How to respond to "Ignores Cover?"

With the loss of Flickerfields on all but the Venom, it seems like Ignores Cover lists are going to be even more of a problem than they were in the past. I have been running a fairly Raider heavy list, but I feel that this change will make us even more fragile. I have a fair amount of Tau and AM in my meta and people love bringing tons of Ignore Cover.

Deepstriking beta strike seems to be the answer here. Tau need pathfinders for ignoring cover. Deepstriking templates to murder the pathfinders solves that problem. With AM they have to pass leadership tests to do the orders. Try deepstriking an HQ with armor of misery with a tough coven unit near them. -3 leadership leaves most of them around 4. Good luck to them following those orders!

Reach across the table like you're going to shake his hand, then slap him in the mouth when he reaches for yours.

Just kidding. Yeah, ignores cover will suck. It always has against us.:

Ignores cover is basically a direct counter to more than half the units in our codex. And every single codex except ours has plenty of Ignores cover weaponry. Draw your own conclusions.

Mandrakes to solve the Pathfinders problem IMHO... They will also present a target they will be tempted to use their Ignore cover on, which is superkewl.

Bibitybopitybacon wrote:

Deepstriking beta strike seems to be the answer here. Tau need pathfinders for ignoring cover. Deepstriking templates to murder the pathfinders solves that problem. With AM they have to pass leadership tests to do the orders. Try deepstriking an HQ with armor of misery with a tough coven unit near them. -3 leadership leaves most of them around 4. Good luck to them following those orders!

What about Smart Missle Systems? Last weekend I had a game against Tau where I wiped out all the Pathfinders in turn 1 but his SMS had Ignores Cover built in which hurt like hell.

The first thing that came in my mind on this topic was "die"
The second one was Venomspam

Mandor wrote:

Ignores cover is basically a direct counter to more than half the units in our codex. And every single codex except ours has plenty of Ignores cover weaponry. Draw your own conclusions.

There's tau, AM, and eldar with the array of ignores cover. Give me a break. Most Amir's don't have ignores cover with the exception of flamers...

You could always tank shock them in a raider with chain flails ridden by someone wearing the armour of misery? Not a guaranteed result, but I did smile to myself last week when a unit of three broadsides with the aforementioned SMS and their Warlord ran off the table having taken a casualty!

barjed wrote:

Bibitybopitybacon wrote:

Deepstriking beta strike seems to be the answer here. Tau need pathfinders for ignoring cover. Deepstriking templates to murder the pathfinders solves that problem. With AM they have to pass leadership tests to do the orders. Try deepstriking an HQ with armor of misery with a tough coven unit near them. -3 leadership leaves most of them around 4. Good luck to them following those orders!

What about Smart Missle Systems? Last weekend I had a game against Tau where I wiped out all the Pathfinders in turn 1 but his SMS had Ignores Cover built in which hurt like hell.

I think he cheated. Smart missles are twin linked, but I don't think they ignore cover.

django_unchained wrote:

barjed wrote:

Bibitybopitybacon wrote:

Deepstriking beta strike seems to be the answer here. Tau need pathfinders for ignoring cover. Deepstriking templates to murder the pathfinders solves that problem. With AM they have to pass leadership tests to do the orders. Try deepstriking an HQ with armor of misery with a tough coven unit near them. -3 leadership leaves most of them around 4. Good luck to them following those orders!

What about Smart Missle Systems? Last weekend I had a game against Tau where I wiped out all the Pathfinders in turn 1 but his SMS had Ignores Cover built in which hurt like hell.

I think he cheated. Smart missles are twin linked, but I don't think they ignore cover.

SMS is my main problem. One guy runs a farsight bomb with suits all with SMS and Target Lock (if that is the right name. Lets them shoot at a different target than the unit). He was saying that SMS has ignores cover, but I don't have the Tau codex to verify.

django_unchained wrote:

I think he cheated. Smart missles are twin linked, but I don't think they ignore cover.

They ignore cover AND do not require line of sight.

However, they cannot be taken on Crisis Suits, only Missile Pods, which don't ignore cover. The only way of getting that for Crisis suits is taking one suit with the Multi-spectrum Sensor Suite, which is a relic that if the equipped model doesn't shoot, all other models in the unit get Ignores Cover.
He definitely can 't equip Crisis suits with SMS's, though.

My initial thought on this topic: go sit in a corner and cry!

My plan is to counter it by reserving and deep striking (as long as I don't have to use comm relays, which I just might if points allow). Reavers are ideal for board presence, unless a Wyvern or two is present. Talos-Chronos combo might also work to stay alive.

Deep strike reserve as much dakka as you need and take care of the ignore cover fools.

If they bring multiple sources of ignore cover: go back to step one
No seriously, this army is still in for a hard time if your table top isn't decently filled with LOS blocking terrain. So try do to the old trick of splitting his army up by faking some tactical moves (while staying out of LOS as much as possible). When you are in killing range: focus on half his army, so it is annihilated and block LOS in with his wrecks or you own skimmers.

Apart from massed Splinter fire at range I still think Dark Eldar should chew up the infantry in combat. As combat is the safest place to be, in regard to incoming shooting. Combat also provides ideal LOS blocks.

So that is why I like wyches and how they can grind an enemy into a slow death. There is nothing better than to see those expensive suits work all day in a slap-fest with space gladiators

I'm forgetting about the mass Overwatch from Tau, aren't I? I was thinking Reavers to take overwatch, as typically overwatch hasn't ignore cover.

Edit: Can anyone confirm the Ingore Cover on SMS? Yes, now I remember why I hate SMS so badly.

My second answer is: get an ally who can deliver reasonable pinning weapons. For some dark reason our codex lost assault grenades and pinning weapons at the same time. Almost like someone evil at GW decided: "Sure you have high Initiative, just TRY to use it in CC! Oh NO! you need to charge into terrain, how sad!"
If grenades worked for the whole unit, we could simply solve the matter with an IC...
[goes back in his corner for some more dark plotting]

Barking Agatha wrote:

django_unchained wrote:

I think he cheated. Smart missles are twin linked, but I don't think they ignore cover.

They ignore cover AND do not require line of sight.

Yup, that's how everyone I've played has used them too - though I don't have the Tau book, so can't say for sure.

Yes, I can confirm it. SMS has Ignore Cover. It also can 't be taken on Crisis Suits, only Broadsides/Riptides (at least suit-wise).

The_Burning_Eye wrote:

Barking Agatha wrote:

django_unchained wrote:

I think he cheated. Smart missles are twin linked, but I don't think they ignore cover.

They ignore cover AND do not require line of sight.

Yup, that's how everyone I've played has used them too - though I don't have the Tau book, so can't say for sure.

Oh, I checked. The first time I played against them, after the game, believe me, I checked!

I'd say, move up close and assault them ASAP. Even Kabalite warriors will beat tau in an assault. Heck, I even killed a Tau CC-oriented suit-lord with my archon in cc. No, not my huskblade-soultrap archon, My "Only armed with a single blaster and no other equipment" 75pts-archon.

Aroshamash wrote:

Yes, I can confirm it. SMS has Ignore Cover. It also can 't be taken on Crisis Suits, only Broadsides/Riptides (at least suit-wise).

Yup.  I play against them often.

SMS just doesn't care about you, it shoots, shoots well, ignores LoS and Cover.  Most often found on Broadsides and Riptides.

Also, the Commander Suit with his unit-joining MSSS gives any unit Ignore Cover if he doesn't shoot. Not to mention the standard Pathfinder squads and/or Marker Drones.

The army was designed to shoot us dead, and they do a pretty damn good job at it. It was even worse when they had Eldar psychic buffs.

Quote :

I'd say, move up close and assault them ASAP.

This, in a nutshell. Not much has changed for us honestly and losing FFs didnt really effect much. Losing the beast star and baron hurt much worse IMO.

I usually deploy my ranged elements as far back as possibly and/or out of sight if I can. Assault threats I put close. They serve as a nice buffer to keep enemy shooters wary of deploying too close. Don't reserve anything unless its specifically designed for it.. i.e. melta. You want MSU and target saturation for the alpha strike (or to survive his). DS meltas will also make eldar players think twice about dropping those shields.

I do think beasts might still have a place in our lists because of armies like those you've mentioned. Specifically skimmer heavy armies with ample ignores cover and little combat presence. Send a couple packs of fiends running their direction to draw fire while you take out their key components. If they hit enemy lines even partially intact your probably winning the attrition war.

I think you need grotesques and Talos. WWP an HQ with many Grotesques to take the hits and let your HQ kill them all in the next assault phase.

MarcoAvrelis wrote:

I'd say, move up close and assault them ASAP. Even Kabalite warriors will beat tau in an assault. Heck, I even killed a Tau CC-oriented suit-lord with my archon in cc. No, not my huskblade-soultrap archon, My "Only armed with a single blaster and no other equipment" 75pts-archon.

Ahem, my first game out with the Dark Eldar, I managed to kill a Tau suit commander and his two bodyguards. With Mandrakes.