[sundevil_82683]

Hello All -

I am going to be going into my first Warhammer 40k battle with my personal minions of chaos arty: and I will be fighting against a Tau army of around 800 pts.

From what I know he has
sniper drones,
steath suits,
a couple of fire warriors,
and devilfish troop carriers, which I can almost bet he will use the fish of fury thing, which sounds like a real pain in the rear.

Right now I have a basic army including the units from the Chaos Battleforce set
CSMs + Chosen
Bezerkers
Rhino
Possessed
(I know its not much but gotta start somewhere)

I was thinking of bringings some chosen with Plasma guns and infiltrating them to get closer, while my other troops move to get close.


So I was just looking for some good tactics to use against a Tau army, and not necessarily against this specific build but Tau in general since our armies will grow.

Thanks for the help.

Submission to Chaos is for your greater good!

 

[Summanus]

I might be wrong in all of this, so I apologize if I made any glaring mistakes. Or broke any Forum rules.

I am not sure how mechanized his army can be with a comparatively low points roof.

However, his mobility is certainly going to be an issue (especially as your armies grow). Infiltrating the Chosen with plasma should help in destroying some of those (or the)Devilfish. In a small game, the Plasma armed Chosen is a pretty dense unit, points wise, depending on how many plasma guns you choose to put into it. Another approach might be to use the Rhino, because he doesn't seem to have many of the big tank-popping units (Broadsides, Hammerheads), but you might rather save that for a unit that can't Infiltrate. It might add some extra protection for the Chosen though.

In general, as your armies grow, your frustrations will gravitate, I think, toward the Broadsides with the lethal Railguns as well as the Hammerhead, arguably the best tank in the game, for its points cost. His HQ (a mandatory Crisis suit commander) as well as his other Crisis suits are also notoriously irritating to kill, due to the Jump Pack rules.

Another thorn in the side of players against Tau that seems to be growing in popularity is the Piranha. It is quite fast (albeit comparitively low armoured) and can take a myriad of upgrades as well as the tank-popping fusion blaster.

Stealth suits are not usually seen as a major threat to most armies, but they are highly moblie and have special weapons options. Also, the sniper drones are commonly frowned upon for lack of mobility and the low armour.

Also, Vespid Stingwings are somewhat notorious for their ability to kill Space Marines (Chaos or otherwise).

So as your points increase, you'll see a lot more high priority targets; naturally, against Tau, your goal is to get into hand-to-hand as quickly as possible. Extra mobility (wings, Rhinos, infiltrating, even daemons) are going to be essential in countering his high mobility.

 

[kroxigor01]

General rules of thumb: get fast stuff and kill his mobility.

 

[Summanus]

However, bear in mind that the charging across the field with a mad Berserker swarm will not serve you as his army and tactics develop. Once he starts whipping out those Rail/Ion cannons, you will be forced to hug serious cover.

Also, those Crisis suits will be able to jump and dodge away from your men, every time, while taking potshots with some burst cannons, fusion guns, etc.

Not to make it sound hopeless or anything, but Tau mobility has to be overcome with your own finesse and tactics.

 

[Imperial Smart]

Tau are the bane of my armies, my friend who fields them (mech tau), does so extremely well.

You're right to be concerned with fish of fury - it can be devastating. Whilst you'll still get your save, the number of shots he can lay down will mean a number of failed saves.

As mentioned, speed is vital, and cutting down on his mobility. Again, as mentioned, he doesn't look to have much anti-armour, but a rhino is so poorly armoured that I think almost everything will be able to hit it. I'd load the possessed into it and bomb it forward wherever there is most cover, or where you think it'll be safest turns 1 and 2.

A plasma-loaded chosen squad sounds good - if you can get a few shots on that devilfish turn 1 (ideally you go first so you can get penetrating hits), it'll be a massive advantage.

I wouldn't worry too much about the Sniper Drones - yeah they've got MEQ killing weapons, but they don't get too many shots off and more importantly aren't mobile. Since they're a heavy, they'll be deploying before ALL of your troops - so you can look at the firelanes and effectively make them have to move and not fire at least once.

The suits will be hard to take out - if you get clear shots at them, don't hesitate.

 

[Backdraft005]

CC is the key, find a way to get close and hit him hard. Take drop pods or standards for deepstrikers with a infiltrating group. Ignore the crisis suit early on if you can and just crush the fire warriors, a regular squad of CSM can do it np. Other than that I donno, Tau is weird, it both stationary and highly mobile when it needs to be.

 

[Cheredanine]

If you can get in CC then fine, but tyou will only get there if he lets you or messes up.

be tempted by plague marines to deal with FOF, it should stop the tactic dead in its tracks, rather more worried by JSJ XV8s and to a lesser degree, the stealths, these can both stand off and provide fire that you cant return without some mobility, a vindicator would be nice