Tau Hunter Army?

Hi everybody! I'm looking for some advice on creating an army to specifically be a pain for our resident tau player to compete against. I know they have a strong codex and for all I've read so far, beating Tau won't come easy at all. That said, I'd be immensely grateful for any advice on where to start, specifically which units and tactics to employ vs Tau. Our slave pens have way to few blue squishies!

If that helps, from what I remember, he's got a couple of crisis suits, FWs, a small flyer and 2 of the large suits.

Point range would be between 1000 and 1500.

Thanks for your time and advice!

BlackCadian wrote:

Hi everybody! I'm looking for some advice on creating an army to specifically be a pain for our resident tau player to compete against. I know they have a strong codex and for all I've read so far, beating Tau won't come easy at all. That said, I'd be immensely grateful for any advice on where to start, specifically which units and tactics to employ vs Tau. Our slave pens have way to few blue squishies!

If that helps, from what I remember, he's got a couple of crisis suits, FWs, a small flyer and 2 of the large suits.

Point range would be between 1000 and 1500.

Thanks for your time and advice!

Step1: Put a Phantasm grenade launcher on an Archon with armor of misery with a coven unit (from the supplement).
Step2:For maximum win use the archangel on a suit squad then shoot it with the PGL.
Step3: throw your head back and laugh like the evil space super villain you know you are.
Step4:????
Step5:Profit.

Thanks for the super fast reply! What coven unit are you referring to, wracks?

How would you support that Archon and the unit? A beast pack and reavers?

What BibityBopityBacon said is pretty spot on with Tau. That much PGL will wreak havoc on a tau player.

As for coven - Running Wracks with Ossefactors will also do some nasty work to Tau. AP2 Flashbane against Riptides will hurt. Kill a FireWarrior and see it explode and damage more.

As for supporting - Blaster Scourge or Reavers would be idea. I would probably recommend Reavers in this instance as 2 Heat Lances and 2 Caltrops in a unit of 6 would be effective against most of the tau army.

Provided they get the first shot off, a 120 point unit of Mandrakes would be ideal against normal squads of fire warriors - squishy T3 and the baleblast ignores their armour...

Rather try snipe/make gtg a unit of pathfinders for some lolz and ossefact the warriors xD

Talos with ichor injector and Cronos with spirit probe is a nasty comb that will draw fire. Dark lances ruin broadsides and crisis suits days because of double their toughness. The grenade launcher will ruin their day as will armor of misery or the archangel of pain. Best way to get the pain in to position is to use the webway portal. Poison will also ruin anyone's day.

Had a match against Tau, @ 1850pts, last week. Brought a unit of 2 Talos and a unit of 1 Chronos floating behind the Talos. Those three models were targeted for 2 full turns by over 75% of his army and he didn't manage to stick a single wound on them all game.

Laughingcarp wrote:

Had a match against Tau, @ 1850pts, last week. Brought a unit of 2 Talos and a unit of 1 Chronos floating behind the Talos. Those three models were targeted for 2 full turns by over 75% of his army and he didn't manage to stick a single wound on them all game.

LMAO

Priceless....

Laughingcarp wrote:

Had a match against Tau, @ 1850pts, last week. Brought a unit of 2 Talos and a unit of 1 Chronos floating behind the Talos. Those three models were targeted for 2 full turns by over 75% of his army and he didn't manage to stick a single wound on them all game.

Broadsides are amazing against out transports. They are terrible at killing talos who they wound on a 4+ still get their 3+ and then a 5+ or 4+ Fnp.

He also had an Ion hammerhead, Ion Riptide, fire warriors, and 3 units of markerlights. Markerlights and both Ion guns were used against the Taloi as well lol.

Bbbacon said it true. Even a partial strength unit of Broadsides totalled my dissy Ravager in 1 phase.

@ OP: DSing vs Tau can work well if you're careful about who and what has LoS to use interceptor. DS'd Grots with fear bomb Archon and Haemy. Cleaned up a unit of broadsides, pathfinders, and part of a unit of fire warriors w/fireblade. Then stole his quad gun and dropped the Ion hammerhead.

Regardless of what you bring to deal with Tau, you need to keep your target priority solid. Markerlights HAVE TO BE KILLED FIRST, and after that I would heartily recommend prioritizing Broadsides.

Laughingcarp wrote:

Regardless of what you bring to deal with Tau, you need to keep your target priority solid. Markerlights HAVE TO BE KILLED FIRST, and after that I would heartily recommend prioritizing Broadsides.

Agreed. Marker lights then broadsides. Riptides can be nasty, but they are worst against marines than us.

Alright, Markerlights first, but what about the Crisis Suits?

Depends on the loadout on them, if your running more kabal/cult army Deathrain suits can be deadly, (2x Misslepods) Burst Cannons could also be deadly against our low survivability, while the Fireknifes may pose more of a threat to the Coven units. Dangers with the suits is not knowing their loadout before it's to late.

Yep research on what the suits are carrying is definitely most important. Plasma suits & missile suits, not so terribly scary (relatively speaking) due to low rate of fire. Burst cannon suits wreck our vehicles.
And any units that have target lock upgrade (gives the suits split fire) is something you want dead.

ALSO!
Totally worth noting and remembering, as I've seen way too many Tau players (knowingly and unknowingly) take advantage of this:
Units composed entirely of Drones (like when they detach from a vehicle) ARE NEVER SCORING.
With the 7th update that "everything" is now scoring many people forget that the exception are units that the codex specifically states otherwise, and Tau Drones are one of the few that can't score. Can't hold or contest objectives, grab line breaker, nothing.

I have a question about snap shot response at a charge. A unit of Witches declare an assault against FireWarriorsA. There's FireWarriorsB and Fire WarriorsC at 6" by A.
Tau decides to snap shot with A and B against Witches. They die at all.
Now, a unit of Reavers declare an assault against FirewarriorsA. A and B have already shoots, so they cannot shoot again.
The question is: at this time, Can the Tau Player choose to snap shoot with FirewarriorsC because in 6" by A, EVEN if A have already shot? Or Tau player have just one chance to response for A, even with other units?