Keeping Tau Viable

[ElectricPaladin]

I've recently found my attention drifting back towards the Champions of the Greater Good, which is good because I'm sick to death of painting power armor. I still don't have a huge variety of Tau models, but I've got at least a couple of all the basics. I'd like to start a thread talking about what it takes to keep the Tau viable.

We all know the basics: load up on railguns, put your fire warriors in devilfishes, use Kroot counterchargers to keep your battlesuits alive... but I want to know what works for you. What "common wisdom" have you rejected, "crap" units and wargear you've found a use for? What tactical choices give you wins? We don't have a new codex, but we have some very pretty models - what are you doing with them? Let's keep it positive - focus on what works, not on all the things that don't.

Of course, I have things I could say - I've managed a few wins - but I'm going to let someone else start things off. I am ever humble and eager to learn :D.

[o0HoldFast0o]

In my experience thus far Tau don't do THAT bad, we just seem to have a very narrow scope. I took second place by 1pt in my first tourney so they aren't horrible.

While waiting for the next book I use the Tau for fun lists. I have even messed around with taking Cmmder Farsight= 17 total crisis suits + broadsides and a hammerhead. Its silly, its fun, its what all the cool kids are doing....

[ElectricPaladin]

While waiting for the next book I use the Tau for fun lists. I have even messed around with taking Cmmder Farsight= 17 total crisis suits + broadsides and a hammerhead. Its silly, its fun, its what all the cool kids are doing....

I've thought about fielding Farsight-Wing, but I don't own enough crisis suits. I'm also leery of buying/kit-bashing Farsight, since I don't love his fluff and I'm not sure that he'll be any good in the new codex. I once saw someone do very well in a tournament with Farsight and his Freaking Enormous Bodyguard, though.

[o0HoldFast0o]

For kicks it might be worth buying a few poorly built ebay crisis suits and doing minimal fixing.

[ElectricPaladin]

For kicks it might be worth buying a few poorly built ebay crisis suits and doing minimal fixing.

I'm doing that, anyway. You can never have too many crisis suits. Especially if the rumors of a more generalized Crisis-Wing turn out to be true.

[BS FADE]

I find target priority with tau is where it counts. Kill lynch pin units or simply make them walk and slow down the rest of the army.

I find the only way I can survive newer codexs with there more up to date rules is to simply prevent them from doing what they want.

The only armies I usually have problems with are foot lists or massed feel no pain. It’s just too hard for tau to field enough quality firepower to deal with that.





P.S. Recently the black sun filters I always took for the hell of it, have been really paying off against necrons

[plasticaddict]

I don't run Kroot at all in my lists, as a counter charge unit the are pretty useless. Instead I use those points to get more Fire Warriors on the table. As far as wargear since we have several Necron players in our local scene Blacksun Filters have found new life in my lists. I've also been adding more Seeker missiles and makerlights than I used to, to help deal with the higher toughness Necron and Tyranid MCs.

[ElectricPaladin]

The only armies I usually have problems with are foot lists or massed feel no pain. It’s just too hard for tau to field enough quality firepower to deal with that.

I don't know - one of the few things Fire Warriors are really excellent at is killing infantry. Strength 5 rapid fire shots is really good at killing anything even remotely GEQish. You roll a lot of wounds that way, especially if the Fire Warriors can double-tap. In my experience, it's all about positioning. Fire Warriors in a ruin, enjoying 4+ cover saves, or Fire Warriors in a building, impossible to directly target, can dominate a huge chunk of the board and kill anything that gets within 12'.


P.S. Recently the black sun filters I always took for the hell of it, have been really paying off against necrons

I'll have to keep that in mind!

[Urza8188]

I have a limited experience in 40k in general because ive only been playing a few months but i have played tau almost exclusively. From my limited experience I have never had much success with fire warriors because cover saves make the AP5 useless. I have been shown this many times fighting geanestealers that I originally thought would get shredded...Last few lists run ive been using more kroot but after much frustration ive concluded that tau troops are mostly useless objective holders and should be treated as such.

Devilfish are the largest point dump in terms of firepower for the entire codex but vehicles are helpful for slowing the enemys advance and contesting objectives. I personally prefer Piranhas for this because they move faster, cost less, and can use the Fusion Blaster to blow that transport to bits when they move in to block it. Recently ive actually stopped using pathfinders and throwing markerlights on my FW leaders and stealthsuits because the devilfish seem like such a terrible waste and the pathfinders themselves typically get blown up the first chance the opponent gets.

As far as crisis suits go most people would say fireknives fireknives fireknives on the forums but i personally prefer heatwaves or deathrains on my standard crisis suits because they are so much cheaper and dont require markerlights. I do however find the plasma and missle pods on the shas-el with BS5 to be obscenely powerful and worth every point.

I could go on all day about my thoughts on Tau (im not freaking kidding) but I will cut the wall of text short. If anyone wants to talk tau theory with me feel free to let me know =).

[Render Noir]

I'm doing that, anyway. You can never have too many crisis suits. Especially if the rumors of a more generalized Crisis-Wing turn out to be true.

I am still not sure how i feel about those rumors. I was planning to go back and magnetize all the weapons but now I am in a wait and see mode.

[Render Noir]

I have a limited experience in 40k in general because ive only been playing a few months but i have played tau almost exclusively. From my limited experience I have never had much success with fire warriors because cover saves make the AP5 useless. I have been shown this many times fighting geanestealers that I originally thought would get shredded...Last few lists run ive been using more kroot but after much frustration ive concluded that tau troops are mostly useless objective holders and should be treated as such.

Devilfish are the largest point dump in terms of firepower for the entire codex but vehicles are helpful for slowing the enemys advance and contesting objectives. I personally prefer Piranhas for this because they move faster, cost less, and can use the Fusion Blaster to blow that transport to bits when they move in to block it. Recently ive actually stopped using pathfinders and throwing markerlights on my FW leaders and stealthsuits because the devilfish seem like such a terrible waste and the pathfinders themselves typically get blown up the first chance the opponent gets.

As far as crisis suits go most people would say fireknives fireknives fireknives on the forums but i personally prefer heatwaves or deathrains on my standard crisis suits because they are so much cheaper and dont require markerlights. I do however find the plasma and missle pods on the shas-el with BS5 to be obscenely powerful and worth every point.

I could go on all day about my thoughts on Tau (im not freaking kidding) but I will cut the wall of text short. If anyone wants to talk tau theory with me feel free to let me know =).

Specialization is the key for Crisis suits in 5th edition. I see the fireknife like buying groceries at a convience store: everything you want in small sizes and higher costs. Deathrain suits are nice against razorspam which frees up the Broadsides to shoot Landraiders and units than need to be doubled out.

Been messing around with a plasma rifle and burst cannon combo to deal with MSU. Five shots at 12" at ST 5/6 with a few AP 2 shots. Range is a bit precarious so need to rely on bubblewrap and JSJ.

[Urza8188]

[QUOTE=Render Noir;188130]Specialization is the key for Crisis suits in 5th edition. I see the fireknife like buying groceries at a convience store: everything you want in small sizes and higher costs. Deathrain suits are nice against razorspam which frees up the Broadsides to shoot Landraiders and units than need to be doubled out.

I just cant see investing 37 extra points on just the ranged weapons of a BS3 unit as a wise decision. Now on the team leaders and bodyguards you can take a T-array on top of that for a decent shooting unit but i really don't like having my heavy weapons with a 50% chance to miss and markerlights just make things more costly. TL flamers however decimate everything dumb enough to get within range, cost only 6 points and are much better suited for a BS3 IMO.

[ElectricPaladin]

II could go on all day about my thoughts on Tau (im not freaking kidding) but I will cut the wall of text short. If anyone wants to talk tau theory with me feel free to let me know =).

Please go ahead!


I am still not sure how i feel about those rumors. I was planning to go back and magnetize all the weapons but now I am in a wait and see mode.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm still assembling my crisis suits, so I can play with them, but I've decided not to totally complete them (paint, magnetize) until I find out what the deal is going to be with their weaponry.

Or if there's going to be a resculpt.

On the plus side, that means I'll be able to get lots of the old sculpt used on the way cheap...

[Tayne]

Couple of quick pointers from me:

Get rid of plasma on suits. Too expensive, take more missile pods, chances are your opponent has at least a cover save anyway.

Take plasma on broadsides. 10 points for twinlinked plasma in the centre of your army (ie where you want/need it normally) is more useful than sms and far cheaper than the battlesuit version.

[Rapture]

Plasma on broadsides seems like a waste of points. The 10 points only buys you one additional shot if the enemy is positioned at >18 inches.

[Drakkan Vael]

Get rid of plasma on suits. Too expensive, take more missile pods, chances are your opponent has at least a cover save anyway.

Take plasma on broadsides. 10 points for twinlinked plasma in the centre of your army (ie where you want/need it normally) is more useful than sms and far cheaper than the battlesuit version.

But if he wants to assault you, he will at least once be hit by a double tap at 12" range. Cover saves ar not that big of an issue as well if you have some markerlights. I like Fireknives (usually Commander with bodyguard) to threaten MEQ troops.

Shoot the fast ones first, then the closest ones. It works.

[Urza8188]

I actually very recently started using plasma on JUST my broadside leaders because i have the HW options to give em a +1BS and multi tracker. I feel as though for 10pts a twin linked is a good investment though i cant see putting it on all my broadsides because w/o multitracker why would i ever use plasma over just firing my rails at it? you could argue 2 shots but paladins for example are 2 wounds but only toughness 4 so the rail kills em. A lot of people argue that MT and plasma is a waste of points because they shouldn't be getting within 12 of your broadsides but the fact of it is that they often do and 15 points is a small price for a major upgrade in firepower. At BS4 twin linked anything that gets within 12 is going to eat 3 high ap shots from my broadside leader alone and i'm still free to fire the other 2 rails at w/e i want.

I am a big fan of stealthsuits as well because they are IMO the safest most reliable well rounded unit in the codex. I realize 30 points for a burst cannon is pricey but its equivalent to FW pulse rifles at range and infiltrate ensures that i'm not going to lose any shots to LOS, I can add a threat to the enemy backfield to take the focus off my broadsides and lock up or marker enemy transports. They also have a 3+ save and the stealth field which makes them really hard to kill as long as you aren't being overrun. The stealth field is pretty underrated IMO because it means anything more than 36" away cant shoot you at all and anything more than 21" away only has a 50% chance to see you. This is in many cases even better than an additional save roll such as feel no pain because one poor roll negates an entire unit shots and doesn't have a rule that says ap1 and ap2 ignore this.Templates that don't HIT will 90% of the time scatter for no damage and can more likely scatter to the enemys own units trying to rush you down.Accute senses doesn't apply to stealth fields because its not night fighting. Basically it means that all you have to do is kill the unit right next to you and the ones far away cant shoot you.

45 points for team leader, marker light and 1 marker drone i feel is a good investment because the markers are mobile and safe and it gives me something to do if i cant get range after i kill my primary target. I use 1 marker drone because the networked marker is essentially a 50% chance to gain +1BS on 18 shots, so if i roll well on that i gave my team a substantial buff for half the cost of targeting arrays and if i roll poorly, well i only wasted 30 points no big. Additionally it brings the squad to 7 so i need to take an extra wound before i check leadership.

[Urza8188]

OHHH sry for dbl posting but i gotta say i think bonding knives are complete garbage and should never be taken by anyone ever! I mean what are the odds that your FWs or pathfinders are going to take better than 50% casualties from a ranged unit and not get completely wiped? The enemy just plain isn't going to shoot at your FWs from range when they have better targets and if they do it will be turn 5 or later so you will lose the objective. By turn 5 the assaulter's are right on top of you what are the odds they aren't within 6? Even in the event that all the stars align and the game continues another turn, the group didn't run off the board edge, rallys and can come back, you just ran 2d6 away you can only move 3" and shoot 12" with a maximum of 6 pulse rifles and your odds of retaking that point before the game end are now very slim. Forget about pathfinders with em too... heavy weapons and not even a scoring unit. Really gotta save a maximum 4 pathfinders from running off the board edge so they can NOT land any useful markerligts next turn? I mean its not like 3 points(or is it 5?) is a high cost, I just think these things literally have no use at all. How people can say deepstrike and pinning are unreliable and then continue on to tell you that you need bonding knives is beyond me.

[tau4eva]

I agree with the comments about the fireknives. I like running a mix of more specialized loadouts.

I still run a lot of Kroot, usually two big blocks with hounds. I have been running less pathfinders lately and just running as many guns as possible.

I just picked up some of the Forgeworld tetras. The updated Forgeworld rules (free download) are great for mobile markerlight dispensers. Try to proxy them with pirahna's if you don't want to spend the $$$.

[Panxer]

My experience? Get yourself 6-9 broadsides, 3 hammerheads, 24 Kroot+ 8-10 hounds, 36 FW's (1/2 Carbines, 1/2 rifles), as many suits as you can get a handle on (I have 17 and always looking for more), 3 sniper teams, 3 piranhas (saw the wings off and magnetize them so you can mod them to be tetras from the forgeworld rules), 1 Ethereal, and about 8 shield drones.

I'm an every game turn 3 loss warrior and my advice should be taken with a grain of salt; that said, I recommend magnetizing all of your suits, tanks, and weapons so you can tailor your list to whomever you're fighting. Necrons? More shots (or low AP, its your choice), hordes or bugs? Templates. Imperial forces? Low AP and Range. Also keep in mind that if you loose a pivotal unit which is central to your strategy, you have precious little room for error or bad dice rolls. If you're playing a Tau army, if you have a bad turn, you may as well kindly concede and pack up your kit which took you an hour to set up, and go home to cry yourself to sleep (I know I do).

It basically boils down to setting up second, going first, and having good dice rolls with our piddly excuse for a codex (which in all likelihood will not be updated in 2012). I've been completely wiped out or rendered combat ineffective on turn 1 many times, where my lynchpin unit either was destroyed outright, or an errant template or las shot murdered a drone and my entire suit team or broadside contingent failed morale and ran screaming off the board, leaving me hard pressed to do ANYTHING of any effect for the rest of the game.

Play Tau? Yeah it's a really fun and awesome looking army, but practically speaking you're either a 40k savant or are going to be very hard pressed to win should the dice gods leave you stranded with no way to get home.

[ElectricPaladin]

OHHH sry for dbl posting but i gotta say i think bonding knives are complete garbage and should never be taken by anyone ever! I mean what are the odds that your FWs or pathfinders are going to take better than 50% casualties from a ranged unit and not get completely wiped? The enemy just plain isn't going to shoot at your FWs from range when they have better targets and if they do it will be turn 5 or later so you will lose the objective. By turn 5 the assaulter's are right on top of you what are the odds they aren't within 6? Even in the event that all the stars align and the game continues another turn, the group didn't run off the board edge, rallys and can come back, you just ran 2d6 away you can only move 3" and shoot 12" with a maximum of 6 pulse rifles and your odds of retaking that point before the game end are now very slim. Forget about pathfinders with em too... heavy weapons and not even a scoring unit. Really gotta save a maximum 4 pathfinders from running off the board edge so they can NOT land any useful markerligts next turn? I mean its not like 3 points(or is it 5?) is a high cost, I just think these things literally have no use at all. How people can say deepstrike and pinning are unreliable and then continue on to tell you that you need bonding knives is beyond me.

I've actually found them pretty useful. Sure, it's a small advantage, but sometimes it can be pretty incredible. I've had tiny remainder unts of Fire Warriors hold objectives, snipe at enemy units from cover, or - and this one involved some pretty ridiculous dice rolls - keep Terminators locked in combat and away from my battlesuits.

[Urza8188]

I've actually found them pretty useful. Sure, it's a small advantage, but sometimes it can be pretty incredible. I've had tiny remainder unts of Fire Warriors hold objectives, snipe at enemy units from cover, or - and this one involved some pretty ridiculous dice rolls - keep Terminators locked in combat and away from my battlesuits.

All im saying is the dice probability of those events are so small i cant see spending points on it. I dont doubt that its possible, but if you roll like that often enough to merit using bonding knives then you are an exceptional roller and you should heavily consider moving to Vegas :D

[Render Noir]

i really don't like having my heavy weapons with a 50% chance to miss and markerlights just make things more costly. [/QUOTE]

True, that is why on a Deathrain suit you twin link the Missle Pods. Cheaper than a Targeting Array and slightly better than BS4.

In 5th edition you need your markerlights to negate cover saves. The standard 4+ cover saves burns through 3 marker light hits. You will need at least 6 Pathfinders rolling average to tag an enemy unit.

So any upgrade to shooting falls upon the suit themselves.

[Kveldulf]

Personally I twin-link the main weapon on all of my XV-8s. Generally this means two squads of missiles, a squad of flamers with back up missile, and two plasma. One of each plasma and missile squads are HQs with bodyguards. I will add however that I have been considering switching back over to using all twin linked missile suits, as they are often the MVPs in a game and are far more points efficient.

[Urza8188]

Personally I twin-link the main weapon on all of my XV-8s. Generally this means two squads of missiles, a squad of flamers with back up missile, and two plasma. One of each plasma and missile squads are HQs with bodyguards. I will add however that I have been considering switching back over to using all twin linked missile suits, as they are often the MVPs in a game and are far more points efficient.

I gotta agree that the twin linked missile (deathrain) are probably the most point efficent but in matchups with low vehicle count they seem lackluster =\ and pairing them up with broadsides kinda pigeonholes your list.

[Kveldulf]

When it comes to my day to day list, I actually rarely if ever field broadsides. Hammerheads have one of the few large blast templates in the army and can move and fire. More and more these days armor 12 and 13 are as high as you see on the field and missile pods and a few rail guns can easily handle those. Staying mobile keeps you out of close combat more readily than a flimsy kroot shield, and flechettes on the tanks help to make an enemy think twice about using that assault just to gain a couple inches on you.
The missile pods make them roll, and making them roll is the only way to make them fail.

[Urza8188]

Ahh but there is no comparison in points efficency from hammerhead to broadside i can literally get 2 twin linked rails at BS4 for the price of a hammerhead. I was running flachette on my vehicles a bit before, but then the enemy just plain doesn't assault them. Why would they have to? You cant blow up all thier transports with 2-3 rails before they blow right by you. I believe piranhas perform the whole blocking paths and blowing up transports much more efficently than Hammerheads, and broadsides are necessary for picking off the frontline vehicles 1st turn to slow the advance. Obviously in dawn of war the Hammerheads have an advantage, but they're just so expensive..... Additionally they bring nothing to the table for dealing with MEQ or higher and the broadsides are pretty darn good at it.

Don't get me wrong i actually like the way Big red rolls his tau with 2 hammerhead and 1 team of 3 broadsides it seems the most balanced, but to do this you have to pull points off your crisis suits =\. 2 teams of 3 broadsides is cheaper and much more firepower.

Edit: Myabe i will try rolling 3 hammerhead and more deathrains next couple times i play though. Rethinking it, between Deathrain flamers and hammerhead templates i may have an easier time dealing with hordes while still being able to handle mass transports. I'm still skeptical because the large blast seem unreliable and Ive never run a list with only 3 rails, but i'll give it a shot.

[Drakkan Vael]

Ahh but there is no comparison in points efficency from hammerhead to broadside i can literally get 2 twin linked rails at BS4 for the price of a hammerhead. I was running flachette on my vehicles a bit before, but then the enemy just plain doesn't assault them. Why would they have to? You cant blow up all thier transports with 2-3 rails before they blow right by you. I believe piranhas perform the whole blocking paths and blowing up transports much more efficently than Hammerheads, and broadsides are necessary for picking off the frontline vehicles 1st turn to slow the advance. Obviously in dawn of war the Hammerheads have an advantage, but they're just so expensive..... Additionally they bring nothing to the table for dealing with MEQ or higher and the broadsides are pretty darn good at it.

And Broadside do not bring anything at all against horde-style armies like some 'nid builds or mass orcs. Whereas Hammerheads do equally well against all types of enemies.
Mixing both is the way to go. Two Hammerheads and 3 Broadsides is a well working combination.
Added deathrains and suicide suits (flamer/fusion) round out a quite efficient army.

The main problem with Tau is playing them well, not finding a working combination of units.

[ElectricPaladin]

The main problem with Tau is playing them well, not finding a working combination of units.


I'm not sure that I entirely agree. We have a codex with some really bad choices, some pretty good choices, and some things that are situationally good, or good when supported in the right way. Stealth suits are a good example. Against the right foes, or when Infiltrated correctly - especially as a Stealth Marker Team - they can be devastating. If they aren't supported correctly, though, they get chewed to pieces.

That said, I do think that you are generally right about wargames in general and the Tau in particular. How you play is almost always more important than the list you bring - it's one of the things that sets wargames above other games.

[Rapture]

The main problem with Tau is playing them well, not finding a working combination of units.
Agreed. I say the same thing to scrubs who can't win using pyrovores or chaos spawn. They just have to play better to beat the Grey Knights and the Space Wolves.

List building is very, very important for Tau right now. 5th has a high emphasis on troops and Fire Warriors are weak in staying power and damage output without a price to match. Kroot, the I 3 no armor assault troops, are constantly begging to be destroyed.

To win? Pick a list that causes serious damage/disruption on the first turn, doesn't fall easily to return fire, and can block your opponent from closing the distance. Load up on crisis suits - they are all we have left.

[Bigred]

I'm a big believer in Kroot for 3 reasons.

They are the best assaulters we have.
They are costed close to what they should be
They can outflank

The outflanking is key. In general I find that the static gunline Tau builds go down to the more recent top shelf codices easily. Stuff like Space Wolves, Droppodding Lysanders, and Grey Knights are going to be on top of your firebase on turn 2.

So that means you have to have an army that can fight on multiple fronts. That's why my initial firebase is a little smaller than normal and why I emphasize move and fire Hammerheads to dress up my Broadsides. You have to be able to respond fluidly and in force midgame and open up new flanks to keep the enemy off balance.

Flexible firepower that can move and fire is much more valuable to me than higher quantity static rail shots.

Good IG players will stay out of LoS and butcher you with Manticore fire and hellhounds, if you assume a lot of railshots will save you (it wont). Marines will drop right on top of you with termys that will totally shatter your firebase, and Grey Knights are the worst - with Swiss Army Knife units that do EVERYTHING better than your units will (moving, shooting, assaulting, scoring).

In general, my biggest struggle, is to keep my scoring units around and alive late game. Unlike a lot of the newer armies, our scoring units are generally terrible, so its a points sink you have to deal with just to able to compete. Never expose any of your scoring units without a good reason too.

Here's my Tau psychological trick - deploy your rails right whee everyone can see them, and talk about them all the time. Go quiet on the pathfinders. If the badguy starts blazing away on turn one for your rails and high powered stuff, you are going to have a good game. If he ignores them, and prioritizes your markerlights, its gonna be a tough one.

Finally, you have to play for the objectives ruthlessly with our old codex. There is just no room for attritional battles. make every unit count, and dont be afraid to move up and even assualt if you need to. From pile-in moves that can pull enemies off of objectives, to plain old suicide assaults to buy time for the rest of your army to reposition, do what you have to to get those objectives. Also, note that an opponent will almost NEVER expect a Tau player to assault for any reason outside of Kroot, so when you do it, it can be a real surprise.

-bigred

[Urza8188]

Agreed. I say the same thing to scrubs who can't win using pyrovores or chaos spawn. They just have to play better to beat the Grey Knights and the Space Wolves.

List building is very, very important for Tau right now. 5th has a high emphasis on troops and Fire Warriors are weak in staying power and damage output without a price to match. Kroot, the I 3 no armor assault troops, are constantly begging to be destroyed.

To win? Pick a list that causes serious damage/disruption on the first turn, doesn't fall easily to return fire, and can block your opponent from closing the distance. Load up on crisis suits - they are all we have left.


I agree entirely, especially on that last bit.

I also agree that kroot are easily the better troop choice but still not all that hot. I REALLY wish i could take hounds alone, Maybe with just a shaper for the leadership/armor id even pay the absurd cost of a point apiece if the unit still came out under 100 pts. The hounds work out VERY close to hormagaunts pts and stats, just replacing fleet with outflank really and fieldcraft is very decent.

Boy this thread blew up a bit ^^. Good to hear everyone's opinion on competitive tau.

[ElectricPaladin]

I agree entirely, especially on that last bit.

I also agree that kroot are easily the better troop choice but still not all that hot. I REALLY wish i could take hounds alone, Maybe with just a shaper for the leadership/armor id even pay the absurd cost of a point apiece if the unit still came out under 100 pts. The hounds work out VERY close to hormagaunts pts and stats, just replacing fleet with outflank really and fieldcraft is very decent.

Boy this thread blew up a bit ^^. Good to hear everyone's opinion on competitive tau.

I'm very proud of myself - long live the Tau thread!

[Drakkan Vael]

Agreed. I say the same thing to scrubs who can't win using pyrovores or chaos spawn. They just have to play better to beat the Grey Knights and the Space Wolves.

List building is very, very important for Tau right now. 5th has a high emphasis on troops and Fire Warriors are weak in staying power and damage output without a price to match. Kroot, the I 3 no armor assault troops, are constantly begging to be destroyed.

To win? Pick a list that causes serious damage/disruption on the first turn, doesn't fall easily to return fire, and can block your opponent from closing the distance. Load up on crisis suits - they are all we have left.

I do not disagree. List building ist very important for Tau. Increasing steadily in importance with the aging of the codex.
But often it ist the player making mistakes that decides the battle, not the list. I often hear complaints about a weak codex (it is not entirely wrong) but not about playing it bad.

As Bigred said: exploit the weaknesses and mistakes your opponet makes, sacrifice units if necessary, play the mission, not the enemy. Suicide units and bait often work wonders with your enemy, drawing him away from objectives or over-charging it (running past it only to catch some Tau on the other side of it in an assault).
I love playing Tau and hope to see turrets and Tetras in the next codex as well as the XV9 and the Remora.

[Bigred]

From your lips to the Studio's ears.

I'm off to bed dreaming of Tetras and XV9s

I never said I wanted Tau to be good in assault, but something that's just a little bit of a speed bump would be grand - and Assault1 Markerlights...

[Rabid1903]

From your lips to the Studio's ears.

I'm off to bed dreaming of Tetras and XV9s

I never said I wanted Tau to be good in assault, but something that's just a little bit of a speed bump would be grand - and Assault1 Markerlights...


Assault 1 Markerlights are the #1 thing that I want. Just tired of having to decide between sacrificing my pathfinders to light something up or retreating them and sparing an enemy unit.


Also, I figured I would throw this out there seeing as how long it took me to figure these out. Here is a guide to Crisis suit configuration names: http://www.40konline.com/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=939

[SeraphimAngels]

Tau were my first army with a group of friends who played all marines hahaha, either chaos or Imperial. I learned what to take or not, it all depends on who I was facing to see how i would kit out the game. Also with house rules i could use barracudas. Which I am a huge fan of.
I like running all my crisis suits to have one arm have plasma at all times, its good against troops/monstrous creatures. Also can be good if you can get behind an enemy tank, if not actually busting every tank with that the enemy gets distracted by a crisis suit shooting up back armor.
Occasionally i'll throw in a vespid squad as marine killers, trying to time their jump or defense of my fire warriors to double tap and shoot them. I would use a devilfish to swoop in disembark my fire warriors and pop off a sqaud of ten vespid to kill a lot of stuff. AP3 weapons let my fire warriors survive usually.
Broadsides are amazing, I love running 1-2 squads of them, with 3 suits in the squad with upgrade to team leader to take shield drones for protection. 3 Railgun shots take out all tanks easy especially being twin linked.
I hope that the new xv-9 suits get adopted into GW gameplay but I am not holding my breath on that. I hope the kroot become efficient in 6th edition, but again idk...

[ElectricPaladin]

Last night I struck gold. Someone had given a huge collection of 40k models to the guy who runs our FLGS - to be given to a good home - and he decided to pass the Tau along to me. The haul included:

* 3 Ethereals
* 5 Kroot Shapers
* 5 or 6 more Kroot (some in bits, some assembled)
* Many Kroot bits (probably enough for 5 or 6 more Kroot, if I buy some torsos on eBay)
* 4 Krootox
* 2 NIB Crisis Suits
* 2 NIB Broadsides
* Some Fire Warrior bits (but no complete Fire Warriors)
* 7 metal pathfinders (and one Fire Warrior dressed up as a Pathfinder sergeant)

I'm hoping the new codex makes some of these models actually useful (especially the Pathfinders, Krootox, and Ethereals), but the Broadsides and Crisis Suits are immediately useful.

In honor of my good fortune, I'd like to hear about how you use and kit out your XV8s and XV88s.

As for myself, well, the use of XV88s is pretty much written into their stats. I turtle them up in the corner, usually in some cover, and use their railguns to take out vehicles, or snipe at infantry with high strength, low AP fire. One to two wounds a round may not be much, but it can make the difference between an enemy unit that can make it to my lines and one that can't.

I like to kit my Broadsides out like so: unit of two, leader with hardwired target lock, hardwired drone controller, and two shield drones, both models with ***. This is a hardy little unit that can focus fire or split fire. Of course, now that I' own four Broadsides splitting fire might not be as important, though if I field all of my XV88s this way I can potentially kill four different vehicles a turn...

XV8s, on the other hand, I feel like I'm a lot less clever with. I like Fireknife, Fireforge, Plasma Rifle/Burst Cannon, and Missile Pod/Burst Cannon, but I don't feel like I use them very well. I'm especially eager to hear what you do with your Crisis Suits.

[Urza8188]

Last night I struck gold. Someone had given a huge collection of 40k models to the guy who runs our FLGS - to be given to a good home - and he decided to pass the Tau along to me. The haul included:

* 3 Ethereals
* 5 Kroot Shapers
* 5 or 6 more Kroot (some in bits, some assembled)
* Many Kroot bits (probably enough for 5 or 6 more Kroot, if I buy some torsos on eBay)
* 4 Krootox
* 2 NIB Crisis Suits
* 2 NIB Broadsides
* Some Fire Warrior bits (but no complete Fire Warriors)
* 7 metal pathfinders (and one Fire Warrior dressed up as a Pathfinder sergeant)

I'm hoping the new codex makes some of these models actually useful (especially the Pathfinders, Krootox, and Ethereals), but the Broadsides and Crisis Suits are immediately useful.

In honor of my good fortune, I'd like to hear about how you use and kit out your XV8s and XV88s.

As for myself, well, the use of XV88s is pretty much written into their stats. I turtle them up in the corner, usually in some cover, and use their railguns to take out vehicles, or snipe at infantry with high strength, low AP fire. One to two wounds a round may not be much, but it can make the difference between an enemy unit that can make it to my lines and one that can't.

I like to kit my Broadsides out like so: unit of two, leader with hardwired target lock, hardwired drone controller, and two shield drones, both models with ***. This is a hardy little unit that can focus fire or split fire. Of course, now that I' own four Broadsides splitting fire might not be as important, though if I field all of my XV88s this way I can potentially kill four different vehicles a turn...

XV8s, on the other hand, I feel like I'm a lot less clever with. I like Fireknife, Fireforge, Plasma Rifle/Burst Cannon, and Missile Pod/Burst Cannon, but I don't feel like I use them very well. I'm especially eager to hear what you do with your Crisis Suits.

If you're interested in trading or selling those krootox I am interested in picking em up. I was actually looking to get some for an old 1500 list i made but i'll be damned if i'm gonna spend $20+ per model.They're not like....good or anything.....its more of a flavor and fluff thing. Id be willing to trade though PM me if interested.

IMO burst cannons are wasted weapon slots on crisis suits. Not that they aren't cost efficient they certainly are the most cost efficient S5AP5 on your list but....crisis suits to me are there to fill the other major holes in your lists. One thing Tau doesn't lack is versatile middle of the road firepower S5AP5 is about as mediocre as shots get. Missile pods are pretty unanimously the most useful weapon they have because they're only one less shot than the burst, double the range, and much stronger allowing you to easily screw with transports. Flamers while shorter range than the burst cannons fill the anti horde gap in your list and the twin linked are the most cost efficient infantry killer in the codex, they even mess up termies about as well as plasma because they just land so many wounds (unless they have FNP). Plasma obviously performs well vs everything that isn't high armor vehicles but personally i think they're too expensive w/o markers or BS4+. Fusion I don't give much credit to, Im not a fan of suicide suits. Vs T4 multi wound units they are pretty good but if you get within 12 of a functional transport you're already dead most likely. stick with the Missiles IMO

[Reivax26]

I have actually had success with running a Shas'el with the Fireknife setup inside a squad of 3 Fireknives. The unit throws out a quality number of shots and if backed up by some markerlight hits can decimate Monstrous Creatures or light armor. I used 2 squads setup like this in a recent game and if it hadn't been for them I would have lost to a Tervigon Tyranid list a lot worse than I did. (Had 1 bad round of shooting and often that is all it takes against them lol). I played a list that I was thinking of taking to a local tournament that is coming up but after playing it I think I need more troops in it and definetly going to put Kroot in it. I noticed that against Nids the Pirahna unit that I was running didn't do squat. Against vehicle heavy armies I guess they would be a lot more useful but against the Horde armies they are useless in a Kill Point game.

[ElectricPaladin]

If you're interested in trading or selling those krootox I am interested in picking em up. I was actually looking to get some for an old 1500 list i made but i'll be damned if i'm gonna spend $20+ per model.They're not like....good or anything.....its more of a flavor and fluff thing. Id be willing to trade though PM me if interested.


No way, man. Some of the extra Ethereals or Shapers, maybe... but who knows? Maybe in the new Codex, Krootox will be hot sh*t! Maybe we'll be able to field them independently? Maybe they'll learn how to Infiltrate and Outflank?

[zerohour]

Tau are all about simply giving yourself as many turns to shoot as physically possible. Target priority is key to allow you to do this properly, but really just general good play is really necessary.

By the way, forgeworld just released new rules for their models which are apparently legal in standard games of 40k. It seems like a mini update for tau to keep us, and a few other codices, busy. not all of it seems that usefully but specifically the tau tetra and remote sensor towers seem like they could be particularly useful. I suggest checking the rules out; the rules are posted on the website free to access by the way.

Note: I've been told a few times on a few forums and through my own research I have deciphered that these new rules are tournament legal. If someone knows something I don't please give me a link to whatever it is that disproves this.

[ElectricPaladin]

Tau are all about simply giving yourself as many turns to shoot as physically possible. Target priority is key to allow you to do this properly, but really just general good play is really necessary.

By the way, forgeworld just released new rules for their models which are apparently legal in standard games of 40k. It seems like a mini update for tau to keep us, and a few other codices, busy. not all of it seems that usefully but specifically the tau tetra and remote sensor towers seem like they could be particularly useful. I suggest checking the rules out; the rules are posted on the website free to access by the way.

Note: I've been told a few times on a few forums and through my own research I have deciphered that these new rules are tournament legal. If someone knows something I don't please give me a link to whatever it is that disproves this.

From what I've heard, it's basically still up to the TO. And, frankly, it's still up to your opponent - the game is a social contract after all. In the social dimension, unfortunately, Forgeworld rules will probably always carry a little less weight and, fair or not, there are people who are going to refuse to play with them. You probably don't want to show up at a tournament or a game day at a store (with people you don't know, who you can't count on to let you play Forgeworld models) with only one list, that completely relies on Forgeworld models, just in case.

Don't forget, no amount of "but GW says so!" will actually win you an argument with a TO or a casual opponent. Sad but true.

[marsdonut]

Do you guys get excited building tau lists?

....Man, I can't wait to play some Krootox today!
....Today, its definitely pathfinders and skyrays, hoo-rah!
....Definitely fielding as many firewarriors and emp grenades as possible. Going to laugh when I see their faces when I assault... <eg>
....Oh wait, whats the meta again? Better redraft this before I regret it.

Not really a question on viability for me, just whether I'm enjoying what I field.

[ElectricPaladin]

Do you guys get excited building tau lists?

....Man, I can't wait to play some Krootox today!
....Today, its definitely pathfinders and skyrays, hoo-rah!
....Definitely fielding as many firewarriors and emp grenades as possible. Going to laugh when I see their faces when I assault... <eg>
....Oh wait, whats the meta again? Better redraft this before I regret it.

Not really a question on viability for me, just whether I'm enjoying what I field.

I dunno, man... call it a personality flaw, but I really like to win. Not enough that I'm going to ditch what I'm working on and chase after every new hotness - like the Gray Knights. Not enough that I'm going to play a super-competitive army whose visual and mechanical style does nothing for me - like the Imperial Guard. But I like to win. I want to make the best list I can with the models I dig in the faction(s) I dig, and I want to play them as hard as I can, and win as often as I can with what I've got to work with.

[Urza8188]

Do you guys get excited building tau lists?

....Man, I can't wait to play some Krootox today!
....Today, its definitely pathfinders and skyrays, hoo-rah!
....Definitely fielding as many firewarriors and emp grenades as possible. Going to laugh when I see their faces when I assault... <eg>
....Oh wait, whats the meta again? Better redraft this before I regret it.

Not really a question on viability for me, just whether I'm enjoying what I field.

I don't get what your saying here? is this sarcasm? it sounds like an insult. hope you're not blatantly trolling a whole thread here....

At any rate i have said things very similar to the 3 ....phrases listed. I do enjoy building lists just as much as if not more than playing them, and after I play a couple games with a list i always review what i did wrong and typically tweak my list. When I'm done revising i usually try and discuss my thoughts with other players to get a second opinion on what I'm doing and i use that to even FURTHER think through my changes. Yeah i spend a lot of time thinking about 40k. Its a good hobby and it passes a lot of time. problem?

[marsdonut]

From what I read: Yes, you are excited building Tau lists. You want to win, therefore you tweak your list each time to rectify the errors and build on the accomplishments. You may not try new things, but you know what works because it proved itself last match.

Ignoring the bait, I cannot tell whether you enjoy what you field however. I have experimented with fielding each of those I mentioned, scheduling games with an altered FoC (without the required Crisis Cmdr and firewarriors), and playing more fly by the seat of pants style, going against the standard one list I tend to see others doing. By that, I roll before the game to see which list I'm taking. I have learned that the more I play without a crisis HQ, the better I generally do (ethereal with or without fire caste) overall.

Sometimes I bring more stealth than crisis, or when I take crisis, they're getting the ever more narrow jobs. Twinlinked flamers, missile pods, or fusion blasters. I would much rather have two seperate plasma weapons (which I don't think is doable) than twinlink it because one shot isn't worth 30 points, and four rapid fire would be amazing (from just the one guy!) :eek:

And yes, I am excited building tau lists and enjoy what I field. I try new things, get my butt kicked sometimes, but at least I'm not cowering in the corner. I'm pushing more carbines, flanking, and even assaulting when most opportune.

[Panxer]

What's wrong with Tau? I love tau. I lose every time with them. Doesn't matter the list. Kroot heavy/FW heavy/mech heavy/suit heavy...doesn't matter. If the dice aren't with you (and with me, they seldom are) you're done by turn 3. 9 times out of 10, Tau are on the back end of the tactical advantage on the table top.

What's wrong with tau? You're playing tau. You're not a marine (the bumper bowling of 40k). You can't lose all of your elites and pull out a win against a skilled opponent. Your heavy support is very fragile and susceptible to assault (by fragile I mean if you're assaulted, you may survive, but your rail guns/sniper drones/seeker missiles are going to be effectively disrupted or worse, silenced), and what little close combat you do have, are little more than a glass hammer, which while effective on the charge, can do little else against a tough foe when face to face with the emperor's vassals or xenos scourge. Also while your fast attack is probably the only thing that makes you effective at all against, well, anyone; Tetra's and Pathfinders make you shoot better while Piranha's skim up, shoot meltas, either win or miss, then die in place, and I don't even field vespids (nor would I), and lastly your xv contingent; I don't field xv25's..Oh! but they have night fight when people shoot at them, and its the cheapest melta in the game! bweh! Yeah for 100pts you get three suits, with 1 wound, and one melta for what you can give two xv8 suits with twin linked deepstriking meltas with 2 wounds each. And XV8's? That's a whole other ball of wax. You can only take two of them with no drones to make them viable (so they are never below 1/2 strength), and should you take drones, and gawd forbid you lose one and fail morale, then your entire plan will be shot to hades when they run screaming away with a skinned knee right off the board with the 3d6 jump infantry (run away!) rule.

Yeah, tau are great, as long as you sustain no casualties and/or all of your heavy support and elites make it past turn 3 or until you get tabled probably around turn 4 (or maybe 5 if you're lucky).

[Urza8188]

What's wrong with Tau? I love tau. I lose every time with them. Doesn't matter the list. Kroot heavy/FW heavy/mech heavy/suit heavy...doesn't matter. If the dice aren't with you (and with me, they seldom are) you're done by turn 3. 9 times out of 10, Tau are on the back end of the tactical advantage on the table top.

What's wrong with tau? You're playing tau. You're not a marine (the bumper bowling of 40k). You can't lose all of your elites and pull out a win against a skilled opponent. Your heavy support is very fragile and susceptible to assault (by fragile I mean if you're assaulted, you may survive, but your rail guns/sniper drones/seeker missiles are going to be effectively disrupted or worse, silenced), and what little close combat you do have, are little more than a glass hammer, which while effective on the charge, can do little else against a tough foe when face to face with the emperor's vassals or xenos scourge. Also while your fast attack is probably the only thing that makes you effective at all against, well, anyone; Tetra's and Pathfinders make you shoot better while Piranha's skim up, shoot meltas, either win or miss, then die in place, and I don't even field vespids (nor would I), and lastly your xv contingent; I don't field xv25's..Oh! but they have night fight when people shoot at them, and its the cheapest melta in the game! bweh! Yeah for 100pts you get three suits, with 1 wound, and one melta for what you can give two xv8 suits with twin linked deepstriking meltas with 2 wounds each. And XV8's? That's a whole other ball of wax. You can only take two of them with no drones to make them viable (so they are never below 1/2 strength), and should you take drones, and gawd forbid you lose one and fail morale, then your entire plan will be shot to hades when they run screaming away with a skinned knee right off the board with the 3d6 jump infantry (run away!) rule.

Yeah, tau are great, as long as you sustain no casualties and/or all of your heavy support and elites make it past turn 3 or until you get tabled probably around turn 4 (or maybe 5 if you're lucky).

Hater :) . They really aren't that terrably weak. I'm not sure why you think it matters if the crisis suits can regroup or not when any heavy shooting will likely wipe them out completely in a round, but crisis suits are meant to be a flimsy unit, they stay alive by JSJ on top of or around blocking terrain and denying any retaliation fire. Stealthsuits are really bad for melta IMO you really should be using them for markers and burst cannons.

The army does a ton of damage in the first few turns and if you target properly, negate shots and roll decent that will snowball into solid wins. Losing games will often feel like helpless crushing defeats (typically you will start getting assaulted hard and have nothing to stop it) and wins will often feel like the enemy never had a prayer(you blew up or disabled 50% of the enemy vehicles turn 1 and now they're just an obstacle for the rest of the army while they get shot down), thats just the nature of the army.


From what I read: Yes, you are excited building Tau lists. You want to win, therefore you tweak your list each time to rectify the errors and build on the accomplishments. You may not try new things, but you know what works because it proved itself last match.

Wow man you seriously think wayyy too highly of yourself. Do you think EVERYONE who plays for the win is a narrow minded tard who has never thought outside the box a day in his life and never tried anything new? As if everyone who likes to win only has one list and must only play that list all the time because "it is the only viable way to play (insert army name)".

I'm pretty sure everyone plays a variety of different lists and tries a bunch of different units and strategy's from w/e codex they are currently learning, and as they progress in learning what everything does they decide their favorites and continue to invest their time and money into buying and painting those units. That's just the way the game is played..... All you're doing is straight mocking people that enjoy fielding units that perform well on a regular basis. I would be willing to wager that the majority of people that play 40k field units decide what they like based on performance.

[marsdonut]

Wow man you seriously think wayyy too highly of yourself. Do you think EVERYONE who plays for the win is a narrow minded tard who has never thought outside the box a day in his life and never tried anything new? As if everyone who likes to win only has one list and must only play that list all the time because "it is the only viable way to play (insert army name)".

I'm pretty sure everyone plays a variety of different lists and tries a bunch of different units and strategy's from w/e codex they are currently learning, and as they progress in learning what everything does they decide their favorites and continue to invest their time and money into buying and painting those units. That's just the way the game is played..... All you're doing is straight mocking people that enjoy fielding units that perform well on a regular basis. I would be willing to wager that the majority of people that play 40k field units decide what they like based on performance.

I believe you are misunderstanding my posts. The topic of the thread is "Keeping Tau Viable" and I asked a question that I believed relevant and later posted my own response since my contribution fell short of clarity. I believe you and everyone else are a fine player and in a game of dice are able to make reasonably sound decisions. As gamers and sportsmen, we all play to win, because anything less is insulting to both ourselves and our respective foe.

Now I do believe you are making some very good points in the second paragraph. Unit performance dictates the unit's value. Thats why you need to be excited about what you're fielding. Everything you bring to the table needs to work together. Especially since the Tau are still a target priority army. I also endorse that you throw out your old list, and find how to do everything your old list did with new units. There is another point I'd like to make, but I'm preoccupied with finding an old Chapter Approved book for a game tomorrow.

[Panxer]

I respectfully disagree. Tau are the most brokenest army around (save for chaos daemons, but I won't go there)

Further, my experience with XV suits is that if they max out and take drones, they'll lose one and run screaming off of the board, taking their expensive weaponry with them. If they only take two in a unit, if you lose one (you will) they can always attempt to regroup because they are never below half strength, and don't have to buy a bonding knife.

My other experience with stealth suits is that for they points and what they do, I'd rather spend the points on a XV8 suit unit and pour the remainder into a pathfinder squad or sniper drone team. You'd be better off, trust me.

Third and lastly, I am speaking from experience. I PLAY tau almost exclusively, and have tried every option, load-out, and list (save for vespid and skyray because I don't see their benefits when compared to what railheads and kroot do) and I'll say unabashedly and unashamedly that Tau DESPERATELY need a new book. Chaos need a new book, Eldar need a new book, and Tau NEED a new book. Something to put us on par with at least the IG or Necrons.

Just my opinion.

[marandamir]

I respectfully disagree. Tau are the most brokenest army around (save for chaos daemons, but I won't go there)

Further, my experience with XV suits is that if they max out and take drones, they'll lose one and run screaming off of the board, taking their expensive weaponry with them. If they only take two in a unit, if you lose one (you will) they can always attempt to regroup because they are never below half strength, and don't have to buy a bonding knife.

People really hate on the leadership weakness tau have. You can buy around it tho. I'm sure everyone has had a single broadside killed by some scattered str 8 pie plate and watched them fail their crap leadership and walk off the board. That makes people think 'tau leadership sucks'. It does if you leave it at default levels. Instead, get a ethereal and join it to a unit of broadsides with some drones. BAM, fearless. No more walking off the board now. The other units now get rerolls on leadership checks and if you pay for a squad leader they got not so-crappy leadership anymore. Sure the costs add up, but think of the opportunity cost of a 200+ pt broadside team walking off the board, or that firewarrior team camping an objective fleeing in terror to a rhino tank shock on turn 6.

I would agree that tau really need a new dex, but there is a ton of stuff that needs a new codex. Demons are still very viable, just they suck rocks vs meched up armies (which happens to be a 5th ed metagame). 6th ed rules may flip things on it's head and old suck armies now become awesome.

I mean it could be worse.... like sisters of battle.

[Fishboy]

The one thing I'd look at in the arena of "Keeping Tau Viable", is that to really milk as much effectiveness out of them as you can, you have to spend a little time looking at the math behind your list, regardless of what that list consists of.

I just finally got around to seeing Moneyball, and it strikes me that Tau are the Oakland A's of 40K. We're a neglected, small market army. We aren't given the tools we really need to compete with the big boys. Not to have a good chance of winning big tournaments, anyway. The GK and IG are the Yankees and Red Sox, in some order, and so on. So what are we left with? In order to compete, you have to know the math behind your units in order to make sure you're fielding them effectively.

A great example: markerlights. Do you spend three markerlights dropping a cover save completely away, or do you spend one of them boosting a BS3 to a BS4? Or if you have a lot of markerlight hits on a unit, do you distribute them equally to every one of your units that's firing at them, or do you blow as many as possible on really boosting just a couple of units' firing? There's a mathematically correct answer to these questions, and knowing that allows you to play your army more effectively.

But of course, when all is said and done, you're still playing Tau. And when a GK or IG player who has also really learned the math behind their army comes to the table against you, it'll be just like the Red Sox learning the lesson of the Oakland A's, and winning the world series. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't stick to your guns and enjoy the show.

[ElectricPaladin]

I mean it could be worse.... like sisters of battle.

I have my fears that we're headed in that direction, to be honest with you.

Then again, the Blood Angels spent how many codex cycles in White Dwarf before getting a book that put them (however briefly) on the top of the heap?

[marandamir]

I have my fears that we're headed in that direction, to be honest with you.

Then again, the Blood Angels spent how many codex cycles in White Dwarf before getting a book that put them (however briefly) on the top of the heap?

I've read alot of the tau rumors and from what I've heard the new Tau codex is done and it sounded pretty snazzy. GW is a modeling company tho, so they won't release it until they can release it with new shiny kits that go along with it. So it's been put on the back burner for a while as they get ready to push out 6th ed and release stuff they know people adore and will buy (chaos legions, dark angels, etc).

Tau are just the lesser loved kids right now. We'll get an update, just its just down the road a bit. Just know tho that 6th ed WILL update the game overall and who know, maybe tau will be come more viable when it comes out.

[bob10182]

I recently started playing my tau again as well, and I started trying some different things. I paid some points and twin linked the fireknife Hq and bodyguard's missie pods.this combined with the hard wired Multi tracker and two deathrain teams and one fireknife team with the team leader having a twin linked missile pod too has helped me out. Its something different that ive been doing and basically puts eight twin linked missile pods, two regular missile pods, five plasma rifles, and give flamers. I have definitely seen how effective deathrains can be and they are great performers.