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This all sounds great!

The twinlink flamers w/missile pod are not meant to bum rush the enemy. Use the missile pods at first, then go with the flamers. The suit is one of the cheapest that I have used that's pretty effective.

rogueeyes has it spot on that the twin-link missilepod is one of the most versatile suits there is (and it's cheaper than then missilepod/plasma rifle combo). While the AP isn't there, the high S is good. Good for light vehicles and high T baddies. The missile pods are great when you can JSJ in and out of your enemies range.

RE's tactics for the stealthsuit/marker drone is pretty ingenius. The suits are pretty expensive, but they do the trick. It's really fun when your opponent rolls horrible to try and spot them. Marker drones ARE expensive point-wise, but can help your units are times when they need it the most.

Hammerheads are great fun, but the are usually big bullseye's for your opponent. A MUST is to equip them with Disruption pods to give them some kind of chance. The submunition, in my POV, has been either really good or horribly bad.

The main thing that I've found out though is to configure your suits and experiment with them. Try not to make them Jack-of-all-Trades because their overall effectiveness goes waaaay down. Focus on one aspect for your suits and make them experts on it.

Good luck!

rogueeyes wrote:Drop the stealths down to 3. Give the TL a markerlight, a target lock and maybe a fusion blaster. Also if you ahve the points add a Markerlight drone. Now stay around 40" away form the enemy. Jump up to 35" or so and fire your markerlights. Score hits that are used to help the rest of your army. Afterwards jump back to around 40-42". Repeat each turn.

Stealthsuits can NEVER be seen at more than 36" away. the 2 burst cannons will be able to provide some staying power against a rogue infantry squad that comes around. The fusion blaster can also take care of a transport taht gets sent your way. The average roll for sight in night fighting is around the lower 20s I believe. This equates out to mobile markerlights that hit and cannot be seen at all. What cannot be seen cannot be taken out.

When your enemy diverts part of his force to take out the stealths he just lost that much firepower against your main force.

This is all gospel except for the Fusion Blaster. If you have the Team Leader running around with a Fusion Blaster, that's one less burst cannon you bring to bear on an enemy infantry squad. Plus, if your XV25 is using a Fusion Blaster when it has marker drones means its way too close to the enemy to be doing its primary job, unless someone deep struck on you or something. Let other things, like your Fireknives, Broadsides, or Helios (For you non-tau, that's an XV8 with a Fusion Blaster/Plasma Rifle) kill the vehicles and heavy infantry, using the markerlights from the stealth team to boost the BS to ensure the kill.

Just my two cents.

re Inigo comments:
Stealth suits are my favourite Tau unit. They are very unpopular because they are difficult to use effectively: with T3 and 18 inch range they melt away very often.
My advice is infiltrate them out of sight of the enemy and use them as a harassing unit. Bizarrely I have found them to be useful at harassing terminators due to sheer number of shots.

One way of protecting them is to take up the wargear option so that everyone has a drone. That way you have to take 6 wounds before Tau start to die. I use a mix of shield drones, gun drones and sometimes marker drones. This makes the unit very expensive (circa 300pts) but a lot more accurate and survivable.

But in terms of point for point effectiveness, of course crisis suits are by far superior.

There is actually a really lengthy Tau Tactics thread but any way here are some fine points ;

Minimum Firewarrriors in Devilfish - Excellent

10 Kroot w/ 10 Kroot hounds - Excellent


3 Man Crisis w/
Twin Pod ; Flamer
Twin Pod ;
Twin Pod ; Bonding knife
138 points for a unit that is complex and has 6 ST7 shots
This unit is awesome : Twin BS3 is a slightly higher % to hit than BS4.


2 Man w/ Twin Fusion ( Crisiscide) 86 points some people like to use flamers as well. With a Pathfinder Devilfish this unit rerolls its DS.



Do not go with a Jack of All Trades an dont spend more than 50 points if you can help it on Crisis suits.



Pirahna Squads are one of the most point efficient units in the list. Do not take minimum squads take 4 to 5 in one squad as it give you a 8 or 10 man gun drone squad.

Take Hammer Heads over Broadsides ; Cheaper , more mobile, versatile and not a huge point sink. Add in AV13 and a 4+ invulnerable.



That's pretty much how people boiled down the codex.


Now for the next one


POSITIONAL RELAY


This does not mean build your army around this. This is probably one of the best Wargear items you can get and you should ALWAYS take it.

Example:

Leave Broadside off table , Come on turn 2 ; kill something same for Hammerheads etc..

Almost guarrenteed Reserve DSing Crisicide


Reserve Stacking.


Keep your Kroot off the board outflanking they have a crappy save; Bring on stuff till the 3rd turn after that let all your kroot come on at the same time.

Its annoying and a great tactic.


Thats just some of it. Positional Relay is a hands down almost neccessary.

It protects units , it allows you to control pace , just take it. even if you use it 10 percent of the time. that Ten percent when it does work will make your opponent cry.


Thats about it:

Contact Focusedfire he is all Tauie

Hollismason wrote:Take Hammer Heads over Broadsides ; Cheaper , more mobile, versatile and not a huge point sink. Add in AV13 and a 4+ invulnerable.

Average points on HH's are usually around 160-170
For that you can get 2 broadsides with a shield drone

Mobility I'll grant you but any good player will have shield drones on their broadsides and will take lascannons etc. on them and small arms on the broadsides.
But AV vs Good saves is still a topic under debate so we'd better not start a new one.

O'shovah is correct on the HH vs Broadsides. My typical broadside squad is 160-170. My hammerhead is usually around 170 with all the extras and railgun. Sometimes I take the Ion cannon instead and it comes out to be 135.

Broadsides work best in 2 squads of at least 2 each covering half the battlefield with firing lanes. No vehicle is safe. Also you can take a target lock on a team lead and fire at 2 different targets with a squad. Up to 4 vehicles each being hit 75% of the time. With ASS the broadsides can shoot and move as well (including if they are falling back).

The Hammerhead works in dual roles as a horde killer and a tank hunter. The Multitracker allows you to move up to 12" and still fire your main weapon. With a target lock you can target up to 3 different units - 2 burst cannons at 2 different infantry squads (or the same one your choice) and the railgun at a tank anywhere in sight. With your disruption pod you get a cover save of 4+ from enemies further than 12" away from you. No use against meltas but hey - stay more than 12" away form those things.

It's a toss up. I enjoy running a hammerhead as anti-MEq with an Ion Cannon and as anti-horder with 2 burst cannons. This outputs 9 shots a turn and moves up to 6 inches. Along with this I run 2 squads of 2 basic broadsides with ASS. These set up apart from each other and cover different areas of the field. With ASS they are able to move far enough to negate opponents obscured vehicles from getting cover saves. Also, they can move a small way out of the way of danger. This is all in a 1500 point list. 4 railguns at that point level is deadly to mech lists. The Ion cannon can be replaced with a railgun for antihorde as well.

I'll try the Crisiscide thing. My twin-linked fusion suits have a missile pod on em. Should I drop it and make is strictly twin fusion?

Cost per Suit:
Agreed on not spending more than 50 pts per suit. Over that, I've found, and you start losing your "investment" by a lot. I also LOVE the twinlink missile pods. 6 shots w/re-roll to hit? You betcha.

Piranha:
I've only used my piranha's in 1 game. I bought a bunch and put fusion's on em cause I've heard its better than the burst. Thoughts?

Hammerhead vs Broadside:
People have stated sound arguments on both sides. HH is faaar more mobile than the Broadsides, but its way more expensive. Broadsides will tend to hit more often, but are more vulnerable to enemy units.

Best thing I've found out is to use a combo of both. The Broadsides act as a static anti-armor while the HH actively goes and hunts for armor.


I've been reading the Tau Tactica by focusedfire. Offers great advice and brings up new ways at looking at how to use Tau that I never thought of. Sort of complex, but I would also suggest reading it.

For very good tau tactics, you can always read the site that must not be named!

My friend that plays against me wins most of the time with his army.
He has Battlesuits w/ TL plasma rifles for killing MEQs and he is a phenomonal Jump-Shoot-Jumper.
He also takes broadsides, Hammer heads w/ the disruption thing and they have MEQ killers as well.
The only time I beat him was when I took 60 GHs in drop pods w/ Meltas and flamers

Timmah wrote:For very good tau tactics, you can always read the site that must not be named!

This is very true.

But shouldn't Dakka have its own Tau Taktiks?

Timmah wrote:Take kroot, hounds and piranhas to block movement.

Lots of fireknives that sit out of range of your opponents guns.

And pathfinders to remove cover, increase your suits BS.

Hammerheads and broadsides to kill mech

Concentrated fire and target priority are important as well.


Unfortunately I would guess most of the people on here have never fought against Tau or never fought against good tau.

Also, fire warriors are bad.

I agree with what Tim says based on my experiences playing with Tau. Firewarriors are absolutely inferior and keep to the fireknives as they still are currently the best loadout.

@Tim what is a good ratio do you use of hammerhead to broadside?

I usually go with the 2 hammerheads and then x broadsides depending on points. Probably like 1 at 1500, 2 at 1750-2000.

I really only play 1850 in our area, so its 2 hammerheads, 2 broadsides. And make sure 1 broadside has a target lock.

For the record, more people than stelek came to the realization on how to play tau in 5th. I remember someone from libarium online was claiming the same tactics as him for quite some time as well.

Dakka being a separate site doesn't need its own tactics, just the correct ones.


The problem most people have with tau is that they are very inflexible. There is basically 1 build for them that works (and works amazingly well). If you want to customize or add fun stuff in, your list takes a huge hit. Much more than other armies. This is the real reason this army is constantly touted as bad, because basically if you drop 200-300 pts out of THE LIST and add in other "fun" stuff, your army hits mediocrity very fast.

I bought my amry near the end of 4th edition. So I have no broadsides or kroot but slowly building those up as for the time being I have to rely on my fireknives to do the damage and my 3 hammerheads.

How many piranahs you use?

thehod wrote:I bought my amry near the end of 4th edition. So I have no broadsides or kroot but slowly building those up as for the time being I have to rely on my fireknives to do the damage and my 3 hammerheads.

How many piranahs you use?

I go with 2 up to 1850 and then add 2 more at 2k. Nice easy build up.

Each is own on the broad sides personally I hates them with the fury of a thousand burning suns. Just my view that AV13 with 4+ invulnerable is way better.


@Timmah : I disagree on the 1 list to win them all on Tau personally Ive seen several that work well. The problemis that people get stuck in this 4th edition list mentality and the 5th edition change in vehicles really messed with Tau.


Personally I have fielded 60 Kroot with hounds Pirahnas and Crisis suits and it works great. Thats only 390 btw.


Once you go Kroot and Pirahna you dont go back really. They are just so dirt cheap and get hounds which are great.

@Pirahna : Just try them with Fusion guns disruption fields target locks in squads of 4 to 5 and you will not stop using this unit. The ability to grab these and a 8 to 10 gun drone squad is awesome. Also, they can move 12 and fire fusion at tanks and the gun drones can fire at infantry.

4 Usually run 310 with disruption fields and fusion guns.


Firewarriors are fething worthless though seriously 185 points for a scoring Devilfish basically.


So worthless

@ the Kroot Pirahna Swarm thing

2 five man squads of Pirahna w/ fusion etc. 760

3 15 man ( 5 Hounds)Kroot Squads @ 300


You get

20 Gun Drones
10 Pirahna
30 Kroot
15 Hounds

Yeah thats 1000 points

Drop what you like if you want but you can mix and match Pathfinders for Devilfish and Marker lights

Still having plenty of points to spend in the 1000 to 2000 point range depending on what you field.


Its just a point cost efficient army that severally limits your opponent who will sit there with their thumb up their butt because the Pirahna have boxed them in while you take away cover saves and blast away with impunity.