Tau 8th Edition: Codex and the future discussions.

[Happy-inquisitor]

Ok I picked up the Codex today, as I've decided Tau are going to be my 4th army.

 

I'm completely overwhelmed by it.

 

I want to start with a 1k point army or so.

 

I'd like to do something like

1x Strike Team

2x Breachers in Devilfish

 

a Riptide

a unit of stealth

a unit of pathfinders

 

All that being said, I'm completely overwhelmed with the various drone options and the HQ options.

 

Can someone help me understand the broad themes/purposed of the various HQs and drones without going through every gun option.

 

Let's see if I can help here.

 

The Commander is going to be the lynchpin of almost any Tau force, the Master of War rule and several Stratagems/Relics work off the Commander keyword. The Commander is also a big-hitter in his/her own right with up to 4 weapons and an excellent 2+ BS. You are limited to one per detachment in matched play and taking less than that would be a sub-optimal choice. Commanders come in 3 generic flavours

XV85 - the classic commander model. Solid all-rounder

XV8 - fractionally cheaper than the above with one less wound, has the option to upgrade to a 2+ save at which point noticeably more expensive

XV86 Coldstar - more expensive but with absolutely bonkers mobility. Probably the stand-out unit of the codex

 

Cadre Fireblade is an inexpensive supporting character well suited to going with Strike Teams or Gun Drones which can be buffed to have extra shooting at half range. Depending on Sept and setup half range could be 21" so this has real value - it also works in overwatch which can be brutal with T'au sept. Comes with a BS 2+ markerlight which is pretty much the most reliable way to get that first markerlight onto a target. Buffs your offensive power.

 

Ethereal is an inexpensive supporting character that does a 6" area buff for anything Infantry in your army regardless of Sept or species - also gives a morale boost that works with anything at all in the 6" range. Of the 4 powers you choose one per turn; the one that gives a 6+ ignore wounds or the one that gives re-roll 1's when not moving are generally the most popular.

 

Drones you need to decide what role they are for, each has a distinct niche. Note that you can mix them in squads and this is a common practice, especially adding a couple of Shield drones to larger drone squads to make them a bit more durable.

For general dakka and especially for withering overwatch near a Cadre Fireblade the gun drone is still good. A bit pricey but good. Consider finding a place for a drone controller on a suit.

For markerlight support which is more survivable than pathfinders and can hide in reserves if you need take marker drones. Strongly consider finding a place for a drone controller on a suit.

For using Saviour Protocols to keep you big hitting suits (Riptides, Broadsides etc) safe from incoming lascannon shots or similar take shield drones. 

 

You can take tactical drones in their own fast attack slots or as add-ons to many of the Tau units in the codex. The small squads you get as add-ons are really easy kill points for any opponent because they become a separate unit as soon as you deploy them - however they count as zero PL if you are playing a scenario that counts kill points by PL. The fast attack drone squadrons are generally best if your environment uses conventional kill point missions.

[Happy-inquisitor]

Thanks Panzer, that definitely helps.

 

Can you help with a couple other general high-altitude questions, like:

 

-what should I be trying to do with my guys?

- (subquestion) do Tau ever want to do anything but just stay as far away as possible?  Breachers have great guns, for example, but is it just not worth it to ever get close enough to the enemy to use them? 

 

-what are the driving paradigms and questions to ask myself when setting out to build a Tau list?

 

-I'm used to building MSU troops with Space Marines.  Is that the right or wrong approach for Strike Teams, Breacher Teams, and/or Kroot?  Is it more situational than that?  Which option do I used for Deep Strike denial, the way I would use scouts.  Kroot are cheaper, but require more models. 

 

 

I think it is a misunderstanding that Tau want to stay as far away as possible - in practice much of the army is most effect in the 15-18" ranges. Tau need to get danger-close and use mobility, positioning and screening to survive the retaliation. There are certainly long range firepower units in the codex but you pay a premium for them and beyond 36" they do not even have markerlight support: do not expect Tau to win long range firefights with proper shooting armies like AM, Marine or Eldar gunlines.

 

The driving paradigm of Tau is target priority. Secondarily it is the indirect concentration of force they can get with long range markerlights effectively selecting which part of the battlefield the Tau can shoot properly on.

 

MSU is certainly a valid way to build Tau lists, only time on the table will tell whether it is the best way.

 

You are spoilt for choice in units to zone out enemy teleporters etc.

Stealth Teams or Ghostkeels have full infiltrate rules and can zone out anywhere except the enemy deployment zone.

Pathfinders or Kroot can make a pre-game move to push teleporters back from you main force and out of range of short range shooting or charges. The cheapest zoning unit in the game that I know of would be a solo grav-inhibitor or Pulse Accelerator drone from a Pathfinder team - it also gets the Vanguard move and by the time you do this it is a separate unit and can freely move in a different direction to the pathfinders. Kroot units can zone out large parts of the table and are great at taking charges to trigger For the Greater Good overwatch.

[Waking Dreamer]

 

 

Can someone double check, there's no rule that stops having Etherals for a FSE detachment?

Now that Tau Septs have their own rules, I don't want to paint an Etheral in FSE colours if they can be part of one, on say the account in the lore FSE don't actually have any Etheral iirc...

 

 

Confirmed. Nothing stops you from having FSE Ethereals if you wanted to (which real FSE player shouldn't anyway :P ).

Are you positive? A youtube vid reviewing the codex said there was a new restricting Etherals in FSE...

 

Which lorewise makes sense but by that same logic, Commander Farsight should have a ruling exempting him from the 1 Commander detachment restriction, as well as other Commanders who have The Eight loadouts...that is if we want completeness in regards to iconic FSE lore turned into 8E flavour rules...again for completeness sake.

[Panzer]

 

 

Can someone double check, there's no rule that stops having Etherals for a FSE detachment?

Now that Tau Septs have their own rules, I don't want to paint an Etheral in FSE colours if they can be part of one, on say the account in the lore FSE don't actually have any Etheral iirc...

 

Confirmed. Nothing stops you from having FSE Ethereals if you wanted to (which real FSE player shouldn't anyway ).

Are you positive? A youtube vid reviewing the codex said there was a new restricting Etherals in FSE...

 

Which lorewise makes sense but by that same logic, Commander Farsight should have a ruling exempting him from the 1 Commander detachment restriction, as well as other Commanders who have The Eight loadouts...that is if we want completeness in regards to iconic FSE lore turned into 8E flavour rules...again for completeness sake.

 

I re-checked and have to correct myself. I didn't notice the paragraph at the bottom reading "Note that the T'au of the Enclaves reject the domination of the Ethereal Caste, and as such ETHEREALS may not be drawn from the FARSIGHT ENCLAVES"

[Guest Triszin]

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They should add that to the Ethereals special rules: " This model cannot be in a Farsight enclave army"

[Panzer]

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They should add that to the Ethereals special rules: " This model cannot be in a Farsight enclave army"

Or at the FSE section or whatever. ^^