Monday, August 19, 2013

40k: Tau Broadsides, Are you doing it wrong?




Today I spoke with a few people about some Tau strategies and noticed that they had both had an Ethereal as their HQ, and both had rail-guns on their Broadsides. They were complaining that they were having trouble in games, and couldn't understand why everyone was saying that the new tau were overpowered.

I decided to write this article to assist some people out there who may not be aware of this combination.

At a bare minimum, here is what you should have in your list:

HQ:
Commander
    Multi-spectrum Sensor Suite
    Command and Control Node
    Puretide Engram Neurochip

Heavy Support:
    3 Broadside with High Yield Missile Pods and Smart Missile Systems
    6 Missile Drones



Now, here's how this works.

You attach the Commander to the unit of broadsides, and every turn he uses the Neurochip for Monster Hunter or Tank Hunter if needed. If not, stick with Stubborn. This gives the rule to the entire unit, as only one model in the unit needs the special rule for it to apply to the entire unit.

The Multi-spectrum Sensor Suite gives all weapons in the unit Ignore Cover.
The Command and Control Node makes everything Twin-Linked.

(Note: We do not need the Drone Controller, as it does not affect Missile Drones)

Lets add this all up.

Each turn this unit is shooting:
12 shots at Str 7 AP4 (High Yield Missile Pods)
12 shots at Str 7 AP4 (Missile Drones)
12 shots at Str 5 AP5  (Smart Missile Systems)

So your looking at 36 shots each turn, that are Twin-linked, Ignore Cover in roughly a 30" range, AND can re-roll wounds against MC's or re-roll armor penetration rolls against light-medium Mech.

And the to make it even better, the SMS doesn't even require line of sight.

The SMS only have a 30" range, but everything else is 36".
That's 3 feet...a table is only 4 feet wide.

Talk about table control.

Place the drones in front as a shield, and your opponent has to go through them first to even get to your Broadsides.

You can also use "Look Out Sir!" to assign wounds to the Drones first, essentially giving the unit a total of 16 wounds in all.

Want to go one better? Easy.

Give the commander 2 missile pods, and an Early Warning Override.
Now he can intercept incoming flyers if needed, and still be able to use all the glorious systems during his turn!

And to take things into the OP category, wait until next month, when Space Marines can field a 100 point Librarian and cast invisibility on the unit giving them a 2+ cover save behind a defense line!

1 comment:

  1. As a tau veteran it saddens me that this is what the book gets reduced to. 6th edition really just feels like who can roll the most dice at the moment.

    This kind of army is no more fun to play with than it is to play against. Of course this kind of thing is nothing new but its still a shame.

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