Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Tau Mobile Assault Cadre: When you get the urge to execute the killing blow.

So this list isn’t the best Tau list out there but it’s different than most in that it’s 100% mobile and semi-fast. It’s designed to have lots of little gun drones squad detach as early as possible to act as speed bump units for your suits and vehicles. The problem with the list is that it suffers when your opponent has lots of lascannons but should be OK against a mech’d up force. Disclaimer: I’ve never run this list…but it is my dream-list. I’ll build it one day!

HQ- Shas'El with Twin-linked Missile Pod, Flamer 72

Elites- 3 XV8s with Twin-Linked Missile Pod, Flamer. 1 upgraded to Team Leader with Drone Controller and 2 Gun Drones 166

Elites- 3 XV8s with Twin-Linked Missile Pod, Flamer. 1 upgraded to Team Leader with Drone Controller and 2 Gun Drones 166

Elites- 3 XV8s with Twin-Linked Missile Pod, Flamer. 1 upgraded to Team Leader with Drone Controller and 2 Gun Drones 166

Troops- 6 Fire Warriors in Devilfish with Disruption Pod, Multitracker 155

Troops- 6 Fire Warriors in Devilfish with Disruption Pod, Multitracker 155

Troops- 6 Fire Warriors in Devilfish with Disruption Pod, Multitracker 155

Fast Attack- 2 Piranhas with Fusion Blasters and Targeting Arrays. 1 has a Disruption Pod. 145

Fast Attack- 2 Piranhas with Fusion Blasters and Targeting Arrays. 1 has a Disruption Pod. 145

Fast Attack- 2 Piranhas with Fusion Blasters and Targeting Arrays. 1 has a Disruption Pod. 145

Heavy Support- Hammerhead with Railgun, SMS, Multitracker and Disruption Pod. 175

Heavy Support- Hammerhead with Railgun, SMS, Multitracker and Disruption Pod. 175

Heavy Support- Hammerhead with Railgun, SMS, Multitracker and Disruption Pod. 175

Pts: 1995

Set up would be to place your suits running behind piranhas at first, but then when the game gets going, drop some drones and use them for cover and speed-bumping for your suits. 2 Hammerheads get deployed in the boards corners if possible, so you can get some cross-fire action on the table top. The 3rd one gets put down in the middle of the board and joins one of the flanks during the game, depending on firing lanes and such. Hammerheads are going to be shooting tanks in the first couple turns of the game, and then switch to infantry as soon as you get the opportunity.

Piranhas should be deployed centrally, preferably behind cover. In the first turn, I’d drop the drones to accompany the XV8s, then move your piranhas 12 inches, being sure to keep the speeder with the pods in the back so you get the pod save on the whole unit. Piranhas then need to move out to melt transports and tanks. Crisis Suit XV8s use the drones as cover and hop around shooting transports and tanks, contributing covering fire. The Shas’El can join a squad of XV8s or he can do a hamburgler and join some Gun Drones for some protection.

The Devilfish can be put in reserve during objective based games or placed on the board for annihilation, where they can contribute their hulls to block the enemy and so on. With 3 devilfish, you’re going to need to protect these guys. Their Drones should be dropped at first chance to provide more speed-bump and covering units. Devilfish don’t really contribute to the fight much and I’m not sure if I’d use Pulse Carbines or Rifles on the Fire Warriors. Probably Rifles so they can work in tandem to drop their Warriors and rapid fire (Fish of Fury) but this isn’t the best tactic out there.

So a re-cap:
Piranhas are tank-hunters and move blockers.
Gun Drones are cover-saves and speed-bumps.
XV8s target transports and get the enemy on foot.
Devilfish take objectives, run Fish of Furies and move-block when needed.
Hammerheads’ primary role is to kill infantry but can target tanks.

That’s my dream list. As I said earilier, it isn’t the most powerful Tau build but it has some nice weapons in its arsenal. It can move, has some speed but it’s pretty fragile, losing a Hammerhead or unit of Piranhas is really hard pill to swallow. 


Suggestions? Comments? Is this the worst list ever? You decide.    

11 comments:

Pete W said...

I think this list could be very solid and the layers of gun drone defences will be great. Of course, you have to really carefully control the spaces for the opponent's movement and you could suffer a lot in kill point games but the army would be a blast to play.

NockerGeek said...

I like it, but that can't be surprising. :)

Gredus said...

Ooooh me want

(My word verification was "booms" it's a sign!)

Richard Erwin said...

I just wish I had three Hammerheads.

Richard Erwin said...

Can someone explain how the disruptor pod on only one of the Piranhas works? Is this a squadron thing or a wound allocation thing.

Tim said...

The piranhas are in a vehicle squadron and under the squadron rules, if at least 50% of the squadron is obscured the entire squadron gets a 4+ cover save. So when you have 1 pod on a vehicle at 12 inches or more away, the entire squadron gets the 4+ cover. It's a bit rules-lawyery but I'll take it!

What's cool about this, is that you can send one piranha ahead to shoot their Fusion Blaster, while keeping the one with the pod as far back as possible to claim your 4+ cover. Neat huh?

My intention was to have the 3 piranha sqadrons work together doing this each, being able to fire 3 fusion guns without losing my 4+ pod save.

Cobalt Cannon said...

So, While your Shas'El is off somewhere,.. doing the hamburgler,,.. ehem,.. Who's giving orders to the troops?

"Shas'Ui! We're being flanked! Where's Shas'El?!"
"Eh, He's busy 'doing' the Hamburgler."
"eeeewwwww...."
"yea."



Anyways, the list looks like a ton of fun, and heck playing just to have fun is just as good as playing to just win, if not better.

I was one of the people who bought that appocolypse 3 Hammy tank pack back in the day. It was a great deal at the time, and now that GWS is picking our pockets even more ( While making their crap in CHinese sweat shops), I'm glad I got it when it was available.

Huge Congratulations OSH on becoming a daddy! I wish you and your family a lifetime of joy!

Tim said...

Thanks! It's pretty rad being an old shatter daddy.

suneokun said...

Isn't that "Old Shattered Daddy"? Great list, I especially like the the 'rate of fire' approach over high AP. In my experience with Guard, rate of fire wins every time.

Don't forget that fish of fury is still absolutely devastating against Tyranids and Deamons as you can nuke a unit and block counter charges with the DF.

Damien said...

What are your thoughts on using the ion cannon instead of railgun?

Deathrains are great for transports but means you lack anti MEQ.

Ion cannons can fill that gap being AP3. Whats the opportunity cost? A crummy pot shot at AV 12 or more. Math hammer tells me ion cannons are just as good as rail guns at AV 11 and better at AV 10. 3 squads of piranhas should be enough for those few high AV targets (except for a mech IG parking lot). Remember the hammers are going around the flanks and probable get side shots as per your battle plan.

The rail gun is better at hordes. You do however have 10 flamers, ready to spout hot flames after the enemy consolidates from the piddly drones.

The ultimate reason to go for ion cannons? They are a lot cheaper and can still play a roll in this army. Is there something you could do with saved 105 points? Another HQ for some added Ld survivability?

tau rockstar said...

something you should consider is having one of your TL Missle pods teams convert over to TL Fusion Blasters and flamers for mech armies, the downside is that you'll have to deep strike them due to their very short range, however they destroy any armor, and if there is infatry in the way, there isn't a whole lot that three flamers followed up buy an assult can't with.