Tau question

[ksoh75]

SO with 6th Edition right around the corner and a new Tau Codex in the next decade.....lol

ahem...

what modes would be safe bets to buy??

I was thinking to play small 500-750 pt games and I'm going to say Fire Warriors for sure and Devil fish....and since that's the case....Hammerheads and or Sky Ray kits so you can have the swap out parts...

What do you all think??

[LordGrise]

Fire Warriors... I generally use no more than twelve of these in my games, but I can only field a bit over 2K points. I typically field six of them with their Devilfish, and honestly, I generally want the Devilfish a lot more than the occupants. Kroot, If you are playing standard Tau you want twenty of them, as they are the only melee you have unless you count your HQ guys. I generally play Farsight, so I don't use mine much. Crisis Suits and Broadsides, you will eventually want nine or more of each of these, but you want one of each to start, and then three, Crisis Suits first.) Stealth Suits and Sniper Drones eventually. IMHO (folks will flame me for this) DO NOT get Pathfinders at this time - they are way too expensive for what you get. Piranhas... maybe. I don't use them much. I don't use Vespid at all.

Regarding Devilfishes/Hammerheads/Sky Rays... Currently, the best and least expensive way to go with Tau heavy vehicles is to buy Sky Rays, and then get the Hammerhead weapon sprues for them from GW direct. In this fashion you will have the best versatility with your models for the least money. If you leave off the turret altogether you then have a Devilfish, of course. The best substitute Devilfish cap for the turret socket that I have found is, no joke, no lie, the aerater cap off of a 1.75 liter bottle of Evan Williams Bourbon. (Coincidentally the 'go-to' whiskey in my house.) I find a three oz. dose of this, self-administered over a period of approximately two to three hours (neat), also makes the assembly and priming task of any model go more easily and more enjoyably. Folks may think I have been so self-medicating when they read this, but I haven't; I'm enjoying tequila tonight. (I live in San Antonio, Texas, BTW ::grin:: ) If you are not of age, then use buttons: measure the turret socket, then hit the local craft store and find a button that will fit in the socket with 1mm or so to spare. Find another button about four-five mm too big. Glue the one to the other, greenstuff the thread holes, prime it, and it will serve until you can raid someone's bit box.

One last note: Magnetize your crisis suit weapons. Trust me on this. I use 1.5 mm rare earth magnets on my stuff, and thereby can swap out weapon loadouts from game to game. Saves a bunch of money.

[ksoh75]

Fire Warriors... I generally use no more than twelve of these in my games, but I can only field a bit over 2K points. I typically field six of them with their Devilfish, and honestly, I generally want the Devilfish a lot more than the occupants. Kroot, If you are playing standard Tau you want twenty of them, as they are the only melee you have unless you count your HQ guys. I generally play Farsight, so I don't use mine much. Crisis Suits and Broadsides, you will eventually want nine or more of each of these, but you want one of each to start, and then three, Crisis Suits first.) Stealth Suits and Sniper Drones eventually. IMHO (folks will flame me for this) DO NOT get Pathfinders at this time - they are way too expensive for what you get. Piranhas... maybe. I don't use them much. I don't use Vespid at all.

Regarding Devilfishes/Hammerheads/Sky Rays... Currently, the best and least expensive way to go with Tau heavy vehicles is to buy Sky Rays, and then get the Hammerhead weapon sprues for them from GW direct. In this fashion you will have the best versatility with your models for the least money. If you leave off the turret altogether you then have a Devilfish, of course. The best substitute Devilfish cap for the turret socket that I have found is, no joke, no lie, the aerater cap off of a 1.75 liter bottle of Evan Williams Bourbon. (Coincidentally the 'go-to' whiskey in my house.) I find a three oz. dose of this, self-administered over a period of approximately two to three hours (neat), also makes the assembly and priming task of any model go more easily and more enjoyably. Folks may think I have been so self-medicating when they read this, but I haven't; I'm enjoying tequila tonight. (I live in San Antonio, Texas, BTW ::grin:: ) If you are not of age, then use buttons: measure the turret socket, then hit the local craft store and find a button that will fit in the socket with 1mm or so to spare. Find another button about four-five mm too big. Glue the one to the other, greenstuff the thread holes, prime it, and it will serve until you can raid someone's bit box.

One last note: Magnetize your crisis suit weapons. Trust me on this. I use 1.5 mm rare earth magnets on my stuff, and thereby can swap out weapon loadouts from game to game. Saves a bunch of money.

Very nice.....and I'm 37 btw...lol

'm jut trying to figure out what would be used best at this point and time with a new codex looming and 6th edition. Sounds like Warriors for sure for now. And grab some Hammerheads.

[L192837465]

Fire Warriors... I generally use no more than twelve of these in my games, but I can only field a bit over 2K points. I typically field six of them with their Devilfish, and honestly, I generally want the Devilfish a lot more than the occupants. Kroot, If you are playing standard Tau you want twenty of them, as they are the only melee you have unless you count your HQ guys. I generally play Farsight, so I don't use mine much. Crisis Suits and Broadsides, you will eventually want nine or more of each of these, but you want one of each to start, and then three, Crisis Suits first.) Stealth Suits and Sniper Drones eventually. IMHO (folks will flame me for this) DO NOT get Pathfinders at this time - they are way too expensive for what you get. Piranhas... maybe. I don't use them much. I don't use Vespid at all.


So I was agreeing with everything until I got to "Sniper Drones". Uhhh, that is literally the worst entry in the codex.

[fuzzyguy]

The Skyray kit comes with the Hammerhead sprue. The Skyray kit can build either a Hammerhead or a Skyray. There is no reason to ever buy the Hammerhead kit considering both kits are the same price, but one comes with the extra seeker missile array sprue.

Honestly the Battleforce box is a decent start to the army. Kroot, 12xfirewarriors, crisis suit, devilfish, and stealth suits.
You essentially get the stealth suits for free and the kroot at a slight discount. Given the current rule set you likely won't use the stealth suits, but everything else in that box is used with a modern Tau force. I advise you check out 3++is the new black for more Tau tactics and advice. There is a lot of solid advice there.

[Urza8188]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with stealthsuits other than they compete with crisis for the elite slots. They are durable, versatile and about as cost efficent as everything else that isn't a crisis or broadside.

But aside from all that you should invest in a small handfull of fw as they are the standard troops but don't go overboard. Get crisis suits because as it stands you need a min of one in your army, but on top of that they really are the backbone of the army. The chance that it will change with new rules are incredibly slim gw would likely never hear the end of the raging nerds if they ruined crisis suits. Its probably safe to say the same for broadsides but its likely that they might buff the heck out of the other heavy options next codex considering how rails fill the slots on every list right now. A few kroot might be a solid investment because they have a large fanbase. Some like them better than the tau... I would stay away from vehicles in general till they make the changes. These models might be enough to keep you busy.

[Sure]

You know what's sad? When Stealth Suits fail to immobilize a dreadnought.

[ksoh75]

the skyray kit comes with the hammerhead sprue. The skyray kit can build either a hammerhead or a skyray. There is no reason to ever buy the hammerhead kit considering both kits are the same price, but one comes with the extra seeker missile array sprue.

Honestly the battleforce box is a decent start to the army. Kroot, 12xfirewarriors, crisis suit, devilfish, and stealth suits.
You essentially get the stealth suits for free and the kroot at a slight discount. Given the current rule set you likely won't use the stealth suits, but everything else in that box is used with a modern tau force. I advise you check out 3++is the new black for more tau tactics and advice. There is a lot of solid advice there.

link????

[fuzzyguy]

I assume you are asking for the link for 3++
http://www.3plusplus.net/p/armies-in-5th-edition-articles.html
The above is the link to the general 5th edition army section.

[ksoh75]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with stealthsuits other than they compete with crisis for the elite slots. They are durable, versatile and about as cost efficent as everything else that isn't a crisis or broadside.

But aside from all that you should invest in a small handfull of fw as they are the standard troops but don't go overboard. Get crisis suits because as it stands you need a min of one in your army, but on top of that they really are the backbone of the army. The chance that it will change with new rules are incredibly slim gw would likely never hear the end of the raging nerds if they ruined crisis suits. Its probably safe to say the same for broadsides but its likely that they might buff the heck out of the other heavy options next codex considering how rails fill the slots on every list right now. A few kroot might be a solid investment because they have a large fanbase. Some like them better than the tau... I would stay away from vehicles in general till they make the changes. These models might be enough to keep you busy.

Yeah I got a Battleforce coming with 2 additional suits.

I've played Tau and it was my first army back in 06. So I know how they work and what sucks and not....but haven't touched them with 5th.....my concern is more of do I buy it or not. I'm not looking for retro and as expensive GW can be, I don't want to tlss a ton of money if they are replacing all the models. Unless I win the lottery than who cares...lol

I just hate how FW got tossed not in the back seat, but the freaking trunk, chained and dumped in the river. They my be squishy vut you can do some amazing things with them.

Meat shields and tank hunters for one......

And yeah. I knew the Sky Ray has all sprues. That's the only way I'll go. Easy to convert and swap out parts. Specially that tank hatch

[inquisitorsog]

My experience with codex upgrades (although I'm not a Tau player) comes down to a few generalizations:
1) Wargear tends to have the biggest changes. The latest round of 'dexes has reduced the variety of war gear available to any given unit. Particularly affected in this regard are squad leaders IMO.
2) Special rules to tailor armies have largely gone by the wayside in favor of introducing more characters who give you a more limited ability to tailor than say Imperial Guard doctrines or old Space Marine chapter customizaiton. This can cause some pain if you've use these special rules and have a WYSIWYG army.
3) Codices rarely take away a unit. The main impact to your army list at an unit level is either changes in abilities or the occasional switching of a unit type from elite to fast or heavy and vice versa.

Short of it, if you buy the battalion box and keep your list fairly vanilla, you shouldn't run into many, if any, problems with new dex in terms of being able to use your existing models. Some of the more extensive wargear options may be trimmed, but usually it's to remove stuff hardly anyone used anyway or to make it standard when almost everyone took that option anyway.

[ElectricPaladin]

I think it's pretty safe to say that our Fire Warriors will not get a resculpt, and I doubt our vehicles will change much, either. I'd stay away from buying Crisis Suits or Broadsides, as they are quite likely - in my opinion - to get the most radical resculpt.

I'd also avoid buying anything currently in metal (unless you like the metal models, of course, and want to get them before they go out of print.). This includes Pathfinders, Vespids, and Ethereals. They might be translated directly into plastic/finecast, or they might get a resculpt along the way.

If you like the models, I'd definitely get things that are commonly said to be crap, especially if you can get them cheap on eBay! Who knows what the next codex will bring?

[ksoh75]

I think it's pretty safe to say that our Fire Warriors will not get a resculpt, and I doubt our vehicles will change much, either. I'd stay away from buying Crisis Suits or Broadsides, as they are quite likely - in my opinion - to get the most radical resculpt.

I'd also avoid buying anything currently in metal (unless you like the metal models, of course, and want to get them before they go out of print.). This includes Pathfinders, Vespids, and Ethereals. They might be translated directly into plastic/finecast, or they might get a resculpt along the way.

If you like the models, I'd definitely get things that are commonly said to be crap, especially if you can get them cheap on eBay! Who knows what the next codex will bring?



Agree 100% with you here.....as for Suits....egh....eff it.....I think it would look cool with both on the field and suits are pretty cheap right now depending on who you get them from. I can get suits for $18 a pop....and prolly wont have no more than 6 total for now.....so 3 are coming for sure.....but yeah....I love the FW's....I hope they get beefed up a bit to make them a bit more resiliant.

STEALTH SUIT MODELS KICK ***....

even just to paint for diorama's....

[ksoh75]

I assume you are asking for the link for 3++
http://www.3plusplus.net/p/armies-in-5th-edition-articles.html
The above is the link to the general 5th edition army section.

You rock Fuzz....

[ElectricPaladin]

Agree 100% with you here.....as for Suits....egh....eff it.....I think it would look cool with both on the field and suits are pretty cheap right now depending on who you get them from. I can get suits for $18 a pop....and prolly wont have no more than 6 total for now.....so 3 are coming for sure.....but yeah

Eh... well... it's less that I think a mixed force would look bad, and more that the boxy, unmodified Crisis Suit is probably my least favorite model in the line. It's less "I'm stressed about fielding a force of mixed old and new suits" and more "I want to save my money/storage space for the new suits when they come out!"


STEALTH SUIT MODELS KICK ***....

I agree. They're neat. Sleek, rounded, high-tech, and a little bit fishy (I kind of want to see a Stealth Suit painted to look like Nemo or something...). I'd love for the Crisis Suits to look more like this!


even just to paint for diorama's....

Actually, they're remarkably useful. I will swear up and down that the Stealth Marker Team is infinitely superior to the Pathfinder or Skyray method of getting Markerlights onto the table (though possibly inferior to Forgeworld's Tetras). Also, they make a great outflanking unit. Although the Stealth Field is a bit... meh, you're still talking about a two-wound, 3+ unit that can sometimes be hard to shoot at, with a gun that tears up GEQs and even scares MEQs, thanks to its high rate of fire. I've used them a couple of times, with good results.