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Hi
I'm not sure if this was the right place to ask. But, I've decided to start a Tau army after playing Space Marines for a while. Anyway I wanted to ask what would be some good tactics for using a Tau army and also what would you recommend I use in the army. The only races I seem to face are Tyranids, Eldar and Space Marines. Although it would be good to be able to build an army that would work well against those, I would rather build an army that would also stand a chance against other races as well. My previous army was a mostly gunline army anyway so I didn't see it as that much of a change changing to Tau, but the Space Marines seem over powered and, as my only army, slightly boring to use over and over again. At first I was also thinking of Necrons, but they seemed too much like Space Marines in the stat line to be that much of a change.

Thanks in advance

<--- Played Tau for almost 4 years.

I can offer these tidbits of useful information.

1. The special characters are worthless, overcosted and not useful.

2. Always take at least 24 firewarriors in devil fish. Either 3 squads of 8, or 2 squads of 12 is up to you.

3. Disruption pods on EVERYTHING. For 5 points a vehicle you receive a 4+ save.

4. Always take 2 Hammerheads with railguns Multi-trackers and target locks.

5. Magnetize your suits. There are also only 3 main suit configurations.
-Fireknife- Plaz riffle Missile Pod and Multi-Tracker (for MeQs)
-Firestorm- Burst Cannon Missile Pod Multi-Tracker (for horde armies)
-DeathRain- Twin-linked Missile pods Drone controller With marker drones (marker-lights are your friends)

6. Always keep your distance from your enemy. That's an 18-24" Minimum distance away at the end of your turns. Tau insta die in close combat so keep away.

7. target Locks are non-functional wargear, so massed Broadside teams aren't as good as they once were. No more than 1 team of 2 suits ever. And when you do take broadsides give them the BASS.

8. Never buy a Shas'o. Shas'els with target Arrays are just as good for less points.

9. tau are not as competitive as they once were (due to fairly weak overall troop choices)

10. mech tau is the most fun/challenging/competitive way to play.

That's just some useful information from someone that Played tau for the last 4 years can tell you. Tau is a very fun but highly unforgiving army.

Alright thanks. definitely sounds like a good change of pace. Also I've heard about JSJ and it seems interesting. Could you tell me what can use it and any tips on using it? Also I was thinking of using the Crisis suit HQ instead of the Ethereal, is that usually a good idea or not?

Battlesuits, Stealthsuits, and Gun drone Squadrons can use JSJ

n0t_u wrote:Alright thanks. definitely sounds like a good change of pace. Also I've heard about JSJ and it seems interesting. Could you tell me what can use it and any tips on using it? Also I was thinking of using the Crisis suit HQ instead of the Ethereal, is that usually a good idea or not?

Well, JSJ is pretty simple. Hide a squad behind something to give them a cover save or block LOS completely. Use there first movement to jump out, shoot, then use there assault move to jump back into hiding.

You have to take at least one Crisis Suit as a commander, and at least one squad of Fire Warriors, and honestly the Ethreal is not a good choice. I prefer two squads of Crisis suits and there bodyguards, allowing all three to take Hardwired wargear and freeing up the Elite slots for Stealth Suits.

Stealth suits are kind of crappy.

Hollismason wrote:Stealth suits are kind of crappy.

Are you high? with ML support they are godly at killing large groups of infantry.

I have to say, the last game I played my tau, I decided to drop most of my fireknife, to run those specific deathrains, with the massed infiltrating stealth squad, x6 stealth, x10 gun drones, x2 marker drones... Worked out rediculously vs new guard and orks, MEQ I have yet to test, but deathrain owns most transports, and that mass fire squad wiped out a full ork unit(killed 21 and they fled) plus nails those infantry platoons, I actually gave one deathrain squad target locks for kicks, hopefully knock out multi transports, worked and saved me by allowing me to kill his damn PBS muahahah. I dunno about TL on HH, I prefer fletchets, disr pods, multi tracks, but thats just me...

firewarriors are your friend. take plenty and mount them in devilfish. i find that i get the most utility out of a single troops choice with tau than any other army. the standard weapon for FW can damage anything *edit: non-vehicle* in the game (not true of any other army) and has a great range; use it often! my IG and marines have huge problems facing necron C'tan as only 1-2 weapons in a squad have a chance to damage it.. and that assuming i hit, wound, and they fail their 4+ invul save. i really suprised the local necron player by slaughtering the nightbringer with just 3 of my troops choices. he usually rushes up with the nightbringer to try and get him in CC and was shocked when i brought up 3 FW squads of 12 in devilfish and dished out almost 100 strength shots at him, all of which could theoretically wound him!

as for vehicles, 5pt upgrades are your friend. disruption pod and targetting array make the expensive devilfish (especially if it's modelled with SMS like mine) much more worth it.

let your opponent overestimate the worth of your crisis suits; don't do it yourself. they're nice against targets lit up with markerlights but they're not a be all / end all. use them but don't waste them.

vespid are glass cannons. a full squad can decimate a combat squad statisically with help from a single marker light. make sure to support them because they will die horribly outside of cover to shooting and anytime in close combat. they should be the final nail in another units coffin, not the only one.

Thanks everyone for the help. At the moment I'll have a slight advantage as everyone I verse thinks that the Tau are weak and fragile and will be an extremely easy win. That might be true as they will seem like that for a little while after playing Space Marines, but what army (besides Necrons) wouldn't

Tau seems like it's more about supporting each other. Looks like it will be way more fun to play as than the Space Marines. One last question, anyone have any specific tips for versing Tyranids?

I began Tau some time ago, it hasn't been overly difficult (yet) but biggest issue is general crappiness of Tau troops. Your troops are fairly fragile and usually low in numbers. They really can't look after themselves, you have to actively protect them and be careful with your deployment.

Other than that, I don't really feel Tau is too hard to play. Vehicles are fairly survivable, and easy to move around since they're all skimmers and with Multi-trackers can also move & fire effectively. Suits can also move & fire, and often jump over inconvenient terrain. Judging when to move and when to shoot and how to select your position so you will have good firing sector is one of the trickiest things for the beginner, and in that sense Tau are actually pretty forgiving.

n0t_u wrote:
Tau seems like it's more about supporting each other. Looks like it will be way more fun to play as than the Space Marines.

Playing Tau is definitely all about the synergy of the list. For me the whole deal was about maneuverability and applied firepower. The refused flank, kamikaze drones performing a rear guard action against the advancing foe, the suppressing fire of 6 stealth suits and 12 drones laying into enemy infantry... I knew as soon as anyone was caught in close combat, they were gone. And for that reason, I made every shot count. Every victory with that army felt like a mental dance, and I always had to smile when starting that first turn with the feeling of "I know something you don't know..." about how the game would unfold. Honestly, after playing a few other armies, I miss that, and am slowly collecting bits for a new Tau force.

n0t_u wrote: One last question, anyone have any specific tips for versing Tyranids?

Well... this is a tricky question. It really depends on what you expect to be facing from that 'nid list.

Definitely bring rail guns, the type depending slightly upon the tendencies of the enemy hive. If you expect a large quantity of Zoanthropes, or well armored (2+ save) Carnifexes, you'll be much better served by Broadsides for the increased accuracy, and availability of plasma rifles when the enemy closes in. If you expect to be swarmed by Gaunts and Genestealers, the Hammerhead railguns may be a more viable choice thanks to the submunition option.

For a general role, your crisis suits will be well served to take Firestorm configurations as detailed in Red_Lives post earlier, burst cannons and missile pods. Pods for the monstrous creatures, cannons for the swarm. If you really want to specialize teams for one role or the other, bursts and flamers will tear up swarms, and plasma/fusion will put a hurt on the big stuff, although in either case you have to be dangerously close to make full use of the weaponry.

If you want to risk putting your skimmers close to the opponent (or expect to not be given the choice), flechette launchers are a must. They very rarely fail to pay for themselves if assaulted, and often times one assault can pay for the cost of adding them to all of your vehicles, not just the one assaulted.

From a tactical standpoint, once again it depends on what you expect to face, but specifically about the troop selections the 'nids bring to the table. If the list is Genestealer heavy and outflanking, stick to the center, pray, and pour on the firepower, or resign yourself to a few losses and corner up, concentrating fire on what appears right next to you, and giving your long range firepower more time to deal with the things coming downrange. On the other hand, if you're seeing a swarm of Gaunts, do a quick headcount of the synapse creatures on the field. If there aren't many to spare, then you may be well served to target them first, using the presence or absence of synapse to not only slow the swarm, but also to guide it, forcing them to flee towards the synapse you haven't killed yet. Above all, resolve yourself to the fact that there will be losses, no matter how the foe is engaged. Ensure that those losses go towards the advancement of the greater good, and guide your foe towards its' doom.

Red_Lives wrote:

7. target Locks are non-functional wargear, so massed Broadside teams aren't as good as they once were. No more than 1 team of 2 suits ever. And when you do take broadsides give them the BASS.

What do you mean by this? It allows the models in your unit to target different units. So your unit of two broadsides can kill two different vehicles. What did it used to do that makes them non-functional?

Alright thanks and definite last question as I forgot something last post.

How far can they move with JSJ? Is is 6" movement then 6" assault or 12" movement then 12" assault?

JSJ is 6" in the movement phase, a normal shooting phase, and then 6" in the assault phase, OR 6" in the movement phase, a d6" run in lieu of shooting, and a 6" movement in the assault phase (that cannot be an actual assault since you ran).

Alright thanks. I heard somewhere that jetpacks let stuff move 12" and just wanted clear up any confusion.

You heard the right rule for the wrong item. What you're thinking of are Jump Packs, which allow the user to go 12" in the movement phase, then assault 6". The difference is that Jet Packs give you the ability to partake of your assault movement even if you aren't actually assaulting anything.

VoxDei wrote:

Red_Lives wrote:

7. target Locks are non-functional wargear, so massed Broadside teams aren't as good as they once were. No more than 1 team of 2 suits ever. And when you do take broadsides give them the BASS.

What do you mean by this? It allows the models in your unit to target different units. So your unit of two broadsides can kill two different vehicles. What did it used to do that makes them non-functional?

This is a hotly debated topic in some circles. If you read the entry for the item it allows you to split your fire IF you make a successful Target Priority test. 5th Ed did away with such tests. Some people believe that this makes the wargear non-functional since it asks you to make a test that no longer exists. Others believe the 5th Ed FAQ addresses this as it says that rules that no longer exist have no effect on the game, allowing units to split thier fire with no test needed. A third opinion is that since the Target Priority test was a Leadership-based test, that the unit should be required to pass a Leadership roll before they can split thier fire.

Like a lot of GWs vague rules, it really comes down to what your opponant will allow. Probably the best way to handle it is to discuss it with your opponant before the game. Barring that, when it comes up mid-game, simply offer to dice with your opponant for whose interpretation will be used for that game.

That out of the way, I just want to reinforce a few items as the Tau have been my primary army for about 3 years.

Yes, they are a very unforgiving army. The learning curve is steep and frustrating at times. However, once you begin to master the subtle intracacies of the army, they are very rewarding to play. That being said, 5th Ed pulled a few of the Tau's teeth as JSJ is no longer as reliable as it was in 4th Ed because of the fact that you can shoot through terrain. Tau vehicles can no longer move and fire everything due to the decrease in STR of Defensive weapons, and the Run and Outflank rules mean that CC armies can now get into contact more quickly. On the flip side, Tau have the best piece of vehicular wargear in the game in the Disruption Pod for only 5 pts/vehicle.

As for the various units, they all have thier good and bad points. It is the general opinion though, that the Ethereal in general and Aun'Va in particular are a waste of points and that Vespid are not worth taking because of thier fragile nature and short ranged guns. That isn't to say that those units are completely useless, but they are certainly not as useful as other units that could be filling those slots.

Thanks everyone for the replies. Good thing is I'll be able to start the Tau army soon and a lot of the helpful replies should make my first game easier. It will probably be against a Tyranid army though, one that just got a Lictor today XD

I'm not expecting a win, just an army that would be fun to play as and I think I might have found that with the Tau.

Also it might be important to note that alot of Tau players take their fireknife teams as part of their HQ bodyguard (as they can take H/W wargear freeing up a slot for a target array)

Red_Lives wrote:Also it might be important to note that alot of Tau players take their fireknife teams as part of their HQ bodyguard (as they can take H/W wargear freeing up a slot for a target array)

At the cost of 20 points a suit.