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.

When and where did Iridium armor come back for Tau? I don't see it in my Codex or any FAQs? Chapter Approved?

Commanders
This model may take an XV8-02 Crisis Iridium Battlesuit, increasing its Save characteristic to 2+.


from the pg 92 ,103

Crisis

For every three models in the unit, one model may take an XV8-02 Crisis Iridium Battlesuit, increasing that
model’s Save characteristic to 2+.

pg 104

and in pg 123 armory

Oh man.....guess I never take standard Commander! Right there. Man.......I am blind apparently.....thanks!

I pretty much always take either an Enforcer or Coldstar Commander (sometimes one of each), so I never have the option of taking an Iridium suit. Here's hoping Crisis suits get a big price drop in Chapter Approved so that I can actually take them without gimping myself.

Is it worth taking Vectored Manoeuvring Thrusters with the Fly nerf? I would normally spend the CP to add this to my quad-fusion commander, so he could shoot and jump behind a wall or something like that. Now, that is not an option, so do you think it is worth it just to put a little extra space between your commander and your opponent?

 Mud Turkey 13 wrote:
Is it worth taking Vectored Manoeuvring Thrusters with the Fly nerf? I would normally spend the CP to add this to my quad-fusion commander, so he could shoot and jump behind a wall or something like that. Now, that is not an option, so do you think it is worth it just to put a little extra space between your commander and your opponent?

If you can get him out of charge range, or at least make it a long-bomb charge, or jump behind a screening unit like Stealth Suits (you just can't jump directly over them), then yes it's worth it.

Hey. Took 2nd place at The Harbor Heresy GT. 30 players, 5 rounds, ITC missions. Lost a match to the guy that took 5th but otherwise was able to do EXTREMELY well.

One BIZARRE thing is that the Kroot Shaper doesnt have Vanguard which was pointed out to me. Has anyone seen a clarification on why? You basically end up leaving him behind or trickling guys back, ork style. Anything on this? Its not like hes critical( i have him just to get a Brigade) but i'm just kinda shocked.

I'd be curious to see your list @Jancoran. Good job getting 2nd!

Hey! New Tau player here.

I was wondering. Is the 3 sniper drones/1 firesight marksman box the only way to get firesight marksmen? It would cost a lot to buy 3 such boxes just to get 3 minor characters... Do you convert them, buy from third party manufacturers or just buy from GW?

macexor wrote:
Hey! New Tau player here.

I was wondering. Is the 3 sniper drones/1 firesight marksman box the only way to get firesight marksmen? It would cost a lot to buy 3 such boxes just to get 3 minor characters... Do you convert them, buy from third party manufacturers or just buy from GW?

It’s a really easy conversion...there are lots of examples out on google

Does the Iridium upgrade take a support system slot? It seems like it should, being listed as a support system, but Battlescribe for some reason disagrees.

Which Sept is all around better in a casual list for the Y'Vahra -
Bork'an
Farsight Enclave

I am running a 2000 point game with a Farsight Battalion + a Farsight Vanguard and then 1 Bork'an Battalion.

Trying to see which detachment would be best for it.

 Da-Rock wrote:
Which Sept is all around better in a casual list for the Y'Vahra -
Bork'an
Farsight Enclave

I am running a 2000 point game with a Farsight Battalion + a Farsight Vanguard and then 1 Bork'an Battalion.

Trying to see which detachment would be best for it.

Personally borkan as otherwise it's hard going to manage its range

Hello all,

Been looking at starting Tau, already have 30,000 points of Imperium so want to try some Xenos. I've come up with a 1500 point list but would like some ideas about the following options before I commit to anything.

Pathfinder weapons: The Rail Rifle and Ion Rifle look pretty decent but you have to swap out your Marketlights to take them, is this a useful trade at all?

Remora Drones: I'm thinking of taking 2 as an escort for my Coldstar. They're fast and while they're not massively tough, they have a built-in -1 to hit. For 91pts you get 2x Burst Cannons and 2x Seeker Missiles but they also prevent your Coldstar from being targeted as they'll be closer. If I take them I can drop a Fusion Blaster on the Coldstar to take a Drone Controller, so the Remoras are now at BS3+. I understand Remoras aren't the most competitive choice but can they perform this escort duty at all?

Remote Sensor Towers: Probably overlooked, but 40pts for a tower which can drop 3 Markerlight counters a turn isn't bad in my view, plus it'll often be overlooked by the enemy. If they commit to destroying it, then congrats, you've wasted a lot of firepower to destroy a 40pt tower.

Thoughts?

I personally like the Remora Drones as Ballistic escorts for a Coldstar. The movement and the fact that only Fly can assault them has helped.

I wouldn't say they are competitive due to cost and people go with safer bets elsewhere, but for Rule of Cool they are awesome!

Pathfinders - this really depends on your list and how often you use Stratagems. I use converted Firesight Marksmen like a crack addict as my markerlight source with a strong use of the markerlight stratagem.

Getting back into Tau for Xmas, getting the start collecting set plus a box of pathfinders, already got a squad of fire warriors from years ago. What kind of units should I be staying away from nowadays?? I used to run double hammerheads years ago in 5th edition and they were incredible.

Thinking of going in a recon theme with some pathfinders and stealth suits possibly even some piranahs if any of that stuff isnt completely garbage.

Rogerio134134 wrote:
Getting back into Tau for Xmas, getting the start collecting set plus a box of pathfinders, already got a squad of fire warriors from years ago. What kind of units should I be staying away from nowadays?? I used to run double hammerheads years ago in 5th edition and they were incredible.

Thinking of going in a recon theme with some pathfinders and stealth suits possibly even some piranahs if any of that stuff isnt completely garbage.

Ironically the iconic crisis suit is unplayable overcosted currently.
Devilfish are pretty bad
Hammerheads have mostly been replaced in competitive Tau lists.
But they're definitely playable casual.

Good news is that the Stealth suits are very solid. I see a lot of lists that flood the field with Drones, but I'm not a fan.

I tend to go big with 2 Riptides, Stormsurg and GhostKeel as my base and fill the rest, but I must admit that the basic Tau troops are good.

 Da-Rock wrote:
Good news is that the Stealth suits are very solid. I see a lot of lists that flood the field with Drones, but I'm not a fan.

I tend to go big with 2 Riptides, Stormsurg and GhostKeel as my base and fill the rest, but I must admit that the basic Tau troops are good.

Glad that's the case, was going down the fluff route that my commander is well known for his tendency to use stealth units and deception in his battle plan, definitely having some stealth suits and pathfinders.

I just went 2-3 with Tau at a GT. With better tactics, I could have won one if not both of my last two games. I ran the following list:

Game 1 saw me facing pure Astra Militarum (Catachans). The list was a mechanized one, with several characters and squads in Chimeras, plus some Leman Russ tanks. Even in this game I played pretty sloppy and chose poorly on my secondaries (the event used ITC missions), but I did manage to squeak out the win. In game 2, I faced what was almost a mirror match for me, a Tau list with 3 Riptides. He had no commanders, and ran a pair of Rail Rifle Broadsides, plus a lot more drones than me. I won decisively due to some questionable targeting choices on my opponent's part, but it was a fairly tough game and certainly no blowout. In game 3, I faced one of my own club's players who is ranked fairly highly in the ITC standings, and he was rocking a Chaos soup list with 3 units of Tzaangors, a number of Tsons characters, a big blob of Alpha Legion cultists, Abaddon, and a small detachment of Daemons (Poxbringer, Slaanesh Herald, 3 units of Nurglings). I got my butt kicked in this one since my opponent used wrap tricks to lock my Fire Warriors in combat and prevent me from falling back. If I had gone first, I might have had a chance, but as it was, no such luck. I faced Tyranids in game 4. 2 Battalions with 4 Neurothropes as HQ's, 4 units of Rippers and 2 20-man Genestealer units as troops, and 2 big units of Hive Guard and 2 Exocrines, plus a unit of 3 Venomthropes. I got first turn and managed to kill the Venomthropes early on, but I really didn't kill enough else and I didn't hold the objectives well at all during the game. It was a fairly exciting game that saw most of both armies get annihilated, but alas I came up short due to not holding objectives well. That's one thing I'll say about ITC missions; you absolutely have to be able to hold multiple objectives if you want a chance of winning. Anyway, game 5 had me facing Drukhari with a Supreme Command of Alaitoc Psykers in a Wave Serpent. This loss was the most shameful, as it was mainly due to very poor target selection on my first turn. I chose to shoot everyting at that stupid Serpent, even popping some strats on my units, and I still didn't kill it. It just went downhill from there and I lost badly. If I had shot my stuff at the Venoms instead, it might have been a very different game, as my opponent would have struggled to deal with my drone support (which the Venoms cleared pretty easily).

My takeaways from this event:
-With Tau, target priority is key. Don't do what I did in game 5 (and to a lesser extent in game 1) and shoot stuff that isn't that much of a threat. Focus on stuff that can clear your drones, or stuff that can kill your big suits.
-Riptides are a must take unit. They are fairly fast moving and put out a massive number of shots with their HBC (if you Nova charge it). I'd say make room for 3 in any Tau list.
-I don't think the Sa'cea strat is worth taking an Aux Support for. There were times I could have used the extra CP I would have had if I'd just made that Ethereal T'au Sept. I did use the Sa'cea strat a couple of times, but it really didn't to much that I needed. Now a Sa'cea Vanguard with 3 Firesight Marksmen, on the other hand, is probably worth taking.
-Figure out what the biggest, most dangerous target is on your opponent's side, and use the Focused Fire on that. I still need to get the hang of figuring out what's worth popping that strat on. Certainly not a damn Wave Serpent that's -2 to hit (sorry I keep harping on that, but I'm kicking myself a lot for that one).
-As I said in the summary above, you really need to be able to claim mid-field objectives and try to hold multiple ones in ITC missions. I played way too static in my games, and it cost me. It is a good idea to keep your units together for the supporting fire if you get charged, but against another shooty army don't worry about that. Start them close together to benefit from Kauyon or Mont'ka, but be prepared to split them up if you need to grab objectives.
-T'au Sept is probably the best Tenet to take. My round 2 opponent was running Bor'kan sept, but he lacked the T'au stratagem and Darkstrider, which are both things you want in your toolbox in a TAC list. Bor'kan isn't terrible, and it's the only way to run a Y'vahra or Blastcannon Stormsurge, but T'au is better, I think. YMMV, of course.

Overall I think I had a solid list, but I really need to learn to play it. I probably should get a few more drones, plus a couple more Firesight Marksmen and some Stealth Suits in there, but I'd have to drop the Broadsides for that, and I'm reluctant to get rid of that much of my firepower.

How do you field the Coldstar now that drones cannot manta strike turn one anymore to provide ablative wounds for him?

I was thinking about going 1 x Supernova Launcher, 2x air burst fraglauncher and ATS and be annoying as possible while staying out of range/sight.

Coupled with Bork'an warlord trait (reroll number of shots) and Seeker of Perfection Stratagem (+ 1 to wound on 6+ hit rolls) this could result in a nasty package, even though the Bork'an tenet is wasted on the commander.

Remoras are another option, but I'm not too keen on spending 100 bucks on a couple of those.

I tend to keep the Coldstar next to my big stuff (Riptides, Broadsides) on the first turn and declare Kauyon (or Mont'ka, if the situation calls for it). On the first turn his short-range weapons won't have a target, so I pop the C&C Node stratagem on the Broadsides. On later turns, I just kind of use him as a cruise missile to assassinate a character or a tank or something. He usually bites it immediately after, but more often than not he kills his target. That 40" move (move + advance) catches some opponents off guard, although experienced players can usually keep their characters protected.

I like the Supernova/AFP loadout in theory, but the Bor'kan strat is not worth the CP spent on it IMO, since you have to pop it before you roll the number of shots (meaning if you roll a 6 it is wasted). Really AFP's are not that great since their damage output is very swingy at best.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
I tend to keep the Coldstar next to my big stuff (Riptides, Broadsides) on the first turn and declare Kauyon (or Mont'ka, if the situation calls for it). On the first turn his short-range weapons won't have a target, so I pop the C&C Node stratagem on the Broadsides. On later turns, I just kind of use him as a cruise missile to assassinate a character or a tank or something. He usually bites it immediately after, but more often than not he kills his target. That 40" move (move + advance) catches some opponents off guard, although experienced players can usually keep their characters protected.

I like the Supernova/AFP loadout in theory, but the Bor'kan strat is not worth the CP spent on it IMO, since you have to pop it before you roll the number of shots (meaning if you roll a 6 it is wasted). Really AFP's are not that great since their damage output is very swingy at best.

Yeah, after reading the FAQ I changed my mind on the Bork'an Stratagem, too. The Vior'la tenet and Warlord trait seem to be the best option for this loadout, shooting at 2+ after advancing and getting an additional CP for the inevitable re-roll on the Supernova Launcher.

The Borkan strategum got unduly nerfed IMHO give catachan's just get that as a free bonus.

However untill GW allows it to be played retrospectively it can still be worth while on some models/weapons.
Stormsurge Cluster Rockets
Y'varha.

As the only way to play a Y'varha currently is borkan and it's beneficial to some stormsurge builds.

But for a normal codex unit borkan is rather meh.

I use the Bork'an Sept for Stormsurges exclusively. That extra range for the short range cannon is a beautiful thing!

It's funny how different a list will look between Tournament play and Casual play......(ie: I never kit anything with 4 of the same weapons and the 40" Move and Burn would have everyone hate my poor little blue guys for the local gaming group! :-)

In Tournaments....having the ability to reach out and touch pretty much anything with x4 Meltas hitting on 2's, rerolling and all of the other possibilities is pure Gold!

Hey all,

I know absolutely nothing about playing Tau so please forgive the laziness of this post. I’ve always loved the look of the army and there’s a beautifully painted eBay lot we’ll priced. I’m just wondering if the below could be formed with some editions into a competitive force or if it’s way off base. Here’s the list of models and points without war gear. How would you approach it from here? In terms of what’s usable and building up to. 1750/2000 points


2 x Ethereal on Hover Drone = 50 each so 100

6 x Crisis Battle Suits (Magnetized with all weapons Magnetized) = 42 each so 252

18 x Drones = (This is on average out of the 14 types of drones) = 11.3 each so 203.4 total (roughly)

20 x Fire Warriors (10 as Strike Team and 10 As Breacher Team) = 8 points each so 160

1 x XV95 Battle Suit + Drones (Magnetized For Both Weapons) = 82

1 x KV128 Stormsurge (Removable and magnetized Shoulder Cannon) = 180

1 x XV86 Tau Empire Commander = 90

1 x Cadre Fireblade = 39

1 x Cadre Fire Blade (Unpainted) = 39

3 x XV25 Stealth Battlesuits = 20 each so 60

2 x DS8 Tactical Support Turret = 20 each so 40

That's not bad at all. It would be a good for casual lists easily and with some fine tuning you could get a competitive list too.

Ethereals - I like em and two gives you good coverage for their buffs to infantry and Battlesuits.

Crisis Suits - The Crisis suits currently aren't great in competitive lists until they get a price drop.

Drones - 18 is a solid number of drones. I make do with around 12 well put together ones and 8 piles of junk....:-)

Fire Warriors - Love em, but 20 is low. 10 Beachers in a Devilfish transport is solid, but I would "eventually" add another 20 Fire Warriors and 20 Kroot.

Ghostkeel - Love it more than I should. I modeled it with both main weapons because I didn't like the look with just one, but it always does well.

Stormsurge - Not used as often in tournaments, but I play mine as often as I can fit it into a list, (I like to surround it with Sniper drones and give it a Drone Controller to boost Ballastic Skill.

Commander - The bread and butter of the Tau. You will always find a place for it in your lists.

Cadre Fireblades - I like them because they are cheap and go well with Breachers, but I prefer an Ethereal over them if I am not going Commander Battle suit.

Stealth Battlesuits - My favorite Kill Team guys. 3 is low, but they are actually used fairly often in lists.

Support Turrets - if I play Power Level I add them every time, if not I tend to use just two.

Thanks! Very helpful. I knew the crisis suits would be an issue from all I’ve heard.

I’m glad to hear the stealth suits are good... love the look of em. The storm surge is also one of my favorites.

I gather the Yvarra is really good for Tau?

Any ideas on how to arm battlesuits? Mrs had bought me a start collecting set and some pathfinders for Xmas to start me off.

I always used to run with 3 units of 3 suits, 2 with PR and MP the other squad with double MP and I also ran 2 bodyguards with FB ! Absolutely love battlesuits but have no idea how to arm them. I will be magnetising bit still be nice to have some ideas. I looked at dual plasmas to keep them cheap.

Rogerio134134 wrote:
Any ideas on how to arm battlesuits? Mrs had bought me a start collecting set and some pathfinders for Xmas to start me off.

I always used to run with 3 units of 3 suits, 2 with PR and MP the other squad with double MP and I also ran 2 bodyguards with FB ! Absolutely love battlesuits but have no idea how to arm them. I will be magnetising bit still be nice to have some ideas. I looked at dual plasmas to keep them cheap.

Suits are in a pretty bad spot right now due to their points and just how much more cost effective commanders are in relation to them. If I was going to bring a suit squad I would put three flamers on each one and just run them around burning everything. Nine D6 auto-hits is pretty good, and it negates their poor ballistic skill.

I am sure the numbers have been run before, but how much better would three suits be with two flamers and an ATS on each versus just having three flamers on each one?

On a different note, is the popular opinion on fixing suits just a point reduction to them? I would actually prefer to see them go to a 3+ ballistic skill rather than a point drop. I just think it is so weird that these super high-tech weapon platforms hit so poorly without marker lights. It just does not make sense to me from a narrative perspective.