Tau Lament

[Panxer]

Please tell me there is someone out there that is actually winning with Tau. I've played over a hundred games since June of last year, and I think I can count a handful of ties and even less wins...tonight was the last nail in the coffin for me with regard to the Tau.

11 to 2 against and for Necrons. I killed two Annihilation barges, and two Transports, and at the end of turn 5, I had one XV8 commander, 3 Firewarriors, one XV88 (out of 6), and 10 Kroot left- while my opponent had 90% of his force left on the board. This is beyond humiliating because it happens 99% of the games I play.

I even used the forgeworld sanctioned units! I used 3 Tetra scout skimmers, and 2 Sensor towers which make one unit per turn twin linked!

There's got to be someone out there who's winning consistently with the little blue nerds... If you are, let me know, otherwise I've got a completely modifiable tau army for sale. Cheap.

[gcsmith]

Tau can win, but to do so are incredibly expensive. and its limited to one kind of army really, Battle suits.

Tau really need a new book.

Also not to gripe, but your only allowed 1 sensor tower. :)

I Do know what you mean tho, I havnt used my tau in a while. But Looking forward to them being redone, however there is the problem that phil kelly is doing Templars so might wanna save my money for that dex.

[plasticaddict]

You can take one unit of 1-3 Sensor Towers, not just one tower. Also I run 50/50 with my current Tau.
No Kroot or Vespids, a unit of Pathfinders, 4 VX-88, 1 Ion cannon Hammerhead, 2 each units of Fire Warriors w/ pulse rifles on foot and pulse carbines in Devilfish, O' with bodyguard, 4 Fire knife suits.

[Bigred]

I've been having mixed success with a somewhat mobile list, but its a constant uphill struggle.

Post your list and let's see what you are dealing with.

[SotonShades]

I think part of Tau's problem is the prevalence of cover in 5th. They have never been that great against MEQ armies, other than with tooled up suits, but with decent deployment they always stood a chance against the lesser armoured factions. Now, as almost everything should be able to get it's 4+ cover save until it gets in to combat (apart from possibly a throw-away unit at the front providing said coversave if necessary), the Tau just don't have the time or shooting phase ability to deal with most lists.

They can still win, but it really does take an above average player to win consistently; even then you are going to need one of only a handful of usable lists and a decent slice of luck.

That's what you get for fielding a bunch of communist hippies though :P

[energongoodie]

Keep the faith.
I believe the new codex will be awesome with many new shiny things to balance the field of play nicely.
I have nothing to support this, I just think they will make a bunch of awesome models with awesome rules to make us re-build our armies. I hope so any way.

[gingerkid]

Please tell me there is someone out there that is actually winning with Tau. I've played over a hundred games since June of last year, and I think I can count a handful of ties and even less wins...tonight was the last nail in the coffin for me with regard to the Tau.

11 to 2 against and for Necrons. I killed two Annihilation barges, and two Transports, and at the end of turn 5, I had one XV8 commander, 3 Firewarriors, one XV88 (out of 6), and 10 Kroot left- while my opponent had 90% of his force left on the board. This is beyond humiliating because it happens 99% of the games I play.

I even used the forgeworld sanctioned units! I used 3 Tetra scout skimmers, and 2 Sensor towers which make one unit per turn twin linked!

There's got to be someone out there who's winning consistently with the little blue nerds... If you are, let me know, otherwise I've got a completely modifiable tau army for sale. Cheap.

Don't worry buddy I know its disheartening but I've only won 1 game in 4 years with chaos and marines and tau ( admittedly I've only played my tau once) . I love my tau and have come up with a suit list so im hoping that's gonna cut it but if I'm honest I play for the fun of it and seeing my mates. Keep the faith dude , its all for the greater good

[andrewm9]

I think part of Tau's problem is the prevalence of cover in 5th. They have never been that great against MEQ armies, other than with tooled up suits, but with decent deployment they always stood a chance against the lesser armoured factions. Now, as almost everything should be able to get it's 4+ cover save until it gets in to combat (apart from possibly a throw-away unit at the front providing said coversave if necessary), the Tau just don't have the time or shooting phase ability to deal with most lists.


Well if people are playing with too much 4+ cover then they are doing it wrong. No really. Not everything supplies a 4+ cover save either. Fences, grass, etc might be 5+ or even 6+. Just becuase its cover does not make it 4+. Tau can do great at lower point levels. Around 1000 points, Tau can shoot you down really fast. I played 1000 points of WH vs Tau about a year ago and got every transport shot out from under me in turn 1. Tau can lay down a blistering amount of long ranged firepower at those levels.

[AbusePuppy]

Actually Tau are virtually the only army in the game with the ability to completely negate cover on any kind of target, and they tend to rely heavily on it themselves, as their models are very vulnerable, so they're quite happy with the newfound prevalence. (4+ cover is also the standard for almost every terrain piece- there are some that are other values, but they are the exception, not the rule.)

Winning with Tau is very possible. (Kirby and I over at 3++ both play Tau on an irregular basis and have had success with them.) The problem is that A, you really only have one workable Tau list and B, it is very easy for the dice to turn against you. Tau's poor morale means that all too often you are one casualty away from scooting off the board without a glance backward, and with battlesuits being so expensive and central to your strategy, that's not a loss you can really afford.

If I were to make some brief suggestions for the OP's list, I'd say first of all, get yourself some Kroot. Kroot are vital to the Tau plan- they stand between you and the enemy and absorb a charge. Sure, they die because they have no armor save, but so what? You WANT them dead so that you can shoot at the enemy some more. Run at least two units of Kroot (preferrably 13+ models) to act as "screens" between you and the enemy.

Second, lose the extra Fire Warriors; they really just don't add all that much firepower and are too vulnerable. Kroot can jump into a Devilfish if necessary (and, y'know, they're alive), but FWs just don't do anything particularly helpful.

Third, you're probably going to be better off without the Ionhead. A Railhead is defendable up through ~1850 or so, but there's nothing an Ionhead can do that something else can't do better.

The Shas'o is also likely better as an 'El (cheaper, not really any worse) and the bodyguards as regular XV8s (significantly cheaper.) Sensor Towers I haven't used much, but my intuition is that they aren't all that amazing, but with the new update to Tetras, they totally are worth their points and more- run however many you have.

[Kall3m0n]

I have to disagree. I've been playing Tau for three years now and I have only lost two games the last two years (around 40 games). So far I've won against Orks, GK, BT, SM, 'Nids and BA.
I run three suits plus the commander, 90 kroots, 2 railheads, three broadsides and three warfish with crew.

I really don't know HOW you win with Tau. All I do is play and try to make the best of the situations i happen to face. One advice I can give, though, is to plan every move maticusly and react properly to the things that don't go as planned.

[benzo12]

I have to disagree. I've been playing Tau for three years now and I have only lost two games the last two years (around 40 games). So far I've won against Orks, GK, BT, SM, 'Nids and BA.
I run three suits plus the commander, 90 kroots, 2 railheads, three broadsides and three warfish with crew.

I really don't know HOW you win with Tau. All I do is play and try to make the best of the situations i happen to face. One advice I can give, though, is to plan every move maticusly and react properly to the things that don't go as planned.

To be fair, That seems like a fairly large army, Tau seem to fair a lot better in largescale armies, particularly Apoc.

What pointcost is that all up?

[Luke Licens]

Is it bad that I came here expecting a witty song about unfortunate fishmen?

Well, I suppose I can correct that deficiency...

http://youtu.be/Twyrmr4sMow

[Kall3m0n]

To be fair, That seems like a fairly large army, Tau seem to fair a lot better in largescale armies, particularly Apoc.

What pointcost is that all up?

It's around 1800p. Although I change the list a little to match the opponents' list-points.

[Mr. Furious]

Tau is a challenging army to general but when it all comes together they are a lot of fun.

Its possible to do well with Tau. Watch the BOLS bat reps and try to emulate the lists and take some cues from the strategy to get the most out of the old codex until the new one arrives.

[Captain Ismer]

Another useful thing to keep in mind is target priority. It's called a "scalpel" army for a reason - if you don't know exactly what you need to remove each turn, you're more or less wasting firepower, and you're going to suffer for it.

Hamstring their mobility first by taking out fleet infantry, transports, jump packs, ect. Your strengths are in long range shooting, so keep your opponent at that range as long as possible. Then pick a unit that presents a lot of threat (and isn't impossible to kill) and focus it down until its dead. Then pick a new unit to focus. Ect.

[LordGrise]

I play Tau exclusively (my only army) and my luck has been about fifty fifty. A couple useful bits of strategy I incorporate every time:

First, set your guys up in two positions, separated by at least eighteen inches, that can cover each other. Your opponent must decide which half he wants to go after with the bum rush, and that gives you more space to gun them down. Your crisis suits do not have to stand there and take it, so don't.

Second, markerlights. Raise BS a notch, REDUCE COVER SAVES (down to nothing if you have enough of 'em), call in seeker missiles on armor or transports. Make 'em walk in. My first target priority is always anything that can generate a big blast; my second is transports. One markerlight hit is a BS5 railgun for me.

I run railheads (big blast anti-swarm), broadsides (10/1 = anti-armor), and sniper units for the markerlights, with warfish and crisis suits for interference. Keep in mind the snipers can use their own markerlight hits, and BS4 rail rifles (6/3 heavy 1 pinning) instant kill a lot of troop models. They can also be secondary anti-armor, esp against side armors. I've killed Rhinos that way more than once.

I want tetras in the worst way, and will either be ordering a flight and soaking up the exchange rate, or kitbashing a couple of piranhas for stand-ins in the next month or so. Keep the faith, man; FW recently released a free download for all the FW Tau stuff, so as to make them available for regular games. I take this as a good sign: things are starting to happen for us...

[Panxer]

Tetras are pretty cool for the points. My only reservation is that they are vehicles, and in my experience, get chopped out before turn 3, and then, no more marker support. Models wise. I have a deep dislike and resentment for GW right now for ditching the Tau codex for 2012, so I'm going to be modding out my piranhas, calling them tetras and keeping my money for the sake of my psyche and my wallet.

Has anyone had any experience with Tau turrets?

[nimrod451]

I started Warhammer with a Tau army and have to admit i gave up..

.. The tau's strength is in their Jump Shoot Jump and Marker lights. I realized after i gave up on them how key Markerlights are.. I liked Crisis suits a lot though..

..kroot bubble wrap was a must to protect some of our units too.

[Mr. Furious]

Tau is a finesse army and can be frustrating. I started out with Tau and when I was angry and frustrated with my inability to win games, an experienced player lent me his Space Marines for a few games and it made a world of difference.

Space Marines are very balanced and leave a lot of room for a player to make mistakes and recover from them enough to do well. See if you can borrow someone's Space Marines for a little while or build yourself a small list to play for a bit. Once you play for awhile with a more balanced/forgiving army you may find that you're a lot more successful with your Tau.

Nobody likes to hear that they need a new army but it sounds like you're in a rut that some time with a Space Marine list could help you out of.

My 2 pennies.....

[ZenPaladin]

"Tau are a scaple army"

Truer words were never typed. The Tau can't torrent effectively. Most shooting armies rely on the quantity of cheep powerful attacks to do the job. Tau need to have the right gun fir the right job right on time and can't aford to have crapy dice.

Do target those transports first. Do be prepaired to lose units of kroot and firewarrirors and gun drones as speed bumps. Do use markerlight with the utmost care to ensure that what has to die does so on the needed turn.

Don't be afraid of larger unit sizes! You can't MSU the Tau well. They will take a single wound and then fail leadership and flee! Make use of target locks to split the fire of larger squads. Multiple fire bases also work well.

My friend wined that my Tau were easy mode. We played a switch army game. Turn one I drop poded a dread right in his line. He used 0 markerlights on it. Yes he fired his broadsides at it but the dice were not with him. It didn't die or get immobilized.

He quit the game after that shooting phase. He had no bubble wrap to protect his broadsides he and I both knew it was over for the Tau. It's an uphill battle for sure. But with good play and a little luck the Tau can always put up a decent fight.

[ElectricPaladin]

Sometimes the Tau can kill things that "broken" armies can't. My Blood Angels can't do anything against my friend's Wall of Tanks IG, but if I'm lucky I can put a dent - or more than a dent - into him with railguns.

[bfmusashi]

Y'know, if you went all crisis suit and you could scrounge up the extra legs....
http://musingsofametalmind.blogspot.com/2012/02/tauchikomatic-tutorial-how-to-build.html
I love these little guys so hard.

[Happosai]

I really like the way Tau look. Unfortunately, I decided against picking them up as my first army due to overwhelming poor reports from other players and store owners as well as the fact their codex is so old.

I would LOVE to see a new Tau book. I would totally snag it and build an army of them, because they're just a COOL looking army. Love their fluff, too.

[fuzzyguy]

I do really well with Tau on average. It is not a very forgiving army though, and you have to have a near perfect understanding of the rules. The 3++ site has some very good info for the budding Tau players or those in need of help.

Blocking, controlling movement, and patience are really key to doing well with Tau.

[ZenPaladin]

Another fun thing about Tau? Every point they spend on close combat load out is a wasted point for fighting Tau. Buck naked guardsmen pummel them. Assault Terminators? Can you say overkill?

Learn to accept some losses. And yes to 3++. They seem to be one of the premier strategy sites in the hobby.

[Ryar]

One important key to winning with Tau is you can't get attached to any units. If something reaches hth with a unit of crisis suits, run away let them die! another important thing is fire warriors are terrible, one and done! Kroot are their best troop option. Lastly devilishs are you sacrificial lambs. Use them in the most annoying ways possible to hide your units prevent theirs from making assaults ect...
Tau has major morale issues however, this is their primary problem. Your always a couple wounds from a hvy bolter away from a failed morale test and the loss of a 200 pt unit.

[Garamond]

reading this is slightly depressing since i'm starting a tau army. although i read somewhere that if you become good with tau, you'll be even better with a more current army.

[sverigesson]

I'm waiting for the new codex to start my Tau army. Partly because I think they're going to be awesome, and partly because I think the new models are going to be awesome.

[TheWildRider]

I'm sure this has probably been said already, but when I played Tau, the best thing to do was hunker down with as many railguns as you could afford, making use of terrain and cover with your fire warriors. I've had some success against Blood Angels and Grey Knights with this strategy. Mounting your fire warriors in Devilfishes so they have a quick escape also tends to help. And plasma rifle/ fusion blaster / multi-tracker suits for jump-shoot-jump on termies or annoying independent characters.