Thoughts on Tau
[Got this from a client]
When you asked if I wanted plague marines or Tau you noted that Plague marines are a tough tourney army. I wanted to say that I agree, but that I also think Tau could be a very viable tourney army and I think the hobby itself is more fun when lots of different races and builds are played. I know from comments on your blog that you likewise are saddened but the advent of cookie cutter builds and certainly enjoyed reading your lament of the 6- and 7-wide movement trays that became so popular. I should note that I have no issues with tough lists, just unoriginal ones.
I ended up proxying out several ideas and looking at a lot of the Tau lists that are posted on the internet I think the reasons folks underestimate the Tau are sevenfold -
1. They insist on running with loads of firewarriors as their troop base instead of kroot. Firewarriors are really NOT good. At range firewarriors do ok, but once folks start closing they must embark the devilfish and move away or die.
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2. They forget to add in a bunch of kroot hounds (the punch in the list) to the kroot. I think this is largely because the models aren’t particularly sweet and being metal, are so expensive. Having said that, it’s NO excuse as there are SO many other alternatives (WFB chaos wolves, flesh hounds of Khorne [just as expensive but better looking], the wolves from Goblin Wolf riders (don’t know if this would work as I’ve never seen the set), Vampire Count Dire wolves [i’m sure some theme could work], heck maybe even get creative with a box of tyranids).
2. They forget to add in a bunch of kroot hounds (the punch in the list) to the kroot. I think this is largely because the models aren’t particularly sweet and being metal, are so expensive. Having said that, it’s NO excuse as there are SO many other alternatives (WFB chaos wolves, flesh hounds of Khorne [just as expensive but better looking], the wolves from Goblin Wolf riders (don’t know if this would work as I’ve never seen the set), Vampire Count Dire wolves [i’m sure some theme could work], heck maybe even get creative with a box of tyranids).
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3. They equip their battlesuits with fusion and flamers following the thought that melta and template are 5e essentials for SM, CSM, IG, Eldar etc… This takes the battlesuit away from its core competency – long range death with a move that allows you to constantly stay out of range of basic infantry. JSJ allows you to essentially move 12″ while firing. Since every battlesuit you buy will generally have a misslepod, there should be no transports either.
3. They equip their battlesuits with fusion and flamers following the thought that melta and template are 5e essentials for SM, CSM, IG, Eldar etc… This takes the battlesuit away from its core competency – long range death with a move that allows you to constantly stay out of range of basic infantry. JSJ allows you to essentially move 12″ while firing. Since every battlesuit you buy will generally have a misslepod, there should be no transports either.
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4. They overload on stealth suits (cause they look cool) without realizing that battlesuits can generally do it better and cheaper (except markerlights).
4. They overload on stealth suits (cause they look cool) without realizing that battlesuits can generally do it better and cheaper (except markerlights).
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5. They buy stealth suits to use as markerlight carriers without realizing that pathfinders can do it better and cheaper (plus you can use the devilfish for your fire warriors).
5. They buy stealth suits to use as markerlight carriers without realizing that pathfinders can do it better and cheaper (plus you can use the devilfish for your fire warriors).
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6. Adding stealth suits takes elite spots (the firepower of the tau) and keeps you from having full complement of battlesuits. i think you want 1-3 fireknife groups (plasma, missle and multi-tracker), 0-2 deathrain groups (twin linked missle pods with either target array or flamer), and 0-2 firestorm (burstcannon, plasma, and mult-tracker). I think commander(s) should always be fireknife (I hear airbursting frag is pretty decent too though, maybe with a misslepod…). Fireknife eat marines, terminators, transports and characters. Deathrain = transport death, Firestorm = death to infantry.
6. Adding stealth suits takes elite spots (the firepower of the tau) and keeps you from having full complement of battlesuits. i think you want 1-3 fireknife groups (plasma, missle and multi-tracker), 0-2 deathrain groups (twin linked missle pods with either target array or flamer), and 0-2 firestorm (burstcannon, plasma, and mult-tracker). I think commander(s) should always be fireknife (I hear airbursting frag is pretty decent too though, maybe with a misslepod…). Fireknife eat marines, terminators, transports and characters. Deathrain = transport death, Firestorm = death to infantry.
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7. They use vespids because they were cool in Dawn of War even though they could be the most useless unit outside of Necron Pariahs.
7. They use vespids because they were cool in Dawn of War even though they could be the most useless unit outside of Necron Pariahs.
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8. They steer away from piranhas with a fusion blaster because a SM landspeeder is about the same price but has better BS, equiv defense (doesn’t count as open top), and probably has a secondary weapon liek a HF thrown in as well. However, by doing so they take away their fastest unit (and fastest anti-mech unit). The points shouldn’t be compared on a relative basis, but rather on a what it brings to your army basis…
8. They steer away from piranhas with a fusion blaster because a SM landspeeder is about the same price but has better BS, equiv defense (doesn’t count as open top), and probably has a secondary weapon liek a HF thrown in as well. However, by doing so they take away their fastest unit (and fastest anti-mech unit). The points shouldn’t be compared on a relative basis, but rather on a what it brings to your army basis…
Anyway rant over…
PC
3 Responses to 'Thoughts on Tau'
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áëàãîäàðñòâóþ!!…
Bill
18 Nov 14 at 9:53 pm
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thank you!!…
Victor
21 Nov 14 at 8:43 pm
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tnx for info!…
rick
27 Nov 14 at 8:14 pm