Eldar Seer Council on Jetbikes

original post by Reece Robbins 

The much maligned Warlocks are actually a powerhouse unit when used correctly. Read on for more info!

The Deer Council

by: Grant Theft Auto from the Road to the Las Vgeas Open blog

Edited by Reecius from Frontline Gaming

Are you tired of your failing seer council? Are you frustrated with the randomness of the warlock powers you roll? Well, there is still hope and I’m going to tell you why! So grab your popcorn, put some new shorts on and go dust off those old warlocks because the whole band is back together and they’re better than ever.

Now before I start, this is my only warning; this is an extremely strong and competitive tournament build. This is the kind of build that makes your friends want to flip the table when they lose two riptides and a fire warrior squad in a multi-charge turn 2 and put the middle finger up at you indicating that you, sir, are no longer their punching bag!

Now what is the Deer council? If you haven’t seen any of my video battle reports at Frontline Gaming, or battle reports on Dakka or you haven’t played against someone who runs one then it’s a brand new concept to you. The Deer council is essentially a mix of the big three; Farseers, Warlocks, and the Baron. This synergy between the big three is essential to giving this death star its super strength. I’m going to explain the big three and tell you their weaknesses and strengths not because I want to ultimately ruin my run at tournament dominance but to help people understand why the council can be so dominating if played by the right person. So, first off every good death star needs a good start and without the Farseers nothing else would matter.

Lets start with the ones that lead the pack; the Farseers.

Starting from the top:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Stats are decent

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Comes with witchblade/ shuriken, ghost helm, fleet and automatically level 3 physic

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Has access to powers from Runes of Fate, Divination, Telepathy

Not bad choice for an HQ. Now when you upgrade him you get lots of options some notables are:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Singing Spear, Jetbike

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Runes of Warding, Runes of Witnessing

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Remnants of Glory

Now when I run my Farseers I run two, both on Jetbikes, both have Runes of Witnessing but each one has different weapons. First off my warlord always switches out his shuriken for the Shard of Anaris. This makes the Farseer a real threat in a challenge against monstrous creatures and strong HQ’s. The next thing is extremely important, the shard makes the entire council fearless. My next Farseer is equipped with the Fire Sabre, the only AP3 weapon that the Farseers can get. I put them both on jetbikes which is essential because it adds mobility plus it gives them a 3+ save and makes them T4.

Now when rolling for powers at the beginning, your first goal is to get fortune. Sadly without fortune your council has to be played a little bit more fragilely. Between the two Farseers you should get it once. The point of having two Farseers is to up your chances of getting fortune. There is always that one game when you will not get it and things suddenly are a whole lot tougher. After you’ve rolled fortune then it’s up to you to roll on the other charts. I usually go for Telepathy because I’m a huge fan of puppet master and terrify because the ability to take away a unit’s fearlessness is huge when considering assaulting it. Also the ability to take over your opponents the vehicle, riptide, or wraith knight and to destroy his own units is always priceless.

So now that we have the Farseers, now we need the bulk of the council. That’s where the warlocks come in.

Starting from the top:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->For a command add on unit they have a good stat line, notables are WS4, I5, BS4, fleet but only LD8

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->They come with a witchblade/shuriken, 4++, and are Level 1 Physic

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Can access powers from the Runes of Battle

Can be upgraded with:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Singing Spears and Jetbikes only

When you construct this unit, your primary goals is to increase your chances of getting the powers you want but also to increase the amount of bodies to soak up fire and perils of the warp. Keeping this in mind, I usually take a minimum size. if I’m going to include one in my list then I always include at least 8 warlocks. I then go ahead and upgrade them all to ride on jetbikes, this is the upgrade that makes this unit amazingly versatile and tough to take down. Just like the Farseers the warlocks gain a 3+ save and become T4. Now let’s talk about the one thing the council have benefited most from this new codex, the introduction of their own unique physic powers.

When you’re rolling for power at the beginning of the game the council’s powers become a huge role in how you run it. When I roll for powers, I always try to get some key powers that benefit the council. One important one is the Protect/Jinx power. This power is huge it makes your council a 2+ save, or it -1 save to an enemy within 18 inches. I once rolled four of these in a single game and made a riptide a 6+ save. Don’t underestimate this power; it makes your witch blades become extremely deadly against terminator like enemies. The rest of the powers are nice and they complement your council nicely, some notable ones are Empower/Enervate which gives you an extra punch in against vehicles or on your Hammer of Wrath hits. Another is Embolden/Horrify, this is a huge one that helps win multi assaults or paired with Terrify from the Telepathy chart helps you run an enemy off the board. Recently I used this combo on Aun’Va and a castling Tau player to get rid of the LD10 stubborn bubble that the army uses. I cast Horrify on him twice, which then dropped him down to LD4 stubborn and cast Terrify on him to make him run off the board edge. This is also effective against Demons and their instability check when assaulting them, you can eliminate more of them through a LD test then potentially the combat itself. The next power I’m a huge fan of is Destructor/Renewer, this power is huge it allows you to put down a S5 AP4 soul blaze template or revive a wound to anyone wounded within 18 inches. When I get two of these I usually put my Farseers in front to tanks wounds from smaller strength weaponry. The last power and the second most important power is Conceal/Reveal, this gives the council Shrouding or take away Stealth and Shrouding to an enemy within 18 inches. I always have at least two or three of these in my council, depending on who I’m playing. Every time the council moves an inch they get a 5+ jink save, now when the Barron is in the council they gain the Stealth bonus from his special rule bringing them up to a 4+ cover save. Lastly when you cast conceal on the council they gains shrouding which brings their save up to a 2+ cover save. Now when you have eight to ten warlocks rolling for powers at the beginning of games the odds of getting all the powers that you want go up. Now you’re starting to get the picture of how the Deer Council works, but don’t forget the last piece that makes this whole death star work; the Baron.

The Baron is the single most important unit to making this whole thing work, without him everything crushes inward from the lack of special abilities that the council has. Let’s show you why.

Starting from the top:

• Dirt cheap point wise
• Decent statline for a Dark Eldar HQ S4 from Hellglave, T3, LD10, A4, Power for pain, Skyboard
• 2++ Shadow field
• Give units he’s joined with; defensive and offensive grenades
• Stealth
• Gain +2 Strength on the charge with his skyboard
• With new GW FAQ, he adds +1 to your roll for determining who goes first
• Hit and Run

The Barron is a huge gain for all the amazing things he gives to the council and did I mention he is a real bargain at a little over a hundred points. First off when you’re rolling for who goes first he gives you a tiny bonus of +1 to that roll. Going first is huge with the council it allows your precious Warlocks and Farseers not to get alpha strike by your opponents big guns before your council can get their powers up. Next up, even though the Barron can’t turbo like the rest of the council he still keeps up with the back of the council with his 12 inch movement on his sky board. One key thing about the skyboard is that he doesn’t lose his fleet while on it because the rest of the council has fleet also. Now in the rule book it says you can’t run on bikes, but if everyone in the squad still has the fleet special rule then you can use it to reroll your charge distances when getting into those long multi assaults. Next thing that the Baron gives to your squad after they’re in close combat is the ability to Hit and Run away from the combat to bounce off to a weaker unit or set yourself up for a bigger multi charge so that you can wipe out multiple enemies. I have used this plenty of times to hit multiple weak units that are suddenly unprotected by their screen or counter assault units.

And don't forget about those Grissly Trophies! Wow those things help this unit as they allow you to reroll psychic checks. Also, the warlord trait that allows them the Warlocks to test on the Farseer's ld is amazing!

This unit is a true deathstar. It can be incredibly difficult to destroy and if you get +1 armor save and Fortune, they are effectively immine to small arms fire. Even AP 2 has to get through the 4++ reroll, and if you position the Baron correctly, a 2++ reroll. Doesn't get better than that.

The unit doesn't have amazing offense but they pack a wallop with fleshbane attacks, and a lot of them. With rerolls to hit and possibly to wound, you really maximize what offense they do have, and lowering enemy armor saves can be huge, too. This unit can and will win you the game on its own, and has done so for me many times.

Be wary of massed AP 2 attacks, Mind Strike Missiles are murder (although the Farseer can use his Ghost Helm to tank a lot of the wounds if positioned correctly) and getting alpha struck on turn 1 before you get juiced up is a real threat.

Foaming Up Your Fortifications!

originally posted on Warhammer 39,9999

Here is an article on the hobby side of things. I don't post as many of these as I probable should. Most of it is pretty much common sense but if you haven't seen this yet enjoy!

 

 

I apologize if the title seems misleading. I’m not intending to actually build foam: I’ll leave that to more established professionals. Instead, this post is about tailoring foam for my buildings–or more accurately, for my fortifications.
This past week I had some people over for games (including my recent game with Jeff), where it became pretty obvious that I need to do somethign with my terrain (and with the crap lying around my garage in general). I have too many models lying around with no real rhyme or reason. Hence, my renewed interest in foam.
I say “renewed interest” because I’ve done some pretty extensive work on custom foam with my Tyranids, but apparently I’ve never come up with a post on that (despite taking pictures of it back in the day with the specific intent to do so). Oh well, maybe one day I’ll get around to doing such a post. For now, suffice it to say that this isn’t my first rodeo.





The first time around, I’d purchased the foam from JoAnn Fabrics (a U.S. based arts & craft store similar to Michael’s or Hobby Lobby). The foam there was green, and only marginally cheaper than pre-cut foam; however, I had a 40% off discount which made it relatively viable. I’ve since switched to “camper” foam from Fred Meyer’s (which is our local grocery store/department store chain, which just so happens to be a Kroger affiliate for those of you in the rest of the U.S.). The new foam comes in approximately 2′ x 6′ sections of 3″ foam. It doesn’t appear to come in any other sizes, but it’s reasonably good and the best part is the price: $20 for a sheet. Well, that was the sale price, but the standard price is only about 10% higher.
So, I went down to the store and picked up a couple of sheets for use with my fortifications.
For tubs, I used some plastic containers that we purchased when we moved houses a few years back that just haven’t found contents on their own. These particular totes are from Sterilite, and I believe are referred to as their 66 quart latch box. The official dimensions are 24 1/2″ L x 17 3/4″ W x 13 3/8″ H, but I cut the foam to 19″ x 14.5″ in order to fit in the tapered bottom. Come to think of it, I’m not 100% sure that this is the exact tote, but it seems pretty close.
Anywho, each tote holds four layers of foam. Unfortunately, many of the buildings (if not most) are in excess of 3″ tall, so they need to span multiple layers to be properly stored. Fortifications like the Aegis defense line, most of the Wall of Martyr pieces, and the Honoured Imperium stuff all fits nicely within a single slab of foam. Other pieces, like the Aquila Strongpoint, Firestorm Redoubt, Bastions, & Fortress of Redemption all need at least two layers (in the case of the Bastions, it’s really close to three).





While I was at it, I also cut out foam for my IG weapon platforms (why not, right?), and intend to cut out foam for the “chaos portals” used in this apoc game. I’ve also not actually gotten around to cutting foam for the Fortress of Redemption because I’m having trouble finding a way to do so without taking up four complete layers of foam for it. I have an idea that might let me squish it down to three layers that I’m hoping to try tonight.
Undoubtedly, the foam that I’m most proud of is the tray that contains the Skyshield Landing Pad & Aegis Defense Lines.
Wait, is it ok to be proud of foam? I certainly am.
Anywho, the foam worked out well because of the weird shape of the Skyshield itself. Since it sits just over 3″ off the ground, it won’t fit into a single foam tray. Likewise, the dimensions of it are slightly bigger than the 14.5″ width of the tray, so it overhands a tad (which itself, isn’t an issue because I put it on the top of the stack, and the sloped sides of the plastic tote allow for the variance). But after I cut four holes, I didn’t know what to do with the extra foam. It seemed like such a waste to leave it empty… but then it hit me: the Aegis lines were quite small and should fit inside perfectly. With minimal fiddling, I was able to stick two sets in comfortable. I think with some serious thought,
I could’ve worked in a third.





I’m content with the foam as a whole. It wasn’t very expensive (mostly because I already had the totes on hand) and didn’t take all that much effort. Suffice it to say, this certainly doesn’t save space (or money really, but at least the foam was cheap). The intent is to keep things looking nice, which is true both of the garage (neatly stacked trays are far superior to piles of models), and for the models themselves, which are sure to whether my abuse/neglect far better in plastic/foam.

So you’re taking a fortification to a Tournament?

 by Matt-Shadowlord

 

Fortifications are suddenly a hot-topic again. We’re about to get an injection of new Fortifications into the game, as several Apocalypse releases will also have 40K profiles and points-costs. Even the usually rational AbusePuppy is working on building his own extravagant fortress.
The first thing a Tournament player needs to know about the Fortification Rules is that nobody plays by the Fortification Rules.
This article has two goals. The first is to make players aware of what Tournament Organiser (TO) rulings they may have to deal with if they decide to take a fortification to a tournament. When we're talking about spending up to 290 pts on non-scoring, non-contesting, immobile terrain pieces that don't even count as part of your army it's extremely important to know what use you're actually going to be able to make of them.
The second is to take a look at rulings made at various events to hopefully filter some ideas through to TOs who are trying to decide how to handle these structures at their own future events.

 

A Tale of Five Fortifications

1) Fortifications that don’t fit will be destroyed.

Reported by Clever Handle:
“In my area you get these rules:
Terrain is adjusted by the TO's immediately prior to calling round pairings. Fortifications must be placed a minimum of 3″ away from any pre-positioned terrain piece. If your fortification can't be deployed because of the previous rule it counts as destroyed.”

2) No Fortifications are allowed

When the 6th edition rule book came out, this was expected to be the common response, and 40K sites with articles from that period are still littered with comments to that effect. The truth is that a ban on fortifications does happen, but is very rare.

3) Fortifications remove existing terrain

Reported by AbusePuppy:
“TSHFT uses a rule that ‘you have to pull one piece of terrain from your half when deploying a fortification'. Different terrain pieces are given different “values” that are supposed to roughly correspond to the terrain densities from the BRB rules, but not all of them are marked and you have to remove at pieces worth at least as much as the one you're putting on.”

4) No Fortification shall be placed within 3″ of another piece of terrain or fortification, other than an aegis defence line which can be placed in and around terrain.

This is a common ruling locally, so to show one of the most prominent (and influential) versions I have copied the following in full from the Australian Team Championship (ATC) rules pack
“1. No Fortification shall be placed within 3″ of another piece of terrain or fortification, with the exclusion of an aegis defence line which can be placed in and around terrain.
2. If the player can find no location to place the fortification that they desire they may remove 1 piece of terrain that is situated entirely in their table half, and then place the fortification approximately in that location.
3. In the case of a Fortress of Redemption a player can remove up to 2 pieces of neighbouring terrain pieces and place the Fortress of Redemption approximately in that location.”

5) No Fortification shall be placed within 3″ of another piece of terrain or fortification, including the Aegis Defence Line.

Reported by Difsta:
“Most tournaments I have seen have the terrain pre placed by the TO, so the rule is you cannot place a forification within 3″ of a piece of terrain. I know a range of tournaments with different TOs that rule that your placement of the aegis line is not legal. Not because it is in an E shape or any other shape, because you have it going through a piece of terrain.”
This was posted as a comment in response to a battle report here on 3plusplus, so it’s easy to demonstrate. Difsta’s comment was that some Tournament Organisers would rule against placement like Aegis in the bottom centre where it overlaps some trees and is near a central piece of terrain.

That's a list of five quite different ways to handle fortifications, but the eagle-eyed reader will have noticed the one thing they have in common:
None of them are according to the rule book.
The rule book’s method of placing terrain and fortifications is very impractical for Tournaments –it’s rarely even used verbatim for friendly games, since few people actually see much point to rolling off for side of the table while the table has no terrain on it.
That ends the fact-based part of this article, and I'd now like to offer an opinion which is essentially that if every method used for placing fortifications at a tournament is essentially a house-rule, we should attempt to be gentlemen about those rules.

1) Fortifications that don’t fit will be destroyed.

This rule is by far the worse of the lot. It goes a long way to betraying a TO’s personal views on fortifications existing in the rules. We don’t all have to like them, but the chance a player might start with a deficit of 75, 220 or even 290 pts destroys the level playing field required for a competitive event.

2) No Fortifications are allowed

As mentioned above, this is rare. I am against this because some armies rely on fortifications for their sole meagre chance at skyfire, and banning them improves flyer-based armies at their expense.
In my opinion it’s still better than Rule 1 though, since not having a fortification is a lesser evil than to thinking you have one and losing it before the game!

3) Fortifications remove existing terrain

This is a common and (in my opinion) sensible rule, except when it includes the Aegis wall. Removing a hill to place a bastion out of necessity is one thing, but allowing players to remove large amount of terrain to place a 28” long wall is very different and completely open to gaming.
You can see the effect of this in AbusePuppy's report from TSHFT where he and other players used Aegis walls to remove line-of-sight blockers and difficult terrain from the centre of the board.

If the TO gives players such power you can hardly blame them for using it, but it’s still desperately gamey and changes the balance of the game.
To give another example, in the battle report mentioned above the impassable terrain in the centre meant splitting my army in two to get the Deamons to the Tau. I’d have sacrificed a thousand Ethereals on the altar of Khorne to have a chance to remove it – and if a TO ruled I could remove it just by placing an Aegis in its location I’d be foolish not to take advantage of it. I would be taking advantage though.

4) No Fortification shall be placed within 3″ of another piece of terrain or fortification other than an aegis defence line which can be placed in and around terrain.

Most implementations of this rule do require/allow a piece of terrain to be removed with TO approval when placing a large fortification, but they essentially ignore the Aegis wall.
The Aegis is by far the most common fortification people take for good reason – it’s cheap, effective and it can fit virtually anywhere. If people put it in terrain or run it through a forest or ruin they are usually doubling-up on a cover save the wall already gave them, so opponents have little reason to complain.
Letting players just get on with it and place their walls anywhere in their table half reduces overhead for the TOs, who should then find it more easy to deal with the 1 in 10 who bring something more chunky that actually requires attention.
This is my favourite solution of the lot, and probably the one used most often.

5) No Fortification shall be placed within 3″ of another piece of terrain or fortification including the Aegis Defence Line.

This is very similar to the rule above, and at first sounds like it’s closer to the rule book, which doesn’t distinguish between the Aegis and any other fortification. However in reality by the letter of the law it is impossible for an Aegis in your own half of the table to be placed in an illegal position – it’s always the terrain that should be 3” from it rather than vice-versa.

Since that means this is just another house rule, there is very little to be gained by trying to attempt it and it is a lot less practical than just placing the Aegis. It would require terrain to be just over 6” apart, and the existing terrain would dictate the exact path the wall follows. We’re talking about a lot of hassle and weird placement for not much gain.

In conclusion:

I’ve described five different ways Fortifications are treated at tournaments, and none of them are RAW. If you take a step back from how rigid most 40K players are about the rules, the great surprise is that everyone seems to be fine with this. And so they should be -in many ways, 40K is like a game.
To Tournament Organisers I recommend using a version of “4) No Fortification shall be placed within 3″ of another piece of terrain or fortification other than an aegis defence line which can be placed in and around terrain.” It’s fairly simple, low maintenance, and a lot less vulnerable to people ‘gaming’ the system.
I can’t recommend against the rule ‘Fortifications that don't fit will be destroyed’ enough – better to ban them entirely than to gouge out a piece of someone’s army based on the random chance of which table they are assigned to and how densely populated with terrain it is.
To Players, if you plan to use anything more ambitious than the Aegis wall, I recommend checking what rules the event will be using before sending in an army list. Losing a sky shield to TO rules would be a tragedy, but losing a bastion with a quadgun or a Fortress of Redemption would be a disaster.
-Matt
PS – I listed the five I am aware of, but if anyone knows of other rules used for Fortifications at tournaments post below and I will add it to the post-script.

Board Control: Mobility vs Durability

by The Grave Mind

You'll hear people say "Play the mission", but what does it mean? It means that 5 of the 6 missions are objective based and while it is fun to just kill everything you can, you need to be able to get to those objectives when the time comes. Generally an army isn't designed to do something like just kill everything, it will use some board control as well. While killing stuff naturally gives some control of the board, actually making the effort to get the upper hand can win the game. Generally this is done by two means, mobility or durability.


First off, what exactly is board control? Essentially, it is dictating your enemies actions. While it isn't as good as actually taking control of the unit (puppet master?) it can keep them in or a way from a location long enough to win the game. Generally this will be keeping units out of other units threat ranges, or locked in combat. Placing a lot of melta guns on one side of your deployment will probably keep the land raiders on the other side.

Another option is actually having models blocking way. Your models physically block your opponent from moving his models as he has to obey the 1" rule. Sure this may put them in the way to be assaulted, but it still slows them down, and if you don't die the first turn of combat, then you have slowed them additional turns. So how do you accomplish putting your models where you want them? Well that is mobility. Generally having a fast mode of movement, or a transport. Or just being where you need to be when needed, such as from deepstrike. But sometimes these faster units are more fragile, and can be killed before they get where they are needed.

On the other end of the spectrum is durability. Instead of quickly getting where needed, units that are durable are able to survive attacks and keep heading on toward their objectives. Units like these sometimes have multiple wounds, a high toughness or a good save. Often a combination of them. While early turns they may not get across the board, by late game they will have lived to cross the gap.

It is often a good idea to have some of both in an army, to be able to react and deal with what ever the opponent throws at you. I'm going to use my Tyranids as an example. They are what I am most familiar with, and are prime examples. Using them to maximize board control, I have won many games I feel like I should have had more of a struggle with.

For very mobile units, I have flying hive tyrants. They can surge forward 24" plus 2d6 running if need be. Normally this forward movement is enough of a threat to keep weaker units away, as I can easily shoot them or even land and assault. I can even land and smash a landraider the following turn, so little is safe. Being hard to hit, they are also relatively durable, but that is more dependent on which units are firing at them. Other units that fall into the mobile category are zoanthropes in a pod and ymgarl. They don't move as fast, but will often be where I need them to be at least for one turn.

Tervigons fall into the Durability category. If they roll up Iron arm, and/or endurance, then they can really soak up firepower and keep trudging forward. Six wounds on a trygon/mawloc also help lend them some good survivability. They will keep moving forward, keeping the pressure on my opponent. Adding extra help to the Tervigon are the gaunts that surround them. This helps keep other units away and maintains a wide amount of board control.

So how does all of this help me win games in bad match ups? I recently had a game against a pretty serious Space wolf list, the kind that used to rock back in 5th. Thunderwolves, long fangs, njal with terminators, a good amount of grey hunters, the whole works. Well with 5 objectives, I had two in my back field, he had two in his, and the fifth was a good amount closer to my side. With all of my tervigons and gaunts, I was able to completely engulf all three of the objectives on my side of the table.

I had two Hive Tyrants in his face immediately, along with gargoyles, and a mawloc hitting his line. And Doom of Malanti in a pod, and a second pod with normal Zoanthropes came down and disrupted his lines and helped contest his objectives. I killed the long fangs to protect the tervigon in the back, and then engaged everything I could. I was able to slowly grind down most of the Space wolves in combat. His Thunderwolves with a Lord kept killing everything I threw at them. 15 gargoyles, Both hive tyrants, 20+ gaunts. Even the Doom was thrown in. But as that was his only mobile unit, I didn't need to win that battle (and I didn't). I just kept him locked in combat so he couldn't move forward toward my objectives.

That thunder wolf squad never moved past the first turn, they remained firmly there for the rest of the game, almost breaking free each round before a new wave hit them. And that is how board control can help win games. In games where my Hive Tyrant have died too early, I often lose, as I don't have a push across the map and my opponents start dictating my actions instead of the other way around.

I hope this has helped bring to mind the roles of certain units when you are considering them in your army. Much like in chess, keeping control of the game, putting your opponent on the back foot, and making them react to your actions gives you the advantage.

"The key to strategy... is not to choose a path to victory, but to choose so that all paths lead to a victory."

Firebase deployment for Tau

Ok everyone, If you haven't noticed the last few posts have been an article on how to deal with Tau and some battle reports showing people beating Tau. I just wanted to show that while they may be a top tier army now they are not unbeatable. Now just so nobody thinks I'm anti Tau or anything here is an article for the Tau players. Non Tau players should read this also as there is some good stuff in there. Know Your Enemy!




originally posted on: Total Immersion Gaming

Food For Thought: Firebase deployment on Tau of War

 

Tau of War

Some advice never goes out of date and the articles linked below are good examples of this. There are a number of armies that make use of firebases, so this advice on Tau of War offers some very handy advice on how to deploy and protect your guns to best effect. Bubblewrap and blocking units are key to this, and I especially like point 8 of the last article that states "A good Tau army is like an onion, it has lots of layers and makes people cry". Brilliant!

Defending Your Firebase

Dual Firebase Set Up

Rules of Engagement (Points 7 & 8 particularly)