Saturday 14 August 2010

9th Annual 40k Online Tournament (1 Week to Go)


In a week's time my Tau will be battling against 4 opponents at the 9th Annual 40k Online Tournament in Bracknell (yep, I decided to go with Tau rather than the untested Dark Eldar).

The tournament is a straight forward affair of 4 games, 1750 pts. The only non-standard thing about the tournament is that they allow forgeworld stuff, however in the 16 games myself and my mate Mike have attended over the last 2 years only one game involved anything forgeworld (touch wood). Most forgeworld stuff is overcosted, but there are a few things which are evil.

As I have previously said I didn't think there was much wrong with the list I took to the last 1750 Point Tournament (A Small Matter of Honour) and have been using over the last few months (generally I just need to play better), but I wanted to make a small tweak. The only place I thought I could drop something is to drop 1 crisis suit, namely the unit which my shas'el normally joins, as with the shas'el and his drones they would still be 5 models. By changing the shas'el's Cyclic Ion Blaster (which I still like) for the reliability of a Missile Pod and 2 spare points I was able to free up 70 points.

The main weakness of my list (imho) are:
  • The fragile and few scoring units, especially with the majority (kroot) needed for blocking duty
  • Only 2 kroot units to block the enemy getting to my lines
  • The poor leadership of the army
Therefore I'm considering 3 things I could add for 70 points to the army are:
  • A unit of 10 kroot
  • A Piranha with Fusion Gun and Targeting Array
  • An Etheral with 2 Gun Drones
The kroot were my first thought and my top choice at the moment. They add a 4th scoring unit, and a 3rd unit to surround key units to delay assault. I have heard great things about piranhas, but I'm dubious of how effective a blocker a single piranha would be, and think a more effective unit would be 2 piranhas (one with a disruption pod), but that would cost 145 points and I can't see where to lose another 75 points.

A new idea is an etheral with 2 gun drones (to join the broadsides). They normally set-up far back, and I've normally lost the game already if anything assaults the broadsides. He would make the broadsides fearless (helpful against a bad leadership check or Guard Psyker Battle Squads), plus he would probably allow the crisis suits to reroll morale tests making them much more resilence to losing their drones. I have a mate who uses 3 war walkers with 2 scatter lasers each, once guided by a farseer they put (on average) 15 str 6 wounds on a unit, which would mean 1 would have to allocated on the etheral if he was with the broadsides, instant killing him if he failed his cover save. However only eldar can put out that volume of str 6+ firepower from one single unit, so the etheral would be safe from most armies.

My two mates who are also going to the tournament want to have a few practice games next week, so I'll try to get some games in with the 2 options I'm considering.

What do you think would be better: 10 Kroot, Etheral with Drones, or put a fireknife crisis suit back in. Here's the current list with the 10 kroot added:

Shas'el - 107
Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multi-tracker, 2 Gun Drones

3 Crisis Suits - 211
Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multi-tracker
Team Leader upgrade with 2 Gun Drones

2 Crisis Suits - 124
Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multi-tracker
(joined by Shas'el)

3 Crsisi Suits - 163
1 with Twin-linked Missile Pods & 2 Gun Drones
2 with Missile Pod, Burst Cannon, Multi-tracker

6 Fire Warriors - 60

10 Kroot with 7 Hounds - 112

10 Kroot with 7 Hounds - 112

10 Kroot - 70

8 Pathfinders - 96
in Devilfish with Disruption Pod - 85

Hammerhead - 165
Railgun, 2 Burst Cannons, Multi-tracker, Disruption Pod

Hammerhead - 165
Railgun, 2 Burst Cannons, Multi-tracker, Disruption Pod

3 Broadsides - 280
Advanced Stabilisation Systems
Leader Upgrade with Target Lock & 2 Shield Drones

1750 Points, 83 models, 14 Kill Points

Let me know what you think.

Rathstar

6 comments:

  1. personally I would be tempted to drop the burst cannons from the suits and up the pods to twin linked. maybe adding in a Target lock for fun. the cannons probably won't see much use and the missile pods are better at pretty much everything.
    just my 2p worth. I would be tempted to go for a piranhas rather then the kroot though.

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  2. To me, it's not that the missile pods are better than the burst cannons it's that I can fire both to add a bit of volume of fire. I'm giving up 1 missile pod hit a turn to have 6 extra shots a turn at infantry later in the game.

    I used to join a shas'el with missile pod and cyclic ion blaster to the unit to give an impressive 21 shots a turn at 18". Remembering that has given me another option for 70 points, which is to lose 2 hounds or 1 pathfinder and have a 2nd shas'el with the above load out.

    Regarding the piranha I'm worried that it'll push kill points even higher (it was 13 before and the piranha will make it 15), however I suppose it would make a good objective contester. How do you use your piranha, do you rush it forward to tank hunt or do you it as a mobile reserve ? The few times I've used them they don't much and are shot down :(

    Rathstar

    ReplyDelete
  3. To be honest, I don't have a piranha. However if I had the model I would use it ahead of kroot. Mainly because I think kroot are overcosted. Given the current trend in mech armies. The kroot wont see much use a blocking unit. Whereas the Piranha will. With a 3+ save against ramming.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kroot are great, but two squads of them are enough. I too would go with a single piranha. It is surprising how much nuisance it can cause, especially if the terrain works in your favour.

    I love the idea of a competition that allows Forgeworld. Get some TX-42s if you can - they are even better than Piranha, and look very nice.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'd say ditch the Kroot for the Piranha. I agree that 3 units are overkill and you're just asking for templates to be slapped on them. Having only played 3 and lost 3, never using Kroot i'm maybe not the best to give advice haha!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm surprised at everyone agreeing on the piranha. Unfortunately I read the comments to late to change my list, but I will give piranhas another go. The previous times I tried I know I didn't use them to their full potential.

    I really get the idea that piranhas will be better at blocking in a mech (which is very competitive) environment.

    As well as losing the small kroot unit I was thinking I could lose the 3rd broadside. That would allow me to include 2 piranhas. Should I use them as a squadron or keep them seperate. Seperate means an extra 2 kill points (up to 17) but means it will take at least 2 units to bring both of them down ?

    Rathstar

    ReplyDelete

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