Tau Tactics and Pros/Cons

[depthcharge12]

Just to let everyone know I'm coming back from a two edition hiatus from playing Tau, however, with the massive rules change, I feel that I am back on the same level playing field.

 

Let's discuss some Pros and Cons...this is what I've noticed:

 

 

+Pros+

> higher mobility in lists...battlesuits lose JSJ but gain extra movement, can fire assault weapons after advancing, and most of our tanks and flyers have good movement characteristics

> S5 shooting out the wazoo. For about 250 something points you can put out 71 S5 shots at 18" and 81 at 12" (10 path finders, 16 pulse rifle FWs, cadre fireblade). Gribblies stand no chance.

> S5 to wound fluctuation...though we no longer hurt GEQs on 2's anymore, we wound all vehicles known to date (without Titans) on a 5+

> Markerlights are turn permanent, no longer removable

> certain weapon profiles (meltas and railguns do much more damage now - not one shot weapons anymore but can hurt monsters pretty badly)

> FLY on a lot of units, so we can fall back and shoot if we survive

 

-Cons-

> ballistic skill drop across the board due to markerlights getting reworked. We always hit on 4+s for most of our units but was able to get around this in the past few editions

> lack of multi damage weapons. Face it, we only have things like railguns, fusion blasters, and some Nova charged weaponry, and expensive missile pods to do multi damage

> most of our units seem a bit...overcosted? I will have to play some games to find out, but from the batreps I've watched, it seems like the game designers wanted to punish Tau for the last edition, even though much has changed, and there are no more formations to abuse...which was source for most of the hate

 

 

I'd like to discuss units next but I open the conversation to anyone and everyone.

[foamy248]

I'd say that some of our HQ's like Aun'Va and Longstrike are certainly quite good. Additionally, the new detachments work quite well, IMHO, as now Tau are much more flexible (e.g. entire battle suit armies, large detachments of hammerheads). 

 

EDIT: I've been going through the Tau rules again, and I just realised how overcosted crisis suits can get. IIRC they're 40 pts for the barebones chases, but the weapon options are really expensive.

Edited June 24, 2017 by foamy248

[depthcharge12]

With regards to crisis suits...I'm thinking they are overcosted as well, but from people I've heard play, they are really really good when used in conjunction with Manta strike and a ton of drones. I only have points for a plasma rifle and FB on 3 of them, plus some support systems, but you can use them to great effect by focusing on the high toughness models and kiting assault units.

 

I've seen a dude run what we shall now dub "Dronewing." :P drones with a handler (drone controller) seem to clean up shop since they are so points efficient for their firepower according to those who worship at the temple of math. I personally wouldn't run a huge drone force because I like to play with suits and FWs but all those drones can be deadly on overwatch and soak up charges.

 

Another tactic is Longstrikewing, using said HQ plus 2-3 additional Hammerheads. For some weird reason (not complaining, but scratching my head) they start wth Bs3+ and go to a 2+ with him nearby. He'll definitely be useful if they need to shoot and scoot or are firing against a unit with a -1 to hit modifier.

 

 

I think the new XV9 suits can do really well this edition too! The burst cannon option is obscene with an ATS, but you already have S5 in droves. I'd lobby for the fusion cascades since they put out on average as many shots as a fusion commander (4 fusion blasters for those living under a Manta) though at a lower Bs. You can however, mitigate that with some markerlights shots and/or a multi tracker.

[depthcharge12]

Coldstar Craze:

 

For some reason, I've seen a lot of people get really crazy attached to the new Coldstar suit :D it doesn't seem to stand out to me on paper, but I think there's a good way to make it work, which makes me now want to take it. I think it does a great job on anti infantry duty and kiting units around.

 

Coldstar commander (XXX points)

+ high yield burst cannon, missile pod, Advanced Targeting System, Target Lock

 

With this loadout, you can fly around with 40" of movement a turn!!! And still fire your weapons to full effect :devil: the ATS is a must as well since it will benefit the 8 shot burst cannon and missile pod by making them light infantry leaf blowers. While moving closer to your enemy's stabby units is generally ill advised, you will be able to hop behind a soft flank and, if done correctly, snipe out important units like venomthropes, guard officer units, and lootas/immortals/devastators

 

 

What do you guys think?

[Lippy]

Coldstar must've benefited majorly from no longer having to take grounding tests (such a stupid rule interaction for the Fail-Star).

Your points about ATS and TargetLock are spot on. I think (though my play testing of 8th is minimal so far) that although split fire is a thing, its still better to focus fire as we would have before, particularly for small-medium arms.

[depthcharge12]

Coldstar must've benefited majorly from no longer having to take grounding tests (such a stupid rule interaction for the Fail-Star).

Your points about ATS and TargetLock are spot on. I think (though my play testing of 8th is minimal so far) that although split fire is a thing, its still better to focus fire as we would have before, particularly for small-medium arms.

I agree with the whole focus fire thing...especially as the Tau don't have certain weapons in droves due to expensive weapons options!

 

I've done some test rolls and found the Coldstar commander to be equal or better than an XV9 with 2xdouble burst cannons when they are both rerolling 1's from markerlight support. However, and XV9 comes out on top when it has 5 markerlights to get the +1 BS.

 

The Coldstar has advantages of BS, +1 wound, mobility and damage output with the missile pod. It also has a Kauyon ability (or Mont'ka but that's bleh), but it will usually be too far away from other units to use it.

 

The XV9 is cheaper by 47 points in this case with 2 DBBC+ATS, has more shots, can be teamed, and has a charge debuff. However, it survives on markerlight support.

 

There's an actual good tactical choice to be made here! I've actually felt myself overcompensating my lists with AT and not considering how fragile my S5 shooting is, so I think these units are worth another look...

 

 

...unless you're that guy that runs 4 fusion commanders and 60 drones :P

[jeffersonian000]

Some of use are that guy. And it's a viable way to play!

 

SJ

[Trevak Dal]

Hmm. I might buy a commander kit and see about making me a Commander Viper like that one boss from Titanfall 2.

[jeffersonian000]

Over the past week of seeing heavy use of Quad Fusion Commanders, my head-canon is thinking of them more as "Enforcer Suits" then as Commanders. So, Stealths, Crisis, Broadsides, Enforces, Ghostkeels, Riptides, Stormsurges, etc., all line units with specialty roles rather the Troops or HQs or Heavies. Is it just me?

 

SJ

Edited July 2, 2017 by jeffersonian000

[depthcharge12]

Over the past week of seeing heavy use of Quad Fusion Commanders, my head-canon is thinking of them more as "Enforcer Suits" then as Commanders. So, Stealths, Crisis, Broadsides, Enforces, Ghostkeels, Riptides, Stormsurges, etc., all line units with specialty roles rather the Troops or HQs or Heavies. Is it just me?

 

SJ

I'm feeling that way too, and while I like to give crap to quad fusion commander guys, it's still a viable thing. It's not quite their fault that crisis suits are a bit overcosted for what they do. I think the best loadout for crisis suits right now is triple plasma x3 suits Manta striking or doing triple ion blasters if you've got the points.

 

Instead of taking fusionmanders, I try to take my fusion guns over a variety of sources to try and introduce redundancy to my lists. I'm a bit afraid that either GW will jack up the points costs on commanders in our new Codex (understand fam that the indices are just stop gap for the moment) or crisis suits will get reworked. For now I'm running R'alai because he still does well as an AT source but can sit in the back lines to buff my gunline.

[jeffersonian000]

The weird thing I've noticed that no one speaks on is that when GW reduced unit costs, we played bigger armies. But when they increased unit costs, like they just did, we play smaller armies. Seems like GW might want fo reduce pioints.

 

SJ

[The Yncarne]

I've actually seen a list with 9 cold star suits as the main element. The cited strengths are the ability to refuse a flank and relying on the character designation to minimize the amount of incoming fire. This sounds like an interesting approach but I'm in no mood to buy so many $50 suits. I'm on my first!

 

The other common commander loadout i am seeing is 3 CIB, presumably with ATS. I'm not sure if I want to play commanders with all fusion, but that appears to be the 'net consensus for now.

 

I expect savior protocols to be reworked again before the codex drops.