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.

I've been a Tau player since probably early March. It's my first army, I'm having a lot of fun piecing the models together, and I'm enjoying making them look a little chaos-like as well (who says the warp doesn't affect them too?). I have a problem however. The first couple times I played with them, I did decently good and beat my friend, but I realized slowly which rules I was misinterpreting and which ones I was forgetting (which ended in my favor) and I have been finding that as I follow more closely to the rules, I simply cannot beat my friends' Blood Angel, Grey Knight, Imperial Guard, or Chaos Space Marine armies. I know I'm not the strongest player out there, but I keep getting the feeling that I somehow have a disadvantage by playing the Tau (or I'm just a sore loser - I don't know). I've boiled it down to a few options: either a) the rule book is outdated and makes it difficult to keep things balanced against updated/newer armies, b) the Tau are simply not as powerful as most other armies, or c) I just kind of suck at the game. Anyone have any thoughts or experience in this regard?

EDIT: Awesome! Thanks everyone for the responses :-) I'll be making some tweaks to my army and everything here has reassured me that the fault isn't entirely on my shoulders - thanks everyone :-)

Tau aren't an army you can just point at the enemy an expect to win, like how grey knights, blood angels, and guard are. What units do you normally take, and how do you generally outfit them? What enemy models are giving you the most trouble?

Tau aren't that great right now, but a good list and being a good general goes a long way to winning battles.

Tau currently have one of the oldest codices from 4th edition. As a result a lot of wargear is overpriced points wise and some of it is completely useless as they use rues which no longer exist. Playing Tau is a bit of an uphill challenge against more updated army's but I haven't been having much trouble with mine (though we're not very competitive). There are rumours of a new codex coming out early next year but until then I can point you to places like Advanced Tau Tactica and right here on Dakka if you want advice on how to do well with them.

The list I have been using is as follows:

Crisis Battlesuit Commander Shas'o: [WEAPONS] - Fusion Blaster/Airbursting Fragmentation Projector [GEAR] - Shield Generator, Hard-wired Multi-Tracker, Stim Injector
Bodyguard Crisis Suit (1): [WEAPONS] - Twin-Linked Fusion Blaster [GEAR] - Targeting Array, Drone Controller, 2 Gun Drones

Stealth Suit Shas'ui (5): [WEAPONS] - Burst Cannons (4) Fusion Blaster (1) [GEAR] - Stealth Field Generator
Stealth Suit Team Leader (1): - [WEAPONS] Fusion Blaster [GEAR] Stealth Field Generator, Drone Controller, Marker Drone

Fire Warrior (12): [WEAPONS] - Pulse Rifles, EMP Grenades
Kroot (11): [WEAPONS]: - Kroot Rifle [GEAR] Kroot Armor
Kroot Shaper (1): [WEAPONS]: Pulse Rifle [GEAR] Kroot Armor

Hammerhead Gunship (1): [WEAPONS] - Railgun, Smart Missile System, 2 Seeker Missiles [GEAR] - Disruption Pod, Multi-Tracker, Target Lock
Sniper Squad (1 spotter, 3 drones): [WEAPONS] Pulse Pistol (spotter) Rail Rifle (Drones) [GEAR] - Stealth Field Generator, Networked Markerlight

I have outfitted them the best I can to counteract my friend's Blood Angel army. He comes in with 4 dreadnoughts(two of them furioso with blood talons ... a ridiculously overpowered addition to the game if you ask me) and deep strikes them with drop pods right on top of me. The drop pods grant him the ability to never scatter and once they're on top of me, I'm as good as dead. Not to mention their 13 front armor that I usually have to get through (hence the numerous fusion blasters ... they're literally the only hope I have other than the railgun on my tank and seeker missiles mounted to it).

Tau are currently the worst army in the game. Their units are more expensive than they should be, and some are just flat out terrible for their cost. However, they'll get a new codex before too long hopefully so you don't need to worry about having a subpar codex forever.

Stealth suits aren't very good, and sniper squads are awful when you compare them to Hammerheads and Broadsides, which are the real foundation of Tau fire support. You also need more Crisis Suits, and give them plasma rifles to kill those Marines. The Airbursting Frag Projector is going to do jack all against Blood Angels.

Both A and B are true. C is reliant on hiw good of a general you are. Considering you just started, you're in for a bumpy ride my friend.

Crisis suits are a foundation to rely upon. Plasma Rifles are am excellent weapon, but considering a lot of things wind up in terrain, its questionable how effective they really are. I will usually outfit my suits with Missile Pods and Plasma/Burst Canons. Everything has a purpose. A unit of 3 Broadside XV88's are a good antitank platform.

I would drop the shields amd pick up Shield Drones instead. For 10 points you get more wounds and if one dies, oh well.

I always bring 2 shield drones to the party on everything with the exception of Fire Warriors.

Dis Pods are a must have for every tank. Multitrackers are also very nice, everything else can be dealt without.

Don't run HQ bodyguard, 10p more per model for better wep skill? Not worth it IMO.

Railheads (Railgun Hammer Heads) should focus on horde first, tanks second. Let the broadsides focus on tanks. When in a game, reserve your FW's in Devil Fish for as long as possible, Turn 4, make a break for objectives. Positional Relay is an awesome wargear for this purpose.

Tau focus on synergy, that is, using every unit to compliment others, be it kroot for a fodder bubble wrap to give the broadsides an extra turn or Pathfinders to markerlight targets fir easier fire dispersion.

Something that I have noticed is that Tau will always struggle with enemy armies that get very fast assault units. Bubble-wrapping is going to be a key element of your strategy for this. It is a slightly boring part of 40k, but vital for many armies.

mercenaryx wrote:The list I have been using is as follows:

Crisis Battlesuit Commander Shas'o: [WEAPONS] - Fusion Blaster/Airbursting Fragmentation Projector [GEAR] - Shield Generator, Hard-wired Multi-Tracker, Stim Injector
Bodyguard Crisis Suit (1): [WEAPONS] - Twin-Linked Fusion Blaster [GEAR] - Targeting Array, Drone Controller, 2 Gun Drones

Stealth Suit Shas'ui (5): [WEAPONS] - Burst Cannons (4) Fusion Blaster (1) [GEAR] - Stealth Field Generator
Stealth Suit Team Leader (1): - [WEAPONS] Fusion Blaster [GEAR] Stealth Field Generator, Drone Controller, Marker Drone

Fire Warrior (12): [WEAPONS] - Pulse Rifles, EMP Grenades
Kroot (11): [WEAPONS]: - Kroot Rifle [GEAR] Kroot Armor
Kroot Shaper (1): [WEAPONS]: Pulse Rifle [GEAR] Kroot Armor

Hammerhead Gunship (1): [WEAPONS] - Railgun, Smart Missile System, 2 Seeker Missiles [GEAR] - Disruption Pod, Multi-Tracker, Target Lock
Sniper Squad (1 spotter, 3 drones): [WEAPONS] Pulse Pistol (spotter) Rail Rifle (Drones) [GEAR] - Stealth Field Generator, Networked Markerlight

Ok wow. First things first, the tau army's power comes from it's battlesuits and broadsides, everything else is support in a sense. Since you lack a good deal of battlesuits, only have 1 hammerhead, and no broadsides, your hurting for ranged power.

Change up a few things as follows:
You HQ should become an 'el and take a targeting array, cheaper and same BS. Take shield drones instead of the shield gen.
Chop your stealth suit teams into two units of 3, with a fusion blaster in each unit. Add gun drones if the points allow for wound sinks.
Your firewarriors are fine as is.
The kroot shaper does not need the pulse rifle, ever.
I recommend taking burst cannons instead of smart missiles on your hammerhead, cheaper and more shots. Seeker missiles should go, unless you run you stealth suits as stealth marker teams, which is putting 2 marker drones in the unit.
The sniper squad is meh, it works, but honestly you should look to putting in more battlesuits first.
Do you have any more battlesuits? I recommend the following setups: missile pod/plasma rifle/multitracker, plasma rifle/fusion blaster/multitracker, twin linked missile pods/targeting arrays. Each unit should have 2 shield or 2 gun drones for wound sinks.

For reference on a list I've been undefeated for 2 months with, see the following, it should give you some insight on how to build an effective force: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/408114.page