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I watch quite a few YouTube battle reports and I realised this morning that I have never seen Kroot used in any battle report ever; not even once! I'm not a Tau player so I don't actually know anything about them. Are they really so terrible that their not even worth taking in easy going, narrative games?

They don't really fit the aesthetic. None of the local tau players seem to like them. Whether it's rules or models, they'd pretty much always rather have something else on the table.

There is however, one person with a kroot kill team. But not a tau kill team.

There is like two kinds of Tau player, one that loves all mech suit anime which hates using any kroot.

Then there is the sadder tau player that wants more alien representation and never gets it and loves kroot, however doesn't love how we never see any of the other alien " allies " the tau are supposed to have.

Most love the Tau look, and so you see 0 kroots. Though there was a small time the kroot could take sniper rounds for a minimal points upgrade, I saw some then.

Personally, I'd alien up my Tau, if I had the option.

I used kroot all the time in previous editions, mainly 5th ed. The rules for kroot haven't aged well. You are better off with firewarriors generally.

I think the kroot model from Blackstone fortress is good for only 20pts. Other than that you are better off with Tau units really.

 Ginjitzu wrote:
I watch quite a few YouTube battle reports and I realised this morning that I have never seen Kroot used in any battle report ever; not even once! I'm not a Tau player so I don't actually know anything about them. Are they really so terrible that their not even worth taking in easy going, narrative games?

I would say the kroots level of play is the same as the vespids: Zero.
Afaik they are very inefficient on the board and you'd always take fire warriors instead.

Id say it's a mix of rules and models.

The models are old as hell and impossible to find in stores which makes picking them up or converting them or doing anything interesting with the models a nightmare or expensive.

Then rules are not the most efficient. If the rules were good the cost/time to get models would be worth the investment. But they are not, so it's not. Release newer better models with even slightly competitive rules and you would see them far more often.

Kroot have gotten worse every edition after 5th. Almost all their special rules are gone. Move through forests no problem? Gone. Shoot through 12" of woods? Gone. Sniper Rifles? Gone. Multiple attacks? Gone. Base STR4? Gone. 4+ Cover save in Woods? Gone. All they have now is a scout move and a relatively pathetic melee profile. They don't benefit from Sept Tactics and have little in the way of stratagems.

but they have kroot friends, like the Ox, and hounds !

Hounds for very cheap detachment filling and running around, minimal unit of Vespids for same and board control. That's all I've seen.

The only Kroot in my collection came in the army deal waaay back when the Tau were initially released. 1 squad of warriors, 1 pack of hounds, & 1 ox if memory serves. Over the years I've used them maybe a dozen times. Mostly because I own them.

* I haven't yet dug my Tau out of storage here in 8th. But if I do I will run my Kroot at least once.

Tau is my main army, but I do not use Kroot for basically all of the aforementioned reasons. I do own Kroot models that I bought during 5th edition, but they just are not worth it in 8th edition.

Fire Warriors are too good to not use them in favor of Kroot, and they break up the aesthetic of my army. If they filled a better role as an efficient melee unit to strengthen that weakness for Tau then I could see using them, but with the rules they have now Fire Warriors are just so much better I would really be handicapping myself by taking them.

They could also be cool in a narrative game if there were other good models of different Tau auxiliaries to bring a huge Tau EMPIRE style force, but Vespid models are pretty terrible in my opinion and there are literally no other options.

Yeah, from what I understand, the lack of Sept for Kroot and Vespid (or really and rules or stratagems that benefit them) tend to make them less desirable than other Tau units.

I've got a friend who refuses to buy fire warriors and just runs with kroot.

We did a Tau v Tau game where he brought his kroot and I brough my fire warriors, in addition to the normal battlesuit choices. His riptides melted everything I had very quickly. But he was visibly put out when I melted 20 kroot with a breacher team plus a devilfish turn 2.

I have a friend whose daughter has Kroot in her tau army. She favour battle suits and the like as she likes Iron Man, uses the Kroot as fodder gunline to protect the suits from mellee threats.

It's disappointing to see so much focus on the battlesuit side of tau. As much as I loathe the tau, they have potential to be a dark federation.
Were I to collect a tau army, it would be with that in mind; have vespids and Kroot and throw in some guvesa and an ethereal influencing them all. Paint up firewarriors to have red shirts :p

With a firewarrior being 7. No one will ever take a kroot.

 Giantwalkingchair wrote:
I have a friend whose daughter has Kroot in her tau army. She favour battle suits and the like as she likes Iron Man, uses the Kroot as fodder gunline to protect the suits from mellee threats.

It's disappointing to see so much focus on the battlesuit side of tau. As much as I loathe the tau, they have potential to be a dark federation.
Were I to collect a tau army, it would be with that in mind; have vespids and Kroot and throw in some guvesa and an ethereal influencing them all. Paint up firewarriors to have red shirts :p

If the rules/models ever promote this form of tau. I will eat it up. It's what got me into them in the first place. I liked the battlesuits. But I mostly liked the alien alliance stuff.

The only tau i have are kroot! Not that i actually play 40k as it's written that much any more...

But i do really like kroot and yeah i have used them, mainly for kill team though

I use Kroot, but as other s have said, they're mostly there to fill a troop space and act as cannon fodder. I've faced Death guard a few times and they fulfill the same role as my opponent's pox walkers. They usually die turn 2 and that's it. I'm one of those sad individuals in group 2 that would love to see more xenos allies for the Tau. I've always loved the cutthroat aesthetics of the Kroot.

I did convert some Kroot for count-as cultists in killteam.

Love that early 20th century style gun with the big belt feed of ammunition. It goes with the wood stock of the kroot rifle so well.

Kroot are poor at what they are supposed to do (melee), and I dislike running them.

However, I find Vespids quite fun to use, but difficult to get the models.

The Kroot troops are very good for deploying out and screening back even further from your gunline. Even a single extra turn can be game changing.

The #1 Tau ITC player last year was running 3 units of Root Hounds, for cheap speedy onjective grabbing and speed bumps.

Some Kroot are alright. I think the majority are kinda limited though

Kroot where on my radar when FW did a few things for them and a Kroot mercenaries supplemental was released some where near mid-late 4th I want to say. But the whole Kroot craze came-and-gone fairly quietly. I think it just never caught on and they eventually wrapped it up and let them slide into obscurity by the start of 5th. I honestly think Kroot was more popular by themselves then with Tau but some people in 4th used them fairly standard. The 1d4chan on them seems pretty legit but I haven't read Kroot rules in forever so take 1d4 with some salt tell you find the real deal but it seems right for the most part.

https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/Chapter_Approved/Kroot_Mercenaries

Use them all the time. Have over 100 Kroot, hounds and even some Knarloc riders and a great Knarloc from Forgeworld. Great models, fun fluff and cool to use on the table-top.

I have a lot of kroot and don't care if they are awful they feel good. I love the gnarlac riders and greater gnarlac. I really wish they did more with the alien allies. I was burned way back before the rip tide dropped we had lots of rumors of alien extras and my sadness was real when it was false.

I've only got 32 Carnivore, but I have a two squads of Knarloc Riders/Krootox (my list is all kitbashing and reptilian, rather that avian themed), I'm in the process of saving for a box or two of Skinks to use as Hounds (going for max squads), 3 Shapers, one Master Shaper (Counts As Etherial), 4 Great Baggage Knarlocs, 2 Mounted Great Knarlocs, and 3 naked Great Knarlocs.

It's basically my list from the old Kroot Merc days. It's limited to PL only games due to the FW stuff explicitly not having points.

Basically what i'm saying is, Gimmie them Aliens GW !!

Wait Kroot Still exist?

Jokes aside i always liked them and their models. If Tau just weren't so 1 dimensional SUIT EVERYTHING.

Please remember the rules (especially being polite and staying on topic) and abide by them.

AngryAngel80 wrote:
Basically what i'm saying is, Gimmie them Aliens GW !!

GW has clearly been storing all of the Tau auxiliary models in Area 51.
But yeah, this suit fixation is absurd. Its turning Tau into a single note caricature.

Honestly of all the Xenos factions I'd be happier seeing Tau split into two subfactions much like Eldar and Tyranids have. Give one half all the mech suits that are clearly very popular - Tau Pure - and then give the other the Xenos allies and let the design team go wild with alien designs and have Kroot as the core then Vespid etc... all bolted on top. That would make the most sense and give people the best of both worlds.

It would also be a pretty good way to split the force and create a new army without bloating the range of models. Right now Tau does a really good gunline and the suits and mech approach works without any addition, so its hard to see where to fit Kroot and other xenos into the force because there really aren't any suitable gaps. At least not without making Tau extremely good in close combat and ranged at the same time.

Heck I'd prefer that over this Ynaari stuff GW has been messing with which feels so terribly half-baked as a concept (its what two or three new models and then mashing Dark Eldar and Craftworld together which only highlights how finecast heavy and out of date plastic the Craftworld force is)