A couple newbie questions about Tau...

[9x19 Parabellum]

Hello Tau Veterans.

 

Some noob questions.

 

1. Stealth suits (and I imagine any other unit choice where you can have more than 1 model in the unit) says they can pick 1 support system.  Can each model in a unit have a different support system?

 

2.  The Iridium Crisis suit is listed under support systems, but I see no restriction that it can only be placed on Crisis suits, either in the support systems point cost chart, or the support system rules explanation chart.  Can the Iridium Crisis support system be given to battlesuits other than the Crisis suit?

 

3. The Hammerhead/Skyray Gunship chassis both seem very good to me.  It's 10 pts. more than a predator chassis, but has 2 more wounds and can fly.  It also gives Tau a sorely missing 3+ BS platform. Am I missing something? How come I don't see these discussed more?

 

 

[Panzer]

Hello Tau Veterans.

 

Some noob questions.

 

1. Stealth suits (and I imagine any other unit choice where you can have more than 1 model in the unit) says they can pick 1 support system.  Can each model in a unit have a different support system?

 

2.  The Iridium Crisis suit is listed under support systems, but I see no restriction that it can only be placed on Crisis suits, either in the support systems point cost chart, or the support system rules explanation chart.  Can the Iridium Crisis support system be given to battlesuits other than the Crisis suit?

 

3. The Hammerhead/Skyray Gunship chassis both seem very good to me.  It's 10 pts. more than a predator chassis, but has 2 more wounds and can fly.  It also gives Tau a sorely missing 3+ BS platform. Am I missing something? How come I don't see these discussed more?

 

1. It says "any model may take a single item from the Support Systems list", so yes each model can have their own support system. ;)

2. The Iridium Suit is NOT listed under the Support System list on page 89, so a unit can only take it when it's explicitly allowed to do so on its Datasheet. Aka Commanders and Crisis Suits.

3. The Skyray is bad since all its weapons are one-use only aside from its Markerlights. Hammerheads are okay-ish but not anywhere near Leman Russ level etc; Predators aren't that amazing compared to other armies tanks either so being almost as cost efficient as Predators isn't exactly good. :D

Also if you want long ranged anti-tank you're better off with HRR Broadsides than with Railgun Hammerheads.

[9x19 Parabellum]

1. Excellent!  Then I might put a drone controller on one and shields on the other 2 to tank the big hits.

2. Thank you. Sad, but thank you.

3. I'm sure it will bite me in the butt, but I have to try it. i like the sky ray gunship so much.  After it fires its payload, it will be a moveable wall of cover for other models, and used for charging things like enemy tanks and such. Broadside seems very expensive for T5/6w platform.  But I'll probably get a couple of those, too. :-)

[elmo]

The skyray can function as an expensive ML platform along with it's support weapons after firing all the missiles. It is not useless but we have better toys in our armoury.

 

I like the model though ;)

[Marshlands]

The skyrays good to charge things too...

 

I actually quite like them, theyre damage over a battlenis bad but their damage on turn 1 is good and the more you kill sooner the less you have to deal with later... exclusively against big targets though.

 

Some kinda missile replacement would make them something id use a lot but hey

[9x19 Parabellum]

Ok new question...

 

So i'm painting up my Pathfinders, and I noticed that it looks like the right shoulder guard on the Ion Rifles and Rail rifles are missing.  I think they just did this for mould/modeling reasons (since the large buttstock of each of those rifles takes up so much room and would otherwise be pressed up against that part of the shoulder).  The one exception to this is the Rail rifle guy who is reloading his weapon.

 

Have you guys noticed this? How have you handled it?

[Panzer]

Ok new question...

 

So i'm painting up my Pathfinders, and I noticed that it looks like the right shoulder guard on the Ion Rifles and Rail rifles are missing.  I think they just did this for mould/modeling reasons (since the large buttstock of each of those rifles takes up so much room and would otherwise be pressed up against that part of the shoulder).  The one exception to this is the Rail rifle guy who is reloading his weapon.

 

Have you guys noticed this? How have you handled it?

 

Pictures would help.

[chapter master 454]

One thing about hammerheads: They have BS3+. Unlike Broadsides, hammerheads can hit their target fairly well without markerlight support and in most cases the Ion Cannon would be preferable to the Railgun. Not to mention that in a similar fashion to Imperial guard Tau do have their own tank ace who with a group of hammerheads with Ion cannons would quite nicely take out a majority of targets.

 

Broadsides are decent units however I have tend to find that unless you pair them up with the same gear, they tend to not have as much impact. Again, the BS4+ really sucks when you need it to count for those critical HRR rounds (which is why you double up, gets you more chances). Coming from someone who faces my friend's Tau a lot and has had quite a lot of exposure to the Tau I would say Hammerheads are fairly good (and from his research other fellow Tau players agree. Really it's the BS3+ that makes them so vital). From my gameplay, I find the broadsides annoying but ether easily dismissed or not effective however that comes from him running 2 of them with different main guns (both take Smissiles and a Seeker) and they rarely get things done.

 

Skyrays however...well that is an odd question because some theory I thought about was how Skyrays could be good due to how 40k works. With 1st turn being the most important, going for that Alpha Strike of Skyrays isn't too bad if you back it up with decent infantry shredders and with only minimal Markerlight support you can get some solid blow outs. However that was only theory craft and NOT to be taken as any suggestion to do seriously. They will become paper-weights afterwards so yea.

 

And for further notes: if you do take broadsides, take shield generators on them. They will attract fire from enemy anti-tank weapons and being able to have a 4++ against that is too valuable (especially when a lot of anti-tank weapons can 1/6 your broadside off the table if you don't save).

[Panzer]

The advantage of Broadsides over Hammerheads (especially Railgun Hammerheads) is that their HRR has two shots so is overall more likely to hit AND has higher potential damage plus it's a battlesuit so you can just surround it with some Drones and make it a super unattractive target for enemy anti-tank weaponry unless it's something like mass Autocannons (looking at you Armiger!).

But yeah unless you need a Drone controller or want to equip him for a specific task like anti-air duty always give him a Shield Generator. Unless you are a lunatic like me and play Dal'yth because then they're sitting there with a 1+ armor save and basically never need a 4++ anyway.