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So, going to be upfront about a bit of bias here and say that the Kroot are my favorite race in 40k, hands down. That being said, when I put together an all Kroot list for a casual league I joined a little while back that allows Legendary units, I fully expected to get steamrolled. I've been surprised to be completely crushing it so far instead. I did post the list itself over in the Army Lists section, but I wanted to go over a bit what I've faced so far here and how, as well as why I think they are a good army in the 1000 point bracket (one day I'll have enough Kroot to test 2000 points) and how I think they can be used effectively in a typical Tau list which functions very different from a full Kroot list.

For the list itself, it runs: 2 Ethereals on Disks with Markers, 3 Krootox, 3 Kroot Shapers, 60 Kroot Carnivores, 12 Kroot Hounds, 6 Knarloc Riders, and 1 Greater Knarloc. 996 Points, 52 PL.

I break the army up into four groups. The Krootox sit on the backfield objective and take pot shots. Two units of 30 Carnivores backed by an Ethereal and a Shaper secure the forward objectives, while the Knarlocs and Hounds, backed by a shaper for wound re-rolls, charge into anything I'm concerned about. With the Kroot Carnivores 7" Pregame move, 7" normal move, and shapers 2D6 pick the highest aura for advance, they get stuck on at least 3 objectives easy by the end of turn one. I've taken Engage on All Fronts, Domination, and Raise the Banners High in each game so far and have scored full or near full points on all three every game. (The Hounds 12" move plus Shaper Advance buff usually gets them fully into the 4th quarter turn 1 if I want to.)

I'm not going to go over every match I've played here (I talk about a few more on the Army list page if you're curious), but I want to highlight one specifically as an example. I played against a Blood Angels player running: 1 Captain on Bike, 10 Sanguinary guard with Obsec and a Banner Bearer of some kind (I'm not exactly a BA expert) an Assault Intercessor Squad of 8, an Invader ATV and a Repulsor, both the Gatling variety. We played Center Ground. While it wasn't by any means a meta list, he went first and conceded at the end of his turn 2 which still says something about the Kroot army.

Turn 1: I went second, but since his Sanguinary Guard were in Deep Strike, I only lost about a dozen models to shooting and lost 2 of my Greater Knarloc's 9 wounds. I got onto all four objectives, (managing to take out all but 3 Intercessors after shooting a little over half my army into them with marker lights.) The 5 models of a Carnivore squad that got in range took it from them and I got both my Hounds and Greater Knarloc into charging the Repulsor that was holding down the east objective (re-rolling the 9" charge on my Greater Knarloc and brought it down to 3 wounds.)

Turn 2: He failed the charge on the deep striking Sangiunary guard into my Krootox (as well as the re-roll), but did take out most of a carnivore squad on an objective in their shooing. The Captain tried to take another objective, but 2 Carnivores survived his attack and held it. The Repulsor and remaining Intercessors went down to the Greater Knarloc and Knarloc Riders (I used the Ambushing Predators Stratagem to intervene 6" with them when he charged the remining carnivores I had on the nearby objective) and I still held all four objectives (with 30-40 more carnivores ready to jump onto them); so he scooped up his models (but was really cool about it all and said he was looking forward to another game against me).

What I've found from the army both in this game and others is that with Ethereals to compensate for the Kroot's main weaknesses, (bad Sv and Ld) by giving them a 6+ FNP and 9 Ld, (amplified by the Hidden Hunters stratagem providing -1 to be hit and +1 Sv when in cover) the army is amazingly fast, surprisingly durable, and punches back okay; even if you're rolling an ocean of dice. You get on the objectives turn one without any issue and you're incredibly hard to dislodge. Anything that might do so gets Knarlocs thrown at them which take a minimum of two turns to wipe out, all the while taking a massive barrage of Str 4 shots that slowly chip away at whatever survives.

The other games I've won, I've scored over 95 VP each. All the secondaries I take are objective based, and no one has been able to dislodge me from even a single one as of yet (with the Blood Angels player above coming closest by far.)

So, now that the proof that this can actually work is here, I wanted to talk a bit about what I've learned from the units and where I think they could fit into Tau lists that aren't specifically built for them.

1. The Kroot Carnivores: Without the Ethereals help, a unit of ten is far more squishy; however, I still think that taking a single unit is a good idea to fight for objectives. One of the Tau's weaknesses is that they don't have an easy way to get OBsec units up the table, You can either foot slog it, or pay 90 points for a Devilfish that's going to deposit a fragile unit, then not really do anything substantial. That's 135 points to get a unit of Fire Warriors quickly up the board, compared to 60 for 10 Carnivores. But wait, I hear you say, Carnivores are way too squishy for that, well, let's do some math.

10 Intercessors will make 8.89 unsaved wounds against Kroot and 5.92 against Fire warriors. While the points lost are exactly even at 54 points each, the Kroot unit is alive (even if they likely fails morale) where the Fire Warrior Squad is not. Also +/- 1 still leaves the Fire Warrior squad still dead, but the Kroot possibly alive loosing one to morale and still holding on with 1 more model left (unless you are paying for a 6th Fire Warrior, but who does that? And even then, it's a 1/3 change to loose the Fire Warrior and a little less than 1/6 to loose the Kroot to morale). The thing is, unless you pay for the drones ahead of time, you don't have any real way to protect them if you really need that objective. Use 1CP for Hidden Hunters (-1 to be hit and +1Sv) and suddenly, you only take an average of 4.44 unsaved wounds against the Kroot unit, making them far more survivable as a holder of an objective so long as they are in cover (and that's not counting the reduction from whatever that cover is). For punching back, I'll take 20 Str 4 shots over 10 Str 5 shots any day, they both hit on 4's so, not other difference there other than 30" range on the Fire Warriors over the 24" on the Kroot and this is the midfield were talking about, so that doesn't matter. While they are both bad in melee, Kroot are at least less bad with WS 3+ S 4 vs Fire Warriors WS 5+ S 3 (though that is partially mitigated by Fire Warriors having a 4+ sv over 6+). They're not going to win any fights against marines, but could tussle with a unit of guardsman if needed.

Kroot Carnivores are a mathematically faster, hit harder in the mid to close range, and are either equally or more survivable. Their only downside is that they don't benefit from your Sept tenant, so that could potentially swing it depending on what it is. Even so, I think the pro's far outweigh the cons by compensating for one of the Tau's biggest problems in grabbing midfield objectives.

2. Kroot Hounds: So these guys are pretty good at tearing through light infantry, but they are a bit of a glass cannon if they ever leave cover. (You get to use the Hidden Hunters Stratagem to protect them too.) You'll likely take this as a unit of 10 instead of 12 unless you randomly need to dump a dozen points, but even so, you're getting, 20 WS 3+ Str 3 AP -1 D 1 Attacks for only 60 Points. Not fantastic, but about as good as it gets for Tau. Much like their Carnovire counterparts they are incredibly mobile with a 12" Move, allowing them to hop from cover to cover to keep safe and charge in where needed. They can also (for 1CP) Heroically Intervene 6" as though they were a character which can punish a reckless charge already weakened by Tau overwatch. I wouldn't say that I recommend this for most lists like I do a single Carnivore unit, but I could see the right army taking advantage of these. Just remember, keep them in cover and leave 1CP up to protect them or they'll get evaporated.

3. Krootox: Much less flashy than the other two, the Krootox tends to just get ignored in every game I play, but they do the thankless job I assign them rather well. I plunk a unit of three on a backfield objective and just leave them there to take pot shots They essentially have a single Tau Missile Pod as their weapon, but on a 28 point T 5 W 4 body. Not super strong, but not irrelevant either. It's just enough that an opponent cant casually get rid of them, and if they are throwing heavy fire into them, it's not going into a unit like your Crisis suits which you care more about. Also, if you need a spare unit around to do actions, a single model is only 28 points, so long as you have the Elite slot for it.

With the 1CP Stratagem Raging Beasts, they also hit really hard in melee, each getting 4 WS 3+ Str 6, AP -2, D 2 attacks. I haven't had to use this myself yet as I use my Knarloc riders for that role, but that would chew through a fair handful of marines. (They also auto advance 6" if you do want to get aggressive with them. Or can use a 1CP stratagem to heroically intervene if needed.)

4. Kroot Shapers: Yeah, without lots of Kroot, these guys are pretty pointless. The only consideration would be a cheap unit for performing actions, but unless that action has to be done by an infantry character, Krootox are way more durable and pack more of a punch for only 3 more points. Even then, that's a pretty easy 3 VP given away to assassinate if chosen.

So, lastly are the Legendary units. These are easily the best Kroot units, but sadly are crazy hard to find and not legal in official tournaments anymore.

5. Knarloc Riders: At 30 points a piece these guys Move 7" with a 6" auto advance, have T 4 W 4 Sv 4+, and have some minor mostly irrelevant shooting and melee from the rider. What you take them for is the 2 Str 6 (7 on the charge) AP -2, D 2 attacks from the Knarloc itself. For it's points cost, just an all around solid unit. If you happen to have some of these guys in your collection, I'd strongly consider them as your melee option to protect your gun lines or pressure opposing units.

6. The Greater Knarloc. This monster is a freaking All Star for its points cost, 65 Points gets you: M 7" (with 6 auto advance) WS 3+, BS 4+, S 7, T 6, W 9, A 4, Sv 4+. The ranged weapon options are decent with a high shot low damage Assault option vs a low shot higher damage RF option., but what really sells it is the 4 attacks you get at WS 3+ Str 7, AP -4, D 3. Oh also, when you charge something, on a 4-5 it takes D3 MW or 3 MW on a 6. All that for only 65 points is crazy Lots of bang for your buck. If they weren't so damned hard to find, I'd have 5 or 6 by now.

So yeah, that's all the Kroot and my thoughts on them. What do you all think, can they find their niche homes in Tau lists, or am I just plain crazy?