1) I was really afraid that I'd need my 2nd squad of Kroot to fend off his Land Raider & bike assault, so I infiltrated them in the center rather than bubblewrapping my Hammerhead from his Drop Pod. This was obviously a huge mistake...odds say I'm going to have to rely on making at least 1 4+ cover save for my Hammerhead to survive a round of shooting from 2 marines firing meltaguns, and that's not a gamble I should have taken.

With 20 Kroot (plus the pathfinders in the forest in front of the Hammerhead), I could have easily made a bubble that would have prevented him from getting within 6" for his melta double-penetration, and him taking down my Hammerhead changed EVERYTHING about the game. It gave him first blood, and he got the VP for the Hammerhead plus the Pathfinders right out of the gate. With my Hammerhead still alive I would have had at least a shot each turn to do something to his Land Raider and obviously I wouldn't have been down 3 VPs immediately. So that was clearly my biggest mistake.


2) Sending my Kroot to go shoot at his Drop Pod Marines was always going to be very unlikely to produce a VP, because if I whittled them down (as I did) he could just hide them (as he was starting to by the end of the game). Instead, I should have just ran my Kroot forward on turn 3 on to go get Linebreaker, which would have been pratically an automatic VP. Or perhaps doing that may have convinced his Rhino Marines to drive on to confront them (and then if my missile Pods take out the Rhino as they did, now my Kroot can shoot or charge his 5 Marines and maybe kill them). Who knows, but I do know chasing the Pod marines was a waste of time and I felt it at the time.


3) I can't discount how his amazing saving throws for his Bikers on turns 1-2 impacted the game. My Broadsides really, really needed to be firing at his Vindicator from the very first turn and they were instead having to fire at the bikers (and hallucination pinning them in turn 2 obviously hurt as well).

But my thinking coming out of this game is that I probably should trust in my overwatch a little bit more when I'm set up well in a firebase. Meaning, I should have gone ahead and fired my Broadsides at his Vindicator on turn 1 and just trusted that I could handle his bikers on with my turn 2 shooting plus any overwatch I might get should he charge. That is a lesson I have learned from this game for sure...you can definitely count more on overwatch with Tau than with any other army, and even if it isn't as effective as it is in your mind, the psychological effect of the Supporting Fire on your opponent may actually convince them not to even try to charge when statistically it is still probably the right idea in many cases.


4) Basically the same point as #3, I never should have run my firebase away from the Deathwing Knights. While it is unlikely that standing firm would have changed the outcome of the game (since it ended on turn 5 anyway), doing that would have given me the best chance to win the game had it continued, I think. I need to trust the +1 Pulse shot and overwatch and keep formations intact to make the enemy pay for charging.


5) As I mentioned in the Bat Rep itself, I should have split the commander off late in the game to split targets. I took retro-thrusers and it is probably worth taking Target Lock instead to give me this kind of flexibility without having to have him leave the unit (and thereby taking his Tank Hunter with him).


6) I know its not a 'tactic' per se, but the fact that night-fighting never happened was a big bummer as I have a lot of advantages with this army at night that I wanted to utilize.

• Commander: A+. This guy was every bit the force multiplier for the Crisis Suits that I thought he'd be. His ability to soak damage by sitting at the front of the unit and then passing off S8 wounds onto Drones is still amazing (it was in the old codex too)...I'm dreading the day I fail that crucial Look out Sir roll, though. I'd love to take the Crisis Bodyguard unit to avoid this issue (as long as they're alive the Commander auto-passes his Look Out Sir olls), but the extra 10 points per Crisis Suit just seems to steep for me since you're not really getting any other useful bonuses (who cares about +1 A and +1 Ld really).

Having Tank Hunters on a Crisis Team is just bonkers...I will never take another Tau army without that Puretide chip, for sure. And had my opponent taken flyers, the fact that I rolled up the 'Skyfire' ability for my Commander and his Crisis Team (plus the Tank Hunter) would have been very bad news for him!

The BS5 of the commander is awesome because it definitely means you don't have to waste one of his suit slots taking a twin-linked version of his gun...he just doesn't need it (and so can focus on taking cool gear that beefs up a crisis unit instead). Also BS5 marker drones and gun drones via his Drone Controller is super amazing. My gun drones were never in range the entire game, but I think a big part of that owes to the fact that my opponent had such a (generally uncommon) tank-heavy force. Against an army with more infantry (which is much more common these days) I still think a hail of BS5 Pulse Carbine shots would be tremendously deadly. What's also great about his BS5 is that there is no longer a BS cap on markerlight BS boosting. So if I'm spending markerlight counters to boost the regualr Crisis Suits up to BS5, for example, this also means my Commander and Drones are now BS7 and getting re-rolls (on a 5+ on the 2nd roll).

The only thing I'm still on the fence about is the Vectored-Retro-thrusters. I still think it can be a game changer to get your Crisis Team out of combat should the enemy get lucky and get there, but I don't know if its worth taking up a slot that would probably be better spent on a Target Lock, for example. Of course, the thrusters don't have to be taken by the Commander. As long as one model in the unit has them, then the unit has Hit-and-Run and uses the highest Initiative value in the unit (typically the Drones I4, or the I3 of the Commander after that)...so I could always have one of the regular schmoes take the thrusters instead. However, I'm really leaning towards taking up all 3 slots on my crisis suits with weapons (a twin-linked and a regular), so I'd have to give up that twin-linked weapon in order to do that (and I don't know if its worth it). So I'll probably play around with taking both the Target Lock or the Vector Thrusters on the Commander in different games and see how often one proves useful over the other.


• Ethereal: A++. Um yeah, this model, along with the Supporting Fire rule basically changes how the entire army behaves. The basic Ethereal is so cheap (50 points) and adds SO MUCH to your army it is incredible. I'm still torn between the base level Ethereal and the Space Pope, so I'll have to try games with both to see how they work. The basic Ethereal can join a unit which makes him nice and protected, but also leaves him vulnerable to being charged and wiped out with the rest of the unit in combat. The Space Pope's Paradox of Duality should protect him from most shooting, but against certain weapons (like Multi-lasers especially, he's going to be super-exposed and that will really effect how easily you can reposition him to make sure as many of your units are within 12" as possible.

That's the thing about the Ethereal...you do need to shift him around a bit each turn to maximize his range and having him protected in a unit really gives you the option to do that without worrying too much. However, on the plus side for the Space Pope he does give you TWO abilities each turn (which is amazing) and his Warlord Trait doesn't have to be rolled for and is incredibly useful as well.


• Kroot: A. I initially wrote the Kroot off when I read the codex, but I'm glad I didn't. They are the key to getting Supporting Fire to work properly because they're the only unit in the army big enough so that they can stretch across your entire gunline and make sure as many of your other units are within 6" of them.

The Ld 10 provided by the Ethereal finally stops them from being sniveling wimps when they get shot or assaulted, and if you make them Stubborn obviously they can be a tarpit for a couple turns (depending on how big your unit is). Also, the +1 shot ability for 1/2 range shots applying to Kroot as well as them benefiting from markerlights really does turn them from an annoyance into a potent offensive weapon. As soon as they're needing 3's or 2's to hit, the huge numbers of shots they kick out suddenly gets really, really dangerous.

I did NOT take sniper rounds for them, and this game did not convince me that this was a bad choice. Keeping their points cost low means more bodies, which means more shots, which means more benefits from each markerlight token spent on them. The sniper rounds also do not benefit form the +1 shot at 1/2 range ability the Ethereals give AND since they're heavy you have to remain still to use those rounds. Kroot rely too much on shifting around to plug the holes in their lines they get from enemy shooting to stand still to fire 24" sniper rounds. Were there some times where the sniper rounds would have helped? Sure, the bikes' T5, for example. But overall, I don't think its worth the points for the rare opportunity, not when it means getting less bodies in your army every single game.


• Firewarriors: B+. I'm giving them a B+ in this particular game because they really were limited on what they were able to accomplish, but I think that's mainly due to the enemy army composition. I still do think that Firewarriors with an Ethereal and a Kroot screen are a really potent combo.

As for taking 2 marker drones in each Firewarrior units...I'm not sure. I still think the 'rippling markerlight' concept can produce some really amazing results, but it is an additional 34 points per unit (10 for the Shas'ui and 12 for each drone), which is STEEP considering the cost for the unit without them (108). And you really don't need the Shas'ui's Ld8 at all since they're going to be sitting with the Ethereal, so those 10 points for that upgrade really are wasted. Sadly, I think the opportunity cost may just be too high, but I don't want to abandon the concept just yet and will try it out again at some point to see how it goes.

I also have to remember that my Firewarriors and Pathfinders have Photon Grenades automatically. That is going to be a big adjustment for me (along with remembering the abilities I'm going to take for my Ethereal and Commander at the start of each turn). And also trying to remember that defensive grenades now give Stealth if the enemy shooting is within 8" is going be REALLY hard to remember!


• Crisis Suits: B+. As always, these guys were superstars and nothing really has changed. The many bonuses the Commander brings to the unit really kick them up to another notch, but obviously that is only going to benefit one Crisis Suit team per army if you're taking an Ethereal with your other HQ choice, and that is a big issue for larger point games, I think. You definitely want to take the full 3-man team that is running around with the Commander to maximize his benefits though (which is another reason the bodyguard unit is something I wouldn't take, as it caps out at 2 models).

As to whether taking Gun Drones is a good idea or not...I don't know. They certainly didn't do anything this game, but as I said above that obviously has a lot to do with the army type I faced. One thing I am SURE of is, that you NEED to take the maximum amount of Drones in the Crisis Unit that is running with the Commander. Giving all those Drones BS5 is just too good to pass up. The only question is whether you go with marker Drones or Gun Drones.

Marker Drones with their 36" range really match way more the distance I like to keep away from the enemy with my Crisis Suits (24-36" range generally), because I'm running plasma rifles (24") and missile pods 36"). So while I really like the idea of the potential potency of having max gun drones I think I may go with all marker drones or at least 4 marker drones and 4 gun drones (when you include the 2 the commander takes).

Also, a big question still in my mind is how to equip Crisis Suits. In this battle I just took them with the standard Plasma/Missile Pod and basically had an extra slot sitting bare on all of them. On a squad running around with the commander I'm definitely leaning towards spending the extra 5 points per model to fill that extra slot with a twin-linked version of one of the guns they're using. I still haven't decided on whether to go with the TL Missile Pod or Plasma (I'm open to suggestions on why one would be better than the other). But the advantage I see about making one of their guns TL is that you wouldn't be so reliant on shooting the unit that has been marked by Pathfinders.

For example, let's say you have two enemy targets you really want to kill this turn, but one of your two Pathfinder teams has been killed or is out of position to see either of those units (not too rare an occurrence). But let's also say you have either 4 or 8 marker drones in your Crisis Team that is joined by your Commander. So your pathfinders mark on of your two priority enemy units. Normally you'd be compelled to shoot your Crisis team at that marked unit so as to maximize their shooting. But because you've twin-linked one of your Crisis Suit's weapons, you feel better about firing your Crisis Team at the OTHER priority enemy target (the one not marked)...and maybe with a target lock on your Commander you shoot at a different target all together if you want (cause he's BS5 anyway). So besides your Crisis Team's improved shooting (because one of their weapons is twin-linked) you also now hit that 2nd priority unit with 4-8 BS5 markerlights, and now you've marked your 2nd priority unit with a ton of markerlights for the rest of the Tau army.

I'm torn between TLing the Plasma and the Missile Pod because the Missile Pod gets more use (especially with Tank Hunter) so it feels like you'd get more use out of the TLing that way. But when you NEED the plasma shots you REALLY need them, so maybe that's the better choice...although working it out in my head right now I guess when you REALLY NEED those plasma shots is also when you markerlight the crap out of that enemy unit, so you don't really need the TLing of the plasma in that case. So I guess I decided right here that I'm going to go with a TL missile pod and a single Plasma rifle for my Crisis Suit load-out that runs around with my Commander.

The other question then is regarding the possibility of taking additional Crisis teams that aren't running around with the Commander. All of a sudden you don't have tank hunter and you don't have BS5 for any drones you take and you don't have a guy sitting in front of the unit soaking up all the shots...I really don't know how I'd run a 2nd Crisis Team except for maybe something with TL Fusion Blasters so I don't get painted into a corner by AV14 like I did in this game. Beyond that, maybe you don't even go with a 2nd Crisis Team and just take Riptides instead (more on that thought later)?

I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on load-outs for non-commander accompanied Crisis teams...


• Pathfinders: B-. I'm only rating these as low as this because I'm coming off of the high of playing with Tetras (which were SO much better than Pathfinders post FW update). The fact that they're no longer coupled with a Devilfish is a HUGE boon. However, being heavy weapons still means they basically have to stand still to be effective and even when you do you're only BS3 so half your shots are missing. But still, they're 11 points, which is one better than a marker drone which is BS2. I guess this goes to show how amazing getting BS5 markerlights via a Commander with Drone Controller really is.

Honestly if you're looking for pure point-effective markerlight hits, then you're probably best maxing out your Crisis Team with 8 Marker Drones (including the Commander's 2) and getting 8 BS5 marker drones that way. Or if you want to be nutty take a 12 man Gun Drone squadron, upgrade them to marker drones and put the Commander (with a target lock) in that squad...although then you're not getting tank hunters on your crisis team then (unless you pay to take a Shas'vre in your Crisis team).

So ultimately for my markerlight strategy I'll probably go with two 8 man Pathfinder units, and 8 marker drones with my crisis team (and get rid of the 4 I took in my firewarrior units). Overall I drop 68 points for the Firewarrior Shas'ui + 2 marker drones per unit, and only spend 44 points total for 2 more pathfinders per unit and I'll dramatically increase the number of markerlight hits I'll get each turn (although I decrease my chances of getting 'rippling' markerlights potentially during overwatch).


• Broadsides: C-. First off all, Velocity Trackers at 20 points just aren't worth it. You just can't burn that main points, especially if you're taking 2 squads of 2 Broadsides each just in case you might fight a flyer heavy army. Its just too many points and there are better ways in the Tau army to fight flyers (which I'll get to later). Missile Drones are pretty darn awesome, but they are basically entirely dependent upon getting some markerlight hits, and frankly typically the target that you're markerlighting isn't the one you want the Broadsides to shoot at.

Also, my opponent was very generous with his cover saves, but I think there will be a really big issue with getting your missile drones into cover if you're not sitting your broadside team in area terrain. For example, if you're taking an ADL to give cover to your firebase, then I think missile drones (or drones of any kind really) are going to be sitting right above it, out of cover, unless you're counting their base as being part of the model (which I don't think anyone could realistically argue). That means you're basically dependent on having area terrain to set your broadsides up in, or else your opponent can simply 'focus fire' and knock those missile drones out pretty quick.

And as I found out in this game, when you're playing to keep the Drones alive by putting the Broadsides in front, that just means you're going to lose your Broadsides quicker! I'm much more used to having Shield Drones that mimic my Broadsides 2+ armor save so that I can keep them in front to take firepower, and I'm still not sure how best to play with missile drones. In theory they seem to valuable and too vulnerable to put at the front of the unit, but then again your Broadsides are generally even more valuable should you lose them to a S8+ shot...so how best to proceed?

I definitely think I'll keep at least one unit of 2 Broadsides in my list and keep trying the 4 missile drones as well...but I'm going to keep a close eye on how well that unit in general performs, because I just don't know anymore. Between the S10 nerf to their gun and the potential vulnerability of the missile drones, this has become a very finicky unit that I think will only shine in certain situations.


• Hammerhead: D+. Okay, this ranking does have a lot to do with how quickly it died in this particular game and likely isn't really representative of how good it generally is. However, with that said, it still has all the problems it has in 5th edition, except now its cover save is only 4+ instead of 3+ (albeit there is no minimum 12" range on that save, which is great) AND it can't move 12" and still fire both its weapons at full effect anymore.

Sure, with the nerf to the Broadside's railgun, its S10 shot is more valuable than ever, but having a single BS4 S10 shot per turn for a 145 unit really isn't all that IMHO, especially when there are other alternatives to taking out heavy armor (like Fusion Blasters). If you're facing off against AV13 or 14 at range with a Tau army, I think you just suck it up and take it. If you have Sky Rays, you do have AV13 on front and you'll be getting a 4+ cover save, so it really is pretty acceptable. The thing you're really worried about are things like Land Raider Crusaders coming to ruin your day up close with assault units. And for that, you have Fusion Blasters, either on Piranhas or on small Crisis teams, etc. So when the enemy tries to come to you, you nuke them at that point.

For me, I think in all likelihood I will be leaving the Hammerhead at home as soon as I can get some Fusion Blasters into my army...but until then I guess the Hammerhead will get a few more chances to prove that my initial assessment is wrong.

HQ
• Although there are some other nice HQ choices in the book (Farsight & Cadre Fireblade are stand-outs to me so far), I'm quite happy with the basic Commander and either a basic Ethereal or Space Pope as my two HQ choices, so I'm not going to experiment with anything except those 3 for the time being.


TROOPS
• I'm totally happy with 2 units of Firewarriors and 2 units of Kroot...I don't know if the Kroot Hounds are really necessary anymore since you're likely not winning any rounds of combat with Kroot anymore...although I guess their I5 does help Kroot run away as well should you lose the combat, so its not the worst 5 points ever. Probably not worth taking more than 1 Kroot Hound per unit though, IMHO. This unit now is all about screening, shooting and overwatch now. I just wish the Krootox were like 15 points instead of 25!


ELITES
• I'd love to take some Stealths a cheap way to get Fusion Blasters into the army, but since you can only take 1 per full 3 models in the army and you can't twin-link them, I think you're better off going with like a lone suicide Deep Strike Crisis suit with twin-linked Fusion Blaster & Fusion Blaster or even a couple with TL Fusion Blasters and Missile Pods that sit back and wait for the enemy to come to them.


• The Riptide seems really interesting. I'm a bit dubious because there are things out there that can instan-gib this guy, like JotWW and any force weapon. But at least with his jetpack (and the possibility of doing the Nova Boost move) it does seem like you can generally get him out of dodge when need be.

The things I do see the Riptide bringing to the table are: with his ion blaster, you have three S7 AP2 shots. This guy seems like not a horrible place to take the 20 pt Velocity Tracker especially if GW goes crazy and says that a model with Skyfire and Drone controller benefits his Drone's shooting at flyers as well (although I don't forsee that really happening). He does also get you a Monstrous Creature with S6 and 3A, so if you did want to go up and punch a Land Raider (like in my game) you at least have that option (so another way to get around needing a S10 railgun anymore).

All-in-all, the Riptide with two Missile Drones does seem like a useful unit, although for 230+, I don't really know if he's worth it. But I'm definitely going to buy one just cause I like the model and I'll see how it does in my force and that will determine whether it is just a pretty paperweight or a permanent addition to my army.


FAST ATTACK
• For Pathfinders, all the new fancy drones are garbage IMHO. They're too expensive and not really worth their abilities when they may not get utilized in most games. I also still don't really like taking special weapons in Pathfinder units as it dilutes their purpose...although the S8 overcharged blasts that the Ion Rifle can kick out could be darn useful for instant-killing some things...and the standard S7 rapid fire shot on that gun has a variety of uses as well. The Rail Rifle, costs more and has less utility from my perspective. Since I only own 12 Pathfinder models and want at least 16, I'll be picking up a new box set of plastics, so maybe I'll try out 2 Ion Rifles (although if I end up wanting run that in both those units I'll have to convert or figure out a way to get my hands on more Ion Rifle bits).


• If I'm committed to taking 2 units of Pathfinders, that leaves me with only one more Fast Attack choice. Vespids do nothing for me, and both the flyers seem way to expensive IMHO considering they are AV11/10/10. So if anything I might consider taking a Piranha squadron again to have options against high AV vehicles.


HEAVY SUPPORT
• The Sniper Drone team looks awesomely deadly, but frankly it heaps more love onto the same type of firing the Tau already kick out tons of. So to me, that just leaves:


• The Sky Ray! This thing is a huge winner in my book. It is a tad cheaper than the Hammerhead, but most importantly it gets you anti-flyer capabilities into your army without paying some huge premium tax, and that firing is S8 (which is what you need against things like the Heldrake or Vendettas).

The other thing I love about the Sky Ray is that with most vehicles you're always afraid that you're losing a bunch of the points you pay for it if the vehicle blows up in the first few turns. With the Sky Ray, you generally control how much or how little to dish out at the beginning of the game, because you have 6 Seekers primed and ready to go. While flyers can only fire 2 missiles a turn, regular vehicles have no such restriction, so as long as the Sky Ray remains stationary (if you need it), then you can theoretically unleash all of its Seekers in one turn.

Even if you move it 6" and can only fire a single weapon at full BS, you still have the 2 networked markerlights to launch 2 more, plus any other markerlight hits the rest of your army have put on the target you want to take out.

Then, when you do run out of Seekers, you've still got a vehicle that can hide out of line of sight and fire 4 S5 smart missile shots per turn at BS5 that ignore cover. At 130 pts a pop (which includes disruption pods) I NEED to have two of these things minimum in my army...hell I might even go crazy and eventually have 3 of them and leave the Broadsides at home entirely, I think they are *that* point efficient and versatile.

• Commander w/ plasma rifle, missile pod, drone controller, target lock, puretide chip & 2 marker drones (167)
• Ethereal w/ blacksun filter (55)

• 12 Firewarriors (108)
• 12 Firewarriors (108)
• 20 Kroot w/ 1 Kroot Hound (125)
• 20 Kroot w/ 1 Kroot Hound (125)

• 3 Crisis Suits w/ plasma rifles, TL missile pods & 6 marker drones (243)
• 2 Crisis Suits w/ missile pods & TL fusion blasters (114)

• 8 Pathfinders (88)
• 8 Pathfinders (88)
• 1 Piranha w/ fusion blaster (50)

• 1 Broadside w/ seeker missile, 2 missile drones, bonding ritual (98)
• Sky Ray Gunship w/ TL smart missile system, blacksun filter & disruption pod (131)


I think that has much nicer balance to it. I've got 3 fusion blasters in there now, with the 2 man Crisis team able to do a suicide Deep Strike attack or if a good target doesn't exist they can just sit back and JSJ with their missile pod (might swap that out for plasma rifles...not sure yet.

The Sky Ray gives me better AA defense in general and also plays better with all the markerlights I have in the army (which is why the Broadside now has one as well).