from the right.
The distance between you and his subsequent forces is increased.
2] He brings his guys straight behind them. You can still attack from the right [or left] and the distance [being a triangle] is larger.
or
you can deploy directly in front of the Rhino clump and his subsequent guys will have to drive around their carcasses. Also increasing the distance.
3] He brings his guys on in two parts and on either side of the Rhino clump. He is now as close as he can be to your guys with one part, but quite far away with the other part.
Beautiful! Destroy him in detail!"

Wilhelm also brought up some interesting theory on Broadsides, but I will wait to answer that until I get around to the Broadside unit analysis, if you don't mind. 


Now for the response out. I'll be re-quoting throughout:
With Templars, it is very annoying. You are a mêlée army you have to cover much of the board to beat face.
That makes Annihilation hard against someone who has no reason to close with you

You note that there is one less turn for the enemy to get to us in Annihilation, meaning problems for assault oriented armies. I will concede that point, but note a necessary side of that; in objectives, there is one less turn for the Tau to weaken the enemy before they have to move on objectives. In an objective game, unfortunately placed objectives can allow assault armies to simply wait in ambush and bear the storm... Fritz's Harlequins come to mind as a perfect example of this, whilst other armies have to survive in different ways, such as reserves, going to ground, etc.


If you deploy first, you push his guys back to within 6" of his edge.
You have gained 6" more than you would with Pitched battle set-up against his initial forces, and 12" more against the rest.

You note that I should push back enemies. This is precisely right, but it comes at the cost of my forward Kroot often enough, and that is too early a death for my comfort. Still, it is how we must play.
You note that I gained area, but also note that due to a lack of ability to shoot, I also lose time. It is a fairly even trade off, but it is not a decision I get to make.


T1: Kroot long shoot they enemy TROOPS [providing they are foot]
The rest of your forces come on.
12" for Fish chassis. 24" for Piranhas [if warranted] 6+d6" for Infantry.
Suits 12+d6"
End of T1, his stuff is in position [12ish" on] and so is yours. Night fight done with.
You have 24+" between you and him, just like if you deployed via Pitched Battle.
As most guys rush-to-crush Tau, one less turn for them to cover the TT.
Not good or good?

Kroot will shoot downfield always if they stay up front... otherwise they fall back.
You are right in stating that the proposed scenario is good, but I still worry about the units that can break it. For example: I often play against Chaos Marines. A Lash Prince can bring the Kroot int assault range and, if he is lucky, lock himself in there. If this happens, I am unable to shoot the beast at my doorstep turn one, and then it can get rid of my second wall. This leaves me in an inferior Mont'ka, with a deadly beast breathing down my neck and another nearby (not to mention the Marines and Oblits on route). This is the worst case scenario, yes, but it is one that Dawn of War allows, and that I sit through many a time.
Overall, Dawn of War screws practically everyone. Shooty armies lose turns of shooting, assaulty armies lose space... I honestly think it is the worst deployment type of them all.


For example, playing against Templars:
Imagine a clump of Rhinos in the middle.
1] He brings his guys on to the left of them. So you attack his Rhino clump from the right.
The distance between you and his subsequent forces is increased.
2] He brings his guys straight behind them. You can still attack from the right [or left] and the distance [being a triangle] is larger.
or
you can deploy directly in front of the Rhino clump and his subsequent guys will have to drive around their carcasses. Also increasing the distance.
3] He brings his guys on in two parts and on either side of the Rhino clump. He is now as close as he can be to your guys with one part, but quite far away with the other part.
Beautiful! Destroy him in detail!"

Well said, and what I attempt. Many a time a Marine player attempting a cascading cover formation against me gets blockaded nearly completely by a wreckage and a Piranha. Making your opponent's footprint work against him is incredibly useful.

Tau Alliance

Though I'm sure that you all have heard of him, Old Shatter Hands runs a pretty effective Tau blog at The Tau of War, and has recently given me a shout out. So, as a token of appreciation, and even though I'm sure you all know about it already, I have added a new feature to the blog.
A new gadget named "The Tau Alliance" should now be present in the sidebar, with a permanent link to Tau of War. I'll be adding sites such as NockerGeek's as well, and any other up and running Tau blog that I often discuss with or reference to.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Laying traps: DOW Deployment 1 (1st Turn Deployment)

Scenario: Dawn of War (or similar), Any mission type
Enemy forces: Anything that wants to assault you. So anything.

Dawn of War is my least favorite deployment type, by far. For one, I need Adv.S.S. on my Broadsides almost exclusively because of it, I can't light things up first turn, and I have to deal with Night-Fighting when trying to hit enemy transports. Dawn of War also effectively shaves a turn off the game, a turn needed to whittle down the enemy before moving out to contest, capture or finish the enemy off. Those problems, coupled with the ability of problem HQs such as Daemon Princes (One of the only units in the game able to assault through the 18" barrier thanks to Lash) being right up in your face first turn, leaves a lot to be desired for as a Tau general.
That all being said, I have come up with two deployment options for this dreaded scenario; one for taking the first turn and one for taking the second. This is the former.
Assuming that you gain first turn, you want to take advantage of the fact that the enemy has to deploy 18" away from you, whilst being wary of Infiltrators. You also want to set up in a way that disallows prospective Infiltrators from getting behind your lines.
The main idea behind this formation is that you will deploy your forward Kroot formation up, but leave the majority of the enemy forces far back and the deployed ones dead, whilst forming your castle. The formation starts like so:


In the back, we see the beginnings of the castle; Shadowsun is on board, giving you at least the semblance of a threat to vehicles, though a small one at that. Your backfield Kroot are set up in their standard shielding position, giving cover and slight assault protection to your incoming units.
The forward Kroot are deployed far up, to push the enemy formation as far back as they can go. Each model provides an 18" buffer against the enemy.
To illustrate just how much of the board is covered by this formation, I've put together this picture below. The blue area is made up of a group of circles with 18" radii. No enemy can deploy in the blue area, and none can infiltrate there if they are visible.



As you can probably tell, this covers quite a bit of the area on the map. The only enemies your opponent will be able to target when he comes in are the Kroot, and only the deployed troops will be able to rapidfire them.
Finally, on your first turn, you bring in your castle and aim to hit whatever is on the board (night-fighting will nerf almost all shooting here).
Depending on preference, you can either leave your forward Kroot up as a skirmish line (a role in which they will probably perish), or fall them back and keep them close by.
From here on, the formation plays like the Pitched Battle castles. Block and shoot.


Thoughts?/Questions?/Responses?/Critiques?

Blogger

Blogger just updated image posting (along with some other things), so that means that my pics will be bigger and easier to decipher now!
Speaking of which, Dawn of War deployment is on its way.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Laying traps: Pitched Battle, Deployment 3 (Heavy Deepstrike Defense)

Tossing this one up, as it is rather short.
Scenario: Pitched Battle (or similar), Any mission type

Enemy forces: Used against heavy deepstrike, namely Drop Pod forces, preferably little to no backfield outflankers, whatever for Outflankers and Infiltrators.

This deployment attempts to neutralize the advantage of deepstriking melta forces from wrecking your vehicles early on or killing off a squad of suits with no cover, or (in rare cases) straight up assaulting you.
The deployment looks something like so:
I do not show Fire Warriors here, but they sit by the middlemost Devilfish, and hop in to avoid trouble.
The Kroot make a full bubble around the forces, giving enough space between themselves and your vehicles that melta range cannot be established. The Crisis Suits are protected by cover saves, as melta will probably reach them regardless of position.
The rest of the game is simple... stay in formation, blockade against and fire upon the enemy as they appear. Once the remainder of the force shows up, you no longer need walls everywhere... meaning a Kroot squad can likely, but not always, be dedicated to assault or scoring in a devilfish.
Remember that Drop Pod armies specifically gain their ability at a cost; they are slow afterwards, meaning in objectives you can use Piranhas and Devilfish to threaten to score. Furthermore, Drop Pods are asking to be melted for easy points in KP games, a task that you can set your Piranhas and Shadowsun to, provided they don't take away from blockading and leading, respectively.
This setup is weaker (but not weak) to frontal attacks, so use it only when you expect heavy deepstriking forces. Luckily, this formation does not take long to move back to the traditional Pitched Battle setup if your opponent decides to drop empty pods or otherwise not deepstrike.
Furthermore, this formation suffers severely against backfield outflankers, leaving you two choices if these appear in your opponent's army in anything but minuscule numbers:
1. Push forward Turn 1, and deploy your Gun Drones as free walls against the threat.
2. Deploy in formation 2. This may leave you in a load of trouble, but you can likely push forward with ease if the enemy has backfielders and deepstrikers.

Thoughts?/Questions?/Responses?/Critiques?

Also, if you want me to respond to a particular deployment setup (such as a Battle Mission, a tournament mission, or any of the above where terrain bothered you, give me an example of what you mean, and I'll queue it up.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Laying traps: Pitched Battle, Deployment 2 (Backfield Defense)

Scenario: Pitched Battle (or similar), Any mission type
Enemy forces: Used against deepstrike (not fully deepstriking, but with some forces) and backfield outflanking forces (which can't be in its entirety), whatever for Outflankers and Infiltrators.

The idea of this formation is to setup against split formations using a partial forward force utilizing backfield outflanking or deepstriking force. These Hammer and Anvil forces will bypass a lack in backfield defense and hurt your heavy-hitters, or your mobile vehicles. I'm thinking of Drop Pod meltas or Wolf Scouts with the same.

Your deployment will look something like this:

Here, the deployment is mostly like the former one, yet instead of infiltrating the second Kroot line they are folded up in the back of your formation. This offers no extra defense against first turn deep-strikers, but will help protect your rear units as you move out.
As the rest of your force moves forward, the Kroot unfurl. Not including running, the Kroot can reach the positions below. 'Sides assumed 4", Pathfinders obviously scouted, Fire Warriors in tank.
Whilst this is not a perfect formation of the bat, it can help deter backfield outflankers and some deepstrikers. The seemingly empty space and "undefended" Hammerhead are some tricks I often use to try to cause deepstrikers to come down in that area, only to have them at best get the Hammerhead, and get killed, or at best scatter into oblivion. Whilst the Hammerhead would normally be used for mobile contesting later game, most deepstriking armies lack the continuing mobility for this to be much of a threat.
On the next turn, the position closes up fully, allowing a fully reactive defense of your firebase:
I show Piranhas moving out in this, but they don't have to at all.
Note how the Kroot are spaced out... Backfield Outflankers can't hit anything with melta besides Kroot. Furthermore, there is little Deepstrike room either; Fire Warriors can be redeployed to fill space if needed, but the safety of the Devilfish is useful here. The list than plays as normal.
Note that this is not made to stop a mass of deepstrikers or Backfielders, but it is a useful trick for delaying those disruption units and keeping hold of the game.

Thoughts?/Questions?/Responses?/Critiques?

Also, if you want me to respond to a particular deployment setup (such as a Battle Mission, a tournament mission, or any of the above where terrain bothered you, give me an example of what you mean, and I'll queue it up.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

For future reference...

This is the list I will be using in my Kauyon deployment examples. It is a simple variation of my Kroot Wall list, giving up a few missiles for survivability.

HQ
Shadowsun -175
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; Piranha w/ FB, TA, FD -160
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


Saturday, September 18, 2010

Laying traps: Pitched Battle, Deployment 1

Scenario: Pitched Battle (or similar), Any mission type
Enemy Forces: Very little to no Deepstrikers, Very little to no Backfield Outflankers, and preferably no Infiltrators, though the last one really matters little.

This setup is my standard for Pitched Battle, and is my go to deployment against direct forces (forces that prefer to be on the field turn 1, or come on on their side of the field, and either rush or shoot me). This covers the vast majority of armies in the competitive scene these days... Razorback spam coming to mind.

I've put together a picture of what my standard deployment would be:

I understand that his may be hard to see, so I've provided a zoomed version:
The units here are my standard 1850 Kauyon/Kroot Wall list, save for a change in HQ; Shadowsun has replaced the two Commanders, trading ablative wounds and a few missiles for a fully Leadership 10 firebase.
Anyways, the idea behind this is that, without the threat of backfield enemies, and the enemies only popping in on your flanks and front, your are fully protected.
You will note that the forward Kroot need to be infiltrated; this is normally not a problem, but enemy infiltrators can mess with this a tad.
This army will move upfield on Turn 1, and attempt to get into optimal range for your Crisis Suits as early as possible. The idea is to move your Kroot line up and mess with an opposing charge immediately, whilst bearing down on the enemy with your full firepower. When the enemy enters your sweet spot, you will fall back again, and continually hit him with rapidfire strikes.
Your first and foremost objective in this is to demech your opponent. Infantry is very little to no threat to you, as the Kroot wall will protect you from their assault and you can strand them midfield.
A picture of your movement:
Once you have sufficiently thinned out enemy resistance, any remaining Kroot as well as the Fire Warriors can now grab objectives.
In this picture I show no movement of the Pathfinders, but note that they can Scout up and not lose much in terms of firepower...just note that they may be left behind if and when you fall back, and that they could be in trouble if the enemy seizes.

Against similarly castled or shooty armies, sending in the first wave of Kroot to mess with your opponent is useful, as it will disrupt their formation whilst you keep your cover giving wall intact. Against barrage heavy armies, you would be wise to spread this formation slightly to avoid massive amounts of pie-plates.

That is the gist of that deployment.
Thoughts/Criticisms/Suggestions/Questions?

Friday, September 17, 2010

Laying traps: Deployment options for Kauyon


Deployment is a huge part of the game, and one that should be thoroughly understood.
It was once said that in chess that one should, "Play the opening like a book, the middle game like a magician, and the endgame like a machine". I honestly believe that this applies to 40k as well.
40k is, more than anything, about being in control of the flow of the game. Every time you are placed in a situation you aren't sure how to handle, your control can easily slip to your opponent.
If you allow this to happen before the first turn of the game, you will need to be ridiculously more skilled in every other area to pull off a win. And chances are, the difference won't be that large.

This segment is to give the deployments that, in my opinion, are the most effective deployment options for Tau in the majority of situations. Whilst every deployment option has its downsides and weaknesses, not every deployment option is a catch all deployment, which is why I will be looking at multiple different deployment options depending specifically on the deployment type, and the enemy units (specifically how they may deploy).
Note that I will NOT be taking into account terrain. This may seem odd, but it is important, as terrain is a constantly shifting part of the game, and I cannot account for every possible setting. Instead, these deployment options are made to be modular; models are not set in stone, and, for example, you are perfectly able to move your Broadsides to a better fire lane if there is terrain in their line of sight. Furthermore, terrain may (and should) be used to benefit you. Buildings and impassable terrain may make excellent Markerlight nests or roadblocks, while a forest becomes and obvious place to build your flak line.

The first of these will be up soon, and it will have pictures.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Rumours?

Rumours of a Tau codex have come through, started by Dante76 on Warseer.

View the original thread here: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2

Also, discussion thread at 40kOnline here:http://www.40konline.com/community/index.php?topic=205133.0

Through a new source, who with hindsight turned out to be pretty accurate with Blood Angels and Skaven....

Pencilled in release date of Aug 2011

New Alien allies
All metal sets to plastic (Pathfinder, Krootox, Vespids)
Possible new tank
Changes to Hammerhead Railgun rules. Essentially draws a line across table hitting everything in line. Multiple pen through vehicles, only stopped by a glancing hit.
Changes to markerlights. Point system. 1 Markerlight point = + 1BS, 2 Markerlight points = reroll to wound/hit 3 = Difficult Terrain test (blinded by the lights?). Cannot be stacked. So cant have reroll to wound and reroll to hit at 4 points.
Battle Suits. A plug and play system. Essentially streamlined. Pick two guns and a skill or two skills a gun. New models might have interchangeable arms similar to Killa Kans....


On a side line, yes other armies might deserve attention quicker, but Tau currently are a: majority plastic b: play well currently.

More to come soon....

I'm not getting too excited, as there were rumors about half a year ago as well, but nothing substantial. Keeping my hopes up though.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Leading the Charge! Ethereals



Ethereals are often among the the most hated units of the Tau Empire by the gaming community in general. Common wisdom would state that one should never take an Ethereal in any list expecting to win. Very much like how Necrons were always seen as an army you could phase out to beat, a Tau army with an Ethereal is portrayed to have a similar problem; kill the Ethereal and send half the army running.
This massive downside would probably sit fine with most Tau players if they got a tough model with the deal. The thing is, an Ethereal clocks in at just above a chunk of coal in terms of utility and slightly under wafer in terms of durability. The Ethereal lacks an armor save... or a save of any type. He has only two wounds, and a low Toughness. Not the epitome of toughness. The Ethereal also drops the ball by being the only Tau unit outside of Shield Drones and puppies to lack a gun.

The Ethereal has some definite perks, however; first and foremost being that he offers a re-roll to any leadership test taken by a Tau unit that can see him. He also makes any unit he joins fearless, increasing the durability against shooting of the unit he hides in by quite a bit. He adds a very small close combat punch, and can purchase Shield or Gun Drones. When an Ethereal's unit is whittled down, he can move into a vehicle;while not actively using his power at the time, it will save the problem of you running off the table.

The Ethereal can be fielded on the table one of two ways to be effective:
1. In sight, out of sight: An Ethereal will find a piece of cover ahead or to the side of your army, blocking enemy sight to him whilst allowing him to be visible to the rest of the army. A Devilfish that has landed can actually cover him completely whilst showing him to comrades to the sides; a useful thing to remember if you have, say, a Pathfinder Devilfish waiting to pick up reserved Fire Warriors. Do NOT do this if the enemy has barrage weapons.
2. In a unit: A team of Broadsides makes a great home for an Ethereal; strong, placed in the backfield, and now Fearless, the Broadsides will take quite a few hits for the Ethereal. Just beware being hit with massive amounts of hits and wounds getting to the Ethereal.Using Broadsides over, say, Kroot or Pathfinders, has the added bonus of having the Ethereal wounded as if T4.

That's all for the Ethereal.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Turbo: Gun Drone Squadrons

Gun Drones are a little used unit, again competing with the far superior Pathfinders and Piranhas. The main problem, however, is not that Gun Drones are bad, but that we shouldn't paying full price for them in most cases; A piranha squadron will bring you a small squad for free, other vehicles can bring pairs, and they can also accompany Crisis Teams for a little firepower and ablative wounds for 2pts cheaper a piece.
In their squadron form, either formed via ejection from vehicles or simply purchased, Gun Drones have a variety of uses:
-Gun Drones are often used as "glue" for wall, using their expendable mass to fill in where Kroot have fallen.
-Gun Drones can move around to act as mobile cover for other units, giving cover saves or slowing would-be assault units.
-Gun Drones have low priority on enemy lists, meaning that they can often flank the enemy position if you present the opponent a distraction. Their carbines can be an effective weapon for slowing AV10.
-Gun Drones rarely deal enough damage to cause substantial chaos, but they have one large upside to their weapons; pinning. Firing your Gun Drones at an important enemy unit gives you a small chance to pin. While not reliable, it is a useful bonus that should be thought of every once and a while.

Gun Drones that are purchased in squadron form can Deepstrike, which makes them reaching annoying positions much easier. Deepstriking allows instant access to rear armor, and allows access to backfield enemy heavy weapons. Note that Gun Drones (like Shadowsun) don't suffer from the XV8's inability to jump after deepstriking.

Gun Drones may also find a niche in my proposed "mobile wall". Making up the bulk of the proposed Stealth Wall, the squadrons themselves may be useful in a similar way. While only 8 men strong, they are a cheap option... though this, again, is overshadowed by the Piranha, as they bring the drones necessary while making the needed blockades themselves.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Mobile Roadblocks?

All right, I never really rapidfire posts, but this is a cool moment for me.
I had just suggested the use of Vespids or Gun Drones as a mobile walling unit, but now I think I have a better idea of one:
Stealth Teams.
Filling out a Stealth Team with 6 men and 12 Drones costs 300, not much more than two walls of Kroot, but fully mobile, nearly immune to ranged firepower, resistant to other guns, and able to stretch a distance equivalent to a single Kroot Wall. In addition, it can put out some withering firepower on enemy units that move in to assault you.

I'm just thinking... could this be a way to use a fully mobile Kauyon strategy? Using the Stealth Team as your Wall/Lure, and bringing them into the range of mass Crisis and S5 fire. The wall also can be used to Outflank the same way a Kroot Wall can, or Infiltrate up like they would as well.
It is a bit expensive for a sacrificial unit, but it has its values.

I think I'm going to try this out, it sounds like fun. May be a path back into using the speed of Mont'ka with the lure of the Kauyon.

Turbo: The Swarm

The Vespid are among the most hated and most underused Tau units in the game.
Their range is terrible, they lack the ability to JSJ like other airborne terrors in the Tau Empire, their guns do surprisingly little damage, and they have little to no armor.
Why would anyone use our bug-like allies?
Honestly, outside of "THESE ARE SO AWESOME THEY MUST BE SPAMMED!!!!1!1!" I can't give any real reason to use them. They compete with Pathfinders and Piranhas, two of the most useful units in our codex for the purposes of force multiplication, while the Piranhas also double as effective melta carriers.
For those of you that actually want to use Vespids, the following tips and tactics are for you:

1. If you want to use Vespids, choose your army in such away that everything you have supports or draws fire away from the bugs. This can include maxing out on Vespid, as the easiest way to increasing their offensive output is to attack en masse.
2. Be willing to accept that against anything that isn't a Marine, you will probably will end up using them as expensive and fast speedbump units. You have to come to terms with the fact that Orks don't give a damn about your AP3.
3. Make sure you can hold down the enemy. If you can bring a lot of pinning weapons, do so. AFP commander, Sniper Drones, Carbines, etc. IF the enemy can't counterattack your Vespids, you have stopped their first big weakness from coming into play.
4. Use Devilfishes as mobile terrain. This can help seal off one unit in your opponent's army; with a combination of Vespids and other firepower can kill off the target squad whilst making it difficult for other dogs to target you.

There are two tactics that can be utilized with the Stingwings, but there is another brainchild of mine that I have yet to test which I will also be posting here:
1. First strategy is the swarm. It is rather simple, and uses multiple Vespid squads to achieve its goal. You bring in your first squad and fire on the enemy from cover, leaving the squad open to retribution. Meanwhile, move some other squads nearby. When they enemy moves in, you ambush them the next turn with a mass Vespid shoot-assault combination The high initiative of Vespid and their massed firepower can wipe a unit of Marines in most cases.
2. Second is the Bug Bomb, which is simple. Deepstrike them into a piece of cover occupied by a weakened enemy and finish them off.

Now here comes my brainchild, completely untested, and born from recent debate:
Seeing as how the Mont'ka rarely uses Pathfinders, the slot is open for Gun Drones and Vespids.
So I got to thinking... can Vespids or Gun Drones be used as if they were fully mobile Kroot Walls? It is something I HAVE to test out; the sad thing is that they lack the numbers to spread out as much, but a full squad of Vespid or Gun Drones have merit in walling capabilities.
Sadly, I lack means to try the Vespids right now, so I'm going to ask a favor; will a Mont'ka player try this out? I'm going to check out the viability of Gun Drone Squads for this.

Anyways, that's all I have for you for our Wasp-like friends.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Pic/vid tutorials?

I mentioned this to Kroxitau, but I'm going to use this as an overall announcement.

If any of you would like a visual guide to a concept or a more in depth explanation, etc., shoot me a comment/message/etc. Preferably a comment.
I'll do my best to get a decent guide up.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

My response to Nocker Geek's Mont'ka article: Redux: Concluding Arguments?

NockerGeek has recently revised his article on Mont'ka vs Kauyon, adding new arguments and moving away from the less effective ones. However, he is still off on some areas, and so this is, again, a counter-counter-point. He has stated it is his last post, so I will just toss this down and it will likely end roundabouts there, unless he pops back in or someone else wants to take up the mantle.
Instead of going paragraph to paragraph I'm going to go issue to issue:

Tethered to cover/Making our own cover:
This is a misconception; The Kroot do not need cover, as anyone shooting at them is simply wasting their bullets, and the survivability of the Kroot is not the purpose of their positioning. The first line is vulnerable to first turn, turn 1, alpha-strike, but it will be in cover turn 2 or bottom of 1, because of what I will describe below.
The second line is behind the first, meaning automatic cover. These two walls give cover to everything behind them; this is the very definition of making our own cover.
At the beginning of the Kauyou player's first turn, if shooting is expected, the Piranhas move out, blocking clear LOS to the first line of Kroot. They are now in cover. The Piranhas can gain cover via either flatout or disruption. Everything has a cover save. Crisis Suits, both lines of Kroot, Pathfinders, Broadsides. Suits can jump out. Broadsides are hitting tanks or MCs, meaning the shooting through a unit rule does not apply.
So the Kauyon MAXIMIZES cover; a large amount for you, and no self-inflicted cover on the enemy; meaning they have to tether themselves or take indirect routes... and even then Pathies can strip it away.

Mont'ka can give cover to everything via D.Pods and running away... but if they get anything within 12" you're in trouble, specifically because that thing is likely a meltagun.
Note also that the Mont'ka requires retreat from melta-carriers to stay alive; and since melta is so prevalent, that is a lot of retreating to do.

Fire Bad:
Flamers are incredibly overrated, and that says something because most of the internet hates them already. To do significant damage to my likely strung out line, you'd have to be right up next to the Kroot and spray sideways... a task that would have had you within rapidfire of my Crisis Suits the turn before turn, even with Jump Packs (unless you DS'd in rightnext my Kroot and whole army, but I encourage that idiocy against me). Then you have to deal with me shooting after, so:
1) You somehow moved a unit through rapidfire of two Fireknife units boosted with Markerlights.
2) You spend your last surviving turn flaming kroot.
3) You get rapidfired AGAIN.

Seeing as how that unit must have been rather expensive to effectively live to GET to me, or at least have been paying for a Deepstrike ability... you are at a loss even if you do flame my Kroot.
Then I throw in the tidbit of information that even with optimal positioning, strung out Kroot will only grant you 3-4 flamer hits (you need 5 to cause morale on 17-man squads)... yeah, that doesn't work.
And I KNOW someone would mention other weaponry in the squad, but honestly... how does it survive to get there? And why would anyone take a flamer oriented squad anyways? To get beatdown by mech?

Assault Worse/Assault not as bad
As to your talk about assaulters vs Kroot lines:
1) A decent general will shift the Kroot line to center near a suspected attack... or even give them no other option than to do so by surrounding them! The Kroot WANT to absorb that assault, leaving them in the open for our guns. Speaking of which...
2) We don't anchor to cover, not normally at least. If we do, your consolidate won't be enough to reach it if you are hitting the edge of the line, no way in hell.

As to Mont'ka being "not so bad" in CC... I admit that the tanks can be hardy due o the hit on 6s rule. The problem is that the squad assaulting you is now in position to perpetually assault, and thus perpetually melta, your vehicle. Also, if that melta (I assume it's there because it always is) immobilized you, your tank is now made of wafer and balloons.
Furthermore, your tanks are not as expendable as my Kroot... they contain juicy Fire Warriors, whom you praise later for their ability to score, and fun Gun Drone kill points.
My Kroot give you scorers I planned to lose, and a fistful of plasma and missiles.

Around, Over, or Through
Don't forget under! Sneaky Tyranids.
But yeah, this is really not a problem.
Jumpers: They can't jump over the wall because against jump infantry I'll puff out all my units to take up maximum space, and thus there will be no area they can legally jump into... meaning landing front of my line and assaulting Kroot like everyone else. Also, these guys can't hop in transports, meaning that I can be hitting them since turn 1.
Outflanking: Won't do crap. I'm either in the middle of the board so they have to walk through like everyone else, or I'm in the corner with a vehicle blockage plugging the wall, meaning that when they come in the fight... Kroot. Like everyone else.
Infiltrators: These guys. Here's the thing... I have Kroot. They can't get within 18" of said Kroot. The Kroot are often INFILTRATED farther forward, or at least placed far up. meaning they are basically not doing anything special.
Deep Strikers: See what I did in Jump Infantry? That. But with added fun of scattering amidst me and blowing up. Against a DS heavy army, I'll castle up in the corner or put my walls fully around myself. Against a random DS unit in there? It can't assault first turn unless you took Vanguards (good luck making your 300 point power armor unit work, bro! Got an Honour Guard?) they can't assault me that turn, meaning I just smash them. No big deal.

By the by... how does Mont'ka deal with this? My Mont'ka always had problems with those tricky Wolf Scouts with melta. Have you ever faced a Chaos Termie squad with combi-meltas deepstriking in? What about Multimelta/Meltagun Oblits? What about Logan with Relentless, splitfiring, Multi-melta LongFangs popping out of a drop pod? What about melta in drop pods in general? What about Scouting Veterans with melta hitting you first turn? Same with Deffkoptas?
Mont'ka has problems with these. Kauyon can laugh them all off with Kroot Walls.

Fire Lanes Required/Making our own Fire Lanes
So your problem with the Kauyon is that we have to make a killzone? All joking aside:
1) My entire army can shift 6" in any direction, with the Broadsides lagging around slightly. My Crisis Suits and Broadsides are just as mobile as Mont'ka Crisis Suits and Broadsides. The only units that can "outspeed" me and "make their own fire lanes" are Mont'ka's dual or triple Hammerheads... I have one as well.
2) If LOS either way is really bad, then I don't need too many Kroot for cover, do I? Meaning I can keep one back for a later assault blocking role and move one farther forward as a lure into my sights.
3) Bad LOS will even screw the Kauyon... more so, in fact, because the denser the terrain, the more LOS is blocked, the easier it is to get into effective melta range.
4) When they hit my line of Kroot, I will see them. While this not the best scenario, and bad LOS screws with Tau, I can still reliably draw them to me, assuming they aren't Guard. Mont'ka can as well, but every sacrifice is more costly.

Support Dependency/Support-Independent
Quite frankly, this is the worst argument throughout.
First off, let's look at the fallacy that Kauyon uses less guns...
A) The Kauyon has access to the cheaper, stationary units for both Railguns and Markerlights. This is true... point for point, our 'lights and Railguns are cheaper.
B) The Crisis Suits for Mont'ka nd the Crisis Suits for Kauyon are priced equally.
C) The Kauyon often spend less on Troops than the Mont'ka does. Luckily for us, NockerGeek, we see the perfect example of that in our two lists; you run two minimum Fire Warriors in cheap Devilfish (310 total). I run the minimum 6 Fire Warriors in reserve, and two 17man Kroot units (284 total).
D) Based on C, we know that the Kauyon has slightly more points to spend on Troops, and one more scoring unit than the Mont'ka in this case; though Mont'ka could add another, it would simply accentuate the difference in cost of troops.
E) Based on A and B, we know that the Kauyon player can afford more bullets than the Mont'ka player, point for point.
F) Based on D and E, one can thus conclude that Kauyon lists can easily hold more firepower, if they'd like.

Our two lists show an anomaly in this, however; your proposed 1750 (mused about here: http://www.nockergeek.net/2010/05/20/somethings-got-to-give/) would have more suits than me. Why is that?
The reason is because I purchased Devilfishes with the Pathfinders. This is not a detriment; one is necessary, but the other one is just useful; blocking, acting as a backup, tank-shocking to contest, etc.
If I had dropped a single Pathfinder squad and its Devilfish, I could afford a THIRD Fireknife squad, factoring in the difference between our troops as well. I could afford another Hammerhead or a Broadside squad. I could even grab a damned Skyray For now, I like the extra 'fish and redundant 'lights. But note that the Kauyon is NOT outgunned.
This is not to mention the comparative survivability of our units, specifically the slow moving Broadsides and Pathfinders the Mont'ka is so keen to leave in the dust.

As to the other assertion:
1) Pathfinders will be on the same line of fire as the units they are supporting (namely Broadsides), meaning that the lanes of fire only hurt them as much as it hurts every other Tau army in existence.
2) Pathfinders do not widen the wall, the will be very close by to the Crisis Suits and Broadsides, or will take the place (or sit directly behind) Piranhas had occupied, etc. Piranhas actually help the wall; late game, if the wall is breached, they become the next skirmishers to keep my guns alive.
3) A canny opponent should never ignore 12 Pathfinders. I'd love to spend the first through turns marking him up as he whittles through my Gun Drones with a 4+ cover save.

An Objective Too Far/Capture and Control
The idea that Kauyon is a static, unmoving mountain of firepower is a farce. The Kauyon can attack the enemy with incredibly heavy firepower, and then use the Mont'ka method of reserving Troops to the same effect; only with more enemies dead.
The Kauyon can be surprisingly mobile for its playstyle; often 1 or 2 squadrons of Piranhas, not to mention anywhere from 1-4 vehicles, the Kauyon can be a very mobile force when it wants to; and can act like a Mont'ka in terms of objective taking, making up for a lack of one or two vehicles with its ability to reduce the enemy resistance more than the Mont'ka.
Furthermore, the Kauyon has more troop choices base, despite the Kroot being used foremost to keep their guns alive. Kroot also make better late game contesters/converters (turning an enemy held objective to your own) than Devilfish, as most Troops hold anti-tank and the assault ability to kill Fire Warriors. A Devilfish's worth in such a time really comes from its tankshocking abilities and size, but not much else.
Kroot however, can assault the unit, and are not affected by meltagun fear nearly as much. A whittled down unit of Marines can still kill Fire Warriors and hold melta. A whittled down unit of Marines may not survive the remainder of your Kroot crashing into them.


In conclusion:
The Kauyon is effective, and requires a lot of planning and understanding to use to its full effect. On a personal note, I'm actually enjoying it more; the games becoming more about target priority and subtle defensive shifts than my old Mont'ka games, which I did not expect. Not having a Achilles' Heel in melta really relieves a lot of stress and makes me play more aggressively.
The Mont'ka is a fun way to play, but I feel it folds in circumstances in which your opponent has melta and knows how to cut off your movement advantage with it, which happens too often. When your opponents figure this out, your games become a inferior Kauyon; your tanks trapped in a corner and your units pummeled without enough firepower to stem the threats. Without this fear, the Kauyon can strike offensively, even move upfield.
My suggestion: Try the Kauyon and the Mont'ka, and find that which fits you best; just make sure you find a way to deal with melta en masse if you choose the latter.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Turbo: Piranha strike forces


I've already posted stuff on Piranha units, but for the sake of having it all in one place I'm making a rehash. From my old post, "Speeding Up":

"Piranhas are useful in a wierd way to the Tau army as they don't bring a lot of firepower, and because of this their mobility seems rather useless; I can bring one Fusion Blaster and Targetting Array there for 70 points? And they seem rather fragile compared to most other vehicles. Weakest possible armor on the side and rear and overpriced compared to Landspeeders, as well as poorly armed in comparison.
So why use Piranhas? Because they make excellent roadblocks. Piranha roadblocks can be used in two ways; the Swordfish and the School of Piranhas.

The Swordfish tactic is simple; A piranha with a Fusion Blaster and Targetting Array rushes the enemy and parks directly in front of the enemy's vanguard vehicle, moving flat-out. The enemy can attempt to destroy it in his shooting phase, but the movement prior will be slowed by him circumventing your vehicle. If your vehicle lives, then you can hop to the enemy's rear armour and fire your meltagun, or plop down in front again.

The School of Piranhas uses two or more Piranhas (two are a cheap annoyance; three or more are a tank murdering unit that should be feared). Each Piranha is armed with a Fusion Blaster (you could use Burst Cannons, but I feel they are a waste of the Piranha), Targetting Array, Flechettes, and some should have Target Locks. The strategy begins the same as the Swordfish; rush a tank, block path, melta and then annoy. But this becomes much more effective; the space taken up by two Piranhas is enough to waste entire turns of movement, and three or more can easily block mulitple units. In addition, the Target Locks will allow you to attempt melta on multiple vehicles; an extremely useful ability. Finally, the Flechettes will allow you to block off infantry paths; putting them between you and an offending unit will force them to move around. Assaulting them will not help your opponent either, as the Flechettes will tear light infantry apart, while hurting even the heavier ones (two Flechettes in a squadron while statistically wound every model in the assaulting unit! That means only 5 Boyz from a full 30 man mob will live, or you can shred about three Marines from a full Tacsquad if they attempt to grenade your Piranhas to death). In addition, when moved at cruising or flatout speeds, the enemy needs 6s to even hit the vehicle, which is easily failed.

If you are having trouble stemming an enemy rush, try using Piranhas in your list; from popping mech to Flechetting hordes, these models can annoy or kill any would be threat that holds vehicular form."
 
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