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1250 Tau Vs 1250 Tyranids - Advice and Opinions Wanted!!

663 views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  churchic 
#1 ·
Ok, first off, first post woo!!.. anyways

after finally returning to the 40k scene (college work threw virtually all my hobbies out of the window), i've found myself playing an old friend's tyranid army... something he's been gloating about for a long time.

anyway, after agreeing on 1250 points (i havnt got enough for 1500 at the moment, although could expand depending on replies here) we've agreed to play in 2 weeks time, and i'm hoping for some opinions on how my army list would fare, or could be improved, further i have got the rough details of his tyranids, although it may not be entirely accurate (as it's been a long time since i've had contact with the tyranid codex)..

Finally if anything here breaks forum rules, or needs more explanation, please tell me so i can make the changes, thanks :D
Tau:

|HQ|

Shas'el
airbursting fragmention projector
cyclic ion blaster
multitracker
90

|Elites|

2x Crisis Battlesuits (each with)
plasma rifle
missile pod
multi tracker
124

2x Crisis Battlesuits (each with)
plasma rifle
missile pod
multi tracker
124

3x Stealth Team (each with)
drone controller
2x gun drones
150

|Troops|

6x Fire Warriors
60

6x Fire Warriors
60

6x Fire Warriors
60

|Fast Attack|

8x Gun Drones
96

8x Gun Drones
96

|Heavy Support|

Hammerhead
Railgun
Burst cannons
Decoy Launcher
Multitracker
165

Hammerhead
Railgun
Burst cannons
Decoy Launcher
Multitracker
165

|Total|
1190.

Tyranids (this is, as i've mentioned, a brief list, which will only include what i know, and so no points will be mentioned)

Hive Tyrant, barbed strangler, increase to S, T, and W

Broodlord, unsure of equipment etc

5x Genestealers (with the broodlord, from what i know)

Lictor of some variety,

3x Warriors,

8x homogaunts

8x homogaunts

3x Ravenors, devourers, i think, (total of 6 str 3 hits each)

Zoanthorpe

Biovore

2x Carnifex (both ranged, high damage strength thing, and both with improved toughness/regeneration).


sorry about the rough tyranid list, i'll see if i can update it in the near future with more accurate items...
__________________________________________

My current plan is to use my fire warriors as the lure (small squads, no upgrades, hopefully to divide his force a little bit as well - through deployment),
with my battlesuits and hammerheads playing the A-list and killing his more powerful units.
My stealthsuits and gun drones will then be used to remove anything that seperates itself from the main force, such as his Biovore, or advancing ravenors/lictor
My commander as a homogaunt killer/defender of fire warriors, using his individual character and short range high-shot weaponry to harass and kill.
____________________________________________

the final 60 points of my force is still being thought out, at the moment i've reached the limit on gun drone models (even using the 2 from my devilfish, which was originially part of the army list), although flechette dischargers look appealing for a last surprise on my hammerheads.

any views, comments, or improvements welcome, although major changes to my list (such as a fully mechanised army list) is unpreferable, as frankly i don't have the money or time to prepare such an army.

Thanks in advance, etc etc.

#~# Shmatt #~#
 
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#2 · (Edited)
You have 60 points you can work with. Hmm lets see.

If I were you I would put a Targeting Array on the Shas'el making him BS5 and make the multi tracker a hardwired multi tracker. 5 shots at BS5 with the CIB (not a bad thing). The CIB is a nice weapon to have against horde armies however against any other army I would say ditch it due to it's low toughness value and randomness on the AP1 wounds and use a plasma rifle instead.

I like both crisis suit units but I like using the Targeting Array to fire at BS4 with them instead of the multi tracker. No you can't fire both weapons but hey. I would also make one of the models a team leader at +5 pts and give him a hardwired multi tracker so at least one of your suits can fire both weapons.

That's what I would do with the 60 points.

In a 1250 point game I wouldn't suggest putting flechette discharges on your hammerheads it starts making your vehicles to expensive and with the rough Tyranid list you put on here there are really only 9 models that I can see being a problem for your vehicles in close combat (unless I'm missing something) and those models aren't that hard to kill.

The only other thing that I might suggest is to drop one of the units of gun drones. You only need one to help with the IC status on your Shas'el if you do that then that frees up 96 points that you could buy 3 extra Stealth Suits with that doesn't seem like that bad of an idea. And you would be under by 6 points so put a hardwired blacksun filler on one of your crisis units (never know when you're going to need it). If you want any suggestions on what to buy for bigger games feel free to ask. I'm kinda impresssed with your list since you haven't played so long so have some rep. Welcome to librarium online.
 
#3 ·
After talking to him at college, i've found he's incorporating another zoanthorpe, 3 more warriors, and replacing one of his homogaunts with 2 units of gaunts (with him dropping his biovore, although again im not sure on the exacts)..

agreed on the flechette discharger, their only real damage would be to his horde units, and i doubt he'll be sending them after my hammerheads anyway..

the gun drones were originally used as one of the primary combatants (i'm reasonably sure my fire warriors will be destroyed, either by his lictor, or the rest of his force), and will be able to use its jet pack to stay out of range for a major part of the battle (statistically, should i keep myself at optimum range i can shoot at him from 18" range, and retreat 6+x" back (with x being his fleet of foot last turn).. staying out of assault and keeping up firepower.

however im undecided over the damage they will do compared to an equivalent unit of fire warriors.. (we're using a reasonable amount of terrain at the local GW, so i'm likely to get 2 turns of shooting before my unit is buttered), so im unsure about dropping them at this moment.

I had a game shortly after glueing together my army against a 1000 elder force, which considsted of 2 wraithlords, a unit of wraithgaurds, 1 dire avenger unit, and 1 banshee unit (led by the special character banshee exarch guy - cant remember name or title), and this seriously threatened my old 1000 army list of:
same shas'el
2x fireknife
monat fireknife
3x stealthteam with total of 6x gun drones
12x fire warriors
12x fire warriors
12x fire warriors
4x gun drone (to make up the points, and offer slight pinning)
1x hammerhead.

after 4 turns of missing, and 1 turn stunned, my hammerhead managed virtually nothing other than attracting fire, but my fireknives were able to single handidly (the pair of 2, after my monat was hit by a bright lance) destroy both wraithlords, 1 wraithgaurd, 2 banshees, and drop his leader to 1 wound, whereas my 3 units of fire warriors, although destroying his dire avengers, and halving his banshees, were very unwieldy on the large, and didnt seem to offer the mobile punch of my battlesuits (this wasnt helped when i rapidfired a full unit against his wraithgaurd, hit 5 times, and killed 1 :cry:)

which is why i'm currently centered on mobile battlesuits/hammerheads accompanied by smaller, flexible fire warrior teams (which more than anything will give my enemy something to run towards/target when my other units return to hiding behind cover).


ill see if i can acquire some stealthsuits over the weekend, and beef up my stealth team,
and i'll swapsy the equipment for my crisis teams so that each has a teamleader with hardwired multi, and targetting array (although i'll be keeping multi for my standard suits, even if its just more dice to be rolled gives me a nicer chance to do some damage) which would increase me by around 120 points.
i could either drop one of my fire warrior units, and make a perfect 1250, or drop a gun drone squad, and be left with 36 points kicking around (26 when i targetting array my 'el, and probably just 6 if i add another man to each unit).

thanks for the response, all going well i should be able to post the results next thursday sometime (probably no pictures though)
 
#4 · (Edited)
I honestly don't see why you're worried about this list that you're playing against the only things that you need to kill is the Genestealers, the Warriors, possible the gaunt squads, and the Zonathorpe. Sit back and shoot and use the cover to your advantage stay out of LOS of his Carnies so he can't shake or stun the Hammerheads and use that SMS to kick the crap out of those units that I mentioned and use the Crisis Suits to eat the Zonathorpe alive. Play defensively with your force and let him come to you and shoot the crap out of his units on their way up. Also another thing you might want to do is use the commander with a missile mod and plasma rifle instead of the CIB and AFP. Since the units of gaunts are so small that you really don't have to worry about them and they should die to small arms fire anyway. It really is up to you overall what you want to do. I'll make alist later and post it on here on what I would do. If you could let me know what models and how many you have it would be greatly appreciated thank you.
 
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