Damn Chris I loved the maps a ton, and the report too

Thank you very much, very much indeed.

Just getting back up to speed on all the lists so I may be a little off base here when I comment.....ok

My question, odd as it may sound, is how confident were you in being able to stand with the Tau formations, once on the ground, and dish it out. This is in direct reference to how worried were you by a possible enemy response to your moves? If you want to reply as per formation then please do so, but a general conclusion will suffice.

To clarify a bit. Basically most Tau players, there are two others in my group, try to avoid a direct attack on their opponents preferring to try to stand off. You do know I am a bit insane with the Tau and often go right at it with the enemy hoping to outshoot them before they can respond. I hope this clarifys what I mean by confident.]

Damn I still cannot get over the maps they are great Chris, my hat is off to you and your friend, really.

Biglongname, hey you asked

I am not a fan of Void Spinners preferring Scorpion SHTs over them, I think they are more flexible. I almost always have one Guardian Host in Wave Serpents to secure ground I have already taken or to throw in assault FF. I like using two Windrider Troupes in conjuction with Guardians in Wave Serpents they make for a really hard hitting combination on either flank to turn the enemy.They are, however fragile, if caught into a straight up fight.

I either field all Banshees or all Striking Scorpions in one of my Aspect Hosts to give me something to really brutalize an opponent with. I love maxed out Swooping Hawks (Death from the sky), so on the same page here.

In general I agree with you, no insult here Chris, but having both WEs wacked right off the bat had to knock you back on your heels, and recovering no easy task. Sorta well that plan just went out the window before the first shot had been fired, kinda thing.

Still a good game by both sides.

Cheers
Jaldon

_________________
I know a dead parrot when I see one and I'm looking at one right now.
Tyranid AC

The map was nothing to do with me. Lokkatmybiglongname (from now on refered to as 'E') did it. It had one flaw which was seen in deployment or not enough terrain around the edges (the opposite of Warhammer and ancients games actually ).

Also a random person turned up half way through and started dumping terrain and models onto the table.

I guess its probably best to password things to stop someone just deleting everything.

I recomend the password taccoms so we all know it

I am completely happy with the ability of the tau to defend when getting on overwatch. Indeed then they become damn formidable, the disrupt weaponry is a nightmare for assault troops.

Otheriwse the formations I wouldn't be as confident with as they are guard without the commissars and often with less numbers.

The armour is good so they can move in the open well. And their are tricks like putting the skimmers in front to confound CC troops.

I think if you can eliminate any enemy barrage weapoins you can go into close order which helps a bit to.

I think you need to erode the enemy a bit to make them slightly ragged then hit off the enemies centre so not everything can come back at you. With such high firepower massing it makes best use of markerlights aas well as the number of dice.

Now I'd like to play orks because there you have high infantry numbers in target formations that are also intended to operate at 15cm. This would be an interesting test of the massed firepower charge.
Once that is rolling I think losing formations from a high activation army is fine.

Also the high mobility of the attacking formations means you can strike from a long way away, so its only the counterattacks you have to worry about.

And really there is nothing special in the taus weakness there, small formations always get battered by assault specialists, i think the Tau have the difference of being able to strike from further out and can castle on overwatch very well.

Also I still reckon the Manta is great, just will avoid crossfire

Also the transported mech formation I think worked very well, but it does mean not activating the manta first unless you want to do a combined shot on something.

Still reckon the Manta should have 2 seekers!

I should add I wouldn't play corners against Orks or Guard and put objectives far appart, the idea being to split them up to allow easy attack and though I'm fast, the Tau still aren't Eldar or marine fast.

Speaking of Map. It looks like Battle Chronicler was used. Where in the heck did he obtain the sprites for the models?

Sadly I can't find any of my Vassal stuff anymore...

Ah yes, the random person being 'Bonertron', a great name, whoever they are.

Jaldon, I haven't used the Scorpion in donkey's years, only have one model, normally took Revenants instead though they are a lot more expensive. Scorpions might be pretty useful vs the Tau to get rid of some of the Tetras, but I'd like to do something with the SS first. Maybe 2 Scorps and an SS? Sounds like a plan.

I'm a bit iffy as to the usefulness of very expensive aspect formations in 3000 pt games, adding wave serpents etc. makes them a lot of points when I could just take 2 formations. I suppose if it all goes well then happy days, if it gets hit then you're done (or at least a player with my experience is done). I'd like to get a bit more practice with mounted guardians before I spend too much, I can't seem to get much out of them either.

EpicBattleBaggz, if you need the Vassal module, I got it off the amphibious-ursine, or even pm E, (I still prefer writing out the whole thing).

Personally it I think a gate and some spiders are an awfully nasty combo!

Personally I think they rock. Before I thought the classic 2 scorpions 2 fire dragons and 4 dire avengers was the best aspect formation, however I may have changed my mind. If only I had a few more actual models. Aargh.

I hear what you're saying about the amped Aspect fm, but it's a) a useful way to have the AUtarch on board and be relatively well protected and b) it's actually pretty tough. Wave serpents are rather resilient, they can hide well being skimmers and they confer the -1 to hit on the troops (if the troops are touching the transports) even when they're out in the open. The 2 times I've used that fm I've found that it gets picked at a bit or ignored, but it's a really nasty fm (particularly in assaults or against infantry) if it's left to it's own devices. I wouldn't throw it up the centre of the battlefield as it'll get torn to pieces, but it's a nasty flanking fm.

Classic use - double up, fire on fm, retain with something else to assault said fm and get buttloads of support fire (4x 3+, 7x 4+, 4x MW4, if you're using dire avengers too). Target fm = toast.

First the real important part, now that Chris has set me straight, Dam nice maps lookatmybiglongname (Hereafter referred to as 'E'). Myhat is off to you

Chris thank you for the very precise response I pretty much figured it was exactly as you said but needed a pat onthe back to be sure. Again thank you

'E' one thing I really like about Epic-A is that almost any tactical combination you can think of can be made efective if the player knows how to use it. My style is very wide open, somewhat insane my friends say, and depends on breakneck maneuver. Taken in that light it isn't hard to understand the formation recomendations I made.

You are correct, and this has happened to me many times before, the Aspects in Wave Serpents and the Guardians in Wave Serpents CAN be deadly effective. BUT if they get caught (unable to pick the ground they want to fight on) they DO get hammered. But if they don't it is a real sweet win

My post was just a suggestion on possible variations you may want to try, they never hurt because it is just a game.

Once again 'E' dam nice maps, and Chris real nice report, thank you both.

Jaldon

_________________
I know a dead parrot when I see one and I'm looking at one right now.
Tyranid AC

How did you made the map? There is a vassal epic update? Tau and eldar? Explain please...