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Wolfnid420 wrote:Oops accidently reposted the same thing

Anyways, i know you can move the 12" in movement phase using the jetpack just like "jump" infantry. It states that you have to pick movement or assault. Where do you want the bonus? However it does not make that distinction under the jetpack entry as they aren't supposed to be assaulty type troops they are mobile gun platforms.

I think we should get that move and the only reason we wouldnt use it, is when we are in difficult terrain.

Any thoughts?

Jetpacks only ever move 6" in the movement phase. When it refers to moving like jump infantry it means ignoring difficult terrain which you pass over and taking dangerous terrain tests if you take off or land in difficult terrain.

You can see this in the reference section at the back where there's a table listing all the movement values of different types of units. In the row describing Jet Pack Infantry using their Jet Packs the movement phase distance is 0-6". You'll also notice that we only flee 2D6" (as opposed to 3D6" for Jump Packs) when failing a morale check, so we're a bit less likely to run off the table, which is kinda nice.

Thank you for the clarification. I figured things haven't changed to be that awesome but it can't hurt to try right? Lol

Thoughts on running an etherial inside a large blob of kroot to tie down death stars with fearless, cheap models? I think this could work actually.

Stormcrow wrote:I think you are incorrect; there is a differente rule for jet pack troopers which is separate from the normal jump infantry. Ergo, they can move like a normal infantry unit (distance wise) but can usethe 2d6 to hop around in the assualt phase in addition to hopping over obstacles in both phases; correct me if I"m wrong as I'd love to find out you can move 12 and then 2d6 in the assault phase.

Also, I'll ask again: What about frag launchers now on an HQ? With the new buff to barrage and no cover (and ap5), this would be a great thing to take in a general list, I'd think, so you can snipe out certain wargear and deal with the inevetable horde armies such as orks, guard, and nids that will be more popular now. I could be wrong, so I'd love to hear from other people.

I am think they will be a fine fit. If you want a really good front line troop killer give him both the AFP and the Cyclonic Blaster. Toss a Sheild generator some extra gun drones and he will be hell on foot troops. That is going to be alot 18in shots. Alittle expensive but could be fun is you know your facing orks or nids.

Stormcrow wrote:Thoughts on running an etherial inside a large blob of kroot to tie down death stars with fearless, cheap models? I think this could work actually.

Kroot don't count as a "Tau" unit when it comes to the bonuses granted by Ethereals. Only the actual members of the Tau race get them, or at least that's how I've always read it since Kroot, Vespid and drones don't get the Morale check re-roll from being able to see him or suffer the Leadership test (and get Preferred Enemy) if the Ethereal dies.

Thoughts on this tactic?

6 fw with emp grenades with a warfish (flechette discharge, sensor spines, targeting array, maybe blacksun filter?) being used as a commando unit? Running around popping vehicles and nestling in dangerous terrain?

Painted! (albeit simply and only to a tabletop standard - but they're drones with lightning claws, who cares! xD)

edit - Addition of better photos:

All joking aside, this threads been quite helpful, and has given me things to bear in mind when I play my first game(s) with Tau in 6th. (After I've done a few more with my DE.)

Avro wrote:Thoughts on this tactic?

6 fw with emp grenades with a warfish (flechette discharge, sensor spines, targeting array, maybe blacksun filter?) being used as a commando unit? Running around popping vehicles and nestling in dangerous terrain?

Not sure whether BSF would be worth it on a Devilfish. Its basic guns are all short range so they'll be getting +1 to cover saves at maximum, which you won't even notice if they have an armour save of 4+ or better.

Do SMS still flat out ignore the effects of Night Fighting? It seems that the FAQ removed the sentence which said so, which is annoying as I guess that means that people will still get cover saves from Stealth granted by Night Fighting unless not requiring LOS completely negates Night Fighting bonuses automatically.

So i was able to strip 260 points of wargear off my tau list( mostly trimming the fat on transports and dropping kroot) and am looking at eldar allies.

For 260, I can get either: A Farseer with Both runes and spirit stone ans 6 pathfinders OR the same farseer, on a jetbike, with 5 jetbike guardians, one rocking a Cannon.


Which should I go for?

A Town Called Malus wrote:

Stormcrow wrote:Thoughts on running an etherial inside a large blob of kroot to tie down death stars with fearless, cheap models? I think this could work actually.

Kroot don't count as a "Tau" unit when it comes to the bonuses granted by Ethereals. Only the actual members of the Tau race get them, or at least that's how I've always read it since Kroot, Vespid and drones don't get the Morale check re-roll from being able to see him or suffer the Leadership test (and get Preferred Enemy) if the Ethereal dies.

Ah; good point. I'm new to Tau and nobody plays them around here, so thanks for clearing this up!

Stormcrow wrote:

A Town Called Malus wrote:

Stormcrow wrote:Thoughts on running an etherial inside a large blob of kroot to tie down death stars with fearless, cheap models? I think this could work actually.

Kroot don't count as a "Tau" unit when it comes to the bonuses granted by Ethereals. Only the actual members of the Tau race get them, or at least that's how I've always read it since Kroot, Vespid and drones don't get the Morale check re-roll from being able to see him or suffer the Leadership test (and get Preferred Enemy) if the Ethereal dies.

Ah; good point. I'm new to Tau and nobody plays them around here, so thanks for clearing this up!

No problem. When you said it my first thought was "Hey, that sounds like a great plan." so it was worth checking out, just in case.


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Iur_tae_mont wrote:So i was able to strip 260 points of wargear off my tau list( mostly trimming the fat on transports and dropping kroot) and am looking at eldar allies.

For 260, I can get either: A Farseer with Both runes and spirit stone ans 6 pathfinders OR the same farseer, on a jetbike, with 5 jetbike guardians, one rocking a Cannon.


Which should I go for?

Hmmm...

The Jetbikes would be great for last ditch Objective grabbing and are tougher but the Pathfinders have those great rending rules which would be a nightmare to TEQs and that +2 to cover saves which would make them amazing if you get them in a ruin, which with Infiltrate will not be hard.

I think it would really depend entirely on what kind of force you're trying to build. A static shooting army might prefer the Pathfinders for their great saves in cover and AP1 on a 5+ whereas a more mobile force might be better off with the Jetbikes for their insane movement (12" then a 36" turbo, ouch).

What powers are you taking with the farseer and are you going to stick with them or swap them out for one of the Book lores?

Iur_tae_mont wrote:
So i was able to strip 260 points of wargear off my tau list( mostly trimming the fat on transports and dropping kroot) and am looking at eldar allies.

For 260, I can get either: A Farseer with Both runes and spirit stone ans 6 pathfinders OR the same farseer, on a jetbike, with 5 jetbike guardians, one rocking a Cannon.
Which should I go for?

This depends on what the rest of the army is doing. If you have lots of slow units, but can comfortably deal with TEQs, take the jetbikes for last turn objective denial. If you are fast, take the rangers for fire support.

@ stormcrow, AFP is a good choice, I run my commander with the 2+ save and drones, AFP and TL missile pod (and of course BSF). He can tarpit, horde-hunt and pop light vehicles. Pretty good!

Your idea of running lots of kroot is an interesting one.. I haven't run kroot at all in 6th ed, but I would imagine 5+ cover has hurt them a bit. My preferred use of them in 5th was as an assault unit, but that was always a dicey tactic and has been nerfed by overwatch and the limits on outflanking.

At the moment I am running lots of fire warriors (48) and no pathfinders or devilfish. IMO both aforementioned units are not at all worth the points. Cover is everywhere on vehicles now anyway and PFs are just not accurate enough to get the number of ML hits needed to justify the points (before they die to a couple of frag missiles). My one wish for the new codex is that PFs become either more survivable or much cheaper. In the meantime its best to focus on volume of fire and TL wherever possible (eg on crisis suits).

Yes indeed fire warriors are still squishy, but 48 S5 shots a turn at effective 36 inch range is not to be sniffed at, even at BS3.

@Troy
What about tetra's as a replacement for pathfinders??
As well as this if you're running a FW heavy army, and each squad has a markerlight, 2 or 3 sensor towers you're looking at alot of BS2 T/L pulse rifles (you only need 1 model in range of a tower for whole unit to get buff) Just read up on below link
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/t/Tauupdate.pdf

Ovion wrote:Painted! (albeit simply and only to a tabletop standard - but they're drones with lightning claws, who cares! xD)


All joking aside, this threads been quite helpful, and has given me things to bear in mind when I play my first game(s) with Tau in 6th. (After I've done a few more with my DE.)

Awesome! Gave me a good laugh this morning!

@orkswampa my local meta dictates no forgeworld. The general consensus in our group is that FW stuff is over-powered. Also I do attend tourneys semi-regularly and generally tourneys dont allow forge world stuff.

Some of the stuff on that link is very cool though (drone sentry turrets!!!) I think the whole drone aspect of the Tau army is one that could be developed quite alot.

Hi, i'm new here, just coming back to the game since quitting around the time the Necrons first appeared as a single warrior in White Dwarf during 3rd edition.

The Tau look awesome (despite the problems) and I've been reading up on them and putting together lists in my head, to try to figure out what to buy.



I was looking at battlesuits, which are now Jetpack infantry as we all know. One of the cool things about Jetpack infantry is that they have the Relentless rule, allowing them to move and fire heavy weapons.

So i was like "awesome!" ...and then i saw that Crisis suits don't actually get any heavy weapon options except for the AFP which doesn't benefit because it has Barrage.

But, on the other hand, Markerlights are a heavy weapon.

So suddenly, marker drones attached to Crisis teams or Stealth suits (and thus counting as jetpacks) can now move and fire on the same turn. So that's cool. What else?

Stealth team leaders can equip markerlights too.

So what do you think about the idea of having a Stealth team out there, in cover somewhere so getting a 2+ or 3+ cover save, able to be highly mobile and dash from cover to cover and still paint targets for Seeker Missiles and whatnot, and burn down the heaviest of charging infantry or vehicles that come too close....

Add some marker drones and suddenly we're talking 3 highly mobile markerlights with some awesome cover saves and mobility.



I dunno. Seems cool, in theory? Until they give us more heavy weapons - or turn Broadsides into jetpack infantry - its just about the only use for that perk that I can find.

Micky wrote:

Spoiler:

Hi, i'm new here, just coming back to the game since quitting around the time the Necrons first appeared as a single warrior in White Dwarf during 3rd edition.

The Tau look awesome (despite the problems) and I've been reading up on them and putting together lists in my head, to try to figure out what to buy.



I was looking at battlesuits, which are now Jetpack infantry as we all know. One of the cool things about Jetpack infantry is that they have the Relentless rule, allowing them to move and fire heavy weapons.

So i was like "awesome!" ...and then i saw that Crisis suits don't actually get any heavy weapon options except for the AFP which doesn't benefit because it has Barrage.

But, on the other hand, Markerlights are a heavy weapon.

So suddenly, marker drones attached to Crisis teams or Stealth suits (and thus counting as jetpacks) can now move and fire on the same turn. So that's cool. What else?

Stealth team leaders can equip markerlights too.

So what do you think about the idea of having a Stealth team out there, in cover somewhere so getting a 2+ or 3+ cover save, able to be highly mobile and dash from cover to cover and still paint targets for Seeker Missiles and whatnot, and burn down the heaviest of charging infantry or vehicles that come too close....

Add some marker drones and suddenly we're talking 3 highly mobile markerlights with some awesome cover saves and mobility.



I dunno. Seems cool, in theory? Until they give us more heavy weapons - or turn Broadsides into jetpack infantry - its just about the only use for that perk that I can find.

Yeah the changes to shooting Rapid Fire weapons pretty much made Relentless useless to Crisis suits except Farsight and his retinue, that is unless you actually want to assault with any other Crisis team.

I don't see Broadsides getting Jetpacks any time soon. Moving 6" ignoring terrain, then firing a S10 AP1 gun with 72" range, then jetpacking 2D6" back into cover is incredibly broken and would make even Grey Knights and Necrons do a double take.

Probably going to see Rail Rifles as a weapon option for Crisis suits or Stealth teams in the next codex along with a less strength but more shots option, like a beefed up Burst Cannon. Probably some prototype heavy plasma rifle for Commanders and Shas'vre too.

A Town Called Malus wrote:

Do SMS still flat out ignore the effects of Night Fighting? It seems that the FAQ removed the sentence which said so, which is annoying as I guess that means that people will still get cover saves from Stealth granted by Night Fighting unless not requiring LOS completely negates Night Fighting bonuses automatically.

Pretty sure the FAQ means to remove SMS's ignore-night-fighting rule. Replace the explanatory text currently under SMS in the tau codex with what the FAQ says. *sigh*


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Ovion wrote:Painted! (albeit simply and only to a tabletop standard - but they're drones with lightning claws, who cares! xD)


All joking aside, this threads been quite helpful, and has given me things to bear in mind when I play my first game(s) with Tau in 6th. (After I've done a few more with my DE.)

You've made my day :,)

Here's another question, this one about flyers.

If you can paint a flyer with a Markerlight, can you fire Seeker missiles at it?

The book kinda implies yes, and the faq doesn't deny it...

In the markerlight entry in the codex, it says:

Every markerlight counter expended grants the firing unit one of the following effects, which may be combined.

To allow a vehicle to fire a single seeker missile at the marked unit. This shooting is resolved normally in all regards at a Ballistic Skill of 5

Would this make Pathfinders suddenly more useful, especially if you've got seeker missile strapped to your Hammerheads and Pirahnas, or bring a Sky Ray?

@mickey you still have to hit with your markers, at BS1.

Your stealth suit/marker drone idea is one thats been suggested, indeed I've seen people run the unit in 5th, but with marker drones being so overcosted you're looking at 180 points for 3 BS3 markerlights. And in all probability you have wasted the 9 BC shots because your trying to light up a mech target. 60 points per ML, and with accuracy just as poor as pathfinders. Its not a great deal.. but who knows maybe the 2+ save has improved survivability to make it a credible choice? Give it a try and post a batrep here!

So I tried the emp-nade fw with a devilfish and came up with this.
-6 emp-nade fw with pulse rifles (72 pts)
-devilfish with sensor spines, flechette discharge (100pts)
-total = 172 pts

A 3 man squad of battlesuits with fire knife configuration is 186 pts. Taking the three man squad was a better idea, but I was curious

Turn 1 I hopped my fws into the fish moved it flat out across the board (lovely cover saves i might add). FWs toppled out from the fish, shot some far off units, and assaulted a Leman Russ. I landed one glance and one penn with 6 grenades. Leman Russ lost its battle canon. Things didn't unfold so nicely after that; worried about his tank, my opponent shot my fws to bits and my devilfish was immobilized for that round (moved it out afterwards).

All models can assault with grenades but can only attack once. You can throw one grenade per unit per shooting phase. I'm thinking of adding one or two emp grenades in a fw squad just in case enemy vehicles get too close for assaults.

Turn 1 I hopped my fws into the fish moved it flat out across the board (lovely cover saves i might add). FWs toppled out from the fish, shot some far off units, and assaulted a Leman Russ.

Since you cannot assault out of vehicles now, how did your FW survive the turn after they deployed?


Different topic.

Does anyone know if drones assigned to characters become characters? Was curious as someone posted about XV8 Commanders with drones that gain (jet-pack, character).

crazyK wrote:

Turn 1 I hopped my fws into the fish moved it flat out across the board (lovely cover saves i might add). FWs toppled out from the fish, shot some far off units, and assaulted a Leman Russ.

Since you cannot assault out of vehicles now, how did your FW survive the turn after they deployed?

I suppose the legal way would be to fly up real close and friendly like, hop out with the fish between you and the not so friendly folk, fish dies. next turn you move up and shoot, and then assault with 'nades.

Would best work with flanking attacks I imagine.

Ovion wrote:Yup, I'm ready for the Wardian Tau book now, even if no one else is!

(I love converting drones, it's strangely satisfying, more pics once they're painted.)

Aaach, you keep mentioning the name of the Fluff-killer. Seriously, those drones gave me a good laugh.

You may already know this but in case you don't I figure that this will be good repayment for the laugh...............

Years ago I found that the D-fish top turret and Hammerhead/Sky Ray nose turrets are just the right size to put a drone in. Found this out when one of my top turrets went missing and later when I got gifted with a scrap hammerhead missing its nose turret.

The Top turret swap makes the vehicle look like a drone controlled transport or command vehicle. The nose turret replacement looks great when you use a drone with two long antenna. Really re-inforces the whole D-fish Stingray look.

Tauownz wrote:What is everyone's thoughts on mass amounts of kroot in 6th? I've played just a couple games at 1999 and used 3 squads of 20 kroot. Having 60 shots a turn is nice at 30". But my concern is would having a libby w/ a couple tac squads make more sense? I have a salamander and a blood raven army I could use for allies. Pros/Cons?

Kroot are up to player preference and playstyle. I think that the Fire Warriors gained an overall edge on the Kroot in 6th but this is advantage is mostly offset by the kroots ability to be area denial units that keep ccb's and other such stuff from popping up right next to your fire base.

IMO, A kroot unit or two is worth it just to deal with the Newcrons. Currently I'm running a balanced mixed list.

droidman wrote:I tried using my barracuda model, it arrived, I blinked, it died.

I am stunned as to why Forgeworld put only 2HP on the air superiority fighters for each race when the FAQ was released, since all the GW flyers all came with 3.

I suspect that Forgeworld puts a big point premium on the range of the ion cannon, on large boards I can see it being useful however on the small standard GW table sizes, you can't hide from quad guns and those will annihilate you.


Until Forgeworld updates the rules, just leave these guys on the shelf, they are too fragile for their point cost and using up a valuable HS slot.

I think the 2hp's on the Barracuda is due to GW not wanting an existing model competing with the new plastic kit that the rumours suggest we are soon getting. After we have had our flyers for a bit, I bet that the Barracuda will get updated with better stats.

Stormcrow wrote:Also, I'll ask again: What about frag launchers now on an HQ? With the new buff to barrage and no cover (and ap5), this would be a great thing to take in a general list, I'd think, so you can snipe out certain wargear and deal with the inevetable horde armies such as orks, guard, and nids that will be more popular now. I could be wrong, so I'd love to hear from other people.

The AFP is OK to good, depending on player preference, playstyle and commander build.

Personally, I never put one on a Commander. Instead I either put it on a rare bodyguard or I put it on an elite crisis shas'vre with MP or BC.
Prefer my commanders to have heavy hitters like plasmas w/CIB's, Fusion, Missile pods. If I don't twin-link the plasma then I slip in a flamer on the 3rd hard-point.

A Town Called Malus wrote:Not sure whether BSF would be worth it on a Devilfish. Its basic guns are all short range so they'll be getting +1 to cover saves at maximum, which you won't even notice if they have an armour save of 4+ or better.

Do SMS still flat out ignore the effects of Night Fighting? It seems that the FAQ removed the sentence which said so, which is annoying as I guess that means that people will still get cover saves from Stealth granted by Night Fighting unless not requiring LOS completely negates Night Fighting bonuses automatically.

You answered your own question there.

Also, BSFs are a good idea for the Pathfinder Devilfish if you plan on deepstriking some of your 'suits. Reason is that night fight can be beyond turn 1(especially with the crons) and in order to get the re-roll on the Deep Strike, the point has to be visible to the Devilfish.

crazyK wrote:

Avro wrote:Turn 1 I hopped my fws into the fish moved it flat out across the board (lovely cover saves i might add). FWs toppled out from the fish, shot some far off units, and assaulted a Leman Russ.

Since you cannot assault out of vehicles now, how did your FW survive the turn after they deployed?

Turn 2 they moved out of the fish around 8" from the leman russ and moved behind some forest. Devilfish moved side ways from the fws and away from the leman russ (now in forest). Turn 2, Opponent ignores my fws but tries to shoot devilfish with a leman russ that moved behind my fws, but devilfish gets its cover save. Turn 3, Leman russ is open for fws to charge. The rest you know

Guys regarding Eldar allies, someone earlier mentioned the possibility of running a farseer and eldar pathfinders as allies. I like this idea and am planning some kroot conversion projects for this purpose. Looking at psychic powers the eldar dex, doom seems like an auto-take: however I'm guessing due to the wording of guide we can't use it to help Tau units? Any thoughts on which of the divination or telepathy powers would best benefit our units as a 2nd psychic power?

My money is on the Primaris Divination power, but that depends on where you put the psyker.

Micky wrote:Hi, i'm new here, just coming back to the game since quitting around the time the Necrons first appeared as a single warrior in White Dwarf during 3rd edition.
But, on the other hand, Markerlights are a heavy weapon.

So suddenly, marker drones attached to Crisis teams or Stealth suits (and thus counting as jetpacks) can now move and fire on the same turn. So that's cool. What else?

Stealth team leaders can equip markerlights too.

So what do you think about the idea of having a Stealth team out there, in cover somewhere so getting a 2+ or 3+ cover save, able to be highly mobile and dash from cover to cover and still paint targets for Seeker Missiles and whatnot, and burn down the heaviest of charging infantry or vehicles that come too close....

Add some marker drones and suddenly we're talking 3 highly mobile markerlights with some awesome cover saves and mobility.

Stealth marker teams used to be really great, till GW took our Target lock away from suits and infantry. The way to go now is Forge World Tetras, if you want good markerlights. Actually I think Tetras and Skyrays are the most solid anti-flyer Tau have at the moment.

troy_tempest wrote:Guys regarding Eldar allies, someone earlier mentioned the possibility of running a farseer and eldar pathfinders as allies. I like this idea and am planning some kroot conversion projects for this purpose. Looking at psychic powers the eldar dex, doom seems like an auto-take: however I'm guessing due to the wording of guide we can't use it to help Tau units? Any thoughts on which of the divination or telepathy powers would best benefit our units as a 2nd psychic power?

The thing is you have to swap all of your psychic powers for the book ones. You can't buy Doom and then the cheapest one, keep Doom and swap the other for a Book Power.

On the bright side you aren't limited to one lore from the book so you could buy all the Eldar powers, get lucky on your rolls for Divination (which is arguably the best lore for Tau), getting all the powers you wanted from it and then roll for the rest on the Telepathy table.