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You don't necessarily have to pick, you can choose to make rolls on any of the disciplines for the psycker.

I like the first power for Divination a bit more than the primaris power


Twin linking is good and all, but I think overwatch at normal BS is pretty rocking.

Imagine, your HQ( a Centurion)attached to a squad of three bladestorms get charged. You overwatch at normal BS. So at Normal BS you would get 8(two at BS 5) plasma shots, 9 Burst Cannon Shots, and five CIB shots(at BS5).

That is 22 shots. Lets say a squad of 10 Assault Marines, in two ranks of 5, with Chainsword/Pistol charge you. and roll an 8 with the reroll(i'm just rolling dice IRL for it) and JUST make it.

So at BS 1(normal overwatch) all around, you are looking at: one plasma hit, one burst cannon hit and a whiff on the cib.

Plasma wounds, burst cannon does not. One dead Assault Marine, you just traded almost 300 points for about 20 points.


At normal BS? 5 Plasma hits, 5 Burst cannon hits, 5 CIB hits.

5 wounds on plasma,4 wounds on Burst Cannons, one AP1 wound on CIB.

They take 4 armor saves on the burst cannon and pass all of them. So you killed 6 Marines with Overwatch and now they are out of charge range because you killed the first rank.

Guess who won't see the next assault phase?

How does that work?

What bumps them up to above 1 BS?

Forebording.

They shoot at normal ballistic skill, the psyker has to be with them, but that's a sick amount of firepower from one overwatch from 4 guys.

Iur_tae_mont wrote:Forebording.

They shoot at normal ballistic skill, the psyker has to be with them, but that's a sick amount of firepower from one overwatch from 4 guys.

The real pain is Foreboding and Prescience on the same unit. Twin-linked Overwatch at normal ballistic skill.

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?

I have tried out a list a couple times with a farseer with 2 powers, and both kinds of runes with some firewarriors in a lascannon bastion. This gives me a nice little rock-hard distraction unit and an anchor for my army (not to mention a BS5 skyfire weapon). Then a fire prism, broadside and 2 railheads, a Crisis team with Shas'el, a squad of eldar pathfinders, a squad of Tau pathfinders, a squad of firewarriors for the devilfish, a squad of kroot, and in the last list a squad of striking scorpions, and a stealth team.

The mobile army with all kinds of units infiltrating was really useful, and the fire prism works really well with the 2 railheads. That AP2 blast is by far the best way to kill terminators/marines without loading up on plasma suits.

The Farseer with the divination primaris power and (luckily) the malediction that forces your opponent to re-roll successful saves was very powerful, allowing me to laugh at the assault marines with FNP. And yeah, since most of the eldar powers are eldar-specific, it is best to just go with the random ones.

Divination is a no brainer tbh, it screams to be used for tau by farseers.

When taking eldar as allies I say always, always, take divination. If you can manage to get misfortune on one of your rolls it will be a game changer. A squad of fire warriors will have a decent chance at knocking out a termie squad with reroll to hit and the enemy rerolling saves. Also being able to make the guy reroll his lucky tank cover save to keep your railgun from exploding it is priceless. Helps out a lot vs our many power armoured foes in the game. Now all we gotta do is appease the codex gods so we can get an update before 7th edition comes out...

I think Divination and telepathy are good choices together.

Let's say you are like me and gave up kroot for the Farseer. You have nothing to deter assault(or slow it down), but if the assault Marines( i like then as an example) just got shot at from the Vindicator that was rolling right behind them, thanks to Puppet Master, or if the Assault marines were pinned, or if they Failed a Leadership test and just booked it the other direction, or if they just turn on one another instead of assaulting your suits, you just saved your bacon for a turn.


I also like what the cinematic view would be. A guiding hand for your Battle brothers, a balled fist to all that oppose the Greater Good.

Great thread. My 2p worth.

Now played 2 games of 6th with tau. The biggest boost for tau is the ability to premeasure? IMHO this is huge. So much of the game with tau is keeping to the range sweet spot - close enough to shoot the enemy, but far enough away to avoid being shot or assaulted. Now you no longer need to judge it, you can measure it. Couple this with how survivable shield drones make crisis teams, and crisi suits are much more powerful.

I totally agree with earlier comments - static gun lines are a thing of the past. It's harder to block with vehicles now ( hit on 3+ in assault), and kroot screens are also much more fragile (5+ cover, and focused fire). Couple this with the ability to put a "tanking" bullet catcher up front, and it's way easier to get into a static gun line. Mobility is key.

Which brings me to a question - in 5th I had given up on hammerheads, running broadsides exclusively. With a multi tracker, and SMS, the hammerhead can always move 12 and fire everything...! The vehicle damage changes actually mean that av13 is OK at range, and likely to keep shooting for longer. Combine that with an expected decrease in vehicles in 6th and more infantry (submunitions large blast), and hammer heads are looking better. Thoughts?

Finally, in theory eldrad is awesome with 4 rolls on the divination table. Howev, I played him in one of my games and the problem was he was way too static.

EYIG

Iur_tae_mont wrote:I think Divination and telepathy are good choices together.

Let's say you are like me and gave up kroot for the Farseer. You have nothing to deter assault(or slow it down), but if the assault Marines( i like then as an example) just got shot at from the Vindicator that was rolling right behind them, thanks to Puppet Master, or if the Assault marines were pinned, or if they Failed a Leadership test and just booked it the other direction, or if they just turn on one another instead of assaulting your suits, you just saved your bacon for a turn.


I also like what the cinematic view would be. A guiding hand for your Battle brothers, a balled fist to all that oppose the Greater Good.

Yeah but if you had a mastery level 3 farseer, you need 2 rolls on div tbh, and then you have a 1/6 of getting puppet master ;( So you could end up with crap, which is why i think you have to focus on one school unless you get the spells you need and have spare rolls, 3 crisis suits with plas and fusions rerollign to hit with opponent rerolling saves, thats pretty much 7 - 8 dead terminators or 4 - 5 paladins

As to tau and eldar, what about farseer on a jetbike. That way he can join a suit squad and not cut it's mobility. Getting perfect timing on a suit squad woud be to die for.

Embrace your inner geek wrote:Great thread. My 2p worth.

Now played 2 games of 6th with tau. The biggest boost for tau is the ability to premeasure? IMHO this is huge. So much of the game with tau is keeping to the range sweet spot - close enough to shoot the enemy, but far enough away to avoid being shot or assaulted. Now you no longer need to judge it, you can measure it. Couple this with how survivable shield drones make crisis teams, and crisi suits are much more powerful.

I've had the same experience. You can always reposition 18.1" from an opposing unit to shoot, and be sure that he can't charge you the following turn. I had to bring some outflanking kroot in on a table edge that was covered by a unit of 6 noise marines with sonic blasters, and instead of suiciding them in an area with no cover, I just brought them on 31" away from the noise marines.

I was also able to "kite" several deathstar units by surrounding them with small shooting units and staying just outside their assault range. This is a lot easier to do now, both because of premeasuring and because everything can shoot on the move. This works especially well in the endgame of a battle--kill all the support units, then when the deathstar finally arrives at your fireline, just kite them around until they die or until the game ends.

And finally, I started to see the importance of having units that can get around the back of an enemy unit. The 2+ save guy at the front can soak a heck of a lot of fire (and I was doing the same thing with an iridium-armored FNP commander leading a unit of fire warriors), so you need to be able to move firepower around the flanks to hit the more-vulnerable 3+ save guys.

Also the big win of the day was the unit of 6 firewarriors wrecking two 4-hullpoint ghost arks with EMP grenades. It took them a couple of turns to do it, but AR13 doesn't matter when you're hitting on a 3+ and taking away a hullpoint on a 4+. The necron player could have flown away, but he wanted to move slow and shoot, so that was the end of his skimmers.

I don't know if it has alreadty been posted, but here is a link to the FAQ: http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m2420320a_Tau_Empire_6th_Ed_V1.pdf

Also, anyone any views on taking Tau as Allies that can be across the table turn 1? EG, Infiltrate Kroot & DS Crisis/HQ suits.

Also, anyone any views on taking Tau as Allies that can be across the table turn 1? EG, Infiltrate Kroot & DS Crisis/HQ suits.

I'm currently running two small squads of 14 kroot each and infiltrating them every game is a must. It keeps my opponent somewhat honest in his deployment when he knows I have that many models as a mobile wall/tarpit still waiting to be placed. (probably will go down to one large squad and an aegis line in the future) You may have to take the compulsary 1+ Firewarrior team, but please someone correct me if I'm wrong.

As for deep striking, there is little value from deep striking crisis suits. Unless you're carrying burst cannons and flamers, you're looking at a 24" bubble for your plasma and even farther (36" IIRC) for your missile pods. You can deploy them as normal and have them fire from afar and the safety of cover. Deep striking, from my experience, leaves you with a potential for a bad scatter and a dead crisis team. If you want to deep strike suits, go for steath suits. Those bad boys cary a 4+ cover with them everywhere they go and with up to 6 burst cannons? that's a horde army's worst nightmare (and tons of potential for failed saves against MEQ). They can also outflank them which I feel is much better. You get remove the unpredictability of the deepstrike scatter with the potential for coming in on one of the table sides (With a reroll if you don't like it from acute senses). It works well when you're playing on long table edges and even better on short. I've only played corners once so far but I would deep strike then as you have to cover much more ground and your zone for entry is a bit akward.

On a seperate note, finally got my first tank all magnetized up and played it as a hammerhead with a railgun and SMS. That thing is a monster! I had little cover on this map to start it in (opponent likes to use the heavy AT weaponry) so I reserved it. It came in turn 2 and the jink save made it a ridiculous armor killing machine.

YotsubaSnake wrote:

Also, anyone any views on taking Tau as Allies that can be across the table turn 1? EG, Infiltrate Kroot & DS Crisis/HQ suits.

I'm currently running two small squads of 14 kroot each and infiltrating them every game is a must. It keeps my opponent somewhat honest in his deployment when he knows I have that many models as a mobile wall/tarpit still waiting to be placed. (probably will go down to one large squad and an aegis line in the future) You may have to take the compulsary 1+ Firewarrior team, but please someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Aye, that's what I would do, use them as a psycological threat to HWS etc.

STUFF ABOUT BATTLESUIT TACTICS.

I would Infiltrate Stealth suits next to something anyway, but DS a Crisis HQ + bodyguard w/ shot range stuff + Failsafe Detonator. Theory is to pop that LR (hopefully killing a few/pinning the TH/SS nators as they disembark), whittle them down with shooting via Overwatch w/ Fusion, Burst, Cyclic & Flamer, & then Failsafe Detonate to hopefully kill the rest after getting TH-whipped. Obviously the Detonator would be on the Bodyguard.

So I'm still throwing my first army together and decided to join in on The Greater Good. Reading through and looking at models in my decision for what army I knew that I wanted a lot of drones, shield and gun alike. With 6e coming out it looks like gun drones just got a lot more viable. Is there a good/best way to throw together an army that has a lot of drones on the table with the new rule set?

Spam FW squads w/ maxed drones (2 as part of unit, 2 with Shas'Ui), pop them off your tanks, grab as many as possible with Battlesuits. Thats about it

IHateNids wrote:Spam FW squads w/ maxed drones (2 as part of unit, 2 with Shas'Ui), pop them off your tanks, grab as many as possible with Battlesuits. Thats about it

Unless I'm missing something a unit of Fire Warriors can only have a maximum of two drones, which are those taken by a Shas'ui with a Drone Controller. They don't have the option to take them just as part of the unit.

A Town Called Malus wrote:

IHateNids wrote:Spam FW squads w/ maxed drones (2 as part of unit, 2 with Shas'Ui), pop them off your tanks, grab as many as possible with Battlesuits. Thats about it

Unless I'm missing something a unit of Fire Warriors can only have a maximum of two drones, which are those taken by a Shas'ui with a Drone Controller. They don't have the option to take them just as part of the unit.

You're correct, only the Shas'ui can take 2 drone.

Sorry, I should rephrase. I know how to build an army with as many drones as possible, but I'm curious as if any of you experienced Tau generals can enlighten me as to whether it would be viable to run gun drone squads and stealth suits with gun drones and all of that fun stuff with the new rules. I know I would personally have more fun running an army like that and that's at very least half the battle, but would/could it be an army that is at all competitive?

IHateNids wrote:Spam FW squads w/ maxed drones (2 as part of unit, 2 with Shas'Ui), pop them off your tanks, grab as many as possible with Battlesuits. Thats about it

Actually, spam vespids in full squads slotted in for all your fast attack choises. Then your opponent will be so confused he'll poop his pants in terror!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Flavius Infernus wrote:Great thread. My 2p worth.
Also the big win of the day was the unit of 6 firewarriors wrecking two 4-hullpoint ghost arks with EMP grenades. It took them a couple of turns to do it, but AR13 doesn't matter when you're hitting on a 3+ and taking away a hullpoint on a 4+. The necron player could have flown away, but he wanted to move slow and shoot, so that was the end of his skimmers.

Are you finding it worthwhile to equip emp-nades with your fws?

Neroman wrote:

A Town Called Malus wrote:

IHateNids wrote:Spam FW squads w/ maxed drones (2 as part of unit, 2 with Shas'Ui), pop them off your tanks, grab as many as possible with Battlesuits. Thats about it

Unless I'm missing something a unit of Fire Warriors can only have a maximum of two drones, which are those taken by a Shas'ui with a Drone Controller. They don't have the option to take them just as part of the unit.

You're correct, only the Shas'ui can take 2 drone.

I am aware of that, I meant popping the ones off the 'Fish they just jumped out of and move them around together, as if they were a single unit (unless they can join the FW, which i am sure they can't).

I am sorry if my poor wording confused you XD

Avro wrote:

IHateNids wrote:Spam FW squads w/ maxed drones (2 as part of unit, 2 with Shas'Ui), pop them off your tanks, grab as many as possible with Battlesuits. Thats about it

Actually, spam vespids in full squads slotted in for all your fast attack choises. Then your opponent will be so confused he'll poop his pants in terror!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Flavius Infernus wrote:
Also the big win of the day was the unit of 6 firewarriors wrecking two 4-hullpoint ghost arks with EMP grenades. It took them a couple of turns to do it, but AR13 doesn't matter when you're hitting on a 3+ and taking away a hullpoint on a 4+. The necron player could have flown away, but he wanted to move slow and shoot, so that was the end of his skimmers.

Are you finding it worthwhile to equip emp-nades with your fws?

I'm finding it worthwhile to equip small units of 6 fire warriors with EMP. It's like giving the squad a 6-shot antitank weapon with a potential range of up to 18"--something that fire warriors have always lacked. With EMP, a unit of fire warriors dug into cover can do area denial against vehicles in a way they couldn't before. Even a land raider will hesitate to go near them. Because the unit is small and cheap, you don't mind sacrificing it.

Incidentally, the small unit also benefits from a Shas'ui upgrade, since they make a lot of leadership tests.

EMP grenades on units of 12 fire warriors might be overkill in terms of cost. I haven't tried it out yet. They could kill the crap out of any vehicles that came near them, but 36 points is pretty steep.

Flavius Infernus wrote:

Avro wrote:

IHateNids wrote:Spam FW squads w/ maxed drones (2 as part of unit, 2 with Shas'Ui), pop them off your tanks, grab as many as possible with Battlesuits. Thats about it

Actually, spam vespids in full squads slotted in for all your fast attack choises. Then your opponent will be so confused he'll poop his pants in terror!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Flavius Infernus wrote:
Also the big win of the day was the unit of 6 firewarriors wrecking two 4-hullpoint ghost arks with EMP grenades. It took them a couple of turns to do it, but AR13 doesn't matter when you're hitting on a 3+ and taking away a hullpoint on a 4+. The necron player could have flown away, but he wanted to move slow and shoot, so that was the end of his skimmers.

Are you finding it worthwhile to equip emp-nades with your fws?

I'm finding it worthwhile to equip small units of 6 fire warriors with EMP. It's like giving the squad a 6-shot antitank weapon with a potential range of up to 18"--something that fire warriors have always lacked. With EMP, a unit of fire warriors dug into cover can do area denial against vehicles in a way they couldn't before. Even a land raider will hesitate to go near them. Because the unit is small and cheap, you don't mind sacrificing it.

Incidentally, the small unit also benefits from a Shas'ui upgrade, since they make a lot of leadership tests.

EMP grenades on units of 12 fire warriors might be overkill in terms of cost. I haven't tried it out yet. They could kill the crap out of any vehicles that came near them, but 36 points is pretty steep.

People happily pay 15pts per for 3-4 blasters to provide anti-tank in trueborn squads, and that's about the same effectiveness at tank-killing, at 18".
4 Blasterborn is 108pts for the 4 str8 lance anti-tank shots, a squad of 6 EMP Fire Warriors is 78pts for a similar level of killiness with 12 being 156 for improved killiness.

To be honest, I think squads of 8 for 104 will probably be the best middle-graound, with improved killiness+ threat range, with being a reasonable price.

Correct me if I'm wrong but if you equip a shas'ui with EMP the whole squad gets it and you dont have to pay the individual price. (FAQ under grey knights i think at one time about a char equiped with grenades making the whole squad have them, not sure it applies to all codex)

Tun_Tau wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong but if you equip a shas'ui with EMP the whole squad gets it and you dont have to pay the individual price. (FAQ under grey knights i think at one time about a char equiped with grenades making the whole squad have them, not sure it applies to all codex)

Those are special grenades with specific rules. I don't think that'll apply to Tau EMP grenades.

IHateNids wrote: I would Infiltrate Stealth suits next to something anyway, but DS a Crisis HQ + bodyguard w/ shot range stuff + Failsafe Detonator. Theory is to pop that LR (hopefully killing a few/pinning the TH/SS nators as they disembark), whittle them down with shooting via Overwatch w/ Fusion, Burst, Cyclic & Flamer, & then Failsafe Detonate to hopefully kill the rest after getting TH-whipped. Obviously the Detonator would be on the Bodyguard.

It took me a while to think of the best way to approach what you're trying to do and I think I've found it. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

What you're looking for is a way to quickly get into range and pop a transport of any size with a unit and mop up the units inside. You've got the first half correct, but the second half (leaving someone to die with the failsafe) doesn't seem that solid to me. Allow me to suggest an alternative:

Going for the most cost-effective method, I would recommend an HQ wielding TL Fusion and something else, doesn't matter right now. For the sake of this, we'll say flamer as a backup weapon. You complement this by attaching him to a stealth squad. Three troops with 1 fusion and 2 burst cannons. This confers the Stealth/Shrouded rules onto your HQ as well as allows it to infiltrate with them.

This is where you infiltrate the squad as close as you can to the enemies (18" is alright here, but 12" w/o LOS would be best) and it comes to your turn? Jump in 6", blow the everloving crap out of your target with your fusion blasters and then assault move the exact opposite direction of the now pissed off termies. Worst case? You're in charge range and now you have really REALLY strong weapons to fire in overwatch (remember, your HQ is twinlinked). But most likely you'll travel about 7 inches and be outside of their potential charge range and you'll be able to shoot again next turn (even soaking up fire from other units. Remember your 4+ cover!)

Does this help with what you're trying to do?

An independent character without infiltrate cannot join a unit of infiltrators during deployment. p 38.

Flavius Infernus wrote:An independent character without infiltrate cannot join a unit of infiltrators during deployment. p 38.

Quit ruining my fun! Deathrain the HQ and make a larger stealth squad for a second fusion. Will run you 200pts for the stealth team tho.