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We may even reduce the Tau's "near-impervious to air assault" umbrella that some folks seem to find.
Again, this is one game where the Skyrays shot the T-birds down. There are other (more in fact) examples where the Skyrays did not prevent a Thunderhawk assault. So, I am watching this very closely, but am waiting on evidence to convince me that something other than a potential cost bump is necessary.
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That's basically what I was trying to say. I acknowledge and point out that I am new to the game in general, playing against tau for the first time, and playing against chris who seems a fairly hardened veteran of the game. But even with all that in consideration (I expect to lose games against chris, and lose them hard, but learn something) the Tau just seems really rock-paper-scissors against marines. They have access to full board AA at a fairly cheap cost (no "I'll just fly through it and pray" AA but rather "That move is utter suicide" AA) which means that marine air assaults are near impossible and placing blast markers with planes is also no going to happen. And their good, high range overwatch formations means you can't move your ground forces in to suppress or break the tau formations you need to deal with early.
Fortis, I'm not trying to deny that you were beat up pretty bad and that the Tau don't have advantages over the SM. But so do other lists. I'm also not trying to say that you're a bad player, you sound quite competent to me. However, you also do not know what you are dealing with if you have not studied the list. TRC has been playing Tau for awhile and on top of that is a well respected player.
But you don't know what you are fighting against. In that sort of situation, would you expect any different result?
Right now you are focusing on Tau strengths, or in some cases, perceived strengths. What are the Tau weaknesses? Any thoughts? Look at the FF and CC values of all their units. Understand that they do not have any SHT vehicles except for the Manta. Understand that they do not have any weapons that fire indirectly or use templates. Note that their formations are not very large. The Skyray formations you ran into will break by shooting at them and causing one casualty.
"Know your enemy and know your self and in one hundred battles you will never be defeated" - Sun Tzu
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Edit: Also, Flying shadowswords for less cost?!? Really?
Yes, the Tau have flying guns. How much damage do they take? Anywhere near what a Shadowsword formation can handle? How about the armor save? Can Shadowswords be shot down or suppressed by AA? Let' make sure our comparisons are apples to apples.
Understand the Tau strengths, but exploit their weaknesses.
