More Thoughts on the Tau

Hey everyone,

So I spent all day yesterday playing and talking 40k (Man I love Thanksgiving Break), and I think I’m starting to get a hang for the Tau Empire. It’s a very finesse army, and even one single thing that goes wrong will cause a loss, and I can safely say that a LOT went wrong in both my games. I’ll approach both games separately.

Game #1: Tau vs. Space Wolves: Pitched Battle with Kill Points

My friend wanted to play SW for a game, and since I can’t turn down a challenge, I gladly accepted. Things went bad from the start. In turn One, my Ethereal got cooked off by Hurricane Bolter fire, and with that, both Pathfinder squads panicked and took off off of the board. With no Markerlights, my Broadsides missed, my Hammerhead missed, and my shooting became very sketchy. I also deepstruck one of the Elite Crisis Teams, as well as the HQ squad, and in both games, they diddn’t do diddly-squat. I did Deep Strike them a little close to some Grey Hunter Rhinos, but they still had trouble blowing those up.

I will say, though, that my dice were not on my side. I hate to blame something like that, but my friend will agree that my dice hated me. I was missing 7 of 8 shots at rapid fire range, then rolling ones for penetration. Needless to say, I lost the game handily….

Game #2: Tau vs. Codex Marines: Pitched Battle with Capture and Control

This game went much, much better for me. My friend made some MIRACULOUS saves from my Broadsides, but my Hammerhead finally made itself worth it and killed a Land Raider on Turn One. The rest of the game was an uphill battle. It took a large chunk of my Kroot, as well as the Broadsides and HQ Crisis Suit, to kill Kantor and the 5 man TH/SS Terminator Squad. I ended up tying the game, mainly with some Gun Drones jumping off of a Devilfish, then contesting the objective on the other side of the board.

I had a couple of problems with the games, though. First off, as I said, my dice just weren’t doing their things. I was missing necessary shots, or I was hitting and not stopping even Rhinos. Secondly, I need to either drop the Ethereal or learn to keep him alive longer. Rerolling Morale checks within LOS is a really nice thing, and by attaching him to a Pathfinder Squad, he usually can draw LOS to everything, as well as keep the Pathfinders Fearless. Finally, my Suits are my strongest units in the army. If they die, I’m pretty much screwed. I need to learn to utilize the Jet Pack movement to its fullest advantage. It keeps the squad alive, as long as its in cover or near cover.

I’m gonna stick with the list for at least one more game, just to get an even better idea of what needs to change. I’ll be getting some more gaming in on Friday, so I can finally choose what direction I want to go with my Tau next.

Also, expect the FW Crisis Suit Commander (Top Picture) to be painted when I get back to Durango on Sunday. With the final two weeks of school before finals, it should be a fun, busy couple of weeks. I’m also expecting the next group of Tau to show up, so expect pictures of those too!

Thanks,

Granesh