The Tau Empire has a new warlord...

[Dresden]

Hey all,
Just started a new tau army. After looking at the range of minis and reading through the codex, I realized that it would be entirely possible to build a full-footsoldier army without vehicles. I realize this is a little bit.. far-fetched, since fire warriors are -much- better with their transport, but just hear me out.

I have purchased a squad of Firewarriors and a squad of Stealth-suits as of now, but I have several ebay auctions about to end (For more firewarriors, some crisis suits and some kroot). My plan is to get around 2 or 3 squads of stealthsuits, have them go behind enemy lines and take out their larger vehicles, and of course doing the typical Kroot-rush + Firewarrior pew pew pew. I'm not quite sure how the crisis suits will fit into this (Most likely deepstriking en-masse and fouling up the enemy's harder to reach units.), but I'll most likely need a couple of broadsides in the future.

Any suggestions?

Edit: Also, should I go with some special character as my commander (Like shadowsun) or should I just get a shas'o?

[comrade]

egh.... Tau......

but kroot? Meh.... They'll be kickin ass in 5th ed. rules for LOS in woods/ jungle

But me, I would go for fire warriors for straight firepower, you could out shoot anyone, especially with a 30" standard range, can't beat it for a standard.

but with the new run rules... meh.

Go with a mix of kroot/ Fire warriors, and get some RAIL GUNS!!!!

I hate em.

[GrandMaster Raziel]

Hi There

I too recently started a Tau army after being a strictly Dark angel/Deathwing player. I have found that the "combined arms" doctrine of infantry supporting armor is the best way to play tau. I have 3 devilfish and 4 firewarrior squads along with 4 squads of pathfinders, stealth suits, and Broadsides as well as 12 crisis suits. No kroot or vespids yet so I run a farsight army for the time being. And without the backup of the stingray and hammerhead, my infantry would get over run as they are most the most mobile army without their fishes.
So if I were you, unless you play in open fields alot with no cover, get some vehicles lest you get overrun, because remember you may have a 30" range with your rifles, but that is at best 2 turns of shooting before you have to worry about assaults...

Just my own 2 cents

Cheers

[Stubber]

I used to play a static gun-line army with infiltrating kroot, stealthsuits and crisis suits and I found it very difficult to keep my opponents at arms reach. I simply couldn't bring enough firepower to eliminate any threats before my infiltrators got wiped out and my firewarriors got assaulted.

Now I play a highly mobile army with fewer infantry but the ability to bring a devastating ammount of firepower to bear anywhere I need it. And I use Hammerheads, lots of hammerheads.

[JoeGuardsman]

A good rule of thumb for making good armies in 5th is to look in your special rules and take anything with the Scout/Infiltrate/Deep Strike rules. Not that you should use them in every game but the options that are afforded to you are very important. Also make sure to have at least one unit of troops held in a devil fish. It will likely be important to hold them in reserves at times. Most armies have a hard time finding AP 1 weapons but the Tau aren't one of them. Also I recommend configuring a Crisis Team to being able to flush units out of cover, i.e. flamers. Another thing. Airbursting Fragmentation Launcher should be a pre-requisite.

You would have your bonding knife broken for calling yourself a warlord you know.

[Stubber]

Pathfinders have the scout rule and they're much more attractive now since the devilfish I have to take for them can be used to transport for one of my firewarrior squads.
(New rules aren't even out yet and we've already bent them enough to resemble a corkscrew.)

[Steellegioncpt]

Far Fetched!?!?!

Not at all!

It is entirely stressed, and important that every Tau army, in order to be successful must have 72 firewarriors. Golden Rule. Ever since I've done that, no one can literally stop 72 Str. 5 Ap 5 30" range weapons.

However you need suits with Anti-Tank weapons to balance that out. I.E. Broadsides are your best friend.

[Stubber]

Are those firewarriors static or devilfish mounted?
72 firewarriors never worked for me. I always got slaughtered when I tried it.

[JoeGuardsman]

Yeah 72 fire warriors will at some point have to displace themselves and take an objective. Meeting half way is not something that this kind of set up can do.

[Dresden]

Ugh. I just won this ebay auction that included "Commander Shadowsun", and guess what? Its farsight.. I guess I'll have to resell him/trade him for a crisis suit that I can use as an Shas'o.

Edit: The seller agreed to "Ask her son" weather or not its Shadowsun.. Its certainly not in the picture.

[JoeGuardsman]

In 5th edition cover saves are everywhere and for certain armies like Imperial Guard are very important. Especially with a Large Blast and stats to make a Guard player cry the weapon is amazing. Also in 5th you subtract your BS from the scatter roll on 2 dice. So you roll a hit 1/3rd of the time then the average roll on 2 dice is a 7. A 7 minus 5 is not going to bring the template too far off of the target. While a 5 or less is going to land spot on anyway. This works out to having a solid hit about 2/3rds of the time which is about the same as firing a BS 4 Large Blast weapon that will still hit a bit when it misses. Also all partial hits are full hits in 5th edition and oh yeah it causes pinning. If you ONLY play MEQs then it is only good when you play anything else it is amazing. I'm not too riled up but anything Barrage is good because it can ignore obscured cover saves, but anything that ignores all cover saves is down right insane.

[Warmaster Romulas]

what my friend joeguardsman forgot to say
was people are gonna be eating cover saves anywhere they can in 5th
(the true LOS is gonna be a pain)
so any weapon that takes that away is gonna be worth its weight in pewter

[GrandMaster Raziel]

Hi Guys

Wow, when you put it that way, I agree! Too bad it is only special issue and not standard issue!

Cheers

[JoeGuardsman]

Thank god it's special issue. I'd cry if I fought more than one of those things.

[JoeGuardsman]

In 5th edition one weapon can easily win a game. It is a game of the right weapon at the right time. If an ABFG is used against one of my units holding an objective it is likely to help win the game even if that was the only shot it took that game.

[Dresden]

Unfortunately, I was unable to take the Airbursting Frag Launcher, Since the Crisis Suits I bought on ebay were pre-built (Though once I get my next paycheck, I'm going to tack on 400 more points, and that will include a squad of Crisis Suits with one of those.)

Shas'el
Plas.Rifle+Smart Miss.+T.L.

BodyGuards
Burst Cannon+Missile Pod+M.T.
Shield.Gen+Flamer+Fusion Blaster
Marker Drone

Stealthsuits (3)
Leader+Fusion

Firewarrior (12)
Leader
Markerlight

Firewarrior (12)
Leader
Markerlight

Kroot (16)
Shaper

Kroot (16)
Shaper

Hammerhead
Railgun
Smart Missile System

1091.

[Dresden]

Here are some initial shots of the color-scheme I'm working on. I need to thin my paints or something, because the yellow is coming out -uber- globby.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...t/IMG_1598.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...t/IMG_1590.jpg

[Warmaster Romulas]

looks good
yes you should thin your paints
and to get a more efective yellow you should scale it out
start with a thin 50/50 mix of dark brown and water
then with a lighter brown
then an even lighter brown
then to yellow

yellow is one of those really tricky colors you have to do a lot of work to get it right

[lord marcus]

Originally Posted by Dresden

Unfortunately, I was unable to take the Airbursting Frag Launcher, Since the Crisis Suits I bought on ebay were pre-built (Though once I get my next paycheck, I'm going to tack on 400 more points, and that will include a squad of Crisis Suits with one of those.)

Shas'el
Plas.Rifle+Smart Miss.+T.L.

as usual, a fireknife commander, i usually take a fireforge shas'el though

BodyGuards
Burst Cannon+Missile Pod+M.T.
Shield.Gen+Flamer+Fusion Blaster
Marker Drone

Not quiet a good idea taking a thunder fire crisis suit with a helios... drop the thunderfire from bodyguard status and make him a single suit elite team.

Stealthsuits (3)
Leader+Fusion

1 fusion blaster isn't really worth the extra points for its effectivness

Firewarrior (12)
Leader
Markerlight

Firewarrior (12)
Leader
Markerlight

good

Kroot (16)
Shaper

Kroot (16)
Shaper

good, although get some hounds if you can

Hammerhead
Railgun
Smart Missile System

usual, good

1091.

suggestions in quote, note this is all from experience and reading tactica's on Advanced Tau Tactica :: Index page

--

also, tau don't have warlords. they are ruled by the ethereal caste, and as such, thier millitary is very strict on powers of command, etc. although i see this only as an oversight as you were trying to make a catchy title.

[JoeGuardsman]

I don't know about those stars. Seem very Dr. Suessy

[Dresden]

lord marcus, So uhh.. Thanks for making a newbie like me feel like even more of a newbie. What exactly do you mean by thunder fire crisis suit with a helios /etc? I've never seen those terms used.

Edit: Looked it up, and I see what you mean. Jeez, You could have made things easier and said "Shouldn't have taken the flamer with the Burst Cannon" though.

[Warmaster Romulas]

marcus you shouldnt be calling other peoples ideas stupid
he is asking for help
you should help
not put down

and a warlord is :A warlord is a person with power who has military control over a subnational area due to armed forces loyal to the warlord and not to a central authority
sounds like farsight to me
so i guess the tau do have a warlord afterall

@dresden
from what i can tell you are stuck into a config from the premade models you bought
so work with them and learn their strengths and weaknesses
then you can expand your tau force to include the other varieations or magnetized suits
(and a fusion blaster is always worth the points)

[lord marcus]

yeah, but thats one shot. all or bust is better. tactica, math hammer, and theroy hammer on ATT prove it, and i was not trying to put the idea down just give c+c on the list.

dresden, sorry if you did not understand the lingo, if needed i will post it up.

[Dresden]

Originally Posted by lord marcus

yeah, but thats one shot. all or bust is better. tactica, math hammer, and theroy hammer on ATT prove it, and i was not trying to put the idea down just give c+c on the list.

dresden, sorry if you did not understand the lingo, if needed i will post it up.

I looked it up, but it didn't really match up to what you were using. Could you post it?

[Warmaster Romulas]

Originally Posted by lord marcus

yeah, but thats one shot. all or bust is better. tactica, math hammer, and theroy hammer on ATT prove it, and i was not trying to put the idea down just give c+c on the list.

dresden, sorry if you did not understand the lingo, if needed i will post it up.

ahh the theories again
it all sounds good on paper
but not very practical
(and the patriots should have won the superbowl but my NY giants did)
ive been playing tau for a while
and 40k for almost 2 decades
the theories mean nothing when it comes time to roll the dice

Play your army dres and see what works
dont rely on us to tell you how to field your men
tau are very flexible and you have a solid core of firewarriors
i would recommend getting another hammerhead and some devilfish to round out your force
but trail and error is the way to go
dont listen to that mathhammer and theoretical stuff
the dice dont listen to it
(i play craps alot and statistically it should land on 7 more times than not, but that isnt always the case)get them on a table and see what works for you

[Dresden]

Originally Posted by Warmaster Romulas

ahh the theories again
it all sounds good on paper
but not very practical
(and the patriots should have won the superbowl but my NY giants did)
ive been playing tau for a while
and 40k for almost 2 decades
the theories mean nothing when it comes time to roll the dice

Play your army dres and see what works
dont rely on us to tell you how to field your men
tau are very flexible and you have a solid core of firewarriors
i would recommend getting another hammerhead and some devilfish to round out your force
but trail and error is the way to go
dont listen to that mathhammer and theoretical stuff
the dice dont listen to it
(i play craps alot and statistically it should land on 7 more times than not, but that isnt always the case)get them on a table and see what works for you

Haha, I loved that part about craps. Thanks for the advice lol.

[JoeGuardsman]

Dresden don't feel bad. If you become a crazy Tau player you too will use ridiculous names for Crisis Suit configurations that only you and you mentally ill ilk will understand. Tau players are