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Im switching over from Chaos space marines to Tau and well it seems to me that there is only so much you can do with them
I had pretty extensive list of chaos space marines and could handle just about anything, however I dont really like playing close combats so i wanted to switch to a more shooty army
I love the tau models, and dont really care for the IG so the obvious choice was for me to go the tau route.

However from everything ive been told is that they are very limited in there play style basicly you infiltrate with pathfinder,
makerlight everything for your fire warriors and crisis suits, use them in a shoot and move fashion and have your hammer heads
and broadsides take out enemy heavies.

At least thats the jist of what i get out of it, I mean the whole army has to be a bit more versitile than that id think.
If anyone knows an unorthodox way of playing the tau id like to hear it,
I currently dont own the army myself, im working on sellin off my choas but once i start playing id like to go in with a little insight how to run them.

Well ... Tau make good allies ...
lets put it that way

A lot of people will say they are limited and to some extent they are regarding the unit choices. It isnt uncommon knowledge that Tau are getting a new lot of units, GW staff have been given lists of the new units so perhaps we will get more choice.

Regarding the use of Tau they are pretty adaptabile even with the same list, changing crisis suit loadouts, swapping between hammerheads, ionheads and broadsides. Markerlights are key and most people hate it when you start lighting things up. Now FW's can move and shoot it means Tau and alot more moveable that previously. The best Tau armies are the ones that are highly mobile. The two keys are to either start in the middle and split left and right to split the enemies army or just rotate around the game board. No shame in running thats the Tau way lol!

Good Luck,

ATO

jdjamesdean@mail.com wrote:
Well ... Tau make good allies ...
lets put it that way

well i was going to run a purist tau army, no kroot or vespids or allies... so what your saying is, im pretty much stuck with what ive got
another thing is half the people are following the rumours of a tau codex being realeased early next year the other have are saying its been three years not to hold
your breath for a new dex... i mean if its been this long and with the release of a new edition youd have to imagine there would have to be a new codex to make up
for all the changes, i mean the FAQ's are already 3 pages long, i dont think they would just keep adding to them.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

Alltheones wrote:
A lot of people will say they are limited and to some extent they are regarding the unit choices. It isnt uncommon knowledge that Tau are getting a new lot of units, GW staff have been given lists of the new units so perhaps we will get more choice.

Regarding the use of Tau they are pretty adaptabile even with the same list, changing crisis suit loadouts, swapping between hammerheads, ionheads and broadsides. Markerlights are key and most people hate it when you start lighting things up. Now FW's can move and shoot it means Tau and alot more moveable that previously. The best Tau armies are the ones that are highly mobile. The two keys are to either start in the middle and split left and right to split the enemies army or just rotate around the game board. No shame in running thats the Tau way lol!

Good Luck,

ATO

So liek a divide and conqure idea is the best way to run a tau army, yeah from talking to others and reading the codex i pretty much gathered that marker lights are the way to go,
I also noticed that the "sniper" drones dont have the sniper, pinning, rending, or precision specail rule. How are they sniper then, i hope that gets fixed if/when the new codex comes out, and honestly i didnt even thin about new units. that would be cool to see but as mentioned to the other guy i plan on running a mech/tau purist army for the most part so i hope the new models are some other alien race the tau have taken control of.

Pretty much. Tau have one good unit in each FOC slot (maybe two with the dpod change bringing Hammerheads up to a point where you could at least consider using them), and even the supposedly "versatile" crisis suits are limited to 1-2 setups that aren't complete garbage. And once you've built your cookie cutter Tau list you're playing it exactly the same way every game: shoot from behind terrain and/or Kroot meatshields until you either fail to JSJ away and get tabled or cripple your opponent's army and claim a token objective for the win. It's a good strategy and certainly capable of winning, but don't expect to win more than the most casual games if deviate from that strategy.

Of course things do get a bit better when you look at FW units since FW actually care about updating stuff more than once a decade, but asking to use them makes you vulnerable to accusations of being TFG while they table you with the latest Matt Ward abomination.

 Peregrine wrote:
Pretty much. Tau have one good unit in each FOC slot (maybe two with the dpod change bringing Hammerheads up to a point where you could at least consider using them), and even the supposedly "versatile" crisis suits are limited to 1-2 setups that aren't complete garbage. And once you've built your cookie cutter Tau list you're playing it exactly the same way every game: shoot from behind terrain and/or Kroot meatshields until you either fail to JSJ away and get tabled or cripple your opponent's army and claim a token objective for the win. It's a good strategy and certainly capable of winning, but don't expect to win more than the most casual games if deviate from that strategy.

Of course things do get a bit better when you look at FW units since FW actually care about updating stuff more than once a decade, but asking to use them makes you vulnerable to accusations of being TFG while they table you with the latest Matt Ward abomination.

lol i like your last coment about the ward thing, cause i know players like that, but yeah ive seen your post in a few other tau forums ive stalked and it was your comment that actually made notice the sniper drones arent actually snipers at all. Ive noticed alot of people run tau with eldar allies too in the army list forums, i guess the eldar would serve the same purpose as the kroot in this case?

I just dont see why with what seems to be quite a bit a custimization this army is stuck to playing 1-2 different ways, when you have armies like GK, SW, and even my chaos that can do literally a little bit of everything and do it pretty well all for 2000 points an army or less... i mean i like the tau, i like thier story and models so im going to stick with them, just wish it was a little less stuck in its ways,

I wonder if i took a fortress of redemtion or maybe a couple of bastions with my army and had some guys sit up there and markerlight things, along with my pathfinders i infiltrate and have my regular fire warriors run around and shoot things from far away if that would change anything? Do the fortesses help at with thing army or do you just really not want to sit still at all with anyone.

Could spam battlesuits?

 Guilldog wrote:
i guess the eldar would serve the same purpose as the kroot in this case?

Divination Farseer, mostly, with some minimum-size jetbike troops for the last-turn objective claim.

I just dont see why with what seems to be quite a bit a custimization this army is stuck to playing 1-2 different ways, when you have armies like GK, SW, and even my chaos that can do literally a little bit of everything and do it pretty well all for 2000 points an army or less... i mean i like the tau, i like thier story and models so im going to stick with them, just wish it was a little less stuck in its ways,

Because the Tau codex is ancient and in desperate need of updating. After years of power creep most of the theoretical options are too weak to be successful, and what used to be the overpowered units are now just adequate. This is the same problem that every old codex shares.

I wonder if i took a fortress of redemtion or maybe a couple of bastions with my army and had some guys sit up there and markerlight things, along with my pathfinders i infiltrate and have my regular fire warriors run around and shoot things from far away if that would change anything? Do the fortesses help at with thing army or do you just really not want to sit still at all with anyone.

Too expensive. Instead of spending hundreds of points on protecting your fragile markerlights just buy more shooting units so that even when your opponent kills the first units you still have more to shoot with.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 TheCaptain wrote:
Could spam battlesuits?

That's pretty much what you're stuck doing. Fill your Broadside quota, then choose twin-linked missile pod or missile pod and plasma rifle (or maybe plasma and fusion) and bring as many of them as you can.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Guilldog wrote:
i guess the eldar would serve the same purpose as the kroot in this case?

Divination Farseer, mostly, with some minimum-size jetbike troops for the last-turn objective claim.

I just dont see why with what seems to be quite a bit a custimization this army is stuck to playing 1-2 different ways, when you have armies like GK, SW, and even my chaos that can do literally a little bit of everything and do it pretty well all for 2000 points an army or less... i mean i like the tau, i like thier story and models so im going to stick with them, just wish it was a little less stuck in its ways,

Because the Tau codex is ancient and in desperate need of updating. After years of power creep most of the theoretical options are too weak to be successful, and what used to be the overpowered units are now just adequate. This is the same problem that every old codex shares.

I wonder if i took a fortress of redemtion or maybe a couple of bastions with my army and had some guys sit up there and markerlight things, along with my pathfinders i infiltrate and have my regular fire warriors run around and shoot things from far away if that would change anything? Do the fortesses help at with thing army or do you just really not want to sit still at all with anyone.

Too expensive. Instead of spending hundreds of points on protecting your fragile markerlights just buy more shooting units so that even when your opponent kills the first units you still have more to shoot with.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 TheCaptain wrote:
Could spam battlesuits?

That's pretty much what you're stuck doing. Fill your Broadside quota, then choose twin-linked missile pod or missile pod and plasma rifle (or maybe plasma and fusion) and bring as many of them as you can.

Oh well i still look forward to swapping out my armies, i like shooting the most anyway. I'll just have to find something that works good for me.

I see there are lots of mixed opinions on spamming crisis suits with Commander farsight too. is it just because he limits your other options or is it just really not that effective.
Also say i get all those extra suits count as one unit, or is it every three like a regular unit of crisis suits?

 Guilldog wrote:
I see there are lots of mixed opinions on spamming crisis suits with Commander farsight too.

There are mixed opinions in the sense that there are people who are right about Farsight, and people who stubbornly insist that even the most terrible units in the game have a "purpose" if you just look hard enough. In reality Farsight is only spared the "worst character in 40k" title because Aun'va exists.

is it just because he limits your other options or is it just really not that effective.

Because he makes Broadsides 0-1 in exchange for getting a power weapon. As a Tau player I think you should be able to figure out why this is a bad trade.

Also say i get all those extra suits count as one unit, or is it every three like a regular unit of crisis suits?

The special bodyguard unit is a single unit. However, unless you're playing an Apocalypse game, there's no practical way to use it. Like most death stars it has the fatal flaw of being all your eggs in one basket and will rarely, if ever, be more effective than just buying the same crisis suits as two separate units of three.

I do not find them limited, unless you always play at exactly the same point cost against exactly the same opponents.

My group of players do everything from 1000pt to 10k apoc, but yes its a old codex, yes it struggles against the internet meta list flavor of the week or what not, I just dont play with that sort of buddies.

I have fielded all sorts of TO&E done city fights with large numbers of FW squads, and even full battlesuit AB ops, again friendly games in a friendly atmosphere, not tourny tweaked lists, so meh, I have alot of fun with my Tau, and my buddies enjoy playing against them, some eave fear them

I think you will have fun with them battle .

 Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:
I do not find them limited, unless you always play at exactly the same point cost against exactly the same opponents.

My group of players do everything from 1000pt to 10k apoc, but yes its a old codex, yes it struggles against the internet meta list flavor of the week or what not, I just dont play with that sort of buddies.

I have fielded all sorts of TO&E done city fights with large numbers of FW squads, and even full battlesuit AB ops, again friendly games in a friendly atmosphere, not tourny tweaked lists, so meh, I have alot of fun with my Tau, and my buddies enjoy playing against them, some eave fear them

I think you will have fun with them battle .

Yeah i mostly play with just the same three of four guys all the time but between the 5 of us we have DA,DE, Eldar,Necrons,Orks,Chaos Space marine, Nids, Red Scorpions, Ultramarines, SW, and the infamous Grey knights, So yeah we get in alot of different games, I was the biggest chaos player so switching to tau in my group (im not telling anyone, im just gonna show up with a new army) when everyone is used to my thousand sons should throw them off enough for a game or two because they arent used to playing against them (well maybe a buddy named ray and another named justin they are serious vets when it comes to warhammer) and they will will be all preped up for my ksons hopefully itll give me a slight enough advantage to get a feel for the army without getting trashed.

yup get some apoc/mega games on something larger than a 4x6 surface, and you can have alot of fun with the longer ranged Tau weaponry, and the shoot and move nature of its vehicle mounted kit.

My best games with my group have been our 4 day training holidays, where we use a team room floor for a huge epic game..so much fun.

One pointer, orks and IG make for great allies for the Tau, and dont be reluctant to use Kroot, they can be useful and fun, but I tend to run them in their own sections.

Get a game going and do a bat rep, would love to see it.

 Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:
yup get some apoc/mega games on something larger than a 4x6 surface, and you can have alot of fun with the longer ranged Tau weaponry, and the shoot and move nature of its vehicle mounted kit.

My best games with my group have been our 4 day training holidays, where we use a team room floor for a huge epic game..so much fun.

One pointer, orks and IG make for great allies for the Tau, and dont be reluctant to use Kroot, they can be useful and fun, but I tend to run them in their own sections.

Get a game going and do a bat rep, would love to see it.

Yup once i get my army and field them i'll most def get a game in, get a play by play with some pics and i'll post them up and let you guys know how my first tau game goes..

 Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:
I have fielded all sorts of TO&E done city fights with large numbers of FW squads, and even full battlesuit AB ops, again friendly games in a friendly atmosphere, not tourny tweaked lists, so meh, I have alot of fun with my Tau, and my buddies enjoy playing against them, some eave fear them

That doesn't mean that Tau have good options, it just means that you and your friends have agreed to create an environment in which everyone plays with bad lists and allows bad options to "succeed".

 Peregrine wrote:

 Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:
I have fielded all sorts of TO&E done city fights with large numbers of FW squads, and even full battlesuit AB ops, again friendly games in a friendly atmosphere, not tourny tweaked lists, so meh, I have alot of fun with my Tau, and my buddies enjoy playing against them, some eave fear them

That doesn't mean that Tau have good options, it just means that you and your friends have agreed to create an environment in which everyone plays with bad lists and allows bad options to "succeed".

Nope, it means we dont always play the same game, same conditions, same terrain that lets this theory 40k list hammering good/bad option exist, some good options are bad in some conditions and vis/versa, I just dont perscribe to your notion of "only good options"

sorry to not play the way everyone else does.

I can see good options being bad in some (rare) conditions, but I don't think a bad option could really be good in any but the most context-specific conditions. Or it wouldn't be a bad option.

the only truly bad options I have found for my Tau is the Special characters, Not that I ever use special characters anyway, never enjoyed them, and Vespids..but that was more of a model choice.

But flamer armed crisis have served me well (in some games), and large FW squads as well ( in some games), I just dont perscribe to there is only one option build to rule them all, as I see touted alot online.

I actually enjoy even losing as long as its a fun game..I guess its not that serious of a deal for me, when I was younger I did have a much more want to win bent, but as I got older it became more of a casual, lets make a fun story game.

Not everyones style, but in the same sense as somebody saying that there is only one build \ list that is worth playing.

this is a building / Painting / playing hobby, so the nuts and bolts of the game is 1/3rd the fun for me

 Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:

 Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:
I have fielded all sorts of TO&E done city fights with large numbers of FW squads, and even full battlesuit AB ops, again friendly games in a friendly atmosphere, not tourny tweaked lists, so meh, I have alot of fun with my Tau, and my buddies enjoy playing against them, some eave fear them

That doesn't mean that Tau have good options, it just means that you and your friends have agreed to create an environment in which everyone plays with bad lists and allows bad options to "succeed".

Nope, it means we dont always play the same game, same conditions, same terrain that lets this theory 40k list hammering good/bad option exist, some good options are bad in some conditions and vis/versa, I just dont perscribe to your notion of "only good options"

sorry to not play the way everyone else does.

agreed, just like a real battlefield there is a full spectrum of things you have to take into consideration, some what works with one army in one game given a certain set of circumstances may absolutely fail in another, i most def think there are no good/bad armies just stratigies that work or dont given the particular battle scenario, if any army was just really BAD no one would play it and GW would stop selling it.

dude if you have any chaosraptors from 5th ed ill buy them off you

Crimson-King2120 wrote:
dude if you have any chaosraptors from 5th ed ill buy them off you

no sorry man, the raptors i have are conversions, i made them out of regular CSM bodies, used the heads with no horns, and wings from the possessed.
and on top of that another guy has called dibs on the ones i do have sorry bro

Tau Fire Warriors cost 12 points. Chaos Space Marines cost 13 points. A Broadside costs 70 points. A Chaos Obliterator costs 70 points. The Tau book is really bad, if only because it is so old. Everything you can do in the Tau codex, you can do in another book for less points. Want JSJ? Eldar and Dark Eldar bikers do it better. Railguns? S7/8 shooting spam is better. Want skimmers? Both kinds of Eldar, the Necrons, and every kind of Space Marine has faster and cheaper skimmers with more firepower. Does the Tau book even do anything else? No.

 DarkHound wrote:
Tau Fire Warriors cost 12 points. Chaos Space Marines cost 13 points. A Broadside costs 70 points. A Chaos Obliterator costs 70 points. The Tau book is really bad, if only because it is so old. Everything you can do in the Tau codex, you can do in another book for less points. Want JSJ? Eldar and Dark Eldar bikers do it better. Railguns? S7/8 shooting spam is better. Want skimmers? Both kinds of Eldar, the Necrons, and every kind of Space Marine has faster and cheaper skimmers with more firepower. Does the Tau book even do anything else? No.

Fire Warriors are two points less than what you said. Id say for what they cost they are a really good troop choice especially since they have the best basic weapon in the game. 4+ armor may not be Power Armor but its still effective against all the other basic weapons.

Oh, excuse me, the Pathfinder entry looks exactly the same at a glance.

1 Strength on the gun is statistically similar to 1 more BS. Given that, I'll trade 6" off my maximum range and pay 3 points for +1 S, T, Ld, Sv, +2 WS and Initiative, Frag and Krak grenades, and a Bolt Pistol.

As having only played tau for a couple months now I will say i believe they are pretty limited but that doesn't mean they aren't good. Yes they codex is old and they are in dire need of an update but I still seem to do ok, I am not destroying everybody but i have won some and lost some.

I will say that I do run two railheads and a squad of 3 broadsides,(sometimes i split them up into two squads) and If i can go first usually my opponent never gets to touch their vehicles, if i don't go first then they will just die when it is my go, they are also very good a finishing off squads with longer range in the back or squads trying to run away to get out of the fight with the hammer heads submunition shot or just using the normal shots and ID most infantry units.

Aside for being a meat shield once or twice my kroots have been useless but i think i have just been using them incorrectly, but my FW have done great just pumping loads of shots into enemy units making them roll oh so many dice to save themselves.

and the crisis suits with all their weapon options they are really the only versitile unit you have and they can be used plenty of different ways, they can be set to take out just about any type of unit.

i do not really use markerlights so i would not be able to give you an opinion on those but from talking with multiple tau players they can be a great help(except they don't normally run them either) if you can get the counters out but the units that do put them out will die fast so you only get one round with maybe one or two more in the second round of their benefits.

I've been doing a Purist Tau list since 6th( no allies, not even Kroot or Vespid. Ain't Tau, ain't in) and I've been loving it. The Tau are limited compared to say.....anyone with a 5th edition codex, but the 1/2 of the codex that can be used isn't horrid.

Some thoughts:

1. Tau have 3-4 major holes in their army, from a combat role standpoint: assault/counter-assault, anvil units, independently capable units, and flyer counters. Their 'assault' troops, Kroot, can throw a lot of attacks on the charge - and get mowed down in droves in return. There are exactly 2 units in the entire codex with a 2+ save: Broadsides, which are generally sitting in the backfield, and a single commander, who has to sacrifice his mobility to get it. And those aren't true anvil units, in that neither of them really want to invite a lot of attention. Third, just about every single unit in the codex needs help from somewhere else - either low BS, limited ability to impact things outside of their intended role, etc. Finally, there are exactly zero anti-flyer units in the codex - which means you need to rely on a Quadcannon, which pins you to a static position at least part of the time.

2. Aside from vehicles with Disruption Pods, Tau can be amazingly fragile. T3 4+ is pretty easy to hammer down, and with Ld7 on average, Tau don't tend to stick around once they start getting pounded. Most of your opponents won't really bother throwing AP4 shots at you, either - they'll just throw enough of whatever that you'll break and run. Even Crisis Suits, with their T4 3+ and 2W each, can be amazingly fragile. Lots of your opponents will gear up to be able to handle MEQ to begin with, and with only 4-6 3+ wounds in your Crisis unit, it doesn't take much shooting to knock one down - and force you to break and run. Ld8 max outside of HQs can really suck, especially when you lack ATSKNF.

3. Tau firepower can be easily overestimated. For example, everyone thinks that Railguns are the end-all, be-all of anti-armor. And to some extent it's true - until you run the numbers and see that it takes a Hammerhead on average of 9 shots to get that vaunted AP1 auto-explode. On average, a Hammerhead will need to fire 9 shots to kill a Land Raider out of cover. 30" Pulse Rifles are amazing - until you remember that they're BS3, and anything with a 5+ save generally brings more bodies than you can easily generate shots to take out. Tau have exactly 2 large blast templates, and flamers come only in the standard variety, no Heavy Flamers for us.

4. Expensive, points-wise. Guard Chimeras used to be as expensive as our Devilfish in 4th ed, but got dropped 30pts in cost with their update to 5th. 10pt FWs made sense back in 4th; not so much these days, when every 5th ed codex got offensive and defensive grenades, plus a sergeant, for either the same points cost as before or even a point reduction. There's a few units in the 'dex that are fairly priced, or even comparatively cheap; the vast majority are very points-inefficient for what they do. We pay through the nose for our special weapons on the Crisis Suits, and they're really the only place to get them. This means that at any particular point level, you're generally going to be fielding compartively less firepower and resilience than anyone with an updated 5th/6th ed codex.

5. The 'net isn't very kind to those who stray from the Tau Orthodoxy. If you're not taking lots of Railguns (generally 2x Hammerheads and 2-3x Broadsides), and using Fireknives for your Elites, you're wrong in the worst most heretical way possible. Be prepared to hear a lot of the same criticisms of your lists over and over again - especially if you take Kroot, or Sniper Drones, or Vespid, or...

On the other hand...

1. Tau have the amazing ability to mass firepower pretty much wherever they need it. Their basic troops have a 30" threat range; Broadsides and Hammerheads can hammer armor from 72-84" away. Our Crisis and Stealth Suits have amazing mobility, and our transports are probably the best in the game at the moment aside from their cost. You're damn near as mobile as a Dark Eldar army, and when meched up you're a helluva lot more resilient. It's a glorious moment when you roll up 2 DFish, dump out 24 FWs, get a bit of markerlight support, and thrown down 48 rapid-fire S5 shots on some poor bastard at BS 4/5. Then clean up with the Crisis that were waiting in the wings.

2. Oh, that mobility that I mentioned? Yeah. Our vehicles are probably the most survivable in the game at the moment - screw AV14, we're skimmers with DPods, baby. If you move, and your opponent is shooting at you from more than 12" away, you'll be getting a 3+ cover save on an AV12/13 hull. 2+ cover save if you flat out that turn, which I often end up doing with my DFish. That means that on average, a squad of Long Fangs shooting at a Hammerhead with Krak Missiles will strip less than 1/3 of a hull point per turn. Psyflemen do about as well. Granted, you still get munched on when someone assaults your vehicles, or gets inside of 12" - I lose mine to HayWyches or deep striking melta, more often than anything else. Or TH/SS Termies when I'm using them as blockers.

3. More on mobility - our main source of specialty dakka, the Crisis Suit, is incredible in this regard. First, it can Deep Strike, and gets rerolls for the scatter if there's a Pathfinder DFish with LOS, or you've got Tetras. You move 6" then another 2d6" in the assault phase, all day every day, which means you can get in position to take the shots you need, then move to avoid the retaliation. If you're playing a mech list, it's trivial to build a list where everything can move at least 12" per turn; in the hands of someone who matches well with that playstyle, that can be deadly in and of itself.

4. Want to play gunline? No problem. Take an Aegis, throw it down as a single line with a Quadcannon on the end. Take 72 FWs with Shas'uis, then 6 Broadsides with Blacksun Filters and a Shas'el Commander with something cheap. Will run you about 1400pts - but you'll basically be bringing 24 Heavy Bolters and 6 Railguns to the table. BSides pop the transports, and FWs massacre what's inside. Not hard to counter, sure, but it's definitely a solid base to start brainstorming from.

5. Specialty reigns with the Tau. Pretty much each unit in the codex has a specific role that it's optimal at - find that, and take that into consideration. In this case, I consider the different potential Crisis suit loadouts to be different codex entries, almost. TLMP/BSF suits play very differently and have a different role than TLFL/FB suits, for instance. Forgeworld changes things up a lot, too - XV9s have some amazing options, and the alternate turrets for the Hammerheads really change the dynamics of the Heavy Support slots. Tetras are a total gamechanger as well - relatively survivable, more mobile markerlights without the PF DFish tax.

Oh, last tip I'd give for building a Tau list - pick your Crisis Suits LAST. Fill up your Troops, Heavy, and possibly Fast choices first, see what they're missing capability-wise (anti-horde, anti-MEQ, anti-armor, etc) and load your Crisis Suits up to fill that gap. That's really what they're there for - to be the specialist unit that does what the rest of your army can't - and has the mobility to get to where it needs to be done.

Tau are limited compared to other codexes, but you can still do quite a few things with the army well.

I currently run a no battlesuit army with either FW's or Kroot, sometimes stealthsuits and pathfinders, but I always take my three broadsides and two hammerheads, plus shadownsun and an ethereal as HQ.

My tau can go horde melee, horde shooty, mechanized, mobility and static if need be. That's without battlesuits. I win 90% of my games as well, against the current meta. Seeker missiles away!

The problem with tau is they tend to not work unless everything supports everything else. If my markerlights go down in my FW list, I'm hurting. My solution was a dirt cheap etheral, nothing like a re-roll on that crappy tau leadership to keep my guys in place.

And trust me, as a 4 year long tau player, ethereals aren't bad when used correctly. I simply stick him in my broadside team to make them fearless, and boom. Also he's never died once.

 DarkHound wrote:
Tau Fire Warriors cost 12 points. Chaos Space Marines cost 13 points. A Broadside costs 70 points. A Chaos Obliterator costs 70 points. The Tau book is really bad, if only because it is so old. Everything you can do in the Tau codex, you can do in another book for less points. Want JSJ? Eldar and Dark Eldar bikers do it better. Railguns? S7/8 shooting spam is better. Want skimmers? Both kinds of Eldar, the Necrons, and every kind of Space Marine has faster and cheaper skimmers with more firepower. Does the Tau book even do anything else? No.

Oh well, hopefully they get an upgrade soon, if not then i guess i'll just have to play at a disadvantage wont I, I like the models/fluff/and idea behind the tau army for the most part so im ok with making the switch and taking a hit when it comes to the codex

One thing I would suggest is, do not just assume you can overshoot your opponent and just focus on getting more and move big guns.

I've killed gunline Tau with shooty Orks several times, and without getting into melee, simply because he did not bring enough anti infantry, and assumed the pulse rifles will do it.

That being said, and I hate to say it, if you care about power at all, you might consider going Imperial Guard instead, or possibly Dark Eldar, they seem better shooting. Even eldar can do some really respectable firepower. Tau do the best Anti Tank in the game, but they'll need the new codex to be competitive for anything else, especially now that mech lists seem to be dropping out of favor.