[ETP]

Hello, im looking for some advice to give my friend, he plays tau and has expressed doubts about a tau armies ability to beat imperial guards new codex. I was hoping you could provide suggestions, both in army list design, and basic strategy for beating my guard army and 1500 points, which i will post below:

Straken
Command Squad with medic, two bodyguards, carapace armor and Chimera

Grey Knight Terminator Hero and retinue of 5 Grey Knight Terminators

Marbo

Bastonne Veteran Squad, 3 Meltaguns, carapace armour, Chimera

Veteran Squad, power fist, 3 flamers, carapace armour, Chimera

Veteran Squad, power weapon, 3 snipers, mortar, carapace armour, Chimera (this chimera starts empty and transports my Grey Knights)

2 Penal Legion Squads (outflanking)


So far he has had trouble stopping my Straken and Grey Knight Terminator squads from reaching his lines. Once they do, they massacre some very expensive suits and make the tau sad. Furthermore, carapace armor and good use of cover has meant hes had a hard time dishing out the wounds with the majority of weapons he uses (alot of ap 5 stuff)

In addition, he fields just two troop squads of fire warriors, so objective based games are tricky for him. Should he field more, or just hide them more?

Thanks for any input you can give.

[PNW]

Thats an aweful small amount of units, especially considering that the minimum squad size for Firewarriors is 6. I'd recommend he takes full squads
He should counter your Terminators with Fusion/Plasma suits

[Shasel_Ahab]

My question is:

Who went and legalized GK Termies in an IG army ??? and what were they smoking?

Other than that, smashing the Command Squad and popping the Transports is one of the top priorities IMO.

I think he could utilize a "Ninja Tau" list to force your Outflanking Penal Legions and Marbo to lose their advantage of appearing unexpectedly.

Your list really isn't that cheesy or anything... No Valk spam or ridiculous amounts of Lemon Russes :funny:

[trogador]

He should railgun your transports, use Helios suits (PR/FB/MT) against your termies, and some deathrain suits (TLMP) might be good at taking out your infantry (S7 AP4 Assault2).

[SteelPanther]

I second the need for Deathrain suits (Twin Linked Missile Pods, If he dosent already know). With them he can pump out shots at your infantry, and also can threten your transports. Plus with them being XV8s, if he decides to go Ninja Tau, then he can deepstrike them as well.

[ETP]

These are great suggestions so far, keep them coming. For example, i notice my friend uses only multitrackers and a drone controller (with shield drones) for his crisis teams. In the case of a deathrain tl missile suit, what should he use as the 3rd manditory item choice?

Furthermore, i keep some vets well hidden in cover, and make use of the ability to go to ground for huge cover bonus, as well as the afformentioned carapace. What does the tau have to clear these people out of their cover that is effective?

[pepin0329]

Termies can't fit in Chimeras.

[Beomoose]

Originally Posted by ETP

These are great suggestions so far, keep them coming. For example, i notice my friend uses only multitrackers and a drone controller (with shield drones) for his crisis teams. In the case of a deathrain tl missile suit, what should he use as the 3rd manditory item choice?

The default choice for most Deathrains is a targeting array to bump up their BS, but taking flamers instead is an option. As described here: http://forums.tauonline.org/index.php/topic,87077.0.html, he would gain some flexibility and not suffer much in the way of missile damage.

[ETP]

Originally Posted by timin0329

Termies can't fit in Chimeras.

The Daemonhunters book has no such restriction, but goes to mention that each terminator armoured model will take up two spaces in a chimera. It's completely legal (fitting them in a valkyrie on the other hand i do not believe in, despite some IG rule benders trying it)

[thedog90]

Originally Posted by ETP

Furthermore, i keep some vets well hidden in cover, and make use of the ability to go to ground for huge cover bonus, as well as the afformentioned carapace. What does the tau have to clear these people out of their cover that is effective?

Originally Posted by Beomoose

The default choice for most Deathrains is a targeting array to bump up their BS, but taking flamers instead is an option. As described here: http://forums.tauonline.org/index.php/topic,87077.0.html, he would gain some flexibility and not suffer much in the way of missile damage.

Right there, the flamers should do nicely to get things out of cover. The only other thing that might work would be the a.f.p.