[Blackarandras]

Alright, I just bought the Tau mobile assalt cadre(1500 pts)and some pathfinders, ethreal,xv8+commander,kroot,krootox,shaper and some xv15 for their size. I've been playing 40k for 6 months, when 5th edition came out,and have been using Eldar. Now I'm ready to fight for the greater good. I don't know anything! My most likely opponants are Orks, Necrons, Tyranids and Spacemarines. I really need expert tactics to beat my friends, any advise would be great! Thanks

[pepsi]

leave the ethereal at home.

Dont use krootox unless you dont plan on infiltrating. Shapers only if you have pts and need the ld boost.

Be sure to magnetize your crisis commander...weapons are always nice. Flamers work decently against orks, mps for tyranids, orks of course. Play with drone combinations to attack and defend.

plan accordingly for path finders...they are brittle when targeted. Lions when used correctly.

kroot can outflank, infiltrate, pathfinders are scouts, tau crisis suits move 6 and move back 6. Dont invest into a shield generator, if you dont mind using a shield drone instead.

close combat in situations, is advisable, but generally its not worth it. range is friendly.

Hammerheads are great all around ork, eldar, and nid killers. Not too shabby against marines. A str 10 blast for a landraider on the run. Get a multitracker, and disruption pod, so you can fire like a fast vehicle.

stealth suits are interesting with marker drones.

They can move shoot use any counters for themselves or others, and put down burst cannons. Great against marine bikers, and low armor foes.

cheapest shas `el

twin linked flamer, and black sun filter

Tau troops are very light armored, and brittle. Use cover like a 2 cent whore.

marine drop pods are a pain. Be sure to have fusion blasters ready, or a plasma rifle.

Bonding knives! Bonding knives! make sure to bond your teams, they are cheap for what they do.

devil fish with disruption pods basic, mess around with smart missiles if you feel up for it.

Alot of deepstriking units.


-----Mps are very friendly, they are versatile. Keep some on hand. Tyranid T 7 creatures will be a big pain, be ready to skirmish, everything else ap 4 wipes the floor with people. Against marines, it can pop a rhino mid route, or a ork trukk, or buggy. Against eldar skimmers they are narly.

-----Plasma, versatile weapon, best source is crisis teams. Problem. They are the targets of most attacks. Be ready to back up with rapid fire. Terminators will be a pain in the ass.

-----Fusion respectable tank hunting tool, and secondary, primary weapon. 2d6 within 6 inches, for up to armor 20 busting.

----multitrackers, and target locks....consider that two units being attacked at once can work wonders for tanks, and infantry at the same time.

[Blackarandras]

Thanks, these are the things I need to know. After starting this thread I started reading the codex. There seems to be alot of wargear options that are only 4th ed friendly, am I right? I would like to know about all wargear options, why to or not to have.

[pepsi]

Target lock-no priority tests anymore, means you can hit two targets without penalty, and technically assault more then one target.

multitracker-two weapons fired...cant beat it, hard wired options are the grooviest.

Bonding knife-regrouping, and cheap.

shield drones-lack of offense (2 attacks on charge however) but makes up for it my mimicing the user, and boasting a 4+ inv able to be taken instead of the user.

Gun drones- Rerollable carbine, with pinning, nice wound str to boot. Can be plinked in warrior teams, and is a ghetto shield drone for HQs. (caution: two make their user T3)

marker drones- network markerlight for unit, or a markerlight for anyone else. Can now move and shoot its marker. Downside its 3 firewarriors worth of cost.
in short, depending on your style, none of the wargear is bad.

stiumulent injector- nice toy, but costs a good weapon, would prefer drones, most enemy fire is str8-10 when targeting.

blacksun filter- nice for night fight, and cheap, its use...not as often. Great hardpoint filler for cheap suits.

ejection system- VP Denial....but too chancy, never know.

failsafe detonator- want to try this one time. Best when you can take a few hits and not die, but still lose combat anyhow. Prevents a sweep of your shas`ui/vre crisis teams, and blasts everyone for str 8 (large blast!)

Wish we could use it as a proxy for close combat, sacrificing one unit, so the other suits could hit and run.

[Blackarandras]

Wow, this is what makes the Tau really fun. I like how many options they have and how different those options are. Thanks for taking the time to spell that out for me, it is very useful. If there are any configurations or Tactics that anyone thinks will help me against whatever army please post.

[GoneFishing]

Failsafe Detonater works really well with Farsight and the Seven Samurai - that unit costs so much that if they do break and run in combat and then all get hacked down you may have lost a 3rd/ 2/3rds of your army in one sweeping advance.

The Detonater stops this, it lets your unit run, stops the enemy from consolidating/sweeping advance - hurts some of them in the process! And all for the sacrifice of 1 Guy. (Plus when you regroup in your turn you can rapid fire the stuffing out of them)

[Tatsujin]

Take advantage of our tremendous range. Most armies have to stay together to concentrate fire, support each other, and have some kind of local majority. Even a lascannon can't cover the whole board.

Enter the railgun... Tau can disperse and still cover each other. If terrain allows, try putting your hammerheads and XV88's in separate corners, with a firebase of Fire Warriors or Sniper drones in the center. They should be able to cover most of the battlefield and still support each other. The enemy will now have to choose which of these positions to assault and neutralize, and he has a finite number of assault squads, deep strikers and infiltrators to solve this problem. When he finally reaches one remote position and wipes it out, he must still run a gauntlet of fire to get to the the next firebase, since you are dispersed. While your enemies assault element is tilting at windmills, your XV8's and stealthsuits can chew up the flanks and backfield, staying at least 18"-24" away where possible. If you have a devilfish full of FW's, they can now shwoop in and claim an objective. Hopefully your kroot will come in somewhere useful and eat somebody.

Of course no plan survives the roll to choose mission type, much less contact with the enemy.

[Sau1us]

But what about vehicle wargear

One piece of wargear for vehicles that merits specific attention (in my humble opinion) is the disruption pod. This allows a 4+ cover save to your vehicles that are being fired at from more than 12 inches. Whether on your decked out devilfish or hammerheads this cheap addition will me those marine dev squads VERY annoyed. My first game of 5th I put it on all my tanks and time and time again krak missles and las cannons simply missed! While I may not put it on EVERYTHING now, it is on everything that I want to live.

When facing your Ork opponent give the fletchette discharger a try. with large numbers and poor saves you can nearly cut that mob in half if it assaults you. This generally works poorly with marines as their squad size is smaller, and save is better.

Decoy launcher used to be a 'definite maybe', but now we aren't destroyed for being immobilized while moving at normal speeds, and immobilization from a glancing hit will be rare, so perhaps leave this guy at home.

Also keep in mind that your devilfish with FW inside counts as a scoring troop unit. with disruption pod on there you may very well never need to deploy them to take objectives.

Finally, a side-note about vehicle weapons. No Tau weapon is a defensive weapon as they are all S5. Moving and firing then becomes a problem if we want to get the most out of our tanks. While the multi-tracker helps I just want to remind you that your hammerheads burst cannons are TWO WEAPONS; if you move you can only fire one weapon and it will probably be your railgun/IC. Consider the Smart Missile System with multi-tracker to allow for more flexible shooting options

[GoneFishing]

Originally Posted by Sau1us

Finally, a side-note about vehicle weapons. No Tau weapon is a defensive weapon as they are all S5. Moving and firing then becomes a problem if we want to get the most out of our tanks. While the multi-tracker helps I just want to remind you that your hammerheads burst cannons are TWO WEAPONS; if you move you can only fire one weapon and it will probably be your railgun/IC. Consider the Smart Missile System with multi-tracker to allow for more flexible shooting options

Not Quite true! The Skyray Carries 2 Networked Markerlights and they are both strength 0 - So happily they count as defensive weapons! Your Skyray can still move 12 and fire the SMS and both Markerlights (or 1 Burst Cannon and 2 Markerlights if you take the budget version).