Tau on the aggressive...sperimenting a new playstyle

[aglim]

Hi all fellows commanders....

Last night i was thinking of re-think my playstyle...just for fun.

I want to try a more aggressive style.
So i'm gonna write my aggressive list right now and write all the reasoning to my choices...se if you think it can work.

HQ:
The mandatory commander is always a good choice... A way to make this unit aggressive is deep strike, but i find it too much a risk. Another way could be giving him Stim injector/Iridiumplate and vectored thruster... I never tried it.
For now i'll stick with a classic 'El with plasma/pod/multitracker

Shas'EL - Plasma/missiles/multitracker 87 pts

ELITE:
I think stealth are really important for an aggressive playstyle.... So i'll take 2 quite damaging teams. I choose a team of 4 with TA and a team of 6.

4 Stealth, TA 160 pts
6 Steath 180 pts

TROOPS:
Fire warriors are mandatory, and the only way to make them aggressive is called "devilsifh", So i take a 10 man team with DF, to not waste to many points and still treath enemy lines...

The second troop choice are without doubt the kroot! I think they work well in combination with stealth and vespids, and i eant some CC punch. I'll take 1 or 2 team of 10 kroot+6 hound+shaper

10 FW
DF /w DL/MT/TA 200 pts

10 Kroot + shaper 127
+6 hound

FAST ATTACK:
In such an aggressive style i can't leave the vespid home! With their low Bs they need quite a large number to be effective. I'll take max, 10 + strain leader. I think this unit can reach its target quite fast, and used in combination with kroot and stealth can be dangerous. A combined fire from 6 Stealht and vespid followed by assault can hurt quite a bit i think.
The same is said for kroot.
As second FA choice i never leave home a unit of Deep gun drones... they'll help me keep the initiative by my side too..

10 vepid + leader 186 pts
6 Gun drones 72 pts

HEAVY SUPPORT
To mantain high initiative and keep aggressive i'll need mobility.
So Hammerhead comes to mind. Skyray would be a good choice too because vespid with Markerlight are a real pain!
I need railgun first of all. 2 Railheads will do the job.

RailHead: Rail/B.cannons/MT/DL 165 pts
RailHead: Rail/B.cannons/MT/DL 165 pts
Skyray: SMS/MT/DL 160 pts


Do you think this style of play can work?
I see great potential for vespid in this typo list.... DOn't you think...gimme your opinions 8) 8)

[Solinan]

I for one loved the skyray when the new codex released and I coulden't understand all the beating it got, but think about it... it is useful for about 3 turns, and then its an expensive target for the enemy...

I would drop a few vespids and a unit of stealths and beef the other unit up, and try to get another Fire Warrior squad in a devilfish in there, get the points from the Skyray.

Right now your army is very fragile, you have more none tau units then what good is IMO. That means you have some bad saves, especially vespid, as they are expensive and quite the delicious target. You have many tanks, which I guess is okay, but you really need the wounds and saves that FWs give, plus why have 3 anti tank tanks?? I know that railguns have a blast shot, but IMO a cheap unit of Missile crisis suits are better at that...

I would go with two smallish units of crisis teams optimaised for what you need them to do.

My take on an aggresive Tau army...

Shas'EL - Plasma/missiles/multitracker 87 pts
2 * Crisis Plasma/Missile/Multi 124 pts

6 Stealths +2 Fusions (forward "scouts" taking the odd tank or elites/heavy) 184 pts
10 Fire Warriors + shasui (they need the Ld)
DF /w DL/MT/TA SMS 230 pts (might as well put in an SMS to make it a "real" gunship)
10 Fire Warriors + shasui
DF /w DL/MT/TA SMS 230 pts (these two badboy units roll up and rapidfire infantry into a new world)

10 kroot 94 pts
4 hounds (4 are enough IMO) (countercharge)

7 Stingwings + 1 leader (backup crisis units in taking out SMs or the like) 134 pts

8 Gun Drones (DS behind tanks or pin units) 96 pts

Hammerhead 120 pts
w/Ion Cannon MT/DL (elite trasher/ or light tanks)

Hammerhead 165 pts
Railun MT/DL (heavy tank trasher/mob basher)

That leaves 36 pts, thats 2 more stings or upgrades for your commander, or more FWs... or whatever.. :P

Move up/infiltrate/Deepstrike on one flank with everything, everything should be able to keep up with eachother... You have more wounds on the table, a little more diversity IMO and still have speed and firepower...

hope you the best of luck with your aggresive tau.

[aglim]

In fact i was a little in doubt with my skyray... i think i should at least try it.
Your list seems very effective to me... I really love the IonHead and i'd prefer it instead of crisis suits for vehicle popping...much more able to target flank armours.

Now you say...drop the skyray, and add another FoF team.
Drop a RailHead and add missile crisis or IonHead.
I would remain with only 1 railgun. Do you think it would be enough?
I should add some fusion blaster on the stealth to compensate the anti tank loss?

[MrLiy]

I think he is spending too many points on the Kroot, Vespid, Stealth combo...all units are good, but its wasteful to hit one squad of marines(roughly 150-190pts) with three squads. I recommend using 2 teams of two squads(your choice whethers stealths vespids or kroot) one team to tackle one squad of theirs. This should neuter around 2 squads per turn. Make sure you take other units to slow down the advance of your other units.(Pinning weapons come to mind)

[intellectawe]

Dump the vesipds. Get more fire warriors.

[brimmstorm]

I think he is spending too many points on the Kroot, Vespid, Stealth combo...all units are good, but its wasteful to hit one squad of marines(roughly 150-190pts) with three squads.

Thats what the Tau have to do to take down a full marine squad. You basically have to have your whole army firing at a single squad at a time. This is how the Tau fight and it's not a waste.

-brimmstorm

[hootier]

Where are the Pathfinders?

Granted, they have to be pretty static, but with all your devilfish and other "in-your-face" type units, I'd think you can maneuver so that you give the enemy plenty of other things to fire at than pathfinders that are 30-something inches away.

[MrLiy]

Thats what the Tau have to do to take down a full marine squad. You basically have to have your whole army firing at a single squad at a time. This is how the Tau fight and it's not a waste.

-brimmstorm

Gonna have to disagree with you there, maybe its lucky dice but I can start forcing morale checks with just one or two squads. I rather stall large chunks of their Army than take out one squad only to be slammed by all the other units left.

[Fallen Angel]

If you want to play aggressive, why not play farsight army? Granted theres no kroot in there or vespid but you get a lot of crisis suits in there which can be pretty handy in assault.

[sonicbunny]

When fighting marines with minimal armor backup, bring multiple Ion heads.

The best I ever did with tau v. marines was the list with an even dozen markerlights, ONE hammerhead with RAILGUN, and TWO with ION heads.

I used a bunch of markerlights to ensure 2+ hits with the railgun from max range each round til his Landraider and Whirlwind were dead then I hammered him to death with Ion fire that hit on a 2+, wounded on a 3+ and NO SAVE for his marines, EVEN IN COVER. Talk about a demoralized marine player. And the firewarriors watched their team leaders most of the game as they lit up anything nasty and the devilfish and SMS systems took everything else that came near them out. I play with three 'fish and three 'heads and thats six free drones, and three sets of sms running interference. You just have to focus your fire. It's hard to concieve of an entire army taking on one squad at a time, but the Tau just have to do it, even more than the Eldar do.

[brimmstorm]

Gonna have to disagree with you there, maybe its lucky dice but I can start forcing morale checks with just one or two squads. I rather stall large chunks of their Army than take out one squad only to be slammed by all the other units left.

Just because you force a morel check doesn't mean they fail. A weakend squad of marines is still a tough fight for any Tau unit. Also since you will most likely have the advantage of speed you don't need to put yourself in a situation where you are taking on their whole army at once. So you have the advantage of being able to focus your shots.

-brimmstorm

[Zurai]

Morale checks are ignorable for most marines, and most marines (even decimated hw squads) can hold off an entire unit of WS2 tau.

[Bregalad]

How about using a big Piranha Squad (4-5): Fast, carries missiles, carries Gun Drones. As replacement of Sky Ray and Drone Squad?

[aglim]

So should i change my list?

Do you think an army composed of 2/3 fishes, some stealth, 3 Hammerheads (1rail 2ion) some piranha and commanders would be a better offensive tau approach?

[the spook]

I played a very similar list with the 3rd ed Codex, and i'm now experimenting with the new rules. Overall, looks failry viable, but i think you need some crisis suits in the mix for more versatility.

[SAMAS]

If you go for an agressive style, you have to make sure all your shots count. After all, if you're too close and they're still standing, your units will be in deep ca-ca.

Which is why I second investing in some Pathfinders. They may be more static than you're looking for, but they can move, and their markerlights do wonders towards making your other shots count. Reducing the enemy Ld is a must, for example, if you want to count on pinning.