Stalwart Markers: Pathfinder Uses

As promised, a short article on my uses of Pathfinders.
Pathfinders have a unique battlefield role. They are unable to deal any real damage by themselves, and must remain stationary to be effective. In an army built upon combined mobility and firepower, this is a strange combination of traits to have.
Pathfinders, as any good Shas'el knows, are of the utmost importance to an army's success on the field. Able to plot out the optimal firing paths against enemy units, they are capable of bringing the best out of your true firepower.

On the field, Pathfinders are useful when given forward firing positions. While useful in supporting positions, they rank below both Crisis and Broadside battlesuits in terms of survival priority. They are likely to be targeted by the enemy, and likely are going to be among the first of your units to go down. This can be used to your advantage, however.
By positioning your Pathfinders in a forward positioning, you ensure them two roles. First, they act as powerful early fire support. Second, they guide more than your own guns, as they will be lit up by whatever your opponent can send their way. By placing them forward they are able to absorb assaults for your main firing units.

All in all, it is most important to remember that Pathfinders are support, not your mainstay. They should be sacrificed for your true fire units when needed. Their value comes in their early support to your firepower, and in their ability to draw enemy fire away from your damaging units.

Leading the Charge! Ethereals

Ethereals are often among the the most hated units of the Tau Empire by the gaming community in general. Common wisdom would state that one should never take an Ethereal in any list expecting to win. Very much like how Necrons were always seen as an army you could phase out to beat, a Tau army with an Ethereal is portrayed to have a similar problem; kill the Ethereal and send half the army running.

This massive downside would probably sit fine with most Tau players if they got a tough model with the deal. The thing is, an Ethereal clocks in at just above a chunk of coal in terms of utility and slightly under wafer in terms of durability. The Ethereal lacks an armor save... or a save of any type. He has only two wounds, and a low Toughness. Not the epitome of toughness. The Ethereal also drops the ball by being the only Tau unit outside of Shield Drones and puppies to lack a gun.

The Ethereal has some definite perks, however; first and foremost being that he offers a re-roll to any leadership test taken by a Tau unit that can see him. He also makes any unit he joins fearless, increasing the durability against shooting of the unit he hides in by quite a bit. He adds a very small close combat punch, and can purchase Shield or Gun Drones. When an Ethereal's unit is whittled down, he can move into a vehicle;while not actively using his power at the time, it will save the problem of you running off the table.

The Ethereal can be fielded on the table one of two ways to be effective:

1. In sight, out of sight: An Ethereal will find a piece of cover ahead or to the side of your army, blocking enemy sight to him whilst allowing him to be visible to the rest of the army. A Devilfish that has landed can actually cover him completely whilst showing him to comrades to the sides; a useful thing to remember if you have, say, a Pathfinder Devilfish waiting to pick up reserved Fire Warriors. Do NOT do this if the enemy has barrage weapons.

2. In a unit: A team of Broadsides makes a great home for an Ethereal; strong, placed in the backfield, and now Fearless, the Broadsides will take quite a few hits for the Ethereal. Just beware being hit with massive amounts of hits and wounds getting to the Ethereal.Using Broadsides over, say, Kroot or Pathfinders, has the added bonus of having the Ethereal wounded as if T4.

That's all for the Ethereal.

Turbo: Gun Drone Squadrons

Gun Drones are a little used unit, again competing with the far superior Pathfinders and Piranhas. The main problem, however, is not that Gun Drones are bad, but that we shouldn't paying full price for them in most cases; A piranha squadron will bring you a small squad for free, other vehicles can bring pairs, and they can also accompany Crisis Teams for a little firepower and ablative wounds for 2pts cheaper a piece.

In their squadron form, either formed via ejection from vehicles or simply purchased, Gun Drones have a variety of uses:

-Gun Drones are often used as "glue" for wall, using their expendable mass to fill in where Kroot have fallen.

-Gun Drones can move around to act as mobile cover for other units, giving cover saves or slowing would-be assault units.

-Gun Drones have low priority on enemy lists, meaning that they can often flank the enemy position if you present the opponent a distraction. Their carbines can be an effective weapon for slowing AV10.

-Gun Drones rarely deal enough damage to cause substantial chaos, but they have one large upside to their weapons; pinning. Firing your Gun Drones at an important enemy unit gives you a small chance to pin. While not reliable, it is a useful bonus that should be thought of every once and a while.

Gun Drones that are purchased in squadron form can Deepstrike, which makes them reaching annoying positions much easier. Deepstriking allows instant access to rear armor, and allows access to backfield enemy heavy weapons. Note that Gun Drones (like Shadowsun) don't suffer from the XV8's inability to jump after deepstriking.

Gun Drones may also find a niche in my proposed "mobile wall". Making up the bulk of the proposed Stealth Wall, the squadrons themselves may be useful in a similar way. While only 8 men strong, they are a cheap option... though this, again, is overshadowed by the Piranha, as they bring the drones necessary while making the needed blockades themselves.

Turbo: The Swarm

The Vespid are among the most hated and most underused Tau units in the game.

Their range is terrible, they lack the ability to JSJ like other airborne terrors in the Tau Empire, their guns do surprisingly little damage, and they have little to no armor.

Why would anyone use our bug-like allies?

Honestly, outside of "THESE ARE SO AWESOME THEY MUST BE SPAMMED!!!!1!1!" I can't give any real reason to use them. They compete with Pathfinders and Piranhas, two of the most useful units in our codex for the purposes of force multiplication, while the Piranhas also double as effective melta carriers.

For those of you that actually want to use Vespids, the following tips and tactics are for you:

1. If you want to use Vespids, choose your army in such away that everything you have supports or draws fire away from the bugs. This can include maxing out on Vespid, as the easiest way to increasing their offensive output is to attack en masse.

2. Be willing to accept that against anything that isn't a Marine, you will probably will end up using them as expensive and fast speedbump units. You have to come to terms with the fact that Orks don't give a damn about your AP3.

3. Make sure you can hold down the enemy. If you can bring a lot of pinning weapons, do so. AFP commander, Sniper Drones, Carbines, etc. IF the enemy can't counterattack your Vespids, you have stopped their first big weakness from coming into play.

4. Use Devilfishes as mobile terrain. This can help seal off one unit in your opponent's army; with a combination of Vespids and other firepower can kill off the target squad whilst making it difficult for other dogs to target you.

There are two tactics that can be utilized with the Stingwings, but there is another brainchild of mine that I have yet to test which I will also be posting here:

1. First strategy is the swarm. It is rather simple, and uses multiple Vespid squads to achieve its goal. You bring in your first squad and fire on the enemy from cover, leaving the squad open to retribution. Meanwhile, move some other squads nearby. When they enemy moves in, you ambush them the next turn with a mass Vespid shoot-assault combination The high initiative of Vespid and their massed firepower can wipe a unit of Marines in most cases.

2. Second is the Bug Bomb, which is simple. Deepstrike them into a piece of cover occupied by a weakened enemy and finish them off.

Now here comes my brainchild, completely untested, and born from recent debate:

Seeing as how the Mont'ka rarely uses Pathfinders, the slot is open for Gun Drones and Vespids.

So I got to thinking... can Vespids or Gun Drones be used as if they were fully mobile Kroot Walls? It is something I HAVE to test out; the sad thing is that they lack the numbers to spread out as much, but a full squad of Vespid or Gun Drones have merit in walling capabilities.

Sadly, I lack means to try the Vespids right now, so I'm going to ask a favor; will a Mont'ka player try this out? I'm going to check out the viability of Gun Drone Squads for this.

Anyways, that's all I have for you for our Wasp-like friends.

Turbo: Piranha strike forces

I've already posted stuff on Piranha units, but for the sake of having it all in one place I'm making a rehash. From my old post, "Speeding Up":

"Piranhas are useful in a wierd way to the Tau army as they don't bring a lot of firepower, and because of this their mobility seems rather useless; I can bring one Fusion Blaster and Targetting Array there for 70 points? And they seem rather fragile compared to most other vehicles. Weakest possible armor on the side and rear and overpriced compared to Landspeeders, as well as poorly armed in comparison.
So why use Piranhas? Because they make excellent roadblocks. Piranha roadblocks can be used in two ways; the Swordfish and the School of Piranhas.

The Swordfish tactic is simple; A piranha with a Fusion Blaster and Targetting Array rushes the enemy and parks directly in front of the enemy's vanguard vehicle, moving flat-out. The enemy can attempt to destroy it in his shooting phase, but the movement prior will be slowed by him circumventing your vehicle. If your vehicle lives, then you can hop to the enemy's rear armour and fire your meltagun, or plop down in front again.

The School of Piranhas uses two or more Piranhas (two are a cheap annoyance; three or more are a tank murdering unit that should be feared). Each Piranha is armed with a Fusion Blaster (you could use Burst Cannons, but I feel they are a waste of the Piranha), Targetting Array, Flechettes, and some should have Target Locks. The strategy begins the same as the Swordfish; rush a tank, block path, melta and then annoy. But this becomes much more effective; the space taken up by two Piranhas is enough to waste entire turns of movement, and three or more can easily block mulitple units. In addition, the Target Locks will allow you to attempt melta on multiple vehicles; an extremely useful ability. Finally, the Flechettes will allow you to block off infantry paths; putting them between you and an offending unit will force them to move around. Assaulting them will not help your opponent either, as the Flechettes will tear light infantry apart, while hurting even the heavier ones (two Flechettes in a squadron while statistically wound every model in the assaulting unit! That means only 5 Boyz from a full 30 man mob will live, or you can shred about three Marines from a full Tacsquad if they attempt to grenade your Piranhas to death). In addition, when moved at cruising or flatout speeds, the enemy needs 6s to even hit the vehicle, which is easily failed.

If you are having trouble stemming an enemy rush, try using Piranhas in your list; from popping mech to Flechetting hordes, these models can annoy or kill any would be threat that holds vehicular form."

Turbo: Using Pathfinders effectively

This will be my first section on Fast Attack, and it is rather unfitting that the first section is on the rather slow Pathfinders.

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?

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

http://img198.imageshack.us/i/photo053gnr.jpg

Leading the Charge! (Crisis Commanders and their Bodyguards)

Crisis Command Teams are a highly debated subject. The roles of the two Shas'vre bodyguards could easily be filled by Shas'ui purchased in the Elite slot, sporting the same number of wounds, same ballistic skill, and same mobility as the more costly Shas'ui. So why do many Tau generals insist on the use of bodyguards?
Bodyguards bring to the table three advantages that shas'ui do not. Sadly, the first two of these advantages are so miniscule that they are not deciding factors in the slightest:
1. They take up an HQ slot. This means that if you enjoy taking masses of Crisis or Stealth Suits, you may need a spot to fit more Crisis firepower. This only comes into play with larger point games, and rarely with any army builds but Crisis-spam.
2. They are better at combat. Bodyguards not only have an easier time hitting in combat, but they don't allow the Commander to be singled out (or vice-versa) by things that could easily kill it.
3. They have access to Wargear and Special Issue Weapons. This is the big one. This allows a plethora of options not otherwise seen. Want a team made to crush infantry? Plasma, CIB, AFB, Missiles, all in one squad. Do you want to have three weapon systems on each suit? Go ahead, you can hardwire multitrackers. Want Fireknives with backup flamers? Do it up.
The big thing here though; with the ability to hardwire multitrackers, you can finally give your whole team access to Targetting Arrays, which is key in lists that run few to zero markerlights.

A word to the wise, however. Bodyguards are expensive. You should only use a bodyguard team if you have reason to. Taking bodyguards only is worth the cost when:
a) you are out of Elite slots
b) you have a Special Issue team planned
or
c) you lack Markerlights
If you do not meet these criteria, stick to the shas'ui.

Leading the Charge! (Crisis Commanders and the Positional Relay)

The Crisis Commander is a rather broad subject. He can be run in a variety of ways, forming a lynchpin or a spearhead for your army. With access to all of the equipment a Crisis Suit can don he can fill almost any role given to him.

Today I'll be focusing on Commanders with the Positional Relay; a game changing device that can manipulate your reserves and thus give you unprecedented control of the battlefield. Flip open your codices and take a look at the Positional Relay and its abilities. It allows you to call in a single unit on a 2+ from reserves, denying all other reserved units from coming in that turn. This helps you in two ways:

1. You will (almost always) get the right man for the job at the right time. Whether it be a unit of outflanking kroot, a piranha squadron to wall off the opposition or bust a tank, railguns (either of the Hammerhead or AdvSS Broadside variety) marching in on the other flank to hit side armor, or deepstriking suits, you are almost assured that the unit will arrive right when needed.

2. On the exact opposite end of the spectrum, the Positional Relay can keep your reserves off the table. This is useful for players who use minimal troop choices; your valuable scoring units are kept off the board until late game when they sit on an objective. You can also keep your entire army off the board (save the Positinal Relay user) to lower the sting of drop pop or daemonic assault armies; half the army drops on a cheap unit in a corner, allowing you to outmaneuver him when your reserves come on elsewhere. This tactic is called Ninja Tau, and while useful sometimes, is prone to random fluctuations based on the insanity of reserves, and a good opponent's ability to pick you of piecemeal as you send in bait units turn by turn.

An example of a Positional Relay army would have powerful Heavy support options on a flank with a Crisis Team with Positional Relay. They would draw opponent's units across the diagonal towards a faux firebase, as they take heavy fire. Second and third tur reserves would slow or bother the units trying to reach your firebase, forcing the commitment of more resources. Your reserved Troops and a support unit or two come on the side they abandoned, landing on softened or deserted objectives late game, in a similar way to Fritz's (PLEASE look him up if you haven't ever heard of him) Eldar Jetbike Contesting/Capturing.

The great part about this is that if your opponent sits on the side of the board with the objectives and ignores your firebase, he is looking at massive Rail, Missile, and ranged Plasma fire hitting him as he hunkers down, which does not bode well; Tau are second only to the Imperial Guard at removing entrenched units from a range.

Those are the basics of Positional Relay tricks. Next up is the Commander's Bodyguard; a look at if they should be taken, and how to equip them.

The Few, The Proud... The Elites PT4 (Crisis Teams: The Ta'ro'cha)

The Ta'ro'cha is loosely translated from Tau language as "three minds, one purpose" from the Tau language. One would be wise to keep this in mind when setting up their unit; the Team will do well if their purpose (and weapons) are one.

Ta'ro'cha teams are the greatest amount of special/heavy firepower that can be achieved in a single unit for our army. They are similar to Duo teams in that taking long range builds is an effective use of points, and very far from Monats in the sense that a suicide drop with them will be costly (though still acceptable with the dirt-cheap Heatwaves).

The biggest change is their notoriety; experienced enemies will know to target unprotected Ta'ro'cha teams early on, as each death will cause a massive loss of firepower. Thus the major change over duos is not how you use the team offensively; but how you keep it alive.

Drone support. I am a firm believer in Drone Support. For a very small amount, you can add more wounds to your unit, and in the case of Shield Drones, a useful invulnerable save. Marker Drones are an expensive way to do this (with a few added boons), but I'd recommend against it in most cases, as it makes your unit a bigger target. Unless of course you want to make the unit a target, in which case go ahead.

Wound allocation. I spoke of this in the section on Duos, but a Ta'ro'cha team needs the allocation far more; while Duos gain an extra wound of preserved firepower, the Ta'ro'cha gains two (not counting ablative Drones). The way to gain difference in the models varies, however, and may mess with coherent firepower. For example, take a Deathrain squad as follows:

Shas'ui Team Leader w/ TL-MP, Flamer; Shas'ui w/ TL-MP, Flamer; Shas'ui w/ TL-Flamer, MP -142

This squad is fully different, meaning that it can take full use of wound allocation rules to its advantage. The is little firepower compromise either; one suit has lost its twin-linking on its main gun, but has gained a twin-linked flamer for its secondary role of burning away infantry. If I wanted to solidify the unit's role as Missile dakka, I could have given said Shas'ui his Twin-linked Missile and a Black Sun Filter, thus keeping the unit "different". If Drones wish to be added to the unit, than I simply give the Team Leader a Hard-wired Drone Controller.

This effect is more difficult to achieve with suits that use multitrackers, however. Take the standard unit of Firestorm Suits, for example:

Shas'ui Team Leader w/ BC, MP, MT; Shas'ui w/ BC, MP, MT; Shas'ui w/ BC, MP, MT -155

The general idea of using Burst Cannons and Missile Pods in unison cannot be kept here. We will either have to change a weapon (see example 1) or Twin-link a weapon and drop the other entirely (example 2):

1. ...; Shas'ui w/ PR, MP, MT (Adding in a Fireknife as opposed to a Firestorm allows you to keep full wound allocation but loses a Burst Cannon.)

2. ...; Shas'ui w/ TL-MP, BSF (Using this suit moves the purpose of the unit to be more Missile Centric. Giving the Shas'ui a TL-BC would do the opposite.)

Cover Saves. Even with Drones, Crisis Suits can take heavy casualties from low AP weapons (which good players will almost always direct at your suits). There are two effective ways I have seen for generating cover saves besides the simple JSJ tactics. I cannot take credit for either however.

The first tactic is the use of Piranhas moving fast or Kroot walls to get cover saves. To use te latter, place 50% of your Kroot in area terrain and form a line with the other half. Jump your suits over this line to shoot and then back again. Enemies returning fire are shooting through a unit, thus granting you saves. Shooting the Kroot allows you to take saves with them (or go to ground), but the Kroot are expendable in this tactic generally. With the former, you move the Piranhas fast near the suits (the Piranhas get saves) and then using the Piranhas as mobile terrain and moving behind them. This tactic is based heavily on Fritz's tactics using Guardian Jetbikes and Vypers to generate coversaves. For those of you who no little of Fritz and hisvarious 40k blogs, I suggest visiting his youtube page as a start. Sifting through the older tactics videos will give you a look at his unorthodox but effective playstyles. Check out: http://www.youtube.com/user/WayOfSaimHann

The second tactic is also someone else's. It is called Circling the Wagon, and is the brainchild of one of the only two other active Tau blogs of found on the net. You use a Devilfish or other battletank as a moving chunk of cover. For mutual support, Crisis Suits with flamers are a good reason for assaulters to stay clear of your vehicles. You can check out Tau of War's youtube page here: http://www.youtube.com/user/tauofwar

Next up on my list of posts will be looking into Crisis Commander tricks and the Positional Relay.

The Few, The Proud... The Elites PT3 (Crisis Teams: Duos)

Duos are odd little Crisis Teams. They can bring enough firepower to make good use of Markerlights while still remaining cheap and expendable (and thus still a good candidate for deepstrike). In addition, the use of Target Locks can make a cheap squad do damage far beyond their cost.
Duos are used in an almost identical way to Monats; cheap units are dropped to where your opponent wants them least, burning or smashing things in their wake. Alternatively, you are reaching the level of firepower where suits that hang back and use Markerlights and Missiles effectively enough to actually do something at range.

Because of the similarity, I will not be posting effective builds here, as they are the same as for Monats, mostly. I will be however, remarking on three things; Wound allocation, Target locks, and Drone support.

Wound allocation comes into play when Crisis Teams become larger. The essence of wound allocation can be found in the BRB (Big Red Book AKA the core rulebook), but it is worth summarizing how it works here.
If a unit has multiple multi-wound models that are identical, then any wounds that are placed on the unit are saved normally, and unsaved wounds are allocated on models so that none can be placed on others until the first wounded model is removed.
Wordy? Not done yet.
If these models differentiate in any way, then the the wounds are allocated before saves are made. In addition, you can place wounds on whoever you want, meaning that a Crisis Suit with one wound remaining can be spared the worst of the fire, or can be sacrificed to an Instant Death! attack to save the models with more than one wound left.
This is useful for Crisis Suits, as you can make it so that you can take more wounds than normal before losing a model (and thus firepower).
To do this, the Suits must be different in some way. This could be as simple as making one a Team Leader or giving the two suits slightly different equipment. Target locks are effective for this, as they give an effectiveness boost and also add diversity in the unit.

The second thing to learn is why and how to use Target Locks in Duo Team. Consider the firepower and threat of two identical Sunforge Battlesuits in a unit. They can drop down and pop a single tank, and then will likely suffer enough return fire to kill them. They may flame infantry if no tanks present themselves.
A unit of Sunforges with one model replacing their flamer witha Target Lock costs one point more, and has the potential to kill two vehicles, if the opportunity presents itself. In addition, it has wound allocation.

The final thing worth noting is Drone Support. Buying Drones for something this cheap and expendable doesn't sit right with me, personally. I normally reserve Drone Support for large squads, as an investment of that size needs protection.

That's all for now. I'll have three man teams up as soon as I can.

The Few, The Proud... The Elites PT2 (Crisis Teams: Monats)

The Crisis Teams are the iconic weapon-bearers of the Tau Army, sporting many forms of special weapons. They are also the cement of your army, filling in any cracks in your offensive power and solidifying an offensive core.
Crisis Teams are a complex subject, involving many layers of strategy and tactics, and to ease the strain of writing on myself and sifting/reading for you all, I'm splitting this into multiple posts. And so we go.

Monat refers to a Crisis Suit that is alone, fighting without squadmates or drone support, normally bearing the weight of a suicide mission. Monats are rather simple; they are cheap units that carry effective special weapons and it doesn't mean much if they die; they shouldn't cost more than 70 points apiece anyways.
Effective Monat Builds include:
Heatwave (TL-Flamer, BSF) -34
Cheapest possible suit of all time; Deepstrike it in and roast someone. It will die to rapidfire or assault. End of discussion.
Toasterboy (TL-Flamer, MP) -43
A slightly upgraded version of the Heatwave, sporting a Missile Pod thatwill allow it to move upfield to its target, or as a secondary if Deepstrike goes askew and lands away from the original target.
Sunforge AKA "Suicide Suit" (TL-FB, Flamer) -47
This is the standard suicide suit, dropping from the sky hoping to get close to anything, flaming infantry and melting tanks, only to die in a torrent of fire and fists. Burn bright, not long.
Deathrain (TL-MP, Flamer) -47
A suit to jump around and annoy at range. Anti-light vehicle with a flair for setting infantry on fire.
Fireforge (MP, FB, MT) -54
My personal favorite Monat, filling in for quick, effective anti-vehicle for those who don't attempt to squeeze in expensive railguns at low point levels.
Helios AKA "Forgeknife" (PR, FB, MT) -62
Anti-heavy infantry, anti-tank. Deepstrikes to deliver melta and rapidfire plasma and annoy or distract opponents. A little on the expensive side.
Fireknife (PR, MP, MT) -62
Anti-light vehicle, a flair of anti-heavy infantry. Long ranged, and use of cover can make it worth its points.

This is it for now. I'll be back with two man team tactics soon.

The Few, The Proud... The Elites PT 1 (The Stealth Team)

There are only two Elite choices in the Tau codex; The Crisis Team and the Stealth Team.



The Stealth Team is infinitely worse offensively and defensively than the Crisis team. If I were to take three Crisis Shas'ui with Twin-linked Burst Cannons and a Black Sun Filter (not that I would) it would run me 120 points. Compare this to 4 Stealth Shas'ui with Burst Cannons.

The Stealth Team hits 50% of its shots, meaning you will average 6 hits. The Crisis Team hits 75% of the time, meaning that while it has relatively few shots, its total hits will average 6.75.

On the defense, the Crisis Team has a higher toughness, increasing the survivability from all small arms significantly. The Crisis Team also has a larger amount of total wounds. The Stealth Team has a Stealth Field Generator, but at 18" away (the amount of distance that would be between a infantry unit and the Stealth team, including Stealths jumping back and infantry moving forward) the Stealth Field will fail to work 58% of the time; meaning that you will get gunned down rather quickly by what you tried to shoot up.

Where the Stealth Team excels, however, is its deployment options. With the ability to Deepstrike, Infiltrate, and Outflank, the Stealth Team, can get themselves exactly where your opponent doesn't want them. This makes their otherwise puny offensive abilities much better; they can hit isolated units, make attack runs at objective, or hit rear armor of a pesky vehicle; An AV12 or higher front armored vehicle with AV10 rear or side can be much better killed by outflanking Stealths with Burst Cannons, better than by an points-equivalent amount of Deathrains (TL-MP, random item).

Another optin while using the Stealth Team is to drop a great many points on them to turn them into a Stealth Marker Team. This requires Drone Controllers with Marker Drones, minimal team members, and maybe a Team Leader with a Markerlight. The idea is that while this unit is far more expensive than Pathfinders, their mobile Markerlights (due to the Relentless USR) and their Stealth Field coupled with the effective range of their lights and infiltration abilities makes them very difficult to kill, almost ensuring Markerlights all game long.

Stealth Teams deliver a punch of small-arms fire where you need them, or scout out targets for the main force. Try them in your lists.