So in the summer of
2014 I decided to jump into 40k. With fantasy dieing in my group of
friends, 9th edition rumours bringing me down and utter
let down that was End times: Khaine I thought it was time to give
the younger brother of fantasy a go.
Army wise I was
drawn towards Elder, Tau, Space marine, Nids and Imperial Guard (Or
whatever they are called now) Elder despite being awesome and cool
would be just another elf army. I play high elves and playing another
elite, specialist, magic/physic reliant army would just be boring.
The units seemed very rigid with little customisation and built to a
specific purpose rather than the ability to multi task. I could be
wrong! But that’s what I through from a first glance.
Space marines
despite being cool seemed boring as well again another elite army
plus everyone and their mums play them. Guard and Nids are also
popular in my area, I have had a brief run with the Guard before and got
bored of lumbering tanks, tons of infantry and just throwing pie
plates a cross the table. Nids I couldn’t deal with painting hordes
and going monster heavy would get expensive. Also evil armies are not
usually my thing.
So Tau it is! I know
its the power army with Elder at the moment but I love the models
specially the battle suits and the jump shoot jump style of play and
versatility really drew me. Having the ability to kit battle suits
out with tons of combinations was a huge draw. Going Farsight
enclaves would also reduce the amount of models and painting I would
need to do.
I decided to jump in
at the deep end, no looking for lists on-line, tips or tactics and
only briefly reading the 40k rules. I aimed to paint build and play
to 1000 points and expand to 2000 only once I actually painted the
bastards.
HQ
Commander Farsight
O'Vesa + 2 Shielded
missile drones
Troops
2x Units of 3 Crises
suits – Two with burst cannons and twin-linked plasma rifles, One
with a burst cannon, plasma rifle and drone controller. 2X Marker
drones 1x Shield drones 3x Gun drones
Fast Attack
4 x Pathfinders –
one rail rifle
I've built the list
to combat marines, hordes and Nids that seem to be everywhere. The
crises suits give me tons of mobility to dictate movement and to play
jumpy shooty with the enemy burst cannons give me a silly number of
shots and plasma rifles give me the anti armour. Due to their decent
strength, monsters and light vehicles shouldn't last to long. I
think the weapon combo works really well quality and quantity on one
suit. Marker drones to guide in Riptide shots or the other unit of
suits, gun drones for wounds and fire-power and shield drone to chuck
out front against something that worries me.
Pathfinders in the
centre marking up the biggest threats and a rail rifle for any
problems on the way.
O'Vesa! Ion cannon
for armour, hordes and any big threat. With the Earth Caste Pilot
Array I plan to be overcharging that cannon every round sitting in
midfield giving fire support to my crises suits. Its long range
should allow me to dominate the field of fire and keep the enemy
troops focussed on it or diving for cover.
Farsight I mostly
took for his warlord trait, checking him with a crises suit in
reserve allows me a pin point strike anywhere I like. His plasma
rifle, shield generator and decent close combat ability are a great
plus and if a tank is being a pain he can drop in and destroy it.
The plan for this
army is to keep mobile and focus down targets and use jump shoot jump
to prevent my enemy getting a bead on my units. O'Vesa will sit
centre back missile drones in front as extra wounds and dishing out
pie plates or direct fire on key units. Pathfinders to scout move tag
first turn to get the most out of my shooting. One crises team will
head for an objective or harry an enemy unit. The other with Farsight
will sit in reserve allowing me to strike weak or dangerous targets,
land on an enemies objective or just force them put units aside
preparation for their arrival.
Problems I see is
lack of numbers and wounds. Not to much anti tank fire power and
relying on lucky marker hits to tag flyers for me. My suits are
optimised for attacking at 12 inches for burst cannon range and rapid
fire plasma rifles, if I don’t get a decent jet pack move it could
be bad times for the unit. But daring jumps will be so fun! Marker
light wise I'm not worried each unit carries two marker drones, I
have pathfinders and burst cannons and twin-linked plasmas do not
rely on marker hits as much. Leaving them to be used for the riptide
or stripping cover saves,
Sorry for the long
bind fart! But much keen for 40k and blogging again.
Pete
