# Assistance required Vs Tau Empire (Dark Angels)



## melsaphim (Jan 1, 2010)

Afternoon Heresy,

I am here to once again ask for help with my war gaming endeavors. I am currently working on my DA force which at the minute conists of belial and two/three death wing squads from Dark Vengeance, although i do have access to the other members of the Dark Vengeance box set. 

My friend is working on a Tau force alongside me using the new codex and models with us both wanting to paint a full force for once and use it to game.

Im unsure what to use against his Tau though in the form of heavier weaponry. I am wanting to use DW as my troop choices with belial as HQ but after that i am unsure what to purchase. Do i get one of the new fliers? a landraider? a dread or two? or simply more DW or RW?

Any help would be greately appreciated

Thanks
Liam


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## spanner94ezekiel (Jan 6, 2011)

Alrighty, a Deathwing orientated list. I'll say this first - don't bother with fliers. Unless you want to play them I wouldn't bother, as Tau have probably the best AA in the game with their new Skyfire weapon systems like the Skyray etc etc. Let's focus more on the ground.

So the Dark Vengeance box provides you with a nice core of Deathwing, and you have a hold of Belial, which is good. The first thing I'd look at doing is finding some Cyclone Launchers for these squads - they're (IMO) far superior to Assault Cannons and I think you'll generally find them more useful in fighting Tau. Expanding beyond your core of three DW squads and Belial, I'm thinking you need some ranged support, possibly in the form of Dreadnoughts, Devastators or Predators. The choice really is up to you - DW purists will take Venerable Dreadnoughts, while Devvies and Preds break this trend. However, the Pred is more survivable and offers some better anti-infantry options (as Dreadnoughts should really only bother with the Dual Autocannon setup). However, both are vulnerable to Tau, as Tau love nuking vehicles with their abundance of Railguns and Fusion Blasters. Thus, I would probably recommend Devastators or even Land Speeders for your ranged support - Missiles Launchers/Typhoons are my variants of choice, though this is more open-ended. 

Now, Tau are arguably weakest if you can get into close combat with them - however to get there, you're going to suffer a lot of punishment due to Supporting Fire etc etc. So you want your assault to be in their face as soon as possible, and preferably from multiple flanks. Thus, you want at least some of your Deathwing to Deathwing Assault, and nuke the good stuff first (Riptides, Broadsides, Hammerheads etc). The best way of crippling the Tau and limiting their potential is to remove their mobility. So whilst your Deep Strikers are taking out/distracting their Heavy Support, you want your main body (more Deathwing, Land Speeders/Devastators, etc) to target their transports. Without transports, those Fire Warriors can't reach their objectives, and are nice and squishy to boot. To augment this transport killing potential it may be worth grabbing some Ravenwing Attack Squadrons with Meltaguns, and/or some Tactical Squads. The latter will also help with objective claiming, so I'd definitely recommend some of them. 

So at 1500, I would recommend running a list that looks something like:

Belial (Sword of Silence) - 190
Deathwing Knights Squad - 235
Deathwing Terminator Squad (Cyclone Missile Launcher) - 245
Deathwing Terminator Squad (Cyclone Missile Launcher) - 245
Deathwing Terminator Squad (Cyclone Missile Launcher) - 245
Devastator Squad (4x Missile Launchers) - 130
Tactical Squad (Missile Launcher, Rhino) - 120
Tactical Squad (Missile Launcher, Rhino) - 120
Ravenwing Attack Squadron (2x Meltaguns) - 100
Ravenwing Attack Squadron (2x Meltaguns) - 100

So Belial goes with the Knights, who'll deep strike in with another Deathwing Squad as normal Reserves, while your other two DW squads enter via Deathwing Assault for maximum carnage. The Devastators find a nice vantage point to bunker down on and provide fire support, targeting those Devilfish as first priority. Meanwhile, your Ravenwing bikers get in close to try and do the same thing - watch out for Crisis Suits though. Those Plasma Rifles will ruin your day fast, particularly as you're only running 3-man squads. Then the Tactical squads push up to claim objectives, and again provide supporting fire. Try and keep their Rhinos obscured from any Railguns pointed their way though.
Note - if your opponent decides he'd like to add some fliers to his list, then simply drop a Bike squad and Upgrade your Missile Launchers to have the Flakk option. Also, the Knights are interchangeable for another normal Deathwing squad - your call.


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## DecrepitDragon (Aug 2, 2011)

Spanner94ezekiel has pretty much nailed it there for a DW list against Tau. I might change it a little, but really only for personal preference.

For example, assault cannons are excellent against Tau. I am by no means rubbishing the fine Cyclone, but for me, one or two AC's will offer a little more tactical diversity. Slightly less effective against vehicles, slightly more reliable against troops. As I say though, thats a preference thing rather than a hard and fast swap. Tactically, in this way, a DW assault, dropping in the Cyclones first to soften up the armour, then being joined by the troop killing AC's in subsequent turns, giving you a double whammy offensive.

As for the bikes, I'd also consider a melta/plasma combo for each unit (or variation there-of) as getting close to battle suits can be risky, a couple of more distant plasma shots can help. It again is dependant on how you would run your bikes though - meltas up close should instakill an XV8 if you get in a lucky hit, but whittling at distance can force your opponent to play them safe and jump away.

The only other thing I might do is run a couple of plasma cannons in the dev squad. There's absolutely no real reason other than being a little bit of a plasma fluff fanboy, but hey, its DA, why not?


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## Ragewind (Aug 3, 2008)

The Launchers would be better since you can fire Frag rounds. With just two blasts you can get up to 8+ wounds and wound on a 3+. 

Also you don't really "nuke" a Riptide, more like you gently caress it with low ap weapons over a number of turns.


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## DecrepitDragon (Aug 2, 2011)

Ragewind said:


> The Launchers would be better since you can fire Frag rounds. With just two blasts you can get up to 8+ wounds and wound on a 3+.


True, but factor in scatter, and armour saves and the AC holds up its end just as well against troops. It can also be just as effective against light vehicles and the riptide.

Like I said though, for me its a preference of variety over speciallity.


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## Mossy Toes (Jun 8, 2009)

A minor point to touch on strategy, regarding target priority.

There are three main types of objectives you should keep in mind, two of which have been touched on here:

- Big guns. Take these out and you more or less defang the Tau. Broadsides, plasma Crisis suits who'd threaten your Termis, Riptides, Hammerheads...

- Mobility. This can be accomplished, as previously mentioned, by targeting transports--but you have a lot of things to shoot at, and transports aren't too high on the list. Deployment and movement, then, are also very important for this: bottle your opponent into a corner, or head toward them with the bulk of your army on one flank, then DS Belial and some termis on the other flank to make it so the Tau have nowhere to run. Things like that.

- Synergy. Normally you may want to be taking out the big guns, but the big guns are made all the more effective by pathfinders slinging markerlights, or Fireblades maxing out Fire Warrior shots, and similar. If your opponent is using Forgeworld Tetras or Sensor Towers, those things are fragile but essential to his army--take them out immediately, and his firepower will be much less accurate and deadly. Break his synergy and he'll be left with a lot of guns, sure, but those guns are only BS3, and no longer able to be twin-linked or ignore cover.

Just some thoughts.


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## Routine (Sep 25, 2011)

Spanner et al have already covered most of what you need to know, the only thing I'd add is that Dark Angels have a unique advantage available in that it is possible to gain 4++ invul saves on multiple vehicles with the Power Field Generator. 

This allows you to somewhat mitigate all the Ignores Cover that the Tau have going on, and thus keep your vehicles somewhat safer. If you do go this route, then find some way to keep the PFG carrier safe, plant him behind a couple Preds or Dreads, and have them plug away from long range. The Techmarine is ideal for this, as he can help regain those lost hull points in a protracted fire fight. Keep in mind though that fragility is a major issue for him


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