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Could anyone point me to any formations that include an Ethereal and/or Cadre Fire blade, but no Commander.

I don't like spending alot of points on HQ, and I like the rules and low points cost of both the Ethereal and Cadre Fire blade, but the only way to play them in the Hunter Cadre requires you dump alot of points into a Commander (two Commanders for an Ethereal).

Are there any formations out there for these HQs without having to purchase a Commander (besides the CAD). I'm wondering if GW may have released some stuff in peripheral books, data slates, etc.

The Start Collecting Tau box formation consists of an Ethereal, a unit of Fire Warriors, and a unit of Crisis Suits. Other than that there isn't much in the way of options for formations with Ethereals (other than the 3+ ethereal formation which is..... moronic) and Fire Blades. Honestly though just take a CAD if you want an Ethereal and/or Fire Blade. Tau have insanely cheap troops so you can fill your troop requirement for 90 points and then have 2 HQ slots to field whatever you want.

Cool, yeah, so maybe I'll go CAD. I'm at the phase where I'm wondering whether Hunter Cadre is too good to go CAD. But I don't want to have to take Commanders. So maybe I'll just create a "cheap HQ" CAD list and a separate Hunter Cadre list.

The only formation that allows you to take ethereals without a commander are the Ethereal Council, Ethereal Honour Guard, or Infiltration Cadre Burning Dawn.

There are no formations with a Fireblade that don't require a commander.

If you want to go even cheaper, go Farsight CAD: 1 ethereal, 2 crisis. Both Mont'ka and the new FSE supplement removed the minimum 3-man unit of Crisis

Honestly I don't like the hunters contingent. It's bonus rules sounds great but actually aren't that great - Tau don't really need help blowing up a single target - they got that covered.

The real money is in -

CAD (pick and choose the best options with your remaining points after formations - cheap HQ really helps here as the commander can basically only be played 1 way and it aint cheap. Plus you get some objective secured.)

Riptide wing (buffs on units you were going to take anyways)

Optimized stealth Cadre (early objective control that packs a punch and can disable enemy deathstars)

Ranged support Cadre (shrouded pathfinders? 3 units of BS that double the value of markers on them? Yup - I'll take these.)

 Xenomancers wrote:
Honestly I don't like the hunters contingent. It's bonus rules sounds great but actually aren't that great - Tau don't really need help blowing up a single target - they got that covered.

The real money is in -

CAD (pick and choose the best options with your remaining points after formations - cheap HQ really helps here as the commander can basically only be played 1 way and it aint cheap. Plus you get some objective secured.)

Riptide wing (buffs on units you were going to take anyways)

Optimized stealth Cadre (early objective control that packs a punch and can disable enemy deathstars)

Ranged support Cadre (shrouded pathfinders? 3 units of BS that double the value of markers on them? Yup - I'll take these.)

In reference to the bolded items above:

-What publication has Ranged Support Cadre? (I only have the main Tau codex at present, and I don't remember seeing that one).

-Could you please clue me in on the 'one want to play a Commander'? I'm not new to 40k, but very new to Tau. Are you referring to the FMC Coldstar Suit option?

Ranged support cadre is in Mont'ka.
Heres a link to whats in there.
http://www.warhammer-tau.com/2015/11/warzone-damocles-montka-new-formations.html

The only way that seems to be effecitve to run a commander is as a buffing support unit. Taking 3-4 signature systems to buff and tank for big squad of crisis suits that all have target lock. I'm not saying it's a bad play - I just don't like it. Also people will give him with drone controller only and place him with a unit of marker drones - bs5 markerlgihts is not bad. Ether way he is a support unit. Not exactly what I want out of an expensive HQ. In this case you can only ever take one of him too and plenty of formations require you take one - so putting those together just doesn't work ether.

The coldstar though it looks awesome is awful. It would be what everyone uses him for but he lost all of his weapon options and signature systems and is expensive too boot. Too bad - I love the model.

 jasper76 wrote:

 Xenomancers wrote:
Honestly I don't like the hunters contingent. It's bonus rules sounds great but actually aren't that great - Tau don't really need help blowing up a single target - they got that covered.

The real money is in -

CAD (pick and choose the best options with your remaining points after formations - cheap HQ really helps here as the commander can basically only be played 1 way and it aint cheap. Plus you get some objective secured.)

Riptide wing (buffs on units you were going to take anyways)

Optimized stealth Cadre (early objective control that packs a punch and can disable enemy deathstars)

Ranged support Cadre (shrouded pathfinders? 3 units of BS that double the value of markers on them? Yup - I'll take these.)

In reference to the bolded items above:

-What publication has Ranged Support Cadre? (I only have the main Tau codex at present, and I don't remember seeing that one).

-Could you please clue me in on the 'one want to play a Commander'? I'm not new to 40k, but very new to Tau. Are you referring to the FMC Coldstar Suit option?

Nah, almost no one uses the coldstar, Typically a competitive commander is called a buffmander, and doesn't shoot, but buffs his squad with sig systems.

The other typical variant is the Mark'o who takes a target lock and drone controller and ferries marker drones to up their BS then they fire at one target for the rest of your army to blow up and he uses his target lock to fire at another.

Not sure which variant he is referring to as the "one way" but I've seen success with both however I currently run a Mark'o

@Xenomancer: OK, I do have a Commander model I haven't built yet, and was thinking about Coldstar, so thanks for that info. Help me from making a mistake

My other idea was to make him a non-shooter with the Iridium suit, the 'reroll hits' signature system, and the 'Ignore Cover' signature system, to use him as pure support. I imagine these are the sig systems you are referring to (well, maybe not the Iridium suit, but the other two).




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Zarroc1733 wrote:

Nah, almost no one uses the coldstar, Typically a competitive commander is called a buffmander, and doesn't shoot, but buffs his squad with sig systems.

The other typical variant is the Mark'o who takes a target lock and drone controller and ferries marker drones to up their BS then they fire at one target for the rest of your army to blow up and he uses his target lock to fire at another.

Not sure which variant he is referring to as the "one way" but I've seen success with both however I currently run a Mark'o

Thanks very much. Glad I got wise to the Coldstar thing, because til now that was what I was thinking about doing with my Commander kit.

Looks like I'll be doing up a buffmander instead.

 jasper76 wrote:
OK, I do have a Commander model I haven't built yet, and was thinking about Coldstar, so thanks for that info.

My other idea was to make him a non-shooter with the Iridium suit, the 'reroll hits' signature system, and the 'Ignore Cover' signature system, to use him as pure support. I imagine these are the sig systems you are referring to (well, maybe not the Iridium suit, but the other two).

Exactly, and I always take the iridium suit, It works great and your hq can even tank wounds if need be because he will shrug off most. I usually give him a stim injector too for FNP.

For a Buffmander to take the suit as well as the injector and the required sigs to be a buffmander, he costs 160 so that price is up to you whether its worth it.

My mark'o is built as follows and costs 179 to give you an idea.

XV8 Commander Crisis Suit Drone Controller, Missile Pod, Neuroweb System Jammer, Stimulant Injector, Target Lock, XV8-02 Crisis 'Iridium' Battlesuit, 2xMV7 Marker Drone

Strictly speaking a naked Tau commander is 13 more points than the price of a naked Ethereal and regular crisis suit combined, and generally speaking I find he's a worthwhile investment if you put some thought into how you'll use him.

The buffmander configuration gets cited a lot, but you can put those two signature systems on a crisis shas'vre and get exactly the same effect.

That BS5 though, that's a treat. And you can spread it around with a drone controller. Mark'Os with a drone compliment are the very best marker light source in the Codex (and they should be, for the points you pay), but doing the same trick with a swarm of gundrones (or in a squad of ion blaster crisis suits all with gundrones) can be an efficient unit shredder.

The ranged support cadre is from Mont'Ka, you'll also find it in the Farsight Enclaves supplement.

The one hq I have yet to try is honestly the one I want most and its darkstrider, for that amazing -1 toughness. I kinda wanna build a pathfinder kill team and throw him in. Or maybe A breacher kill team, to get in close ID most things then use his extra movement after overwatch to get out if I don't just demolish what I'm shooting/overwatching.


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Also have to agree with the captain

Thanks very much for this info, people. Certainly helps me out alot with how to put together my HQ options .