Further on from my previous article about me diving into building my new T’au army, I have finally reached the stage where I can field a respectable 1500 points without too many proxies.

I arranged a game with a buddy of mine who plays Orks. He doesn’t play them in in a super competitive way (ie Green Tide) but he still had 90 boys and a Stompa in his list. I just hoped I brought enough guns to the party.

My list was as follows:

1500 T’au (Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition) [82 PL, 1495pts]

Battalion Detachment +5CP (T’au Empire)

T’au Empire Sept Choice

Selections: Bork’an Sept

HQ

Cadre Fireblade

Selections: Markerlight

Commander in XV86 Coldstar Battlesuit

Selections: Through Unity, Devastation, Burst cannon, High-output burst cannon, Missile pod, 2x MV4 Shield Drone, Puretide engram neurochip, Warlord

Troops

Strike Team – 1



Fire Warrior Shas’ui

Selections: Markerlight, Pulse rifle

4x Fire Warrior w/ Pulse Rifle

Strike Team – 2



Fire Warrior Shas’ui

Selections: Markerlight, Pulse rifle

9x Fire Warrior w/ Pulse Rifle

Strike Team – 3



Fire Warrior Shas’ui

Selections: Markerlight, Pulse rifle

4x Fire Warrior w/ Pulse Rifle

Fast Attack

Pathfinder Team

Selections: MV31 Pulse Accelerator Drone

4x Pathfinder

Selections: 4x Markerlight

Pathfinder Shas’ui

Selections: Markerlight

XV109 Y’vahra Battlesuit

Selections: Multi-tracker, 2x MV52 Shield Drone, Target lock

Vanguard Detachment +1CP (T’au Empire)

T’au Empire Sept Choice

Selections: Bork’an Sept

HQ

Commander in XV86 Coldstar Battlesuit

Selections: 4x Fusion blaster, 2x MV4 Shield Drone

Elites

XV25 Stealth Battlesuits

Selections: 2x MV7 Marker Drone

Stealth Shas’ui w/ Burst Cannon

Selections: Burst cannon

Stealth Shas’ui w/ Burst Cannon

Selections: Burst cannon

Stealth Shas’ui w/ Burst Cannon

Selections: Burst cannon

XV25 Stealth Battlesuits

Selections: 2x MV7 Marker Drone

Stealth Shas’ui w/ Burst Cannon

Selections: Burst cannon

Stealth Shas’ui w/ Burst Cannon

Selections: Burst cannon

Stealth Shas’ui w/ Burst Cannon

Selections: Burst cannon

XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit

Selections: 2x Burst cannon, Advanced targeting system, Fusion collider, 2x MV5 Stealth Drone, Target lock

Fast Attack

Tactical Drones

Selections: 3x MV4 Shield Drone, 4x MV7 Marker Drone

The current T’au meta appears to be leaning towards a rather static gunline, whether it be 3 Stormsurges, loads of Broadsides or Hammerheads all buffed by a commander using Kau’yon. All very impressive, but is it fun to play? I personally wouldn’t find it much fun as my Guard army is pretty static with 7 Russ’s. I want my Tau army to be highly mobile, shooty and able to take objectives when needed.

I also slipped in a cheeky 5 man team of Pathfinders to get access to another 5 Markerlights and the Pulse Accelerator Drone. With my Bork’an Sept Trait this gives my Firewarriors an incredible 42” range! I’ll buy that for a dollar!!!

On my way to my FLGS, Warboar in Bromley, I got stuck in awful traffic so when I finally arrived 45 minutes late the game had to get under way pretty quick and was played at a fairly rapid pace. The deployment map was Search and Destroy and we were playing the basic Victory Conditions but added in that for every objective you held at the end of the game, of which there were 6, would grant you an additional VP. My opponent, Rob, deployed his army as far forward as he could in the hope of getting a first turn charge against me as Orks can move, advance and charge!!! I deployed my Steath contingent first (Stealthies and Ghosty) further out on the flank of my deployment as bit of a screen/distraction with my 2 Coldstars not far behind. With all their negative modifiers to hit, the Orks would have a tough time killing these through arms alone. In my deployment zone I set up my ranks of Firewarriors, drones, Y’Vahra and Fireblade in basic “Castle”, as I said before, 42” Firewarriors shots were going to bring the pain.

Rob had the +1 to go first but I rolled better and ended up getting the first turn. After missing WITH EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY MARKERLIGHTS, the turn was a huge whiff. I think I ended up killing 15 Orks……15 ORKS!!!!! Even the Y’Vahra struggled and only killed a handle of Boyz. With his 5++KFF and 6+++, Rob’s Boyz were tough to get down.

Rob’s first turn was pretty standard from an Ork perspective. He steamed forward and achieved his goal of a first turn charge. Rob was wary of the Y’Vahra and got his Battlewagon and about 30 boys into combat with it. Due to terrain, only about 20 of these boyz could get hits in. However, if there is one thing my future opponents should be wary of it is charging a nova charged Y’Vahra. Boy oh boy did it bring the pain. My Ionic Discharge Cannon got 5 shots out of a potential 9 and the Plasma Flamer got 17 shots out of a potential 18!!!!! Unfortunately I missed with my Discharge (story of my life) on the Overwatch but the Plasma didn’t fail me and took 12 wounds of the battle wagon on the way in so was already in a bad way. My Y’Vahra ended up losing 5 wounds in total. This is mainly thanks to the amazing work of my shield drones and they took the brunt of the Ork attack, my Saviour Protocol rolls were red hot. This is pretty much the end of the turn….on to my turn 2!

My turn 2 couldn’t have gone more differently. Thanks to the Markerlight Uplink Strategem I got a full compliment of lights on the Stompa and each unit of boyz had a markerlight on each of them. My Y’Vahra retreated from combat and repaired itself (another stratagem) and brought even more pain, killing the beleaguered Battle Wagon and a decent bunch of boys with the Plasma Flamer which is a beast. All my firewarriors got into rapid fire range and decimated another bunch of boys. With the Pulse Drone and the Fireblade, each warrior was shooting 3 times at 21”!!! I suggested to Rob that he should bring a dustpan and brush to sweep up his casualties next time, I cannot help it, I’m a funny guy. With the Stompa lit up like a Christmas Tree, my Quad Fusion Coldstar advanced a wonderful 35” to get into melta range and managed to take 12 wounds of the big boy. My remaining shooting from my Stealthies, Ghosty and Coldstar continued to shred boys for fun. In one turn of shooting I killed around 35-40 boys, a Battle Wagon and castrated the Stompa. It was beautiful.

Rob’s second turn was a bit of a formality, he charged the remaining Boys, Nobs and Warboss toward my Y’Vahra and managed to take it down to 4 wounds!!

Due to time constraints we decided to wrap it up there and then as it was only going to end in a tabling for Rob.

Lessons Learnt

MMMMOOOOOAAAARRRRR DDDRRROOONNNNEESSS – Drones are key to any Tau player, be it Shield, Marker or Pulse Accelerator or whatever. They are the cornerstone and keep your juicy units in the fight for so much longer.

Y’Vahra whiffs and brings the pain – after turn 1, I was concerned sinking over 400 points into one model but coupled with the Bor’kan Sept Trait this thing is my new beau. The first time it dies will be a sad day indeed.

In the future I will have to get used to seeing my Coldstars die in a blaze of glory – the only way to play Coldstars is the steam them forward to chop the head off the opponents army. They will die easily to small arms fire so pick your targets carefully.

That’s all for now folks.

Next week, Danvers’s Blood Angels at 1750 points.

For the Greater Good, Garfield.