Mega Battle anxiety

[Destroys Hunter-Killers]

so i think this is one of my first post or one of few so i'm just gonna be short and to the point as a person like myself who has not fully experienced the full force of THOUSANDS of points from all angles being thrown at my face....

What can i expect to happen at the mega battle, i'm a lil nervous... will i have fun watching my tau probably get blown to smithereens or will there be some kind of epic epicness to be going down

Thank you. That is all.

[Dissimulation]

As a fellow tau player I don't predict the mega battle faring well for you. I don't know if this is true for all tau, but my tau really take advantage of their ability to move fast and shoot far. Outmaneuvering the enemy is a major part of all of my strategies. However, I'm assuming that in a mega-battle maneuvering will count for little and It will most likely come down to raw power vs raw power, A war of attrition. And I don't know about you, but I've never used tau in a situation where it was raw power vs raw power and lived to tell the tale.

[Chase]

The way people play the Megabattle is beyond me.  Very few people seem to have winning in mind, or making the best (or even good) moves, etc.  This is both a good and bad thing.

Just decide what role on your team you'd like to play and design and army to play it.

I'd imagine Tau to be great in the Megabattle.  Shoot far and well?  Don't have a huge footprint like a Titan, Flier, Greatest Daemon, or Baneblade variant?  Seems like they'd be pretty good for cleaning up objectives after the ordnance comes down.  Wanna stand and shoot?  Pair up near a melee army and blast away all day long.

I think Tau is the only army we've never seen played at the Megabattle.  Maybe there's a reason for that.  Maybe not...

[Dissimulation]

Looking over a few of the datasheets that tau have access to, I believe the tau can still utilize their mobility in order to kill the enemy. The Rapid redeployment force and the Ranged Patrol wing can really hit the enemy where it hurts the most and where they least expect it. And the pathfinders long ranged infiltration is perfect for giving those two squads the support they need to fulfill their role.

You could also, like what chase said, play a very strong, slow, static tau. I'm sure there will be more than enough close combat armies there to protect you. However, I wouldn't put my trust into something as simple as a close combat wall. I would be scared of close combat units getting close to you with things like outflanking, deep striking, Skimmer transports, and any other sneaky means of transportation they can come up with (And believe me, with these crazy datasheets I'm sure there are alot!!). I'm probably just being paranoid though .

Besides, Wouldn't you rather pull of the BIGGEST fish of fury in all of tau's history?

[Benjamin]

You're worried about bringing 72" Str 10 AP 1 railguns to the table?

[Dissimulation]

No, I'm worried about my 72" str 10 ap 1 guns being 6 inches away from baddies.

[Moosifer]

As someone who has been doing the megabattles since its inception (gogo power popcorn bucket laser cannon) and seen how the megabattle has grown here are some tips:

- Go in expecting to lose every single model that you play.  This is mass carnage not a hug fest
- When the table layout is revealed, derek and chase will let you know any special rules that will be applied to the tables.  Last year we had the Moon, Sewers and the Planet.  In their own forums, teammates volunteered for each table depending on how they saw fit to "win" the battle.  Differing strategies emerged and that is more than likely how things will work this year.  Be vocal in your sub-forums so you can secure a spot you want
- In the sub-forums find someone you can pair up with in terms of complimentary armies.  Tau would go well with grey knights, blood angels, or melee space wolves.

Most important thing to remember is that this is a game, we all seem to forget it when this battle comes around, but we are moving plastic army men on a table and rolling d6's.

[Benjamin]

No, I'm worried about my 72" str 10 ap 1 guns being 6 inches away from baddies.

That doesn't really make the Mega-Battle different from any other game. In fact, that makes it exactly identical.

[Dissimulation]

While I don't like getting my railguns 6" away from bad guys in the first place, It happens all the time. The only railguns i can actually keep from dying most of the time are those that are attached to my hammerhead. The reason? They are really fast! . Broadsides move at most 6" a turn while still being able to fire their guns. It's ok to lose a few broadsides in actual games because they can usually get their jobs done in the first and second turn due to their extremely long range. However, when your entire army is composed of broadsides, or broadside like models (Slow, powerful, bad at cc, long range, Typical Tau gunline) you can't let the enemy army get close to you at all because your entire army is on the line. Basically, Table them in 2-3 turns or die.

My solution for this in the real game is to have great mobility in order to outrun the enemy, However, I'm assuming the entire table seems like an ocean of models slowly approaching you in an apoc game, so going to the left or right wouldn't exactly solve your problems, it would just run you into new ones. When I looked back at the datasheets that tau have access to I saw the redeployment options and saw a new way to exploit tau's mobility. The redeployment option allows you to hit the enemy where he is weakest every game, And the Models that the datasheets offer are all very quick (Mass Devilfishes, Pirhanas)

Another solution, like I already said, is the close combat wall, but I feel as if people would be able to get around that with things like deep strikes, outflanks, skimmer transports, and any other tricks they can hide up their sleeves. Any of those things would allow the enemy to get close to my broadsides and if they get there safely, kill them all. However, if you deepstrike near, outflank near or charge a skimmer at my squadron of devilfishes, I can just move them backward. ^^

[Chase]

- Go in expecting to lose every single model that you play.  This is mass carnage not a hug fest
- When the table layout is revealed, derek and chase will let you know any special rules that will be applied to the tables.  Last year we had the Moon, Sewers and the Planet.  In their own forums, teammates volunteered for each table depending on how they saw fit to "win" the battle.  Differing strategies emerged and that is more than likely how things will work this year.  Be vocal in your sub-forums so you can secure a spot you want
- In the sub-forums find someone you can pair up with in terms of complimentary armies.  Tau would go well with grey knights, blood angels, or melee space wolves.

Most important thing to remember is that this is a game, we all seem to forget it when this battle comes around, but we are moving plastic army men on a table and rolling d6's.

Rick James, dropping knowledge on your ass!

(His name is actually Rick James, btw)

[Chase]

Take a look at the pictures from previous Megabattles here.

If you plan to play remember that all 4000 points of your models need to be painted.


Don't sweat what you bring too much.  It will be useful and it will probably die.

Railguns are cool, but remember... You're nowhere close to the most powerful gun on the table and you probably won't be able to cap objectives.  This means you're a MUCH lower priority than in a normal game of 40k.  The Megabattle is it's own animal.  It's very different than a normal game for many, many reasons.

Bring something fun that fills whatever role you'd like to fill.  It you want to hunt tanks or titans, bring 50 railguns.  If you want to slaughter infantry, bring a gun line.  If you want to try and snipe / cap objectives, bring dudes in transports or things that deepstrike.

Remember, if the other team wants your stuff dead, it's going to die in almost every case.  I feel like Tau would fly under the radar very, very well regardless of what the player takes.


It's not really worth discussing what you may or may not bring until we announce the tables and their specific rules.  We are looking at 5 tables this year, each with a different rule set.

[Logan007]

We are looking at 5 tables this year, each with a different rule set.

Please have a table where we can have rules/wargear overlapping.

[blantyr]

I think Tau is the only army we've never seen played at the Megabattle.  Maybe there's a reason for that.  Maybe not...

Actually, there briefly was a Tau army in last year's mega battle.  It deployed opposite an Emperor Titan with more strength D template weapons than anyone would care to count.  Thus, while technically there has been a Tau army present, it wasn't present long enough to really count.

I'll second the notion that you have to go in expecting to get blown away.  I'll also second the notion that if you team with a close combat force you might well do your share of clobbering before you get clobbered.  While you can deploy real close to the enemy, we generally use long table format, with six feet of terrain separating opposing players.  Shooting armies can often deploy to the rear to get a few rounds of shooting in before the opposition is in your face.  

This year there will likely be different tables with different degrees of blow-everything-away grossity.  If you haven't got a ton of huge models, you might want to seek out a table with limits on huge models.

The objective ought to be to acquire memories that cannot be acquired in any other environment.  Weird stuff will happen.  Blowing a few things away before you get blown away might count as gravy.

[Grand Master Steve]

Its easily forgotten and over looked but the tau have quite the air force. Fighters with aa ion cannons, bombers that drop gun drones or have nasty rail guns,  droid I mean drone fighters, and the largest flier ever produced covered in weapons and capeable of transporting a 1500 point tau army. If you have the time patients and funding check out the tau toys at forge world.

[Serring]

Take a look at the pictures from previous Megabattles here.

If you plan to play remember that all 4000 points of your models need to be painted.


Don't sweat what you bring too much.  It will be useful and it will probably die.

Railguns are cool, but remember... You're nowhere close to the most powerful gun on the table and you probably won't be able to cap objectives.  This means you're a MUCH lower priority than in a normal game of 40k.  The Megabattle is it's own animal.  It's very different than a normal game for many, many reasons.

Bring something fun that fills whatever role you'd like to fill.  It you want to hunt tanks or titans, bring 50 railguns.  If you want to slaughter infantry, bring a gun line.  If you want to try and snipe / cap objectives, bring dudes in transports or things that deepstrike.

Remember, if the other team wants your stuff dead, it's going to die in almost every case.  I feel like Tau would fly under the radar very, very well regardless of what the player takes.


It's not really worth discussing what you may or may not bring until we announce the tables and their specific rules.  We are looking at 5 tables this year, each with a different rule set.

When I had an Emperor on the other side there was no "low profile" and the guy and everyone else had a healthy respect of railguns and took note that I had them. Still fun though, Farsight almost did more than the rest of my army (because in CC you can't be hit by 20+ Str Steve D weapons) and took out incubi and plaguebearers.