Goatboy here and let’s chit chat about the Nova winning list. It’s a T’au lean, mean fighting machine. Take a look.

It’s a Tau list piloted by Richard Siegler – it has a ton of drones, some Nutty Shooting Commanders, and some Riptides. Oh it has some marker lights, a low amount of CP, and can do a ton of damage. It’s also very well suited for the Nova format while I think it suffers a bit in the normal ITC format of Hold more and Kill more. But it’s pretty powerful so expect to see it come out more in events as everyone loves to throw out Anime robots and bullets of death.

The Unbeatable List

Outrider Detachment – +1CP

Enforcer Commander Suit, Advanced Targeting System, 3 Cyclic Ion Blasters w/2 Shield Drones

5 Fire Warriors w/2 Shield Drones

5 Pathfinders w/Grav Drone, Recon Drone, Pulse Drone

5 Pathfinders w/Grav Drone, Recon Drone, Pulse Drone

6 Shield Drones

6 Shield Drones

5 Shield Drones

Vanguard Detachment] – +1CP

Enforcer Commander Suit, Advanced Targeting System, 3 Cyclic Ion Blasters w/2 Shield Drones

Riptide Battlesuit 2x Smart Missile System, Advance Targeting System, Heavy Burst Cannon, Velocity Tracker

Riptide Battlesuit 2x Smart Missile System, Advance Targeting System, Heavy Burst Cannon, Velocity Tracker

Riptide Battlesuit 2x Smart Missile System, Advance Targeting System, Heavy Burst Cannon, Velocity Tracker

Supreme Command Detachment – +1CP

Fireblade w/2 Shield Drones

Fireblade w/2 Shield Drones

Fireblade w/2 Shield Drones, Relic – Puretide Engram Chip

Enforcer Commander Suit, Advanced Targeting System, 3 Cyclic Ion Blasters w/2 Shield Drones – Warlord

Ethernal honor Blade w/2 Shield Drones

Total CP – +6CP

What Makes it Tick?

So how does this work. Can you see how many Shield Drones this player has? Note how many are 2 Drone squads and with how they work they take a bit longer to remove – causing a real problem for opponents. Note that this technique won’t work in ITC as the drones would always give up a Kill More in a game where you can guarantee your opponent is probably hitting a 3+ points per turn? In Nova’s system the idea of using a ton of small units really shines.

They have so many bodies, so many options to hold objectives, and be a pain in the butt for your opponent. The drone set up lets them control some assaults by giving a -3 inches to unit if the charge is within 12″ of the model. It has a good amount of marker lights so it can go crazy shooting turn after turn without needing CP and other cheeky things. Its a pretty nutty list and was perfectly designed to murder GSC – which had a strong showing at NOVA with Nick Nanavati winning the Invitational on the backs of the GSC and my good friend Nick Rose coming second with his own version of a GSC monster (painted 80 models in a week for this…).

Overall the list feels like a very Tau army and really showcases how annoying the Drone mechanic can be when you don’t have a ton of no LOS/Basic firepower like massed Mortars or other weapons. When I spoke with Nick Rose about the loss he knew it was an uphill battle but the game was very chill and Richard was a great opponent. It is always nice to hear after so many rounds of dice battles the game ends up being a nice smooth affair where those pesky GSC get riddled with bullets and covered in flashlights.

~ Give it up for Richard for making it to the winner’s circle. Congrats!