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I'm toying with the idea of finally getting a Tau army and I'd like it to be somewhat competitive. My local gaming community doesn't really have any Tau players, so I'm not too experienced fielding against them.

My question is, will a 5 man Firewarrior unit hold their own? Or do they need to be taken as a 10 man, with all the drones they can fit in for defense? I fear they'd need the numbers to keep away from leadership issues and they're definitely not as resilient as a 5 man MEQ. I'm hoping I'm wrong and I can rely on building lists on paper based on 5 man units.

Typically they are taken in 5 man units just because it produces more command points that way. They are reasonable easy to kill but they are only 35 points and can still lay down 15 shots at 15 inches if near a fireblade. With a 3+ save in cover small arms are going to struggle to remove them quickly.

10 mans can work to but you will need ethereals in this situation for the 6+ FNP bubble and +2 leadership buff they provide.

In short - 5 man fire-warriors are a viable selection.

 Kilgore19d wrote:
I'm toying with the idea of finally getting a Tau army and I'd like it to be somewhat competitive. My local gaming community doesn't really have any Tau players, so I'm not too experienced fielding against them.

My question is, will a 5 man Firewarrior unit hold their own? Or do they need to be taken as a 10 man, with all the drones they can fit in for defense? I fear they'd need the numbers to keep away from leadership issues and they're definitely not as resilient as a 5 man MEQ. I'm hoping I'm wrong and I can rely on building lists on paper based on 5 man units.

You CAN build 5 mans with drone support. But you get a lot of bang for your buck out of fire warriors by stacking auras on them and it's easier to do that with less big units than many small.

Consider Bork'an Sept (+6" to range of rapid fire and heavy weapons)

4 units of 10 firewarriors.
2 Cadre Fireblades
Bring 3 units of pathfinders and have them take the pulse accelerator drones.

Get the pulse accelerator drones need the fireblade and fire warriors.

Now they have 42" range rapid fire guns that shoot 3 shots instead of 2 at 21". Or 120 str 5 shots. With marker light support calling targets they could be rerolling 1s and bs 3+.

I don't really understand the question. What is the difference you're seeing between a 10-man unit and 2 5-man units? Why does having more models "keep away from leadership issues"?

Is this purely a kill points thing?

 Lance845 wrote:

You CAN build 5 mans with drone support. But you get a lot of bang for your buck out of fire warriors by stacking auras on them and it's easier to do that with less big units than many small.

Consider Bork'an Sept (+6" to range of rapid fire and heavy weapons)

4 units of 10 firewarriors.
2 Cadre Fireblades
Bring 3 units of pathfinders and have them take the pulse accelerator drones.

Get the pulse accelerator drones need the fireblade and fire warriors.

Now they have 42" range rapid fire guns that shoot 3 shots instead of 2 at 21". Or 120 str 5 shots. With marker light support calling targets they could be rerolling 1s and bs 3+.

Sweet jebus that sexy.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Dionysodorus wrote:
I don't really understand the question. What is the difference you're seeing between a 10-man unit and 2 5-man units? Why does having more models "keep away from leadership issues"?

Is this purely a kill points thing?

Sort of? It's more just based on not understanding how resilient they are or are not. I'm looking to build my lists on a solid troop base, mostly centered on obtaining the +3 CP from Battalions. If it's better to not take them at all and just fill the slots with Kroot, then I'll do that.

Firewarriors are not a bad troop choice its just they are still troopers with no real way to acess a heavy weapon. There weapon is better than most against armour but its best used for murdering infantry. Tau tend to be kept cheap on the troops tax not because firewarriors are bad but because max commanders requires max detachments. Also ghostkeels, riptides stormsurgrs etc ain't cheap either and you need markerlights.
Its just people wanting the CP's and the big suits means points limits dictate minimal size troop units

Ice_can wrote:
Firewarriors are not a bad troop choice its just they are still troopers with no real way to acess a heavy weapon. There weapon is better than most against armour but its best used for murdering infantry. Tau tend to be kept cheap on the troops tax not because firewarriors are bad but because max commanders requires max detachments. Also ghostkeels, riptides stormsurgrs etc ain't cheap either and you need markerlights.
Its just people wanting the CP's and the big suits means points limits dictate minimal size troop units

That being said, would you suggest going Kroot only for my troops, for screening purposes?

Hey Kilgore, I'm in xactly the same boat, fresh faced new Tau army being planned! For me, the firewarriors take the biscuit, as they take buffs so well, threaten marines a lot better in shooting (and there's marines everywhere, right?) and most importantly look really cool. I'll be running a few pathfinder squads to scout move and push back deepstrikes instead of kroots i think, due to markerlight shenanigans.

I'm a long-time tau player, but I've never really tried fire warrior spam. It's only starting to look viable now, to be honest.

There are lots of ways to run them that might work. All have postive and negative sides.

Covering the board in 12 man teams is quite an attractive option - other than the issues painting them! You'd magnify the effects of buffs, but also be at risk of leadership issues. I'd go as far as to consider the idea of a phalanx of 6x12 fire warrior squads. Put them in 3 ranks of 24 with an ethereal, cadre fireblade, Darkstrider and a pulse accelerator drone. Park some broadsides behind them. Good luck to anyone who feels like charging you. 72 fire warriors cost only 504 points, though the characters to buff them add about 150-200 to that.

The MSU option is very different - but also fine. You get a 35 point squad that can sit in cover on an objective somewhere, and occasionally kill stuff. It brings you kill points and the option to take a commander. It's kind of hard to see why Tau would take a detachment like a spearhed, outrider or vanguard, when they can so easily spam battalions.

You can also look at mechanising your fire warriors. That's going to seriously reduce their numbers, but increase their durability and reduce your drop count - which is good news. You can get 2x5 fire warrior teams, plus a couple of characters or drones, into a devilfish. You might try a set up like:

12 FW or breachers in fish #1

5 pathfinders with recon and pulse accelerator drone, cadre fireblade and 5 fire warriors in fish #2

5 pathfinders with recon and pulse accelerator drone, cadre fireblade and 5 fire warriors in fish #3

5 pathfinders with recon and pulse accelerator drone, Darkstrider and 5 fire warriors in fish #4

2x 5 (or 6) fire warriors in fish #5.

That would give you all the troop and fast attack choices you'd need for a brigade, as well as 3 HQs. The trick would be getting Montka onto the pathfinders as they disembarked, so they could hit stuff with markerlights and overcharge their ion cannons. That should be easy enough to do if you've got a coldstar commander buzzing around - which seems like something you'd want to have anyway.

Ooooofkah. I appreciate the input all. This is definitely a lot more complex than I thought it would be. I guess I’ll just buy the codex and start trying to understand the army.

Thanks all!