Alrighty, some list building things, and some assault questions that tie into it. I have decided to be insane and build lists for fun. Tau can win with a mono Tau build and that is competitive. I have not been to a lot of super competitive arenas so maybe I can get away with doing silly stuff maybe I will just get completely crushed.
One of my list ideas was to go back to a seeker missile style list, but instead of doing it in a sane way, just going crazy with 3 skyrays and full pathfinders.
the supporting units would be three units of death-rains and three squads of fire warriors who get to dork around in the pathfinder's devilfish (which have sensor spines by the way, been having lots of fun with sensor spines)
Yeah I don't have a lot of plasma but I can get rid of a good chunk of my opponent's army with 24 seeker missiles and 30 markerlights. Having 6 tanks is nothing to sneeze at. IG, BA and DE can easily have more but with disruption pods and sensor spines tau vehicles are always a PITA for opponents.
An obvious drawback is that if I start losing the pieces of my puzzle my ability to get those seeker missiles into my opponet's forces lowers rapidly, a problem I discovered with my original seeker list army.
Answers to the questions in the video provide some reinforement on my second army idea. A nearly complete infiltrating list.
Death rain commander
1 squad of FW
3x6 stealthsuits with targeting arrays, team leader as TL and a FB
3x10 Kroot
3x3 Broadsides
Would I get crushed? Probably, would it be fun to play? Yes. I think so anyway. It's an all foot list which I have never done, and it is pretty suicidal, but it doesn't have to be.
I will be posting some battle reports with these lists soon. I have been pretty busy going to weddings playing video games and hanging out with people I haven't seen in a while, but soon enough I will get back to the (at least)1 battle report a week schedule.
-Krox
Question 1:
ReplyDeleteRulebook Page 34:
“Assaulting Multiple Enemy Units…
As usual the closest attacking model must be moved to contact the closest model in the enemy unit against which the assault was declared. Then remaining models can assault models belonging to other enemy units, as long as they keep following the rules for moving assaulting models. Remember that the assaulting unit is not allowed to break its unit coherency, and this will obviously limit the potential for this kind of assault.”
As you showed in your video, the SM models moved just fine. The closest one moved into contact with the nearest tau, and the other ones moved into base contact with any enemy, and they all were in unit coherency. I think if you want to prevent the multi assault, you’ll have to either narrow your gap between the first unit’s models to 1” or less, or increase the gap between the kroot and Crisis team so you’re more than 6” way from the closest position a SM could be (1” away from the kroot).
Question 2:
Page 94:
“Arriving from reserve
When a reserve unit arrives, it must move on to the table from the controlling player’s own table edge (unless it’s deep striking or outflanking). Each model’s move is measured from the edge of the battlefield, as if they had been positioned just off the board in the previous turn and moved as normal.”
Page 68:
“When moving a tank, the player can declare that the vehicle is going to attempt to make a tank shock attack instead of moving normally.”
I see no reason why you couldn’t enter the playing field with a tank shock. This would also open up the field for the rest of your army since the models under the tank must move at least 1” away from the tank and maintain unit coherency. If you tank shock guys in the middle, I think they have to move more than just the guys under the tank to maintain coherency, but I could be wrong on that one.
Any jump units would be fine to enter, since it’s considered moving in as normal, so they could jump over the heads of the enemies in their way.
Interesting stuff. I'm curious if everyone agrees with me on the rules.
Yea me too! Looks like I have to tighten up some ideas. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteGreat questions. The comment above answers your questions spot on. Watch out for that multi-charge. What you've got to do with kroot and drones, is move them forward (and then rapid fire the enemy) so that there is distance between the blockers and the units your trying to protect. Alternatively you can bring your kroot closer together so they don't have gaps in their lines. For blocking, piranhas should be the first layer, then drones, then kroot (last if possible) because they are more valuable as a scoring unit.
ReplyDeletethat kroot blocking wall in your second scenario, they can be tank shocked away, they can be skimmered over. But if they can't and you can win by doing this, I wouldn't recommend it. You want to play the game right? This move is actually preventing you and your opponent from playing the game. Not good. That's my opinion on it at least.
I totally agree with SarafanKnight. I would add that yes, skimmers would be able to fly over the Kroot.
ReplyDeleteIn your example of the multi-assault, the closest SM would assault the closes unengaged model (a Kroot). Then the next closest SM would assault the closest unengaged model (the next Kroot). Then the next closest SM would assault the closest unengaged model... at this point, it may be a third Kroot or be one of your crisis suits. Only then could the crisis suits be assaulted.
There are two ways to keep from being multi-assaulted (which equals DEATH as a Tau player). One way is to keep your crisis suits far enough away from the Kroot so the SM player cannot keep coherency. The other way is to keep your Kroot tight; make sure there is less than 1" between your Kroot models. This way, the SMs cannot move between them.
I also agree with SfK.
ReplyDeleteI've also read about assaults that you basically follow the normal movement rules so you have to be able to move your base through, etc. Though there is nothing in the 5th ed rules that states you need to move the second closest model to the second closest model. It just covers the first model, and in the shortest possible route...which means you can't move around the back side of that closest model, you must go to the shortest possible point to become base to base.
Same for your second question, coming in from reserves is a normal movement phase and any movement you can do normally, you can do when you come on the board. Like the rule says, you start at the edge of the board but all else is the same.
@ OSH:
ReplyDeleteI would never pull a kroot denial line, I just saw a tournament where that supposedly happened and wondered how that would work.
@ Tau Bloggers
I think it would be awesome to have a Tau Blog Tournament. I realize that the actuality of this happening is very slim due to location and various people's schedules, HOWEVER there has got to be something we can do. OSH I am going to try to get to your neck of the woods sometime in 2011, but since that is a ways off I will talk more about that later. I am in Minneapolis, who wants to start getting some good Tau Vs Tau battle reports?!?!
-Krox
@ Pavonis, you need to get your butt to Phoenix games for the Tournament on the 25th of sept, there are only 16 slots and they are filling up fast!
ReplyDelete@Kroxitau, I'd love to take part in such a tournament. I live outside of Dallas far away from MN and MD. But I'm not officially a Tau blogger, so I don't count anyway, lol.
ReplyDelete@Pavonis, to counter your counter-point, there is a rule about having to move to the closest unengaged model when you declare an assault. Under MOVE ASSAULTING UNITS in 5th edition, "If possible, the model must move into base contact with an enemy model within reach that is not already in base contact with an assaulting model." So what I described is the way the assault must be done. When it comes to moving into assault, there's a series of steps that must be considered that have bullet points in the rule book. We Tau don't like assault, but we need to make sure our opponents are doing it right!
@Xyhelm:
ReplyDeletegood catch on the moves during assault!
To counter the counter to the counter...it says an enemy model not in base contact, but not which unit it belongs to. In the next section, 'Assaulting Multiple Enemy Units', it states, "As usual,the closest attacking model must be moved to contact the closest model in the enemy unit against which the assault was declared. Then the remaining models can assault models belonging to other enemy units, as long as they keep following the rules for assaulting enemy models."
ReplyDeleteSo this would actually spread the assaulting unit out a lot since they now have two defender units they need to try to get as many of their models into base contact with as many opposing models as possible. That's where I have been seeing people violating the rule. They put one on each unit, then load the rest however they want and they really need to try to get as many in base contact with both units.
@Pavonis
ReplyDeleteARRRGGGHH! :D
Is it international talk like a pirate day already? ;)Oh wait, it's not til Sept 19th. http://www.talklikeapirate.com/
ReplyDelete@Pavonis
ReplyDeleteBonus points for know when that is! We do a whole theme on that with the preschoolers.
And I still write like caveman
ReplyDeletea very nice combo (but expensive) is
ReplyDeletestealth suits with marker drones
2x4 stealthsuits
all with drone controllers
and marker drones
you have markerlights with stealth abbility
(the opponent must use night fight rule to hit the squad)
they can move (so 6" more) hit and hide again
and at cover +1 save
Great point, Pavonis. I missed that point that the second model in the assaulting unit has to assault the second target unit. Then the rest of the assaulting unit abides by the "closest unengaged model" rule.
ReplyDeleteWe must be familiar with the rules on assaulting so we non-assaulters won't suffer from the "cheese". :)
I don't see anything in the book about "closest unengaged model." On page 34, it says that after the first model moves, you must move the next into contact with an unengaged model if possible first, if there aren't any, you must move into base contact with an engaged model, and if that's not possible, you must move within 2" of a guy that is.
ReplyDeleteSo you can move past an enemy that's unengaged as long as you're moving into base contact with another unegaged enemy model. Same thing if all models are engaged and you're just trying to get into base contact, you can pass one enemy up to reach another.
You're right, Sarahan. The "closest unengaged model" rule only applies to the first assaulting model.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad we're having this refresher on assaulting!