Kill Team Tactica - Tau

[Orpheus108]

Greetings All,

 

Well I thought I'd start this post as it isn't here yet and to learn about Tau, both as to fight them and maybe one day use them, as I do like the idea of a Tau KT with drones.

 

I like the look of the breachers and pathfinder and of course the drones.

 

So feel free to post your fights against them and what you use and/or your Tau team and how you ran them.

 

Cheers.

[Panzer]

I'll just go ahead and quote some of the stuff I posted in the T'au subforum already. I'll put the longer quotes into spoiler tags so it's not too overwhelming.

 

Alright I got my hands on the rules and gave them a quick read so I can give a rough rundown for you guys so you can start planning your Kill Teams already.

 

Units available

• Fire Warrior
• Pathfinder
• Fire Warrior Breacher
• XV25 Stealth Battlesuit
• Drones

Drones available

• Gun Drone
• Shield Drone
• Marker Drone
• Guardian Drone
• Grav-inhibitor Drone
• Pulse accelerator Drone
• Recon Drone

Fire Warrior

Leader option: yes (Shas'ui)

Gunner option: no

Other roles: Comms, Medic, Scout, Sniper, Veteran

Loadout options: Rifle and photon grenades, may replace Rifle with Carbine, Shas'la or Shas'ui may take pulse pistol, Shas'ui may instead replace its Rifle with a pistol (for whatever reason you'd want to do that  ), Shas'ui may take a Markerlight, one Shas'la in your kill team may take a DS8 Tactical Support Turret with either SMS or MS

 

Pathfinder

Leader option: yes (Pathfinder Shas'ui)

Gunner option: yes (up to three Pathfinder Gunner)

Other roles: Sniper (Gunner only), Comms, Demolitions, Medic, Scout, Veteran

Loadout options: Carbine, Markerlight and photon grenades, Pathfinder Gunner may replace their Carbine and Markerlight with either an Ion or Rail rifle, Shas'ui may take a pulse pistol

 

Fire Warrior Breacher

Leader option: yes (Breacher Shas'ui)

Gunner option: no

Other roles: Comms, Demolitions, Medic, Scout, Veteran

Loadout options: Blaster and photon grenades, Breacher Shas'la or Breacher Shas'ui may take a pulse pistol, Breacher Shas'ui may instead replace its Blaster with a pulse pistol (again, for whatever reason you'd want to do that  ), Breacher Shas'ui may take a Markerlight, one Breacher Shas'la in your kill team may take a DS8 Tactical Support Turret with either SMS or MS

 

XV25 Stealth Battlesuit

Leader option: yes (Stealth Shas'vre)

Gunner option: no

Other roles: Comms, Heavy, Scout, Veteran

Loadout options: Burst Cannon, one Stealth Shas'ui or Stealth Shas'vre may replace its Burst Cannon with a Fusion Blaster, a Stealth Shas'vre may take a Markerlight and Target Lock

 

Drones

Leader option: no

Gunner option: no

Other roles: none

Loadout options: the above listed Drones

 

 

Things of note:

• you can technically have two DS8 Tactical Support Turrets in your team since one mentions "one Shas'ui" and the other "one Breacher Shas'ui"
• For the Greater Good is still a thing and unchanged apart from the addition of not being able to Retreat when using it
• Bonding Knife Ritual gives -1 on Nerve tests when a model with this same ability is within 3" and not shaken
• SMS can still shoot at targets it can't see but when doing so it only hits on 6s
• SMS doesn't ignore the penalty for targets being obscured
• Pathfinder don't have any form of scout movement
• Stealth Suits still give a -1 to-hit penalty for shooting and melee which should be pretty strong!
• Stealth Suits don't have any form of infiltration deployment
• FLY keyword is still a thing
• Stats for units and weapons are unchanged
• The Markerlight table goes only up to 4+ due lack of Seeker Missiles
• The ignore cover Markerlight bonus got changed to giving +1 to-hit against obscured targets which is rather important in combination with the Recon Drone
• Drones can't be specialists, can't be part of a Fire team, can't gain experience (RIP the fun idea of a 99% Drone Kill Team in campaigns )
• Gun Drones don't have to target the nearest visible enemy
• Shield Drones have no 5++
• Saviour Protocols is still a thing and you don't have to roll for it
• Guardian Drone only gives the 6++ to nearby T'au Empire models which is rather useless to be honest
• Recon Drone lets ONE nearby Pathfinder ignore the to-hit and injury-roll penalty for targets being obscured
• Target lock lets you ignore only the to-hit penalty for advancing&shooting with Assault weapons. Nothing mentioned about Heavy weapons (makes you wonder why it comes with the Markerlight for the Stealth Shas'vre ...)
• You still have to decide whether you want to shoot a Markerlight or with your other weapons

Points

Of course I won't give a complete rundown on the points here since that's against the forum rules. However I can talk about it a little bit.

Weapons cost a lot less than you'd expect. The most expensive weapon is the Missile Pod which still costs a few points below 10p. Fusion Blaster cost almost half as much of a Missile Pod and are 1p more expensive than an Ion rifle.

The rest of the weapons (Markerlights included) are for free except for the SMS and Rail rifle which cost 1p more than the Fusion Blaster.

 

Fire Warrior and Breacher cost 1p more than in the Codex currently (I guess because the Kill Team stuff got written before they made the last point adjustments for 40k).

Pathfinder cost 2p more than in the Codex currently, however Markerlights are free so they end up being 1p cheaper than the 40k version. Pathfinder Gunner and Pathfinder Shas'ui cost 1p more than the regular version (note: Fire Warrior and Breacher Shas'ui don't cost more than their regular version ...)

Stealth Suits are almost 1/3rd cheaper than they currently are for 40k. Without Fusion Blaster or Target lock you could easily fit 5 of them in a 100p Kill Team. (totally didn't say how much they cost  )

Drones are overall cheaper. Each Drone costs the same amount of points which is a bit below 10p just like the Missile Pod.

 

 

Stratagems

Uplinked Markerlight: 2CP, same as in regular 40k

Breach And Clear: 1CP, same as in regular 40k

Recon Sweep: 1CP, same as in regular 40k

Stimulant Injector: 1CP, use when loosing a wound. For this and each other wound lost by that model for the rest of the phase you get a 5+++. Not for Drones

 

 

Tables

We got 3 different tables for some easy background generation and 2 table for easy specialists generation

• 1d10 for Background: Bond (Survivors, Stealth Experts, Prototype Weapon testers ...)
• 1d10 for Mission: Service to the Greater Good (Bait the trap, Mark the Target, Destroy the Economy Supplies ...)
• 1d10 for Squad Quirk: Philosphy (Honorable Warriors, Vengeful, Unyielding, Students of Kauyon ...)

• 1d10 for Specialists' Demeanours (Scholar of Puretide, Pragmatic, Precise, Hot-Blooded, Wize Veteran)
• D66 for T'au Invidual Name Generator Table

Feel free to ask if you have any more questions. Meanwhile I'm going to build my full Stealth Suit Kill Team lol

 

 

 

 

There is talk that, due to the different firing profiles on Pulse Blasters that you can choose from, that the long range penalties will apply to half range of each profile rather than at half range of it's maximum. Is there anything on this? Personally I think it would be -1 at just 7.6 to 15" and if it isn't mentioned then it's probably just an oversight.

 

No official statement but RAW that seems to be the case. It's a weapon with three different profiles so it has three different ranges. Makes Breacher a LOT less interesting imo since you'd have to be within 7"/5/2" to not suffer from the long range penalty. Pulse Accelerator Drone of course doesn't work with the Pulse Blaster either.

The only thing we can do to mitigate it is to get Markerlights on the target (only 4 to get the +1 to-hit and we have the Uplinked Markerlight Tactic available). Breach And Clear buffs them a little bit against targets in Cover as well but only the wounding part, not the hitting part unfortunately.

 

Considering our bad BS I'd probably try to stick with long ranged weaponry and Stealth Suits. Not because I want to stay far away but because you get more easily within half range to not suffer from the long range penalty. It only makes weapons like Carbines even worse compared to Rifles. As soon as you're in range for your Carbine it's only 3" closer until you get within half range of your Rifle...

 

 

Imo there are a few traps for T'au we should try to avoid.

• Guardian Drones due how useless a 6++ is
• Marker Drones due having only a single BS5+ shot so you would be mostly hoping on 6s (did I mention that it suffers from the penalty for moving&shooting with a Heavy weapon? Because it does now)
• Fire Warrior with Carbines
• Overcharging Ion Rifles (I honestly don't think anybody wants to overcharge anything with the amount of negative to-hit modificators there are in the game)

Things I'm on the fence about are Gun Drones and Shield Drones. Gun Drones still have a sick amount of shots for their cost but you'd be mostly hoping for 6s here as well and while Shield Drones suck as bodyguards in Kill Team they still can serve as mobile cover in narrow places.

 

 

Also for campaigns or if you want to pay a bit more for your specialists there are some neat combos. For example a Stealth Suit with Bursts Cannon as lvl2 Heavy specialist can  shoot twice for 2CP and gives every enemy model it targets (doesn't even need to hit!) a -1 to-hit penalty for the shooting phase while also advance&shoot without penalty. True surpressing fire and something my group will hate me for because I'll be going for that whenever I have a Stealth Suit specialist in my team lol

Then again that's also something that could screw us up big time since for example a Grey Knight Heavy specialist with Psilencer can do the same thing but with more shots, more AP and better BS for only few more points.

The Heavy skill tree is simply extremely strong. The Combat skill tree for melee as well btw. Definitely the two best for pure damage output I'd say.

 

 

 

Yeah I don't think Markerlights are really worth it.

You barely hit with them and if you hit with them it doesn't really matter if you could have instead landed a Rail rifle hit for example.

I was thinking about taking a Markerlight carry and make him a Sniper specialist for more reliable hits but ultimately a Rail rifle Sniper specialists will give you the same outcome but better ... which is killing that one model you wanted the Markerlight on in the first place.

 

 

I think it's a bit early to call something "the best" but there are a few things that look promising:

 - Rail rifle Sniper specialist

 - Burst Cannon Heavy specialist (for the suppressor trait and double shooting tactic)

 - Comms specialist

 - Fire Warrior Shas'ui with DS8 turret

 

Oh and a Recon Drone as well of course. A Grav-Inhibitor Drone could be strong too depending on the terrain and the team you're facing.

Also to add to the list I quoted last:

- Stealth Suit with Fusion Blaster and Veteran specialism for the re-roll at level 2 and the +1 to saves at level 3

- Stealth Suit with Scout specialism for re-roll 1s for an enemy within 6" of him (Stealth Suits are simply more durable than any other choice and can FLY so being this close is not as bad as for any other specialist) and in combination with that the level 3 tactic for rapid re-deployment while also still being able to shoot due having a Assault type weapon.

Edited August 4, 2018 by sfPanzer

[Orpheus108]

Wow, that's heaps of info, cheers for that

[Neophyte for your Ryghts]

I really like the idea of the support turret targeting anything on the board. Bringing 2 for 8 S5 shots a turn seems good ... But then you're hitting pretty rarely, and it's costing about 1/4 of your points (for a basic level 1 game).

 

Another way to look at it is its shooting like 4 guardsmen most of the time, and wounding slightly better, with no LoS implications. Anyway, I'm just wondering if anyone else is looking at this for potential inclusion.

 

Uses:

-Removing enemy leaders who are hidden (looking at you, grot leader out of LoS all game)

-Putting one at opposite ends of your deployment zone out of LoS for distraction purposes

-Split fire to reduce hordes

-Focus fire to remove eg a sniper

 

Cons:

-Many!

 

All theory, anyone had any practical experience with them?

[Panzer]

I'm actually mostly looking forward to include more Drones in my lists now that they got their Sv4+, 5+++ (for Shield Drones) and Stable Platform (for Marker Drones) back. ^^

[Neophyte for your Ryghts]

I've been wondering too about the shield drones new FnP-style save and Saviour Protocols. I'm reading it that it might be able to ignore that mortal wound, so they make excellent ablative wound sponges and will be very helpful in supporting holding objectives.

 

Never even thought of playing Tau, but with the trenches in the new box and a really viable 100pt KT straight out the box I'm more than tempted.

[Panzer]

It doesn't "might be ignore that mortal wound". It definitely does. That's the reason it got the 5+++ in the first place. ;)

[Panzer]

Alright, just played a match against an Ork Boyz team.

14 Boyz vs 1 Pathfinder Leader, 8 Gun Drones, 4 Shield Drones and 1 Recon Drone. Just to test the waters with the Codex Drone rules after the Errata.

 

I've to say they are a lot more durable which definitely helped a lot but hoping on 6s to hit most of the time is REALLY not my style. That being said I did about as many flesh wounds via Overwatch as I did in the shooting phase and if my opponent wouldn't have kept rolling <4 for the Injury rolls I might even have won that match. Tho I guess all my 6s during Overwatch and his godly Injury rolls equaled things out a bit.

Highlight was my Shield Drone killing the heavily wounded (two flesh wounds) Leader with claw in melee after soaking up a hit. :P

 

tl;dr Drones are alright again but a full Drone team is not my thing. I'll stick with Stealth Suits and Rail rifle Pathfinder. ^^

[M@l!ce]

I’ve noticed it’s been a long time since anyone has paid attention to T’au on here. From what I can glean, it’s likely a result of the faction suffering from “that one list that works” syndrome, i.e., the 3 Railfinders with Sniper, Comms, and Demolitions, Recon Drone, some sort of low cost leader, and a bunch of gun drones or whatever drone mix suits a mission.

 

Now, with Kill Team being around a year old and the addition of Elites, I’m curious if there’s been any shift for them in the meta? Do any Sept Tenets make certain “useless” units more viable? Is there any more variety in lists? Are drones being fielded less due to their lack of door opening ability in Arena?

 

I’d like to get some idea of people’s experiences, because I’m currently working on a team made up of all the light to medium infantry choices in the core including one Breacher - yeah I know people say they’re useless but it’s more of a fluff thing - and a Smart Missile turret, and less of a focus on Drones beyond the Recon and maybe one other, like Grav Inhibitor. What Sept Tenet might be useful for such a list, as an example of how the T’au meta is looking now?

 

For clarity, the list is the token 3 Railfinders, Recon Drone, Pathfinder Shas’ui Scout Specialist, Pathfinder Shas’la Comms Specialist, Breacher Demolitions Specialist, Fire Warrior Shas’ui Leader, 2 Fire Warrior Shas’las, a Smart Missile turret and Grav Inhibitor or maybe Shield Drone.

[Panzer]

I think it's more a case of the Kill Team subforum in general not being very active overall. It's just a small subsystem of 40k and without much depths to it unlike Necromunda after all.

 

In my group nobody really wants to play Kill Team. These days we get to play rarely enough and when we do they want to bring all their big toys as well instead of being limited to a handful infantry options.

[INKS]

I know it's been a while and this place isn't super active but any updates on what people are playing. I am thinking that Tau might be my first kill team

[Rogue]

One of my group has been trying Tau. He bought a few models online, so his team is:

2 pathfinders with rail rifles

1 stealth suit with burst cannon

1 stealth suit with fusion gun

1 fire warrior with support turret

2 gun drones

 

He's had mixed success, winning an assassinate mission against Deathwatch, but losing take prisoners and terror tactics to the Cult. They're shooty, but can be overrun by acolytes or simply pulped by aberrants (it turns out).

[Panzer]

Pathfinder with Rail Rifles and Stealth Suits are still in pretty much every serious list afaik.

No reason why that should change too.

[INKS]

2-3 Railfinders? how many suits?

[Rogue]

The combination of flight, rapid movement and big guns makes it very easy for stealth suits to line up favourable targets a lot of the time.

[INKS]

From what I understand, I don't really want to get into hand to hand combat right?

[Rogue]

You'd rather be shooting, most of the time. But stealth suits and drones have Fly, so can fall back from combat and still shoot - coupled with T4 and a fair save, suits can stall incoming cannon-fodder, then jump away and shoot them.

[INKS]

So looking at the list, 1 XV with burst cannon

1 XV leader with fusion blaster

3 Railfinders

? Not sure what else right now

[Dosjetka]

The advice that's been given so far is for a fairly mean T'au list. Depending on who you're playing against, I wouldn't recommend more than two Railfinders, one Stealth Suit, and a couple of Drones. The rest can be whatever you field like having. Since you'll be getting a Pathfinder box for the Railfinders, might as well get some Pathfinders in your list.

[INKS]

Do you mean that it's too brutal and generally not fun for others?

[Dosjetka]

Having been on the receiving end of a Pathfinder Leader + 3 Railfinders + Drone spam three times, I can tell you it's not in the slightest bit fun for the opponent (unless they like that kind of thing). Personally, I wouldn't recommend it. :)

[Brother Navaer Solaq]

So looking at the list, 1 XV with burst cannon

1 XV leader with fusion blaster

3 Railfinders

? Not sure what else right now

yeah, that would be a 'that guy' scenario. Fun for you but terrible for the opponent. Tell your opponent ahead of time if you intend to play that list and see what the player says. I wouldn't field that since it would turn some people away from the game.

 

i have been fielding at most one or two pathfinder with rail rifles.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Mechanicus_Adept

[Panzer]

I want to intervene here. Playing a strong list has nothing to do with being "That Guy". It always depends on what you and your opponent agreed on. Being "That Guy" means being a dick.

[INKS]

Well I am not trying to be a dick. Just trying to run a good list.

[Panzer]

Yeah that's perfectly fine. You can play the strongest list possible and still be a great guy to play with.

Just make sure your opponent knows what to expect if you don't want to roll over them.