T'au Disscusion Thread Edition V

XV69 Coldsteel
>M 11' WS 2+ BS 2+
>S 6 T 6 W 5 A 5 SV 3+

Weapons
>Tec 9, Range 24" Type Assault 3, S5 AP -3,, D2
>Genki Steel: Range Melee, Type Melee, S+2, AP -5, D3

Abilites
>'Teleports behind you', At the start of any movement phase the may redeploy anywhere within 5" of any enemy

>'pffft, Amateur', When attacking models with fewer attacks than the , the may reroll failed to hit rolls of one in the fight phase.

>"NANI?!?!!", Enemy models may not fire overwatch on the . In addition, all enemy attacks suffer a -1 to hit

>'defflects youre bullet': The has a 3+ invulnerable save.

>'reaper of darkness', Add 3 to all the morale checks of enemy units within 6" of the

The meme level of this post is horrifying.

when we get the farsight enclave release for the tau

GIVE ME BACK MY ONAGER GAUNTLET YOU NIGGERS

Perhaps. I think 1 is too few. 2-3 might do it

GW drones already have their wargear counted in their prices

Give paths a special or two maybe

I keep messaging GW about it

Enclaves special please

I don't think they'll ever happen, but I'd gladly use Tarellian Dog-Soldiers as our melee heavy hitters

After the FAQ, are shield drones worth using again? They now have a 5+ "fnp" so they have a chanse of surviving taking wounds for your suits (although not as good a chanse as before when they could take their 4++ save on those wounds). They're also harder to kill than before as they now have a 4++ save and then 5+ to ignore failed saves.

Which one should I take?

Hm, maybe give a rail a whirl and see how it goes.

They are no longer strictly inferior drones at least

It means that they're legitimately better bodyguards than other drones, which is really nice. Whether this added survivability is worth the loss of firepower from Gun Drones is really dependent on context.

Sad that there was no change to crisis or commander point values. Looks like we may have to wait until codex to be able to field crisis which aren't strictly worse than similar commanders outside of flamer suits.

Well, I will go with Ions - they round my list perfectly. I have a question about guardian drones - can I build them from fire warriors kits? There are bits for two drones in FW box but I'm not sure for which ones

Patrol Detachment (T'au Empire) [55 PL, 1000pts]

HQ
Cadre Fireblade [3 PL, 58pts]: Markerlight, MV1 Gun Drone, MV4 Shield Drone
Ethereal [4 PL, 66pts]: Honour blade, Hover Drone, MV1 Gun Drone, MV4 Shield Drone

Troops
Strike Team [6 PL, 119pts]: DS8 Tactical Support Turret w/ SMS, MV1 Gun Drone, MV36 Guardian Drone
- Fire Warrior Shas'ui: Markerlight, Pulse pistol, Pulse rifle
- 9x Fire Warrior w/ Pulse Rifle
Strike Team [6 PL, 119pts]: DS8 Tactical Support Turret w/ SMS, MV1 Gun Drone, MV36 Guardian Drone
- Fire Warrior Shas'ui: Markerlight, Pulse pistol, Pulse rifle
- 9x Fire Warrior w/ Pulse Rifle

Elites
XV8 Crisis Battlesuits [11 PL, 212pts]
- Crisis Shas'ui: Flamer, 2x Plasma rifle
- Crisis Shas'ui: Flamer, 2x Plasma rifle
- Crisis Shas'vre: 2x Plasma rifle, Velocity tracker

Fast Attack
Pathfinder Team [8 PL, 112pts]: 2x MV1 Gun Drone, MV31 Pulse Accelerator Drone
- Pathfinder Shas'ui: Markerlight, Pulse pistol
- 7x Pathfinder: 7x Markerlight
- 2x Pathfinder w/ Ion Rifle: 2x Ion rifle

Heavy Support
XV88 Broadside Battlesuits [10 PL, 187pts]: 2x MV1 Gun Drone
- Broadside Shas'vre: 2x Plasma rifle, Heavy rail rifle, Target lock

Dedicated Transport
TY7 Devilfish [7 PL, 127pts]: 2x MV1 Gun Drone, Burst cannon

Total: [55 PL, 1000pts]

Having the single VT on your crisis shas'vre is kinda weird, as it means the 'vre will be hitting on a different number than the 'uis against flyers. Why VT on just one of them?

>Thread question - which model is the most fun to paint for you?

And you post this in a dedicated Tau thread?!?!

Mysides.jpg

RAW, a single VT affects the whole unit

Read the latest FAQ, it doesn't anymore.

>5+ FNP on shield drones
LOOKS LIKE GUE'LA'S BACK ON THE MENU BOYS

Models where I don't have to paint many of, so I can put in a lot of effort without making me wanna die

What's the best setup for AA crisis suits? I know VT is the essential on only one of them but I'm not sure about weapons.

>on only one of them
today's FAQ changed it. Now it works as any other SS (per model).

The best weapons are either MP or CIBs...
but, to be frank, QFCs are the best AA thing in your army

Huh, I didn't read it, my bad. So what is the best build for crisis suits now?

flamers

Well, fuck me then. I'm not sure if I should slap 3 flamers per suit or 2 flamers and VT

>2 flamers and VT

...
That makes no sense dude

Oh fuck, I don't know why but I thought that VT grants you additional damage. I mean I know how this shit work but I messed up somehow. It's time to sleep I think

3 flamers, man. all you need.
and a fuckload of drones as well

Fug, so I will have to buy extra flamers somewhere.

Right now I have 2 shield drones to fly around Fireblade, 2 guardian drones and a Pulse Accelerator Drone to buff the FW units and 8 gun drones for more dakka.

Velocity Tracker is for shooting flyers. You use it on Crisis Suit loadouts that are 2x plasma or 2x fusion blaster.

A common takes-all-kinds trio setup with these is:

2x Crisis suits with double plasmas and a flamethrower, Leader has Velocity Tracker in place of flamer.

Or, for more anti-tank purposes;

2x Crisis suits with double fusion blasters and a flamethrower, Leader has Velocity Tracker in place of flamer.

VT tracker effects only 1 model

Updated Crisis calculations for VT suits to now take into account for VT only buffing the suit it's on.

When I first saw them, I thought the tau moving fortifications were shitty.

But thinking about it, Tau's thing is adapting.
I mean it's mostly gone behind muh giant robutts, but they're meant to be new guys who adapt their shit in response to the armies they face as a contrast to the stagnant imperium.

And most everyone in the galaxy, especially the Tau's main 2 enemies (and the encroaching nids) uses mass charges. And what irl kills the mass charge? Oh right, mass fire from protected fortifications. Tau looked at the WWI-esq battlefields of the forty-whatever millennium and built space trenches (complete with Maxim equivalent in the form of gun drones, though there's no heavy gun drones for that gatling feel), that's something I can respect.

At least in conception anyway, idk about execution

Kinda new to the game and playing Tau. So I just had two questions.

1. Do Fireblade's ability stack if there are 2 or more of them within 6" of a unit?

2. Can I re-roll twice with Multi-tracker and 1 Markerlight on an enemy unit if I roll a 1 and then another 1?

1. No. Check the wording of Volley Fire' rule: "(...) within 6" of ANY friendly Cadre Fireblades (...)".
If it was an 'A' instead of 'ANY', it would stack
2. No. No die in this game can be re-rolled more than once.

In the most recent battle report in White Dwarf, it was Freebootaz vs Tau on a former Imperial world. They used the tidewalls, and though I didn't like them before, I remembered the area wasn't important to the Tau and the Freebootaz had buried treasure there.

The tidewall had obviously moved because this area was suddenly strategically important, giving the Tau there a more defensible position - I found that adaptability quite cool.

Holy cow, Interceptor drones are fantastic now. They didn't really need buffing, did they? 15pts for two BS 4+ flying Ion Rifles is a steal, especially given the weapons themselves are usually 7pts each.

>They didn't really need buffing, did they?
Model came with 2 weapons, but in its rules only had one.
It was not exactly a buff, but to fix incoherence.

I understand that reasoning for why they would add the second gun, but doubling a model's firepower without changing its cost is a sizable buff.

maybe it was supposed to cost that since the beginning, but they fucked up with the rules writing

While possible, that seems unlikely. As it stands, Interceptor drones are now hands-down one of the most efficient models in the game; more efficient than gun drones versus light infantry, more efficient than fusion quadmanders versus vehicles. The only downside is that you can't get units of them, you need to take them with a sunshark.

Play auxiliary understrength detachments with no sunsharks

Kek. 2 drones aren't worth -1CP

Also only legal if you literally do not own the sunshark.

>convert drones with ion rifles from pathfinders
>???
>profit

>The box came without a flier just a heap of drones

Am I crazy or are Remoras actually not as bad as everyone is making them out to be? Slap a drone controller and ATS on a Coldstar and give him some Remora buddies and you've got a very mobile and versatile little kill squad. I get that it's not the most raw points efficient way to kill things but they're quite a bit tougher than regular gun drones (and much, much faster).

The problems with remoras is that they lost their stealthy appeal and their markerlights. Also, they weren't that good back them and aren't that good now - just more S5 shooting. I can take a XV9 for less than 20p more and fire twice the number of shots a remora can

At least they can dish out BS3+ seeker missiles even when moving, if the DC coldstar is with them.

I suppose that's fair. To be honest I think it's their mobility that's really appealing. Tau don't have much that can get all the way across the board and threaten anything behind any cover with decent efficiency.

I'm also always looking for an excuse for a Coldstar to actually be relevant. It's such a cool idea but the fixed weapon loadout undercuts it so badly.

In other news: I was reading the FAQ updates and, unless I'm mistaken, Longstrike's aura is actually fixed now, right? They changed the wording of his aura to just affect Hammerheads, rather than specifically TX7 Hammerhead Gunships, which means it should also affect the FW ones you can't buy anymore anyway. Assuming FW ever puts the bits up again (or you can find a suitable third party version) that seems like it would make a bunch of the double heavy burst cannon tanks led by Longstrike a viable mid-strength option instead of suits, commanders or drones. The price drop on the base chassis for both FW tanks is nice as well, although they're still a hefty chunk of points.

The faux-missileside 2x SMS/2xHYMP Hammerhead looks fun now too, although it's still probably not worth its points.

40" move+advance alone makes Coldstar good. Remoras might be its best 'bodyguards', but don't overload on them (81p each is still pretty expensive)

HYMP Hammerhead with Longstrike nearby is much better than HYMP Broadside. Heck, even without him around it's at least as good as the Broadie.
The HBC version is flatout better than a Riptide
The other 2 are meh...

>HYMP Hammerhead with Longstrike nearby is much better than HYMP Broadside
I mean, that much is kind of obvious - HYMP Broaddies kinda suck now. I'm more curious if it's even a viable option to use against vehicles when you could just take more fusion commanders. Longstrike himself isn't terribly efficient, but he lasts a while and the buff to the HBC HHs seems good enough by itself.

Basically, I'm thinking of an army that's Longstrike and some HBC tanks for infantry slaying power, 3-5 fusion commanders to blow up what needs blowing up, and probably 5-10 pathfinders to get enough markers on what needs shooting at just for the rerolling 1s (and maybe the move without heavy weapon penalty, that could be useful for tanks). There might even be enough room for Coldstar and 2-3 Remoras there too, but battlescribe is freaking out on me and I can't get the 40k datafiles to work.

I disagree

Broadsides are a 1+ save in cover, have AP2/1 instead of AP1/0 and most importantly drones can absorb wounds from heavy weapons

Hammerheads are just a big target for heavy weapons. They also can't use For the Greater Good

But Hammerheads have double wounds, better toughness and fire at BS2+ around Longstrike.

I'd never use HYMP Broadsides when Heavy Bombardment Hammerheads do exist.
HRR Broadsides are negotiable

The return of shield drones! (kind of)

Well they are no longer terrible, I'd say balanced even, maybe

Wait what?

FAQ lets them take a 5+ to ignore damage if you use them to block wounds on another unit instead of just taking a mortal wound with no saves allowed. IIRC it works like a "FNP" so it blocks damage rather than wounds, and it's a 5+ rather than a 4+, but it's better than nothing. It also forces the opponent to choose between clearing the drones directly so you don't get to choose when to use them (but against their 4++) or to gamble at fire at stuff near them not knowing if you're gonna use them (but if you do they're also not as reliable). It's a pretty reasonable change all around.

Drones that don't have shield generators still eat shit and suffer a mortal wound if they intercept a shot, though.

Snipers seem very important in 8th edition. Space Marines have loads of auras, Necrons have loads of auras, Guard have lots of auras, etc. Tau only have one sniper unit, and it's only good if you invest in it heavily.

So... what's the best way to do so? If you want to run a Marksman, 9 drones and a drone controller, where do you get the drone controller? Stealth suits?

Why would you do stealth suits? Their range doesn't mesh well with sniper drones at all. I'm a fan of a Riptide as a Drone Controller. Good durability, good range.

Because we want this thing to cost less than a third of your entire army. Stealth suits are the cheapest platform. A broadside or a riptide could work, but then you kind of need to base a large part of your army around drones or the cost of that controller becomes downright silly.

If our objective is to create a blob of snipers that snipe things efficiently that can then be a part of various different army compositions we need to find a way to get a drone controller in there that doesn't force the entire army build to revolve around it. Stealth Suits seem like the best way to do that, but I'm open to other suggestions. I suppose technically a commander could do it, but since commanders usually want an ATS to make their gun loadouts work it crowds the slots a bit and doesn't feel very efficient.

Sniper drones also kind of want to be in rapid fire range to actually kill a character tougher than a commissar, and stealth suits can be used to screen them against charges. The range issue isn't actually as big as it looks on paper. "Sniping" doesn't necessarily have to be at long range; you just want to be able to actually shoot characters without having to kill the entire enemy army first.

Sniper drones are just bad

Flamers, fusion, or burst cannons on the Ghostkeel?

Fusion or flamers
Fusion for using with fusion waterfall
Flamers for overwatch and cheap factor with the Ion

>Drones that don't have shield generators still eat shit and suffer a mortal wound if they intercept a shot, though.
They ignore that mortal wound on a 5+

cyclic ion + burst cannons with ATS and EWO makes a very good anti-deployment flank protector

How? Isn't it the Shield Generator which lets Shield Drones do FnP?

reread the faq

1. Take a hit on a unit
2. Using saviour protocols you can ignore the hit, drone takes mortal wound instead
3. Drone loses a wound
4. If its a shield drone you can now try to roll a 5+, as per shield generator special rule

>‘In addition, roll a D6 each time a Drone with this ability loses a wound; on a 5+ that Drone does not lose a wound.’

It doesn't matter how a shield drone loses a wound. It can be through normal fire, psychic powers, or saviour protocols.

idiot

Riiight... but seems to imply that non-Shield drones also get FnP, which they don't seem to from the FAQ. The explanation you just gave agrees with the shield-drone-only interpretation. So I'm still confused by why non shield drones would be able to FnP.

They don't.

Is 2 Start Collecting the best way to become a glorious Space Commie?

I'd be scared to play you because of how many rules you get wrong...

seems interesting, but you'd like some stealth suits and commanders as well.
likewise, some hammerheads

Hey guys what kind of helmet would a Fireblade wear if he was smart enough to wear one?

I've got him in a strike team helm but it seems a little basic.

Might look better with paint on though.

Maybe the codex isn't THAT far off...

Probably a regular FW helmet but painted the sept colour. Breacher helmet might fit the style of the armour better due to being a bit more angular.

Eh, the GW response is intentionally vague in regards to timeframe, all they say is that news about it will at some point in the future likely be posted about there. Which is true whether it releases in two weeks or ten months.

True, but stuff very far away they usually are very clear about. So maybe end of this year, early next year?

Watch this space is hard to read into

>you can take imperium and Eldar units in the tau codex

>mfw I just bought a single piranha I will probably never use
Well, I hope this model actually looks good irl

Clearly the "problem" is longstrike. Once the codex hits and we get some proper suit support things might shake up.

They should be able to take auxiliary gue'vesa

I think the issue would be finding a proper niche for them. Gue'vesa are likely run as basic light infantry, in which case they're competing with Fire Warriors for our basic firepower infantry and Kroot for our disposable screen infantry. Currently, it would make more just to convert some Guard into Fire Warriors using pulse rifles.

If I wanted to read some T'au fluff, what would be good? I've heard a lot of the recent stuff is really fanwanky and considered only pseudo-canon?

>considered only pseudo-canon
?
What

All BL library is wanky, people just get salty when it isn't their turn to shine

Way they were done in FW they were slightly tougher stronger fire warriors with worse guns. So they just filled the kroot slot; guys to stick in front of your fire warriors.

Is a team of three crisis suits with x2 FB + MT each enough Anti-Vehicle for a 1k point list?

1. I'd personally like a little more, but it depends on how heavy your meta is.
2. Why MT instead of a third FB? That's a lot of missed damage potential. Also MT is redundant with proper ML support, but I understand if you plan to drop these in backfield, out of LOS of pathfinders.
3. If you are dropping these, you're making sure to use a Homing Beacon, right?
4. Obligatory: Fusion Quadmander is strictly superior in terms of cost, damage and survivability.

Okay, this is a list i'm very slowly building piece by piece. It's a start collecting box, an optimised pathfinder team and a stealth suit team. I really liked t'au when they first came out and it was a big, combined arms thing with skimmer tanks with big guns and agile mecha and high tech gunlines and etc.
But obviously t'au turned super-WAAC with riptide wings and got a pretty terrible reputation. Now that it's a new edition where that shit hopefully isn't going to happen, I want to make an 'old style' list, hence the options in it, but I really don't want to use the commander spam shit because i'd rather not embrace the cheese; it's a fun list, not a WAAC one.

Internal balance is dumb right now, literally commander or gimp yourself

And of course I forget to attach the list.
Also, MT instead of a third FB is just for points reasons really.
And yeah, the idea is to have them drop in via the homing beacon of the stealth suits.