[adman101]

Are Kroot worth the points they cost? I used a squad of 12 (one shaper included) and they got owned! You get a one in six chance of making a save so really what is the point?

[shasocastris]

don't give them a save or the shaper, use them as a speed bump in cover. They normally don't live, but soak fire power quite nicely, I must say.

Cheers!

[KevFox2169]

There are many many posts about the kroot paradox. You can easily refer to them for ways of effectively using them. But in my opinion, if you are not inclined to use them to begin with, you will not fare well with them. They, like all other parts of an army, have to be integrated as just that, parts to an army, components of a whole.

But besides that, go search previous posts about kroot, they're quite helpful.

[Aias]

I typically find that Kroot are worth it; however, the Shaper is not. Spending 21 points on a model so you can buy a 6+ save for 1 point on the rest of them isn't worth it, and the rest of his stat line doesn't justify the 3 Kroot models you're losing out on by making him a Shaper.

As for why they're worth it, though: they're support. They can complement just about any other strategy you need. You have a Broadside team that's all alone, has a good fire lane, but is just a tad vulnerable? Keep a Kroot force nearby for intercept and interdiction fire. Need someone to block an access corridor as your force advances? Infiltrate some Kroot nearby, have them cover it. They make for a good defensive unit, especially with woods, and if you give them some good cover, they can hold an objective for you.

Kroot are just shooty enough to be effective, just melee enough to work, and just cheap enough to let you get the numbers you need for those to work and yet not really worry about it. Just take a page from the IG playbook: accuracy by volume, expendable to the man. Only in this case, rather than filling the air with flashlights, you're filling it with claws. Use them right, and they can be great. Misuse them, and they'll die horribly, and not help the Greater Good at all.

[khanaris]

Kroot are actually very good at ranged combat, provided you keep them in hard cover or jungle. They are not really that good in close-combat because of their lower Initiative. But their high number of Attacks and good strength means that they are all right with being charged by most opponents, as long as they are in cover and there a lot of them. So they work well to put pressure on the edges of enemy formations, as your opponent should have trouble extracting them from a forest or ruin without a concentrated effort.

And their guns are bolters. But they must be in cover to get much use out of that fact. Keep them in the open and every army in the game can shred them like paper.

[Funshade]

i was playing a stuck up IG player who thought he was all that. telling me how I'm a noob for not having hammer heads. or how kroot where the most useless addition to tau ever.

I just blew it off.

OK so we put out all of our stuff and i noticed his heavy weapon teams are in the same spot. so i infiltrate my kroot 12" behind a building in some wreckage (i was out of LOS, complacated) so he goes first and doesn't see them as a threat so they just shoot some mortars out and kill a few with their cover save.

MY TURN. i deal some damage with the tau on the other side of the board. but i roll difficult terrain test. a 3 and a 6. perfect. i run 6" through the wreckage and bam! my kroot rush the first squad of heavy weapons. i kill all of them in one foul swoop. consolidate into the next group locking us into combat preventing his flamers on the tank from killing me. then i plow through the next squad next turn and make my way to the next group of guys. he was so mad and i just had to say, "told you so" after my kroot plowed through some of his most important units.

[T0nkaTruckDriver]

You need to infiltrate more than 12" away... it's not possible to get a first turn charge with infiltrators unless you have some kind of movement enhancement (fleet, jump packs, etc)

[Damian_Alpha]

Originally Posted by Funshade

i was playing a stuck up IG player who thought he was all that. telling me how I'm a noob for not having hammer heads. or how kroot where the most useless addition to tau ever.

Once fought against an all-Termie Deathwing army with my Tau. Obviously, he was expecting to get in close to my units with deathwing assault, dakka everything to death with assaultcannons and stormbolters, and then powerfist the survivors; he never had a chance against my list (and this was the one I USUALLY ran at the time). I had five units of basic kroot in 15 man squads, req. FW squad and plas'el, and some deep-striking stealthsuits with fusion included. There were about three pieces of forest cover, and I was able to secure them all, since pretty much his entire army was doing teleport deep-strike.

Well, he of course wiped the floor with my fire warrior squad, which I had left back and in the open to lure them into the middle of the kroot fire-alley (Kauyon For The Win!), and a few kroot (nowhere near enough to force leadership, however). With MY first turn of shooting I killed to the last an entire unit of termies, and dropped another below half. To say the least, he was shocked.

This continues. I kill off about a unit a turn. He kills maybe 5 models a turn (And got my plas'el with assault cannunen :'(). Eventually he got into assault with one unit. This is where it got pretty.

He tried to get as many of the termies into combat as possible, which allowed my entire unit to attack him. However, because of this I also got my full allotment of attacks with a full 14 kroot. Because he came through cover at me, I struck first. Of 28 attacks (and I remember the numbers just because of this), 19 hit, 13 wound...and he failed five armor saves. An entire, unscratched unit of termies dies before even getting a hit off. >

[orkkrusher]

I like to use them as soakers everthing being shot at them takes up a turn or two. Also if they are in cover you can get real close and wipe out important squads like heavy weapons or some evil guy. By the time they are dead they have been in combat for three turns or some important unit is dead or near dead. Also if you infiltrate in the middle of the field it will keep his infiltrators back. They are great at holding objectives too, especially in forests. Don't bother with the armor save the armor is penetrated by 99% of all weapons and even when it is not it is only a 1 in 6 chance. Forget the shaper unless you want it for Ld.

[Nuke]

Well, I would say they are extremely helpful when used correctly.

By "used correctly", I mean that they were deployed just far enough into jungle so that they can shoot out, but not be shot at.

As stated, don't bother with the Shaper unless for LD, because if you deploy them correctly they're not going to be shot at in the first place, and if anything DOES go after them in their cover, it's probably going to be something powerful enough that a 6+ armor save in CQC wouldn't help.