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So I have been working on putting together a list as well. After trying out the Hunter Contingent, I just do not want to field so many foot soldiers... I like you, love my suits!

One formation that stands out to me in the auxiliaries is the Range support Cadre (i think thats what it is called? 3 broads, 3 pathfinders). This formation is so strong for one reason alone. SHROUDED pathfinders! Aside from that prettty much amazing perk, the 3 broadsides get double markerlight uses on these targets. That can really help out. In my mind, I view this as a perfect way to field 3 solo railsides in a list. They are low threat, tanky enough to survive fire, yet can be a nuisance if not taken care of.

Lets look at an example. Guy rolls up in his Imperial Knight.. or even a Wraithknight. Start of your turn. Killing blow confirmed. Throw markers his way. lets say you get 6 marker hits. That is enough to give bs5 + ignore cover to all 3 broadsides. Which thanks to killing blow, has reroll wounds and pens. Maybe you paid +8 for that seeker missle too. (lets say you did).. 6 s8 shots at 60" range ... yes please. that should be plenty to take out an Imperial Knight, even severely wound a Wraithknight.

As for any other transports or lower hp vehicles, you can pretty much guarantee a takedown. This Aux I have at around 400 with minor upgrades in the squads. Not bad for solid backbone.

The drone network is good.. but its expensive over normal pathfinders... relentless and assault jumps definitely make you mobile though.. and interceptor markerlights is .. drool worthy.

Another Aux I really like is the 3 strike fighter formation. d3 free markerlights, no reserve rolls, and +1 BS against any flyer/skimmer/FMC is pretty amazing. Guarantees your taking down enemy flyers and putting some serious hurt on a lot of xenos lists.

I can see why you prefer the ranged support cadre. Honestly, I just don't really like pathfinders. I like the idea of them, and in a more gunline/fire warrior list I'll take them, but T3 infantry using heavy weapons just doesn't work for me. They're way too immobile, if they move to reposition (which they aren't good at cause they're slow) they're nearly useless for a turn. The big thing they always had over drones was BS3, which the Drone Net fixes. And I've never been a fan of solo Broadsides. A single T4 2+ model the size of a dreadnought? Way too easy to give first blood, and alone just doesn't bring the firepower to make up for it. I use HRRs as sniper rifles to insta-kill T4 and T3 characters and ICs, anything other than that I'd rather have a HYMP or a Fusion Crisis Suit. A fully decked out formation (3man Broadside teams, decent sized Pathfinder teams) I could see being a very solid firebase, but that's very expensive. Depends on what I'm facing of course.

The flyer formation is decent, but the main problem is it's Tau flyers lol. They just aren't good, not with their statline at their points cost. The formation helps them, but still not worth it.

As for relics, I agree with everyone else, ECPA will always have a spot in my lists, as will Talisman if I can afford it. Considering we only get the d6 warp dice to dispel, being able to dispel on a 4+ is actually pretty huge and helps a lot. Expensive, but can be worth it to keep a Shriek off your Riptide.

notredameguy10 wrote:

Except how I so want Earth Caste Pilot Array on a riptide and a talisman of moloch on my commander in my Hunter Contingent lol

It's easy. Have the normal Hunter Contingent detachment and then add a Retaliation Cadre from FSE (stand-alone formation). Join the Talisman Commander to any Hunter Contingent unit and they'll enjoy the benefit.

The Riptide won't help with the coordinate fire, but he'll be there nonetheless

 GI_Redshirt wrote:
...

Yeah no doubt full sqauds would be expensive (who has that many broadsides anyway!)

It's tough. As a farsight fan, I am a little underwhelmed the detachment and options; compared to the hunter contingent anyway.

The drones would be decent. 220 points for 4x(4) marker squads of that's what you want!

Yeah, I feel like the best formations are gonna be the drone formation (and because of it, the piranha formation that lets you refill drones). Hell, I might even pick up a few piranhas for that reason, then points depending, either a normal hunter cadre or a retaliation depending on the size of the game.

Yeah, compared to the Hunter Contingent, the Dawnblade Contingent is definitely underwhelming, but I still really like it. Being able to build an all suit (and drone) list is amazing and exactly what I want from Tau. The power level may be lower, but that just means two things. One, you'll be more likely to get a game if your meta is very casual. Two, it provides more of a challenge to make it good. Personally I'm satisfied with what we get. It gives us the best of both worlds. The Hunter Contingent gives us our tournament lists while still being able to be built fun and fluffy, while Dawnblade Contingent lets us build at least decent, if not top tier, all battlesuit lists while pretty much always being fluffy for Enclaves. Overall this release has given Tau the ability to both play with the big boys (Necrons, Eldar, etc) and still built fun, fluffy, not OP lists (something Decurion and Warhost both kinda lack, at least in the not OP department).

Yeah no doubt full sqauds would be expensive (who has that many broadsides anyway!)

...I actually have 6 of the new broadsides cause I bought the Firebase Support Cadre box set (it was 6 Broadsides with a free Riptide, how could I say no?!), so I'm 3 Broadsides short of a maxed out formation, and can field 3 2man teams (although 3 of them are assembled as HRR, with 3 HYMP).

Yeah, I feel like the best formations are gonna be the drone formation (and because of it, the piranha formation that lets you refill drones). Hell, I might even pick up a few piranhas for that reason, then points depending, either a normal hunter cadre or a retaliation depending on the size of the game.

Yeah, the real winners here (as far as Dawnblade formations go) are the Drone Net and the Piranha formation. They both take mediocre to decent units and make them amazing and a real threat on the board, which is exactly what Decurion-style formations should do. Honestly, I will never run a Hunter Cadre with Dawnblade, unless I am purposefully toning down for a fluffy game with a friend. There is no reason outside of that to take a Hunter Cadre outside of a Hunter Contingent. With Dawnblade, we can take the Retaliation Cadre without the Hunter Cadre or CAD tax, which is the entire point. Hunter Cadre will always go with Hunter Contingent, while Dawnblade Contingent will always have Retaliation Cadre, for me at least. While Retaliation can get expensive quick, it can also be kept cheap without taking crappy units, something the Hunter Cadre cannot do. Of course, personal preference will always win the day, but IMO if you take Hunter Cadre, you need Coordinated Firepower to get the most of it, while Retaliation Cadre can benefit a lot from both, so might as well take it with Dawnblade so you don't have to pay a Core tax for it.

 Commander_Avalanche wrote:
I'm really not going into a fluff discussion (as this thread isn't the place for it)

Though you ended up saying a mouthful regarding Tau fluff anyway...

Tau fluff has a bit of a problem in that a lot of what people cite, bring up, and complain about comes from this nasty nebulous cloud of half-consistent half-not meme fodder from leftover argumes from times gone by.

The pheromone thing comes from Xenography, which was terrible, and included other gems like 'tau have toes' and 'ethereals can't debate their most sacred philosophy against high school sociology class arguments' which people don't seem so keen to quote all the time. It annoys me to no end when people insist on bringing it up.

 GI_Redshirt wrote:
...I actually have 6 of the new broadsides cause I bought the Firebase Support Cadre box set (it was 6 Broadsides with a free Riptide, how could I say no?!), so I'm 3 Broadsides short of a maxed out formation, and can field 3 2man teams (although 3 of them are assembled as HRR, with 3 HYMP). ... while Retaliation Cadre can benefit a lot from both, so might as well take it with Dawnblade so you don't have to pay a Core tax for it.

Yeah solid deal! I should have done the math on that one XD Well I have 10 Pirahna so I guess I am set for that one!

 Captain Joystick wrote:

 Commander_Avalanche wrote:
I'm really not going into a fluff discussion (as this thread isn't the place for it)

Though you ended up saying a mouthful regarding Tau fluff anyway...

Tau fluff has a bit of a problem in that a lot of what people cite, bring up, and complain about comes from this nasty nebulous cloud of half-consistent half-not meme fodder from leftover argumes from times gone by.

The pheromone thing comes from Xenography, which was terrible, and included other gems like 'tau have toes' and 'ethereals can't debate their most sacred philosophy against high school sociology class arguments' which people don't seem so keen to quote all the time. It annoys me to no end when people insist on bringing it up.

Plus, Xenography documents the research and writings of a Necron disguising himself as an Inquisitor. Inquisitors can't be trusted and Necrons doubly so. At best, consider that entire book to be filthy Xenos misdirection!

In other words, the pheromone thing is about as true as the Tau having toes (i.e., not at all).

As much as people say that Farsight is a shining example of good in a grimdark galaxy, I think his story is kind of tragic. He's a willing exile who traded away his honor and reputation to become the first line of defense for his people against a threat his people don't even know about. He's also being kept alive through a combination of eternal conflict and some sort of soul stealing/necromantic technology. If that last bit doesn't scream grimdark, I don't know what does.

 Commander_Avalanche wrote:
The Greater Good as a concept is potentially quite terrifying, as it champions the good of the collective over the good of the individual, which may permit great evils to be done, as long as the ends justify them. Other aspects of the Greater Good, such as the unity of all intelligent species, made for an interesting philosophical underpinning for the Tau, and made them very distinct from the other Warhammer factions.

Yeah, to the point where they stuck out like a sore thumb.

40K has a specific tone. Stray too far from it and certain concepts start to look as either caricatures themselves or attempts at caricaturisation of everything else. The hippie commie fishmen on happy pills made as much sense in the context of the setting as a Berserker philosopher does.

Just because something is a theoretically cool concept, doesn't mean it fits into every story. Just ask the new Necrons.

There exists a short story where Kharn turns philosophery for a while when a Slaaneshi lord attempts to persuade him to give his soul to Slaanesh.

I have no idea what it was called, but Kharn punts a berzerker's head over a wall so that the berzerker could witness a battle better after cutting his own head off with his axe (he got his legs blown off). It also involved Slaaneshi nuns with whips and a corpse's bits being puppeted by a Slaaneshi daemon prince.

EDIT: Found it! The Wrath of Kharn by William King.

 His Master's Voice wrote:

 Commander_Avalanche wrote:
The Greater Good as a concept is potentially quite terrifying, as it champions the good of the collective over the good of the individual, which may permit great evils to be done, as long as the ends justify them. Other aspects of the Greater Good, such as the unity of all intelligent species, made for an interesting philosophical underpinning for the Tau, and made them very distinct from the other Warhammer factions.

Yeah, to the point where they stuck out like a sore thumb.

40K has a specific tone. Stray too far from it and certain concepts start to look as either caricatures themselves or attempts at caricaturisation of everything else. The hippie commie fishmen on happy pills made as much sense in the context of the setting as a Berserker philosopher does.

Just because something is a theoretically cool concept, doesn't mean it fits into every story. Just ask the new Necrons.

There's a difference between being completely atonal and just being different. It's one of the reasons I like tau. Grimdark is only fun for so long.

New Necrons REALLY aren't bad, and arguably help explain things more than the original ones and at least added some awesome characters. I can't say I hate any of the Individual Characters. Off topic though.

They just cleaned up the FAQ section, getting rid of all the FAQs for old editions of codices. Maybe that means they are about to release new FAQs?

 Crazyterran wrote:
They just cleaned up the FAQ section, getting rid of all the FAQs for old editions of codices. Maybe that means they are about to release new FAQs?

I remember seeing rumours about GW doing FAQs again, but nothing official. Who knows, maybe they finally got it into their thick skulls that their game is a major drawing point.

 Crazyterran wrote:
They just cleaned up the FAQ section, getting rid of all the FAQs for old editions of codices. Maybe that means they are about to release new FAQs?

Not counting on it, but one can hope. I would love to see Blood Angels get FAQ'd to match the rest of the Space Marines.

 casvalremdeikun wrote:

 Crazyterran wrote:
They just cleaned up the FAQ section, getting rid of all the FAQs for old editions of codices. Maybe that means they are about to release new FAQs?

Not counting on it, but one can hope. I would love to see Blood Angels get FAQ'd to match the rest of the Space Marines.

At least their statlines, for the love of god. I don't expect a FAQurion, but Scouts.

And the same with Bloodclaws and the Wolf equivalents.

 casvalremdeikun wrote:

 Crazyterran wrote:
They just cleaned up the FAQ section, getting rid of all the FAQs for old editions of codices. Maybe that means they are about to release new FAQs?

Not counting on it, but one can hope. I would love to see Blood Angels get FAQ'd to match the rest of the Space Marines.

There was an email, purportedly from Dan over at White Dwarf, answering some Tau questions. In it, he implies that a FAQ is coming, as he said, in essence, until we get it into a FAQ, it works like this. IIRC it was about the Stormsurge or some such.

 Crazyterran wrote:

 casvalremdeikun wrote:

 Crazyterran wrote:
They just cleaned up the FAQ section, getting rid of all the FAQs for old editions of codices. Maybe that means they are about to release new FAQs?

Not counting on it, but one can hope. I would love to see Blood Angels get FAQ'd to match the rest of the Space Marines.

At least their statlines, for the love of god. I don't expect a FAQurion, but Scouts.

And the same with Bloodclaws and the Wolf equivalents.

Maybe for Blood Angels Scouts, but I dunno about Blood Claws. Aren't they kinda just thrown at the enemy with little training?

 Crazyterran wrote:

 casvalremdeikun wrote:

 Crazyterran wrote:
They just cleaned up the FAQ section, getting rid of all the FAQs for old editions of codices. Maybe that means they are about to release new FAQs?

Not counting on it, but one can hope. I would love to see Blood Angels get FAQ'd to match the rest of the Space Marines.

At least their statlines, for the love of god. I don't expect a FAQurion, but Scouts.

And the same with Bloodclaws and the Wolf equivalents.

If they FAQ Bloodclaws to have the SM statline, would they be different enough from Grey Hunters? Not saying it shouldn't happen, though.

I agree that the main thing needed is some statline adjustments. They can release a book that gives the BA and the SW a super formation each. Ooo, maybe they could tag team Chaos and Orcs or something.

Spoiler alert, but can any one who knows how to read German translate this? http://www.gamestrust.de/uploads/gallery/1274/pic-29837.jpg
It's the Cadiam heirlooms, but it seems to be written in some form of alien language . It might actually just he German, but I can't be too sure.

But yeah, some people already own the book, and I will as well tomorrow, but I can't wait any damn longer! Does the Imperium take back agrellan? Please spoil this for me, my fellow sirs and maams

123ply wrote:
Spoiler alert, but can any one who knows how to read German translate this? http://www.gamestrust.de/uploads/gallery/1274/pic-29837.jpg
It's the Cadiam heirlooms, but it seems to be written in some form of alien language . It might actually just he German, but I can't be too sure.

But yeah, some people already own the book, and I will as well tomorrow, but I can't wait any damn longer! Does the Imperium take back agrellan? Please spoil this for me, my fellow sirs and maams

Already in this thread:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/670756.page

Can you use formations from Mont Ka in a Hunter Contingent list, or are they restricted to Dawnblade?

I haven't seen anything restricted that, and I assume if it has for example the auxiliary icon, it can be used in any tau auxiliary slot.

I just want the new fluff to see who is gonna die.

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
I just want the new fluff to see who is gonna die.

Probably someone without a miniature.

 Bulldogging wrote:
Can you use formations from Mont Ka in a Hunter Contingent list, or are they restricted to Dawnblade?

I haven't seen anything restricted that, and I assume if it has for example the auxiliary icon, it can be used in any tau auxiliary slot.

That's a hefty assumption. The tau codex lists exactly which formations you can use with the hunter contingent and the Mont'ka book lists what you can use with Dawnblade. This game (or frankly almost any game other than AOS) is based on telling you what you CAN do, not what you can't. The rules don't say I can change each of your rolled 6's into a 1 when I feel like it ergo I can, right? No.. that's not how it works. Unless they explicitly tell you that you CAN use them freely, you CAN'T. The only overlap that exists that we've seen so far are the formations that are specifically shown in both like the hunter cadre and allied advance for instance because they're listed in both.

Could that change once the codex is released when folks have the whole thing in front of them and not just a few crappy pics of a few pages? Sure... all it takes is one line somewhere in the book specifically saying you can freely swap auxillary formations... but without that explicit permission, you can't do it per the rules unless your oppenent agrees to it ahead of time.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
I just want the new fluff to see who is gonna die.

Probably someone without a miniature.

Read the campaign's ending from the epub:

 Bulldogging wrote:
Can you use formations from Mont Ka in a Hunter Contingent list, or are they restricted to Dawnblade?

I haven't seen anything restricted that, and I assume if it has for example the auxiliary icon, it can be used in any tau auxiliary slot.

No. The Kauyon book says that the only formations allowed at the formations listed in that book. The same thing is true of the Gladius Strike Force and the formations in Kauyon. The only thing that would mitigate that would be if the formations in the Mont'ka explicitly state they are available for the Hunter Contingent.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

changemod wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
I just want the new fluff to see who is gonna die.

Probably someone without a miniature.

Read the campaign's ending from the epub:

Spoiler:

Aun'va is explicitly dead and replaced with a hologram, Shadowsun is injured but recovering, Farsight quietly leaves before he can be arrested and tried for treason.

Hopefully Shadowsun is recovering in a way that requires her to deploy in a Ghostkeel from now on.

Hopefully Shadowsun is recovering in such a way that she dies of sudden, flesh-eating wound infection.

Gee, that Shadowsun lady is really popular...

Anyway, who won?

 Verviedi wrote:
Hopefully Shadowsun is recovering in such a way that she dies of sudden, flesh-eating wound infection.

Meh, I would like to see her humbled, on life support, and unable to live outside a special Ghostkeel. Make an upgrade sprue for the Ghostkeel that is her will all sorts of wires and tubes coming out of her.