BR22: The Black Buzzards VS Tau (Rematch) - 1500pts

Mushkilla, you are famous!!
http://www.advancedtautactica.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19839&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Mngwa wrote:

Mushkilla, you are famous!!
http://www.advancedtautactica.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19839&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

I was just reading that thread myself. Looks like you are in for some truly epic re-runs Mush!

Gobsmakked wrote:

I was just reading that thread myself. Looks like you are in for some truly epic re-runs Mush!

Looks like I have my work cut out for me!

Yeah, there's a lot of 'spam S7' talk going on there!

Good to see the lesser species rightly fearing us rather than the other way round again.

Nice win and even better to get sweet revenge for the first game!

I wonder why you dont use cluster caltrops when you bladevane so much?

It gives me a good idea on how to deal with Tau and I need to use Reavers more..

Beautiful batrep! Think this is the first one of yours i've read, nice to see raiders doing so well! no venoms required

I wonder just in general, how often are your warriors disembarked fro mthe raiders? I fell in love with the idea of splinter rack raiders moving and shooting but is it always better to disembark and add another special weapon instead?

Congrats on the win, that was an epic game!

Edit: After reading the linked thread on the tau boards I must say, I like how the DE response was to change your gameplay to deny his advantages and I dislike the tau boards approach that is suggesting specific units to counter DE. While I understand his list might need to be rebalanced (I dont know tau and am not sure if it is a balanced all-comers list) it doesnt seem like a good idea to, for example, change hammerheads to ion heads just cus "dark eldar" when hammerheads are almost always better

Dark City forum rules

goofydk wrote:

I wonder why you dont use cluster caltrops when you bladevane so much?

Cluster caltrops are expensive, a lot of games I might only bladevane once or twice, and mainly use heatlances/blaster or assault. Caltrops force you to bladevane all the time which is not always the best thing to do, reavers are about flexibility caltrops detract from that.

Omnicide wrote:

I wonder just in general, how often are your warriors disembarked fro mthe raiders? I fell in love with the idea of splinter rack raiders moving and shooting but is it always better to disembark and add another special weapon instead?

All the time, It's why I don't run any upgrades on my raiders. Here's my take on it from another thread:

Mushkilla wrote:

I find the trick with ten man warrior raiders, is to only have the warriors embark on the raider when they really need too. I want my warriors spending as little time in that raider death trap as possible. This wan't as effective in 5th as warriors couldn't move and shoot 24" like they can now.

It's also a good idea not to make a raider more expensive than it needs to be, they are fine without upgrades. When you realise they are going to be empty most of the game it make it a lot more apparent that it's not worth spending extra points on them.

Area terrain also makes warriors a real pain to deal with as they can go to ground for a 3+ cover save and still put out some decent snapshot fire thanks to their splinter cannon. An empty raider more often than not gets ignored, meaning It's far more likely to be around late game, giving you more mobility on turn 4+ when it really matters.

Warriors in area terrain with an empty raider near by are deceptively mobile. They can redeploy to an objective that is between 49-59" away in two turns (T4: 2d6 pick the highest + 2" embark range + 12" raider move + 18" flat out + T5: 6" raider move + 6" disembark + 1d6 re-rollable fleet run + 3" objective capture range). More if you include the length of the raider. Perfect for capturing objectives in the late game.

Being on foot also makes the warriors appear less threatening. But this is quite deceiving. If you put your raider in front of your warriors squad (off to one side so they don't have to shoot through it), they can move 6" embark, it can then move 6" and then suddenly you are rapid firing a unit that was 24" away (more if you consider 2" embark range and the length of the raider! As you can fire from any point of the hull) this can really catch people off guard.

When you consider the above I find splinter racks, flicker fields and even night shields to be a bit of a trap on raiders, as they are not cheap and encourage your warriors to stay in their raiders. This reduces your target saturation and lets your opponent kill two birds with one stone (suddenly not only is that autocannon destroying your raider but it's also killing 5-6 warriors).

Hope that helps.

Omnicide wrote:

Edit: After reading the linked thread on the tau boards I must say, I like how the DE response was to change your gameplay to deny his advantages and I dislike the tau boards approach that is suggesting specific units to counter DE.  While I understand his list might need to be rebalanced (I dont know tau and am not sure if it is a balanced all-comers list) it doesnt seem like a good idea to, for example, change hammerheads to ion heads just cus "dark eldar" when hammerheads are almost always better

Yeah, that bothered me too. It's a shame when people focus too much on their list, and rely on it to do all the work.