# Tau gunline vs Daemons



## relicmoss (Dec 30, 2009)

Hello there,

I am a long way off collecting another army - still beavering away at my Eldar. I do ponder Tau sometimes, though, and have read up on their playing style etc. If I'm not mistaken, Tau gunline in 5th is dead, and to have any chance of success they must make the most of Jump-Shoot-Jump suits, combined with Piranhas to block movement, with Fire Warriors hiding in their 'Fish, and speedbump Kroot to pad them out.

I get the feeling that this tactic would not fare well against Daemons (my main opponent), though. The JSJ is just not going to hold up against Fiends and Seekers which have a minimum assault threat range of 19" and which will all be teleporting right up in your face, numerous flying things, and rending Daemonettes also with fleet. 6-9 crisis suits doesn't seem enough firepower to stop an army in one turn, which is what is generally needed against Slaanesh.

Would a traditional gunline fare better? 30-40 Fire Warriors all with S5 might take a few casualties from breath of chaos etc in the first turn, but they'd be able to threaten even the greater daemons, wounding them on 5+, and with sheer volume of shots I can't imagine there'd be any of the first wave of Daemons left by turn 2...


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## Ishamael (Aug 26, 2008)

http://www.yesthetruthhurts.com/2009/07/battle-report-tau-vs-demons.html

I would hope this Batrep would change your mind on how Tau fare against Daemons. I'm actually about to finish my 2k Tau army this week, and it's essentially the army list used here. Also, the Tau advice given here is phenomenal. Stelek knows how to work with Tau. 

Crisis Suit teams are capable of doing an insane amount of damage per squad. 6 autocannon hits, as well as 6 of their plasma shots in double-tap range is nothing to laugh at. It's terrifying.


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## Blackhiker (Dec 28, 2007)

Against daemons I find that a very fun tactic for the tau is to set-up an infiltrating kroot unit or two covering the majority of the board with a few small holes for the opponent to deep strike into. Then set-up a good sized gunline to shoot up anything that comes into the open spots.

This tactic is one that I have had a alot of fun with against daemons, but is a bit of a douchy set-up.


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## Chumbalaya (May 17, 2010)

Stelek, Ishamael and Blackhiker got it.


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## Kirby (May 16, 2010)

^ echoing the above, particularly with Kroot. Tau have the firepower to drop multiple squads a turn and keep the Daemons away with units they don't care about. Tau shooting is inevitably more substantial than most armies can handle. An army that comes in piece meal and which is subject to torrent (remembering Deamons were GW's "anti-anti-MEQ" army when they came out; aw your plasma is so silly!) in particular doesn't like tau exacerbated by the Kroot spread.

Here's some articles on Tau which I've gotten good feedback about. (dear me more plugging!)


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## anarchyfever (May 24, 2008)

one of my most effective matches against a deamon player was on a spearhead setting, I set up my firewarriors and 2 xvs behind my tanks, set a team of pathfinders far forward and on top of a building and had a kroot squad in the same building.
A small stealth team hid in a building to my left flank.

What happened was he couldn't land near my infantry without a mass loss so he took the far corner and decided to circle me.

He took out the kroot but decided going up the building for the pathfinders would of taken too much time. I managed to markerlight threats and deal with them before they reached my lines. 

The stealth team dealt with units he moved to close, forgetting my stealth team was there as he most likly had too many firing lines to think about.

The match ended with mass losses on both sides and I had both VX8s and a devilfish left with his last khorne squad unable to reach me.

Unforchanly I can't remember what moves I made but he was well know as one of the hardest deamon players in our shop and everyone was surprised I beat him.

I think had it not been for a bit of skill, fear and a lot of luck I would not have gotten away with it.

I learnt about the importance of manouvibility(sp?) from this, but also the importance of a temp-firebase to keep the other player guessing. 

Hope this recant helps.


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