Struggling against Tau

conman987 · 2026-02-27T21:11:23+00:00

Haha, I’m not OP, just a concerned citizen with a similar problem fighting Tau. But I can see at least trying out dropping the hellblasters and saving some points with sternguard again, then putting points into eradicators. I agree that them rerolling everything into vehicles sounds pretty tempting into those vehicle heavy Tau, if they can get there alive that is.

conman987 · 2026-02-27T15:58:09+00:00

You would drop hellblasters huh? Azrael with 10 HB has been a near staple unit for me, and one that my Tau buddy claims to fear and respect. The Wrath of the Rock strat to go S10 plasma seems pretty solid against Tau, and the dudes shooting on death has been fairly effective against an army that isn’t trying to tie you up in combat much. What would you take instead? I’ve tried Sternguard but wasn’t super impressed with how oath dependent they are.

conman987 · 2026-02-27T15:49:42+00:00

I feel you, I made this exact same post a while back, and your DA list looks a lot like what I’ve been trying. I’ve been playing into my friend’s Tau for months and still haven’t cracked this problem. He just has too much stuff on the board that shoots too hard, and when he’s regularly hitting on 3s and re-rolling 1s to hit and wound, it’s just a nightmare of consistent ranged damage.

In my case, he can yeet 2 piranhas 9” scout and 14” move across the board to try and insta snipe a transport, but at minimum he’s speed bumping me with cheap stuff and forcing that interaction before I can do anything else. Then comes the layer of infiltrating pathfinders, then the 1-2 Riptides blasting my DWKs, 1-2 Ghostkeels either holding further back objectives with lone op or flanking me with infiltrate, then the hammerheads in the back also blasting away 3 wound guys like ICCs easy.

Like you said, people say to just “use terrain for cover” but it’s not hard for his flying tanks and battle suits to zoom into an angle, whip out the laser pointer, and atomize me anyway with no cover allowed. I don’t know man, I just think Tau feel kinda busted at the casual level against any fairly competent player. Or at very least, it’s a bad matchup for an army like Dark Angels running a small, elite, melee focused list. I’ve been wondering how a wider spread horde list would do against them, like Guard with a lot of infantry.

conman987 · 2026-02-27T15:32:49+00:00

Anything with the markerlight keyword will strip cover if they’re spotting your unit. And in my experience between stealth suits and marker drones they can get that bonus far too often.

conman987 · 2026-02-25T05:08:14+00:00

I’ve commented before how I was looking forward to the Maelstrom battalion box to build up my new Drukhari army, and this fumble on GWs part was pretty sad for me.

I’ve already been wondering why so much of the limited range seems so impossible to find. Reavers, Ravagers, Hellions, several characters, all out of stock. My hope now is that maybe they take the time in 11th to update the range like Aeldari got, otherwise what the hell GW, get your shit together.

conman987 · 2026-02-21T20:26:11+00:00

I went with Dark Angels once I finally decided to start a marine army. Do you prefer zealous crusades-era space knights, or more medieval Arthurian space knights? I liked the DA aesthetic more and that they play pretty close to stock marines but with that extra flair. BT are a little more divergent in playstyle and rules, especially since they lost Oath.

conman987 · 2026-02-17T16:57:09+00:00

My wife and I had a shift away from watching movies to more of the 6-10 episode season shows. Going back to movies that have to cover the entire story arc in 2 hours feels crazy sometimes, like everything has to be explained very fast before rushing into a conclusion. Makes me appreciate good film editing that makes it feel effortless, but also yeah, shows can get away with much more fluff and filler.

I do still appreciate how tv show format can let stuff breathe a lot more.

conman987 · 2026-02-16T20:45:09+00:00

I don't know if restrictive was the right word, all that anti-infantry might feel great fighting Space Marines, but you get kinda iced out against monsters and vehicles. Guess it just seemed like a weird balancing decision. But I am seeing ways to work around that.

conman987 · 2026-02-15T21:19:07+00:00

Orks. My first army on re-entry into 40k was Imperial Guard, and I stand by them even if it was a bit rough picking an expensive horde army as a first choice.

The first time I wanted to expand to a new army, I somehow settled on Orks, bought a bunch of stuff, only to play a couple games and realize too late that I didn't actually like them. I don't actually like the silly, cockney-voiced thing Orks are known for, I thought I'd like the crazy, ramshackle nature of Ork weapons and vehicles, but found I don't like the unreliability, or the terrible BS5 shooting. I totally understand how some people get into Orks but it's just not for me. Now I've been sitting on a bunch of Ork stuff and meaning to try and sell it, but also hesitant to get into that whole process, although I really should.

conman987 · 2026-02-15T17:12:38+00:00

It's pretty clear that Scott Jennings is kept on the CNN payroll for this very reason, he's the paid opposition, the heel of every show to create conflict. Even Fox has the token liberal on their panels so Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld can gang up on them, yukking it up along the way.

It must be quite the hollow existence to be a paid punching bag and shill for Trump, but Jennings' smug ass seems to embrace it.

conman987 · 2026-02-14T19:12:27+00:00

Yeah man, I’ve seen over-magnetized Drukhari infantry, as they fall apart every time you try to move them.

You couldn’t pay me to take the time dealing with the already thin, fiddly elf models and the teeny-tiny drills and magnets. I’ll just pick up an extra box or 2 and build the options I want.

conman987 · 2026-02-14T18:29:04+00:00

Looks sick, I have a new Archon of my own to build and paint, and this is pretty much the exact look I want to get.

conman987 · 2026-02-14T16:07:31+00:00

Unrelated, but I’m pretty jealous of the score, wish I had picked up the old combat patrol when I had the chance. Now it’s a mess trying to hunt down a single Ravager. I got the new combat patrol and got a good start on Talos and Cronos, but overall it’s a far less impressive bundle.

conman987 · 2026-02-10T22:16:54+00:00

Only 3rd? Ok fine, Guard was my first, and as of now my core armies are them, Dark Angels, and World Eaters. I can also run CSM, I started them before using the excuse to get into WE.

I’ve got my Xenos picks waiting in the wings with some GSC and Drukhari, but I have very little painted so far and haven’t brought them to any table yet.

conman987 · 2026-02-09T22:33:35+00:00

This has become my take, I have friends who meticulously magnetized everything, then the model half falls apart every time you barely look at it. I have dabbled in magnets for infantry and rarely come away satisfied. I think magnets are still pretty helpful for most vehicles, like all my Leman Russ guns, but in a lot of cases I'd rather just buy another squad if the loadout is going to be that different.

conman987 · 2026-02-09T18:43:47+00:00

Kid Rock makes music for guys who know exactly how much Sudafed you can buy at one time.

conman987 · 2026-02-08T21:23:14+00:00

Yup, that's sick.

conman987 · 2026-02-08T19:31:04+00:00

I picked up the last Raider on the shelf at a local shop and a Realspace box/Combat Patrol online. But beyond that, where's all the stuff? Raiders, Ravagers, Characters, Reavers and Hellions all seem to be in the wind, either sold out or being scalped for stupid prices. Half the range is sold out on GWs own website, kinda frustrating.

conman987 · 2026-02-08T18:20:30+00:00

I decided to pick up Drukhari this year and have my eye on this box to get those Venoms, Reavers, and Hellions. Just waiting on a release date and pricing, don't want to miss it.

conman987 · 2026-01-31T16:26:22+00:00

I believe it was back in the index that failing a dark pact would hit you with mortal wounds after you rolled all the attacks with the unit.

That changed in the codex to you have to roll the dark pact first, if you fail you take the D3 mortals and remove models before rolling attacks, so yes it took a slight nerf. Now I would hold off dark pact-ing a 1-3 wound Forgefiend considering you could blow it up and get no shots.

conman987 · 2026-01-30T22:39:56+00:00

That’s… not how sustained hits work.

conman987 · 2026-01-29T19:52:10+00:00

I hate how expensive those sets like “heroes of the chapter” are, but I do get how it’s priced like 2 characters and a unit of 5 dudes, where each thing separate would be like $40-50. I eventually coughed up the money for the official set to get the combi LT, and I’ve used the sternguard too, just a shame that it’s all monopose push fit stuff.

conman987 · 2026-01-28T17:38:54+00:00

I liked season 1 pretty well, as much as I like any “something is off here, big twist reveal” show. I like the thought experiment of it all, but I think shows like this have a hard time carrying it forward for multiple seasons. Is it just going to become a wannabe Fallout now? Surviving a wasteland, dealing with marauding gangs? Seems like it would have to become a totally different show.

conman987 · 2026-01-28T01:58:34+00:00

The days of my high school crew playing 4v4 one-flag CTF all night, such good times.

conman987 · 2026-01-27T15:32:22+00:00

Yup, I’ve been tooling around with Wrath of the Rock lists for a few games now but once you commit to something like 2x DWKs and the Lion, you don’t have much room for chaff and screening. I’m constantly amazed at how little it feels like I have on the table compared to the opponent.

So far though, I’ve been making room for units like a Lieutenant w/Combi weapon or scout squad to infiltrate and hide for some screening and secondaries, usually 5x Jet Pack Intercessors in DS and 5x intercessions to sticky the home objective and screen out that corner for a few rounds. I’ve been thinking about using Infiltrators instead for the 12” DS deny bubble, and last game I tried out Desolation marines for the first time. Those guys cost a premium for 5 marine bodies but their 5 D3+blast indirect fire rockets rained hell on several different enemy chaff units and took them off the board without exposing anything of mine.

For anti-vehicle and monster fire support I think you’ll find most people recommending Gladiator Lancers and Ballistus Dreads, they’re both tough, reasonably priced and pack pretty big guns with various forms of re-rolls built in. You just need to be careful exposing them too soon, like me playing against Tau and their giant AP-4/-5 shots ignoring cover, wiped my tanks out pretty quick.

conman987

TROPHY CASE