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So there is a thread on why the tau are hated, the biggest complaint seems to be that they just aren't fun to play against or as, anyone know some ways to make play tau more interesting?

Lose all of your games.

Play them like they would work in the fluff. I.E lots of fire warriors backed by support. Thats more like how i see the tau.

The way most people play it on the internet is big toys only supported by minimum troops.

Tons of crisis suits, devilfish FWs, and kroot. Fun as all get out, still very competitive in club play, isn't broken or annoying to face.

Just don't be TFG. Have fun with your lists and try dumb/silly things.

Don't be a jerk. Being socially graceful will help alot with whether or not people will play you.

Use units that the powergame considers useless.

Vespid,
Missile tanks
Etherials
etc...

Hell bring some IG Gue'vesa
or go nuts, make up some sort of Chaos converted Tau...

The exact same answer for people who hated;

Razor spam
leafblower guard
purifier spam
cron air
screamer star
wave serpent spam
riptide spam...

etc.

As said, don't be that guy.

I win most of my games (did before the new book too....) and I have only one rip tide....my friends enjoy playing me, its just harder now.

Just bring one Riptide, it's a cool model to assemble and paint, and has some great rules. Just don't do the whole multiple Riptide thing.

Just play a fluffy farsight enclave.... drone them in suits or die trying

Move around more than the little shimmy here and there that is common to get the better Jink Save. Use lesser used units. Do what Lagfest said try more unique/un-tau tactics. Try games without marker lights and the Support'o.

 Lagfest wrote:
Use units that the powergame considers useless.

Vespid,
Missile tanks
Etherials
etc...

Hell bring some IG Gue'vesa
or go nuts, make up some sort of Chaos converted Tau...

In what universe are erthereals considered useless?

So, I'm seeing a lot of suggestions about how to lose games as Tau, but not a lot of explanation about how to make them more fun. I guess the conclusion here is that most people define "fun to play against" as "I win the game"?

How to play Tau more interesting? 72 Fire Warriors, 9 Sniper Drone Teams, 3 Pathfinder Teams, 3 Stealth Teams, 1 Ethereal.

Lucarikx

Just don't play WAAC. Come up with a unique approach to the Tau that isn't often fielded but also isn't completely useless. I haven't played against Tau since their update, but everyone talks about tau gunlines, so don't play that.

 Peregrine wrote:
So, I'm seeing a lot of suggestions about how to lose games as Tau, but not a lot of explanation about how to make them more fun. I guess the conclusion here is that most people define "fun to play against" as "I win the game"?

You can actually win games without Riptides, Makerlight support, and gun line. Not taking those does not mean to auto lose.

This sort of thread actually makes me sick. Sure as a Tau player I can bring sub optimal units and lists, but by damn so had better the other guy. If the flying circus is in town, I see no reason for the Tau player to field nothing but a joke list.

The real answer is you play at the strength level of your group. Lets face it, most local gaming clubs have pretty much the same people in it. Nobody I know goes game shop hopping week after week. So see what others in the area are playing. If there are two circuses a screamer star and necrons crossonts a plenty, then bring your 3 tides, because your going to need them. If those things are missing, then you just tone down your build a bit to match. In short if the place is a little low key and no rerollable 2+ in sight, then yeah, drop a riptide or two and use those points on sniper drones and a large Kroot squad or something else a little unconventional.

Games are most fun when both players have the same opinion about what a fun game is.

 Enigma Crisis wrote:
You can actually win games without Riptides, Makerlight support, and gun line. Not taking those does not mean to auto lose.

That doesn't change the fact that all of the "advice" here is about reducing the Tau player's chances of winning, not making their list more fun. But, like I said, I guess that just means people define "fun" as "I win".

 Peregrine wrote:

 Enigma Crisis wrote:
You can actually win games without Riptides, Makerlight support, and gun line. Not taking those does not mean to auto lose.

That doesn't change the fact that all of the "advice" here is about reducing the Tau player's chances of winning, not making their list more fun. But, like I said, I guess that just means people define "fun" as "I win".

They told you not to spam Over powered units unless your buddies are. Fun isn't I win, fun is I didn't get shot to death before I could do anything. Simple as that.

Edit: didn't realize you weren't the OP sorry.

What everyone is trying to say is (except pregrine (or however you spell it)) is that you should try your best to even the playing field. Dont try to loose, just make your list one that is fun but will at least get the game going for 4+ turns. You will find that you will have more fun that way.

Try your hardest to make the game fun whilst trying to win. Your opponent should want to come back for another game despite a win or a loss. If this isnt gonna happen change your list up.

Its not just the tau it goes for all lists at the end of the day.

 Peregrine wrote:
Lose all of your games.

/thread, pretty much.

 Lobukia wrote:
Tons of crisis suits, devilfish FWs, and kroot. Fun as all get out, still very competitive in club play, isn't broken or annoying to face.

On the contrary people have always complained about crisis suits. Number one complaint since day one has been that JSJ is annoying to face because they get to jump away from assault range and play "keep away". I've seen Tau players get accused of being "unsporting" or cowardly for not letting the backbone of their army sit out in the open to get assaulted and swept off the table, even when the Tau codex was bottom tier. There are people out there who will always call Tau broken no matter what.

The only reason I see people being open to them now would be the fact that they aren't riptides. Much better to try and deal with a lot of S7 AP4 shots because you'll most likely either get a cover save or an armor save against them at the very least, unlike with riptides where you will most likely get neither.

So funnily enough I guess what it finally took for people to accept crisis suits was GW releasing something much worse.

 Swastakowey wrote:
What everyone is trying to say is (except pregrine (or however you spell it))

Peregrine. It's a type of falcon!

 Swastakowey wrote:
Play them like they would work in the fluff. I.E lots of fire warriors backed by support. Thats more like how i see the tau.

The way most people play it on the internet is big toys only supported by minimum troops.

Not necessarily. If anything I'd argue tau would put more emphasis on relatively small numbers of dudes punching above their weight thanks to great support, and toys, as you put it, rather than swamp the board with grunts.

The vast majority of tau forces are comprised of auxiliaries such as kroot which hold the line, and act as an anchor around which the mobile tau hunter cadres operate.

Massed fire warriors is a thing. But it's no more 'the thing' than anything else. My fourth ed tau list was quite powerful, and fit the mobile hunter cadre fluff - massed kroot squads as my infantry, backed up by four vehicles (mantas hold four vehicles) and up to 8 suits. There was my shas'el and his buddies. I took 3 hammerheads and one fire warrior squad. The 1 fire warrior squad was there because it had to be and the 3 hammerheads fit as Epic 40k allowed for 4 hammerheads to be fielded from a manta as a squad. So I ran it as an armoured assault cadre backing up the kroot allies who we're bring heavily engaged and falling back.



How to play tau fun. 'Fun' isn't an army list. 'Fun' is the attitude you bring to a game, and how you act as an opponent. You can bring the cheesiest list imaginable, and still be a great opponent who fosters memorable games. It's got nothing to do with the list.

 Lagfest wrote:
\
or go nuts, make up some sort of Chaos converted Tau...

I'm doing exactly that.

Bring that new FW Riptide
That will provide many luls

 ImotekhTheStormlord wrote:

 Lagfest wrote:
Use units that the powergame considers useless.

Vespid,
Missile tanks
Etherials
etc...

Hell bring some IG Gue'vesa
or go nuts, make up some sort of Chaos converted Tau...

In what universe are erthereals considered useless?

The 5th edition universe.

One of the issues that some folks think that there is only one way to play the army right and only one build to do that with. While there are builds that are easier to use than others, this does not invalidate the other builds as being competitive. I personally feel that a great player with a good list is going to do better than a good player with a great list.

There are effective builds for Tau that leverage the mobility of several of the units available to Tau creating a dynamic battle with thrust, counter thrust and flanking manouvres. I find these builds more entertaining to use as a Tau player than castled gunlines and rarely have complaints about boring matches.

Jefffar wrote:
One of the issues that some folks think that there is only way to play the army right and only one build to do that with. While there are builds that are easier to use than others, this does not invalidate the other builds as being competitive. I personally feel that a great player with a good list is going to do better than a good player with a great list.

There are effective builds for Tau that leverage the mobility of several of the units available to Tau creating a dynamic battle with thrust, counter thrust and flanking manouvres. I find these builds more entertaining to use as a Tau player than castled gunlines and rarely have complaints about boring matches.

^ This.

It exactly like any other army that can have a spam build which turns into no fun.

We have all seen it before, and we will seen it again.

The answers to the OP questions are in the thread, can we close it?

My brother run a very mobile tau army it a blast to play against

How to play them fun? Play them interactively. This means you need to surmount the difficult challenge of making an effective, competitive, list that does not revolve around JSJ at ranges the opponent can not shoot at.

I notice when playing my own armies that my friends have more fun when I play aggressively and sometimes recklessly charge stuff with my Warp Spiders, than when I play my otherwise cowardly retreating fire kind of game play.
And that's with Eldar whom have sub-24" firepower, which is far shorter than Tau have.

I need to get me some Scorpions.

At its most basic, yes, make a list that won't win as much.

People have more fun when they win, or maybe more accurately, when they feel they have a chance to win. Tau are notoriously "unfun" in casual environments because a middle of the road Tau list will smack down a similar list from most other armies. Combine that with mechanics like ignoring cover, ignoring line of sight, supporting fire and JSJ and playing against Tau can be a very frustrating, unenjoyable experience. People like to feel that they're involved in the game, not just picking models off the table.

This isn't true for just Tau, mind you. Every army is capable of being "not fun". It's more to do with folks agreeing to a game with different motivations/mentalities.

If folks in your group aren't enjoying their games with your Tau, you should probably just talk to them and see what the problem is. Folks on Dakka aren't going to be much help because they don't know your group and will probably just want to push their agenda. Talk it over, see what their issues are and see if they can't be worked on. It's more than just hadicapping yourself, they should be able to make changes on their end too.