Tau Fleet list advice.

[LuCarD]

With some of my friends we are organizing a mini tournament (1500 pts). Which means I will use one fleet to fight several opponents. So my fleet must be versatile in handling different kind of fleets. Winner of the battle will be determined based on VP

My current opponents are using: Imperials, Chaos, Eldar, Necron and Tyrannids.

So I made two fleet lists, both have some nice advantages and disadvantages. For the tournament I have to choose one.

Fleet list one: total 1500 pts ( my standard fleet )
Custodian 330
upgrade logic given by ld 10
ld Kor‟O Vash‟ya Y‟eldi Mesme 110
Protector - Tolku 185
Protector - Voirla 185
Hero - VASH’YA 180
Hero - VASH’YA 180
Emissary - IL‟PORRUI SA‟CEA 110
Emissary - IL‟PORRUI SA‟CEA 110
"+prow upgrade" 10
Warden 90

advantages: good bomber/fighter coverage, many torpedo's, average lance/batteries
disadvantage: Custodian will be a magnet for long range attacks

Fleet 2: total 1500 pts
Protector - Tolku 185
Protector - Tolku 185
Protector - voirla 185

Hero - VASH’YA 180
Hero - VASH’YA 180
Emissary IL‟PORRUI BORK‟AN 110
"+prow upgrade" 10
Emissary IL‟PORRUI BORK‟AN 110
"+prow upgrade" 10
Warden 120

ld 8 50
aun'o 75
Castellan 100

advantage: no clear target for VP, even more torpedo's, better lances/batteries
disadvantage: I will lose the fighter/bomber battles. I would have prefered an extra emissary instead of the castellan but I don't have any models left

Furthermore anyone have any tips on the Necron? I never played against Necron.

[Kakapo42]

Well I can see one problem with both lists already: you can't field Heroes on their own (you need to take an Explorer or Merchant for each one), unless there's some ruling with FW Tau that I'm missing.

I myself would go with List one. Ordinance is the Tau's strength, not gunnery (not that they're bad at that, they're just better at ordinance), so I'd not worry so much about lances/batteries (and think of them as just a nice bonus), and instead focus on DOMINATING the ordinance phase (including fighters/bombers). Plus if you have one the Custodian is far too cool looking not to field.

Speaking of which, you'll want a full compliment of Wardens for the Custodian if you decide to use it. Perhaps you could remove one of the Emissaries to accommodate?

Finally, if you're facing Eldar, consider fielding one or both of the Heroes in the Tolku configuration. Eldar ships are very resilient to Lances, but not as tough to crack with batteries. Also think about taking an Explorer, which will help with Ordinance and be less of a fire magnet.

[horizon]

Hi,

first to Kakapo42,

check out this:
http://tinyurl.com/23nul8q

FAQ2010/Compendium 2010. Official development, waiting for GW stamp of approval.

The Tau list in this is really cool (much more innovative and fun then the FW Taros list).

3 Wardens (90pts)= Full Grav Hook use of Custodian.

Here you can see that you may take one Hero per Merchant/Emissary/Protector.

Allround the FW models turned into a more gunnery fleet/less attack craft with better turn rates. I real raider fleet. Cool shizzles.

The Tol'lku Protector has slightly more batteries then the Vior'la, but the Vior'la has medium ranged lances instead of short ranged (45cm vs 30cm).


Both are real battlefleets. I prefer list one. Keep the Hero's 20cm in front of the Custodian.

You miss Castellans. I love'em. I would ditch an Emissary to get 2. Add them to the Wardens for bulk. Use their missiles to remove cap. Or keep em as separate around the Custodian (range on batteries).

I would only add one Emissary because of fluffy reasons, never to win.


vs Necrons; batteries first, then lances. You have ordnance and missiles to hunt him. Just hang in there. Necrons are though but if you crack a Scythe or Tombship it is win. Shrouds are easy vps, so if you see them -> worry your opponent by taking it out.

[Kakapo42]

Ah then I stand corrected. Thank you for explaining. In regards to Necrons, they have no Ordinance of their own, relying mainly on Stellar (or Solar, I forget what exactly) Pulse generators to defend from Ordinance, so perhaps you could use that to your advantage...

[Caine-HoA]

Im missing Explorer(s). Their Bombers will be good to annoy and hunt down eldar as well as generally beeing a very effective ship for their purpose. (in addition to that you can take a hero for each explorer as well)

I didnt play too many games vs necrons but one i played was with eldar and the use of ordnance was good vs them.
Additionally its important to get as many capital ships as possible to BFI. Then they cant use their anti ordnance weapon and they will lack firepower. I dont know how to handle the Tombship though.

[horizon]

You think an Explorer is needed? Unadjusted his first list has 12 attack craft. Add to this seven missile markers which can turn.
But I do agree that an Explorer instead of both Emissaries will make the fleet very attack craft strong.

Oh, Tol'ku Protectors must outnumber Vior'la's. So the 1:1 ratio in list one is not allowed.

[Caine-HoA]

Maybe it doesnt need an Explorer at all cost but 12 attack craft isnt much for 1500points.
The next point is that the 12 attack craft are split up among many ships so you wont have big squads. There can be a huge difference of effectivity to have a 8 craft squad in comparison to 4x2 squads or 1x6 and 2x1.
Attack craft is one of the tau strenght with their bombers, if you dont want to build up on that an Explorer is not necessary. However i even played 1000 point fleets with two explorers. With the "new" different design approach for the FW Tau from FAQ 2010 there are simply more options to build tau fleets (whats good in my opinion), so i can't really say whats stronger.

[horizon]

12 AC is most I ever had in a 1500pts game.

[Caine-HoA]

Emperor + Dictator =12
Despoiler + Devastator = 12

So already two of the enemies have it pretty easy to access the same amount of Attack Craft.
If you want an Attack Craft Dominance (what you can easily achieve with Tau) you need more.
BUT i dont know if thats good on a Tournament, ive never played one ;-) Maybe Attack Craft are simply too weak.
Still i guess the Explorer taken into the list is a good variant because you can get cheap Orcas with it who bring more lances with them.

[LuCarD]

Oke I have chosen for the following fleet...


Custodian 330
upgrade logic given by ld 10
ld Kor‟O Vash‟ya Y‟eldi Mesme 110
Protector - Tolku 185
Protector - Tolku 185
Hero - VASH’YA 180
Hero - Tolku 180

Emissary - IL‟PORRUI SA‟CEA 110
"+prow upgrade" 10
Warden 90
Castellan 100

Explorer was never an option for me because I don't have the model...

[andrewchristlieb]

I would say 12 ac is pretty average for 1500, you can still gain the advantage in ord with your missiles tho.

[horizon]

Caine,
AC is very strong.

Good fleet LuCarD.