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I've developed an affinity for our good friends the Kroot. Sadly, the Kroot Mercenaries is no long a viable or supported list. With that in mind, I came up with the following Close Combat semi-proficient Tau Army. Obviously kroot have a hard time with AT, so close support Crisis Suits and Broadsides are there to support.

Shas'el: TL-Fusion Blaster, Flamer, Multi-Tracker - 71

Crisis Suits x3: TL-Fusion Blaster, Flamer, Multi-Tracker - 141
Crisis Suits x2: TL-Fusion Blaster, Flamer, Multi-Tracker - 94
Crisis Suits x2: TL-Fusion Blaster, Flamer, Multi-Tracker - 94

Kroot Squad: 10 Kroot, 1 Shaper, 10 Hounds, 3 Krootox, Shaper 6+ Save Upgrade - 286
Kroot Squad: 10 Kroot, 1 Shaper, 10 Hounds, 3 Krootox, Shaper 6+ Save Upgrade - 286
Kroot Squad: 10 Kroot, 1 Shaper, 10 Hounds, 3 Krootox, Shaper 6+ Save Upgrade - 286
Fire Warriors x6 - 60

Broadsides x3: Target Lock - 225
Broadsides x3: Target Lock - 225
Broadsides x3: Target Lock - 225

So Dakkaites, how badly would this army get trashed? Am I missing something that could help that fits the theme?

Convince your opponent to play with all wooded area terrain and this list would be fun.

Melchiour wrote:Convince your opponent to play with all wooded area terrain and this list would be fun.

Yeah....I'd imagine it would be quite horrible in a city board. Thankfully at the FLGS my opponents (and most people in general) when asked to make a decision between two things they'll defer to you. I'd then more than happily suggest the green grass board, which of course should be covered in our forest terrain

I considered taking an Ethereal and then suiciding him to give the army preferred enemy, but with only LD 8 and no re-rolls (that I know of) I imagine half my army would have preferred enemy and the other half would run off the board :(

Note that I dislike both the shaper and krootoxes.

20 Kroots+12 Hounds is 212p, compare this to your unit.

More bodies/wounds, more attacks, more shooting and can infiltrate. You lose...a few s6 attacks and a 6+ armour save.

Did I mention that you save 74p?

Oscarius wrote:Note that I dislike both the shaper and krootoxes.

20 Kroots+12 Hounds is 212p, compare this to your unit.

More bodies/wounds, more attacks, more shooting and can infiltrate. You lose...a few s6 attacks and a 6+ armour save.

Did I mention that you save 74p?

I included the Krootox for for some range anti-tank, but then I threw in a slew of AT suits, so I think your advice is the way to go. This army has plenty of AT, and the krootox aren't particularly point efficient.

20 kroot/12 hounds is the way to go. do this 3x and you have the points for another full squad. outflank, and LOL.

Also, check the legality of your suits. A twinlinked weapon counts as 2 hardpoints, the flamer the 3rd. Multitracker would have to be hardwired, and could only be taken by a teamleader.

also, check point value on leader.

i like it i think kroot are awesome an i wish that there were more in this world.
Also I love the krootox models, and i wish they were more competitive.

Griever wrote:
So Dakkaites, how badly would this army get trashed? Am I missing something that could help that fits the theme?

Well, statistically, you are better getting more kroot than getting the 6+ save for them.

Statistics wrote: Not only does almost every gun ignore your petty 6+ save, but you may as well git an extra kroot for 7 points

Also, krootoxes are bad.

Kroot wrote:Those stinking krootoxs take away our inflitrate!!! Not to mention, they are bad in CC and bad at shooting. Let's just get 5 kroot for every krootox, and let those battlesuits take care of the Anti-Tank and Heavy Infantry

In short, get rid of Krootoxs and 6+ saves, with those points (384 to be exact), you could get to more Kroot units (with how you field them), and still have about 70 points left to beef those units up with extra kroot.


If you play on a wooded board, this would do well.

Having taken all of the advice into account:

Shas'El: Flamer, Fusion Blaster, Positional Relay - 81

Crisis x3: TL Fusion Blaster, Flamer - 141
Crisis x2: TL Fusion Blaster, Flamer - 94
Crisis x2: TL Fusion Blaster, Flamer - 94

Kroot: 20 Kroot, 12 Hounds - 212
Kroot: 20 Kroot, 12 Hounds - 212
Kroot: 20 Kroot, 12 Hounds - 212
Kroot: 20 Kroot, 12 Hounds - 212
Fire Warriors x6 - 60

Broadsides x3: Target Locks - 225
Broadsides x3: Target Locks - 225
Broadsides x3: Target Locks - 225

I took the positional relay because I had 22 extra points with nothing to spend it on. Since this list will be making heavy use of reserves, I figured it could be an interesting piece to fiddle around with. This list is 7 points under 2000.

Looks like a lean mean Kroot machine to me

one more change.

I would drop the kroot hounds from ONE squad, as well as drop 5 kroot from the same unit, and buy team leader, hwdc and 2 shield drones for all of your broadsides.

This unit will deploy with the suits and provide a counter for anyone getting close.

Also, consider multitrackers instead of target lock on broadsides for 2/3 in each squad. this would help with wound allocation. ie:
1 with target lock
1 w multi tracker
1/ team leader w/ multitracker, drones.

Griever wrote:I considered taking an Ethereal and then suiciding him to give the army preferred enemy, but with only LD 8 and no re-rolls (that I know of) I imagine half my army would have preferred enemy and the other half would run off the board :(

It won't work on non-tau, kroot being one. Check the "Price of Failure" listing.
Automatically Appended Next Post:

Griever wrote:Broadsides x3: Target Locks -

Actually, the main strength of your list is the 9 b-sides. But a couple changes to really make it good:
1. *Each* crew should have a pair of Shield Drones. Odds are that any fire coming their way will be LasCan, ML or PlasCan. While Cover Saves do take care of the AP issue, the high STR of the first two mean InstantDeath. Shield Drones go a long way to keeping your XV88s alive. For the points, I'd take out a Crisis Suit per pair of SDs, especially since you're sticking to TLFB & Flamer
2. Even though the RG is a great gun, arguably the best anti-Tank gun in 40k, it's only being shot at TL BS3 without MarkerLight support. Meaning, all those Target locks are going to have you spreading your fire around and maybe not thoroughly putting a tank down. I can never remember the MathHammer, but it *does* statistically take 2+ (not quite 3) RG shots to bag a tank (a 'shot' being starting to roll to hit it, pen, etc). A.s.s. will be good as you'll want *some* ability to deny tanks Cover Saves.