Switch Theme:

T'au Tactica: 9th Edition  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
»
Author Message
Advert


Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
  • No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
  • Times and dates in your local timezone.
  • Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
  • Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
  • Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.




Made in fi
Lone Wolf Sentinel Pilot





Helsinki, Finland

Yeah, I'm still super excited about this book, I've got a rough idea of 2k list;

Spoiler:

Supreme command detachment (tau sept)
- shadowsun 150 (warlord exemplar of kayon)

Battalion (tau sept)
- cadre fireblade 50 (relic puretide neurochip)
- ethereal w/hoverdrone 65 (relic staff)
- darkstrider 60
- strike team (10, 2x marker drone) 100
- strike team (10, 2x marker drone) 100
- strike team (10, 2x marker drone) 100
- ghostkeel 160
- ghostkeel 160
- stealth team (3, fusion blaster) 80
- stealth team (3, fusion blaster) 80
- pathfinder team (10, 3x railrifle, recon drone, grav drone, pulse drone) 140
- piranha (fusion blaster) 70
- piranha (fusion blaster) 70
- Hammerhead (railcannon, 2x sms) 155
- Hammerhead (railcannon, 2x sms) 155
- broadside team (3, 3x heavy railrifle, 3x twin sms) 270

Total 1970


The points cost of the list is from the leaks, if anyone is interested, I can make a compilation.

https://firstblood84.wordpress.com/
Dark Angels (11000), Astra+AdMech+Assassin (7000), Tyranids (3000), Tau (3000), Legions of Nagash (2500) 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





I'm terribly excited for this book. Tau are an army I dabbled in buying but never committed to over the last decade. A small financial win-fall let me go a little crazy right before the leaks happened, so while Tau were still considered a bottom-tier, joke army, I ebay'd up probably $1500 worth of Tau for sub $500. Now seeing that soooo much of what I ended up with is poised to range from good to great, is a nice feeling.

Now I just need to track down some Kroot as they seem outright amazing at 6ppm. Anyone have suggestions for fun or interesting non-GW Kroot options? SW: Legion Wookies might be worth a laugh.

11527pts Total (7400pts painted)

4980pts Total (4980pts painted)

3730 Total (210pts painted) 
   
Made in nl
Longtime Dakkanaut





Sterling191 wrote:
 Ordana wrote:
an action fails if you move, having 'counts as stationary' doesn't change that.
Infact I would go so far as to say this entire 'markerlights are an action' thing exists precisely because of the army having 'counts as stationary' and GW doesn't want that rule (counts as stationary) to interact with markerlights at all.


Incorrect. You cannot *start* an action if you have moved or advanced (CRB FAQ, pg8, right side, bullet point 8). There is no such stipulation in the rare rules if the order of operations is reversed.

Markerlights going off at the beginning of the phase is the variable. You wouldn't be able to say, RND or Banner because that happens after the point of movement.
Its literally in the rules for actions
If a unit is destroyed, makes a Normal Move, Advances, Falls
Back, attempts to manifest a psychic power, declares a charge,
performs a Heroic Intervention or makes any attacks with ranged
weapons after it has started to perform an action but before that
action is completed, that action is failed.
(pg 75 of GT2021)
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




 Ordana wrote:
Its literally in the rules for actions
If a unit is destroyed, makes a Normal Move, Advances, Falls
Back, attempts to manifest a psychic power, declares a charge,
performs a Heroic Intervention or makes any attacks with ranged
weapons after it has started to perform an action but before that
action is completed, that action is failed.
(pg 75 of GT2021)


Which is irrelevant with a rule that precludes a unit from meeting any of those criteria. Movement states in 9th are black and white. Either you Remain Stationary, make a Normal Move, Advance or Fall Back. Mont'ka explicitly locks you into the Remain Stationary state for the Movement and Shooting phases so long as you don't Fall Back.
   
Made in us
Morally-Flexible Malleus Hearing Whispers




I can see both sides, but to be honest, I think GW intended for Tau to just sit in one place the entire game. (Not a tau player, but I don't understand how that would be a possible play style)

Are you @Sterling191 saying the downside to MLs is the unit has to remain stationary the entire turn?
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




FezzikDaBullgryn wrote:

Are you @Sterling191 saying the downside to MLs is the unit has to remain stationary the entire turn?


No? The point of dispute is whether Mont'ka allows non-Drone and non-Vehicle units to move/advance while Markerlighting in turns 1-3.
   
Made in gb
Been Around the Block



UK

FezzikDaBullgryn wrote:
I think GW intended for Tau to just sit in one place the entire game.


Definitely not what GW want for tau.
Tau are a move and shoot based army.
That's the lore
That's the reason behind montka
As pointed out montka means the unit counts as stationary (for the first 3 turns) so that means that the action would not fail because of movement in montka (the action can fail for other reasons).

As for potential army lists,
I'm interested to see a list with both shadows in and farsight together in a farsight enclave. (As shadowsun can now be taken in another army as supreme commander and not break sept tenants).

I should think that they would have good synergy, while they have some overlap with rerolls it means that you could cover most of your army with the auras from each of them across the field.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I still think the pathfinders can 'move' including fallback or advance, and then at the end of movement phase start the marker light action.

I don't think this will be settled until the codex is released.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/01/22 20:23:09


 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




bedivere wrote:

I don't think this will be settled until the codex is released.


It won't be resolved until the post-Codex FAQ.

bedivere wrote:

I'm interested to see a list with both shadows in and farsight together in a farsight enclave. (As shadowsun can now be taken in another army as supreme commander and not break sept tenants).

I should think that they would have good synergy, while they have some overlap with rerolls it means that you could cover most of your army with the auras from each of them across the field.



Shadowsun explicitly affects all Tau Empire units now, not just Tau Sept. That said, you don't want to run her in a Supreme Command as if you do she *has* to be your warlord, and Exemplar of Kauyon is pants for the kinds of things you want to be doing with an Enclave list. Both she and Farsight have the "If you bring this model it has to be your Warlord" rule, but as a result you get to pick and Farsight is the supremely better choice.
   
Made in gb
Been Around the Block



UK

Thanks for clarifying that shadowsun farsight thing Sterling191

The rules we know on markerlights so far from the leak, i have separated it into 3 sections; The default rules, special rules and Using Markerlights :
The default rules:
Fire Markerlights is an action (not part of the shooting phase any more).
One or more Markerlight units from your army can start to perform this action at the start of your movement phase.
The action is completed at the start of your next shooting phase.
If this action is successfully completed, for each model in that unit that is equipped with one or more markerlights, for each markerlight that model is equipped with, select one enemy unit within 36" of that model that would be an eligible target for that model if its unit had been selected to shoot, and roll one D6: on a 3+, that enemy unit gains one Markerlight token.

The list of special rules to this:
Aircraft Markerlight units can perform this action.
VEHICLE or DRONE keyword units performing the Fire Markerlights action can move without that action failing.
If it does, until the end of the turn, models in that unit without the VEHICLE or DRONE keyword that are equipped with any markerlights are treated as not being equipped with any markerlights for the purpose of the Fire Markerlights action.
Pathfinders can move then apply Markerlights.

Using Markerlights up:
Markerlights only affect Tau Empire unit shooting (not Aux units, kroot or vespid).
Each time a model in that Tau Empire unit makes a ranged attack against a unit with one or more Markerlight Tokens, add 1 to that attack's hit roll.
After that Tau Empire unit has finished making its shooting attacks, for each enemy unit targeted by those attacks, remove one Markerlight token from that enemy unit.
Remove all Markerlight tokens at the end of your shooting phase.
(Farsight Enclaves always have Markerlight if making attacks within 12", even in other phases).

The default rules are fairly clear.
The using markerlights is fairly clear.
The issue is the special rule exemptions.
A lot of the rules for the markerlight stipulate movement.
It seems most people are swapping the word move for normal move in there minds, and i dont think that this is correct.

On the topic of the movement phase it should contain;
  • Normal Move

  • Advance

  • Remain Stationary

  • Fall Back

  • Reinforcements

  • Typically the "move units" is Normal Move, Advance, Remain Stationary, Fall Back
    The Reinforcements is typically taken in the next step of the movement phase

    This implies to me that 'move' includes Normal Move, Advance, Remain Stationary, Fall Back ... and maybe Reinforcements, only for Pathfinders as they can do markerlights at end of movement phase (which may include the Reinforcements).
    I dont care about Reinforcements and think the rules would clarify if you can or not and I dont think there would be too much use case for that. So i am ignoring that.

    Remain Stationary is the status the units have if they dont do any of the other movement phase options (which is included in the montka for turns 1-3). So I am arguing that montka does affect the markerlights action for all units that did a ‘normal move’ or ‘advance’, if we start redefining the remains stationary then we will break the game VERY quickly.

    The montka wording is:
    “Each time this unit makes a Normal Move or Advances in your movement phase, it counts as having remained stationary” – from the GW website.

    In this context:
    The pathfinders are the only ones who can “Pathfinders can move then apply Markerlights”. I still think that that means they can ‘move’ being fallback, and then apply Markerlights so other units can shoot into the target unit as well.
    I have not heard an argument that makes sense (without breaking the game) that would prevent them from doing this.

    The wording of the leak is not the best, other aspects of it use the word 'move' and it is assumed that it is 'normal move' by everyone:
    "There is a stratagem that allows a unit to hop out of a devilfish after the devilfish moves". Again I think that this is normal move only (as it would be far too powerful otherwise) and would allow units in devil fish to stage an ork like rush (devilfish 12" normal move, strike/pathfinder team 6-7" move =18">19" of normal move into the enemy deployment and cause havoc there, like charging or blocking paths to delay units).

    On disembarking there is the rule "they never count as having Remained Stationary", not sure how that applies to montka and which one takes precedent. Unless osomeone can clarify that in one line thats a whole new argument i dont want to dip a toe in right now.

    Ignoring the incorrect word 'move' (that shouldnt exist in rules like this) it is clear:
    Aircraft units have to move (for example Remora Stealth Drones have markerlights and movement between 15" and 30" and they can still perform the Markerlights action. (Ignoring 'move', clear and no objections).
    VEHICLE or DRONE keyword units performing the Fire Markerlights action can move without that action failing. (Ignoring 'move', again clear and no objections).
    If it does, until the end of the turn, models in that unit without the VEHICLE or DRONE keyword that are equipped with any markerlights are treated as not being equipped with any markerlights for the purpose of the Fire Markerlights action. (again clear and no objections).
    Pathfinders can move then apply Markerlights. (Ignoring 'move', again clear and no objections).


    Automatically Appended Next Post:
    The Markerlights actions are performed in the tau turn from the start / end of the moment phase, depending on the unit and rules, though the psychic phase (for all that psychic that tau are busy doing lol) and are completed before the start of shooting phase.
    This is a very short window and few things would affect it

    The rules on declaring the actions do state:
    “You can declare a unit from your army to perform an action provided there are no enemy units within Engagement Range of it and it did not Advance or Fall Back this turn.”

    Actions are reported to fail if:
    If a unit is destroyed (not relevant to this action as something is not likely to get destroyed between movement and shooting phase).
    makes a Normal Move, Advances, Falls Back (point of discussion here, prearticular Advances and Fall Back for the pathfinders or just Fall Back in the case on montka).
    attempts to manifest a psychic power (again we are tau here, who are you kidding?)
    The action then completes and the rest is irrelevant.
    (declares a charge, performs a Heroic Intervention or makes any attacks with ranged weapons are all irrelevant).

    A character unit cannot use any aura abilities while it is performing an action (if the action is failed, their aura abilities immediately take effect again).
    This is not really applicable to tau cases as drones are often the unit with markerlight in character models and most auras are in shooting phase.

    First montka means Normal Move and Advances counts as Remains Stationary for the first 3 turns … so yay for that. This is the whole point of montka,
    Units can normal move and advance in first 3 turns without this action failing.

    The pathfinders action is started after ‘move’ (and we don’t know what that means).
    What we do know is that the line of text about actions failing is now “If a unit, Advances, Falls Back, attempts to manifest a psychic power ~ that action is failed”, so for sure, no argument that the pathfinders can Normal Move or Remains Stationary and do the Markerlights action. Everyone agrees

    “The Pathfinders can ‘move’ and then apply Markerlights”
    Again the wording of the leak is terrible and would be clarified if the phrase “normal move” or “finish movement phase” (which includes Normal Move, Advances, Fall Back, Remains Stationary and re-enforcements) or “move unit” (which includes Normal Move, Advances, Fall Back and Remains Stationary) were used. This is what I would expect to see in the codex.

    Assuming montka we would still need to know if this unit is able to declare / start performing the action relevant to the Fall Back making the pathfinders unable to declare the action.
    Paraphrasing a bit here:
    “You can declare a unit from your army to perform an action provided there are no enemy units within Engagement Range of it and it did not Fall Back this turn”

    This is the only issue I have with it so far, if the unit is able to declare the action. If the unit is able to declare the action then it does not matter about failing the action on fall back, as it was able to declare it on fall back.

    The wording of the codex is the only ting that would clarify it.

    This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/01/23 09:37:33


     
       
    Made in gb
    Lord of the Fleet






    London

    So either way I need some more Fire Warriors for the new book, but I'm wondering if there's any reason to take the Carbines over the Rifles. I was pretty confident that they'd be Assault 3 in the new rules, but as they're still Assault 2, I'm struggling to find a use for them besides advancing and firing normally thanks to Mont'ka. Anyone found a use for them?

    Also, I've found a very nice Railgun conversion for my Broadsides that I want to get but it'll be difficult to magnetise to include HYMPs. Anyone seen what the HYMP profile is like and wherever it'll still be the dominant choice for Broadsides?
       
    Made in gb
    Crazed Spirit of the Defiler




    The best reason I can think of regarding the Carbines not getting buffed for Strike Teams is because other units can take them (Drones/Pathfinders) and they would be too strong there.
       
    Made in us
    Longtime Dakkanaut




     Valkyrie wrote:
    So either way I need some more Fire Warriors for the new book, but I'm wondering if there's any reason to take the Carbines over the Rifles. I was pretty confident that they'd be Assault 3 in the new rules, but as they're still Assault 2, I'm struggling to find a use for them besides advancing and firing normally thanks to Mont'ka. Anyone found a use for them?

    Also, I've found a very nice Railgun conversion for my Broadsides that I want to get but it'll be difficult to magnetise to include HYMPs. Anyone seen what the HYMP profile is like and wherever it'll still be the dominant choice for Broadsides?


    Missile Pods are Assault 2 S7 Ap2 D2. HYMP are Assault 4. They're...okay. They get spanked hard by anything with -1 damage, and are generally outclassed by more specialized weapons.
       
    Made in gb
    Lord of the Fleet






    London

    -1 Damage isn't that common outside Dreadnoughts and DG though is it?
       
    Made in us
    Longtime Dakkanaut




    It's proliferating very rapidly across the rulesets. Orks, Tyranids, GSC have easy army-wide access to it and many others have targeted buffs to gain the effect.
       
    Made in nl
    Longtime Dakkanaut





     Valkyrie wrote:
    -1 Damage isn't that common outside Dreadnoughts and DG though is it?
    Tyranid Crushing Swarm, GSC Abberants, Thousand Sons have a -1D strat, Dark Eldar custom Coven has -1D.

    So yeah I would say -1D has a significant presence and features in some of the top 'Meta' armies enough to build around it.
       
    Made in gb
    Lord of the Fleet






    London

     Ordana wrote:
     Valkyrie wrote:
    -1 Damage isn't that common outside Dreadnoughts and DG though is it?
    Tyranid Crushing Swarm, GSC Abberants, Thousand Sons have a -1D strat, Dark Eldar custom Coven has -1D.

    So yeah I would say -1D has a significant presence and features in some of the top 'Meta' armies enough to build around it.


    Fair enough then.
       
    Made in gb
    Regular Dakkanaut





     Valkyrie wrote:
    -1 Damage isn't that common outside Dreadnoughts and DG though is it?


    Also Squigosaurs, Ork Buggies, Crusher Stampede, Paragon Warsuits, Thousand Sons infantry, Magnus, Lord of Change, Wraithknights, Wraithguard, GSC Aberrants and Abominants, Dark Angels have a relic to give it to all Core within 6", then a load of stuff halves damage including new Avatar, Morvenn Vahl, Calgar, and TS Daemon Prince
       
    Made in us
    Nurgle Chosen Marine on a Palanquin





    Livermore, Ca

    Twilight Pathways wrote:
     Valkyrie wrote:
    -1 Damage isn't that common outside Dreadnoughts and DG though is it?


    Also Squigosaurs, Ork Buggies, Crusher Stampede, Paragon Warsuits, Thousand Sons infantry, Magnus, Lord of Change, Wraithknights, Wraithguard, GSC Aberrants and Abominants, Dark Angels have a relic to give it to all Core within 6", then a load of stuff halves damage including new Avatar, Morvenn Vahl, Calgar, and TS Daemon Prince



    And Wraithseer... lol
       
    Made in gb
    Ship's Officer



    London

    Markerlights are an interesting one now. The fact that they're an action started at the beginning of the movement phase introduces some difficulties. You now can't use a markerlight on the turn you arrive from reinforcements or get out of a transport, because you weren't there at the start of the phase. You also can't move and fire one... except the only people that actually applies to are squad leaders. Drones, vehicles and pathfinders can all run around and markerlight stuff all day.

    Pathfinders have a unique ability to markerlight something starting at the end of the movement phase rather than the beginning. So they actually can get out of a devilfish or come out of reserve and light things up if they want.

    So just bear in mind that a markerlight on a crisis team that's deep striking won't do anything. You'll want some on units that are actually deployed.

    I couldn't see a lot of point in Breachers in this codex, when standard fire warriors have such a good gun. I think I'm reassessing that though, due to the guardian drone. That stops anything from wounding on a 1-3, giving your little T3 fire warriors perma-transhuman. That's pretty good, I think.
       
    Made in gb
    Regular Dakkanaut





    Mandragola wrote:
    the guardian drone. That stops anything from wounding on a 1-3, giving your little T3 fire warriors perma-transhuman. That's pretty good, I think.


    1-2. It's only a mini-transhuman, like Black Templars.
       
    Made in nl
    Longtime Dakkanaut





    Games of 9th are fought over mid field objectives. Breachers in Devilfishes can get to the mid field objectives, score them and remove whatever is on them all at the same time, allowing your other elements to free range to clear enemy home objectives or remove threats.

    And while you can do the same with strike teams the extra str and ap from breachers is a sizeable different.

    Both can take a guardian drone tho, so I don't think that is a difference between the 2?

       
    Made in us
    Longtime Dakkanaut




    S6 AP2-4 with no cover and rerolling wounds will do serious work into nearly any defensive profile in the game. They're a far more specialized unit than Strikes, but they do the job exceedingly well.
       
    Made in gb
    Crazed Spirit of the Defiler




    Breachers seem good for trading, you clear the point and claim it, but then get cleared and claimed back next turn.

    Strikes can hold a backfield objective (without risking losing it to one obsec enemy) and might be able to occasionally pop out and shoot with their range if the enemy can't shoot back.

    Crisis and Stealth look interesting if you want something obsec (several ways to get it) on a mid point that might actually survive.

    Riptides and Ghostkeels look slightly interesting if you want something to stay on a backfield objective if it has no obscuring you can hide in.
       
    Made in gb
    Lord of the Fleet






    London

    Good thing we're discussing Breachers. I got a good deal on some second hand FWs, including 10x unbuilt ones. I already have 20x Rifles and 10x Carbines, would it be worth making Breachers of the unbuilt ones, or should I stick with the Rifles? I imagine Breachers to be an "all out or nothing" unit.
       
    Made in gb
    Longtime Dakkanaut





    How are people feeling about Plasma Rifles now.

    30" S8 AP -4 D3 for five points seems solid.
    Just one shot though.

       
    Made in gb
    Towering Hierophant Bio-Titan



    UK

    I think the main suit loads will be;

    Dual BC + Flamer 55pts for 11.5-13.5 str4/5 hits inside of 16".

    Cyclic/Fusion/Plasma 60pts for 5 high strength high damage shots.

    All including a shield gen. YMMV with other support systems.

    The key for most of the suits will be delivery - If stealth suits can infiltrate up the board turn 1 and if a Coldstar allows turn 1 deep striking during the movement phase (i.e. not the command phase).. then there is some serious potential. The perks for getting within 18" or 12" turn 1/2 are huge.

    Borkan commanders can make high RoF weapons really deadly with the ability to get pluses to wound, multiple sources of extra AP and full re-rolls to hit/wound. Or just, y'know, 3 fusion guns and a gauntlet. Slap down some hurt.


     H.B.M.C. wrote:
    Friend of mine just sent me this:

    "The Tyranid Codex, where I learned the truth about despair, as will you. There's a reason why this codex is the worst hell on earth... Hope. ."
    Too be fair.. it's all worked out quite well!

    Heh.  
       
    Made in us
    Grisly Ghost Ark Driver






    If I wasn't a Necron I would run at least 1-2 large squads of Crisis Suits with 2xAirbusting Frags and 1 flamer and multi-tracker so the combo works like this with Mont'ka. You will have 12d6 str 4 ap 2 dmg 1 shots that ignore line sight re-roll 1's to hit due to a commander and re-roll 1's to wound due to Mont'ka, possibly exploding 6's with multi-tracker. They increased the range of AFP's by 6 and the ap by 1 and with Mont'ka you can advance and not worry about your bs. As you have these two units constantly getting closer eventually you will be in charge range/flamer range. If you charge the crisis suits you will have to deal with their overwatch which will have 6d6+12 str 4 flamer hits, and you will get to use the flamers offensively next turn.

    Add a coldstar commander to give the crisis units auto-advance of 8 inches, I think that is a 40-inch threat range with the crisis units. Sprinkle in 60 point Kroot troop squads who have pregame movement for objectives. I would take Bork'an for the extra 4 inches on the AFP and the -1 str under 7 ability for durability if you can not stay out of the line of sight, or Farsight Enclave if you want the extra bs. Two Hammerheads because railguns are the best weapon in the game. Sprinkle in some form of marker lights and you are done.

    "Accordingly, the Mont’ka Tactical Philosophy rewards decisive action in the first three turns, allowing its warriors to rapidly advance into enemy lines and blaze away with powerful close-range firepower."[I]

    You get to play this army just like they envision!

    I would literally kill whatever enemy unit is closest each turn while destroying any vehicle equivalent with the railguns that dare to get in the line of sight of my hammerheads. Attacking while out of line of sight is easier as it is 6 models instead of 9 and if I can't hide the weapons are 24(28) inches and with the coldstar I can move them 18 inches. I would probably take a plasma rifle/fusion blaster crisis squad and 1 unit of Broadsides to help the hammerheads.

    This is what I would do.

    Do you have to kill 12 drones before a single crisis suit die?

    This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2022/01/29 23:25:34


       
    Made in us
    Regular Dakkanaut




    Question: Would Longstrike's granting a markerlight to a nearby tank allow a Skyray to shoot out of LOS with the strat?
       
    Made in gb
    Lord of the Fleet






    London

    I'm surprised at what plasma is now, was expecting Assault 2 S6 D2, but as I'm typing this I guess that'd just make them obsolete compared to Missile Pods.

    Had a skim through the Codex leak, and I'm wondering what the typical loadouts for Crisis teams will be. I like how the new points encourages you to mix and match, so I'm considering a BC/FB loadout on the majority of the suits. Keeps them relatively cheap as I suspect they'll still die pretty quickly.
       
    Made in us
    Longtime Dakkanaut




     Valkyrie wrote:

    Had a skim through the Codex leak, and I'm wondering what the typical loadouts for Crisis teams will be. I like how the new points encourages you to mix and match, so I'm considering a BC/FB loadout on the majority of the suits. Keeps them relatively cheap as I suspect they'll still die pretty quickly.


    It's really going to come down to force composition, and the role you have in mind for the Crisis team. For an all-rounder my brain is coalescing towards BC / Flamer + Plasma + Fusion / CIB. But then again I'm also looking at an Enclaves list that jettisons infantry entirely and brings nothing but Battlesuits, so YMMV.
       
     
    Forum Index » 40K General Discussion
    Go to: