On the 28th of this month, I’ll be attending at 40k tournament at the excellent Element Games up in Stockport here in the UK.
The tournament, Boss Badrollz, is a one-day, three-game event, and it’ll feature some of Element Games’s regulars.
From what I know so far, I’ll be up against some very strong armies and some very strong players.
But I’ll also be up against a handful of 8th edition factions, which, as a T’au player, is always good to hear.
Everyone knows that the T’au are in a very tough spot at the moment. GW has confirmed that the new codex will be released early next year, but that doesn’t do me any good for this month.
And here’s another problem: the models in my collection are hardly up there in terms of the current T’au meta.
If I were to pick any units from the current codex, I’d go heavy on Crisis Suits or heavy on Broadsides. But I only have three painted Crisis Suits and only one painted Broadside, so that’s not exactly an option.
What are my options?
Let’s start with the infantry. I’ve got a whole bunch of Fire Warriors. If memory serves, I have 36 in total. I’ve also got six Pathfinders and six Stealth Suits.
Add in a couple of Cadre Fireblades, and that about sums it up. I do have some finecast Vespid lying around somewhere, and as much as I don’t want to work with finecast models, it’d be great to have some fast-moving, Fly-keyword infantry on the board for ROD and Engage.
Elsewhere in the HQ slots I have three Commander Battlesuits, two of which are Enforcers and one of which is a Coldstar.
Keeping with the Battlesuits, I have two Riptides, one Ghostkeel, and one Y’vahra.
With the addition of roughly 50 Drones — with a variety of Gun, Marker, and Shield options — and a couple of Remora Drone flyers, that’s pretty much the lot of it.
You see the conundrum, then. Unfortunately, my collection consists of a whole bunch of models and units that were strong options in 8th edition, but 9th edition changed the game significantly, and my particularly way of playing T’au was left in the dust.
I remember writing an article last year when 9th edition was just coming out. I was, as usual, optimistic. I thought that, despite the key changes to the game, the T’au would have the tools to compete, but it’s been clear for a good while how incorrect I was.
Complaining won’t get me anywhere, however. I need to choose the most competitive list that I can with the models that I own.
In fact, let’s put aside the notion of competitiveness. I’m going to do the best that I can at the tournament, but, let’s be honest, there’s a pretty good chance that I lose all three games. And that’s okay. I’m going into this tournament with the knowledge that my faction doesn’t cut the mustard, so I need to do the best I can with the tools available.
Here’s what I’m thinking. I take three Commanders. The two Enforcers will be armed with three Cyclic Ion Blasters and an Advanced Targeting System; the Coldstar will be armed with four Fusion Blasters.
These Battlesuits give me accurate shortrange firepower. Granted, for what they do, they’re on the expensive side, but that’s to be expected with most T’au units.
The Fusions give me reasonable anti-vehicle firepower and the CIBs provide solid anti-infantry shooting. The D3 damage on the CIBs can be swingy, but that’s just the way that it is at the moment.
I take twenty — perhaps twenty five — Fire Warriors. These boys will sit on backfield objectives and performs actions if required. I usually take Drones with my infantry units, so I’ll take Marker or Shield Drones with each squad.
It’s quite tricky to get offensive play out of Fire Warriors. It’s certainly possible — Breachers have some play and Strikes supported with a Fireblade can put out some dakka — but in this case I’ll use them quite conservatively.
For my infiltrators I’ll look to my Ghostkeel and my six Stealth Suits. I think Stealths do have some utility, and the Ghostkeel is a reasonably solid Battlesuit. Granted, these models wouldn’t make it into any competitive list from a faction with a modern codex, but that’s not exactly the standard.
Let’s add a couple of Riptides to finish off the bulk of the list. I’ll probably arm the one with a Heavy Burst Cannon and the other with the relic Amplified Ion Accelerator.
The AIA is a great weapon. A 3 +d3 damage profile always has some play. That it is mounted on a BS4 platform is going to be a problem, but that has often been the case.
Those models alone won’t come to 2,000 points, but I can add and subtract bits and bobs as I need to. I might, for example, throw in a Remora Drone, or I’ll see how many Drones I can fit into the list. You get the idea.
And that will be that. It’s not going to be a competitive list, but against most 8th edition factions and the odd 9th edition list I’ll be able to play some Warhammer.
It should be good fun, and this experience will make the new codex in the new year all the better.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
