Pathfinders give very little to the team in terms of pure firepower; they are more expensive Fire Warriors armed with Carbines, and forced to bring along a Devilfish.
On the other hand, they make great support units; bringing the game's cheapest markerlights to the fray, and their devilfish carries a nice device that allows a reroll to deepstrikes within it's line of sight.
Using Pathfinders is a matter of preference, relying mostly on your army build. Some players go out of the way to relocate them when they are endangered, while some use them as sacrifices so that their guns stay shooting.
Personally, I use them as a bait unit; the stay away from my main force, marking from a distance. If my opponent knows very little about Tau, he might leave them be; which would be great for me, as I'd keep my force multipliers. If my opponent goes for them, he takes pressure off my main guns.
Normally I make a small firebase of Pathfinders and Broadsides to draw attention. These can't normally be killed off until around turn 3-4, and by then they've done their jobs; demeching, bringing pain, then distracting the enemy so my mobile units can move on objectives.
How do you use your Pathfinders? Do you keep them alive as long as possible, or do you use them as late game pawns?
2 comments:
I always put mine in cover and let them shoot away all game until they die. I've rarely moved them apart from occassionly in kill point games.
Their devilfish is taken by the fire warriors when they come on from reserve, so they rarely have the option to relocate by any great distance.
Rathstar
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