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I am looking at picking up a few more models for my Tau army... Basically I need to finish it...

That means committing to an HQ choice. I need a bit of advice on how to do that. I have been reading the Codex, and looking at other peoples set-ups but I would like some advice form Dakka, and people how have actually played them!

Thank you in advance.

morrre battle suits

How does that help me choose an HQ unit?

Commander is in an XV8 battlesuit isn't he?

True.. Are the special characters worth anything?

What do you have already? Depending on what you're working with and what you like fielding, you could get Pathfinders, Broadsides, Kroot Hounds, or Piranhas.
Or more Battlesuits.
EDIT: for your HQ, get a Battlesuit Commander. Stay away from Ethereals and all Special Characters.

Also, shouldn't this be in 40k tactics?

Shas'el Crisis should be your commander 90% of the time if you are playing to win. The other 10% you may take a Shas'o.

Either way, take a suit

thegrav wrote:True.. Are the special characters worth anything?

Farsight, but only if you take a unit of 7 unique battlesuits for wound allocation. I've seen people use Shadowsun, but she's not that great.

Considering the Battlesuit commander is a 1+... he kind of has to.

Anywho. Some actually useful advice!

Your commander (and potentially his bodyguards/normal squad he's linked to) should always be built to cover the weaknesses in the rest of your list. If, say, you have a ton of points in railguns in heavy support, then you want your battlesuits to have a lot of anti-infantry, anti-transport firepower. If most of your points is in devilfish, piranhas, pathfinders... then your suits might need to be more targeted towards anti-armor.

Your commander has a few unique benefits, mainly consisting of his two special weapons and the positional relay. The Ion blaster makes short work of infantry (and can be helpful against terminators at short range) and the Fragmentation projector is just... pure awesome. Large blast template, ignores cover. However, that's if your commander is in an anti-finatry role. I find his high BS also works well in a Deathrain team, where his Missile Pod shots hit unerringly every time.

This can tie into Positional Relay use. If you're deep striking a lot of suits, or holding fire warriors in devilfish back in reserve, the relay can help make sure stuff comes in when you want it to. The common build for that is a TL missile Pod and a relay, with other stuff to taste. You'll basically hide in cover until your troops arrive, then provide late game support.

All in all though... what do you need him to do? Tau battlesuits can fit any role in your army, capable of killing any unit. Where's your weakpoint? Use him to help fill it.


EDIT: The Farsight bomb can be exceedingly powerful, but that's a lot of points in one unit which can be taken out in one hit by a battlecannon. No, really. One lucky shot could do it. (Or at least come VERY close.)
Shadowsun is a pure support character. She can use her leadership bubble to help keep your suits from running when they take losses, and she makes for a great counter assault unit if you need to pop a vehicle approaching your lines.

This thread seems more appropriate to go in the Lists forum.

Sorry if I posted it it the wrong place!!! Thanks for the advice I will post my working list soon.

I most often run a Shas'el: PR/MP/TA hwMT. In RTTs he gets Shield Drones.

The Target Array is to bring BS to maximum.

As a single suit, I rarely attach him to units, and he somehow gets ignored more than half the time. And he's easier to hide behind LoS-blocking terrain.

I run BC/MP/MT for most of my other suits, so the 'el will get the occassional Armor2+ targets or the enemy HQ that is the last left of a unit I just hosed down.

Pvt.Jet wrote:Battlesuit commander is a 1+... he kind of has to.

Yeah, you first 5 or so posters ... how can ya miss that?

Brothererekose wrote:I most often run a Shas'el: PR/MP/TA hwMT. In RTTs he gets Shield Drones.

The Target Array is to bring BS to maximum.

As a single suit, I rarely attach him to units, and he somehow gets ignored more than half the time. And he's easier to hide behind LoS-blocking terrain.

I run BC/MP/MT for most of my other suits, so the 'el will get the occassional Armor2+ targets or the enemy HQ that is the last left of a unit I just hosed down.

Pvt.Jet wrote:Battlesuit commander is a 1+... he kind of has to.

Yeah, you first 5 or so posters ... how can ya miss that?

This. Also, Brothererekose, I'm glad to see you as well as myself have gone from warseer to dakka.

I like the special weapons on the Commander. Take a Shas'El add in the AFP and a CIB. If I have the points I add Stim Injectors and always take 1 shield drone. Anti-horde and anti-infantry. He's tough to take down. You ahve a pinning weapon that doesn't need line of sight. Also your weapons are maximized to fight the same thing and cause as much havoc as possible.

1 Pie Plate S4 AP5, pinning, no cover saves
5 S3 AP4 shots, all 6's to wound are ap1
FNP, 4++ save with a throwaway wound for ID shots
Runs around 125 points.

Tactics:
Jump Shoot Jump and take out troops at shorter ranges. Watch out for Jump Infantry. You have an 18" range (24" including JSJ).

I've ran Shadowsun as a 2nd commander in large games, against opponets who I knew were going to Drop pod dreads. Plus the leadership drone is effective for holding the pathfinder's and FW in the firebase, but she is over costed.

For normal HQ I run a Shas'o with PR/MP/SG, HWMT, stimulant injector and 2 shield drones.

And the second one a Shas'el with tl flamer + AFP+ 2 gun drones and HWMT(He killed 15 orks lootas in a single turn on saturday, 12 on the shooting, 3 on assult.)

Cool, good to see so much good advice, I promise to post my purposed list soon, work (Both s-bux and freelance stuff) just got a bit crazy this weekend/Monday.

Stay away from special characters, magnet your battlesuits so you can customize on the fly without having to buy a new one. (A pack of 100, 1/16" x 1/32" rare earth magnets from K&J runs you $5, and is incredibly easy to do).

I usually field an 'el with positional relay, MP, Fusion Blaster, Target Lock, and a gun drone or two.

I generally attach him to a big squad of kroot or firewarrior's. The fusion blaster doesn't get a lot of use but when its needed its invaluable. It's been great for outflanking vendetta's or drop pod silliness.

Shrike325 wrote:Stay away from special characters, magnet your battlesuits so you can customize on the fly without having to buy a new one. (A pack of 100, 1/16" x 1/32" rare earth magnets from K&J runs you $5, and is incredibly easy to do).

Run all my dreads and my Land Raiders with Rare Earth's.