Tau forcesCrisis Cadre + Crisis + SC
FW Cadre + Pathfinders + Devilfish
AMHC + Network Drones + Skyray
Stingrays + Skyray
Stealth
Broadsides + Gun Drones
Tetras
Barracudas
AX-1-0
Steel LegionHQ Mech Inf Coy + Hydra
Mech Inf Coy + Hydra
Tank Coy + Hydra
Basilisk Artillery Platoon
Vulture Platoon
Sentinel Platoon
ThunderBolts
Setup
Tau win initiative. No Teleports. Sentinels garrison.
1/AX-1-0 performs grnd attack on Vultures destroying only one of their 3+ MW shots. With no MLs possibly near, the AX-1-0s is an expensive one shot plane....
2/FWs fail to activate = 1 BM and forget to take a hold action.
3/ Thunderbolts intercept the AX1-0 sqdn losing one plane to defensive fire but downing one AX-1-0. TBs= 2BM, AX-1-0 = 3BM
4/ Broadsides double into the wood in front of them and try to shoot the HQ Mech inf but its out of range
5/Basilisks sustain fire on the Tetras attempting to destroy a ML formation killing 2 Tetras = 3BM
6/AMHC doubles to the wood in front of them to fire on the Sentinels. Due to skimmer LOF vs terrain they can only see one and kill it = 2BM on Sentinels.
7/Shadowsword Coy marches to dead centre of the board
8/Tetras fail to activate and gain 1BM and it bbreaks/b the formation
9/Sentinels double to fire on the AMHC. no hits and the AMHC gains 1BM
10/Stingrays fail to activate and stay where they are = 1BM
11/Mech Inf Coy marches to within 10cm of the Stingrays and FWs - GUTSY!!
12/Crisis double into the woods in front of them
13/HQ MEch INf fail to activate = 1BM
14/Barracudas fail to activate and gain 1 BM. the resulting SC reroll also fails ....
15/Vulture platoon marches to the deep corner behind the Crisis suits
16/ With no retain necessary the Tank Coy marches up beside the SHT Coy
End Phase:
Thunderbolts exit without hits
AX-1-0 takes 1 hit from the HQ Hydra which it saves and leaves with 3BM
Tetras Rally = 2Bm left
Sentinels Rally = no BM
HQ mech Inf rally = no BM
Stingrays rally = no BM
Things I learned in turn 1
The AX-1-0s - trying to attack troops in the other table half - unless you teleport or throw a ML unit forward first, thus losing inititative (in the psychological sense) - you've lost a heck of a lot of firepower (4x AT5! attacks). 350 seems silly in this instance. Ok you still have 2x 3+ MW shots but in relation to weakness of interception the plane seems far too expensive. 4+ armour saves you only 50% of the time and hey whaddya know I lost half my sqdn to an intercept....
Barracudas are in the same boat - over costed, as 50% or more of the time due to the GM/ML rule they get 1 weapon to fire on the enemy on a ground attack. There was no way I could have had a ML unit where I wanted to attack.
As foreseen tetras come under fire immediately from the basilisks as Reddeth knows to kill them first.
Skimmer pop-up LOF rules means skimmer tanks aren't so hot now when an opponent knows to hug cover. With the GM/ML rule in effect as well I get less than half my shooting. I killed 1 Sentinel and couldn't see the others. Can anyone tell me how they think skimmer HH tanks are more powerful than a Leman Russ tank?
With enemy formations able to leap to the centre of the board on a march, the Tau's reduced firepower (thanks GM/ML rule) means they cannot hold formations at bay very long. This does not bode well for the Tau versus shooty or assault formations. They just cannot bring enough firepower to bear to hold off well armoured formations.
I'm serious when I say some things need a slight points reduction.
> The AX-1-0 is 2 TK(D3) which is pretty tough against any war engines out there. If they hit the shadowswords turn one are going to lose one tank and may even break.
Yeah understood Meph but this is only if they survive to get there... My other beef is that with 2 wasted AT attacks per plane we're paying for weapons we may never get to use, for the sheer fact that where the aircraft have to go, MLs don't/can't. I'd be quite happy to keep the points as they are if we made the AT attacks non-guided if we keep this change as it stands to the GM rules. This applies to the Barracudas too. i think we may have overlooked the fact that the aircraft won't get good access to ML formations when they perform a ground attack. Sure I can have Stealth teams teleport into enemy territory but how many do I need to purchase to do the job?
Turn 2
Tau win initiative (lucky for me given what was about to happen!). No teleports.
1/ In the previous turn, the gutsy Guard Mech company had marched right up to the Stingray/FW formations who were very close to one another (not intermingled though) - planning an engagement on either the Stingray or FW formation. Luckily for the Tau, winning intiative saved their hides.
The Path Finders in the FW formation called the Stingrays in for an emergency Co-Ordinated Fire action on the Guardsmen now disembarked to their immediate front. The FWs advanced, swinging their formation around the left flank of the Guardsmen and disembarked from their own transports and bringing the Mech Inf into a crossfire with the Stingrays. The Stingrays chose to Sustain fire in the action.
Once the firing was done, 8 guard infantry and 3 chimeras were dead and the company was broken, retreating back towards their baseline blitz objective.
This would have been ugly for the Tau if they had not won the initiative and would have had a significant change to the outcome of the game.
2/The crisis suits retained the initiative and advanced on the Vulture platoon behind them and killed all remaining Vultures.
3/ The Shadowswords fail to activate but use the SC reroll and double towards the wood containing the broadsides and fire on them killing 1 Gun Drone. = 2 BM
4/ The Tetras double forward to try to bring the Tank Company into ML range while putting 1 BM on the Sentinels in the process but cause no hits.
5/ AMHC fail to retain and gains 1BM. In their Hold action they move away to their left behind the two woods either side of IG obj. #1
6/The Thunderbolts go on CAP.
7/ The AX-1-0 fail to activate due to its 3 BMs and stands down, clearing those BMs for next turn.
8/Sentinels Engage the Tetras and the resulting assault draws in support from the nearby Leman Russ Company and destroys the Tetras.
9/The Broadsides fail to go on Overwatch = 1 BM and shoot the tank company laying down 1BM on them.
10/the basilisk platoon sustains fire on the FWs killing 2 infantry units = 3 BMs
11/Barracuda Sqdn performs a ground attack on the Sentinels but they save both hits = 1BM
12/ HQ MEch Inf march to a point between the distant crisis suits and the broadsides for another engagement of planned mass destruction (Broadsides, AMHC are both possible targets).
13/ The Tank Coy has no need to retain - as all Tau activations are done - and marches around behind the woods in front of their Blitz objective.
End Phase:
Barracudas take no exit hits
Thunderbolts take no exit hits
Stingrays rally = no BMs
IG Tank coy rally = no BMs
FWs rally = 2BM left
Sentinels rally = no BMs
Things learned in turn 2
Using FWs (with the new stats) and Pathfinders in a Co-ord fire action versus infantry is a great way to use them! They need a support formation as well, however. The Stingrays fit that bill perfectly (or a second FW formation I would hazard a guess). However, I am unsure how they would have faired on the receiving end of an engagement if I had lost the initiative roll....
I had planned for the 2 formations to stick close to each other when I wrote the list and aimed to tackle any infantry formations that they crossed swords with using a co-ord. I imagined them sweeping into the enemy half of the table but I had unfortunately bad luck getting both formations moving in turn 1. ÂÂ
As I guessed, the GM/ML rule forces the FWs and Stingrays (and any other ground formations for that matter) to close in on the enemy (30cms), so they have any hope of hurting them badly enough before the enemy can close in to engage. While they can really hurt an enemy in close, I think the risk is high that Tau may not be so lucky with initiative when they need to be. I always thought they were supposed to stand off and do their damage at range....
Also, I've mentioned this before (and my game confirmed it for me) but there just aren’t enough ML formations you can take without weakening your army significantly. The more MLs you take the less hard fighting formations you get. GMs and MLs now seem to work against each other in the army design. The two aspects can't work together as you either take a lot of MLs to cover the board or you use more fighting formations to hit the enemy hard, which you can't do so well without GMs .. which in turn don't function without MLs.... it’s a catch 22. I don't think this was the intention of the rule design but this is how it pans out IMO.
Turn 3
Guard win initiative. Stealth sacrifice themselves trying to save the Broadsides and AMHC from a nasty assault, teleporting right in behind the HQ Mech Inf Coy so it's in their zone of control.
1/ The Shadowswords right beside the HQ coy engage the Stealths trying to wipe them out so the HQ coy can still engage the other Tau formations.
(We had a bit of confusion with the rule regarding having to assault scout troops when you're in their ZOC. The rule says you have to engage them or move out but goes on to make the rule a bit ambiguous by not specifying if you can assault away onto another formation. We played it that the HQ coy would have to assault the Stealth teams.)
The Stealth suits got first strike in doing 1DC but the return fire kills 2 of them and the resulting support fire from the HQ coy wipes out the Stealths. The gamble didn't pay off.
2/The HQ coy fails to retain and the SC reroll does too! = 1BM They Hold and shoot the Hammerheads, killing 1 =2BM
The Tau breathe a massive sigh of relief escaping the pending engagement.
3/AMHC high tail it away from the Tank Coy on a double into the enemy half behind the Shadowswords. They shoot into their rear but with part of the formation suppressed they only put 1DC on the SHTs
4/The Crisis suits retain and advance on the rear of the HQ coy bringing the Guard SC into their sights with careful placement. The resulting fire kills the SC, the Hydra, a Chimera and 3 infantry teams = +7BMs for a total of 8.
5/The Basilisks sustain fire on the damaged AMHC for no hits but the +1BM breaks the AMHC
6/FWs and Pathfinders double into their transports and over to take positions between the two Tau objectives in the woods, firing on the Sentinels with rifle fire. They kill 1 = 2BM and breaking the Sentinels who run away towards the Blitz objective on the Tau baseline.
7/The Broadsides retain taking a Marshall action removing their 3 BMs so they would be ready to shoot at the impending Tank coy arrival. They had shot the HQ with -1 to hit and killed 4 Chimeras and 2 infantry = breaking the HQ coy. It retreats away to the Tau baseline.
8/The Thunderbolts perform a Ground Attack on the broken AMHC, there's no defensive AA due to the broken status but the TBs do no damage but kill one tank with a BM from putting them under fire. The AMHC moves away along the IG baseline area towards the Blitz.
9/The AX-1-0 swings in to attack the Shadowswords doing 3DC (rolled a 6) and breaking the coy (a total of 6BMs) who move away towards the buildings for a bit of cover.
10/The Tank coy engages the Broadsides in the woods destroying all of them and the gun drones. Very bad dice rolls left me with 3 broadsides and resolution killed them off.
11/The Stingrays fail to activate again... = 1BM they hold and move towards the enemy half.
12/The Barracudas attack the broken Mech infantry coy by its Blitz, killing the Hydra and 2 infantry teams and it moves away to seek shelter in the rubble in front of the blitz.
End phase:
No hits on exiting aircraft
Tank Coy rally = no BMs
AMHC rally = 2BMs remaining
FWs rally = 1 BM
Stingrays rally = no BMs
All other guard formations fail to rally.
Victory points: Tau 1 (TNH) Guard 2 (TNH, Blitz) a narrow win to the IG.
In actual fact Reddeth was only 1 cm from having Guard objective 1, so I took the game as a loss as this was our first game back for ages and normally we would have remembered to be that extra 1cm closer. However, Reddeth said let’s play on so we went to turn 4.
Things I learned from turn 3
Gun drones don't get expendable! Is this an error in the 5.1 list or do I not have the correct draft? I had to read the special rules twice to make sure I wasn't going mad. What the...?! Is there a point to gun drones now? All they did was cause easy casualties to the Broadside formation adding BMs. 100 points is way too much for these guys if they do nothing of value but fire pulse rifles. They can't even be taken as support group now. What a waste of points!
Crisis suits are still pretty good but I still didn't use them in an engage because why would I? No MW FF sucks as it gives them no real punch in a pinch(engagement)  The Guard SC assassination was a neat little attack. They jumped in, killed a few things then jumped into cover in the woods behind them. Of course they were never in Reddeth's sights for an engagement so time will tell how they handle not being able to get out of an assault.
The AX-1-0's attack showed that even one can make a good WE hunter but the fact that opponents don't always bring WEs they're an expensive piece of machinery if they don't as they'll be relegated to shooting just 2 weapons per squadron if they attack in the opponent's half or they'll need to be close in air support for anything left on the table with a ML. That's if they don't get shot down by interceptors first. As I said, having GMs as a secondary armament is a big let down. I'd rather see just standard air to ground missiles that aircraft can shoot themselves. It really does make the aircraft a bit hit or miss for the points cost.
What seems to compound this is that aircraft don't get the benefit of a Hold action so they are off table is
a lot of the time (as the game showed). Ok they get the benefit of not being shot by anything on the board but even with flak rushers with -1 they can be knocked down when they are on the table due to fragility.
Turn 4
Tau win initiative. There was very little activity this turn due to guard having so many broken formations.
1/ AX-1-0 fails to activate again. 1BM
2/ Basilisks sustain fire on the AMHC again doing no hits but they break them.
3/ The Thunderbolts attack the AMHC too hoping to wipe out a BTS formation ( I had 2 including the Crisis) but miss with all weapons and destroy one more tank leaving 2 HHs broken and in disarray - but still alive!
4/ The Barracuda Sqdn dive bombs the Basilisks at point blank range but they kill one with one of their 2 Ion shots (again no GMs....) but the damage is done and the artillery platoon break and are driven off the Blitz objective.
5/ The Tank coy fail to activate. They hold and move between the woods closer to the Guard 1st objective - aiming to claim TNH and Blitz together.
6/ The Crisis suits make sure they have enough movement and march into the gap between Guard objectives 1 and 2 denying the Tank coy control.
7/ The Stingrays march to within 15cm of the Blitz objective to claim it unopposed.
8/ The FWs advance on the broken Mech infantry coy in the rubble and do enough to destroy it from BMs
End Phase:
Aircraft leave without problem.
Victory Points: Tau 2 (Blitz, TNH) Steel Legion 1 (Blitz)
So in the end a reversal of fortune for the Tau but I still count it as a loss personally. I don't think missing victory by 1cm measurements is cause to lose a game as it's just nit picking in my mind, especially in a friendly game.
It was interesting to find that in almost every game in my memory I've played with the Tau that they have not won many by turn 3. It seems they almost always require the 4th turn to do it. The only games I remember doing well in were against Orks with a lot of LV/infantry. Against well armoured opponents it's always a struggle. This applies to all of the list versions too BTW. Reddeth knew to beat Tau you have to get to them pronto. Notice how many march activations he made in turns 1 & 2?
You may have noticed the lack of action on behalf of the AMHC. It killed 1 sentinel the whole game. For a main battle tank formation it seems very under done. Not at any stage did I feel that I would have been able to hurt the Tank Coy to any degree with just 6 Rail guns. The RA saves for LRs always protect them vs even Rail guns. With a lack of MW or even lance the HH is just not the anti armour vehicle people think it is. Versus non RA tanks it works well. However i would like tothink that in general it's supposed to cut up RA vehicles too. If ML availability is minimal to non-existent it's even less potent. My effort to bring the LR under ML coverage to try and get the AMHC to hurt it, ended up with me losing the tetras altogether. I would have again had to get within 30cm to use the Skyray's ML to use all my weaponry. Why would the Tau go to great lengths to do this? Why would they have massive ranges on their weapons when they have to close to within 30cm to do their maximum damage output? If this is going to be the final rule design for GM/MLs then I would much more prefer to get Fusion guns on HHs and let me just streak into close range and blast away with MW shots. If there's a choice between death at close range while doing damage to the enemy or a death at close range without badly hurting the enemy, I know which one I'd pick. If you force Tau players to fight in close let us do it with effective weapons for close range fighting. Of course, I thought we weren't supposed to be fond of close range fighting.... just something to consider more closely gents.
To those folks out there who say I am supposed to get crossfire in on a LR tank company to hurt it, I would ask you - Would you yourself put a fast lightly armoured formation behind a tank company to claim crossfire when other enemy formations are within easy reach of your lightly armoured formation next activation? It's not always so simple to engineer a crossfire. Sure you can throw away formations to do it but it doesn't guarantee you the destruction of the tank company but it does guarantee you own formations destruction. That is plain and simple ATTRITION... and that is NOT a Tau way of warfare.
I am a firm believer that the ML range either has to increase significantly or a Turret formation ... yes that’s right bring them back ... is needed. The Tau cannot bring enough weapons to bear at long range to slow the enemy troops enough before they are in close proximity.
People moan about the gun line but I found in my game that nothing changed that much. Most of my forces spent the majority of their time in my half of the table. Tau don't advance in the first few turns. They need to reduce enemy formations before they move. It's always the way I've played it and it didn't change with v5.1 it’s just now I shoot less and the enemy formations get on top of me before I can hurt them much. Granted I hurt them a lot in close but that's not what Tau are supposed to do by all accounts - see my above comments regarding close range weapons.
