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I'm haven't found a thread that is covering how tau play styles will change in 6th edition, so this'll have to do until I or somebody else finds an already existing thread for this.

So yeah, 6th edition! $91 gone! TOTALLY WORTH IT! Anyway, that's not why this post was created. I was reading through my copy of 6th and found some interesting things that allow tau to switch up their list a bit. One the few things that I've noticed was that skimmers get a rule called 'Jink': skimmer that moves gets +5 cover save; if it moves Flat Out or Turbo Boosts, then it gets a +4 cover save. Disruption pod allows a +5, but only against ranged attacks from more than 12" away from the skimmer. With vehicles becoming more, um, "flimsy", you'll be moving around a lot, automatically grating those saves, and throwing away disruption pods to save 5 points for something else or shave 5 points off your army.

Movement in assault phase for jet pack infantry has changed, allowing suits to move up to 2d6". Roll once for 2d6" for whole unit of suits or vespids (harr harr). So suits are moving out really far, really fast, or they're stuck moving 2". Not sure what you think, but going in with helios suits you might as well press forward/around (unless you're lucky with your roll ).

*Speculation*. Jet packs are now bulky, meaning they count as two models when placed in a transport. Perhaps in the new tau codex you can carry battlesuits in you devilfish? Who knows?

Overwatch. Well. This is new. Allowing you to shoot at a charging squad (only one, not 3) with Snap Fire shots (shooting at BS1; roll a 6).

SCENARIO:

A squad of marines(10) with boltguns are 26" away from fire warriors(12) with pulse rifles. FW shoot first and hit 8 times, causing 6 wounds. Marines save only 5 of those shots and one dies.

Marines(9) move up 6", shoot, and hit 5 times and causing 4 wounds. FWssave only 3 of those shots and one dies. Marines are 20" away from fire warriors. They have to roll 2d6" for their charge range. FWs'(11) shoot (no kitting, keeping it simple for now) and land 5 hits and 3 wounds, causing the Marines to save only 2 shots (1 dies).

Marines(8) move up 6" and shoot 7 hits, 5 wounds, causing FWs to save 3 shots (2 die). No morale checks here: 11/2 = 2.75. Marines are 14" to make a charge, but FW get Rapid Fire on their pulse rifles at 15". FWs(9) shoot 10 hits, 5 wounds, leaving the Marines to save 4 shots (1 whimsy death). In order to assault the FW, marines must forgo their rapid fire ability (p.52 of 6th edition, right above the boltgun sats). Marines(7) move up and shoot once....and wounding once (I'm actually rolling the results javascript:emoticon(''). Luckily, FWs save that one shot

Let's assume that Marines roll 12" for their assault range and they all charge. FW use Overwatch, allowing them to use Snap fire AND Rapid Fire from their weapons.
FW shoot and hit 5 shots, wounding thrice, making the marines roll one save. Marines are dwindled down to 5 models compared to 9 on fire warriors. Sometimes FWs can dwindle down the number of marines to 0, which would be awesome, or the marines will have their lucky day and power armor all the saves and mow down FWs on the charge.

What are your thoughts? Are you going to have a full man FW squad just to reduce the number of opponents on a charge? Buying blacksun filters for vehicles (night fighting FOR EVERYONE)?

Dont look at Jink as saving you 5 points, look at it at giving every skimmer in the game our previously unique cover save vehicles

Also while we can now JsJ 2d6, Every assault is also 2d6, so There is a bit of dice luck gameplay cat mouse game going on there


Finally Overwatch is GODLY, I blew up a Dreadnaught assaulting my Broadsides

TL ing which we can do fairly easily raises the our effective chance from 16% to 30%, which is almost BS2

The fact that rapid fire is now half range instead of 12" is a nice little boon for us too



edit - fixing a few minor details

Talamare wrote:

Also while we can now JsJ 2d6, Every assault is also 2d6, so There is a bit of dice luck gameplay cat mouse game going on there

Yes indeed. Tau players are going to be more prudent before they try doing JsJ.

Talamare wrote:
Finally Overwatch is GODLY, I blew up a Dreadnaught assaulting my Broadsides

THE POWER.

Talamare wrote:
The fact that rapid fire is now half range instead of 12" is a nice little boon for us too

Quite a juice boon too!

Talamare wrote:Dont look at Jink as saving you 5 points, look at it at giving every skimmer in the game our previously unique cover save vehicles

Also while we can now JsJ 2d6, Every assault is also 2d6, so There is a bit of dice luck gameplay cat mouse game going on there


Finally Overwatch is GODLY, I blew up a Dreadnaught assaulting my Broadsides

TL ing which we can do fairly easily raises the our effective chance from 16% to 30%, which is almost BS2

The fact that rapid fire is now half range instead of 12" is a nice little boon for us too



edit - fixing a few minor details

How's the new slow and purposeful working with the Broadsides now?

Slow and purposeful now lets you move a full 6" and count as stationary for the purposes of heavy weapons *but* you can't fire overwatch. Strangely if you don't take the Advanced Stabilisation System upgrade on your Broadsides you can still overwatch from what I can tell.

This has made me reconsider taking stabilisation systems, not for long, but I had counted on being able to get a round of firing *and* a round of overwatch fire against my friend's Dreadknight when he made an appearance the other night. He didn't end up charging me in the end, but I was all set to overwatch him to death if he did... and I would have been wrong...

Avro wrote:I'm haven't found a thread that is covering how tau play styles will change in 6th edition, so this'll have to do until I or somebody else finds an already existing thread for this.

Was already a thread over here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/458910.page

I am looking for more to join in on not olny the rule changes but also the implementation of new tactics and builds.

Hope you come over to the Tactics thread. By what you've written so far, I feel that you would contribute greatly to the discussion.

Talamare wrote:Also while we can now JsJ 2d6, Every assault is also 2d6, so There is a bit of dice luck gameplay cat mouse game going on there.

There is a question of whether or not the Jet Packs are stuck with a random roll only. There is a Paragraph/sentence that seems to allow for the option of moving 6" or 2d6" in the Assault phase.
I posted this in my tactics thread and am about to create a thread in YMDC.

Tau are doing well, general consensus is to take a black sun filter on hammerheads instead of disruption pods due to the new night fight prevalence. Simple positioning will save a hammerhead.

Firewarriors got a huge boost with the rapid fire rules and the defensive grenade rules, I'm so glad I sometimes run 48 of the buggers.

Broadsides are the tau's anti-air unit of choice right now, until they get a flier or a skyray with the correct rules...

Tau are much better with the new rules. Shooting is far better now, so being terrible at CC isn't an awful liability.

Tau is better but firewarriors aren't a whole lot better. They get more rapid fire range and shooting range in general, but for the points they aren't going to kill anything worth killing. You pay a lot of points for a 4+ save, pretty much. There's a reason IG players don't give their vets carapace armor.

focusedfire wrote:

Was already a thread over here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/458910.page

I am looking for more to join in on not olny the rule changes but also the implementation of new tactics and builds.

Hope you come over to the Tactics thread. By what you've written so far, I feel that you would contribute greatly to the discussion.

Sweet! Can I reference my post in your post, just to save time and effort for restarting my thoughts and ideas about 6th edition affecting Tau tactics? I'll continue posting on your post

focusedfire wrote:

There is a question of whether or not the Jet Packs are stuck with a random roll only. There is a Paragraph/sentence that seems to allow for the option of moving 6" or 2d6" in the Assault phase.
I posted this in my tactics thread and am about to create a thread in YMDC.

Wut wut? What page?




Automatically Appended Next Post:

Panzeh wrote:Tau is better but firewarriors aren't a whole lot better. They get more rapid fire range and shooting range in general, but for the points they aren't going to kill anything worth killing. You pay a lot of points for a 4+ save, pretty much. There's a reason IG players don't give their vets carapace armor.

Overwatch and the updated Rapid Fire rules give FWs a higher chance of killing units before being assaulted.

Tau didn't get a single buff that any other gunline army didn't get. Both Firewarriors and Kroot are going to drop to any CC focused squad. Killing one guy with overwatch is not a great equalizer against WS2, T3, 4+ save.

Photon grenades are nice, but too bad they arn't free. All your doing is making a poor unit more expensive.

The real issue is that Tau still can't hold objectives, especially now that they have to do it in the open. LD8 sucks when there is so much that can cause them to run.

The playing field is still small as outflank, running, and relaxed deep strike misshap will keep the enemy knocking on the door.

However, several of the missions do start out with larger gaps between armies, so that is a nice bonus, but any gun line will also take advantage of it.

The sad part is, Tau vehicles and suits for the most part, are still overcosted by about 40%. Firewarriors need a complete overhaul, and we need a wargear section that is not full of equipment that no longer functions.

Its not that Tau got better in 6th. Its that gunline shooty type armies in all got a bit of a boost as HtH got toned down. Sadly though, even toned down HtH is still more than sufficant to tear up a Tau army.

@Jayden63

True that all armies are benefiting from the same rules in 6th, what I'm getting at is that now we won't be completely overwhelmed in cc due to Overwatch. Also, markerlights with Snapshots! You might get some fired, but at least you get SOME fired to allow suits and what not to boost up their BS a round ahead of time.

Overall, we need a nice new codex :/

I would have considered that Tau got a boost if some quirky rule showed up that made some piece of wargear amazing. (like what 5th ed did to disruption pods) but not only did we end up loosing some wargear but many things/units got stuff that we used to have as somewhat exclusive, move and fire heavy weapons on infantry - A.S.S. on Broadsides for example.

I'm not saying Tau in 6th ed are worse than they were in 5th. You can't say that because shooty armies in general got a boost, but we are still a long way away from being competitive outside of the all suit build.

A unit of 12 FW firing overwatch will not do anything to stop the assault coming. 24 shots - 4 hits - 3 wounds (against T4) 1 dead marine. That one dead guy is not going to turn the tide for the Firewarriors.

I think one additional advantage that is less direct is that Tau gained access to much stronger tarpit units. Two mobs of fearless 30 strong shoota boyz are going to be a lot harder to charge through than kroot. In addition, no longer assaulting from outflank means you can safely stay on the bad edge more often.

The increased occurance of night fighting to disrupt long range shooting, as well as the option for cheap hardwired blacksun filters on team leaders to negate it entirely, is also a small boon for Tau specifically. Casualties always being pulled from the front makes drones a little better, since you can usually ensure they'll die first.

Fast skimmers can now always fire two guns at cruising, so upgraded hammerheads can move 12" and fire both SMS and rail.