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Question for all you tau minds out their has anyone tried running a VT over a TL on a riptide as plenty of stuff your likely to be shooting at may have the fly keyword giving you the +1 to counter the -1 for moving and heavy. Also if you can pull of 4 markerlights you dont loose the benifit of those points. And if you can pull of the magic 5 that riptide is on 2+ rerolling 1's

 BaconCatBug wrote:
WYSIWYG isn't even a rule anymore.

It's a rule at pretty much any tournament you go to. That doesn't matter to everyone, but it's not irrelevant.

To be fair, it's not really looking like crisis suits are going to feature in many tournament lists. I've managed to scrape together four CIBs for a commander (one of them made of resin, but luckily identical) and might leave it at that.

I've considered 3D printing. My degree was in Architecture so I know my way around the software. I spent some time last night thinking about a design for a "gatling ion blaster" - essentially three CIB barrels that would rotate like a minigun, which the suit would hold in two hands. It's a cool image in my mind if nothing else. So far I've built the three gun barrels and the three spinning things you seem to get in CIBs - but arranged in a drum. The back of the gun still needs doing, and I need to figure out how a crisis suit would hold it. Let me know what you think.

I think that's going to be standard for me, actually. Anything my Riptide is shooting at is probably getting lit up, so the TL has a good chance of being useless.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2755179

Theres the link to the CIB I designed and printed if it helps!

That's cool. I'm trying to match the official one as closely as possible, as my commander already has four of the things.

For Crisis suits and commanders, magnets are your very best friends. They are cheap and very easy to install and let you swap loadouts very easily. For something with as many possible weapon combinations as a Commander, they are a godsend!

As for the CIB bits, I'm thinking of getting these:http://www.reddogminis.com/catalog/item/9021373/10338245.htm
The company makes all kinds of aftermarket Tau stuff, even a couple of big weapons that might be useful to turn a standard Riptide kit into a Y'vahra (although I don't see many tournaments being okay with it).

The point with the Crisis unit with 6 Gun Drones isn't so much the firepower alone, its the combination of firepower and durability. People have been noting that even where they work Crisis suits are glass cannons, drones are your answer to that. You can either take Shield Drones (which in the 3 suit example is actually 1 point more expensive) for even more durability but give up a good chunk of firepower, or Gun Drones and get enhanced durability and the good chunk of firepower too. Adding 2 Gun Drones to a triple CIB suit increases the combined cost by 25%, but increases suit durability by 55% and firepower by about 17%.

Is there any clear rule when Markerlights are removed? Couldn't find anything in the codex.
Common sense says end of my turn, but my opponent asked me if they stayed in his turn as well. (Remove cover during overwatch was the issue he was worried about)

Aeri wrote:
Is there any clear rule when Markerlights are removed? Couldn't find anything in the codex.
Common sense says end of my turn, but my opponent asked me if they stayed in his turn as well. (Remove cover during overwatch was the issue he was worried about)

Yes the rule clearly says it lasts until the end of the phase. It’s possible for markerlights to take effect in the charge phase, if you fire them on overwatch, but any that were applied in the shooting phase of the previous turn are long gone.

Aeri wrote:
Is there any clear rule when Markerlights are removed? Couldn't find anything in the codex.
Common sense says end of my turn, but my opponent asked me if they stayed in his turn as well. (Remove cover during overwatch was the issue he was worried about)

Each hit grants you a marker for the remainder of the phase, so they do not carry over into your opponents turn.

Edit: Nvm, already answered. You can reapply them during overwatch though, assuming you have Markerlights available and roll high enough.

So, which of these do you think will be better

1. Strength of Belief - on a commander with a twin cyclic ion blaster setup deepstriking into the mid/backfield with a small retinue.

2. Through unity, Devastation - on a fireblade buffing a dozen or so fire warriors and possibly some pathfinders if they happen to still be around

It doesn't matter which one is the warlord at this point for the relic as i used the emergency dispensation strategem to be able to give both one appropriate relic.

I'd put TUD on the CIB commander, to benefit him and his retinue.

There's a slight risk that he'll get himself killed of course. I'm planning to give mine vectored thrusters so he can get out of trouble. This also gives me the potential option of moving his TUD aura during the shooting phase - which is a bit cheeky!

TUD is probably the trait of choice for most armies, but I can see the value in Exemplar of the Mont'ka and Seeker of Perfection. Most armies are going to have a Fireblade chilling with a big FW blob, and making your massed S5 have some extra AP every now and then is pretty nice.

 GeckoDragon wrote:
So, which of these do you think will be better

2. Through unity, Devastation - on a fireblade buffing FOUR DOZEN or so fire warriors and possibly some pathfinders if they happen to still be around

Corrected that for you .

Sure, I might be biased because I already ran 30+ fire warriors with the index as well, but massive fire warrior blobs with Fireblades and Pulse Accelerator drones are simply amazing, and they get even better if you throw Darkstrider and/or a Sa'cea Ethereal in there too. In any case Through unity devastation is a great force multiplier and makes the already crazy firepower those blobs can throw around even deadlier. Arguably the best warlord trait we have if you got a number of models worth buffing.

Strength of belief is massively overrated IMO. It does absolutely nothing against anything that isn't a mortal wound; and if you aren't running a shield generator or Iridium armour then people will simply murder a Commander that they can target with HBs and anything stronger, anything with at least -1 AP and damage 2 will go through a Commander like butter.

The best defense for a commander is to simply not be a viable target. This is why T'au JSJ relic and Dal'yth stratagem are so powerful on CIB commanders.

Mass fire warriors is probably one of the best builds available. With a Sa'cea ethereal and bonding knife, morale is almost a non-issue. T3 sucks, but a 4+ save base is severely underrated, esp on such cheap troops, and with an ethereal you should always have that 6+++ which adds up with enough bodies.

TUD also works with the T'au stratagem... so... yeah. Onion of death is one of our best possible builds, I think.

Mandragola wrote:

 BaconCatBug wrote:
WYSIWYG isn't even a rule anymore.

It's a rule at pretty much any tournament you go to. That doesn't matter to everyone, but it's not irrelevant.

Fortunately the venue that I sometimes play tournaments at are pretty lenient with that. I play either there or at my FLGS, so if they were strict that would put me in quite a bind. At FLGSs non-GW components are generally frowned upon due to marketing reasons (which I find understandable really, as long as they're lenient with counts as in return), so then my only option would have been to play WYSIWYG with full GW components. Which is going to cost me a fortune if I wanted to put 9 CIB on a 3-suit Crisis box, because they only come with 1 or 2 or something? Meaning I'd need to get 5-9 kits, which would set me back €300-€540 (€60 per box).

Pandabeer wrote:

Mandragola wrote:

 BaconCatBug wrote:
WYSIWYG isn't even a rule anymore.

It's a rule at pretty much any tournament you go to. That doesn't matter to everyone, but it's not irrelevant.

Fortunately the venue that I sometimes play tournaments at are pretty lenient with that. I play either there or at my FLGS, so if they were strict that would put me in quite a bind. At FLGSs non-GW components are generally frowned upon due to marketing reasons (which I find understandable really, as long as they're lenient with counts as in return), so then my only option would have been to play WYSIWYG with full GW components. Which is going to cost me a fortune if I wanted to put 9 CIB on a 3-suit Crisis box, because they only come with 1 or 2 or something? Meaning I'd need to get 5-9 kits, which would set me back €300-€540 (€60 per box).

It's even worse than you think. CIBs come in the Commander kit only, and you only get 1.

https://www.shapeways.com/product/A3RN829DU/cyclic-ion-blaster-bits-pack-of-4-6-9-10-13?optionId=63483110&li=related-items

Serious question guys - how many firewarriors is too many firewarriors?

 Xenomancers wrote:
Serious question guys - how many firewarriors is too many firewarriors?

I use 40 with 30 kroot and I think I will go up to 60 Firewarriors. They are just phenomenal, but they strenght increases in numbers. They shoot more, ocupe more space, resist more, support more with For The Greater Good, etc... 20 firewarriors for 140 points is just a steal.

 Galas wrote:

 Xenomancers wrote:
Serious question guys - how many firewarriors is too many firewarriors?

I use 40 with 30 kroot and I think I will go up to 60 Firewarriors. They are just phenomenal, but they strenght increases in numbers. They shoot more, ocupe more space, resist more, support more with For The Greater Good, etc... 20 firewarriors for 140 points is just a steal.

You think 90 is overboard? 9 10 mans in a tripple batallion? I play tau sept so - basically nothing can ever charge me and with up to 270 str 5 just from your troops...I really think they are going to contribute every game plus be really hard to remove with that 4+ save. I use stealth teams for the purpose you use kroot.

I think straight Fire Warrior spam is probably viable. I wouldn't worry about having too many since they're one of our best units and have remarkable damage potential when buffs are involved, especially in Tau and Borkan septs.

Honestly the only issue is the time taken painting and playing with them. Otherwise I'd say go for 100.

Fire warrior and commanders as far as the eye can see.

Yeah, I don't think 90-100 is overboard at all except as a painting project.

Aeri wrote:
https://www.shapeways.com/product/A3RN829DU/cyclic-ion-blaster-bits-pack-of-4-6-9-10-13?optionId=63483110&li=related-items

Yeah I saw that one before. Can't use it in my situation as it's non-GW though.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Lemondish wrote:

Pandabeer wrote:

Mandragola wrote:

 BaconCatBug wrote:
WYSIWYG isn't even a rule anymore.

It's a rule at pretty much any tournament you go to. That doesn't matter to everyone, but it's not irrelevant.

Fortunately the venue that I sometimes play tournaments at are pretty lenient with that. I play either there or at my FLGS, so if they were strict that would put me in quite a bind. At FLGSs non-GW components are generally frowned upon due to marketing reasons (which I find understandable really, as long as they're lenient with counts as in return), so then my only option would have been to play WYSIWYG with full GW components. Which is going to cost me a fortune if I wanted to put 9 CIB on a 3-suit Crisis box, because they only come with 1 or 2 or something? Meaning I'd need to get 5-9 kits, which would set me back €300-€540 (€60 per box).

It's even worse than you think. CIBs come in the Commander kit only, and you only get 1.

Actually, 1 per Commander kit is better than 1 per Crisis kit because the Commander is €20 cheaper

Pandabeer wrote:

Aeri wrote:
https://www.shapeways.com/product/A3RN829DU/cyclic-ion-blaster-bits-pack-of-4-6-9-10-13?optionId=63483110&li=related-items

Yeah I saw that one before. Can't use it in my situation as it's non-GW though.

Just convert, from pretty much any other GW model. I've never seen legitimate conversions ruled illegal.

If I want to make squads of 5 with a markerlight in each, how do you guys model the marker light on the fire warrior since each box only contains 1 marker light piece?

Ragnar Blackmane wrote:
Corrected that for you .

All in due time, this is just the small list i'm painting up towards, so 15 fire warriors with supporting elements is probably enough for right now.

Ragnar Blackmane wrote:
Strength of belief is massively overrated IMO. It does absolutely nothing against anything that isn't a mortal wound; and if you aren't running a shield generator or Iridium armour then people will simply murder a Commander that they can target with HBs and anything stronger, anything with at least -1 AP and damage 2 will go through a Commander like butter.

The hope was more that it would do something against any errant ones that the commander would roll whilst firing the cyclic ion blasters rather than as protection from enemy fire.

Traceoftoxin wrote:
TUD also works with the T'au stratagem... so... yeah. Onion of death is one of our best possible builds, I think.

I had completely neglected to notice that there was a nice little synergy going there. Activating the ability on fives upwards makes that pretty darn good.

notredameguy10 wrote:
If I want to make squads of 5 with a markerlight in each, how do you guys model the marker light on the fire warrior since each box only contains 1 marker light piece?

If you have any spares from a Pathfinders kit, which you will if you built any of the models with Ion/Rail Rifles, you can use those. Otherwise, isn't there something like a pair of binoculars in the kit?