How Does the T’au Empire Deal With Boarding Actions

[Skaorn]

Wow, it’s been a while since I logged in.

 

o the easy answers to this question is with Breachers, Stealth Suits, and Kroot.  I’ve been thinking about this, though, and this answer doesn’t feel right to me.  If the T’au are dealing with boarding actions or assaulting a fortified structure, they aren’t just going to pour Breachers and Drones in until they win.  That’s a tactic the Imperium would use and would be very wasteful.  The T’au don’t like sacrificing drones without good reason.  Also stealth suits and Kroot get to do their own thing and are usually outside the coordinated chain of command the Fire Caste rely on.  They don’t make for good support for Breachers, in my mind.

 

For this little thought experiment, I’m assuming that most of a ship or bunker are going to be made up of areas with about 8 to 10 feet tall.  Standard size battlesuits would be right out.  I know the Imperium likes making stupid, cathedral like areas in their ships, but applying this scale for every corridor would be ridiculous.

 

In my mind, Breachers are a fine basis for this kind of fighting, but lack any sort of coordinated support in an assault.  You can send Kroot and stealth suits in once the breach is made to cause confusion and harass the enemy, but I think there would need to be units backing up the Breachers.
 

I’m not writing this as a stealth pitch for close combat weapon T’au battlesuits.  I’m of the camp that doesn’t want this, at least in non-Farsighted armies.  I think that a close quarter assault force would be a good expansion to the T’au, but I’d rather see a close combat element be handled by a auxiliary that is integrated into the chain of command.

 

So my first thought would be an assault weapon support squad for the Breachers.  This could be something as simple as regular breachers with a simple exoskeleton support to carry crisis suit weapons.  Think the support used for the big guns in Aliens.  The other option would be a battle suit using the stealth suit frame, maybe trading the stealth field for a shield generator.  I’d keep the jump pack for moving around larger areas freely.  
 

Some other possibilities could include a new auxiliary that could be more defensive and be at least ok at close combat.  I could also see an EOD Breacher unit for disabling traps and busting through walls.  Maybe give them access to a flamer or some sort of grenade launcher for flushing out enemy units too.  Another unit that might be good would be an electronic warfare pathfinder squad for disrupting enemy communications, hacking systems, and seizing control of important objectives.  Maybe you could even bring back heavy gun drones.

 

The normal T’au force assumes fighting in an open area.  They have no problem giving up an area to draw out enemies and get them to over extend themselves.  You can’t do this if you want to take a bunker or a ship,  I think addressing this issue would be a fun way to expand the army and show that the regular T’au Empire still use Farsights teachings.  What do you think and what would you want to do with this?