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I already have a Commander for my Tau army and am looking for a 2nd HQ. I dont want a 2nd Commander as I dont have many crisis suits (I know buffmander is an option for my Riptide) and besides, I like variety in my army.

Both the Fireblade and the Ethereal are cheap; both buff a squad, the Fireblade more so than the Ethereal, but the Ethereal can change buffs each turn and he also morale buffs other units nearby so I'm torn.


Cadre Fireblade has 1 more wound (though T3 doesnt really help much in this aspect), a decent 4+ armor save (though ethereal can hide in a squad and benefit from majority armor save) and ballistic skill 5. He has split fire and a markerlight, so he can light something up other than what the rest of his squad is firing at, which is useful as this allows him to light up a tank without wasting the squad's shots. He is LD 9 and can effectively man a quadgun or icarus lascannon (splitfire!) but most importantly he gives each FW an additional pulse rifle shot if they stand still, so its best to stick him with a 12 man FW squad to get the most outta him.


The Ethereal on the other hand has LD 10 and his biggest ability is making all friendly units from this codex around him (upto 12") use his LD. This allows you to maintain a solid FW + Kroot firebase and get the most out of them without anyone running away. Plus he gives his squad stubborn, so no negative LD modifiers.

However, his main ability is Invocation of the Elements, so he can be just as good as the Fireblade at buffing up the firepower of his unit, but only upto half range - however, there is no restriction to movement. It also benefits Kroot and Sniper Drones! The real deal though is that his power affects ALL UNITS within 12". So if you have 4 units of 12 Firewarriors within reach, you gain 48 additional S5 shots at upto 15". And this buff continues to persist if you move and shoot. That'll make the opponent think twice about getting anywhere near this blob that also has LD10

However, always remember that if the Ethereal gets killed, you give up 1 additional VP for the enemy. Sometimes that can decide between a victory and a draw, or a draw and a loss.

As a secondary HQ, I'd say go with the Ethereal. Both of them are support role HQs, but the Ethereal has a lot more flexibility. For my money, the Fireblade is only really worth it in small point games/detachments.

In larger games the ethereal is more versatile and just generally useful with his different invocations.

What both of the above have said.

Plus, if you already have a commander, he can be your Warlord, so the Ethereal is only worth 1 VP. When he is your only HQ and has to be Warlord there is more of a shoot me sign on him for the 2 points.

The Fireblade has to babysit a Firewarrior Squad. The Ethereal stops my Broadsides running away. I'd go Ethereal.

Ethreal is far superior in a true tau army.

Its when you splash tau allies that you want a fireblade.

 BoomWolf wrote:
Ethreal is far superior in a true tau army.

Its when you splash tau allies that you want a fireblade.

Why? I think a Commander even for allies is always an excellent choice by himself - deepstrike, 2 BS5 fusion blasters (or 2 plasma rifles), idirium 2+ armor save, T5, 4 wounds, or buffmander for the riptide allowing it to ignore cover and re-roll the scatter die...cant go wrong with him. When taking allies I think infiltrating sniper Kroot make for a better troops choice.

I too agree that a Commander is a great choice for allies (unless you're going for minimum points so squeeze in a Broadside team or something.)

 Sir Arun wrote:

 BoomWolf wrote:
Ethreal is far superior in a true tau army.

Its when you splash tau allies that you want a fireblade.

Why? I think a Commander even for allies is always an excellent choice by himself - deepstrike, 2 BS5 fusion blasters (or 2 plasma rifles), idirium 2+ armor save, T5, 4 wounds, or buffmander for the riptide allowing it to ignore cover and re-roll the scatter die...cant go wrong with him. When taking allies I think infiltrating sniper Kroot make for a better troops choice.

True, but the question was between ethreal and fireblade, not commander.

Technically, i field neither ethereal nor fireblade even with allies, as I rather have my battlesuit commanders-but that wasn't the question.

welp, its official then. the cadre fireblade sucks.

but not as much as darkstrider, at least, who in turn doesnt suck as much as aun shi.

Ethereal buffs while tau army, is reason enough. Aun shi is ok as ally to sm, as he can benefit an am squad as challenge foder as he buffs his codex brethren.

If you really want some shenanigans...

Take AunVa and attach a commander (iridium armor, 2x shield drones, 2x missile pods, stim injectors) and bubble wrap him with fire warriors. Works great and is pretty fun/annoying as long as you can keep him out of assault. Talked with my gaming group judges that run most the tourneys around here and ruled the saves as Armor/cover/invul THEN paradox of dualities THEN feel no pain, so with your commander is out front tanking with 3 chances to ignore wounds, while aunva is handing out army boosts.

Put 3 fireblades(ally with farsight enclaves) in a 12 man squad. Really dumb and silly, especially in smaller games. But will die as soon as your opponent figures it out

As for the ethereal vs fire blade argument, I'd have to say ethereal wins given he boosts multiple units with a variety of abilities within a 12 inch bubble vs a fireblade that's brings up to 12 extra shots, slightly better leadership, and a BS5 ML/TL.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

4TheG8erGood wrote:
What both of the above have said.

Plus, if you already have a commander, he can be your Warlord, so the Ethereal is only worth 1 VP. When he is your only HQ and has to be Warlord there is more of a shoot me sign on him for the 2 points.

Ethereals are always worth 2 VPs naturally. Additionally, slay the warlord would make them worth 3 VPs. Which makes them kinda bad for tournaments.

mrRiptide87 wrote:
Ethereals are always worth 2 VPs naturally. Additionally, slay the warlord would make them worth 3 VPs. Which makes them kinda bad for tournaments.

In 5/6 BRB missions they are worth one point for Slay the Warlord if they are your warlord, and always give up one VP. And maybe 1 VP for First Blood if you can manage that.

If you are playing the KP mission or in a tournament with KPs along with objectives, then yes they are worth 2 VP naturally.

Just a heads up, unless I have been playing it wrong!

Ethereal bonus VP is only awarded if they award a VP already, as stated above. Its odd, and usually gives it anyway but if in say a Scouring game and he isnt your warlord and didnt give FB, he isnt worth 2 VP.

Its rather funky, the way they worded it makes a lot of people simplify it to "They give a VP if killed, an additional if applicable" for some dumb reason.
EDIT: For those curious, the exact wording is "However, if the Ethereal is removed as a casualty in a mission that uses Victory Points, your opponent gains one additional Victory Point."
GW of course uses the words Victory Points in every game mode, even though theyre not used the same way. Thats the issue. I typically just give them the VP to avoid a lengthy "reading between the lines" argument...that is of course if they ever get the sucker to begin with lol

Back on topic

Ethereals > Cadre 10fold. Ethereals dont have to be in the unit they buff, Cadre does. Therefore you can hide him in a broadside unit for far far better protection and when theres 3+ full FW teams he provides WAY more buffs than the Cadre will.

Quite frankly i view the Cadre as bad all together. How often does a FW squad get to stand perfectly still and still shoot something unless youre against orks/nids? Pretty much never for me, im always moving up/back depending on positioning so i can avoid getting wiped off the board in 1 go. Cadre is useless unless you stand still, and im sorry but if i see a unit of FW with a squishy as hell and painful IC attached to it im going to blow it to smithereens. Ethereal can hide in other groups, so not anywhere near as easy to pick off.

Same issue i have with Firebrand. If he was cheaper, i'd take him anyway because ive never seen him survive more than 1 turn once hes in range for his squad to hit anything.

 Sir Arun wrote:
(though ethereal can hide in a squad and benefit from majority armor save)

This is not a rule...unless you're meaning HIWPI grav-guns, in which case you would use majority armour in the target unit.