2000 Tau anti Cron Air

[Xarplo]

So with all the talk and *****ing about Cron Air lists being stupid and no fun and over powered etc., I decided to go ahead and make a list to utterly crush it. Caveat: I haven't put this into practice, but from the lists I've seen, I'm pretty sure this would stomp any Cron Air list it faced. It's unfortunate that there is no one in my area who has jumped on the Cron Air bandwagon, so the chances of me putting this into practice are slim to none, but hopefully some other Tau player will take up the mantle and test it for me. (If I do run into a Cron Air player, I will definitely do it myself.)

So without further ado:

Shas'o
TL Missile Pod
Flamer
Stim Injector
HW Blacksun Filter

Shas'el
TLMP
BF
HW Target Lock

2x Shasvre Bodyguard
2x TLMP
2x Flamer

2x XV8
2x TLMP
BF
Flamer

2x XV8
2x TLMP
BF
Flamer

2x XV8
2x TLMP
BF
Flamer

2x XV8
2x TLMP
BF
Flamer

2x XV8
2x TLMP
BF
Flamer

2x XV8
2x TLMP
BF
Flamer

10x Fire Warriors
Shas'ui
BF

10x Fire Warriors
Shas'ui
BF

10x Kroot

6x Fire Warriors
Devilfish
Disruption Pod

3x Broadside
3x TL Plasma
3x Multi Tracker
Team Leader
Targeting Array
HWBF
HWTL
2x Shield Drones

3x Broadside
3x TL Plasma
3x Multi Tracker
Team Leader
Targeting Array
HWBF
HWTL
2x Shield Drones


Comes out to 2000 pts exactly. Tons of high strength, long range, twin linked shots and all with Night Vision. It should devastate the Scythes, and Scarabs won't last long against that many instant death shots. Wraiths, while durable, only have a 3+ save and will die just like Marines to that many missiles.

Whaddya guys think?

[Punisher]

Now I don't know a much about tau but if a TLMP is just the same as a twin linked missile launcher then even with all of them shooting at the flyers your still only generating about 4-5 hits which equates to just about 3 glances/penetrates, which will down just 1 flyer on average per turn and thats from almost all your shooting. Plus the flyers get the alpha strike so you can expect them to kill a few TLMP before they can fire.

The best way to combat flyers it to take a aegis/some other anti flyer fortification or to take tons of troops to flood the board like the green tide or to take flyers of your own. If your playing the flyers game of just trying to shoot them off without a quad gun then your probably going to lose to a superior shooting force.

So I would try and find a way to add in a quad gun into your army if your focused on taking on flyer lists. Other than that good luck and I hope the meta shifts soon, away from the flyer dominance we have now.

[Uncle Nutsy]

seems kind of on the expensive side for the amount of boots on the ground.

You could always try a Shas'el with stabilization systems, hardwired blacksun filter, twinlinked flamers. Or if you don't like the flamers, a forgeworld variant with SMS on the shoulders with the stabilization system/filter combo for more missile fun.

Reason I suggest this setup is you can attach the commander to the broadsides, opening up a slot in the broadsides for a multitracker or targeting array, and letting the broadsides benefit from the rules granted to the commander.

I watched a friend of mine try out the 'O with the stim injector and watched it get mulched in CC and torn to bits by shooting every single time.

Missile pods on suits. always a good idea. The more, the better. But you'll still get assaulted even if you do it right all the time due to that lucky full 12" charge distance. So try to get at least one of your suit teams with twinlinked flamers to either shut it down or slow it to a crawl at least.

Plasma sportin' Hammerheads are your friend now, and they'll really put the hate on for those flyers. heavy 4 twinlinked.

Kroot? don't do it. seriously, don't do it. you have access to Allies now and I'm sure you can find something that hits harder than a bunch of fragile birdmen. Take some dark eldar. Or marines. Or some of Eldar's CC specialists. Anything but kroot.

[Tynskel]

You could just go with 5 Remora Drone Fighters.
That's 550 points. 2 seekers, a marker light, and a twin-linked long barreled burstcannon. Furthermore, it can deep strike, and it has a 3+ cover save when being shot at (shrouded + jink). Since it is a flyer, it can 'skyfire', and it's marker is networked, so it can fire its own seekers. It can even switch to hover mode for increased usefulness.

Afterward, the Remoras can mop up stuff on the ground.

[Denied]

I love the idea of taking Eldar Allies for adding psychic powers and then grabbing the Aegis with the TL Quadgun and putting a Dark Reaper Exarch on it with Crackshot so they flyers don't get a Jink/ cover save. It's a bit pricy but Crackshot BS 5 TL 4 shots is just hilarious.

[Xarplo]

While I like the idea of FW additions, unfortunately I don't own any, and FW is not really embraced in my area (despite my best efforts). As for allies, I'm not opposed to adding them, but kinda wanted to stick to a purist Tau list.

Also, I forgot to add an ADL with Lascannon to the list. It's included in the points, just forgot to list it.

[Uncle Nutsy]

You could just go with 5 Remora Drone Fighters.
That's 550 points. 2 seekers, a marker light, and a twin-linked long barreled burstcannon. Furthermore, it can deep strike, and it has a 3+ cover save when being shot at (shrouded + jink). Since it is a flyer, it can 'skyfire', and it's marker is networked, so it can fire its own seekers. It can even switch to hover mode for increased usefulness.

Afterward, the Remoras can mop up stuff on the ground.

Yeah, remoras are pretty neat. but they're bloody pricey for what they do. I'd rather take a 'cuda. It's a small points increase but it's got an ion cannon on it with the ability to take twice as many missiles. And when I max them out, I have 12 missiles on three aircraft for about twenty points less.

[Tynskel]

That's true, but the Barracuda does not come with Markerlights, and with extra missiles, but not the markers, that becomes a problem. Especially since the Barracuda, Remora, and Pathfinders fit in the same category. The really nice thing about the Remora: you can take 5, a squad of Pathfinders, and a Barracuda. :)

[Uncle Nutsy]

Pathfinders? why would you want to do that when you have Tetras? 12 markerlights, shrouding and mobility for less than what you'd pay for eight pathfinders.

[Urza8188]

oh hey let me remove that comment...i clearly misread the previous posts.

Model count is a bit low though