8e T'au Discussion Part 6: Non FW Riptides need not apply

because theyre a holdover from when tau plasma was "better" i.e. lower strength but no overheats, until Cawl solved plasma forever, and now it's just bad.

move the drone controller off the commander, give him another fusion blaster and put a drone commander on the stealth shas'vre. fusion quadmanders are gonna be suicide squads that generally aren't your warlord, so making him the drone controller doesn't make a lot of sense unless you change his weapons

also, you're gonna want a backfield drone controller for broadside drones, and in the future you'll probably want to add sniper drones as well (to the same backfield drone blob) so you want some kind of backfield controller unit as well
tau flamers aren't bad? they're just... flamers. and having lots of flamers in this edition is good, and they can take lots of them, so...

No tau stole their tech from Land's Vision an adeptus mechanicus ship found crashed on the innermost of T'au Seven's moons.

Yeah, lets see what the Rv does best. I think it should be the long range artillery type. Master of Mob Merking.
That role needs to be filled for tau

Thinking about it, it really is a nasty thing.
It can do solid numbers with one gun, crazy numbers firing both, and with Nova+MLs absolutely murder almost anything.

If you assume that would guns can be fired with Nova. Then versus a T8 tank
With MLs+Nova, firing both guns
About 19.5 wounds pre-save plus maybe 2 mortals.

Your stealth team has target lock and ats on the same model. You cant equip 2 support systems on a stealth suit.

Markerlight on Stealth Suit is never going to be used. If you cut it you can bring 1 more pathfinder.

Reading the rules, it looked like the Shas'vre could take a support system on top of a marker+target lock combo package. I guess i read it wrong.

Yeah, the drone commander was an iffy idea. How about this, for something different?

>Reading the rules, it looked like the Shas'vre could take a support system on top of a marker+target lock combo package. I guess i read it wrong.
Nope I made a mistake

It seems like he can take both RAW

Hows this look?

The idea is to have a core gunline with fire warriors, pathfinders, and tanks. Use the coldstar to harass, deep strike the commanders and crisis suit where necessary.

Ghostkeels and Stealth cover flanks, take objectives early to bait the enemy to come closer.

I could cut something to make room for a Sunshark Bomber, combos very well with the Coldstar. Maybe cut the Broadside?

I hope the RV is durable Battlesuit based arty. That'd be neat. If the XV9 are durable enough I think they could be a durable counter to assault armies.

As of now, I'd Nova the Y'Vahra the first turn and burn a Boyz mob. Nova lasts until the beginning of your next turn. So if he charges you he's on average down 14-16 boys by then. I'm sure with some Drones in tow, you can tank 13 Boyz and a Boss Boy with Klaw. Or, you charge him and block the way. Then, you shunt away and burn him. Granted, this Tide is gonna be pushing 300pts as well, it seems super durable.

Neither are bad. The Plasma Rifle is the most cost efficient weapon we got in terms of damage and points.

Flamers are Flamers. They just need to be on more platforms like Stealth Teams and have a Drone option as well. That'd be ace.

That'd be awesome!

I'd be surprised if it is less than 400 points loaded up. If it was only 300 points it would probably be straight up broken.
Flaming Boyz seems like a waste though. Frying heavier infantry seems much more efficient otherwise the D3 is wasted

Well, to put things into perspective, the Riptide is 17 power, the Stormsurge is 22 power, and Y'Vahra is 20 power.

If you go by the points in the picture it's about 120. The power difference is 5. So we can guesstimate that it's sitting pretty in the 380-400 range kitted out. Base is probably a bit more than your standard Tide.

Against Orks it may feel wasted, but any other opponent they'll be pissing down their pants leg. I mean a Bullgryn unit can get liquidated in one shooting phase even with a Slabshield.

This picture...

It is pretty potent against tanks too. Can rack up like 10 wounds on a tank with just the flamer

I think it (Y'Vahra) will definitely be the workhorse variant of the Riptides unless the R'Varna has some crazy strong anti-everything gun with really good range.

It's well worth the cost for how strong/tough it is, but I worry the Shield Drones won't be able to keep up. Question is what Support Systems do you throw on? ATS and that's it? The super Flamer doesn't really need much else nor can it really use the other ones.

I can see myself throwing a Y'Vahra in a Battalion detachment with the requisites to fill it out and then filling out a Supreme Command to get a bunch of Commanders, an extra CP, and a LoW slot if I wanted to bring a Surge. At 1850, it would be pretty stacked. Especially since I like to bring a Ghostkeel and some Stealth Suits to fill out the batt detachment. I'm hoping it's not 420pts. More like 350. Then I could try and fit in a Devilfish for my Breachers. At 1500 I'd drop the Surge.

>VT on a commander
Why?

Anyway, the 107 is definitely the ranged one out of the FW pair. Doubt it'll be anti-everything.

I complained about it on the 40k page

Y'know, I've always wondered why the FW riptide variants had the same or even better invuln as their GW counterpart despite not carrying a shield generator on one arm.
Also, the Y'varha is mostly okay. It's tremendously short-ranged guns means it'll spend a lot of time dodging out of melee.

Cause FW knows that more guns would be cooler.
The 109 has a native 4++ for close range, without NOVAing. Unless it costs more than a Surge somehow it is looking fine

It *is* fine, I've tried mine already, but it is in constant danger as it skirts close to the enemy. It's kinda nerve-wracking.

Long time Dark Eldar player here tapping into Tau because I've always wanted to but didn't want to purchase three riptides. I love both the feel of Tau infantry and their weaboo fightan mechas.

How is this list looking going into 8th ed? Any huge problems with it, anything that could be improved? It's my first Tau list so please be gentle.

High risk high reward
I think I really like the 109 having a different style. Up close but still Tau as opposed to shoot from the corner. Exciting mixup

Crisis aren't spectacular but commanders and ghostkeels are solid
Stealths are pretty decent too and homing beacons allows for drop ins into melta and flamer range

I love Ghostkeels, however I also happened to acquire 14 crisis suits for absurdly cheap which are now sort of the backbone of my Tau Collection.

S-so someone please advise.

commanders, both coldstars and standard.
triple flamer crisis suits are value for hordes
try and convert one to be farsight if you don't own him

True. Its guns are brutal, but with the range limitation you'll need to adopt a balls-out playstyle. There is no hesitant play with the Y'varha. You either go all in or you don't go at all.
Really curious how the R'varna will work. In theory the new shooting rules should benefit it immensly.
Here's to hoping my tag team of Riptide, Y'varha and R'varna still work well together.

Thanks my man, I'll take your advice. I wanted to run an Enclave army anyway.

Actually, speaking of the R'Varna, how does that get to the battlefield? Are there Orca variants that carry it around? I kind of like the idea of a strike team of the three riptide patterns led by a Coldstar, but without flight the R'Varna would be the odd-one out...

>1850
Stop this

7th is dead

Burst Cannons are good but not on crisis suits. The fire warriors provide a lot of S5 shooting already, you dont need your expensive elite units doing the same thing as your basic infantry.

Fusion Blasters are really bad on Crisis Suits. For 315 you can take 3x Crisis with 3x FB each or you can take 2x Commanders with 4x FB each for 320 points and do more damage on average.

Crisis Suits shine with Cyclic Ion Blasters, Missile Pods, and Flamers.

I want to say you have too many crisis suits? Maybe include some longer range threats that force the enemy to come to you - right now they can turtle up and wait for your crisis to come down, completely ignoring all your fire warriors.

I don't see any reason to run more than 1 Fireblade, their effect doesn't stack. He is a good BS2+ markerlight but that's not worth 42 points. For 42 points you can take 5 pathfinders and get 2-3 markerlights on average per turn.

You have too many drones. Drones detach and form their own separate unit after deployment, which makes them easy prey in a kill points match.

Marker drones are strictly worse than bringing more Pathfinders in your list right now because you don't have a drone controller. Pathfinders are 8points for BS4+ while marker drones are 10 points for BS5+.

Longstrike: Rail Gun or Ion Cannon?

Rail Gun seems to be almost strictly worse against everything but T8+ vehicles/monsters, but is the 1 in 3 chance of doing mortal wounds worth it?

Meme list comprising almost entirely of stealth-themed units.

Viable?

I like the idea of an aggressive tanking unit. It's a strong distraction Carnifex that can get away. Don't forget the damn thing moves fast. So if it's really bad you can put a lot of distance between units. Plus you have drones for the really bad things that can do multiple wounds. It's my only designated AA unit. It will always hit a Supersonic unit on a 2+, by taking another gun and going to a 3+, that seems riskier to me.

You did read that I can drop the Surge if I wanted to play 1500 right? People play different points. If people are gonna play Power I can do 1850 on points.

Do it. Shadowsun, Stealth Teams, Ghostkeels, Firesight Marksman and Sniper Drones.

>playing in local tournament
>know the meta is full of people bringing lords of war
>bring a sky ray, 2 hammerheads (ion cannons), 1 longstrike (railgun), crisis suits, commander, pathfinders, and some fire warriors
>12 seeker missiles total
>first game
>playing vs magnus
>declare kauyon with coldstar on tanks and pathfinders
>deploy crisis suits and commander behind his army
>easily get 5 markerlights on magnus
>he takes 12 damage from seeker missile, 4 ion cannon hits finish him off

Easy win from there

Seeker missiles are amazing, people don't give them enough credit

So would a list based around Y'Vhara be a good idea?

That's pretty specific setup than can be ruined by lots of things but I guess when you can pull it off it's worth it.

It is versus a Magnus
Either kill him or be destroyed

I knew the meta would be full of big monsters. Everyone there wanted to try their stompas and trygons and all sorts of huge stuff

It would probably lose hard to a mass infantry list

Check the mathhammer spread sheet

There seems to be a lot of problems in it
Like the Commander doing less damage then crisis with better BS, and other things that make no sense like fire warrior doing more then 2 wounds in rapid fire

I actually want to run something like this but without the ghostkeel. Is it viable and how would I have to set it up?

Ghostkeel is kind of a lynchpin. You gonna use Kroot for troops in a Battalion or you gonna use the Outrider Detachment?

There's not that many stealth units though.

Here is a pdf that I put together throughout the years, for those that have good taste and love the kroot.

The image quality wasn't the best to begin with, having had to resize it to be able to post it here made it worse. Still, someone might find it useful...

Vanguard detachment. 1-2 hq, 0-3 troops, 3-6 elites, 0-2 everything else.

>for those that have good taste and love the kroot
>first half is some hyper tech tau+kroot hybrids
>when like the 1st bullet point of kroot is that they eschew tech as they think it'll make them weak

Eh that's what I came up with. Very limited without a Ghostkeel calling the shots.

Here's a spicy hypothetical.

How does one build the least-bad Tau army that's specifically designed to be semi-regularly in close combat?

I'm thinking shield generators, flamers and overwatch abuse.

Farsight is a must. I would also say Flamer-focused commanders would be a good addition. Kroot hounds would offer some nice cheap assault power, and Shapers and Krootox can work to back them up. Breachers kind of work as close-quarters combatants, and Vespid can do alright in an assault.

Without forgeworld stuff I think crisis suits with shield+stimm+flamer with supporting infantry with photon grenades, maybe breachers to finish of units tarpitted by suits. Stealthsuits paired with photons also give that juicy -2 to hit against them. Both sucks against units with good AP and D. Maybe Kroot shaper with lots of doggos and oxes but they die to literally anything.

Has anyone ordered from red dog before? Thinking about getting these for my crisis suits since CIB are such a pain to get

reddogminis.com/catalog/item/9021373/10272853.htm

Hey Tau people!
I haven't played in a while I'm just curios about what I could do with what I have.

>4 full squads of rifle warriors
>1 squad of breachers
>2 Squads of Pathfinders
>1 Devilfish
>7 (new) broadside suits, 3 Rail+Plasma, 3 Missiles and 1 unassembled
>9 Crisis Suits
>1 Commander suit
>1 Cadre Fireblad
>1 Riptide w Ion + Smart Missiles
>1 Stormsurge unassembled
>An assorted mess of drones

Is there anything I really need that's missing or can I make due with this?

I'm a huge fan of the Ghostkeel and Stealth Teams. Still on the waiting on FW for the points and other profiles before I'd make any decisions as well.

Magnetize your suits and probably convert one or two of them into extra commanders. Maybe ethereal if you ever want to play smaller games and want to hit batallion for that extra 3 CP. Otherwise you should have ok collection there.

I like the idea of stealth teams but I want to get tanks first I think
Too late to magnetize

Never too late for that. You can disassemble them.

But I glued em?

If it's super glue put them into freezer. This should make the glue brittle and you can carefully snap/cut them. If it's plastic glue then you can cut them with hobby knife or cutters and greenstuff up any fuckups you manage to do. You have to anyway make some room for your magnets anyway.

Index leaks starting to hit oh boy

taunar up
it is a shooty beast

First attempt at a 2k army or an 8th army

Well, I'm kind of disappointed that Technical drones can only repair battlesuits and not vehicles as well, but the ones I have should still get more use than just being stand-in marker drones now.

I'm kind of disappointed that Drone Sentry turrets can't deep strike now either.

Also, those Hammerhead variants actually seem somewhat useful now. Certainly better than they were in 6th/7th where they had too many guns to properly move and shoot.

Heavy Burst HH looks good. Basically looks like a straight up better Riptide for less cost

Yeah. Twice as many shots thanks to having 2 HBCs, and at higher BS, which is boosted even more with Longstrike nearby?

The only thing you lose out on is some of the support systems to make the AP better, but being so cheap in comparison really makes the decision easy.

Just one since they're ~400 base.

Balls out playstyle is a nice change of pace.

It's more than a barebone Surge funny enough.

You were right. 395 base and it's guns are free. Drones bring the cost up pretty quickly. Certain Support Systems cost more as well. A single Shielded Missile Drone and an ATS brings it to 428pts. I'll probably run the M52 Shield Drones since they have a better save, though they'll have a hard time keeping up with the suit.

With an average of 12 shots before Nova'ing, at 60" range, and with no Jet Pack/Fly capabilities. This guy is definitely arty. Its guns are only Str 6 with an AP-2, but the Damage of 3 is pretty solid. It's essentially the Phased Plasma Flamer, but without the auto hits and having more than 6x the range. Might pick it up as a chinacast for funsies.

How is the Tiger Shark AX-1-0 supposed to fire its heavy railguns if Macro weapons can't move and shoot without Titanic, the AX-1-0 has no Titanic, and has to move at least 20 inches?

Also, why does the R'Varna have a specific list of wargear it can take and the Y'vahra does not?

>A Y'vahra can take a shield generator

oh baby

there's a repair drone?

dx4 technical drones can repair battlesuits now, same way techpriests fix tanks.

what hammer head variants are you talking about?

I dont see them in the pdfs

or the variant HH

See They can also give a unit the benefit of being in cover, like a sort of mobile terrain piece.

They're in the Forge World index, check the 40k general for a link

1) oversight from FW. gentleman's accord would give Titanic to it.

2) In 7th, the R'varna also was reduced to 2 choices from support systems. I think they just carried over with them.
At least the ATS is really good in him.

the heavy bombardment hammerhead with HYMPs and the fire support one with plasma cannon, burst cannon, or fusion cannon

drone

>Hazard suits at 16 shots and 93 points
>Remoras at 8 shots and 91 points
>Tetras give you markerlight level 3 immediately
Awesome
>heavy gun drone at 8 shots and 38 points
>4 gun drones give you 16 shots at 32 points
nuts

Why bother? It makes no sense.

Fire support with Twin heavy burst. Forgeworld

>You were right
score

How do you think the HYMP hammerhead looks compared to a Broadside? It feels like the hammerhead wins out a bit in terms of mobility and durability.

I have but they havent arrived yet

Missilehead is like 260 points, better BS but no battlesuit synergy

HH clocks at 259, while Broadside at 202, I think.
The Broadie can take ATS and use nearby drones (now, technical drones repair it!). Of course, all of these increase its cost.

On the other hand, the HH has a better base BS, can be buffed by Longstrike (opening up good use of seeker missiles), has double wounds, better Toughness and Fly.

Guys, I finally shelled out for a Ghostkeel; is it easy to magnetise? I find myself less than eager to glue on either main weapon or any of the shoulder mounted ones.

yeah it's easy, a 3mm will do for the main weapon, but I used two anyway

heavy disappointment drones

Awesome; I use 2mm almost exclusively so I'll probably use 2 of them for the main gun, 1 each for shoulders.

>remoras don't have markerlights anymore
>remoras aren't actually stealthy anymore
nuts

What's a good option for multi-damage weapon units without resorting to missile-sides and broadsides in general? I was thinking the r'varna

not to mention being squishier than a crisis suit

Not impressed by ORLY.
He does good damage on vehicles but has to be close enough not to get his good invul against them. His babby lascannon is nice but he can't actually target characters. No more photon casters, and his drones aren't actually special anymore either, it's just an artifact name.

I came here just because i just read that rule. God damn, only bought the index cause i want to play with my tigershark. Must need to be faq'd to be titanic.