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View Full Version : Anyone else hate Marker Lights



Racharg
09-01-2009, 03:13 PM
I play space marines vs Tau a lot and can't stand the flexibility that marker lights give to my opponent. Bring camo sniper scouts, he ignores cover, need to pin a unit, decrease leadership, shoot missiles around corners, fire away. The cover one really burns me.

Pathfinders and Skyrays must Die!!!

What tactics, fellow SM, do you use to remove the marker light threat?

The AKH
09-01-2009, 03:29 PM
Well, the best solution is to charge them :)

This is particularly easy with Space Marines, where a five-man Assault Squad in the right place at the right time will just RUIN a markerlight's day. Dreadnoughts and other drop-pod launched units work great too.

Also, if you find that Markerlights burning away your cover is a particular problem, run more power armoured troops. Against the vast majority of Tau shooting (bar plasma rifles and railguns) you won't need any sort of cover save, the 3+ armour will suffice. And allow you to get close enough to bash the Greater Good out of the Fire Warriors or Pathfinders toting the markerlights ;)

spinny
09-01-2009, 03:35 PM
While i can understand why you don't like them, the fact is that the majority of the time a space marine army armour save is better than a cover save anyway. We need something to make up for the fact that our troops go squish to mostly anything you can throw at them.

What i would suggest though to deal with them is deepstriking assault marines or terminators to deal with pathfinders, and any sort of antitank weapon to deal with the skyrays. The problem which i have seen and allows these units to bother players is ignoring them to concetrte on what they think are the more dangerous units in the army. It is too easy to ignore markerlight units because they aren't technically inflicting casualties, this is wrong move to make. One turn spent dealing with them will make your game easier.

spinny
09-01-2009, 03:36 PM
ninja'd

slxiii
09-02-2009, 02:50 AM
a heavy bolter or vindicator shell will take out the pathfinders in one go, and skyrays are easy enough to kill from any angle.
but honestly, if you're losing, don't blame it on the markerlights. You need to threaten him with more heavy armor, or failing that many different targets. Make it so he can't use his markerlights effectively and then wipe them off the board and you should be ahead by a bit.

Timbo
09-02-2009, 03:01 AM
Markerlights are expensive (except on pathfinders) and BS3 heavy 1. I really don't see the issue. If he isn't moving, assault him! A gunline Tau list with lots of markerlights should be easy meat for a mobile marine list.

George Labour
09-02-2009, 09:48 AM
I find five chimeras and three scout sentinells firing at them tends to either make the scouts go to ground, or die very quickly. Also outflankers with flamers can be very fun as most of my opponents tend to park them near a corner.

The other location for them is usually in a building nearer the center of the table, which also makes for a funlocation to receive hellish amounts of shots. It may seem like overkill, but the sheer havoc they can wreak on their targets means that they're priority one for my IG, sometimes even over rail cannon units.

Inquisitor Malak
09-02-2009, 03:40 PM
Bring camo sniper scouts, he ignores cover,

Hold the phone. He can only decrease cover by -1 per markerlight, not flat-out ignore it with a single token. So, against your camo-Scouts, he'd need four marker hits to totally negate their cover save, five if you 'Go to Ground'.

If you're worried about Pinning, I suggest you invest in either Lysander or Kantor. They make the army 'Stubborn', thus making his markerlights pointless (in terms of decreasing Leadership). As a Tau player though, I rarely attempt to pin, as it's largely a waste of the markers and it almost never happens against high-Leadership armies.


shoot missiles around corners

Actually, seeker missiles just fly over terrain+other obstacles to reach their targets. Again, as a Tau player I find them pretty useless unless you can launch against rear armour (you determine what facing it hits from the position of the launch vehicle, not the markerlight).


What tactics, fellow SM, do you use to remove the marker light threat?

For Pathfinders, the possibilites are endless;
- Scouts can Infiltrate close and rapid-fire/assault them.
- Landspeeder Storm with heavy flamer. Also, a small Scout assault team with a Sarge power weapon+combi-flamer (powerfist is overkill) will annhilate them with shooting+charge. Coming in from Outflank, you can avoid the Tau firepower and quickly engage them.
- Whirlwind
- Drop pod units (pretty much anything that has a template weapon or high ROF will wipe them out pretty quickly, heavy flamers are ideal).

For Skyrays (who tend to loiter on the backline), you'll need one of the following:
- Attack Bikes (get inside their disruption pod save, as it only works at 12", and melta them)
- Landspeeder w/multi-melta (as above)
- Landspeeder Storm w/multi-melta (BS3 is annoying, but Outflank gives you very easy access to the rear armour). Alternatively, keep the heavy flamer on the Storm and take a combi-melta on the Scout Sarge being transported.
- Sternguard combi-meltas out of a drop pod

Basically, treat Tau Pathfinders like a weak sniper unit ie tie them up in close-combat or hit them with cover-ignoring weapons (they have crap Leadership, small squad size and only a 4+ armour save). Massed dakka also works.
For the Skyray, use what you'd take to deal with Railheads, Fire Prisms, Landraiders etc. Remember, disruption pods generate a constant 4+ cover save for the vehicle at 12" and further, so you need to get inside that range to prevent him just negating your shots. Lascannons and missile launchers will just bounce off it, you need melta weaponry at close range.

Evil-Termite
09-02-2009, 05:05 PM
I play both space marines and tau at a level that wins a lot for pickup games, but isn't considered competitive. Marker lights are barely worth taking in my book. They cost a lot of points that could be put into more shots that actually kill things, and they die easy and once they are gone, they can't help the army anymore. However, if my opponent doesn't kill them quickly, they will be a thorn in the side for my enemy.

Because I play Tau, my marine lists are built to be able to handle tau builds which means they are mech. Everything in my army moves at least a foot per turn if I want it to. If he is marker lighting my scouts (if I took them) then I'll be doing the happy dance because that means my land raider will be less likely to get dead.

Pathfinders are EASY to shoot up. T3 with a 4+ save just doesn't hold well so a rhino full of tacs could easily wipe out 5 of them when rapid firing.

Get in the guys face and you will soon find that the Tau easily crumble up close. Lots of land raiders and rhinos are fairly effective at getting up close quickly.

Post your list so we can give you some help with the strategies for each model.

brother drakist
09-02-2009, 05:31 PM
I played Tau for a time and must admit that the "Marker light effect" was much bigger than it's bite. Therefore I have no need to hate Marker lights. Then I again I did have a game when I could not hit anything with a Marker light......I hated them then.

Jackmojo
09-02-2009, 06:03 PM
If pathfinders last past turn 2 you're doing something wrong, as observed by others they're an easy kill for many units in the Space Marine army.

Jack

Hokiecow
09-03-2009, 05:50 AM
Right the big reason I don't take mark lights. Your lucky if they live to round 2 and they are expensive!