Holding Ground! Troops, Part 2 (The Noble Fire Warrior)

Fire Warriors are one of the most conflicted units in the game, and as such are rarely fielded en masse anymore.

Fire Warriors hold the best basic gun in the game, both in terms of range and strength. On the other hand, their Weapon Skill, Initiative, and Attack stats leave them in the dust for melee; their weakness to close combat is in fact the source of the meme that Tau suck at close combat.

Many players simply take this in stride, falling back on the seemingly above par shooting skills of the Tau. This is, in itself a folly, however. While Fire Warriors do excel in tearing apart light infantry targets at range, their shooting can't really match up to the posterboy of 40k; the Space Marine. If Space Marines and Fire Warriors fought at 24", simply plonking shots at each other, the Marines would cause more hits, equal wounds per hits, and cause more deaths per wound. I'm well aware that I am comparing to a more costly unit, but to be honest, this is assuming a fight on the Tau's turf; shooting. The Marines could cut down the Tau with ease if they moved in; not that they'd have to.

Fire Warriors aren't the toughest thing in the game, with MEDI-class (Medium Infantry Equivalent) toughness and armor, but they aren't the weakest, they can survive against a good amount of basic rounds, and can outlast enemies such as guardsmen and orks, but these forces tend to outnumber them almost two-to-one, and can outmaneuver/mob your Warriors if they ever reach close combat.

When Fire Warriors gain Markerlight support, they gain a fearsome new set of teeth. Being able to strip cover away from light infantry and boost accuracy makes long range warfare a deadly nuisance for opposing forces, and a bloodbath when the Fire Warriors close to rapidfire range. However, there are downsides to this. The use of Markerlights for Fire Warriors is generally a waste unless the Fire Warriors are facing their favorite form of enemy; light infantry. The cost of Pathfinders or a similar Markerlight source is also a factor, as is their survival.

What do Fire Warriors bring to the table that make them more favourable than Kroot? To me, it's rather simple; they can bring a Tank.

The Devilfish is expensive, and has a slight deficiency due to starting with an extra killpoint attached, but they can become a very powerful asset for your army; from the SMS, a rather rare cover-ignoring weapon for the Tau, to the chassis itself blocking off lines of fire and assaults to your Crisis Suits. The durability of AV12 combined with a near constant cover save makes this vehicle one of the more difficult targets to kill; meaning that tossing a small squad inside and using the vehicle as a scoring unit is an effective tactic. Using the vehicle in this way gives it a great role; early game it blocks paths, drops SMS fire, keeps your shooters alive. Late game, it moves in to score, able to deploy a relatively healthy Fire Warrior squad out for a rapidfire if the enemy gets within range.

Flechettes on the Devilfish cement their role as a wall and allow them to dissuade light hordes from trying to reach your Fire Warriors inside; and also protect the Fire Warriors from the enemies using your Devilfish as extra movement without a large penalty. And if you are moving at cruising speed, you are incredibly durable against all but some of the best equipped vehicle shredders.

Basically, I see Fire Warriors not as a unit in and of themselves, but almost as symbiotically connected to their vehicle; they give it extra firepower and the ability to score, and it gives them protection and speed. As a quick example, the Fire Warrior unit I've been using most lately is:

6x Shas'la w/ Rifles; Devilfish w/ SMS, Multitracker, Targeting Array, Flechette Discharger, Disruption Pods -190

I run three of these and a small squad of Kroot in 1850. They are more than capable of keeping my suits alive, withstanding enemy firepower, and shredding light infantry. Their cover-denying capability and good Ballistic Skill allows more to forego a lot of need for Markerlights. They can Tank-shock onto heavily protected objectives, and they can simply drift onto any objectives that are not. They are a valuable asset in my army.

Any of the readers use a different build? Any static players? Anyone who throws six Fire Warriors in a Pathfinder fish and grabs Kroot instead?

Holding Ground! Troops, Part 1 (Kroot, the Creeping Menace)

Kroot are an odd unit for Tau. Statwise, they seem to be geared for assault, but point for point they are better at shooting than Tau. Unlike the rest of our technologically advanced army, they are unarmored, and use simple weapons. In fluff, they form the role of scouts and shock troops, doing everything from tearing apart advanced Marines, and Eldar to holding off swarms of Hormaguants.

But how to use them in game?

The problem with Kroot is that they are absolutely bad statwise, not making up their points in either shooting or combat against anything else in the game. Kroot can hold their own against guard and smaller squads of Nids, but they fail to hurt anything that is really dedicated to combat, and they are a flamer or blast away from extinction.

Kroot also do not work well in a combatant role in small numbers. A squad of 10 will get knocked out of the game too fast for you to even realize you wasted 70 points. A full horde of 20 Kroot can give some punch, but the combat resolution rules still don't favor our unarmored, uninspired brethren to take out combat specialists. The size increase does help against shooting, however, increasing the amount your opponent has to down before you have to take a moral test; an annoyance for the opponent if you hide them in cover.

Kroot have two buddies that can be brought along with them for the purpose of boosting their abilities in one way or another. The first buddy is the Krootox, sporting the Rapidfire equivalent of a Missile Pod. I would suggest never taking Krootox in your whole life ever as it takes away your Kroot's ability to Infiltrate, drastically reducing their effectiveness (see below). The Krootox is made to increase the effectiveness of "sit and shoot" Kroot. I have never such a monstrosity work, and do not plan to.

The second buddy for Kroot is Kroot Hounds (puppies!). Kroot Puppies cost a point less than the common Kroot, put out equal attacks, with equal Strength, Toughness, Weapon Skill, etc. but with I5! The downside? Kroot Puppies have no guns, as puppies with guns would be to awesome even for 40k to contain. The Puppies also do not benefit from fieldcraft, as they break cover to chase grenades.

Kroot Puppies are very effective for Kroot, as they bring in two boosts via their I5:

1. Sick of your Kroot getting killed before attacking? Take wounds on the Kroot Puppies, who have probably already attacked, to keep your units that have yet to swing alive. This is useful if you want your Kroot to actually have a chance to kill the enemy on the charge.

2. Are your Kroot forming a wall of expendability against a charging foe they cannot hope to defeat? Save the Puppies! If, at the end of combat, you have more Puppies than Kroot, you flee (or sweep) at I5 as opposed to I3. This can keep your Kroot from being run down, allowing them to get away without dying miserably.

Shapers are another upgrade Kroot can grab at. Costing as much as 4 Kroot, a Shaper benefits from getting a free T-Shirt saying "I Love Angkor Prok", which gives him a 6+ save, and has brought a box of spares that he is happy to sell to any Kroot for 1 point. He is slightly less challenged than normal Kroot, bearing a leadership of 8. He has figured out the contraptions of Tau weaponry, allowing him to use a Pulse weapon for free, though that takes away from his total amount of attacks in CC, making it a poor option. Sadly, he does not hold his points weight in neither shooting or CC compared to 4 of his kind and thus is used by Tau players very rarely.

How does one use Kroot to get good effect out of their weak, armor-less hides? The true advantages to Kroot are four-fold, and come from outside their statline.

1. Kroot are Troops. This means Kroot can score objectives, a modern marvel as it was once thought they would simply eat them. A tactic known as pillboxing has evolved from this, and it is the simplest form of objective scoring you will ever see. Place an objective in cover, preferably woods, and sit a massive blob of Kroot on it, who continually go to ground when fired upon. It will annoy anyone who has not brought effective cover-ignoring weapons to know end, as they bring hundreds of fifties of pounds of ordnance down on a difficult to extricate horde. This leaves your opponent's with an irksome choice; dedicate firepower to the 100 or so points of Kroot hiding away, or hit your actual firepower.

2. Kroot hordes take up space. This can be used to make a very annoying wall, circle, etc. that can screw with your opponent's ability to maneuver. In DoW games, you can place your Kroot far forward if you get first deployment, limiting the area your opponent can deploy into. You can form large blocks around vehicles to dissuade deepstriking melta from landing too close. You can circle up around your Broadsides to protect them from quick assaults. They can provide a wall of cover to your Crisis Suits, allowing them to jump behind it after firing freely.

3. Kroot make great outflankers. A 20 or so man squad (with Puppies!) can threaten the flanks very well, tarring up units in assault or killing weakened enemies. If no targets are available, they can come in on a cornered objective and score. Your success with this strategy will vary, but back in the day when I used outflanking Kroot as part of Ninja Tau and Ethereal Tau (I know; ew) they ranked up: 2 Rhinos (1 full of TacMarines that couldn't disembark), a Daemon Prince with 3 wounds, 2 Basilisks, and some Scouts. It can be rather effective.

4. Kroot can INFILTRATE. This is a big deal. You can set up to push back enemy Infiltrators, or stop a first turn rush, or any such nonsense. You can get yourself into shooting range or threaten infantry targets. It is a very reactive ability that can help to remove alpha-strike threats from a less tactical opponent. That being said, I prefer to use Stealth Suits for this role, as their guns have more of a punch, but Kroot are cheap and effective at this.

Tau players, how do you use Kroot? Do you see them as useful or useless?

One last thing; Kroot can win you the game automatically against an all-reserved all-bike/infantry army :D

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