Laying traps: Spearhead, Deployment

Spearhead deployment is one of the simplest styles of deployment for Kauyon Tau. Save for against outflanker heavy armies, the Tau normally can come out on top in this deployment type.

That being said, this deployment type can be tricky in the later turns… it is not how you act early on that will give you the advantage, but how you react. Due to the nature of Spearhead deployment, enemies can come from above or from the sides.

Fortunately, most opponents favor a flank to attack from, so it is not too difficult to find a weak flank to push. Deciding where to push is an important skill for a Tau force, and I’ll be going over the tactics of “pushing a flank” at a later date.

Deployment is rather simple; you spread your Kroot walls around your formation, making a quarter-circle around your firebase, with any overlap in the middle of the curve. This partially overlapping wall will shift towards the biggest threats as the game goes on.

The reason for this formation is that the enemy is able to attack from a multitude of angles in this game type. The position of the Kroot Walls allows for you to stay in a fully reactive formation until your opponent commits his units to a goal. Once your opponent shows his hand, then you can commit your walls to suppressing him.

The rest of the castle acts normally/as shown. Crisis Suits up front, ‘Sides in back, Pathfinders supporting, etc.

This formation has two possible outcomes. Either:

-You eliminate the enemy forces that attack from above your position. You will get into the position that Mont’ka players brag about; you are on the short table edge, using your superior range to pound away at the enemy across all 6’ of the board.

-Alternatively, you could end up destroying the force that started the game deployed. This position is more high-risk/high-reward as it puts you right in front of the enemy’s reserve units, but also gives you the center board and the ability to get into rapidfire range with more ease.

These situations rely almost entirely on your ability to pick which flank to attack and do so effectively. If both flanks prove too strong/you get unlucky/you pick wrong, you can be pushed into a contracted position in your corner. Whilst this is not the end of the world, it is important to note that you will lose a large amount of mobility.

If you are put in this corner, a crafty opponent will pound your walls, attempting to trap you behind them as they score. Again pushing the flank becomes necessary as an escape, and if you fail for a second time, you will almost definitely lose.

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?

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

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?

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.

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.

Using Shadowsun

Shadowsun is constantly given flak for her ability. Armed with no mid to long ranged weaponry, but using a Stealth Field, she seems to be even more of a contradiction that Stealth Suits.

Her ability to Deepstrike and still make her assault jump, as well as her twin fusion, makes many view her in a suicide role... though that role can be filled far more easily by a Sunforge or 3, and cheaper as well. Not to mention that Shadowsun sacrificing herself to kill an enemy vehicle is far-fetched (though I've seen fluff assumptions that at her last "wound" she switches on cloaking and vanishes, which makes it seem more like a hit and run).

Shadowsun costs as much as two Commanders, and almost as much as a full Fireknife team. These numbers make her output seem even more unrealistic and worthless. Why would anyone purchase such an overpriced model?

The reason I'm considering her for my lists is not because of her own ability, but the fact that she brings a unique model with her onto the table; the command drone. The command drone is, hands down, THE most effective piece of wargear in the codex. This wargear negates the key weakness all Tau armies have; leadership problems.

Not only does Shadowsun bring the Command Drone into play, she also serves to protect it. Her other two drones are both shield drones, giving important invulnerable saves, whilst thanks to the Stealth Field Generator, she is practically immune to ranged combat.

Though often claimed rather useless, Shadowsun herself does bring some heavy hitting guns to the punch; her two BS5 Fusion Blaster allow her to tear into most tanks. This is incredibly useful for those ridiculous transports that live through 6+ Railgun shots and almost hit your line.

I'm thinking on using Shadowsun over my two Fireforge Commanders; the missiles will be missed, but I think four missiles is a decent price to pay to have my entire firing force at 10 Leadership. Now I just need a stand-in model... may actually be using my winged Commander for this.

The Kauyon; past the walls

A lot of stress has been put into the Kroot Wall aspect of the Kauyon; if it is best, how it works in most lists, its survivability, etc. I thought it would be worthwhile to look beyond the wall for a bit, and highlight how key units to the Tau army fight in context of it, and how they fare outside. I will be looking at two units specifically; Broadsides and Pathfinders.

-Broadsides: Outside of Kauyon, Broadsides make a big show of themselves; the often deploy centrally, drawing attention to themselves whilst maintaining a cover save. They attempt to abuse the enemy's fear of Railguns; making them target the 'Sides before anything else, leaving you time to maneuver away.

The downside of this is that the Broadsides are likely to be eaten alive unless thoroughly defended; in Mont'ka lists, small Broadside firebases are left in the dust, meaning the silencing of your railguns immediately.

In the Kauyon, however, they remain. Broadsides are often placed very far behind protective lines, leaving them among the last of your units to fall, only sacrificed to save Crisis Suits and your Fire Warriors. This means that opposed to a near maximum of three turns shooting, Broadsides can last 5 or 6, easily. This effectively doubles your anti-tank; something you can't see when just glancing at your list's weapons.

-Pathfinders: Regardless of the style, Pathfinders will receive the same treatment; newer players will ignore their non-damaging guns, only to be wiped by your buffed suits, while veterans will target them early and hit them with enough shots to send them packing... which is not a great many.

Pathfinders are constantly in danger in a good game. In the Mont'ka, the player must choose between setting them up in cover and camping until death, or continually redeploying them via transport to avoid enemy assaults. They either suffer the same problem as Broadsides, or they lose turns of firepower to stay around. Either way, they get in around 3 turns of shooting in MAX if they are under pressure.

In the Kauyon, they suffer the same problem; they are relatively easy to shoot out of the game. But the Kauyon offers a slightly better alternative to sticking them in area terrain or ferrying them; putting them behind a Kroot Wall. This may seem trivial, but it adds two major changes to the playing style of the pathies:

1) The Pathies get a choice of the best possible lane of fire. This is due to the fact that the Kroot wall can stretch to give them cover regardless of where they are. Instead of anchoring into terrain, they benefit from freedom and cover.

2) Assault protection. The Pathfinders no longer have to relocate to avoid assault; the Kroot have that covered. Without having to relocate, they avoid assault completely, allowing a focus on shooting; critical, as during the first few turns they have a large amount to support.

Why did I choose these two units specifically? Again the answer is two-fold:

1) They are the best of their role: They are the cheapest renditions of their incredibly useful and limited weapons. While others exist, they are inferior for that specific role; Hammerheads are inaccurate and expensive, while Stealth Marker Teams and Skyrays cost far too much for the 'lights they bring.

2) They work better in the Kauyon. These units both suffer from one drawback in comparison to their more expensive and less effective counterparts; they lack mobility. In the Mont'ka, this regulates them to an Alpha-strike followed by their inevitable demise. In the Kauyon, a solid system of blockading, trapping, and cover synergy leave them strong and firing.

750 Castle

Sat down and fleshed out a 750 list as well.

The list is rather similar to how I play 1850; it is a true castle, albeit with only one layer of Kroot, no Markerlight support, and only one Piranha to blackade... but it is still very workable. The Fire Warriors are 10 men strong to help lend some fire support.

Fire Warriors: 10x Shas’la w/ Rifles -100

Devilfish w/ D. Pods -85

Crisis Commander: Shas’el Deathforge (TL-MP, FB) w/ HWMT -85

Crisis Suits: 2x Shas’ui Fireknives (PR, MP, MT) -124

Crisis Suits: 2x Shas’ui Fireknives (PR, MP, MT) -124

Kroot: 13x Mercs-91

Piranha w/ FB, TA -70

Broadsides: 2x Shas’ui w/ Adv.S.S. -160

500 point castle

The net is buzzing with Fritz's new challenges. 500 and 750 lists, an attempt to bring back the old-school armies where there was far less on the table.

I am not fully ready for 750 yet, but I have tossed together a 500 list; the thought process involved tossing together 3 lists that embodied certain styles, and picking the best.

I have settle on a semi-static list with a small line of Kroot, 4 Crisis Suits, and a mobile scoring unit. Meltaguns are held in back; I'll have trouble against guntanks that sit in back, but I can bear the shots or deespstrike.

60pts: 6 Fire Warriors w/ Rifles

85pts: Devilfish w/ D. Pods

91pts: 13x Kroot

88pts: Shas’el Deathforge (TL-MP, FB) w/ HWBSF, HWMT

124pts: 2 Fireknives (PR, MP, MT)

55pts Deathforge (TL-MP, FB)

My response to Nocker Geek's Mont'ka article:

Recently, OSH (Old Shatter Hands) tossed down an article about some of the problems with Mont'ka, here:

http://tauofwar.blogspot.com/2010/08/kauyon-patient-hunter-gets-prey.html

There was a response defending the Mont'ka and denouncing the Kauyon, posted on Nocker Geek's blog here:

http://www.nockergeek.net/2010/08/25/montka-we-will-strike-the-killing-blow/

In an attempt to continue this marry-go-round of decent articles, I will be responding to the above article, giving my counter-arguments for the Kauyon.

And so we go:

The first problem with the argument is that Nocker Geek makes light of a cover save, claiming that most armor reducing weapons will be at point blank, or barrage. This is hardly the case. Missiles and Lascannons are still around, and can insta-kill a Crisis Suit. The cover save also makes Gun Drones a better buy, gaining a cover save to make up for the lack of invulnerable save.

Further in the paragraph, Nocker Geek notes you are giving cover to Marines if you shoot through the Kroot Wall; but fails to note that JSJ allows you to clear your skirmish line to deny cover.

This seems to be odd to me, as he later advocates using JSJ in the Mont'ka as a means of breaking LOS; but I'll get to that soon.

His second point, that Kroot are not hardy, is very true. But again, he ignores certain facts that are common knowledge to most Kauyon players; unit composition and the positive aspect of Kroot's low leadership.

He cites the fact that Kroot will likely be sweeped; this is untrue, as an intelligent Kauyon player will have taken a large amount of hounds, meaning you will be hitting first to soften the damage and then making your assumed fallback at initiative 5 once you take off your actual mercs. This means your Kroot's low leadership is actually a boon; the most likely scenario is you absorb a charge, deal some damage, and fall back, leaving an enemy force completely in the open and available to be shot to pieces. Then you have a good chance of your wall regrouping and coming back into the fray. This makes a very useful, though not hardy, walling element; an assault absorber that leaves the attacker in front of a mass of guns and may have a chance to be recycled.

The face-to-face paragraph has a decent point, but I honestly don't see 12" a turn as fast enough to gain side armor shots on experienced players. Even so, the ability to make multiple firebases makes up for this downside, even though I wouldn't recommend that.

The argument becomes silly when trying to point out a static force's weakness to Deep-strike and outflankers; we have Kroot to fully surround our forces against deepstrike heavy armies, while our vehicles can make rough outflanker blockades, which honestly are not needed if we have the middle of the board.

A Mont'ka force should fear such units far more; they provide new and exciting ways for their opponent to box them in with meltaguns.

The next argument brings up breaking line of sight. Honestly, this is the most backwards looking argument in the whole article to me, as it seems to be saying "camp you Crisis Suits behind a wall", which is obviously a much bigger tactic with Kauyon than with Mont'ka; as Mont'ka's supposed claim to fame is its ability to move... an ability not sufficiently abused when chained to one area.

The paragraph on avoiding conflict is also odd to me; he implies that the Kauyon doesn't plan on killing the enemy, which is absolutely false. In fact, the Kauyon can do so better than the Mont'ka, as static lists tend to have far more emphasis on Crisis Suits and Broadsides... thus having a bit more firepower overall. While it is true that a mobile force gets the assistance of Burst Cannon and SMS, the static force gets masses of Kroot Bolters and a mediocre but crushing assault.

Mont'ka forces tend to pay far more for their Troops, Kauyon Walls included, meaning that they tend to have less points for firepower... making the argument that the Mont'ka is a better"killy" army a rather hollow one.

The argument that position can amplify firepower is true... but doesn't apply the way Nocker Geek would assume.

Rarely does side armor make a difference in games... only with Guard and other Tau is there a significant advantage to reaching side armor, as Rhinos, Wave Serpents, Land Raiders, light skimmers, all infantry, all MCs, and many other common threats don't care were you are, while backfield guntanks are nearly impossible to get side armor on anyways.

Meanwhile, as the Mont'ka wheels around to match the opponent's pivots, the Kauyon attackers fire for multiple turns practically uncontested... their safe location amplifying their attacks by giving them multiple turns of optimum capacity firepower.

The next paragraph applies to Kauyon as well; shoot at the actual guns who enjoy cover and support, or shoot at the support units.

I have tried using vehicles as blockades, and it fails miserably for one reason; meltaguns. Melta is a key part of any respectable assault squad, and having vehicles as your main blockading force is destined to fail, as you must contract your position in fear of melta weaponry.

Furthermore, Kauyon builds CAN play mobile... the Kroot outflank and they fight a modified Mont'ka with a higher Crisis:Tank ratio. It just isn't its most effective way of playing.

I don't believe that the Kauyon is the only way to play... the Mont'ka offers the use of the Tau's mobility and it's firepower, the two traits it is supposed to be renowned for. The problem is, by looking into the supposed advantages of the Tau, you may miss the more technical ones... the ones the Tau can base a firm army on.

Kauyon or Mont'ka?

I've been reaching a bit of an impasse here with my army lately.

Recently I have been testing out the effectiveness of Kroot in a walling formation, to help buy some extra turns for my Broadsides and such. Preliminary tests have come up well; Kroot Walls are very effective at buying me time and blunting an enemy's offense.

I have also been using a buffed up Markerlight Network; again with great success. Having double the amount of Markerlights makes my shooting ludicrously powerful for a very small amount of points.

I have put together a list with very few mech elements, dual Kroot Screens, Markerlights everywhere, and a mass congregation of suits that will easily win most of my battles... but I hesitate to use it. Why?

Rule #1.

Playing against an army that can wholesale rip you to shreds without giving you a counter is no fun for anyone. I don't WANT to field this list because I feel it would take the fun out of my games. However, I feel like the choice is between that and losing.

It isn't as if I'm facing themed armies I can afford to handicap myself against; the most themed list I play against involves 12 ATs and Lysander hitting me hard and fast. Thew others range from a heavily mechanized Marine List with no shortage of mid-ranged firepower and, the worst, a dual Prince, 9-Oblit, melta termie deathstrike that excels in ripping apart the sub-competitive lists that make Tau fun while still giving a good game.

So how do I deal with this? I'm honestly thinking of going out to buy some Kroot to make a second line, and leave my 5+ vehicles at home...