Question on Tau Melee

[Marshlands]

When they first were released it was hyped as "these guys build the best weapons but they can't aim so it's not too powerful"

 

Its kinda their excuse to bring the biggest guns, with markerlights as a mechanism to then make them strong

 

I kinda like the idea of it as a game mechanic and I don't think that is the issue, the issue is the current rule doesnt really deliver ' they are bad shots but their guns aren't that good and the markerlights can be ineffective

 

So fix markerlights and you could have your tau hitting on 2s and 3s with the right tactical support

[Trevak Dal]

My whole basis for Enclaves getting +1 to hit is a streamlining of their old rules where if you took Farsight you could pay extra points to get better weapon skill. They had preferred enemy Orks but this was back when initiative was a thing.

 

Then there was the Sands of Arronkunsh? A short story about Farsight's first encounter with Orks where he led a cut off Tau Outpost defense against the Orks, and upon first arriving the firecaste wouldn't meet him because they weren't allowed to have weapons (before the Orks came), Farsight gave them a quit yer bitching and sparred with them and continued drilling with them until the fungus men came.

 

+1 weapon skill would make them distinct (in a black Templars kind of way...) Among the Tau.

 

And Enclaves really are kinda black Templars of Tau, we can't take ethereals like they can't take psykers, we can't take more commanders because, and our Sept tactic is kinda meh.

[Panzer]

Black Templars can take psykers currently though. :P

I see where you coming from though and it's not like hitting enemies on 4+ in melee would suddenly make T'au even just decent in melee ... it's still hitting on 4+ without any melee weapons or big amount of attacks. The best we could do with it would probably be Crisis Suits or Stealth Suits with ATS for some S4 AP-1 attacks which in the end is still pretty underwhelming compared to real melee units.

[Guest Triszin]

I'm still in the pistol boat.

 

Even pistols for crisis suits (especially for farsite)

 

 

Ion pistols

Fusion pistols

Pulse pistols

 

 

Tau don't need melee, they just need things to simulate it, even if it's a new type of mini drone, lacking savior protocols it instead has a pistol weapon system. And it's these mini drones that fire the pistols

[Panzer]

Well you can give each Firewarrior a pistol for 1ppm. It's just usually smarter to pull them out of melee to shoot the enemy unit with your other units instead of staying there for a few pistol shots lol

[Marshlands]

Yeah, if it's not functional on the table there isn't much point, so it would need to be something that worked with the rest of tau rules.

 

I think the rules for the 8 (in totality) make for a good baseline of how tau could function well up close

[MegaVolt87]

I think a Moritat style Tau character(s)/ unit would be interesting with pistols. No melee though, firepower is what makes the faction. 

[Knight of the Raven]

"Asian influence" doesn't boil down to the samurai, just like "European influence" doesn't boil down to a screaming strongbox perched on two thousands pounds of bad temper charging Saracens with a lance.

The warriors of the Fire Caste are trained upwards to the peak of T'au physical supremacy and, as far as I can tell, this includes excelling at melee. This would certainly make sense, as fire warriors aren't the type to kill themselves rather than be captured, nor are they the type to wait in their cell for someone else to come and free them.

It just happens that nearly all other species in the galaxy have a biology better suited to brute force than they do and as such, "the peak of T'au physical supremacy" only puts them above ratlings and grots. If there had been a T'au equivalent in Warhammer Fantasy, they'd have been between non-chaotic humans and goblin-types, not the former's equals.

Moreover, let's take a look at the Fire Caste's direct equivalent in the galaxy: the humans of the Imperial Guard. Out of all of them, only the officers wield melee weapons; and this comes down to the Imperium's culture, enamored as it is with knights, martyrdom, glorious last stands and slavish devotion to the past.

T'au culture, on the other hand, has a severe distaste against melee if I recall correctly. This contempt might take its roots in the Mont'au, a time of genocidal warfare between the castes that was stopped only thanks to the Ethereals' timely arrival.

My only source explains these 'Dark Times' happened because the T'au learned better ways to wage war and destroy their enemies faster than they did virtues such as tolerance and cooperation, but doesn't specify their technological era, so to speak.

It's possible their ancestors tried to wipe out every other caste with fire and sword, which would give them a good reason to despise melee.

It's also possible these ancestors were in the midst of trench wars spanning the entire globe, which would also give them a good reason to despise holding useless ground and unnecessary casualties.

This attempt at triple genocide in their past may explain why they're so keen on welcoming other species in their empire as well, though it's more probable the T'au just don't like wasting potential resources. Why kill when you can enslave, after all?

[Panzer]

They don't so much 'despise' melee as they simply follow a quite logical ideology .... why focus on training something you'll never be as good in as the other races when you could use that time of your (rather short) life focussing on something you can easily become better at than other races thanks to technology instead.

Of course thanks to their technologically superior ranged warfare they developed some form of 'distaste' for the more barbaric melee approach, but that's more a result of that logical ideology and not the actual reason.

[Emicus]

"Why let them come close enough to hit when you can use overwhelming firepower from afar"