Tournaments and Tau

                                           

     

 Several weeks ago I attended a 4 round 40K tournament across the border in Canada.  It was great event. I took Grey Knights seen in the picture below.  Or blue knights as some people would call them.  I also took Grey Knights to the last major event I attended, AdeptiCon.  The main difference between this list and my Adepticon list is I included a Land Raider and the obligatory 45 Guardsmen Platoon with Power Axes and Meltaguns.  Although part of my self-assessment for Adepticon included being rusty, I also felt I did not bring enough troops for the missions.  To compensate, I added the Guardsmen.

 

There were two interesting things about this event: the deployment was timed and the Tau book made its devut.  The timed deployment was interesting.  Each player had 5 minutes to exchange lists, pick sides and take care of other pre-game stuff.  Then each player received 7 minutes each for their setup.  If a player did not finish setting up all their units, the units had to go into reserve.  The first game was tough with the deployment time limitations, but after that it got easier as I got use to it.  I am not sure if it made the games go faster or not.  It did make deployment faster.  But I am sure if that actually made the game faster.  I think the first turn took longer because that was when you were really looking at your opponent’s army list and fixing all your deployment mistakes.  The only issues I could see being a problem with this format is that you don’t really have time to look at opponent’s lists and to spend time to look at all the nasty combos.  The other issue is you did not have time to really greet your opponent.  What’s your name, where are you from etc.  The tournament organizer was running this as test run.  It would be interesting to see if he does it again for next year.

The second interesting aspect of the tournament was the legal new Tau codex.  The Tau codex had been out more than 30 days at this point.  Before the event I had not had a chance to play them yet.  I read the codex from cover to cover, but was not ready what I was in for.  I went 2-2 at the event. I played Tau twice and they were used as allies once.  Apparently they like their Tau in Canada!  So as you can see I lost to Tau twice at the event.  They were my only loses.  I was not ready for that much shooting from an opponent.  I did not go first any of my games so they got to shoot me 3 different times before I could assault.  Even with my fast units like interceptors and the jump pack dread knight.  So they shot on first turn, and then shoot second turn and when you charge they all shoot again.  It is too much for elite units to handle.  So I need to find a strategy how to handle Tau. Alternatively I can start playing Eldar because the Codex was just released.  What are other people doing with Grey Knights against Tau?  Any suggestions?

I hope to be better prepared to face Tau and to do better at the next Canadian event: Warmasters 40K Challenge.