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The solution shouldn't be something that improves Tau further against Tyranids, Guard and Orks (Armies with low toughness and saves) who - let's be real, Tau can rip through. Rerolls upon rerolls will do that, as will increasing the faction to BS 3+.

I'd use Markerlights like C'Tan powers and do them at the end of Movement and scrap them being heavy. (This would circumnavigate Deathwatch a little as you'd get to pop off once before they could shirk any markerlights).

Markerlight mechanics to buff Tau without harming Tyranids, Orks, Guard too much:
- ignoring invulnerability saves
- jamming aura abilities

Reading peoples comments about shooting in the fight phase I get why the demand is there but it could easily make Tau horrible to play against. Even bringing back fall back and shoot is a bit janky.

Do people think this would get messy:

"If at the end of the fight phase a unit that was not charged finds itself in engagement range by way of consolidation that unit can fire at the unit they are now in engagement range with".

So they get to shoot before falling back. I've found the big difficulty is always having to fall back after my opponent used some hijinks to tag my models in engagement range. It would still prevent the charged unit from shooting in the next turn but go some way to alleviating that frustration.

-Pistols, the OE tau firewarriors all had pistols, so pistols should be standard equip for all tau so they can shoot in CC. It wouldn't make them "great" but would keep them from being a total push-over.

-All jet-pack type (flyer) battle suits can fall back and shoot.

-KROOOOOT, seriously. KROOOOOOOOOT and tau auxillia, yes you should be allowed to field Astra Millitarium Infantry/statline but with Tau Pulse Rifles. Also Vespids and Mind Worms or hell, Giant Spiders.

-Pulse Rifles = D2, done. Fluff and Black Library state that Pulse Rifles lack penetration but can still easily kill a space marine if they do punch through. So, D2 no AP.

-Plasma Fix = Imperial Standard but w/o overcharging (which is kind of silly because of the Tau often fielding dangerous to operate weapons.. like Neutron blaster but eeeeh).

-Marker Lights: Simplify, Markerlights allow two things only now (each burns one markerlight). Launch A Seeker OR fire (again if already fired) a model's "smart missiles system" at unlimited range. One of the fluffy parts of Tau is that when the Imperium invaded they were constantly under bombardment from precision long range smart missiles and seeker missiles from extreme range.

-BS B.S., Baseline Tau are BS4+. Ethereal Buff should exist for BS3+ for one unit one turn. Reusable. Or perhaps CP, whatever.. Also all battlesuits are BS3+ because they are equipped with all kinds of sensors and targeting systems.

-The FLUFF indicates that TAU DO NOT HOLD POSITIONS. Tau should thus have "replacement" objectives in objective games. AKA replace "hold" with "drive them off" aka instead of having to HOLD an objective they instead need to REMOVE an enemy from the objective. Tau don't view "land" as control but mobility. Tau should focus heavily on mobility and honestly Devil Fish should be heavy in a Tau infantry Army. Tactically if you want a Tau base, the Tau will fall back, let you have it and then surround you with overwhelming force and kill you in the "kill box" that you walked into.

So instead of taking and holding objectives. Tau should be given tasks like: Bait the Trap (let an enemy take an objective from you that you control, preferably by falling back, but sometimes the bait gets eaten). Close the Jaws: Kill an enemy Unit that is on an objective and holding it.

One thing GW needs to focus on is FACTIONS FLAVORS.

Tau out White Scar, the White Scars.

This isn't just a Tau problem. Factions that have a great deal of Flavor suffer from "Generic GW.. all based off Marines" syndrome. Factions should focus heavily on their uniqueness. Some armies are Maneuver Based. Some take and hold. Some Swarm. Some Hit and Run. A lot of the complaints, and valid ones, are Tau players are trying to adapt to being forced to play Tau as though they are Space Marines. Other races have similar complaints.

I'd love Tau to get essentially a "Brood Brothers" type rule to include an Imperial Guard detachment alongside a Tau detachment.
I see no reason for them to get pulse rifles - the old Gue'Vesa squads in the Taros Campaign just had lasguns, although the sergeant could take a pulse rifle/carbine.

I'd like to specifically talk about Kroot. This is mostly because the Tau army I built in 4th edition was VERY Kroot heavy and was very fun to play with and against, as it was odd for a Tau army. Now, not so much.

Kroot Carnivore squads/ Shapers: Return the Shaper to the squad as a kind of sergeant. Make him an additional guy, not an upgrade. Return the option of taking kroothounds and krootox to the squad too (although these can also be their own separate unit too).

Kroot Rifle: This used to add +1 attack. Please return this ability.

Kroot Pistol: Ever notice the Kroot come with pistol bits, but there is only ONE model that can use it? (the guy from Blackstone Fortress). Give Kroot the ability to have a pistol in addition to rifle. Heck, it's all ready in the kit.

Kroot HQ: I'd like to see a "Master Shaper" for those of us that want to run pure Kroot armies. Even if this is just a special character.


Wishlist for special rules: I'd like to see their fieldcraft special rule return. +1 to saves when in trees.

Wait for the next codex.
Maybe the next edition.

GW will disappoint in a way that favours Tau eventually.

 DarkBlack wrote:
Wait for the next codex.
Maybe the next edition.

GW will disappoint in a way that favours Tau eventually.

Ha! That pretty much sums up my experience since 5th edition where even when they did favour Tau, it was in a fashion that was fundamentally opposed to how I wanted my Tau to be