[Noctus]

Hey, i am going to face a serious cheesy Tau army, and i wonder how to get in cc with those guys, without suffering too much.

I will put my whole army on a flank, rushing to cc/flame the xenos.

As I understand from http://www.tauonline.org/ViewContent.php?id=11, they don't like seraphims. I am going to field two squads of these girls. maybe three

Callidus also seems to be a nice shot.


What about tanks? even two exorcists will be outgunned.

I would like to go without any tank at all since vs tau they will not live long, but i need transport to get in cc :wacko:

So what about 2 exorcist with 3 rhinos/immolators, to bring at least one squad close enough to the taus?

 

[Cheredanine]

You may recall, when codex WH came out the WD battle was against tau, that may help, it is about WD294

Next problem is cheesey tau does not describe the army, there is a world of difference between a fire warrior heavy army and a suit heavy army, can you elaborate, then maybe we can help

 

[Noctus]

Well, sorry i don't have much information about my opponent's army. I know he fields lots of suits, and his army has proven pretty good in competition.

So this is going to be a friendly but no mercy fight.

 

[Cheredanine]

Right , Vs Suits AP1 bolters are your friend, Viscerators can be usefull, exorcist less so, they will usually try the jumpout, jump back approach and it will mean it is Difficult to target him, but he can take out your exorcists, problem is if you leave out the exorcist you will struggle versus hammerheads,

Retributors with heavy Bs are a good buy, they will work through fire warriors and catch suits if they remain in the open

 

[hs5ias]

If you're going to take tanks at all v Tau then take a lot. Numerous Rhinos with smoke are hard to stop even with railguns. Tau BS isn't that hot and they don't get any bonuses on the damage table for having S10 v AV11. In addition if they're shooting up Rhinos they're not shooting up your Sisters.

Fully Mech Sisters actually do well against Tau as many Tau armies are all about mobile firepower. Sisters have to have something to close the range quickly, getting into a long-range firefight is a hiding to nothing. Be sure to use the inevitable wrecks as much as you can to block LOS.

I'd be inclined to take a higher quota of meltaguns against Tau. They often do not field the large or high price squads of many other armies so template weapons may prove less useful. Meltaguns can do instakills on suits, a useful supplement to bolters. They have an effective 26" range when bailing from a Rhino, which is pretty good. An exception is with Kroot happy armies, a few flamers here can thin them out.

Above all press forward and put pressure on the Tau, especially his suits. Don't neglect cover, but don't let it slow your advance much. Long-range bolter fire is not effective against Tau, they're too well armored. If you take Exo's and Retributors then you must especially draw fire away from them if you can. They can do a lot of damage, but so can Seraphim and Battle squads. Present your opponent with multiple threats and he may fail to respond effectively to any of them, allowing you to take him apart piecemeal.

 

[Heiromyo]

Hmmm i've faced tau alot, as two of my friends collect tau. I've fo tau players do bad when you have speed. Fair anough this might ring DE but they don;t have power armour. A good mix of seraphim and transports do well (the usual smoke and extra armour with flamers inside). Exorcists are useful if abit over used. So yeh speed is what they dislike even if they go mobile

 

[Red Zinfandel]

Tau is the only "shooty" army that WH can consistently beat. The simple fact is that you out class him in CC, and at close range. So you have 2 aces and he has 1. Therefore, you should win consistently.

Mobility will beat the Tau every time.
Also, there must be a LOS-blocking piece of cover in the middle of the board.

2 Squads of at least 8 Seraphim and at least 1 Jumping Canoness are a big step in attining the necessary mobility to prevail. (Do not overtool you Seraphim for shooting, becuase you want to get them into CC. If they shoot too well, then run the risk of breaking the Tau squad and the Seraphim will lose charge, and that means curtains for the Seraphim). Save the points for more bodies in the Seraphim squad.

Try to use Jump-Back (performed at the end of his turn) to exploit several of his units.

The WH army should have at least 2 Eviscerators amongst the Jump Packs, which does a nice job of instakilling the multi-wound crisis pajamas (when successfuly augmented to Str8 ).

I would also suggest 1 copy of Litanies of Faith for the express purpose of allowing your jump-packers to go invulnerable for the critical turn when they expose themselves to enemy fire. A smart Tau player will force you to expose your Seraphim to his entire army. If he leaves you no choice, then Litanies can make it possible for 1 large squad to survicve the barrage and still achieve their objective.

A squad of Retributors will give a Tau a very large heache for a relatively small price.
I believe it much more valuable than an Exorcist.

 

[Ryiax]

For the Greater Good huh??? PLANT YOUR FLOWERS ELSEWHERE HIPPIES!!! I found that the humble old bolter does wonders against Tau even against the suits, so Rhinos are a good choice to get close leave's the option for assault as well, the blue skinned pansies are a race we can actually slaughter in HTH, as for the Seraphim good move, but leave it at 2 squads and add 1 Dominion squad with 5 storm bolters (one for the vet) in a Rhino they can mingle with the regulars then pop out and cause some devine problems for Tau

 

[Decado]

also do not forget the lance strike at st10 ap1 it really can do a lot, just remember and tell your opponent that you have one, and what they do.

then watch him avoid terrain like the plauge.

it's a bit random but if you tell him it does shake up tau players quite a bit.

or don't tell him that you have one and:

when used in games where you set up the scenery yourself its even better cause you can choose where the terrain goes.

so stick a nice bit of terrain on their deployment zone for them to hide behind he'll thank you and proceed to use this as cover then blam

 

[gen.nehring]

ok here we go.....

1. Take a jump pack canoness with an eviscerator. With an act she is capable of insta-killing crisis suits

2. As they mentioned, take a lance strike. more than likely he will not be moving so placing it in the middle of his deployment zone can be a good harrassment

3. seraphim. you'll need lots of them.

Overall, if you have the capability, go with rhino rush. Just dont expose them to firewarrior fire. even with smoke they have a good chance of killing it.

 

[Tyrael-RM]

1.) Zealots, may provide you with a mass. (kroot mercs, I wonder if they can be allied with WH) if they can, then kroot can allow you to infiltrate and provide some nuisance and some threat to them in cc.

2.) Orbital blasting him will keep them on the move.

3.) Serphims will get job down with their movement speed.

4.) Repentia, will make an extremely crazy suicide, fast moving unit heh. All loaded with evis. These can pop some things pretty nicely

 

[Heiromyo]

oh yeh, heavy flamers does wonders to the tau flesh beinf ap 4 and all

 

[Sir_Prometheus]

If you're going to take tanks at all v Tau then take a lot. Numerous Rhinos with smoke are hard to stop even with railguns. Tau BS isn't that hot and they don't get any bonuses on the damage table for having S10 v AV11. In addition if they're shooting up Rhinos they're not shooting up your Sisters.

Fully Mech Sisters actually do well against Tau as many Tau armies are all about mobile firepower. Sisters have to have something to close the range quickly, getting into a long-range firefight is a hiding to nothing. Be sure to use the inevitable wrecks as much as you can to block LOS.

I'd be inclined to take a higher quota of meltaguns against Tau. They often do not field the large or high price squads of many other armies so template weapons may prove less useful. Meltaguns can do instakills on suits, a useful supplement to bolters. They have an effective 26" range when bailing from a Rhino, which is pretty good. An exception is with Kroot happy armies, a few flamers here can thin them out.

Above all press forward and put pressure on the Tau, especially his suits. Don't neglect cover, but don't let it slow your advance much. Long-range bolter fire is not effective against Tau, they're too well armored. If you take Exo's and Retributors then you must especially draw fire away from them if you can. They can do a lot of damage, but so can Seraphim and Battle squads. Present your opponent with multiple threats and he may fail to respond effectively to any of them, allowing you to take him apart piecemeal.

You do realize that the Tau basic weapon, the pulse rifle, can pop rhinos, right? We do it all the time.

 

[hs5ias]

Yes, but even with all those rifles it will take a lot of shots. 12 just to get a glancing hit, which has only a 1 in 6 chance in turn of actually destroying the Rhino. You may stop the Rhino but you're unlikely to blow it up, and even if you do the Sisters have a good save when bailing out of a burning vehicle. The real anti-tank guns such as railguns and lascannons worry me far more.

Also if you're using your pulse rifles to inefficiently shoot Rhinos you're not using them to shoot my Seraphim squads, or even the Battle Sisters on foot. In terms of firepower expended to points damage it's a poor return for a Tau player.

 

[Heiromyo]

Hmmmm it's true rhinos can be popped by pulse rifles but the chances are stacked against them. Only half the shots hit anyways and then its 6s to glance then 6s to kill. So mass rhinos is a really good plan, the set-up has done wonders against tau for me

 

[Laplace]

Hmm, I never did face a Tau army with my Sisters. A lot of the comments make sense.

Since their weakness is cc, there are lots of ways for you to get into cc. True, transports can get shot up but if you have a whole lot of transports he can't shoot them all. Just about every sister squad squad can be in a transport vehicle

Seraphim are your friends, esp with having a Cannoness or Celestine joining them.

As for shooting, I'd take at least 1 retributor squad with 4 heavy bolters. With your faith points you can chew through a lot of guys/skimmers. Don't know how Exorcists would fare against Tau though.

 

[Red Zinfandel]

If you take an Orbital strike, you should take 1-2 Retributor squads (whose HBs are AP4), and will be able to exploit the Tau caught in the open.

When you start mowing Tau like dry grass with your Heavy Bolters, you should gain a significant material advantage. (4 HBs kill 6.6 Fire Warriors who are in the open).
And
This technique should also give you a significant amount of prediction and control of where his Fire Warriors will be, thus allowing your Seraphim to get into CC quickly and easily.

Failure is not an option with advantages like these.