So... Necrons v Tau Strategies

So i've been thinking about Necrons. Specifically, that nexis between Solar Pulse, Imotekh, and av13-till-penetrated hulls and how that relates to my Tau. 

Tau are terrible at nightfighting. Sure markerlight hits can be expended to ignore night-fighting on a 1-per-squad basis, but first you have to get the markerlights to hit, which in nightfighting conditions with heavy weapons is not an easy task. Additionally, having a mainly av13 army can be a bit of a challenge for tau, as now it takes fusion blasters or railguns for even the lowliest of transports, even the Crisis squad's vaunted missile pods aren't much use. And then, when it all lets up, Necrons win at CC, so letting them get into assault range is a problem.

I'm musing a bit on whether my gameplan needs to change, as the Tau i usually play are completely helpless in extended night-fighting scenarios. Additionally, those random lightning strikes suck when you can consistently max out your force org chart.

What are your experiences with Tau vs New Necrons? Share them, oh Dear Reader!

~Shas'el Mike

One More, so I Don't Forget

Oh yes, and I did a bit of conversion work the other night. Generally speaking, I am bad with greenstuff, and I avoid metal models. However, in an odd conversion of improbability and rarity, I decided to play with both. I needed another Death Company with a power weapon, but I haven't bought magnets for my existing DC. Oh, and I had a metal torso from some Space Marine from an edition gone by. So what did I do you ask? Go on, ask. Its ok. So what did I do? I blinged it up! I have an army of helmeted guys, because I hate painting flesh, but I had this rebreather head I really wanted to use in some way. Also, I an inflexible boring metal body that needed something to spruce it up. So, I used greenstuff for some hair on the rebreather head, i used the arm-with-the-robotic-hand from the DC thunderhammer arm, some blood angel shoulder pads, a DC backpack and BLAM! there you have it. Here are the pics. Enjoy!

This Week: 1500 Tourament!

So apparently the 3rd weekend of the month is tournament weekend at Comic Asylum. I went, I conquered somewhat, it was fun. As far as armies, there were Blood Angels, Grey Knights, Space Wolves, Chaos Marines, Chaos Demons, Necrons, Vanilla Marines, and Eldar that I remember. The missions weren't published initally, so I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but I figured i'd bring my Blood Angels! They haven't seen a lot of use, due to the awkward nature of my model collection and my desire to only play with painted armies. By awkward I mean that my collection comprises most of the support/ fast attack/elite choices i'd want to play with, but i need another squad or two of assault marines. So, here is the list I went with:

1850 Tournament!

Love this pic.

And now for an overdue update: Last weekend I had the privilege of playing in an 1850 tournament at Texas Toy Solider. It cost $15 for entry, and was a success. Sisters of Battle, Eldar, Chaos Demons, Grey Knights, Imperial Guard, Chaos Marines, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, another Tau and two Vulcan Marines were present competing for success, plus whatever other armies slipped my mind. Oddly absent were Dark Eldar and Necrons, considering they are the newest of the zenos books. Also, (with no surprise) there was no Tyranids present.

While previously I have mentioned that the traditional monobuild of Tau is the only way to go, I've been playing around with a different setup. Basically, two-man Crisis squads and two 5-man Fire Warriors in Devilfishes. The reason for the Crisis squad setup is their abysmal leadership and the expense of squad upgrades. Crisis suits are jump infantry with poor leadership, and should they break less than 50% then they can never rally. Also, if vehicles are the target often one of the suits is wasting its shots. And lastly, 3 suits are tough to hid behind cover or vehicles, as one of them is bound to have something hanging out. So, i've been playing two-man squads. They may break, but they will never run off the map unable to rally due to squad size. Also, they're easier to hide. So, I used this strategy in my 1850 list. Heres the list, in case you are wondering: