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I was thinking on how I am going to retool my Commander for my Tau in fifth ed.

Before it was as a suicide DS fusion/plasma suit as he was unscoring anyway and pretty tough to take down. I always found the new special issue wargear, nice but unnecessary. However 5E has made me rethink the Airburst Fragmentation projectile.

S4 AP 5 large blast, no cover save.

Sounds like a great anti horde weapon now. Stick it on a BS 5 suit and your not going to scatter much at all. The real bonus is the no cover issue, since everything and its dog gets a cover save of some sort. Combine it with the ion blaster weapon and you have a combo that is good against Meq and murderious against non-meq armies. The only real downside is the sorter range (both guns have 18"), but thats a lot of hits coming from a single model. JSJ behind your devilfish or forward hammerhead and this guy seems like he can put down some hurt for a while.

Thoughts?

JSJ behind your devilfish

Skimmers block LoS again?

Therion wrote:

JSJ behind your devilfish

Skimmers block LoS again?

Yes

Don't they only block true LOS? So your opponent will probably see his legs, though you'll still get a cover save. So it still works out well. Even better if you buy a shield generator.

I might try it.

I've been running a Shas'el Fireknife with the AFP as a backup weapon, and it is devastating against Orks and not bad against Sisters of Battle (the only opponents I've played in 5th Edition). The range does feel a bit short, but I've been averaging three or four hits with it (sometimes the scatter is bad), and it really eats away at the Ork horde.

I find that the Missile Pod is good for the first turn or two while you're maneuvering into a good place to use the AFP, and the Plasma is there for harder targets. The AFP is definitely worthwhile, though.

I've also pointed out a second Shas'el for my army with a Cyclic Ion Blaster, a Flamer, and a Missile Pod (with HW Multi-Tracker) for "counterassault shooting". The Missile Pod does it's BS4 work until a unit gets assaulted, and once it evaporates to leave the assaulter hanging in the wind, the Cyclic Ion Blaster and Flamer whittle the squad down. It's darn cheap, too.

I've pointed out a crisis unit with the following and think it might do well for a horde killer and not to shabby vs MEQ also jsut because of the volume of firepower:

Upgrade a team leader to a vre, give him the AFP, BC, TA and HW MT, and 2 suits with MP/BC/MT. It's 13 shots plus the AFP that should whittle an ork horde down substantially.

The other alternative I've thought about is just a straight up 3 man team of BC/MP (TL with BK) with a joined 'El that is outfitted just like you posted.

I've thought about that loadout as well, Budro, but I hate to use a hardpoint on a Crisis suit when I can get the exact same type of shot elsewhere in the army. The Crisis suits are the only ways to get several kinds of weapons, so I really like taking advantage of that.

That's the main negative to this. Before my elites were either FK or Deathrain - which fill the holes left by railheads and mounted fish.

Another form could be use an 'el with the AFP/CIB and bodyguard with BC/MP, leaving your elites to FK and deathrain. Gets pricey though. But I do like to match up a specialist suit with a complimentary unit. Facing nid/ork/IG horde you need a high volume of fire. One specialist suit isn't going to do it by itself. And it's harder to match it up with a unit of FW - get to close to them and you are no longer J-S-J'ing because you're part of the unit. Hanging out by your lonesome and you're a good canidate for a lone lascannon/missle launcher/what have you.

Stick your HQ with a complimentary elite unit and at least he's not getting fragged at the first opportunity.

I like airburst, used it to great effect in cityfight vs guard. However if your thinking is geared towards MEq it has little value.

Not necessarily, sometimes quantity is better than quality against MEQ right now.

If you're really up for anti-horde, go with this:

Shas'ui- Flamethrower, Airburst, Multi-tracker

A 54 point model that never has to roll to hit and can completely decimate a boyz mob or guant swarm on its own.

With 5th eition I decided to specialize my crisis teams instead of just trying to make the jack-of-all-trades fireknives work for every sitiuation. In doing so I created a crisis team specifically for dealing with ork mobs, gaunt broods, and pesky eldar pathfinders. But I have also found it to be effective against power armored troops as well. I run a Shas'vre crisis with AFP/BC/TA/HWMT and 2 crisis with Flamer/BC/MT. The whole unit is 162 points and is deadly efficent up close. The only drawback is that you have to be right up in peoples gills to work, but luckily most playes try to close with the tau anyways so half your job is done for you.