Tau with Grey Knight Allies - Not in my backyard!

Hey everyone.  Back in the saddle after a lengthy hiatus.  My 1-2 year project will be building this (or close to depending on overall discussion) army.  Premise sounds simple.  Tau don't like cc, so how do you keep others out of your backyard while you blast them from range? Create a gun line with reserve/scout/infiltrate denial (tactically huge IMHO).  Grey Knights can also be used to combat squad and deep strike forward to contest objectives if needed.

Tau Main Force:
HQ

Commander: Fusion gun, Target Lock, Vectored retro-thrusters, Puretide Neurohip (Money!), Iridium suit
Ethereal: Blacksun filter, authority, and a huge ego

FORT

Aegis Defense Line
Quad gun

TR

12 Fire warriors
12 Fire warriors

EL

Riptide: Ion accelerator, TL Fusion guns, Early warning override
Riptide: Ion accelerator, TL Smart missile system, Early warning override

FA

6 Pathfinders
5 Pathfinders

HS

Hammerhead: Submunition, TL Smart missile system, Blacksun filter
3 Broadsides: TL Heavy rail rifle, TL Smart missile system, Early warning override, 6 Missile drones

Grey Knight Allies

HQ
Inquisitor: 3 Servo skulls, Terminator armor, Nemsis hammer, Psycannon

TR
10 Grey Knights: 2 Psycannons, 1 Nemesis Halberd
5 Grey Knights: 1 Psycannon, 1 Nemesis Halberd

EL
Dreadnought: 2 TL Autocannons, Psybolt ammo

Total 1999

I'm sure this tactic has been done before but I find it very effective (on paper).  Servo skulls prevent scout moves and infiltrate in a wide swath across the middle of the board.  They also improve deep strike accuracy if I deep strike some GK.  Grey Knight Strike squad deploys in front of Tau gun line and uses Warp quake to keep Deep strikers from landing within 12" of gun line for the first 2-3 turns (Mishap if they do).  Deploy Dred in middle of Tau.  Dred's super Aegis bubble will cover a 24" bubble with -4 Ld vs. enemy psyker attacking units (it says 'target of attack', so Tau are covered too).

Commander man's the quad and joins the broadside unit.  Any opponents bringing in reserves will get a face full of Riptides, Broadsides, and Quad gun at the end of their movement phase.  Broadside and Commander reroll to glance and pen, which is huge.

It needs playtesting and healthy feedback from you all.

I think this is a very strong tactical list. Like anything, you need to play it to get a better feel for how it works. My first comment would be that as of now, all the tournaments are playing at 1850 or lower, so you might consider building to that. Sometimes that 150 loss can have some major impacts on how a list/strategy functions.

I like your overall strategy. It definitely has a more defensive feel than a lot of lists at the moment, but I don't think that's a bad thing. Much like the list I posted, one of the things this would struggle with is a direct offensive attack from something like two units of 15 flesh hounds (Very common right now). The servo skulls will help, but they are still going to get a T2 charge on you.

Another item I struggle with is pathfinders. I like them conceptually, but in play they whiff a lot due to to their low BS. They are just almost as good at shooting skyfire and overwatch as they are shooting normally. You can use that to your advantage by going to ground and still snapfiring, but overall it makes them have bad turns.

I think its worth putting the systems on the Commander that allows him to not shoot and make everything in the unit twin-linked and ignore cover. Remember that jink saves are cover, so fliers that don't have an invul will get no defense against your broadside unit. This would work well the way you have it structured. He could fire the quad-gun to intercept, then not fire in his round to buff the unit.

One other item that I'm really struggling with that your list also lacks is lots of troops. Many of the tournaments are having 6-10 objectives in a lot of the missions. Just the standard book mission "The Scouring" has 6. If your running GK, it might be worth finding the points for a Grand Master so you can make 1d3 units scoring. You would probably need a bit more GK stuff in your list to make it worth it, but its something to think about. You might split up your fire warrior units to make more units. Having said that, I'll probably still just run 4 troops so I can fit in all the cool stuff I want to.

Those are some initial thoughts. I'll grind on it a bit more and see if I come up with anything else. Glad you are back in the saddle.

Good feedback. I'll have to do some math-hammer on a flesh hound charge against several units overwatching with supporting fire. All the more reason to have grey knights around.

Regarding the pathfinders: at BS3, i would expect 2-3 hits per unit which is more than enough to up BS and ignore cover saves. Definitely things to think about. I'll run some different unit configurations to see if anything else stands out.

I can't agree with E enough about the commander load out. It will also improve your effectiveness against horde by removing cover. The dogs are going to get in or they are going to allow something else to. Deployment will be the key. If the hounds get in, your tau contingent is toast. You getting the charge with the GK will be super vital. On the charge with a lord the hounds are going to do around 27 wounds. Yes, you'll hurt them, but they'll dent you worse. Just my thoughts. I think the list will work for you. Only aggressive lists will hurt you. How are you getting across the board to objectives? Are the GK termies?

GK strike squads. They can combat squad and deep strike utilizing the servo skulls for better accuracy. The list isnt super mobile - tis true.

How did your list perform in the game you played the other day? Did it work like you thought it would?

Played against Necron foot slogger. It turned into a game of trading fire and I ended up winning after about turn three. I had several learnings that I can share.

First, I am SO rusty! I forgot things right and left including to having my Commander give the broadsides the benefits of the Enigram chip and multispectrum analyzer for a turn. The type of thing that practice will help solve. Practice makes perfect, kids.

Everything in the list worked as planned, for the most part. I need to figure out how to use Crisis suits better. They are most effective at 12" with all their plasma, but at that range, there is a big risk of counterattack. Most of the game had them jump-shoot-jump (except the one turn I forgot to jump them in the assault phase - DOH), and fire their plasma from 18"-24" ranges. Meh.

Riptide was the MVP. Took out a Monolith with a Nova charged Ion shot. S8, AP2 large blast was also effective against most everything.

Grey Knights pretty much manned the Aegis line and fired their storm bolters and psycannons. No hand to hand that day.

Overall, tactically sound. Needs more practice to see if it can hold up against more lists. Don't even think about bringing that FMC demon princes, horrors, and hounds list - I would just cry and push all my models into the dead pile.

Glad to hear the list performed as expected. Practice, Practice, Practice is right to make that rust fall off. I can't even describe how many mistakes Monkey and I both made prepping for tournaments this summer after taking 6 months or so off.

The more I've played with the Riptide, the better off it has became. Monkey smoked me with one the other day. That AP2 large blast is incredibly useful when you can also remove cover. The suits are much more of a finesse item for sure. Hence why I don't run them with my beat stick mentality.

Just let me know if you like to get a game in. I can deliver a lot of different armies/looks. The practice you probably need to get a feel for is heavy flier lists and fast/aggresive lists. The necron flier armies are still brutal with different allies or on their own. Tau on tau is also quite painful and would be good to practice against. I just happen to have assembled the vast majority of an allied tau detachment over the weekend.