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Hello there!
Today I went to a local store today and I was positively surprised to
see a tau fleet in action. It was a 1500 point engagement. The Tau
fleet had 2 explorers, 2 merchants, all the orcas those can carry (10
in 3 squadrons of 3,3,4, IIRC) and 2 Heroes (one being the WB
version) as well as 2 messengers. In fact it was a proxied list since
the dude hadn't bought the fleet but they were testing it to see if
he would go for it or not.
The imps had a mars, 2 lunars, 1 gothic, 1 dictator, 3 swords, 3
firestorms and 4 cobras
The fleet did quite well against an imperial fleet, out-ordenancing
it and outgunning it at medium range. The combo of 45 range WB with
squadroned ships (hero+hero, merchant+merchant) proved to pack quite
more firepower than what the opponent was expecting and those ships
(the merchants and the explorers) did deal quite some significant
hits on the imperial fleet, even if it was the orcas and the Heroes
the ones carrying the heavy toll of the battle.
The 45/12 and 45/8 pack of the slower ships proved to be something
more than expected there, trashing enemy swords and firestorms quite
more easily than expected. In fact I myself was really surprised with
that.
The 6 hits of the Merchant seem to help a little bit, basically by
keeping the vessel uncripled for a longer time. The problem remains
having only one shield in the ships (except the hero) more than the
hit points, though. The Merchants went down with relative ease but as
could be seen quite easily they were carrying a "SHOT ME!" neon
signal over them while the heroes and orcas where going around
saying "I am not here... don't pay atention to me...." just before
attacking on a specific point with quite some power aided with
massive aircraft waves.
In fact the merchants were *specifically* designed to draw fire in
the overall plan as the dude playing them told me after the game. He
was bragging all the time on how much better and unbeatable they were
now that they had 6 HP and the imperial dude did bite the trap and
concentrated fire on them.
The messengers worked wonders as well helping the defensive and
assault groups (one in each group). Even if they were aimed and
destroyed easily once the opponent realized how effective thy were
turning the enemy batteries.
Nevertheless the final result was that the imperium won the game,
basically due to the squadroned lunars (and to some extent, the
gothic) doing an astonishing work while the rest of the fleet had a
hard time dealing with enemy ordenance and assaults. In any case it
took more effort for them to do so than they thought it was possible.
I think none of the players was very experienced in any case since
they made some mistakes that even me, a newie as I am, could spot and
they made some rules mistakes as well that none of us noticed until
the game was over.
OVERALL:
The extra hit points for the merchant seem to work ok, and make for a
nice vessel in the Tau armoury. The Merchants definitively are not a
match for an enemy ship of the line but now pack enough staying power
to stop the enemy advance instead of being taken out of action in a
single attack by the opposing fleet. That forces the opponent to
spend more resources taking the gits down and so the impact that the
merchants now have in the fleet is significant. They go down, but
earn time for the rest of the fleet to operate efficiently.
Good improvement I would say.
Personal opinion of the tau fleet after this game.
The fleet is ok. In fact it is better than what I expected after
reading some posts about them in several forums. A nowadays fleet I
would say, with loads of ordenance and a fair number of missiles
(even if less than the imps, but those being cruiser missiles it
doesn't matter much). Good/very good ship of the line in the form of
the Hero and a good dedicated carrier in the Explorer. The merchant
is basically a firepower soaker, but this is what it is there for. A
fair and good fleet overall for the people that likes ordenance and
slow moving fleets, even if I still dread the models of anything
bigger than an escort. In the nands of a vetera they can do quite better than
they did in this game as well IMO
Health and a lot of sixes,
Xavi
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Commanding legions forward while sitting in a nice armchair.
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