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Hello Dakka-ites.

I've been out of the hobby for a while, played a few games of 7th/6th ed, but my last real dedication to the game was 5th ed. My question concerns Formations and Detachments, specifically as it pertains to Tau. The rules for these have somewhat confused me to a degree, but I think I'm starting to wrap my head around it. I will start with the list and Detachments as I understood it to work. It includes a Retaliation Cadre, an Optimised Stealth Cadre, all forming into a Hunter Cadre.

Retaliation Cadre:

Commander - Iridium Armor, 2x Plasma Rifles, Fusion Blaster, Shield Generator.

3x XV8 Crisis Battlesuits - Shas'vre upgrade, 6x Fusion Blasters (2 per suit), Target Locks.

3x XV8 Crisis Battlesuits - Shas'vre upgrade, 3x Cyclic Ion Blasters, 3x Plasma Rifles.

3x XV8 Crisis Battlesuits - Shas'vre upgrade, 3x Plasma Rifles, 3x Missile Pods.

*Note, weapons subject to change. These are simply initial ideas for the list.

XV104 Riptide Battlesuit - Ion Accelerator, Twin-Linked Fusion Blaster, Stim Injector, Early Warning Override.

3x XV88 Broadside Battlesuits - 3x High Yield Missile Pods, 3x Twin-Linked Smart Missile Systems.

Optimised Stealth Cadre:

(2x) 5x XV25 Stealth Battlesuits - Shas'vre upgrade, Homing Beacon, 5x Burst Cannons.

XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit - Cyclic Ion Raker, Twin-Linked Burst Cannon, Stim Injector.


Hunter Cadre:

Commander - Listed above as part of the Retaliation Cadre.

3x XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Teams - Listed above as part of the Retaliation Cadre.

XV104 Riptide Battlesuit - Listed above as part of the Retaliation Cadre.

2x Stealth Battlesuit Teams - Listed above as part of the Optimised Stealth Cadre.

XV95 Ghostkeel Battlesuit - Listed above as part of the Optimised Stealth Cadre.

3x Strike Teams - 5x Firewarriors with Pulse Rifles each team.

2x Pathfinder Teams - Shas'ui upgrade, 10 Pathfinders with Pulse Carbines and Markerlights each team.

3x XV88 Broadside Battlesuits - Listed above as part of the Retaliation Cadre.

Now, the rules for Tau Detachments/Formations indicate that units from the various Cadre's can be used as compulsory unit selections for the Hunter Cadre. A friend indicated to me that this isn't quite how it works, and that I would need another Commander for the Hunter Cadre, but everything else from the other Cadre's can be used as the compulsory units for the Hunter Cadre (i.e. the Riptide from the Retaliation Cadre can be used as the compulsory Riptide for the Hunter Cadre). Which, of course, served to confuse me even more. How can the Commander not count for both the Retaliation Cadre and Hunter Cadre, but all the other units do..?

Do I have to have the compulsory units in the Hunter Cadre first, then add all the additional compulsory units for the other Cadre's next? i.e. using the compulsory XV8's from the Hunter Contingent to make the Retaliation Cadre..? I'm confused as to how this really works, and would like some clarification. Is my initial interpretation correct? Or do I need to overhaul this whole idea of using the Hunter Cadre along with the Retaliation and Optimized Stealth Cadre's, as that would go -way- over the 2k limit my friends and I usually play.

Thanks for your input,

~Vryce

Sorry, but posting up your whole list confuses me. The easiest way I've found to explain these things is to forget the old way of selecting Troops, Elites, HQs, etc.

The way the game currently works is having detachments. A "Combined Arms Detachment" (aka, a CAD) is probably what you're used to; selecting a minimum of 1 HQ and 2 Troops, and filling in other slots. Only CADs work this way.

A Formation is a whole separate force. When you purchase units for a formation, it's only for that formation. Force Organization slots pretty much go out the window. You don't buy 1 HQ, 2 Troops, and if stuff in that fits into a formation you get the formation bonuses. Rather, you buy the units in your formation, and that's it. That's the formation. These units are totally separate from anything else in your army. They don't count towards your 1 HQ, 2 Troops, or anything at all.

The "mega formations" are made up of multiple regular formations, but since each of these is their own item, you can only count each unit as belonging to a single formation. In this way, a unit CANNOT be part of both a Hunter Cadre and a Retaliation Cadre.

So, if you want both a Retaliation Cadre and a Hunter Cadre, you need 2 Commanders, since a single Commander can only belong to one of the two.

Your friend is correct. A unit cannot belong to more than one formation or detachment.

Usually a formation is a detachment but in the case of a mega detachment (aka "decurion") you have a detachment made up of multiple formations.

Your commander (for example) cannot be part of the hunter cadre and the retaliation cadre. If you want to take a hunter contingent containing a hunter cadre (compulsory), retaliation cadre and optimized stealth cadre then you need to fulfill the requirements of each formation separately so you need two commanders.