Saturday, April 6, 2013
Tau Resurrection
Tau Resurrection
It's been over three years since I have posted here. During this time I've been playing fantasy, doing things and having a lovely time.
The new codex is here and a Tau has received a facelift. I don't feel that they are more or less powerful, just different. I hope to return to WH40K and after a few test battles on the weekend I have some ideas about how this might go. Like an American bombing Pakistani civilians, I think it's time for more drones.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The Amazing Tau: Tournament Edition
During this weekend just past I played in my first tournament of my Warhammer 40k 'career' and, to ruin the suspense in the first sentence of the post, I won Best Individual General.
Prior to the tournament I felt that, for no particular reason, I may do well however after my first game in which I scraped together a minor victory thanks to a convenient Planetstrike stratagem I felt that things may become a little tough.
Alas, the day moved on and I faced off against Dave, an Eldar player in another 'special game' in which I chose the role of attacker with 1,200 points and he played the defender with 1,000 points. The catch was that I had to end with more units within 12 inches of his table edge than he had. In my favour the terrain was fairly open and he had brought no vehicles though he did field a Wrathlord and the mighty Avatar. Against 2 Broadsides, 2 Hammerheads and a wealth of missile pods however he never really found his way into the fight and by turn 5 his army had been destroyed with me losing just two shield drones.
Following this I engaged in a small 1,000 point battle with 'Big Red' and his IG army. Due to mission rules I was only allowed to start with my troops and heavy support deployed and he was only allowed his troops and fast attack. Given that he had no fast attack and I had brought two hammerheads his two plucky little Chimeras were in for a harrowing first turn. With one entire squad annihilated his two Leman Russ Tanks arrived and proceed to either miss or be 'disruption podded' by my two Hammerheads then, as an indicator to how the remainder of the game would play out were both glanced by my Hammerheads and with me rolling two sixes, were both wrecked. The game continued on to turn six when he was wiped out with me taking no casualties.
My first game of day two was an Apocalypse game in which my IG team mate, Leo and I would face down a team of Sisters of Battle and their loyal Space Wolf lapdogs. Deploying corner to corner we fully expected to be attacked by our MeQ opponents with great vigour. Consisting of a Basilisk, two Hammerheads, two Broadsides, two Hydras and one Leman Russ our deployment zone was by no metric short of long-range firepower. Alas, by turn two our opponents had shown no interest in pushing up and seemed content to hide in cover trying to minimise the damage potential of the railguns. The only incursion we really experienced was a Penitent Engine, a group of Seraphim and a squad of meltabomb armed scouts using a stratagem to appear behind us and destroy a Hammerhead and a Hydra. Fortunately they died, we pushed up and despite not being able to kill a Landraider after no less than four unsaved penetrating hits, three of which were AP1, we claimed a major victory. Their general, the accursed Living Saint lived up to her name and refused to stay dead despite apparently dying three times.
My final game of the tournament was a simple 1,750 point annihilation mission against Taras Sisters of Battle army. I managed to stay mobile and make good use of both railguns and missile pods throughout the battle and by turn six the ladys had been shattered and their general slain. I managed to end the battle with nine killpoints to zero having taken no wounds or vehicle damage. In her defence though Tara had fielded an entirely close range army whos vehicle support had been wiped off the field mercilessly in the first turn.
I ended the tournament with four major victories and one minor victory plus four generals killed, one short of the skull-taker award thanks to the foul Living Saint. It was a good tournament, I had fun and for my efforts I won myself a Skyray. Unfortunately out team did not win overall due to a deafening lack of paint which was nobodys fault, Micro.
What I have learned:
Tau really do need to stay mobile. They do not outshoot the IG and they do not out assault anything but they can combine movement and fire-power very well thanks to the humble vehicle multi-tracker and the more surly Crisis suit.
Prior to the tournament I felt that, for no particular reason, I may do well however after my first game in which I scraped together a minor victory thanks to a convenient Planetstrike stratagem I felt that things may become a little tough.
Alas, the day moved on and I faced off against Dave, an Eldar player in another 'special game' in which I chose the role of attacker with 1,200 points and he played the defender with 1,000 points. The catch was that I had to end with more units within 12 inches of his table edge than he had. In my favour the terrain was fairly open and he had brought no vehicles though he did field a Wrathlord and the mighty Avatar. Against 2 Broadsides, 2 Hammerheads and a wealth of missile pods however he never really found his way into the fight and by turn 5 his army had been destroyed with me losing just two shield drones.
Following this I engaged in a small 1,000 point battle with 'Big Red' and his IG army. Due to mission rules I was only allowed to start with my troops and heavy support deployed and he was only allowed his troops and fast attack. Given that he had no fast attack and I had brought two hammerheads his two plucky little Chimeras were in for a harrowing first turn. With one entire squad annihilated his two Leman Russ Tanks arrived and proceed to either miss or be 'disruption podded' by my two Hammerheads then, as an indicator to how the remainder of the game would play out were both glanced by my Hammerheads and with me rolling two sixes, were both wrecked. The game continued on to turn six when he was wiped out with me taking no casualties.
My first game of day two was an Apocalypse game in which my IG team mate, Leo and I would face down a team of Sisters of Battle and their loyal Space Wolf lapdogs. Deploying corner to corner we fully expected to be attacked by our MeQ opponents with great vigour. Consisting of a Basilisk, two Hammerheads, two Broadsides, two Hydras and one Leman Russ our deployment zone was by no metric short of long-range firepower. Alas, by turn two our opponents had shown no interest in pushing up and seemed content to hide in cover trying to minimise the damage potential of the railguns. The only incursion we really experienced was a Penitent Engine, a group of Seraphim and a squad of meltabomb armed scouts using a stratagem to appear behind us and destroy a Hammerhead and a Hydra. Fortunately they died, we pushed up and despite not being able to kill a Landraider after no less than four unsaved penetrating hits, three of which were AP1, we claimed a major victory. Their general, the accursed Living Saint lived up to her name and refused to stay dead despite apparently dying three times.
My final game of the tournament was a simple 1,750 point annihilation mission against Taras Sisters of Battle army. I managed to stay mobile and make good use of both railguns and missile pods throughout the battle and by turn six the ladys had been shattered and their general slain. I managed to end the battle with nine killpoints to zero having taken no wounds or vehicle damage. In her defence though Tara had fielded an entirely close range army whos vehicle support had been wiped off the field mercilessly in the first turn.
I ended the tournament with four major victories and one minor victory plus four generals killed, one short of the skull-taker award thanks to the foul Living Saint. It was a good tournament, I had fun and for my efforts I won myself a Skyray. Unfortunately out team did not win overall due to a deafening lack of paint which was nobodys fault, Micro.
What I have learned:
Tau really do need to stay mobile. They do not outshoot the IG and they do not out assault anything but they can combine movement and fire-power very well thanks to the humble vehicle multi-tracker and the more surly Crisis suit.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Of man and rat
This weekend the mighty forces of the Rat Tau will join with the last remains of an Imperial Guard scout fleet and renegade group of Goblins that have equipped themselves for battle and smashed their way into the mercenary trade.
In other words, I am entering a tournament in which I will team up with two Imperial Guard armies to play through a series of games over two days including one Apocalypse game featuring Derikari and myself with Micros lads (those left alive after a Cities of Death game) as strategic reserves. Overall it should be an entertaining and educational tournament but enough of that, onto the details.
Under the instruction of Imperial Star Commander Deri Ka-Ri I will be fielding no less than five tank hulls within my 1'750 point list. As an overview my list for the tournament will consist of;
Many Crisis Suits
Mech Infantry
Hammerheads
Broadsides
A simple list reminiscent of a simpler time. I have, over the past weeks experimented with pathfinders and piranhas, drone teams and stealth suits. I even had a brief affair with the beautiful and deadly Commander Shadowsun but none of these could fulfil me the way that railguns and a torrent of S5 AP5 fire can. Plasma and fusion be damned! When the final skimmer has come crashing to the dirt and the last crisis has fallen to its knees I will stand tall and say that I did it my way with not an ethereal to be seen... That said I have still taken two plasma rifles in the list.
The plan is simple. Move and shoot. The broadsides will remain generally static though for an army to attack them directly they will have to run the gauntlet first. As always, I will be vulnerable to outflanking and possibly to deep striking TeQs though I have faced both and found that dealing with them was was a pinch so long as you are ready for it and the crisis suits stay within range to support the broadsides up until they are definitely lost.
What I have learned:
It's difficult to rate Broadsides highly enough. They may not last the whole game but then, they may not need to.
In other words, I am entering a tournament in which I will team up with two Imperial Guard armies to play through a series of games over two days including one Apocalypse game featuring Derikari and myself with Micros lads (those left alive after a Cities of Death game) as strategic reserves. Overall it should be an entertaining and educational tournament but enough of that, onto the details.
Under the instruction of Imperial Star Commander Deri Ka-Ri I will be fielding no less than five tank hulls within my 1'750 point list. As an overview my list for the tournament will consist of;
Many Crisis Suits
Mech Infantry
Hammerheads
Broadsides
A simple list reminiscent of a simpler time. I have, over the past weeks experimented with pathfinders and piranhas, drone teams and stealth suits. I even had a brief affair with the beautiful and deadly Commander Shadowsun but none of these could fulfil me the way that railguns and a torrent of S5 AP5 fire can. Plasma and fusion be damned! When the final skimmer has come crashing to the dirt and the last crisis has fallen to its knees I will stand tall and say that I did it my way with not an ethereal to be seen... That said I have still taken two plasma rifles in the list.
The plan is simple. Move and shoot. The broadsides will remain generally static though for an army to attack them directly they will have to run the gauntlet first. As always, I will be vulnerable to outflanking and possibly to deep striking TeQs though I have faced both and found that dealing with them was was a pinch so long as you are ready for it and the crisis suits stay within range to support the broadsides up until they are definitely lost.
What I have learned:
It's difficult to rate Broadsides highly enough. They may not last the whole game but then, they may not need to.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Sorry looking maggots...
Through this, my first month or so as Imperial Battle Lord, Commander of the Winds and Prince of the LaserRat I have enjoyed and endured battles both hard fought and hard won. However, it has only been within the last two weeks of so that I have felt like my plans in a game have actually come together. Previously I had been winning but how I won wasn't how I had planned to win and it seemed that I had simply stood my fearless rat-warriors in one spot, fired the guns and watched everything disappear (both mine and theirs depending on the game). Recently however, with many thanks to the likes of Micro and Deri "Would you like some army with your Kroot" Kari, I have felt that through the Tao of the Mech Tau and the "M-m-m-m-m-mobility!!!" doctrine I have been able to put together a plan with a specific outcome in mind and actually realise that outcome. I'm even brave enough now to take on Terminator Squads without running away and hiding in the bathrooms. Then I ran into Mega Armoured Nobz but that's another story.
Furthermore, I have finished my Broadside and Farsight conversions. When I can get some decent, non-blurry photos of them I will share with all haste.
What I have learned:
Be the wind, not the tree.
Furthermore, I have finished my Broadside and Farsight conversions. When I can get some decent, non-blurry photos of them I will share with all haste.
What I have learned:
Be the wind, not the tree.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Blood Angels and Tau fight as one... Wait, what?
As I have pressed on with only a few minor changes to my army list and no increase in size yet I am at a crossroads of sorts. I don't particularly feel like doing the conversions required to field Kroot and I am converting a Farsight character at the moment which leads me to the conclusion that I may want to take a 'renegade' army.
The drawbacks to fielding such an army are many since the Kroot obviously bring a significant power to the army that the Tau otherwise lacks. Farsight does of course bring his own set of benefits with him but in a much more predictable way than our primitive friends.
The benefit of course to taking a "Farsighty" list is that in 'doubles' tournaments where I play with another army I am able to provide arguably unmatched ultra long range tank killing as well as the power of Farsights ability to decimate armor in close combat while relying on the other army to deal with infantry and sitting on objectives. In a solo game however I would still be a victim of the typical Tau problem of being unable to match the objective capturing ability of other armies.
Next week I will hopefully get the opportunity to test this very theory in a game against the unstoppable Goblin Guard (Imperial Guard 2.0) when I ally with Trashman and ravenous (and as yet headless) Blood Angels. Our last meeting was brief and murderous however this time, if the universe wills it and I don't tell Trashman to place his entire army in reserve I feel that we may be able to make something happen. With any luck, that something will be a field of dead Imperial Goblins.
The drawbacks to fielding such an army are many since the Kroot obviously bring a significant power to the army that the Tau otherwise lacks. Farsight does of course bring his own set of benefits with him but in a much more predictable way than our primitive friends.
The benefit of course to taking a "Farsighty" list is that in 'doubles' tournaments where I play with another army I am able to provide arguably unmatched ultra long range tank killing as well as the power of Farsights ability to decimate armor in close combat while relying on the other army to deal with infantry and sitting on objectives. In a solo game however I would still be a victim of the typical Tau problem of being unable to match the objective capturing ability of other armies.
Next week I will hopefully get the opportunity to test this very theory in a game against the unstoppable Goblin Guard (Imperial Guard 2.0) when I ally with Trashman and ravenous (and as yet headless) Blood Angels. Our last meeting was brief and murderous however this time, if the universe wills it and I don't tell Trashman to place his entire army in reserve I feel that we may be able to make something happen. With any luck, that something will be a field of dead Imperial Goblins.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Needs More Fire Warrior
You really cannot have too many Fire Warriors from what I've seen so far.
During this weeks games I amended my list in order to both make use of the very powerful Airburst Frag Projector and try to make better use of my Fire Warriors whos Str 5 AP 5 weapons I had hitherto failed to truly appreciate.
Over the course of two evenings play I only drew one win out of six games though I did manage a clutch of draws one of which should have been a definite win and one of which really should have been a loss had it not been for unbelievable luck.
Fortunately throughout these games I had the opportunity to face a number of Imperial Guard armies which was a welcome change from the Marines however it did highlight the flaws in my low shot number, low AP plasma rifle fetish that I had acquired the previous week. The large number of battlesuits that I brought carrying missile pods were largely unable to effectively move the massed Imperial Guard off an objective particularly when they were both in cover and under the effect of the 'Incoming!' order.
In light of this, the primary lesson for this week was with respect to markerlights and the realisation of just how powerful (read necessary) they are for a Tau army to play aggressively which, after seeing how effective battlesuits within 18 inches in a strategy that I will try to follow more closely. In the low point games that I am playing at the moment however I feel that I do not have the room for a relatively expensive Pathfinder team which makes this heavy use of markerlights possible however the presence of one of these plus a target lock within a Fire Warrior team adds a significant level of flexibility when things start to take an unexpected turn such as a Hellhound approaching your precious scoring units and refusing to die.
In other news there is a conversion competition coming up at my local GW so, provided I improve my photo taking ability I should have some more shots of my entry up in the next couple of weeks. As for the regular army conversions the Fire Warriors are still progressing slowly, oh so slowly.
During this weeks games I amended my list in order to both make use of the very powerful Airburst Frag Projector and try to make better use of my Fire Warriors whos Str 5 AP 5 weapons I had hitherto failed to truly appreciate.
Over the course of two evenings play I only drew one win out of six games though I did manage a clutch of draws one of which should have been a definite win and one of which really should have been a loss had it not been for unbelievable luck.
Fortunately throughout these games I had the opportunity to face a number of Imperial Guard armies which was a welcome change from the Marines however it did highlight the flaws in my low shot number, low AP plasma rifle fetish that I had acquired the previous week. The large number of battlesuits that I brought carrying missile pods were largely unable to effectively move the massed Imperial Guard off an objective particularly when they were both in cover and under the effect of the 'Incoming!' order.
In light of this, the primary lesson for this week was with respect to markerlights and the realisation of just how powerful (read necessary) they are for a Tau army to play aggressively which, after seeing how effective battlesuits within 18 inches in a strategy that I will try to follow more closely. In the low point games that I am playing at the moment however I feel that I do not have the room for a relatively expensive Pathfinder team which makes this heavy use of markerlights possible however the presence of one of these plus a target lock within a Fire Warrior team adds a significant level of flexibility when things start to take an unexpected turn such as a Hellhound approaching your precious scoring units and refusing to die.
In other news there is a conversion competition coming up at my local GW so, provided I improve my photo taking ability I should have some more shots of my entry up in the next couple of weeks. As for the regular army conversions the Fire Warriors are still progressing slowly, oh so slowly.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Square One
Last Friday night I finally got to playing my first 40k games ever starting off with four good games that yielded two draws, a win and a loss. My army list for the four 750 point games was as follows;
HQ
Shas’el CS (122) – Cyclic Ion Blaster, Missile Pod, Targeting array
HW Drone Controler, HW Multi tracker
2x Shield Drones
Troops
5x Shas’la + 1x Shas’ui FW (80) 6 x Pulse Rifle, 1 x Markerlight
5x Shas’la FW + 1x Shal'ui FW (70) 6 x Pulse Rifle
Elite
3x Shas’ui CS (201) – 3 x Plasma Rifle, 3x Missile Pod, 3x Multi-tracker
2x Shas’ui CS (110) – 2 x Burst Cannon, 2x Missile Pod, 2x Multi-tracker
Heavy Support
Hammerhead (165) – Railgun, Disruption Pods, Smart Missiles, Landing Gear, Targeting Array
Total = 748
Throughout the night I collected draws against Micros Imperial Goblin Guard (which probably warrant a blog of their own) and a Tau player where is both instances I simply setup and dug in around my objective wiping the floor with anyone who dared to get too close. At this stage I was a little unsure of what else I should be doing since, for some reason I was terribly afraid of losing battle suits even though, as I now know, battle suits exist to be lost in Capture and Control battles.
Following the pair of draws I fought an annihilation battle against a Daniels Space Marines where I managed to skilfully snatch defeat from the jaws of almost certain victory by forgetting that I was playing for kill points and sending my two squads of Fire Warriors to their death for no good reason despite previously decimating over half of his forces with the loss of only one suit. A worthy lesson was learned though that the stat line of Fire Warriors can not truly communicate just how incredibly bad they are in close combat.
With that brain-fart out of the way I moved on to another Space Marine player named Adam for whom nothing could seemingly go right. In the first two games I had well learned that the combination of plasma rifles and being aggressive with battle suits was a very powerful union. This tactic, despite rolling a 1 to hit for my Hammerhead in two successive turns, ensured that by the end of turn three Adams army amounted to one very lucky Dreadnought, one very lonely squad of Assault Marines and half a squad of very lost Scouts. The suits ensured that the Assault Marines didn't remain lonely for long and with the objective cleared I was able to claim my first ever win in Warhammer 40k. Go me.
Since tyhe learning process never really ends I include a 'What I Learned' section after my battle reports.
What I Learned:
The Rules
Plasma Rifles are, in fact, the best rifles
Don't forget to jump in the assault phase
Don't forget to run in the shooting phase
Don't forget that your Fire Warrior teams exist and leave them hiding behind a wall for most of the game
HQ
Shas’el CS (122) – Cyclic Ion Blaster, Missile Pod, Targeting array
HW Drone Controler, HW Multi tracker
2x Shield Drones
Troops
5x Shas’la + 1x Shas’ui FW (80) 6 x Pulse Rifle, 1 x Markerlight
5x Shas’la FW + 1x Shal'ui FW (70) 6 x Pulse Rifle
Elite
3x Shas’ui CS (201) – 3 x Plasma Rifle, 3x Missile Pod, 3x Multi-tracker
2x Shas’ui CS (110) – 2 x Burst Cannon, 2x Missile Pod, 2x Multi-tracker
Heavy Support
Hammerhead (165) – Railgun, Disruption Pods, Smart Missiles, Landing Gear, Targeting Array
Total = 748
Throughout the night I collected draws against Micros Imperial Goblin Guard (which probably warrant a blog of their own) and a Tau player where is both instances I simply setup and dug in around my objective wiping the floor with anyone who dared to get too close. At this stage I was a little unsure of what else I should be doing since, for some reason I was terribly afraid of losing battle suits even though, as I now know, battle suits exist to be lost in Capture and Control battles.
Following the pair of draws I fought an annihilation battle against a Daniels Space Marines where I managed to skilfully snatch defeat from the jaws of almost certain victory by forgetting that I was playing for kill points and sending my two squads of Fire Warriors to their death for no good reason despite previously decimating over half of his forces with the loss of only one suit. A worthy lesson was learned though that the stat line of Fire Warriors can not truly communicate just how incredibly bad they are in close combat.
With that brain-fart out of the way I moved on to another Space Marine player named Adam for whom nothing could seemingly go right. In the first two games I had well learned that the combination of plasma rifles and being aggressive with battle suits was a very powerful union. This tactic, despite rolling a 1 to hit for my Hammerhead in two successive turns, ensured that by the end of turn three Adams army amounted to one very lucky Dreadnought, one very lonely squad of Assault Marines and half a squad of very lost Scouts. The suits ensured that the Assault Marines didn't remain lonely for long and with the objective cleared I was able to claim my first ever win in Warhammer 40k. Go me.
Since tyhe learning process never really ends I include a 'What I Learned' section after my battle reports.
What I Learned:
The Rules
Plasma Rifles are, in fact, the best rifles
Don't forget to jump in the assault phase
Don't forget to run in the shooting phase
Don't forget that your Fire Warrior teams exist and leave them hiding behind a wall for most of the game
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