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Hi guys,

Been away a few months and this "Buffmander" keeps getting throw around. I believe I understand what his loadout is but not entirely sure how best to utilise him.

In your opinions what is the best unit to stick him in to fully benefit from his buffing ability?

Thanks in advance,

ATO

He's pretty powerful joining just about any unit, but I think he's probably best joining a unit of Broadsides or the multiple Riptide unit of death (assuming Farsight allies).
With just the basic equipment, he's pushing 150+ points. Crisis suits or a single Riptide lack the damage output to make that kind of investment "worthwhile".

Keep in mind that as an independent character, he's best at buffing whatever unit you need at the moment - hopping from unit to unit.

He is also quite good at Joining say

1.) A squad of Centurion Devastators
2.) A seer Council.
3.) Riptide, Ovesa and Farsight...

Seeing as he give you like every USR in the book (exaggeration) he is basically good being linked up with anyone.

Thanks for the feedback. I am one of those who doesn't like joining up with another non tau ally, I know this approach may not be as competitive but I have never liked the idea.

That aside I think the best option is to start off with him in my 3 broadside unit. My main concern, not so much for the broadsides but for the rest of the army, is the lack of marker support. I have been using the Mark'o but I think including two HQs at 1500pts is going to take away well needed points elsewhere.

Those who run the Buffmander where do you source your markerlights from?

Thanks,

ATO

The thing is with him attached to the right unit you need a lot less Markerlights. If you go the O'Vesa + Riptide route, only your Broadsides need Markerlight support as your Skyrays provide their own. So just take a few units of Pathfinders to support your Broadsides.

On a different note, over here we've taken to calling him Commander Helpful rather than the Buffmander.

Commander Helpful! lol makes him sound like a fairy haha. I was thinking more Buff Master but each to their own.

Well I think I will include him with my Broadsides. I have a few FW tetras kicking about as I am not a massive fan of pathfinders. Hopefully that and the skyray markers I will have enough coverage!

I am guessing that the most important loadout for the Buff Master is CCN, M3S, PEN and perhaps IA?

ATO

Having him join a riptide is over the top.

In the last game I played, my opponent was giving his riptide twin-linked and ignores cover. This makes the STR 8 blast extremely powerful, for example.

He then moved his buffmander over to a squad of fire warriors and gave them tank hunter, which he then used to pepper my stormtalon and kill it. Tank hunter increases the chance of a glance from 16% to 30%. Oh, and I could not jink either as they all had 'ignore cover' due to the buff commander.

While you can match many of these elements though psychic powers, its not a guaranteed thing. The buffmander always gets what he needs -- making it an awesome choice.

Aw that is nice, I like the idea of him moving between units, that is probably the best way of using him.

Just to clarify he gives tank hunter to the whole unit?

I ask because my friend often brings Landraiders. If I understand Tank Hunter correctly it basically adds +1 to the strength of the weapon. So for example HYMP from a 7 to an 8 meaning both broadsides and missledrones could glance the LR to death?

Might be nice to start him off with the Riptide and then bound him over to the broadsides when his flyers start coming in to remove jink saves, this sound viable?

During the assault phase as he is an independent character can he jump move out of his current unit the same turn he joined them?

ATO

 Godless-Mimicry wrote:
The thing is with him attached to the right unit you need a lot less Markerlights. If you go the O'Vesa + Riptide route, only your Broadsides need Markerlight support as your Skyrays provide their own. So just take a few units of Pathfinders to support your Broadsides.

On a different note, over here we've taken to calling him Commander Helpful rather than the Buffmander.

Mine is called Commander Bob.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Alltheones wrote:
Aw that is nice, I like the idea of him moving between units, that is probably the best way of using him.

Just to clarify he gives tank hunter to the whole unit?

Yes, because you only need one model in the unit with Tank Hunter for the whole unit to benefit. So although The commander is the only model with the rule, the whole unit benefits. Its the same with Monster Hunter as well. I believe that furious charge is model only though.

I ask because my friend often brings Landraiders. If I understand Tank Hunter correctly it basically adds +1 to the strength of the weapon. So for example HYMP from a 7 to an 8 meaning both broadsides and missledrones could glance the LR to death?

No, not anymore. Now you get to re-roll your armour penetration rolls.

Might be nice to start him off with the Riptide and then bound him over to the broadsides when his flyers start coming in to remove jink saves, this sound viable?

Am I right in thinking that the S9 ordance shot means you roll 2d6 for armour pen and if you still fail you can re-roll both dice with Tank Hunter?

During the assault phase as he is an independent character can he jump move out of his current unit the same turn he joined them?

I believe so. I think in order to join a unit you need to be 1" away from them. I might be wrong though.

Aw good to know about the Broadside.

I have no idea about the S9 ordance ruling, if so that would be very nice indeed. I could start with Buff Master with my Riptide, re rolls on scatter, 2d6 on penetration and re roll armour pen roll!

That seems a nice way to pop a LR on turn 1 no?

ATO

 Alltheones wrote:
Aw good to know about the Broadside.

I have no idea about the S9 ordance ruling, if so that would be very nice indeed. I could start with Buff Master with my Riptide, re rolls on scatter, 2d6 on penetration and re roll armour pen roll!

That seems a nice way to pop a LR on turn 1 no?

ATO

It would help. My Riptide is usually my second option for taking out AV 14 though. I take a Hammerhead with Longstrike for the primary role (BS5, Tank Hunter anyway & a S10 Rail Gun at AP1).

Yer I think I am going to have to drop one of my Sky Rays and put in a longstrike HH in instead! I just hope it hits! Then its only 3s to glance and 4s to pen with tank hunter right?

ATO

Just so you know buffmander does not give twin-linked, he allowed you to re-roll to hits. Whether or not that can be used on scatter is debatable.

Aw ok. Re roll hits to me means re roll scatter dice but perhaps not the 2d6, has it been FAQ?

ATO

 Alltheones wrote:
During the assault phase as he is an independent character can he jump move out of his current unit the same turn he joined them?

Unfortunately, no. An independent character can only join or leave a unit during the movement phase.

 NL_Cirrus wrote:
Just so you know buffmander does not give twin-linked, he allowed you to re-roll to hits. Whether or not that can be used on scatter is debatable.

Actually, the wording on blasts only says "the ability to re-roll its rolls to hit". It definitely works.


My personal favorite was joining him to a unit of 20 Kroot Snipers. Took down an untouched Wraithknight in a single volley, with no markerlight support. That's rolling average

No it has not.

It can be used on blasts because its failed hits. If the blast doesnt hit anything you missed ... so try again. Kinda personal here but if it scatters and still hits SOMETHING even the wrong unit then technically a "reroll failed hits" wouldnt apply imo.

Best way ive found to use the buffmander is have him attached to an HBC Riptide and be nearby to either Broadsides or an Ion Accelerator Riptide. Reason for this: HBC is deadly as hell when it nova charges and has ignores cover, reroll failed hits, and tank/monster hunter but it NEEDS the nova. Nova charges happen at the start of the movement phase, if he passes then leave the buffmander there - if he fails, jump to the other unit as the HBC without nova is kinda dumb.

I keep the IA Riptide ~10" away from the HBC one for this reason. If he fails the nova i jump towards the HBC riptide and then the commander jumps to join the IA Riptide, since that gun doesnt need the nova charge.

I've taken to calling mine my Swiss Commander. He'd kind of neutral and doesn't like to shoot anything and seems to have a solution for everything.


I truth, I run mine with the Kitchen Sink, Cyclic Ion Blaster, Drone Controller(Likely getting Dropped for Vectored Retro Thrusters), Stim Injector, Shield Generator, PEN, MSS, C&CN, Onager Guantlet, and Neuroweb Systems Jammer. He plays the game of what Riptide do I join this turn. I have found that he is more difficult to kill at Range than even Stim Riptides. I had a tournament game this weekend where an entire Venom/Ravager Spam DE army unloaded everything they could into him and he tanked it all, then joined an IA Riptide for a Nova Charged blast that caught two Ravagers. Then when the beast pack caught them, he decided to be stubborn and declined challenges tieing them up with the unhurt Riptide. Stubborn or Monster Hunter even keeps a Riptide in combat with FMCs for a bit, this is where Retro Thrusters would be hugely helpful.

I have his as part of my Tau Contingent allied to my Farsight Enclave. He usually starts the game tanking for any Crisis Suits I have or my Broadside, them jumps to whichever Riptides is more suited to the problem at hand. FMC? Join the Velocity Tracker Earth Caste HBC Riptide with Monster Hunter, need to kill that 2+ Cover save unit behind the Aegis, join the IonTide for twinlinked and ignore cover. Huge mob bearing down and markerlights are gone, join the Dual Burst Cannon Gun Drone Crisis Squad.

Plus, I've modeled his a pretty sweet Onager Guantled and Shield Generator.

Edit: And yes, rerolling to hit does indeed let you reroll the gets hot dice and the scatter and distance dice. Its very clear if you read the relevant rules.

Sounds all good! I am at present only lucky enough to be in the possession of one Riptide so I will be jumping from Broadsides to Riptide. I think he will serve a perfect tank for my broadsides behind my aegis. If all else fails he can jump to the Riptide.

BTW I love the sound of the dual burst cannon gun drone crisis squad! How many points do you sink into that unit? lol

ATO

 Alltheones wrote:
Commander Helpful! lol makes him sound like a fairy haha. I was thinking more Buff Master but each to their own.

Well I think I will include him with my Broadsides. I have a few FW tetras kicking about as I am not a massive fan of pathfinders. Hopefully that and the skyray markers I will have enough coverage!

I am guessing that the most important loadout for the Buff Master is CCN, M3S, PEN and perhaps IA?

ATO

You are in a good position sir.

Tetras>>Pathfinders.

I've been confused for a long time now as to why you hardly see any in super competitive Tau lists.

 Alltheones wrote:
Sounds all good! I am at present only lucky enough to be in the possession of one Riptide so I will be jumping from Broadsides to Riptide. I think he will serve a perfect tank for my broadsides behind my aegis. If all else fails he can jump to the Riptide.

BTW I love the sound of the dual burst cannon gun drone crisis squad! How many points do you sink into that unit? lol

ATO

Farsight Enclave, 201pts.

Puts out 24 BS3 S5AP5 at 18" and 12 BS2 TL S5AP5 Pinning Shots. If it gets 2 Markerlights it averages 27 Wounds vs T3, 21 vs T4, 16 vs T5, and 11 vsT6. I've even played around with the more extreme version, a Dual Burst Cannon Commander with two more Gun Drones and a Drone Controller. But, 8 BS5 S5, 16 TLBS5 S5, and 24 BS3 S5 before Markerlights is usually overkill, glorious overkill. 34Hits Base, and an additional 4 hits per markerlight. Maxes out at 42 S5 Hits with two Markerlights spent.

Using the stock Burst Squad in a tournament Saturday, i got a couple reactions from a table away when I said "That's 27 wounds on your Daemonettes..."

astro_nomicon wrote:

 Alltheones wrote:
Commander Helpful! lol makes him sound like a fairy haha. I was thinking more Buff Master but each to their own.

Well I think I will include him with my Broadsides. I have a few FW tetras kicking about as I am not a massive fan of pathfinders. Hopefully that and the skyray markers I will have enough coverage!

I am guessing that the most important loadout for the Buff Master is CCN, M3S, PEN and perhaps IA?

ATO

You are in a good position sir.

Tetras>>Pathfinders.

I've been confused for a long time now as to why you hardly see any in super competitive Tau lists.

They were, not anymore though, i'd say since the loss of free D-pods and the loss of targetting arrays pathfinders and tetras are pretty level pegging, with perhaps a slight advantage held by pathfinders, as they output a larger amount of markerlights for a cost, where as tetras are only a fraction more survivable (debatable) and really only have the advantage in manoeuvrability, while costing more pts/markerlight

 Zagman wrote:

 Alltheones wrote:
Sounds all good! I am at present only lucky enough to be in the possession of one Riptide so I will be jumping from Broadsides to Riptide. I think he will serve a perfect tank for my broadsides behind my aegis. If all else fails he can jump to the Riptide.

BTW I love the sound of the dual burst cannon gun drone crisis squad! How many points do you sink into that unit? lol

ATO

Farsight Enclave, 201pts.

Puts out 24 BS3 S5AP5 at 18" and 12 BS2 TL S5AP5 Pinning Shots. If it gets 2 Markerlights it averages 27 Wounds vs T3, 21 vs T4, 16 vs T5, and 11 vsT6. I've even played around with the more extreme version, a Dual Burst Cannon Commander with two more Gun Drones and a Drone Controller. But, 8 BS5 S5, 16 TLBS5 S5, and 24 BS3 S5 before Markerlights is usually overkill, glorious overkill. 34Hits Base, and an additional 4 hits per markerlight. Maxes out at 42 S5 Hits with two Markerlights spent.

Using the stock Burst Squad in a tournament Saturday, i got a couple reactions from a table away when I said "That's 27 wounds on your Daemonettes..."

What is this...overkill you speak of? Never heard of it

Fair play regarding the tetra, I also read they went from Heavy 4 to Heavy 2 TL which I DO NOT LIKE!

As for the burst cannon squad let me know how they perform, might have to introduce some into my list for some minigun fun!

ATO

 Alltheones wrote:
Fair play regarding the tetra, I also read they went from Heavy 4 to Heavy 2 TL which I DO NOT LIKE!

As for the burst cannon squad let me know how they perform, might have to introduce some into my list for some minigun fun!

ATO

Ooo rly? My friend might be playing them wrong (I hope heheh)

If they stand at Heavy 4 however I still contend that they are much better than Pathfinders. Their small profile and mobility makes them easy to hide, while making it impossible for the enemy to hide.

Well I may be wrong but Im pretty sure I saw on a little google search they had been dropped from H4 to H2 but they are now twin linked. They don't have target array anymore so hit on 3s I think.

ATO

Indeed you are right, hvy2 TL and with an itty bitty TL pulse rifle as well! Lol

Other than that they're your standard tau land speeder with torches!